WHY DOESNT RIPLEY GET KILLED IN ESCAPE SHUTTLE IMMEDIATELY

I never understood why the Xenomorph just decided to take a nap and let Ripley walk about either, if that's what you mean lol

I thought the Xeno accomplished its mission so to speak after it made the egg morph (although that was only in the director's cut). It may have sensed things were going wrong when the alarms were sounding during the self destruction sequence. The kicker is if it was going to die anyway, why would it stow away on the escape ship and not just curl up on the Nostromo?

I think back then, they filmed it the way they did not knowing the series would become what it has.

If you subscribe to the whole battery acid for blood theory (ref: Fifield question)  as a form of energy production (in lieu of food) you could assume the xeno was there to die, having just about depleted its energy reserves. Would also explain why it was so lethargic and slow....it was literally running out of batteries. 

Poor little guy got pooped from massacring a crew and felt he could always get Ripley after a nap. ;)

Big Chap was always pretty slow except for when it made of with Brett.

I figure it would have died by itself until Ripley poked the hornets' nest.

@Lawrence of Arabia, lol!

Imagine it pyjamas and a little alarm clock next to its head ticking away! hahahaha.

He could have been trying to camouflage amongst the conduits & pipes or about to hibernate, ridinvail thats an interesting concept, it is suppose to be an ever evolving lifeform so its not out of the question.

Maybe, having a highly-evolved instinct (for its own survival and continuation of the species, among other things), the monster sensed that Nostromo was no longer a safe playground and figured it might be safer where the woman and the cat retreated. So it followed and maybe even sensed that the woman could fly them somewhere where it could continue its good work (kill, morph, procreate, whatever). And was hiding until Ripley found it.

That is however not exactly in line with the originally intended ending of the film (the beast killing Ripley).

JonesRules I agree with your point and have read basically the same idea here and there.

I am glad the xeno didn't kill Ripley as originally planned although we wouldn't have the mess we have now LOL!

Im telling you 5 more minutes and that xeno would be cooked...out of batteries like Johnny 5 after taking a beat-down ;p

let's see how many 80/90's kids are on here and remember the happy fellow....

some believe the xeno went onto the shuttle for a quiet place to die. personally I think it was more intelligent than is depicted and somehow knew it was in danger and knew that the survivors were going to leave so it stowed away so it could morph the survivors on the shuttle. it didn't really have any need to be quick about doing this as there really wasn't anywhere the survivors could go as they were stuck on the shuttle. it could take its time once it sensed there was only one survivor and probably didn't regard ripley as much of a threat.

or could have just been having a siesta after its last meal

Yeah, it was just having a quiet nap. Then when it woke up, it decided to show the puny human how it was in complete control, and gave us the terrifying slow motion pseudo-sexual performance.

I think it can be interpreted as a number of things...

The Organism was hiding away so that when Ripley Left it could then (after it has rested) use her for what ever purpose or Agenda it had... Kill or use to create a Egg etc.

But RS had said at one point that the Xenomorph had performed its usefulness and was in the process of dying.

Which we have to ask why did it go to the Shuttle if it was going to Die?   Maybe in Death its Body becomes something else and so Restarts the chain of events?

I remember Johnny 5 IRaptus from Short Circuit. I like Fisher Stevens too...he was great in Hackers.

I think it sensed that something was going on. This is for the following reasons:

On her way to the Narcissus Ripley almost stumpled over the alien. She left Jones there and returned to turn the cooling system of the Nostromo on again. While she's on her way back there's a scene where the alien took a close look at Jones in the box and as I interpred that scene, it was to imply, that the alien squared one (if I remember correctly it was just a few meters from the door to the Narcissus (which was propably open, since Ripley has started the computers some minutes earlier).

I think it went there to hide, since it felt that the last human was trying to get on that little ship. Being suspicious the alien just went in there to hide so it could be taken to a new place. When taking her clothes off Ripley came so close to the alien, that the alien felt it was out of danger and hiding would no longer be necessary - neither would be hurrying since the human could not escape.

Of course it could also have gone there to die but then why go there and not somewhere in the ore refinary or something.

Ingeniero yay for Short circuit!!

jdvyne I like your idea with Jonesy, remember in Alien 3 Ripley notes that the runner "It's like a lion. Sticks close to the zebras."

Perhaps also the shuttle was just the warmest part of the ship, with Ripley having fired it up for her escape? 

Plot convenience is the short answer

I think the strobe lighting on the Narcissus may have triggered a trance in the Xenomorph, hence its lethargy.

I thought I read somewhere that Xenomorphs could live for 150-200 years. On an evolutionary scale, it doesn't seem very smart to go through so many stages (egg/facehugger/chestburster/full-grown) only for the organism to just die after a few days.

If we relate it to lifeforms on Earth, some small insects only live for a few days, but then large tortoises can live for maybe 150 years. Surely a large xenomorph could live more than 72 hours?

I think a lot has to do with how it has evolved from Star Beast, with Star Beast it was hinting that the Organism can mature as it gets older to become intelligent and even form a civilization and so could live for a longer period.

But after we got Alien in 1979 it was then portrayed as a Weapon by RS and he had on a few times said they have like a 3-4 day Life Cycle.   Which would be ideal for a Purposely Engineered Weapon which i think even as today RS is going down this route that the Xenomorph is a Bio-Weapon Creation and so its creation is to be used as a eradication Tool.

This may just apply to the Xenomorph however... and not the Origins of the Black Goo or maybe other creations from it.