1979 Warning Beacon

You definitely hit the nail on the head as far as the xenomorphs having similiar consciences enabling them to communicate. Also having watched a trailer for the blue-ray, Fassbender talks about how the drone and deacon along with all the other xenomorph types are really just a small part of an Animal Kingdom. Which means that the xenomorphs can have similiarities with, well, anything. Maybe one of them was able to decifer the engineer dialect and transfer it to the Nostromo.

Thanks and I have not seen the blu ray trailer.....probably because I dont have blu-ray so no need to tease myself. From what I remember, the warning beacon was not directed to any one ship or species but rather anyone passing by who may want to survey LV426. Since the Xenomorphs clearly had some genetic relation to the Deacons, it is safe to assume the language would have been stemmed from the Engineers making it the most primordial at the time. This is why Nostromo's computer was able to decipher it after a period of time but even the translation was still murky, like David mentioning Paradise. (That is the only deleted scene I've seen.) I should watch more clips but since this is new I kind of like brainstorming without all the info at this point. The endgame here is similar to racism and bigotry on earth. Meaning, a Xenomorph is not automatically a senseless murdering machine simply because they have the physical traits of a Xenomorph. It would be cool if an alliance was formed between humans, deacons, engineers, and xenomorphs on the basis of valuing life.

I'm not so sure. The purpose of a drone (Alien 1979) is to find hosts to make more xenomorphs, killing the host in the process. And the deacon probably has a similiar function. And as far as the engineers go, they wanted to destroy us by using the xenomorphs as their weapon. I don't mean to shoot down your thesis, but thats what I've got. Maybe I'm wrong, but we both will need to see what the blue-ray featurettes have to tell

I probably didn't spell it out properly but I am not saying a lot of Xenomorphs developed the conscience. Only a very few and those dissenters were killed after sending the beacon warning. The other xenomorphs didn't care about the beacon because they were not as intellectually intelligent and only served in the capacity of breeding more xenomorphs. Nobody will hurt my feelings by disagreeing as this is all brainstorming. I like how the deacons and xenos were developed from the engineers who, at this point appear to be the ones who created us, but I think that is just the appearance Scott wanted to give to shadow the sequel.

Also, I am not assuming the Xenomorphs on LV426 were the only ones in existence. Thus killing the dissenters there would not mean all dissenters were killed.

There's that funny scene from Dan O' Bannon's, Return Of The Living Dead, in which one of the zombies dispatches another paramedic team to come to the location of where the first paramedic team arrived and were killed by them

There is something fundamentally wrong on the above postings... The Warning Audio Message was not (could not) be sent by xenomorphs... The message was (as explained by Ash in both book and DC) that the pilot, as his last act, sent out the message that his CARGO (not a species, not an intelligent being, not a true animal of any sort) was compromised and he had to land in that moon... Actually, to be fair, the book is unclear as the nature of the infestation, but then we have Ridley Scott's words as to what those tools were. War tools, bio weapons, and the derelict was on a mission to deploy those tools somewhere...

I hadn't seen that but it is pretty funny.

Void hawk, I'm going by the movie only. Hope this clears it up: "The transmission they received was an accoustical beacon repeating at 12-second intervals, emanating from a derelict spacecraft of alien origin. " http://www.wordiq.com/definition/LV-426

I will not, right now, quote the movie (as I am at my job XD ) but yeah, the original release was very vague. BUT When I talk about ALIEN, I will ALWAYS talk about the Director's Cut, the release that should have been always the one we refer to, the release as Ridley Scott meant it to be... Director's Cut has the dialogue between Ripley and Ash, WHEN Ash explains to Ripley what was going on...and he tells her the deciphering of the message by The Company and their plans, and this is when he comments that he hoped humans would one day meet that " noble" species... Director's Cut is a lot more faithful to the book...

From the script: RIPLEY "I told you, it wasn't indigenous. There was an alien spacecraft there. A derelict ship. We homed on its beacon..." http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Aliens.html Can you help us understand what is vague about Ripley saying it was an alien spacecraft?

From the Alien script: "Ash looking at the craft on a screen. ASH Yeah. Never seen one like it. Neither has Mother." Pretty clear in the 1979 release the ship is identified as alien Ash even says the warning is not a language at all so how could a pilot say his cargo was a problem if the warning wasnt someone speaking? RIPLEY Have you tried putting the transmission through ECIU. ASH (voice over) Mother hasn't identified it as yet. It's not a language." To prevent any more confusion, here is the part of the script where Ash tells Ripley the company knew it was an Alien before they landed on LV 426: RIPLEY They wanted to investigate the Alien. No matter what happened to us. ASH That's unfair. Actually, you weren't mentioned in the order. LAMBERT Those bastards. ASH See it from their point of view. They didn't know what the Alien is." http://sfy.ru/?script=alien So in the first two films both explicitly state it was an alien spaceship. I trust this sufficiently proves the OP claim correct that the beacon was not sent by a human.

Come to think of it, I'm not aware the beacon message was ever decoded. The closest I remember is here: "Ripley at her console, still working on transmission. Gets a readout. Looks worried. Speaks into communicator. RIPLEY Ash, tell Dallas Mother speculates that the noise is some kind of warning." Here is the part where Ash tells Ripley about the specific order to set down and investigate a life form: "ASH Special Order 937 in essence asked me to direct the ship to the planet, investigate a life form, possibly hostile and bring it back for observation. With discretion, of course." The only way they coubeacone known it was alien is by the beacon.

