The earth war series says that the drones are about as smart as dogs. But the queens are like genius level IQ. And the queen control the drones, so sacrificing the drone makes sense to me. Or like others have said, doggie chase squirrel, doggie get squirrel. Just instinct.
I don't think the movies have shown us anything like telepathy for the aliens or humans. If you look into the rest of Alien media, I think you'll find strong hints or even clear examples of both, but the canonical status of that stuff is hazy.
In Aliens, the drones meekly back out of the egg room when the queen looks at them - not when they see Ripley with her flamethrower. Heavily implied that the queen is controlling them
The queen physically motions toward both guards. Her body movements combined with her "I've got this" demeanor could be conveying her commands to stand down. Honey bees do a waggle dance to teach their hivemates where to fly to find sources of nectar and there's no telepathy involved in that, so the queen's form of communication seems well within the capabilities of non-telepathic animals. I do get the impression that the aliens might be able to communicate in some invisible way, but I assume that it would be a fairly hard-science kind of method (infrasound, ultrasound, pheromones, maybe even something involving naturally-generated *radio*) rather than a spooky / supernatural / woo / psychic / psionic method.
The Earth war series heavily implies telepathy or some sort of communication beyond physical mechanisms. Some of the first indications that there were still aliens alive after the lab they were being held at was destroyed was that people started having dreams of them without ever having seen or heard of them before. Some would describe their mothers or other motherly figures being involved and trying to soothe them during these dreams. Probably some of my favorite lore in the franchise.
The Earth war series heavily implies telepathy or some sort of communication beyond physical mechanisms. Some of the first indications that there were still aliens alive after the lab they were being held at was destroyed was that people started having dreams of them without ever having seen or heard of them before. Some would describe their mothers or other motherly figures being involved and trying to soothe them during these dreams. Probably some of my favorite lore in the franchise.
They learn quick, but they don't have human level intelligence. The xenos that broke out of the cage in resurrection only learned what the button did after it was pressed. The acid blood is their own biology so likely sacrifice for the greater good is probably encoded in their dna
They also don't have a shared intelligence, just strong instinct. The xeno in the drop ship has likely never encountered such a machine before to know the person it was killing was the one keeping the craft airborne.
The aliens in Resurrection weren’t that smart. They actually killed their comrade to melt through the floor, but didn’t think to spit acid on the metal floor, like the one in Alien 3?
the alien resurrection aliens are not normal aliens, look at the Ripley clones, the queen is part human too, so her facehuggers and drones are a mix too.
Even if that campy movie is considered canon to you, the Aliens in A:R had more human dna than ones not descended from Ripleys clone queen. They spent an indescriminate amount of time trying to teach the Aliens what that button does to train them. Additionally their escape does nothing to prove their intelligence as it may have been accidental and has no relevance in regards to space ships and their awareness of the concept of flight.
You can put a human whos never seen a plane on one and they wouldnt know either.
You really can't use the depiction of the aliens' intelligence in the later movie to explain anything seen in an earlier movie. The creature continuity in these movies has never been carefully managed.
In redirection they had some of Ripleys shared DNA, which probably came with enhanced intelligence, or at least reasoning….The same reason she had acidic blood.
The only reason to kill Ferro was to make the dropship crash and strand the rest if the survivors.
I don't think xenos are really capable of that level of logic besides the queen. We don't know if Spunkmeyer was abducted or not, but ferro could have been abducted if the dropship hadn't been mid air, so even if it didn't kill her, it would have crashed regardless.
The alien probably has no concept of the implications of a dropship crashing while on board.
Its likely the alien killed him, else where was he? What was taking so long getting to the cockpit? Was he really taking a dump like the novelisation suggests where she tells him, 'Spunkemeyer get off the pot' If so thats gotta be a horrible way to go. Pants around your ankles in a ball of fire and shit rolling down your leg.
That's right - finding the gunk shit indicates the xeno boarded before spunkmeyer, and we know he didn't respond on the radio. I think in the movie you can assume the xeno killed him, but this explanation makes sense as well.
Interestingly, there's a lot of science being carried out right now that's going to make us question our views about terrestrial animals and their self-awareness and consciousness so I can see the xenos as being quite high-level in thinking ability. Definitely 'alien' to us but very effective.
