Aliens - Structure Part 4

ACT FOUR

SCENE ONE - CRISIS

Ripley and Hicks rush down a corridor, to an elevator. They climb in, smashing the door-close button. Nothing. Finally it closes.

But an alien jumps in the door: Hicks blasts it, but its blood splashes on him, searing away his armor and eating into his chest. Ripley helps remove the armor.

The elevator finishes its descent, and Ripley helps Hicks out. Hicks struggles to stay conscious. Ripley rallies him with words.

The dropship touches down, next to where Bishop is piloting it. Ripley asks how much time is left. When bishop reports 26 minutes, Ripley says they aren’t leaving. Bishop can’t understand.

Turns: The Alien attacks, The dropship lands, Ripley reveals her intentions

Values: DANGER - - INJURY + SAFETY ++ HEROISM

Purpose: Hicks needs to get injured so that Ripley is forced to go alone. But not killed, so that she has reason to leave Bishop on the dropship.

This might be why the relationship was developed – she cares enough about Hicks to be unwilling to sacrifice him. Thus, she knows she must go alone – if she fails, Bishop can still take off and get Hicks to safety.

When Ripley reveals to bishop they’re not leaving, she reveals the Crisis decision she has made.

SCENE TWO

The dropship flies into the atmosphere processor complex. On board, Ripley tapes guns together, building the arsenal she will being in with her. Flares, grenades, motion tracker, Pulse rifle, Flame thrower.

Bishop reminds her how little time there is, but she brushes them of and invokes Hicks’ support.

The dropship lands, and Ripley rushes down and out. She enters the elevator, and presses down. As it descends, she makes further preparations, and readies herself mentally. The elevator door opens, and she steps out.

Turns: NONE

Values: ANTICIPATION

Purpose: Well, we need some idea of where Ripley will have all the toys she has when she enters the processor – this scene shows us. And while there is conflict, presumably (ripley within herself, Ripley vs. bishop), there is no turn.

One could consider this a ‘substitute crisis.’ While Ripley has already made the decision, this scene serves to hammer home to us –and Ripley – the gravity of the situation, while constrasting how Ripley started the movie.

SCENE THREE

Ripley exits the elevator, preemptively firing off the flamethrower. She follows the tracker as lightning arcs over the interior of the overloading processor. She drops flares to mark the path back.

Closer and closer she goes, until she finds newt’s tracker – stuck to the ground, lost from her wrist. The chances of Ripley finding Newt just went from a stretch, to roughly zero.

Purpose: Yet another reason for the Hicks sub-plot: for the tracker to end up on newt, and her recovery to become a possibility. In this scene, it seems to disappear – but hey, this is a movie! The next turn is only so far away. 

Turns: Ripley finds the wrist tracker

Values: DANGER - - DEFEAT

Purpose: Did this really have to happen? I think the primary purpose here is to insert a negative turn/beat, and keep the drama heightened. Finding newt has even more impact when it seemed she was lost. Yet, the story would still make sense if this were deleted. It might just be a little less effective at holding attention.

Alternatively, making the rescue of Newt a “just in time” affair probably required a move like this: Ripley needs to seem defeated, then by chance she finds Newt; thus she can arrive just in time more plausibly, than if she just walked into a room, and the facehugger happened to be emerging just then. This turn thus helps hide contrivance and help the drama work.

SCENE FOUR – SEQUENCE CLIMAX

Cut to newt cocooned in the nest. An egg opens up before her. She screams.

Elsewhere, Ripley hears this and runs. She gets there as the larvae is emerging, and she blows it away. An alien comes to defend the nest, but she shoots them up as well.

Ripley rips Newt out of the cocooning, piece by piece.

Turns: Ripley hears Newt scream, Ripley gets Newt out of the cocooning

Values: HOPELESSNESS + HOPE ++ SALVATION

Purpose: This seems to be victory – a good set-up for the confrontation for the ‘main evil’ in the next scene, namely by almost giving Ripley her victory.

SCENE FIVE – SEQUENCE CLIMAX

Ripley has pulled Newt out, and tries to go back from whence she came. But an explosion blocks the way with flame. She follows another path, and walks right into – the nest.

She looks about, seeing the field of eggs, and then scanning over the vast body of the queen.

Then she sees its face, which opens. The queen hisses at Ripley, as do two guards on either side of her.

Ripley drops newt, then shoots flame over the eggs. But she stop, and points the flamethrower at the eggs while viewing the queen. Understanding the message, the queen looks at her guards, who retreat.

Ripley and Newt slowly back up, out of the queen’s nest. But on the way out, an egg opens. Ripley takes this as a betrayal, and begins torching the place.

The guards advance, and Ripley shoots them down. She then unloads her pulse rifle ammo into the nest, and then grenades into the queen’s egg sac.

Retreating, Newt sees another guard. Ripley kills it, then tosses her grenades into the nest.

The queen screams, falling into flame. But she pulls from her sac, standing up.

