I think it was in the extras disc that there was only one power station.

There is nothing on film to suggest otherwise.

Another online debate?

According to the 1991 Special Widescreen Collector's Edition Laserdisc release of the movie (presented on the Bonus Disc of the 2003 Alien Quadrilogy DVD Box Set), James Cameron turned in the first treatment for the film, called Alien II at the time, on September 21, 1983. Some of the differences between this initial treatment and the final film included the following:

* - The character of Carter Burke was absent, instead, his dialogue was given to someone named Dr. O'Niel, who did not join Ripley and the marines on their voyage to the colony planet.
* - Instead of being taken to the Gateway Station, Ripley was taken to Earth Station Beta.
* - The name of the colony planet was Acheron, taken from the script of Alien, instead of LV-426.
* - Ripley's daughter was alive, and Ripley had a disheartening videophone conversation with her, where she blamed Ripley for abandoning her by going to space.
* - There were multiple atmospheric processors on the planet.
* - The initial discovery of the aliens on the colony planet is much longer, where it is shown how Newt's father gets to the site of the eggs and is jumped by a facehugger.
* - An additional scene involves a rescue team going to the site of the alien eggs and being jumped by tens of facehuggers.
* - The aliens sting people to paralyze them before either killing or cocooning them.
* - At one point Ripley, Newt and Hicks get cocooned.
* - The aliens cocooning people are a different breed. They look like smaller, albino versions of the warrior aliens.
* - Bishop refuses to land on the planet and pick up Ripley, Hicks and Newt, indicating "the risk of contaminating other inhabited worlds is too great."
* - Ripley ends up using the colonists' shuttle to get back to the Sulaco.
* - Bishop tells her: "You were right about me all along."

I have the same laserdisc.

The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence, especially given the time frame of the game.

Nice try.

it didn't look like they were experiencing low gravity so I'd assume if the planet had an atmosphere

yea, there was more then one Atmosphere Processor on Acheron. They were scattered all over the planet.
read the novel and you will see.

Cameron hates the novel

Ok Here is what we know from what is on screen:


LV-426 did have an atmosphere to begin with, but was comprised of unbreathable gases- methane being one of them.

Van Leuwen said that there had been colonists on LV-426 for at least 20 years who go in and set up "these atmospheric processors to make the air breathable"- and that it "takes decades".

Also from the inquiry scene- LV-426 is a rock with no indigenous life.

So the impression that I got is that the colony on LV-426 is a mining colony and that Weyland Yutani is primarily a mining industry (despite their slogan). This would tie in with the Nostromo being a tow ship with 20 000 000 tonnes of mineral ore. Not an agricutural colony. If there are colonies on distant planets that are there to grow things they are not run by Weyland Yutani. WY is the proverbial villian in this series- likened to any multi-billion dollar industry that couldn't care less about it's workers or the effect it might have on an ecosystem.

As already stated- Ripley asks "Is that the atmospheric processor?" and Burke answers "Yep that's it". No plural- no big explanation that there is more than one (however he does start spouting Company propoganda about what a marvelous piece of machinery it is).

Sooooo...

I think Burke would have mentioned there was more than one processor during his rambling as he was so proud of it and the Company (or he is just used to brown nosing all the time and doesn't know when to turn it off).

When Van Luewen said "these atmospheric processors" this could go either way. He either meant multiple processors on one planet (LV-426) or a single processor on multiple colonies stationed on different planets throughout the galaxy. I believe the latter is the case here.

The processor was designed to make the existing air breathable- not create an atmosphere. A reverse of pollution and global warming etc.

It was also said to "take decades" and that the colonists on LV-426 had been there for 20 years. There is nothing to indicate that the atmosphere had been breathable for any length of time- it could be that the atmosphere had just become breathable prior to the incident with the Jorden family (perhaps in the last year or so) and that the colonists had to wear enviroment suits before this.

I think the writers really got it wrong by making LV-426 only 1200km in diameter. This is approximately 1/3 the size of our Moon. I don't truly understand physics enough to know if a smaller planet could have an equal (or at least close) gravitational pull if it were made of a material denser than that of what Earth is comprised of.

Bottom line is that there is nothing to suggest there were multiple processors- it is all speculation that it would take "too long" for one processor to alter the atmosphere of a planet (talk about an absence of evidence ). However there is evidence that the concept of multiple processors was changed to one processor in the script drafts.



It's a sci-fi movie. There is something called the "suspension of disbelief" that has to come into play here methinks.