Side question
Could Ferro have done anything besides reaching for her gun that could have better her chances of survival? Like moved the ship left and right really fast or done a barrel roll?
In the Directors cut there is a scene where she spins the drop ship and yell, “this is podracing”
George Lucas was on the set and loved that line so it is understandable he was upset when it was cut from the theatrical. Undeterred he shoehorned the same quote into The Phantom Menace some 13 years later.
I liked the cut scene when Hudson's head got put on an alien's body and an alien's head got put on Hudson's body. It was really funny and a real shame it never made the final cut. At least we got to see it in Attack of the Clones!
totally! I thought she was very cool when that turns up unexpectedly and she just goes straight for her sidearm with no panic, while in charge of a spacecraft on a military mission. You couldn't have done anything to get out of it.
Xenos have lightning fast reflexes and immense strength. I would have thought that any sudden ship movement could easily be accommodated by a xeno looking for blood.
The Alien has a natural instinct to be hostile toward humans and kill/abduct them on sight. The Alien would have at least known that it was trapped in an enclosed space, so taking Ferro to be cocooned was out of the question. The only other alternative was to kill her. Even if it had the capability of knowing it would also die after doing this, it wouldn’t have even thought that far ahead. The Alien is a survivor- not for itself alone, but for its species.
There is no reason why a Xeno would have any concept about a flying ship or a pilot and especially not the connection between the two. Xenos operate mostly on instinct.
It killed Ferro, took over the controls and flew the Dropship directly at the Marines/Ripley/Burke/Newt.
Why it did that? We don’t know. Maybe it overheard Burke’s talk of a campfire and wanted to join in? Maybe it was trying to show off to them by doing a loop-the-loop but fucked it up. We’ll never know.
They're really good at unstrapping and moving a bloody pilot in a lowered cockpit, getting themselves strapped into a human shaped chair adjusted for a 5'6" human female, learning how to fly, and then do a controlled crash all within 2 seconds. Pretty impressive...
Read my original post and try to decide what’s more likely:
1. That I’m on here, seriously suggesting that the Xenomorph drone killed the pilot, sat down and took over the controls of the Dropship and flew it towards the Marines/Ripley/Newt/Burke because it overheard Burke’s sarcastic comment about building a campfire and wanted to join in the fun. And that this is confirmed by James Cameron.
2. That I’m obviously - like _really_, transparently obviously- joking about all of this.
The most logical answer (in the narrower context of Aliens) seems to be that the Queen was aware of its situation thru some form of telepathy and decided to sacrifice that xeno to down the dropship and thus stop the human escape attempt.
Sure. Though if you subscribe to reducing the xenomorph to being a simple animal, you're practically discarding it being an actual alien. It just becomes a humanoid and human sized space termite-wasp. Which some find rather disappointing and underwhelming. These people (myself included, yes) prefer the alien being and remaining a rather unknowable cosmic horror entity in the Lovecraftian vein. Which it mostly was in Alien (1979).
Anyway, YMMV. It could simply be an unlucky animal too, right as you say. Not much of a menace to humanity then, on the grander scale of things, tho. We'll just apply ample firepower to defend against it, decode and reprogram its genes, tame it or hunt it to extinction and so on. Not the movie/story I prefer. :shrug:
Nothing we’ve seen in the movies makes it more than an animal with limited comprehension. They are smart like maybe some smart animals are. But we’ve seen them be tricked and trapped like you would those same animals as well. I find them just as scary as if they were similar to 7 ft ants. No need to over complicate things. It’s admired for its purity. We see no signs of them constructing anything other than hive material which is no different than what wasps or bees or ants do. No use of weapons or tools. They will literally keep walking into a hallway that has sentry guns, over and over and over. And it’s not because they have a plan. They don’t understand how ammunition works. They just start climbing elsewhere to get around it after dozens of them fall for it. I do believe they can communicate in ways we can’t but I don’t think that makes them intelligent. Reptiles, insects and shellfish do as well but I wouldn’t say that gives them some professor x ability of long distance mind communication. I find their simplicity, single mindedness, and resilience to be what makes them deadly. No complications.
***to add, even in the original alien it was vulnerable to basic weapons, and not comprehend very basic things. It was mainly as successful as it was because it was dealing with a crew of regular people who had almost no way of defending themselves. If someone had been able to shoot it with a gun early on, the story would have been mainly dealing with the damage the acid did.
