FAQ for
Alien: Resurrection (1997) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Alien: Resurrection can be found here.

No. Alien: Resurrection is the fourth movie in the Alien franchise, preceded by Alien (1979),Aliens (1986), and Alien³ (1992). The screenplay for Alien: Resurrection was written by Joss Whedon. Alien: Resurrection was followed by two more movies, AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) and AVPR: Aliens vs Predator - Requiem) (2007). Alien: Resurrection continues Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver)'s story begun in Alien, whereas AVP and AVPR were written as prequels to Alien.

About two hundred. Lt Ripley is returned to life through cloning.

The tattoo signifies that she was the eighth attempt at cloning a model of Ripley from the original Ripley's DNA.

Although we never see it happen, a sample of Ripley's blood was assumingly taken by Clemens just after she crash-landed on Fury 161 in Alien 3. By this time, she had already been impregnated with a Queen Alien embryo. A possible explanation is, as with a lot of Earth parasites/parasitoids, the Queen embryo likely takes nutrients from its host by fusing its bloodflow with the host. However, since the Aliens have concentrated acid for blood, this explanation does not hold up to scrutiny as a gestating alien embryo that merged its own bloodflow with a host would therefore be placing acid into the host's bloodstream. Therefore, a more likely explanation is that the Queen shed off cells that entered Ripley's body and bloodstream. As a byproduct of this, the blood samples used to clone Ripley contained the DNA of the Queen Alien, and the two had to be properly separated (which resulted in the seven failed attempts before Ripley 8 was created). However, it has been implied that the alien takes on characteristics of its host. So there's likely some form of DNA bonding.

The nuclear explosion at the end of Aliens could feasibly have destroyed the ship, or the subsequent radiation could have rendered the eggs useless. Although it is not clear just how far the ship was from the colonists' camp (Hadley's Hope), Bishop (Lance Henriksen) refered to the colony as becoming a vapour cloud the size of Nebraska, so it can be assumed the derelict was within range. In deleted and re-introduced scenes in Aliens, when Newt's family explores a region of LV-426 & finds the derelict ship, they drive there in a futuristic looking wheeled vehicle. As in the first film Lambert described LV-426 as "a planetoid, 1200km [in diameter.]" Also General Perez says "Ellen Ripley died trying to wipe this species out. For all intents and purposes; she succeeded," which supports the likelihood that the blast destroyed the derelict.

No explanation was given but most viewers assume that it's just an error made by the writer or actor. In keeping with the storyline, either Gediman (Brad Dourif) is mistaken, the name has changed after 200 years, or Fury 16 is a nickname for the original Fiorina "Fury" 161

Weyland-Yutani is mentioned by Dr. Wren (J.E. Freeman) when he said "...Weyland-Yutani, Ripely's former employers. They once had contracts with the military." In a deleted scene included in the Special Edition, Wren says that Weyland Yutani was bought out by Wal-Mart (yes, that Wal-Mart).

In one of the containment chambers, containing three Aliens, two of them turned on the third and punctured the chest cavity of the third alien causing the blood to eat through the floor and allow their escape. In all of the films, the Aliens have shown a fair amount of intelligence, and in that particular scene they appear to show a way of communicating with each other as well. In the previous movies, we see the Aliens show intelligence by using air ducts as a means of travel and they have incredible camouflaging skills. In Aliens they cut the power to the Med Lab where the survivors are hiding out. And in Alien 3, either by sheer luck, or by scouting out what the prisoners were doing, the monster stopped the massive plan to burn it out of the air ducts. (unless one counts the assembly cut where the creature was briefly captured)

When asked at gunpoint, Wren mentions there are 12 more Aliens. If we assume that he already subtracted the one killed by Ripley, and didn't account for the Aliens lost in the holding cell and in the escape pod, that would mean they started out with 13 Aliens. Strange, considering that the crew of the Betty delivered only eight bodies to be used as hosts; since each host can only deliver one Alien, and one of the hosts (Purvis) had not even 'hatched', there could theoretically be only 7 Aliens. However, there are six more. Perhaps the scientists had started to mass-produce the creatures by cloning them; they had already obtained 7 samples through the normal reproductive process (through eggs, facehuggers and hosts) and thought they could get more of them faster and more efficiently through cloning. It makes sense, as the scientists have already mastered the cloning process, being able to resurrect a human and a Queen Alien from samples 200 years old; cloning an Alien from a living sample would be easy in comparison, and not require a living host. It's also possible that the crew of the Betty brought more hosts, we just saw them delivering the last 8. It's also possible they retrieved more hosts from another ship. Though the last theory is less likely as Wren stressed to Perez that they needed the cargo and it's implied The Betty was the only one delivering it.

