Alien

 

 

Screenplay by                              Dan O'Bannon

 

Produced by                                Gordon Carroll

                                                   David Giler

                                                   Walter Hill

 

Directed by                                 Ridley Scott

 

 

 

Cast List:

 

Sigourney Weaver                     Ripley

Tom Skerritt                             Dallas

Veronica Cartwright                  Lambert

Harry Dean Stanton                  Brett

John Hurt                                  Kane

Ian Holm                                   Ash

Yaphet Kotto                             Parker

 

 

 

Science fiction plucks from within us our deepest fears and hopes then shows them to us in rough disguise: The monster and the rocket.

 

W.H. Auden

 

 

We live, as we dream – alone.

 

Joseph Conrad

 

 

 

"ALIEN"

 

FADE IN:

 

 

SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE:

 

 

INT. ENGINE ROOM

 

Empty, cavernous.

 

 

INT. ENGINE CUBICLE

 

Circular, jammed with instruments.

 

All of them idle.

 

Console chairs for two.

 

Empty.

 

 

INT. OILY CORRIDOR – "C" LEVEL

 

Long, dark.

 

Empty.

 

Turbos throbbing.

 

No other movement.

 

 

INT. CORRIDOR – "A" LEVEL

 

Long, empty.

 

 

INT. INFIRMARY – "A" LEVEL

 

Distressed ivory walls.

 

All instrumentation at rest.

 

 

INT. CORRIDOR TO BRIDGE – "A" LEVEL

 

Black, empty.

 

 

INT. BRIDGE

 

Vacant.

 

Two space helmets resting on chairs.

 

Electrical hum.

 

Lights on the helmets begin to signal one another.

 

Moments of silence.

 

A yellow light goes on.

 

Data mind bank in b.g.

 

Electronic hum.

 

A green light goes on in front of one helmet.

 

Electronic pulsing sounds.

 

A red light goes on in front of other helmet.

 

An electronic conversation ensues.

 

Reaches a crescendo.

 

Then silence.

 

The lights go off, save the yellow.

 

 

INT. CORRIDOR TO HYPERSLEEP VAULT

 

Lights come on.

 

Seven gowns hang from the curved wall.

 

Vault door opens.

 

 

INT. HYPERSLEEP VAULT

 

Explosion of escaping gas.

 

The lid on a freezer pops open.

 

Slowly, groggily, KANE sits up. Pale. He rubs the sleep from his eyes. Stands, looks around. Stretches. Looks at the other freezer compartments. Scratches. Moves off.

 

 

INT. GALLEY

 

Kane plugs in a Silex. Lights a cigarette. Coughs. Grinds some coffee beans. Runs some water through.

 

KANE

Rise and shine, Lambert.

 

 

INT. HYPERSLEEP VAULT

 

Another lid pops open. A young woman sits up.

 

LAMBERT

What time is it.

 

KANE (V.O.)

What do you care.

 

 

INT. GALLEY

 

Pot now half-full.

 

Kane watches it drip. Inhales the fragrance.

 

KANE

Now Dallas and Ash.

(calls out)

Good morning Captain.

 

DALLAS (V.O.)

Where's the coffee.

 

KANE

Brewing.

 

LAMBERT walks into the kitchen. Pours herself a cup.

 

 

INT. HYPERSLEEP VAULT

 

Two more lids pop open.

 

A pair of men sit up. Look at each other.

 

 

INT. GALLEY

 

Kane enjoys a freshly-brewed cup.

 

KANE

Ripley...

 

Another moment.

 

And then the sound of another lid opening.

 

KANE

And if we have Parker, can Brett be far behind.

 

Lid opening sound.

 

KANE

Right.

 

 

INT. HYPERSLEEP VAULT

 

DALLAS looks at his groggy circus.

 

DALLAS

One of you jokers get the cat.

 

RIPLEY picks up a limp cat out of one of the compartments.

 

 

INT. MESS

 

The crew of the United States commercial starship Nostromo seated around a table.

 

Dallas                        Captain

Kane                          Executive Officer

Ripley                        Warrant Officer

Ash                            Science Officer

Lambert                     Navigator

Parker                        Engineer

Brett                           Engineering Technician

Jones                         Cat

 

Five men and two women: Lambert and Ripley.

 

LAMBERT

Jesus am I cold.

 

PARKER

Still with us, Brett.

 

BRETT

Yo.

 

RIPLEY

Lucky us.

 

They yawn, stretch, shiver.

 

Dallas looks over at a flashing yellow light.

 

KANE

I feel dead.

 

Kane is not yet fully awake. Yawns.

 

PARKER

You look dead.