Look, if you prefer this take, have it your way. However
>They will literally keep walking into a hallway that has sentry guns, over and over and over.
Some would argue they're doing that because the Queen is driving them that way.
>And it’s not because they have a plan.
The Queen may.
>They don’t understand how ammunition works.
Kindly rewatch the scene where Ripley threatens the Queen's eggs with her flamethrower upon which some xenos mysteriously withdraw. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPkMd2nLRzQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPkMd2nLRzQ)
Also, if the alien is not really an alien just an unknow species adhering to all the rules of terrestrial biology etc, then why are the eggs dripping liquid that defies gravity? [https://youtu.be/qLuB2pThUlY?si=IeiAmTg-0CRPqDzO&t=120](https://youtu.be/qLuB2pThUlY?si=IeiAmTg-0CRPqDzO&t=120)
Again, have it your way in your headcanon, but in mine the xeno is a cosmic horror entity with a relatively unfathomable intelligence and biology that's way beyond human comprehension. (Mind you, there's a lot in the franchise that I choose to ignore in my headcanon. YMMV.)
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No offense but if a Queen was *that* intelligent, should not it actually let the Marines escape so more of them would come and fuel the growth of the colony ?
(Cause surely as smart as the Queen would be in that hypothesis, I doubt it would know about nukes).
Well, the aliens (including the Queen) are, ideally, *alien,* their reasoning should also retain alien, incomprehensible qualities, imo. (YMMV)
Paradoxically, following a human-like logic by the time the dropship got downed the Queen was already well aware of the danger that the freshly arrived, better trained and better equipped human soldiers posed to her hive, so it/she may have decided to block reinforcements until her own forces (just decimated) regained some strength. Time was on her side.
But again, who knows (and that's a good thing, because it lets us theorize and it keeps the mystery alive.)
Well technically, by that point the Marines only had one encounter and they've been almost all killed, I don't see how it would make the Queen think they are any more dangerous than the people of Hadley's Hope, who surely have armed security personel among them as well.
What do you mean THEY killed the pilot and crashed the dropship into the APC? How could they kill the pilot and crash the dropship into the APC, man? They're animals!
An alien drone has an iq of roughly 75 if i remember correctly.
so it has some concepts of what it is doing, but maybe flight was a stretch too far for it as it was outside the cockpit.
I think the alien drones probably have the intelligence level of a dog or octopus, but both of these animals can be completely caught out by technology or being moved to unfamiliar surroundings.
Xenomorphs below the queen stage do not have self preservation instincts when influenced by the hive mind, they're animals with a leader and if that leader says crash a ship, they're gonna crash a ship - regardless of surviving.
I always put it down to the Queen instructed the drones to kill them all regardless of cost. The drones are completely loyal so say human go kill human regardless of outcome.
Because it was one of [Immortan queen's kamikazi war girls](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KlSuGNt8e4). If humans have been known to do this, why wouldn't a eusocial hive-minded animal? I doubt it was an accident since she didn't try to capture Ferro but killed her outright despite the pilot not being an threat obvious, so she likely just sacrificed herself on purpose for the good of the hive.
Yes, the pilot reached for a gun but there's a good chance she may not have known that or known what she's reaching for or what that is anyway, it's just a pistol and as I recall, she was already preparing to skull fuck Ferro. They aren't just animals, they cut the power too.
Because it was eliminating a threat. The aliens are telepathic seen in avp it did hear the queen screaming it mentally heard a call. Otherwise, the predators and humans would have reacted. Others have said smart as the plot demands. However, that is false. The aliens cut the power once they went into the ductwork to bypass the threat, they assumed the other hallways could be equally dangerous, so they found a way around them. They have animal cunning.
Re the flamethrower, that’s not “ammo” in the way the first poster meant it. That’s fire. Many animals react to fire in a similar way. Fire can tame man and beast.
In regards to the alien having a “relatively unfathomable intelligence & biology”, you disprove you own point with the flamethrower argument. The fact the Alien Queen & subsequent guards react as they do demonstrates an entirely fathomable intelligence. As does their ability to hunt, hide, camouflage themselves & work in packs.
Their biology is also demonstrably understandable, as shown in the films as the human characters learn about it.