My, script fan? It is easier to watch the original, uncut, Director's Cut. Better not quote the script as it is even a bit, humm, too winded and still missing the point by not getting the more complete version. Book and movie's original, restored AND released Director's Cut do not leave any doubts about what was going on: The Company detected and was able to decode an audio signal coming from LV426 The Company deciphered the message and knew what happened there. The Company knew they could not officially bring that dangerous creature in the message through Border Control, so they set up a way: They had one of their deep space tug ships ( the Nostromo ) roughly on that route, so they exchanged the science officer by Ash in the stop prior to the Nostromo going back to Earth, and never told any crew it was a sinthetic human (movie/book wording) with specific instructions to deviate the ship enough to pick up the weak signal. By law they would need to go to the planet because Space Navigation Rules determined that any distress signal has to be attended, or else penalties would fall to any not answering that message. Ash's mission (by Company Orders) was to get one of the crew members infected and then put him into hypersleep to bring the said crew member back to Earth. Under medical emergency disguise the crew member would go straight into The Company's hands, and shipped to its bio weapons division (the ones that divised the way to bring a possible very profitable alien weapon's tech, as they already deciphered the message) Ripley, when confronting Ash in the original/uncut/DC version has the same dialogue she had with Ash in the book, where she intuitively unveils The Company strategy to bring that dangerous organism back to Earth, and THAT is when Ash (in the movie as well as in the book) TELLS her that they knew the message's content and they wanted the bioweapon for their arsenal. THIS is when he calls the race who's last pilot left the warnig message an honorable place and wished humans could meet them out there in the Galaxy. This is what is both in the movie and in the book. The Director's Cut is more faithful to the story AND explains some of what was left unasnwered by the movie edited edition, whixh is what you are quoting here. Better get the real thing, not quoting the edited version... There was no doubt left as to why Ash was there, what were those instructions, what The Company wished and that they KNEW the message's content and wanted specifically the bioweapon there for their use.

Can you provide a source showing that in the movie Ash decoded the message that the pilot said he landed due to cargo issues? It doesn't matter what the book says as nobody is discussing the book, the book has nothing to do with this thread, and the book has nothing to do with Prometheus or Paradise. We all know there are differences between books and films but Scott is clearly going off his own movies and not the book. Thank you in advance for the link showing the reason the ship landed on LV426 was due to cargo issues.

Not Ash, it is just the tool used by the Company to secure the organism to be brought to Earth. Again someone saying the book is not important but then again it was sanctioned by Scott and written by the ones creating the script. The Company was not investigating, but planted Ash to bring back the organism for further analysis... No confusion nor doubt on this, and the Nostromo crew were just assets to be used by the Company. Clear and well in accordance to the book, which you might want to discard but is integral to the story, which is good because brings even more depth to each character.

Let's try this one more time: You claimed it was impossible the beacon was put out by a Xenomorph. You have not provided a single iota of evidence supporting that claim. There is no doubt the ship was an alien spacecraft as stated by several characters in A1 and A2. I don't think John Smith was the pilot. Chances are, an Alien was piloting the Alien ship. Since there were no other life forms on LV426, that kind of narrows down who could have sent the beacon. Now, if you have a link with evidence showing it could not have been a Xenomorph then please post it. If you don't, I'm not addressing your unsupported claim anymore as it provides no benefit.

Ok Then we trew out everything Ridley Scott said himself, as well the scripts from the movies AND the book you seem to discard readily, just to prove your initial posting was relevant. I can agree with a real based idea to discuss, but try to create a new concept over something as well understood as to who send that signal and why, well, it is a bit stretching. As I said in another line, we must draw a line between good science fiction and bad science fiction, as well as draw a line as to when and what we start as ideas if some concepts are well stablished even by the ones that created the first movie, which had sound innovative concepts and good science fiction as well. And I use ALIEN as the starting point anyway Well, you can defend your idea, but as far as I undertand it, a bio wepon that as being transported in a millitary bomber (Ridley Scott used this term, so I heard) would not set an alarm to avoid anyone landing there, or a SOS, or whatever you want that signal to be. Those are well stablished for years. And we are reverting to ALIEN and we should go to the sequel anyway...but it is intersting to see what comes on the subject Just one thing could give your idea a little chance, the audio signal could not be recorded by a Engineer, at least as we heard it on ALIEN and as it was described in the book (yes, my friend, the book indeed) so something else would have sent the signal out. I heard some expeculate the ship might be doing it, as a sentient tool as well...possible. Or one of the bio-weapons it was carrying to be used somewhere yet to be disclosed? Possible? Anything is possble, but unlikely. On this I would go for the ship... I would not want such in the sequel, at least...

You claimed it was impossible the beacon was put out by a Xenomorph. You have not provided a single iota of evidence supporting that claim.

I'm going to refer to the book, because it is the only place I ever saw the beacon referenced...... In a scene in the book when they are investigating the Space Jockey inside the crashed Derelict ship, I think it is Dallas that comes across a device that is without dust as the rest of the ship is covered in it. Lambert comes over to it and uses a device to confirm it is the device putting out the transmission. I believe they then switch it off, from memory, but I haven't read the book in quite a few years now, I'd have to go back and re-read to confirm that, but it was in the Alien Omnibus with Alien, Aliens and Alien 3 in paperback. The version I read also described the Space Jockey as being a noble race far outstripping man in their technology, and that the recording they intercepted was "very detailed, frigteningly specific" in the detail it went into in regards to the Space Jockeys' final hours/moments. Ash also states that the Space Jockey was in fact just some poor schlub in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that the Aliens were just a parasite the Space Jockey had picked up on another planet entirely. If you would rather not refer to the book, I think you're doing yourself a dis-service in all honesty. It has a lot of things in it that Ridley should have referred to in making Prometheus...... And expands on what Dan O'Bannon had in mind for the species. Alan Dean Foster was the writer, going off an early script. Which is why there are some discrepencies. But the book still stands for me.