Michael Bishop

To all- keen observations. I watched A3 quite a bit and that Bishop scene never dawned on me- I saw him bleed so took it that he was human. Another basic observation is if he was human and made Bishop, I would imagine him appearing older. I will have to pop in the Assembly Cut very soon.

The credit goes to I Moon Girl it was her observations that sparked this interesting debate :)

Ati Im curious as to what happened last time you raised this idea?

Damn it, I can't find my book Id like to re-read that whole section

Look how far his ear is hanging off of his head!  He did grunt a little in pain a couple of times, but I would be expecting a lot more if that injury is as bad as it looks.

So, to explain the red blood.  What if he is a droid with a human brain in it?  That would explain why he looks the same age as the android he made and would also explain why there is blood in him.  The brain needs blood to function.  So, with this, we can explain why he bleeds red blood, looks exactly like a Bishop android that he apparently created yet doesn't look any older than, and it would explain why he isn't in much pain.  Those grunts could just be him angry at the fact that his face got messed up.  I'd be made about that too.  So, he's an advanced droid.  I'm not saying I believe this, but this is an explanation to me.

I would think if he was human, that hit would have knocked him unconscious.

I Moon Girl, you ask the best questions. Thank you so very much.

Michael Bishop was born in 2127 and he took this hit in 2179 (age 52). 

"He was a strong proponent of the human enhancement...bone strength plating, circulatory nano upgrades..."

Weyland-Yutani Report, page 139.

The upgrades Michael Bishop adopted to his human body is the reason he was able to survive that hit and then still try to plead with Ellen Ripley.

@Ingeniero

Interesting.  Thanks for the info.  I might have to buy that book. 

Back to the ear. It is fairly vascular but mostly cartilage and not much nerve endings and thus not a lot of pain.   

For the egg in A3, I thought it was pretty much exhaustively decided it was a plot device that we look the other way and enjoy the movie. 

@I Moon Girl

I like your theory that we are not seeing Michael Bishop in Alien 3, but another Bishop Android! ...But I would like to respectfully disagree!

First, re-watch the scene in Aliens where [Lance?] Bishop gets impaled by the Xeno queen. 

The Bishop getting impaled and ripped in-half scene is a subject of fascination for me, I sometimes watch it on a loop because it is so captivatingly expressive.

From this scene we learn that Bishop Androids are very much capable of feeling and expressing reactions to pain! So, I think if one's ear got partially severed it would have more of a reaction than Michael Bishop did.

Second, sometimes when someone sustains a very severe injury, adrenaline prevents them from feeling the full extent of their injuries and they do not initially express normal pain reactions. This may have been the case for Michael Bishop.

Third, Michael Bishop bleeds a red fluid resembling blood, whereas most Androids bleed a white fluid. This could be easily explained away though, I admit.

Fourth and finally: though I'm probably personalizing things too much, and this is not likely what the writers and directors intended... I like to consider what sort of personality type is likely to create Androids. 

For a number of reasons, I personally think we High Functioning Autistics are just the sort of people for the task. 

Many of us have atypical pain responses, sometimes including abnormally high pain tolerance, or not readily detecting that we're in physical pain. This is actually a disadvantage because it can and does lead to injuries and illnesses going undetected and untreated. 

We're also decidedly not captivatingly expressive, but many of us are fascinated enough with the concept, that I think designing emotionally expressive Androids would fall well within our sphere of interest.

Maybe Michael Bishop is a High Functioning Autistic, who set out to create an empathetic, expressive android who doesn't share his same flaws, and maybe Michael Bishop didn't notice that his ear was hanging off since his sensory processing is a bit wonky. That's my pet theory, anyway! :P

@ VivisectedEngineer

It's not a theory, it's just a logical conclusion with the information presented in the 4 main Alien movies that are basically as canon as it gets.  The man we know as Michael Bishop in Alien3 was never formally introduced.  Luckily Ingeniero has the facts on who Michael Bishop is; otherwise all we could do is draw logical conclusions.

The clip you mention about Bishop being impaled by the Xeno Queen is a random incident and I don't think is enough evidence to assert that androids can feel pain.  I'm not saying they do or they don't, but if they do feel pain, then they are able to ignore it, unlike humans.  This is factual when you consider Ash being "brought back from the dead" with only his head in Alien.  This is also fact with Bishop being "brought back from the dead" in Alien3.  This is also a fact with David becoming headless in Prometheus.  This is also the case with Call in Alien: Resurrection who was shot.  In all of those situations, neither android expressed pain, or at least much, even though they were in pieces or were shot.  There voices might have been messed up in some of those examples, but I guess that could be expected when all that's left of an android is its' head and I wouldn't be surprised if an android that lost its' head also experienced some messed up interior components which would mess with the androids voice.  There is also fact in Alien: Covenant where Walter gets his hand eaten by acid when he punched the Neomorph.  I don't remember Walter ever experiencing pain.  I just remember him with look of fear or surprise or determination on his face (I can't actual remember that part very well, but I'm pretty sure he didn't show signs of pain.)

For Michael Bishop to have enough adrenaline running through him to ignore a massive gash in the back of his head with his ear falling off wouldn't make sense to me.  I do agree that humans can receive extra adrenaline in moments of life or death or situations similar, but Michael Bishop doesn't seem to fit the bill for that to happen for me.  To me, Michael Bishop is trying to have a conversation that he so desperately wants to go his way.  That blow would have easily knocked out a normal human being and would likely result in a concussion or even cause death.  Plus, I don't think he wants a Xeno Queen more than what his life is worth.  That's the question with all WY employees, "Would they sacrifice themselves for a chance to have a Xeno?"  I think we have our answer, in a way, in Alien: Resurrection, which is, "No."  It's not WY employees in A:R, but they are humans that want something from the Xeno and are willing to steal people to get it.  They even have the technology to remove the Xeno from themselves, but they still choose to steal people to get impregnated with the Xeno.

On your third point, I thought that the Bishop that's trying to get Ripley from killing herself is an android with a human brain in it, which is why he bleeds red, but according to the facts from Ingeniero, it's Michael Bishop with human technological upgrades.  That makes sense to me and is the only example that I know of in the Alien-verse where humans have merged with technology.

Of course, all of my ideas on androids come from me not thinking that they have many, if any, actual human emotions.  Androids could be programmed to act like they are experiencing pain because, as David said in Prometheus to the question, "Why do you wear a space suit?"  David replies, "Because it makes your kind (humans) feel more comfortable if the android blends in with humans." (or something like that).  So, that pain you think Bishop is feeling in the movie Aliens could all be part of his programming, but he may not actually be feeling anything.  That brings the question, "If I think, do I feel?"  This is a very abstract question and I'm sure different people have different beliefs on how this relates to AI androids.  AI stands for Artificial Intelligience.  Here is one definition for it...

ar·ti·fi·cial in·tel·li·gence

the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.

It doesn't state feelings in there, but if androids had AI and feelings, I'm sure they could make better and more human decisions.  We discussed emotions with androids early and I really don't feel like continuing that debate.  I feel like we kind of have our own, yet separate beliefs on that.

It's a little bit funny that the creator is called Bishop II.