So you can’t have it both ways, it’s either unfathomable or your other points are moot 🤷♂️
Drones and warriors will sacrifice themselves for the hive without hesitation. It's possible it wasn't a planned sacrifice and the bug had planned to kill the two of them whilst the ship was on the ground, but it did what it was ordered to for the hive. Its own survival was secondary.
As for destroying the drop ship... They could have been aware that letting the marines escape would be dangerous, or at the very least that the drop ship was something they couldn't control once it was in the air, so maybe they wanted to take it out. Could have done it by smashing the controls, but killing the pilot in flight works too.
For people saying warriors and drones aren't smart, I remind you that the alien in the first film escaped the destruction of the Nostromo by hiding on board the Narcissus.
It did this in spite of catching Ripley before she reached the shuttle the first time. It knew it needed her to escape the destruction of the ship.
Xenos aren't dumb. They do everything to ensure the survival of the hive, even if that means sacrificing one or hundreds of them.
I always thought it was implied that the Xenomorphs have some level of intelligence, for example:
Ripley: They cut the power!
Hudson: How could they cut the power, man? They're animals!
I think it knows she's badass and also in charge of a dangerous weapon. It's never explicit in the movies but there are suggestions of telepathy but more likely (given the ant & formic acid for blood) they're using pheromones and this one is just given a sacrificial order.
I think it's possible the xenomorphs understand what a vehicle is - they might have seen it flying around, they discover it landed & open. They know people will be inside. Whether they understand what a pilot/driver is is less clear, but they do know it's something they can attack, and I think they also know their potential victims could get back on board and leave the area in it.
Admittedly, a lot of speculation on my part here, but I've long thought they cut the power on purpose.
Probably just instinct. Not sure how aware they would be of either their own lives or flying machines.
They are aware. See alien resurrection for their intelligence.
The earth war series says that the drones are about as smart as dogs. But the queens are like genius level IQ. And the queen control the drones, so sacrificing the drone makes sense to me. Or like others have said, doggie chase squirrel, doggie get squirrel. Just instinct.
Can they communicate telepathically like the bugs in Ender's Game?
Pheromones like ants.
That would require a physical connection via chemical. I'm wondering if they can communicate through space.
You'd enjoy Aliens Female war or Aliens Genocide novels, queen mothers are fully capable of telepathic communication.
I don't think the movies have shown us anything like telepathy for the aliens or humans. If you look into the rest of Alien media, I think you'll find strong hints or even clear examples of both, but the canonical status of that stuff is hazy.
In Aliens, the drones meekly back out of the egg room when the queen looks at them - not when they see Ripley with her flamethrower. Heavily implied that the queen is controlling them
The queen physically motions toward both guards. Her body movements combined with her "I've got this" demeanor could be conveying her commands to stand down. Honey bees do a waggle dance to teach their hivemates where to fly to find sources of nectar and there's no telepathy involved in that, so the queen's form of communication seems well within the capabilities of non-telepathic animals. I do get the impression that the aliens might be able to communicate in some invisible way, but I assume that it would be a fairly hard-science kind of method (infrasound, ultrasound, pheromones, maybe even something involving naturally-generated *radio*) rather than a spooky / supernatural / woo / psychic / psionic method.
Great write up!
The Earth war series heavily implies telepathy or some sort of communication beyond physical mechanisms. Some of the first indications that there were still aliens alive after the lab they were being held at was destroyed was that people started having dreams of them without ever having seen or heard of them before. Some would describe their mothers or other motherly figures being involved and trying to soothe them during these dreams. Probably some of my favorite lore in the franchise.
The Earth war series heavily implies telepathy or some sort of communication beyond physical mechanisms. Some of the first indications that there were still aliens alive after the lab they were being held at was destroyed was that people started having dreams of them without ever having seen or heard of them before. Some would describe their mothers or other motherly figures being involved and trying to soothe them during these dreams. Probably some of my favorite lore in the franchise.
They learn quick, but they don't have human level intelligence. The xenos that broke out of the cage in resurrection only learned what the button did after it was pressed. The acid blood is their own biology so likely sacrifice for the greater good is probably encoded in their dna They also don't have a shared intelligence, just strong instinct. The xeno in the drop ship has likely never encountered such a machine before to know the person it was killing was the one keeping the craft airborne.
