So Aliens was on TV again...
I have posted before about "what went wrong?" Meaning what small thing could have avoided disaster? Like Spunkmeyer closing the GD door or someone staying on board the Sulaco. In reality, nothing could save us from our hubris; Our belief that we can control an alien species perfectly designed to kill us.
An exchange I never noticed before.
Burke and Goreman in Ripley's apartment.
Burke. "They are trained to deal with situations like this"...60 seconds later..."we have no idea what we are dealing with"

I guess that is why I give Prometheus so much slack for bad scientific procedure. (Is there even air? You don't know! Wait, wrong movie:)
Humans are like ADD kids in a science lab after too much sugar.
Pray that the new super collider does not actually find a God particle.
Happy New Year everybody!!!!

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No, they are not going to see this coming...

Gorman: "That's true, we've been trained to deal with situations like this"

*at the end of the breakfast/dinner table*

Burke: "Oh by the way Gorman, there is a 'slight' chance there could be some kind of creature responsible
Gorman: "You never said anything about this before. A creature? Like what?"
Burke: "I dunno....a uhhhh...a....a Xenomorph"
Gorman: "Hmmm, well....errrr....I'm sure it'll be fine. Best have the new girl tell us a little about it though...you know....stuff we can use"
Burke: "Sure....I'll make sure she knows what's important and what's pointless"

*later that day after Ripley's 'important' information sharing*
Vasquez: "Look man, I only need to know one thing....where they are!"
Gorman: "We're screwed!!"

Happy New Year Joe!!!

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Keep in mind, if everything went as planned, Burke would have secretly brought them back to Earth.

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No, they are not going to see this coming...

Also keep in mind that the US had the same attitude going into VietNam, which Aliens was influenced by.
We didn't win that fight either... but at least nobody was infected by a hostile ALIEN organism.

Lots of other organisms though.

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I think going in with more troops would have helped.

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It's a boot!"

III drops

They're really doing fine until they go to the Atmosphere Processor. If they had stayed at the colony proper and waited for the Aliens to mount an attack they would have cleaned up quite handily. Of course a) there's no reason for them to have done that plot-wise, and b) the film would have been really short.

A more plausible point of departure is when they realize they can't fire any rounds. Clearly Gorman should have pulled them out. Would a more experienced officer have possibly realised the danger before sending them in? Could they have studied the situation and compared it to Ripley's account and realised the truth without needing to enter the Atmosphere Processor? They'd already found face huggers and alien acid burns, what else would they need before they started taking her account as Gospel?

I love how this plays out as character weakness and not clumsy plotting. Aliens is one of the tightest scripts around (except for that whole "where's Bishop?" snafu during the Dropship crash).

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So true what has been said.

In the book there is even a rule not to fire a grenade in a closed room.
In the movie Gorman and Burke "forget" to consider to check what weapons to be used in the reactor area.

I agree plote vise it had to end this way.
The plot said the finale is about Reply (and Newt), to bad for the Marines.
Burke as a character risked his live (and that of others) to make profit, no surprise.
Gorman, well it shows that experience has its benefits. Or they simply stopped teaching "Know yourself and know your enemy" at the academy.

Otherwise the sufficient numbers of Marines would have come in time to the conclusion that
sending in a drone and nuke the place is the safest option. Which is to short for a movie.

Overall Aliens is "still" a great movie.

Just my two cents.

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