True, it was Burke who made the request to Hadley's Hope ("signed Burke, Carter J.!!!!"). I just have a hard time thinking Burke was acting totally alone at that point. Yes, the WY committee investigating the Nostromo incident showed no signs that they believed Ripley, and Van Leuwen even tells her they don't have to check out the planet because of the colony there. But if WY as a company is THAT ambitious and is willing to reroute a commercial towing vehicle in ALIEN to investigate a *possibe* life form on LV-426, then it seems like an *actual* human sighting of an alien lifeform would indeed move them to investigate. I mean, if you're going to program every ship in the fleet to stop on a dime and investigate possible signs of alien life, then why wouldn't you at least tell your folks on Acheron to check out a reported and potentially dangerous alien life form? I may be reaching but I always felt that committee was a put on, and that as soon as it was over, they were huddling to figure out how to check out the planet and potentially capitalize on what was there, if anything.EscapistAccount said:THIS!!!Ezekiel said:WY didn't send them. That was Burke acting on his own. He wanted the fame and fortune. Which is why he was so nervous when Ripley threatened to expose him. He was just sent because it was an expensive colony. The WY execs didn't believe Ripley. They went with their kids because they weren't told what they were searching for.
Oh my god thank you!!!
I'm not blaming the person you're replying to but in Aliens it isn't Wayland Yutani that's sending colonists into the ship to try and get infected, it's Carter Burke. Wayland Yutani don't know or believe that the alien ship and the eggs are real, the idea of getting colonists infected and recovering a sample is from Burke because it'd be 'worth billions to the bioweapon industry', much as WY are portrayed as the typical evil corporation in pop culture as far as I can tell they're not actually involved at a corporate level at all. I also don't think Burke had any intention of turning the sample over to the company, from what you can infer from the film Wayland Yutani is a terraforming and energy supply company, they almost certainly don't have a bioweapons division so his buyer is probably another company.
Also, I'm not sure what evidence there was suggest Burke was willing to turn on the company when he says flat out that the facehuggers are worth millions to WY's bioweapons division. But maybe you're right. Burke was shifty.