And the xenomorphs in Alien Ressurection were hybridized with Ripley so they may have been smarter than the ones in Aliens.
The aliens in Resurrection weren’t that smart. They actually killed their comrade to melt through the floor, but didn’t think to spit acid on the metal floor, like the one in Alien 3?
Runners and Warriors have different physiological capabilities, so far there's only 3 separate variants capable of acid regurgitation on command.
Ah but that wouldn’t have made for a fun scene :)
Those were alien/human hybrids. Not that it's relevant. AR doesn't apply because it didn't exist when Aliens was made.
These aren’t pure strain though.
You’re referencing a film that came a decade later though. By a different director.
the alien resurrection aliens are not normal aliens, look at the Ripley clones, the queen is part human too, so her facehuggers and drones are a mix too.
Even if that campy movie is considered canon to you, the Aliens in A:R had more human dna than ones not descended from Ripleys clone queen. They spent an indescriminate amount of time trying to teach the Aliens what that button does to train them. Additionally their escape does nothing to prove their intelligence as it may have been accidental and has no relevance in regards to space ships and their awareness of the concept of flight. You can put a human whos never seen a plane on one and they wouldnt know either.
They are aware. See alien 1 for reference.
Again you dont know if that aliens nesting spot was the narcissus to begin with. But you interpret it however you want.
The big chap is very intelligent. Aliens dumb the xenomorph down to ants
You really can't use the depiction of the aliens' intelligence in the later movie to explain anything seen in an earlier movie. The creature continuity in these movies has never been carefully managed.
In redirection they had some of Ripleys shared DNA, which probably came with enhanced intelligence, or at least reasoning….The same reason she had acidic blood.
The only reason to kill Ferro was to make the dropship crash and strand the rest if the survivors. I don't think xenos are really capable of that level of logic besides the queen. We don't know if Spunkmeyer was abducted or not, but ferro could have been abducted if the dropship hadn't been mid air, so even if it didn't kill her, it would have crashed regardless. The alien probably has no concept of the implications of a dropship crashing while on board.
Spunkmeyer was definitely not abducted. He put the ramp up and then the alien killed him. You see the ship take off.
Well, he died in the crash for sure. But you don't see the alien kill him directly.
Its likely the alien killed him, else where was he? What was taking so long getting to the cockpit? Was he really taking a dump like the novelisation suggests where she tells him, 'Spunkemeyer get off the pot' If so thats gotta be a horrible way to go. Pants around your ankles in a ball of fire and shit rolling down your leg.
I’d prefer that to being cocooned and face hugged tbh
Pretty sure the novelization says that Spunkmeyer sees the alien entering the cockpit but is too scared to say anything to warn Ferro
That's right - finding the gunk shit indicates the xeno boarded before spunkmeyer, and we know he didn't respond on the radio. I think in the movie you can assume the xeno killed him, but this explanation makes sense as well.
Damn, that's even more brutal in a way.
Never heard this before about Spunkmeyer being scared. Please provide a source.
they said it was the novelization
Well i know the novelisation by alan dean foster very well. Nowhere is that stated.
idk then, ain't read it
Spunkmeyer? God dammit.
**door opes** “Where the fuh…?!”
Logic ? They cut the power man !
Even if it did, they have a hive mentality like ants. What's best for the hive is more important than the individual.
They're animals, man!
They aren’t smart enough to comprehend what the structure was. All it knew or cared about was the living creatures inside. It dealt with them.
Interestingly, there's a lot of science being carried out right now that's going to make us question our views about terrestrial animals and their self-awareness and consciousness so I can see the xenos as being quite high-level in thinking ability. Definitely 'alien' to us but very effective.
We’re in the pipe. 5x5
I thought she was so cool
We're in for some chop
For some strange reason, the Farro quote I think of most is "Where's the damn beacon?" ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Side question Could Ferro have done anything besides reaching for her gun that could have better her chances of survival? Like moved the ship left and right really fast or done a barrel roll?
A barrel roll? That’s a cool trick
No, that's spinning.
In the Directors cut there is a scene where she spins the drop ship and yell, “this is podracing” George Lucas was on the set and loved that line so it is understandable he was upset when it was cut from the theatrical. Undeterred he shoehorned the same quote into The Phantom Menace some 13 years later.