It is unknown. A lot is unknown about the gestation of an Alien chestburster, apart from the fact that the facehugger lays an embryo inside the host's chest, and that the Alien takes certain characteristics of the host (e.g. bipedal or quadrupedal movement). We don't know if the embryo takes nutrients or oxygen from the host, or simply requires a warm place to develop. However, since the facehugger keeps the host alive and feeds it oxygen, it stand to reason that the host needs to be in a decent physical condition. In short, it is hard to make valid conclusions about when a chestburster is 'ready' to be 'born'. The only thing we can go on is the sparing direct evidence as presented in previous movies. For example, Kane in Alien was in a coma for many hours after infection; however, after waking up, the Alien burst out of him within an hour or so. Ripley, on the other hand, survived several days after waking up in Alien 3. This may largely have to do with the fact that her chestburster was a Queen; however, she had also awoken from cryostasis very suddenly and nearly drowned, which may also have been a factor. (Note: information from the Alien vs Predator movies has not been considered here, as it has been widely assumed that the Predators used genetically engineered Aliens that reproduce, mature and grow at a much faster rate than normal. For example, in those movies, the chestburster bursts from the host within five minutes after implantation, and it grows into adult size within another five minutes; it took the chestburster from Alien several hours to half a day for both processes. So it could go any way: perhaps Purvis was also carrying a Queen which took several days for maturing, or perhaps he was in a bad state of health, causing the Alien inside him to require more time to gestate.

According to the FX crew, director Jean-Pierre Jeunet didn't like the static, mechanical appearances of the previous films' eggs and wanted them to be more interesting. Possible explanations based on the storyline have included: (1) the cloning process changed the mechanics of the eggs, or (2) the egg is a living entity in itself with basic perceptional senses such that it can sense the presence of a nearby host. Thus, the vibrations made by the crew of the Betty as they surface from the flooded kitchen awakened the eggs and made them stir before opening.

The Alien under water probably didn't show much interest in Call (Winona Ryder), since she was an android. She must have taken an alternate route, not visible from the elevator shaft. The elevator shaft where the Betty crew resurfaces looks pretty much like a dead end, so it is likely Call swam back into the kitchen after the Alien got out of the water. Perhaps she used a flooded air shaft used to vent off the air (visible when they swim through the kitchen). Also, during the swim through the kitchen, some of the shots show that there is a grated ceiling to the kitchen with the water line just above it, so Call may have been able to exit through one of those grates. Whatever the case was, she was able to crawl one floor up, where she could get out and open the door from the other side. Or maybe there was a service elevator used to transport food or an emergency escape tunnel leading to higher floors. The reason that she did not drown can be explained by the fact that she is an android, able to hold her breath longer, having a lower oxygen consumption than humans, or not requiring air at all.

Christie (Gary Dourdan) sacrificed himself to save Vriess (Dominique Pinon). He is hit in the face with acid, Vriess is hanging onto the ladder and gradually losing his grip, so Christie cuts himself loose and hits the water. However, the exact means of his death is not explained. Viewers have suggested several possibilities: (1) The weight of the dead Alien that was latched on to his foot held him underwater, and he drowned. (2) The force with which he hit the water may have been hard enough for him to lose consciousness and drown. This is a very viable option, as water has a considerable surface tension, meaning that water can exert a large force on a body during an uncontrolled dive. The explanation as to why the same did not happen to Call is that she is a synthetic, who can sustain significantly larger impacts than humans (like getting pierced and ripped in half) (3)The acid was eating through his skull. While the water would possibly help neutralize it, it might have been too far along, so he cut himself loose before he lost consciousness and died. This would also explain why he cut himself loose in the first place, knowing that he didn't have long to live and didn't want to die while Vriess was still strapped to him. After all the same amount, if not less of the acid ate through 3 floors of the Nostromo in Alien (4) There were more aliens swimming around underwater, and they grabbed him when he hit the water. (5) It's possible that he didn't die, that he got out another way (perhaps the same way Call got out), made it to a lifeboat, and escaped on his own. Not the most likely of scenarios, as at one point, Father informs the crew that all lifeboats have been launched, and the Betty becomes the only escape route.

She says that she is programmed to do so, and there is a solid basis for this. The famous science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov already proposed in 1942 that, for proper functioning, all robots should obey three laws:(1) A robot may never harm a human being, or cause a human being to be harmed by inaction, (2) A robot must obey orders given by a human being (unless these orders are in conflict with law 1), and (3) A robot must protect its own existence (unless this is in conflict with law 1 and 2). These three principles have been widely recognized throughout the genre of science fiction, and have become known as the Three Laws of Robotics. It is most likely that the androids in the Alien continuity (except for Ash in Alien) are programmed according to these laws. Although there are signs that the Second Law not always applies, as DiStephano mentions that the Autons "didn't like to be told what to do". Bishop mentions in Aliens that it is 'impossible for him to harm, or by omission of action, allow to be harmed, a human being', which is a paraphrase of the First Law. Call is also acting according to the second part of the First Law: if she does nothing to stop the scientists from creating the Aliens, the entire human race may die.

