Xenomorph Question???

[BadMoon]

Ok so I was watching Aliens last night. I just remembered that the term Xenomorph bugs me. Gorman says in his speach that "a Xenomorph may be involved". However prior to that speach the one lady during the inquiry states that Ripley reported a species unknown in 300 planetary systems. Yet eveyone calls the Aliens Xenormorphs. If Xenomorph's were in fact the problem I would imagine the Marines would have know what they were dealing with. So why do people refer to the aliens as Xenomorphs? Your thoughts.....

 

[Sabres21768]

The Alien was never classified as "Xenomorph", the reference simply meant "other form" than human. If you break it down, the term means an "alien that changes form", which is essentially what the Alien is.

 

[MaulFan]

If you think about it, it works in the sense of the military's eyes. They're sending troops in against an unknown enemy, if they call it crazy alien that bursts out of your chest cavity and rips you to shreds for fun, you're going to have a tough time with your troops. They just gave it some name to be simple and tone down the nature of the creature for communications and it just rolled into being the name because after a few movies, you need something to call it besides Aliens.

 

[Les Walker]

I think the term "Xenomorph" translates directly as "ALIEN FORM", so it is a generic term actually. I love it. Sounds cool and nasty to me.

 

[BadMoon]

All great answers! I think what throws it off right away is a comment I think made by Hicks that says "it's a bug hunt". Like he knows what a Xenomorph is. Although MaulFan's explanation makes sense because he could just be assuming it is a bug hunt given it is a generalized name.

 

[MaulFan]

Well, Hudson's question was it this a stand up fight or a bug hunt, so my guess is in the Marine's lingo, stand up fights are against other human groups fighting battle, with bug hunt being the term for situations where they're pitted against non-human lifeforms. Almost makes you want to find out what other species they've dealt with since it is apparently a common thing.

 

[BadMoon]

Well, Hudson's question was it this a stand up fight or a bug hunt, so my guess is in the Marine's lingo, stand up fights are against other human groups fighting battle, with bug hunt being the term for situations where they're pitted against non-human lifeforms. Almost makes you want to find out what other species they've dealt with since it is apparently a common thing.

Hell yeah! We need a spinoff movie about the Marines.

 

[Rogue Trooper]

They say bug hunt because of starship troopers, from what ive read it is on the read list for the USA arm forces and the terms used the the book are also used in the military today. I believe that the USCM also have a read list with starship troopers on it and that were they get the bug hunt from.

 

[BadMoon]

They say bug hunt because of starship troopers, from what ive read it is on the read list for the USA arm forces and the terms used the the book are also used in the miliatry today. I believe that the USCM also have a read list with starship troopers on it and that were they get the bug hunt from.

I was in tha Marines and I have never heard of a read list. What the heck is that?

I googled it. Pretty interesting. Never had to do this though. I wonder if this is for OCS? https://www.usna.edu/Library/Marineread.html

 

[icruise]

All great answers! I think what throws it off right away is a comment I think made by Hicks that says "it's a bug hunt". Like he knows what a Xenomorph is. Although MaulFan's explanation makes sense because he could just be assuming it is a bug hunt given it is a generalized name.

I think they all knew what xenonorphs were (a general term for "alien") -- they were just giving Gorman a hard time because he didn't really fit in and wasn't speaking in a way that the troops could relate to.

Apparently there are many other Alien species in the Aliens universe (remember the conversation about "arcturian ********"?) but we don't see them or get anything other than passing mentions of them.

 

[usmcchet9296]

Listen to the movie
the Lt said that they had access to Ripleys report from the Nostromo incident so the Marines would have known the Alien wasnt human and was closely related to a bug (exo-skeleton)

 

[Blackhole]

In the comics, it was called something like Raptus Internecivus...

Something like that...

 

[Rogue Trooper]

Apparently there are many other Alien species in the Aliens universe (remember the conversation about "arcturian ********"?) but we don't see them or get anything other than passing mentions of them.

I always thought the arcturian ******** was some sort of human colonie a bit like bangcok. Some were the marines would get shoreleave. The aliens universe i think is divided up into human colonies between USA, France, China, GB etc. Heres something cool about the USCM before aliens from Lee-Brimmcombe's Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual.

'Assault on Helene 215'

Two years prior to the events on LV-426, the Chinese-Sino United Government violated the United Nations Colonization Sector Treaty of 2081 by entering the United Americas sector and forcibly 'acquring' the planet Helene 215, a joint Cubean/Mexician/Brazilian colony. This was seen as a hostile act to gain the valuable raw materials that were being mined from the planet's surface. Against the protest of the United Americas government, the CSUG empowered a right-wing puppet government and began surpressing the rights of the coloniest. When talks broke down between the UA and the CSUG in Geneva, Article 126 of the United Americas Treaty was enacted paving the way for military action to retake the planet.

A full Colonial Marine Regiment and Aerospace Wing supported by a US Space Naval Task Force from Gateway Station, Earth descented upon Helene 215 in the early morning twilight, taking the occuptional forces of CSUG by surprise. Within a half hour the initial landing forces had craved out a landing zone for the heavy transports that were bringing in a battalion of heavy armor and artillery. The Bebops (the slang word that the Marines used for the CSUG forces) fought has hard as they could but were soon overwhelmed by the USCM forces within a month's time. To avoid and deter any future CSUG incurisons into UA's colony sector, Helene 215 became home to the 2nd USCM Div and 3rd Aerospace Wing.

 

[icruise]

One of them says "but you had a male" and the other says "don't matter when it's arcturian!" Doesn't sound human to me...

 

[King Darkness]

I always got the idea the the marines had been on numerous "bug hunts" before. But that wasnt something the Company would openly admit.

The grunts on the ground always know more than is ever admitted to when it comes to military crap.

 

[screamingmetal]

Sabres21768 is right about it's meaning, it's meant to refer to any extraterrestrial creature in general, it specifically means foreigner shape. It's not a very good word for any type of alien, but the filmmakers chose Xenomorph because it sounds cooler then extraterrestrial.

No other creature has been called a Xenomorph so it's become a label for that specific creature.

 

[Pineapple]

actually, in the comics the scientific name for the Alien/Xenomorph is Linguafoeda acheronsis

 

[Jamal]

I actually thought Xenomorph was its official name..

Thanks for clearing that up

 

[Sabres21768]

actually, in the comics the scientific name for the Alien/Xenomorph is Linguafoeda acheronsis

You sir, are correct.

And thanks to you SCREAMINGMETAL. At least someone got it.

 

[Blackhole]

Hmmm...wonder where I got that name from then...