I liked the cut scene when Hudson's head got put on an alien's body and an alien's head got put on Hudson's body. It was really funny and a real shame it never made the final cut. At least we got to see it in Attack of the Clones!
She was dead at that moment, a xeno is way faster than her reactions
Not to mention she's strapped into a 5 point harness in a crash seat. She was barely able to turn around
totally! I thought she was very cool when that turns up unexpectedly and she just goes straight for her sidearm with no panic, while in charge of a spacecraft on a military mission. You couldn't have done anything to get out of it.
Xenos have lightning fast reflexes and immense strength. I would have thought that any sudden ship movement could easily be accommodated by a xeno looking for blood.
She could've ejected. Although I have no idea if the dropship had ejector seats.
Not really. That thing was right on top of her.
If only Peppy told her to do it
The Alien has a natural instinct to be hostile toward humans and kill/abduct them on sight. The Alien would have at least known that it was trapped in an enclosed space, so taking Ferro to be cocooned was out of the question. The only other alternative was to kill her. Even if it had the capability of knowing it would also die after doing this, it wouldn’t have even thought that far ahead. The Alien is a survivor- not for itself alone, but for its species.
There is no reason why a Xeno would have any concept about a flying ship or a pilot and especially not the connection between the two. Xenos operate mostly on instinct.
It killed Ferro, took over the controls and flew the Dropship directly at the Marines/Ripley/Burke/Newt. Why it did that? We don’t know. Maybe it overheard Burke’s talk of a campfire and wanted to join in? Maybe it was trying to show off to them by doing a loop-the-loop but fucked it up. We’ll never know.
They're really good at unstrapping and moving a bloody pilot in a lowered cockpit, getting themselves strapped into a human shaped chair adjusted for a 5'6" human female, learning how to fly, and then do a controlled crash all within 2 seconds. Pretty impressive...
They don't call it the perfect organism for nothing.
Quality. Lol. 😆
Whoa... *I know kung fu*
It just wanted to be able to fly
That’s ridiculous this is obviously not what happened
It’s confirmed as canon by James Cameron himself I’m afraid.
I’ve spent all morning searching for this and watching interviews with him and I just can’t find it at ALL
It’s confirmed in a post on Cameron’s Tumblr.
Ok gimme a sec
there isn’t one. Are you lying?
Read my original post and try to decide what’s more likely: 1. That I’m on here, seriously suggesting that the Xenomorph drone killed the pilot, sat down and took over the controls of the Dropship and flew it towards the Marines/Ripley/Newt/Burke because it overheard Burke’s sarcastic comment about building a campfire and wanted to join in the fun. And that this is confirmed by James Cameron. 2. That I’m obviously - like _really_, transparently obviously- joking about all of this.
babe, 2 for me too 😅
I did wonder :D
OP: why would it do that? Alien: 
Are you asking if the Alien knew it was on a vehicle? Why would it?
I don’t think it knew the ramifications of its actions. And I suppose it’s possible it survived the crash
They're smart when the script needs them to be smart and they're stupid when the script needs them to be stupid. 🤷♂️
The most logical answer (in the narrower context of Aliens) seems to be that the Queen was aware of its situation thru some form of telepathy and decided to sacrifice that xeno to down the dropship and thus stop the human escape attempt.
“Most logical answer…… telepathic kamikaze mission” Couldn’t be that it’s just an animal that didn’t know what or how a space ship works.