Turns: Ripley sees the queen, The queen accepts Ripley’s deal, The egg opens

Values: STRESS - - EVIL + COMPROMISE +/- WRATH

Purpose: Now Ripley’s fears, and the main force of antagonism in the story, have a shape: the queen. Also, the queen is an evil reflection of Ripley: it is maternal, and seeks to protect its own.

Ripley seeks to escape, but either by chance or intent, one of the eggs hatches to implant Ripley or Newt.

Thus Ripley destroys its nest. And for Ripley, this isn’t really necessary: it is vengeful wrath. She makes the nest pay for the crew of the Nostromo and the dead marines of the Sulaco.

But the queen loses its children and wants revenge, as Ripley wanted revenge upon it.

This scene is a symbolic ascension of the antagonist, thus it is very effective. Ripley isn’t in any more danger than she set out for, but now the threat to her has taken a symbolic, archetypical form: a queen mother, a tyrant of expansionist evil, with a sinister parallel to the protagonist.

From here, the climactic action is the battle between Ripley and this symbol, and the battle and its symbols will get yet more dramatic from here.

At the end of the scene in a non-turn set-up: the shot of the queen detaching herself sets up her appearance in the next scene.

SCENE SIX

Ripley runs from the burning nest. As she goes, explosions rock the processor – there isn’t much time left now.

Ripley reaches the elevator with Newt. A voice reminds inhabitants that there is only 4 minutes left. Ripley presses the buttons, but the elevator is taking too long. Ripley goes for a ladder, but then the queen appears. Ripley freezes.

Just then, another elevator shaft has arrived with a lift, and the door opens. Ripley moves for it, but the queen advances. Ripley presses the up button, but as the doors are closing, the queen arrives. Ripley sprays flame from her almost exhausted flamethrower. The queen screams, and stops – but does not retreat.

The elevator begins to move up, just in time.

Ripley’s elevator arrives, and the queen looks at it quizzically.

Turns: Queen Alien arrives, Elevator closes

Values: STRESS – THREAT + SAFETY

Purpose: The voice repeating the time punches up the intensity, as there is almost no time left. This is a good setup for the turning point of the queen entering.

Though not a turning point, there is also a set up at the end of this scene, like the last: the queen gazes at the elevator.

Both these setups are leading to turning points that edify a growing perception: the queen alien is intelligent and resilient. It is more like the alien in the original movie, a nearly unstoppable terror.

SCENE SEVEN

Ripley exits the elevator – and Bishop is gone. She curses his name, but this does nothing. Ripley looks around, desperate for an idea. She then notices that the other elevator is coming up.

She checks her gun – no ammo. Bigger explosions rock the processor. She pulls up Newt, looking around for anything – but it seems it’s all over.

The other elevator arrives. They look in suspense as the door opens. From the shadows within, the queen emerges, bent on revenge. Ripley tells Newt to close her eyes, that they might pass as mercifully as possible.

Just then the dropship pulls up by the ramp. A ramp is lowered- Ripley puts Newt onboard, then climbs on herself. They get aboard, but the dropship’s landing gear catches on something. It pulls free, then speeds out of the processor.

Turns: The dropship is gone, the queen alien emerges from the elevator, the dropship appears

Values: HOPE – HOPELESSNESS - - SLAUGHTER + SALVATION

Purpose: A major part of this scene is “faking out” the audience on the dropship. This could easily be a cheap, contrived turning point. And since this seems like it’s nearly the climax of the movie, such a mistake now would cost the quality of the story greatly.

But the double-negative turns, screwed then screwed worse, make the moment very ripe for a positive turn. Thus, I speculate, the appearance of the dropship isn’t something we question. More like, we think, “oh thank god!”

Having Ripley say to newt ‘close your eyes, baby,” is the most maternal, merciful thing Ripley can say to Newt, even after all Ripley has risked to save Newt. It’s really a heart-string-tugger. By quickly having the dropship appear, we are eager to see Ripley survive. Hasn’t she earned it?

But that also shows us how deep her love for Newt has gone. In great despair and hopelessness, she still cares for Newt. Trauma and terror have brought out the best in Ripley…

Also, the quick nature of the dropship appearing, followed immediately by them climbing aboard, de-emphasizes it enough that we don’t dwell on it, with questions like “where was the dropship before?” In case of lingering doubts, bishop mentions the rationale two scenes later.

SCENE EIGHT - ACT CLIMAX

The dropship pulls up into the atmosphere, climbing ever higher. But behind them, a huge light burns: the blast has gone off. They feel the titanic shake, and wonder if they are about to be singed into vapor. But the dropship keeps flying, and then the sound dies away.

Bishop reports that they are okay.

Turns: Bishop reports that they are okay

Values: DESPERATION + SAFETY

Purpose: This could easily be the climax of the movie. In fact, one could argue it SHOULD be. The next climax is effective not by raising stakes, really, just by surprising the audience, then raising the symbolic nature of the fight.

ACT FIVE

SCENE ONE

Ripley tends to Hicks. Bishop says he’ll be okay, but stops Ripley from getting him up: they’ll need a stretcher.

