"There's a perfectly good explanation."

Cain 1977, I like the idea of the 'live feed' through Ash back to the Company at the point of Kane's demise, that is a very original and chilling concept.

from what i understand it was standard company protocol to investigate the foreign signal i dont think the company knew what they'd find, however ash was placed on the journey quite obviously to secure the return of any alien lifeform special order....to bring back lifeform at all costs crew expendable. (same as that jerk burke!!) this has been discussed before, if the company knew what they were dealing with they would have sent proper scientists/security to capture the specimen. not some greedy space miners!!!!

enjoying this discussion on the set-up in Alien. Ash definitely knew Kane had a chestburster inside him at the dinner when he was watching him. In the scene when Riply goes to the lab to confront Ash about overriding her order to not break quarantine, we see Ash secretly studying a "fetus" shown clearly on the screen... "what is that?"... "I don't know yet"... and asking Ripley to not look in the microscope. The question I am unsure of is: did the company know about the signal and it's likely "Alien" origin BEFORE the Nostrodamus left Thedus? Was the signal received by the ship at the start of the film a signal from the company to now wake the crew or was it the interception of the "unknown origin" signal????? If the company knew about LV-426 beforehand, why send a space freighter? Unless the signal was only recently detected and the flight of the Nostrodamus was just the closest ship which could be organised in time. We know that Ash was put onboard at Thedus just prior to the flight. This signifies either pre-knowledge or science officers were often company androids and Ash only became aware of Order 931 when he woke up. Obviously "there is an explanation" and Special Order 937 imply that the company knew about the SJ/Alien as a possibility that they were waiting or searching for. If the signal received by the Nostrodamus was the SJ signal from LV-426, was this relayed back to the company from mid-flight which then sent 937, or was 937 already enbedded before they left? I must say, Ash did not seem surprised about the flight interruption and it was a "clue" that at breakfast he directs Dallas: "Mother wants to speak to you". It is also unusal that when it was discovered they were in Zeta II Reticuli, the reaction was "what are we doing way out here?".... had the Nostrodamus been diverted for some time before the crew were woken? My feel from is that the company knew beforehand, and the Nostrodamus was just the only ship near enough to send....... (or the company was keeping it secret? to send another Military/Science vessel would have been very overt?) BTW, I love the two ironic comments in the beginning of the film: At breakfast, Parker to Kane: "anyone ever tell you you look DEAD man?" At the crew briefing, Dallas referring to Ash: "Parker, will you just listen to the MAN!" Last comment: if there are 2 prequels, maybe Prometheus will not answer ALL the background set-up for "there is an explanation for this you know"... In Alien, the company was looking for the Xenomorph, but perhaps this is really the domain of Prometheus 2?

The company obviously knew about the possibility of SJ/Xenomorphs and had the strong desire to bring a sample back. Agree it is strange if the company knew beforehand why would they send a space freighter? Unless: a) it was the only ship they could get there in a reasonable time, or b) the company wanted to keep the mission to obtain a sample covert (sending a Military/Science vessel would have meant it was too overt)... However, my question/uncertainty from the Alien set-up is: was the signal received by the Nostrodamus screen at the start of the film the "unknown origin" signal from LV 426 or was it mid-flight instructions from the company to initiate the crew wake-up? From this there are 3 possible scenarios: Scenario 1: it was the LV 426 signal received "out of the blue". The company did not anticipate it for this particular flight, but ALL company flights had the secretly embedded Special Order 937. Scenario 2: it was the LV 426 signal "out of the blue" which was then relayed back to base. After which the company realised what it was and sent Special Order 937. Note: there is no time period clear between the signal being received and how much later the crew was woken up. So for both of these, the LV 426 signal was not anticipated before the Nostrodamus left port... However: Ash was put onboard at Thedus just prior to flight - implies the company knew beforehand, so the LV 426 signal was not "out of the blue". Unless company android Science Officers were common? Ash did not seem surprised when they discovered they were not at Earth i.e. he knew when he woke up. He also directs Dallas at breakfast: "Mother wants to speak to you" implying he knew what it would say. So, this implies Scenario 3: it was not the LV 426 signal. It was the wake-up initiation sent from the company. They knew the Nostrodamus was headed to LV 426 before it left Thedus. The signal had been picked up previously. I also think it is implied that the Nostrodamus had been significantly diverted out of their flight path to Zeta II Reticulli: "what are we doing out here?" There are possible plot inconsistencies in each of these Scenarios... maybe us Alienphiles look for a clear Master Plan in the plot which with all the script rewrites and filming, did not exist in every detail :) Bottom line: "there is an explanation for this you know": the company knew about Xenomorphs enough to secretly look for them and want a sample as a top priority. But they did not know details about what the xenomorph would be - Ash was genuinely studying it to learn. However, remember there is meant to be 2 prequels: so perhaps Prometheus will not answer every Xenomorph/Alien question? Got to have something to look forward to in Prequel No. 2!