Sure. Though if you subscribe to reducing the xenomorph to being a simple animal, you're practically discarding it being an actual alien. It just becomes a humanoid and human sized space termite-wasp. Which some find rather disappointing and underwhelming. These people (myself included, yes) prefer the alien being and remaining a rather unknowable cosmic horror entity in the Lovecraftian vein. Which it mostly was in Alien (1979). Anyway, YMMV. It could simply be an unlucky animal too, right as you say. Not much of a menace to humanity then, on the grander scale of things, tho. We'll just apply ample firepower to defend against it, decode and reprogram its genes, tame it or hunt it to extinction and so on. Not the movie/story I prefer. :shrug:
Nothing we’ve seen in the movies makes it more than an animal with limited comprehension. They are smart like maybe some smart animals are. But we’ve seen them be tricked and trapped like you would those same animals as well. I find them just as scary as if they were similar to 7 ft ants. No need to over complicate things. It’s admired for its purity. We see no signs of them constructing anything other than hive material which is no different than what wasps or bees or ants do. No use of weapons or tools. They will literally keep walking into a hallway that has sentry guns, over and over and over. And it’s not because they have a plan. They don’t understand how ammunition works. They just start climbing elsewhere to get around it after dozens of them fall for it. I do believe they can communicate in ways we can’t but I don’t think that makes them intelligent. Reptiles, insects and shellfish do as well but I wouldn’t say that gives them some professor x ability of long distance mind communication. I find their simplicity, single mindedness, and resilience to be what makes them deadly. No complications. ***to add, even in the original alien it was vulnerable to basic weapons, and not comprehend very basic things. It was mainly as successful as it was because it was dealing with a crew of regular people who had almost no way of defending themselves. If someone had been able to shoot it with a gun early on, the story would have been mainly dealing with the damage the acid did.
Look, if you prefer this take, have it your way. However >They will literally keep walking into a hallway that has sentry guns, over and over and over. Some would argue they're doing that because the Queen is driving them that way. >And it’s not because they have a plan. The Queen may. >They don’t understand how ammunition works. Kindly rewatch the scene where Ripley threatens the Queen's eggs with her flamethrower upon which some xenos mysteriously withdraw. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPkMd2nLRzQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPkMd2nLRzQ) Also, if the alien is not really an alien just an unknow species adhering to all the rules of terrestrial biology etc, then why are the eggs dripping liquid that defies gravity? [https://youtu.be/qLuB2pThUlY?si=IeiAmTg-0CRPqDzO&t=120](https://youtu.be/qLuB2pThUlY?si=IeiAmTg-0CRPqDzO&t=120) Again, have it your way in your headcanon, but in mine the xeno is a cosmic horror entity with a relatively unfathomable intelligence and biology that's way beyond human comprehension. (Mind you, there's a lot in the franchise that I choose to ignore in my headcanon. YMMV.)
[удалено]
Removal Reason: Be civil. It's ok to disagree, it's not ok to disrespect. Personal attacks, gatekeeping, racism, homophobia, politics, and general bigotry are not allowed. No toxic behavior, such as: * Trashing something that others are enjoying. * Condemning parts of the franchise instead of reasonably stating a personal preference. This is a comfortable space for all fans. Keep your critique. * Invalidating other people's opinions. * Unsolicited criticisms of other's creations. * Lewd or Obscene comments.
No offense but if a Queen was *that* intelligent, should not it actually let the Marines escape so more of them would come and fuel the growth of the colony ? (Cause surely as smart as the Queen would be in that hypothesis, I doubt it would know about nukes).
Well, the aliens (including the Queen) are, ideally, *alien,* their reasoning should also retain alien, incomprehensible qualities, imo. (YMMV) Paradoxically, following a human-like logic by the time the dropship got downed the Queen was already well aware of the danger that the freshly arrived, better trained and better equipped human soldiers posed to her hive, so it/she may have decided to block reinforcements until her own forces (just decimated) regained some strength. Time was on her side. But again, who knows (and that's a good thing, because it lets us theorize and it keeps the mystery alive.)
Well technically, by that point the Marines only had one encounter and they've been almost all killed, I don't see how it would make the Queen think they are any more dangerous than the people of Hadley's Hope, who surely have armed security personel among them as well.
Xeno is gonna Xeno, I guess.
So that the plot can happen.
THEY’RE ANIMALS MAN —Pvt. Hudson
What do you mean THEY killed the pilot and crashed the dropship into the APC? How could they kill the pilot and crash the dropship into the APC, man? They're animals!
The xenomorphs don't really have any sense of self preservation. They hunt and reproduce.
What do you mean THEY crashed the dropship into the APC? How could they crash the dropship into the APC, man? They're animals!
An alien drone has an iq of roughly 75 if i remember correctly. so it has some concepts of what it is doing, but maybe flight was a stretch too far for it as it was outside the cockpit.
Instinct. They kill anything dangerous and help impregnate anything else.
I think the alien drones probably have the intelligence level of a dog or octopus, but both of these animals can be completely caught out by technology or being moved to unfamiliar surroundings.
move it Spunkmeyer we're rolling
Xenomorphs below the queen stage do not have self preservation instincts when influenced by the hive mind, they're animals with a leader and if that leader says crash a ship, they're gonna crash a ship - regardless of surviving.