Ripley talks with bishop on the docking bay of the Sulaco. Bishop explains why the dropship wasn’t there, but Ripley congratulates Bishop, and they have replaced mistrust with respect.

But then they notice acid, and something pierces Bishop’s chest. Ripley tries to help, while pushing Newt back. But Bishop is lifted up, and torn in two by the queen alien. She emreges from the landing gear. Ripley waves her arm to get attention. She tells newt to run, then runs herself. 

Turns: Something pierces bishop’s chest, the queen emerges, Ripley escapes the queen

Values: SAFETY – DANGER - - BIG DANGER + SEMI-SAFETY

Purpose: This is technically the climax of the Bishop sub-plot. You might argue that the upcoming scene where he saves newt is, but that actually seems like a redundant repeat of this scene. When bishop grabs Newt’s hand, it’s more like a convenient interruption of Newt’s death than a dramatic turn. 

Interestingly, as far as the audience knows, Ripley is abandoning Newt in this scene. Very unlike her, eh? Any doubts on the audience’s part, however, is more likely to kake them wonder “what the hell is Ripley doing” rather than doubt her resolve to protect Newt. What a great set-up for the next scene’s positive turn…

SCENE TWO

Newt is stalked in the ducts under the deck by the queen. She narrowly escapes several times, until she isn’t fast enough, and the queen’s hand lowers to take her…

Then the cargo doors open, and the queen spins to see what it is: Ripley appears in a power loader, and delivers one of the better lines in movie history.

Turns: Newt is caught by the queen, Ripley appears

Values: SAFETY – DOOM + BATTLE

Purpose: In this scene, Ripley ascends beyond herself, and into symbolism territory. She is now an archetype of strength, physical and mental, against a titan of terror and perversion of virtue. And while there is a rational set-up for how all this could happen, it works on a symbolic level as much as the literal.

Interestingly, the queen stalking Newt is the queen trying to do to Ripley what was done to her. In a sick way, one could sympathize with the alien, no? But this is a very light subtext. Mostly, we want Newt to escape, and when she doesn’t it’s like the dropship appearing: we ae ripe for a good positive turn. Boy do we get one.

SCENE THREE

Ripley and the queen battle. Ripley gets the queen in a hold, but her attacking tail makes Ripley withdraw.

Maneuvering for position, they face off. Ripley sneaks in some button presses, opening the first of two outside bay doors.

She gets the queen in her hold, narrowly avoiding her face being bitten off. Flame keeps the queen back, and Ripley moves the queen over the door. But the queen grabs as Ripley drops, and both go in.

Turns: The queen pulls Ripley in

Values: STRENGTH - WEAKNESS

Purpose: The battle has its twists and turns, but none are really significant story events. Thus Ripley being pulled in is the true and only turn.

Here, the symbolism goes further: Ripley and the queen fall into death together. The queen won’t die without Ripley joining her. This sets up a crisis-within-the-climax in the next scene…

SCENE FOUR - CLIMAX

Ripley, at the bottom of the dock, climbs out of her power loader and climbs upward. She’s almost out, when the queen grabs her foot.

Ripley can see where this is going, and reaches for the dock controls. She opens the lower doors, depressurizing the whole docking bay.

Ripley hangs on, but the queen is stuck to her. Newt and Bishop hang on for dear life, almost being sucked in.

Ripley pulls against the queen, and she releases, sucked to her death.

Ripley climbs

Turns: The queen grabs Ripley, Ripley opens the door, Ripley closes the doors

Values: INJURY – DEFEAT +/- DESPERATION ++ VICTORY

Purpose: There is a crisis-within-the climax here, though not heavily emphasized. The only way to kill the queen, once Ripley has been grabbed, is to risk Newt and Bishop’s life by venting the docking bay.

Ripley does it – a risky bargain, but what chance does she have to save Newt if she is killed?

As we see, it works out, but this certainly shows a stiff toughness on Ripley’s part. It works out – though we have to wonder what values the movie ultimately espouses (it is an action movie): take revenge on enemies, and risk your loved ones to ensure their destruction. Bad-ass, no doubt, but ultimately these values may be what stop the excellent entertainment of aliens from becoming truthful art.

That aside, this climax is very exciting, due to the crisis within, everything being at risk – but victory and safety being achieved due to Ripley’s extreme determination. Maybe climbing up that ladder when she couldn’t have drawn a full breath was a huge stretch, as well as Newt and Bishop not being sucked into space – but since this is such great entertainment, I think we can forgive.

  

SCENE FIVE

Bishop and Hicks are in freezers, and Newt watches as Ripley closes them. Ripley brings Newt to her freezer, and assures her that Newt can dream.

Fade to Newt and Ripley sleeping, then close-up on the two.

Turns: NONE

Values: LOVE

Purpose: Why turn after the climax, if you don’t have to? Avoids de-emphasizing the climax, and the audience wants resolution anyways, so a turn is unnecessary.