13

In the final sequences of Alien (1979), Ripley activates the self destruct sequence of the Nostromo.

After seeing the alien in front of the shuttle entrance, Ripley runs back to the control room and frantically tries to deactivate the self destruct.

The whole sequence can be seen here in pictures and in the YouTube clip below.

Why would Ripley make this decision; what’s the need for disabling the self-destruct?

Basically she was dead anyway. Nowhere to go and the alien was on to her. So it would just seem to be the best option to destruct the ship and the alien.

Improve this question

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
20

She was a fighter, giving in and commiting suicide was not in her nature. Have a look at her in Aliens, insisting on being taught how to use the grenade launcher, returning the loader to fight the queen etc.

The alien moved around the ship and although it was blocking her way out at the moment it would probably move, it was just a matter of her not getting caught. If nothing else she might be able to hold it off with the flame thrower until she got out, there were several options other than just giving up.

I am guessing that at that point she was going to turn off the self destruct, get in the pod and blast off and then just broadcast a warning about the ship's contents.

Improve this answer
2
  • It is interesting how many movies/scifi stories have an irrevocable self-destruct sequence. why not just let any authorized person stop it at any point?
    – releseabe
    Commented Dec 13, 2020 at 5:24
  • She has 5 minutes to stop it because the fail-safe engages after 5 minutes. The fail-safe will ensure that it cannot fail, otherwise there would be multiple ways to stop the explosion like cutting off electricity, things like that. When you want to destroy a ship and are leaving in a shuttle, the last thing you want is the ship NOT to explode, you want a 100% guarantee, hence the fail-safe.
    – Octo Poulos
    Commented Sep 2, 2023 at 3:24
2

If you remember watching the movie. The scene where she sees the alien before she goes to disable the self destruct. Well the main reason she went to go disable it was that the alien was blocking her only way of escape, the shuttle (Narcassis). When she went back to disable the auto destruct this was when the alien stowed away on the shuttle.

Improve this answer
-3

Padding the running time.

There isn't an answer that works for me. Ripley wasn't a fighter till after the confrontation on the life boat (and she is mostly a fighter in Aliens because the Xenomorph has taken her life and her daughter from her). I think it was a left over plot thread probably from a earlier version of the script and they left it in because it fuels tension in the movie and adds some suspense and drama near the end.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .