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From: rjnoe@riccb.UUCP (Roger J. Noe)
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Re: Re: Alien II
Message-ID: <572@riccb.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 31-Oct-85 09:35:19 EST
Article-I.D.: riccb.572
Posted: Thu Oct 31 09:35:19 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 2-Nov-85 04:35:34 EST
References: <11900004@hpfclp.UUCP> <11900007@hpfclp.UUCP> <3223@think.ARPA>
Organization: Rockwell International - Downers Grove, IL
Lines: 42

> There is a common notion that, in Alien, it was foreshadowed
> that the cat was going to bring the Alien back to earth.  As
> it happens, several years ago (at Unicon 5 in Washington,
> DC) I talked with Linda Shusette, wife of the producer of
> Alien (Ron Shussette), and the topic of the cat came up.
> She said that the cat was intended as a sympathetic
> character, that they hoped the audience would identify with
> the cat and want the cat to live.  As it worked out, the
> audience does not identify with the cat, but irrationally
> fears it and wants the crew to space it.  The result is that
> the cat became a sort of red-herring, serving only as yet
> one more thing for the audience to be afraid of.

That's the first I've heard that!  Jones was at least as sympathetic a
character as were any of the human beings.  It knew what it was doing and
was probably the only living thing capable of killing the title character
outright (although probably not in its full-grown state, if that WAS a
full-grown state).  I also think only the cat could easily have avoided
getting eaten by the alien.  Cats are extraordinarily evolved to be excellent
hunters and killers while avoiding being killed themselves, the same kind of
thing the alien was supposed to be.  Jones' senses of smell, sight, and hearing
as well as its agility and speed made it the only logical candidate for
survival aboard the Nostromo except for the alien.  (Ash doesn't count, of
course.)  All human strategies failed until one of them got lucky at the end.
I identified with the cat.  When it hissed at the alien I wanted to shout,
"Kill it, Jones!"  I sure didn't identify with the idiots aboard the Nostromo,
and that includes all the fatalities.

This is not to say that I didn't enjoy having the cat jump out at a very tense
moment when we were expecting to see the alien pop up.  An old artifice, but
quite effective.

> As to what the purported makers of Alien II might do, your
> guess is as good as mine.  They might well have the cat
> transport the alien back to earth, but this was never
> intended in the original movie.

I agree.  There's not a shred of evidence in "Alien" to support the notion
that it was foreshadowed that Jones would bring the alien back to Earth.
--
"In space no one can hear you meow."
	Roger Noe			ihnp4!riccb!rjnoe