Yes. Firstly, the "Three Laws of Robotics" were devised by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov and have no bearing on the android characters in the Alien franchise. This was made abundantly clear in the first film when Ash directly attempted to kill Ripley and also offered no assistance in neutralizing the Alien thus allowing it to kill off the Nostromo crew one by one. Even if the Three Laws of Robotics were relevant in Alien Resurrection, Call did not see Ripley as a human, as she repeatedly pointed out that Ripley was "one of them" and would turn on the others at any time. Not viewing Ripley as human would have allowed Call to terminate her without violating any of the Laws. In addition, Asimov's Foundation series of novels devised a "zeroth" Law of Robotics: "A robot cannot harm humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. This law overrides the First Law." According to this restriction, Call could kill Ripley if doing so would prevent harm to humanity as a whole.

There is a deleted scene included in the Special Edition DVD and Blu-Ray versions of the film where Call says she set the coordinates for the ship to crash into an uninhabited sector of the Earth. As we also see in the ending of the special edition, the survivors land in what was once Paris but is now a barren wasteland. It appears Earth was either abandoned by the majority of humanity or there was a war that nearly destroyed all life.

It is confirmed in the movie by Gediman: the Queen laid her eggs, which spawned Facehuggers who would "impregnate" a host. But then "she started to change, she started to have a second cycle (of eggs). This time, there is no host. There are no eggs. There is just her womb, and the creature inside of it. That is Ripley's gift to her, a human reproductive system!" In other words, the DNA exchange worked both ways; Ripley got Alien characteristics, and the Queen got a human womb and human ovaries, enabling her to self-impregnate and spawn Alien/human hybrids. An early version of the script confirms this: GEDIMAN: Multiple reproductive systems. Complete asexual reproductive cycle, self-impregnating, we found six different sets of ovaries in her. Egg laying is the first cycle, immature. Redundancies, redundancies... she'll bring forth legion.

As the Auriga, bearing at least a dozen (and counting) Aliens plus a Queen, approaches Earth, the survivors make their way to the Betty as a means of escape. Ripley is pulled down into the Alien nest just in time to see the Queen giving birth, thanks to the reproductive organs it got in the DNA exchange with her. The newborn Alien, who possesses a faintly human-looking face, promptly kills the Queen and accepts Ripley as its mother. Ripley climbs out of the nest and continues on into the Betty where Vriess is attempting (poorly) to pilot the craft. Ripley takes over the controls, and Call goes into the bay to close a breached hatch. As she struggles to close the stuck hatch, she turns around and comes face-to-face with the newborn Alien. The Alien closes the hatch for her, and Ripley is able to launch the Betty away from the Auriga, which has been set to crash when it reaches the Earth. Because the bracers are unstable, Distephano (Raymond Cruz) goes into the bay to tell Call to turn on the auxiliary pump; the Alien kills him. Not recognizing Call as human, the Alien picks her up just as Ripley comes into the bay to see what is taking them so long. Ripley orders the Alien to put down Call, and it obeys. Mother and newborn then embrace. Ripley notices the viewing window, and cuts her hand on the newborn Alien's teeth while caressing its jaw. She then flings some of her acid blood at the window. The blood eats through the window, sucking out the air and the Alien along with it, while Ripley cries as she watches her "baby" destroyed. As Vriess and Johner (Ron Perlman) manage to pilot the Betty into the Earth's atmosphere, the Auriga crashes, hopefully destroying all Aliens aboard. In the final scenes, Call and Ripley view the Earth through a viewing window, marveling at its beauty and wondering what comes next.

According to the introduction of director Jeunet, the Special Edition is not the Director's Cut. The Theatrical Cut is his favored and authorized Version. The SE is mainly made for completists who really want to know everything. Thus, the SE only features more background-knowledge about characters, which were cut from the Theatrical Version with a reason, since they're probably not very interesting to non-Alien-Fans. A detailed comparison between both versions can be found here.

In real time the films follow the chronology of (1) Alien, (2) Aliens, (3) Alien 3, (4) Alien; Resurrection, (5) Aliens vs Predator, (6) Aliens vs Predator: Requiem, and (7) Prometheus (although it is not strictly an Alien film but certainly set in the same reality). In terms of the timeline (and excepting Predator 2 which is set in 1997 and features an Alien skull glimpsed amongst the Predators hunting trophies) the timeline is (1) Alien vs Predator (2004), (2) Alien vs Predator: Requiem (2004), (3) Prometheus (2093), (4) Alien (2122), (5) Aliens (2179), (6) Alien 3 (2179, if you accept that it's not just Ripley's nightmare in cryosleep), and (7) Alien; Resurrection (2380). Alien; Ressurection therefore is the finale to the series.