 

ASH

Nice to be back.

 

PARKER

Before we dock maybe we'd better go over the bonus situation.

 

BRETT

Yeah.

 

PARKER

Brett and I think we deserve a full share.

 

DALLAS

You two will get what you contracted for. Just like everybody else.

 

BRETT

Everybody else gets more than us.

 

DALLAS

Everybody else deserves more than you two.

 

ASH

Mother wants to talk to you.

 

DALLAS

I saw it. Yellow light for my eyes only... Now, everybody hit their stations.

 

 

INT. COMPUTER ROOM ANNEX

 

Floor to ceiling data banks.

 

Another flashing yellow light.

 

A legend underneath:

 

"COMMAND PRIORITY ACCESS ONLY"

 

Dallas enters. Sits at his console. Removes insignia master computer key attached to his shirt. Plug it into the board under the light. All banks burst into life.

 

Dallas punches up a computer code on the keyboard.

 

Legend on the screen...

 

"WHAT'S MY GODDAMN KEY"

 

Print-out from computer answers...

 

"01335 ON THE BINARY SIDE"

 

DALLAS

Thank you Mother.

 

Dallas punches up the combination on the keyboard.

 

Immediately start getting a readout.

 

CUT TO:

 

 

INT. BRIDGE

 

Above eye level the room is ringed by viewscreens. All of them blank.

 

Kane, Ripley, and Lambert enter.

 

Dallas' seat remains empty.

 

All of them now dressed; they find their way to individual consoles.

 

Ripley puts down the cat, straps herself into the high-backed chair.

 

KANE

Plug us in.

 

All three crew members begin throwing switches.

 

The control room starts to come to life. Colored lights flicker. Chase each other across glowing screens.

 

KANE

Give us something to look at.

 

Lambert presses a bank of switches.

 

Viewscreens glimmer into life.

 

LAMBERT

Take a look at this.

 

On each screen, blackness speckled with stars.

 

LAMBERT

Where's Earth.

 

KANE

You're the navigator.

 

RIPLEY

That's not our system.

 

KANE

Scan.

 

Lambert hits several toggles.

 

On the screens the images begin to drift.

 

 

ONE OF THE SCREENS

 

A moving image of a starfield.

 

 

EXT. NOSTROMO

 

The Factory Starship lumbering with the depths of inter-stellar space.

 

Function:                  Petroleum tanker and Refinery

Capacity:                   2000,000,000 tons

Length:                      One and one half kilometers

 

Battered exterior encrusted with dark sludge.

 

 

INT. BRIDGE

 

Lambert pores over charts. Consults her console. Puzzled.

 

KANE

Contact traffic control.

 

Ripley switches on her transmission unit.

 

RIPLEY

This is commercial vessel Nostromo. Registration number 180246. Do you read me. Over.

 

Nothing but the hiss of static.

 

RIPLEY

Nothing.

 

KANE

Keep trying.

 

Turns to Lambert.

 

Ripley attempting transmission in background.

 

KANE

You got a reading yet.

 

LAMBERT

We're way out in the boondocks here...

 

KANE

Keep trying...

 

LAMBERT

Working on it.

 

Eureka.

 

LAMBERT

Found it.

 

KANE

Hard to believe.

 

LAMBERT

What the hell are we doing out here.

 

KANE

What are you talking about.

 

RIPLEY

It's not our system.

 

 

INT. ENGINE ROOM

 

Giant reactor system purring smoothly.

 

 

INT. ENGINE ROOM

 

PARKER and BRETT in a glass cubicle. Each having a beer.

 

Huge powerplant stretching before them.

 

All units on automatic hyper-drive.

 

Parker hits a switch above his desk. A green light goes on.

 

PARKER

How's your light?

 

BRETT

Green.

 

PARKER

Mine too.

 

They both take a swig.

 

Suddenly a beeper signal begins.

 

PARKER

Christ. What is it now.

 

BRETT

Right.

 

RIPLEY (V.O.)

Report to the mess.

 

 

INT. OILY CORRIDOR – "C" LEVEL

 

PARKER

I want to know why they never come down here. This is where the work is.

 

BRETT

Same reason we have half a share to their one, our time is their time, that's the way they see it.

 

PARKER

Well, I'll tell you something... it stinks.

 

They move towards the companionway.

 

 

INT. MESS

 

Entire crew present.

 

DALLAS

Some of you may have figured out that we're not home.

 

BRETT

What the hell.

 

DALLAS

Mother's interrupted the course of the voyage.

 

DALLAS

Mother is programmed to interrupt the course of out voyage if certain conditions arise. They have...