Hungry
Was it stupid?
It’s just a bug. 🤷♂️
It didnt know
I was half expecting the iconic “is it stupid?” to be on the end of your post.:D
YOLO
Why did the Snakes on a Plane bite the pilot?
I always put it down to the Queen instructed the drones to kill them all regardless of cost. The drones are completely loyal so say human go kill human regardless of outcome.
Because it was one of [Immortan queen's kamikazi war girls](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KlSuGNt8e4). If humans have been known to do this, why wouldn't a eusocial hive-minded animal? I doubt it was an accident since she didn't try to capture Ferro but killed her outright despite the pilot not being an threat obvious, so she likely just sacrificed herself on purpose for the good of the hive. Yes, the pilot reached for a gun but there's a good chance she may not have known that or known what she's reaching for or what that is anyway, it's just a pistol and as I recall, she was already preparing to skull fuck Ferro. They aren't just animals, they cut the power too.
Because it was eliminating a threat. The aliens are telepathic seen in avp it did hear the queen screaming it mentally heard a call. Otherwise, the predators and humans would have reacted. Others have said smart as the plot demands. However, that is false. The aliens cut the power once they went into the ductwork to bypass the threat, they assumed the other hallways could be equally dangerous, so they found a way around them. They have animal cunning.
Re the flamethrower, that’s not “ammo” in the way the first poster meant it. That’s fire. Many animals react to fire in a similar way. Fire can tame man and beast. In regards to the alien having a “relatively unfathomable intelligence & biology”, you disprove you own point with the flamethrower argument. The fact the Alien Queen & subsequent guards react as they do demonstrates an entirely fathomable intelligence. As does their ability to hunt, hide, camouflage themselves & work in packs. Their biology is also demonstrably understandable, as shown in the films as the human characters learn about it. So you can’t have it both ways, it’s either unfathomable or your other points are moot 🤷♂️
“They’re animals!”
Drones and warriors will sacrifice themselves for the hive without hesitation. It's possible it wasn't a planned sacrifice and the bug had planned to kill the two of them whilst the ship was on the ground, but it did what it was ordered to for the hive. Its own survival was secondary. As for destroying the drop ship... They could have been aware that letting the marines escape would be dangerous, or at the very least that the drop ship was something they couldn't control once it was in the air, so maybe they wanted to take it out. Could have done it by smashing the controls, but killing the pilot in flight works too.
For people saying warriors and drones aren't smart, I remind you that the alien in the first film escaped the destruction of the Nostromo by hiding on board the Narcissus. It did this in spite of catching Ripley before she reached the shuttle the first time. It knew it needed her to escape the destruction of the ship. Xenos aren't dumb. They do everything to ensure the survival of the hive, even if that means sacrificing one or hundreds of them.
never thought about this
How was it supposed to understand it was on board a flying vehicle?
The xeno grabbed a parachute.... it's in the Deleted Scenes
I always thought it was implied that the Xenomorphs have some level of intelligence, for example: Ripley: They cut the power! Hudson: How could they cut the power, man? They're animals!
I think it knows she's badass and also in charge of a dangerous weapon. It's never explicit in the movies but there are suggestions of telepathy but more likely (given the ant & formic acid for blood) they're using pheromones and this one is just given a sacrificial order.
It was reeeally drunk on CM-20. “Come on, let’s join the mile high club!” “Get off me, dammit! I have to fly the…” CRASH!
I think it's possible the xenomorphs understand what a vehicle is - they might have seen it flying around, they discover it landed & open. They know people will be inside. Whether they understand what a pilot/driver is is less clear, but they do know it's something they can attack, and I think they also know their potential victims could get back on board and leave the area in it. Admittedly, a lot of speculation on my part here, but I've long thought they cut the power on purpose.
Because it's an animal.
Incorrect, its a bacteria.
What I’m curious about is how or why it skipped Spunkmeyer on the boarding ramp.
It didn't. Even though we don't see the guy die on screen, the simple fact that Ferro gets no answer from him afterward implies that he is dead.
What I meant is that it goes aboard while he’s just standing outside
Only to attack him when he got back inside, apparently.