No One Can Hear You ScreamIn the beginning, Ripley and the gang team up against a survivor, unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.
Would you like to go on a harrowing sci-fi journey? Take a trip through the Ellen Ripley timeline, people! Ripley may be one of the great cinematic protagonists and strongest horror heroes in the history of American filmmaking, but she really takes an emotional beating throughout the Alien franchise.
If you thought the Xenomorphs were terrifying to think about, go ahead and ruminate on what it would be like for pretty much everyone you've ever cared about dying before you do. It's not a happy thought. And yet, Ripley continues to survive, survive, and survive some more. So, let's go from beginning to end with this sci-fi/horror icon, and remember, in space... no one can hear you scream.
All great (or is it terrible?) journeys must start somewhere, and for Ellen Ripley, that trek began in January of 2092.
Born on the Earth's moon in a colony known as Olympia, Ellen was technically a member of the United Americas. Ripley was a gifted student from a young age, and after spending the majority of her youth in a quarantine facility, she was ready to set off into the unknown to prove herself. She would eventually graduate from Evansbrook Academy as one of the best students in her class.
Ripley Became A Pilot In The US Merchant Navy Before Joining Weyland-Yutani
After graduating with honors, Ripley's first gig was working as a pilot for the US Merchant Navy. Alas, money talks just as well in the future as it does in modern times, and when the Weyland-Yutani Corporation comes calling, you answer the phone.
What is the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, you ask? Well, just imagine if Google and Amazon joined forces and ventured out into the stars to essentially conquer the galaxy. Do you think you could stop them? Or would you just take your money and join them?
2112: Ripley Gave Birth To Her Daughter Amanda Against Weyland-Yutani Company Policy
Always a rebel at heart, Ripley went against Weyland-Yutani corporate policy to have a child - Amanda - with her first husband while on a layover from work in 2112. We wouldn't want our employees having something to care about besides work, now would we? Of course not. Fatherhood didn't seem to suit Ripley's first husband, Alex, all that well, and he bounced from his young family when Amanda was just three years old.
Ripley would later remarry, this time to Paul Carter. In order to spend more time with her daughter, she negotiated new terms on her contract with Weyland-Yutani, and the voyage in Alien was meant to be her last mission before an extended leave of absence. Whoops... Fun fact: Amanda would go on to be the main character of Sega's 2014 video game Alien: Isolation.
2120: Ripley Set Off On Her Final Mission For Weyland-Yutani To Thedus
Ripley's last trip for Weyland-Yutani before her leave of absence was a multi-year trip to the mining world of Thedus aboard the ship Nostromo. Located a mere 59 light-years away from Earth, nothing could possibly go wrong on a trip that short. For reference, a light-year is just about six trillion miles, so that trip is nothing but a momentary jaunt across space.
Everything went according to plan for the Nostromo crew on the way to Thedus, but on the return trip, they would encounter a very deadly foe.
June 2122: Ripley And The Rest Of The 'Nostromo' Crew Investigate A Distress Call While Returning From Thedus
During their return trip to Earth from Thedus, the Nostromo crew was awoken from hypersleep due to a mysterious transmission coming from the unsurveyed moon known as LV-426. Following Weyland-Yutani protocol, the ship's crew decided to set down on LV-426 to assess the situation. As you might guess, this ended up being a very bad idea. Some of the crew left the ship upon landing to check things out. Another bad idea.
The "distress" call ended up actually being a "warning" call, telling any passersby to stay away from LV-426. By the time the Nostromo crew figured this out, their ship had been damaged during the landing process - making repairs necessary for takeoff. Also, something bombarded the crew members who left the Nostromo, leaving our human friends panicked and scrambling. This is starting to sound like the beginning of a horror movie or something.
Ripley Tried To Quarantine The Rest Of The Crew After Encountering An Unknown Entity But Was Undercut By Ash
Here's a good idea: don't let people who have come into contact with a foreign entity back onto your ship until you have assessed the situation properly. In fact, Weyland-Yutani has a pretty clear quarantine protocol when it comes to these kinds of situations.
It states, quite clearly, not to let anyone with a foreign organism attached to their face back onto the ship until 24 hours have passed. And Ripley, being the most intelligent member of the crew, apparently, tried to utilize this protocol when her crew members wanted to come aboard with the incapacitated Kane in tow. She was overruled by Ash.
