Jones what is the meaning?

The alien actually hits the catbox sending it flying if you watch the scene closely........dont know if its a deleted bit.....but this happens in the directors cut with all the deleted scenes replaced. You see the Alien looking in on Jones then he just wacks the box away. My biggest unanswered mystery still is who locked Jones in the locker and why?

Close, I say you are close , not her baby... Her "Friend".

This is from my forum Article [url=http://www.prometheus-movie.com/articles/9]Alien's Monsters in the Realm of the Unseen[/url] "As Ripley wakes, there is no one who will understand or can empathize in the world she will awaken to, but for a cat she happened to save and the people responsible, who will most certainly crucify her as scapegoat. That search for Jones the cat stands as the film’s only response to this lack of empathy, that indifference. It defies the horror film convention of never going off alone and in spite of the risk to Ripley’s life for his sake. As it happens, she survives. Meanwhile, Parker and Lambert ostensibly conform to the convention by working together toward a goal of escape and survival, only to find gruesome ends in the process. Ripley’s empathy for that animal, the choice to act upon that emotion is ultimately her saving grace and the film’s one truly selfless antithesis to the Company’s identity and clear statement of purpose."

Jones also represents the evolution of an ultimate predator. You never know who will be on top of the food chain, human, ape, tiger, or xeno someday.

@Spartacus you maybe right with that. I would assume if she saved one of her friends (or crew) she could maybe wake up the next day. I suppose it brings into focus how insignificant and human (the one of the few emotions that that character shows apart from terror) and how "perfect" and unemotional the Alien is!

@Craigmore, amazing reveal, Thank You, I loved reading that.

@Punx did you read what Craigamore posted? It's Awesome IMO

And @craigamore I think Empathy is definitely the right word...

Thanks guys

you got your posting privileges the Old Fashioned Way.... [b]"YOU EARNED THEM" ![/b] -SPOKEN like John Houseman in that old "Smith Barney" advertisement

Thanks buuuddy...

If only I thought the filmmakers were thinking of it that deeply. But filmmakers rarely do, and it's scholars who come up with the interesting takes.

[b]"true dat Biehn_Bandit Baby Bad Boy" !!![/b]

Jones totally saves her butt, an unintentional distraction for the alien. I always thought the alien was curious and fascinated by the cat. And the pet carrier being left at that crucial spot...movie genius. And I think Ripley eventually assumed that the alien would not be interested in snuffing ole Jones...especially after the hissin' and dissin' when Brett got the face lift;)

[quote]"Meanwhile, Parker and Lambert ostensibly conform to the convention by working together toward a goal of escape and survival, only to find gruesome ends in the process. "[/quote] Yeah, for cylinders that Ripley didn't seem to care about after sending them to their death(s). Couldn't she have made their deaths not in vain by bringing back at least one cylinder? ; ) In the DVD commentary, Ridley talks extensively about Ripley going back for the cat. It was to demonstrate a juxtaposition with the character, Ripley. All tough, official, impersonable, by-the-book at the beginning and the a softer, more caring side at the end. Of course this all led to THIS: [url=http://vimeo.com/18388664]http://vimeo.com/18388664[/url] and, ultimately, THIS: [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT6WXQoqAUc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT6WXQoqAUc[/url]

Jones is there to create tension for the audience. Watch the scene where Brett bites it; the frame is focused on the cat while nasty things are happening off camera. There are some in the audience that don't want the Alien to hurt the cat and they want Ripley to escape with it. Then there are others whose sense of flight take over and want Ripley to bug out and leave the cat. Jones is the third-party innocent who has no concept of what's happening around him.

Yes, but it also shows Ripley as the 'All loving Mother' the 'Loving Godess'. And with Jonesy, she could have left him but she decides to go back for him because you do anything for those you love and this thought also reflects the 'motherly love' instinct apparant throughout women as a whole (it 0s hoped) This is then repeated to it's litteral sense in Alliens. We have the handing over the reigns from Jonesy to the reference of her 'Long-Dead daughter' back to Jonesy then she is compelled by some universal instinct, a connection across the cosmos to Newt. A destiny that is awaiting to draw the two protagonists together. Newt now filling the void in presence and age previously occupied by her former daughter. It is no coincidence that we never see any reference to Jonesy again in the Alien franchise ever-after Aliens.

The alien "looked" at the cat while Ripley fled. When she came back the box was on its side and had been tossed around. The creature probably gave up when it figured the box was too hard to break into.

....Ripley does leave the cat to fiend for itself initially at least. It just so happens that Mr. Xexnomorph was not interested in the cat. That in itself leaves lots of questions unanswered. For example in Alien 3 we see that the facehugger has no problem ingesting its larva or whatever it does in a dog. Now in Alien the original and Aliens the xenos transport living host for the eggs. Now is this a natural instint to provide host for the furthering of its species or what. In Alien we see Dallas and whom we believe to be Brett all gooed up with some substance arguably the same stuff the colonist in Aliens were gooed up to just fresher....since we have no idea how long the colonist were there stuck to walls. Maybe at some point the stuff on dallas and brett ends up like the crystalized silocone or whatever the crap is in Aliens. Or maybe the xeno was transforming dallas and brett to be one of him....who knows. Hopefully we will get some answers with Prometheus....probably not directly in the film but with the bluray complete disk ya know. After 20 century rakes in a bunch of cash and say hey we'll do a promethues two....its a cash cow

In Alien, reproduction wasn't addressed like Cameron did when he introduced the idea of an egg-laying queen. The deleted scene of Dallas (and Brett) "becoming an egg" WAS going to be Ridley's way to touch on Alien reproduction. The Alien literally goos up the human to create an egg that will eventually produce a viable face-hugger. I always look at what we see in the deleted scene as a "Plan B" for reproduction in the absence of a queen. I have no doubts that if the scene had been included and Ripley hadn't flamed them, one of them would have produced a queen face-hugger. Of course, Ripley had no intention of introducing a queen (nor did O'Bannon have it down as an idea). The queen is 100% JC trying to one-up RS. (facepalm, IMO).