The company obviously knew about the possibility of SJ/Xenomorphs and had the strong desire to bring a sample back. Agree it is strange if the company knew beforehand why would they send a space freighter? Unless: a) it was the only ship they could get there in a reasonable time, or b) the company wanted to keep the mission to obtain a sample covert (sending a Military/Science vessel would have meant it was too overt)... However, my question/uncertainty from the Alien set-up is: was the signal received by the Nostrodamus screen at the start of the film the "unknown origin" signal from LV 426 or was it mid-flight instructions from the company to initiate the crew wake-up? From this there are 3 possible scenarios: Scenario 1: it was the LV 426 signal received "out of the blue". The company did not anticipate it for this particular flight, but ALL company flights had the secretly embedded Special Order 937. Scenario 2: it was the LV 426 signal "out of the blue" which was then relayed back to base. After which the company realised what it was and sent Special Order 937. Note: there is no time period clear between the signal being received and how much later the crew was woken up. So for both of these, the LV 426 signal was not anticipated before the Nostrodamus left port... However: Ash was put onboard at Thedus just prior to flight - implies the company knew beforehand, so the LV 426 signal was not "out of the blue". Unless company android Science Officers were common? Ash did not seem surprised when they discovered they were not at Earth i.e. he knew when he woke up. He also directs Dallas at breakfast: "Mother wants to speak to you" implying he knew what it would say. So, this implies Scenario 3: it was not the LV 426 signal. It was the wake-up initiation sent from the company. They knew the Nostrodamus was headed to LV 426 before it left Thedus. The signal had been picked up previously. I also think it is implied that the Nostrodamus had been significantly diverted out of their flight path to Zeta II Reticulli: "what are we doing out here?" There are possible plot inconsistencies in each of these Scenarios... maybe us Alienphiles look for a clear Master Plan in the plot which with all the script rewrites and filming, did not exist in every detail :) Bottom line: "there is an explanation for this you know": the company knew about Xenomorphs enough to secretly look for them and want a sample as a top priority. But they did not know details about what the xenomorph would be - Ash was genuinely studying it to learn. However, remember there is meant to be 2 prequels: so perhaps Prometheus will not answer every Xenomorph/Alien question? Got to have something to look forward to in Prequel No. 2!

Note: Ash knew Kane had a chestburster inside him at dinner. In the scene where Ripley goes to the lab to confront him about his overriding her order to not break quarantine, Ash clearly has the image of the fetus on his screen (which he turns off as soon as Ripley arrives... "what is it?"... "I don't know yet") and he asks her not to look in the microscope. BTW, I love the two pointers we are given in the dialogue at the start of the film: Parker to Kane at breakfast: "anyone ever tell you you look dead man?"... Dallas referring to Ash: "Parker will you just listen to the man!" Makes me think that Ash's casual comment to Dallas re "Mother wants to talk to you" also means more than it seems.

Ripley was able to access the special instruction "for science officer eyes-only". So doesn't that mean Dallas also had the authority to access this message and see the instruction of "Bring Back Organism. Priority One. All other Priorities Rescinded. Crew expendable." Does this mean Dallas was in cahoots with Ash about bringing the organism back? Perhaps this is why he was particularly insistant on skipping quarantine policies, and basically played fiddle to Ash's stick. or perhaps collusion with Ash is giving Dallas too much credibility as an intellectual. Perhaps he really was out of his depth with the situation and just didn't think to intercept the message "for science office eyes-only". Interesting to think about.

It was special order937. I put that in my prequel when the company activated the 120 a2's. You'd have to read it... It does go to another crew finding another derelict....