Movie Smarts

Aliens Quiz: Remember What Is Out There?

The big scenes are easy to remember. How many of the little details stayed with you?

Published 2026-10-24 Updated 2026-10-24 15 questions

Aliens: The Rescue Team May Need Rescuing

Ripley has survived a nightmare that nobody seems eager to believe. When contact with a distant colony goes quiet, she joins a heavily armed team heading in to investigate. The soldiers arrive full of confidence, which is usually a bad sign in a place this quiet. Soon, Ripley's experience matters more than anyone's big speech about how much firepower they brought.

Check the corners. Then check your answers.

1. Who directed Aliens?
- John Carpenter
- Ridley Scott
- James Cameron
- David Fincher
Cameron pitched the sequel while finishing The Terminator and wrote it alongside his script for Rambo: First Blood Part II. He shot it at Pinewood Studios with a British crew that was openly skeptical of a young American with one hit to his name.
2. Who plays Ellen Ripley?
- Jamie Lee Curtis
- Linda Hamilton
- Geena Davis
- Sigourney Weaver
Weaver was nominated for Best Actress, almost unheard of for an action film, and went on to anchor two more sequels. She disliked guns, so Cameron took her to a firing range before the shoot; the story he wrote for her is about protecting a child.
3. How long has Ripley been drifting in hypersleep?
- 7 years
- 27 years
- 57 years
- 100 years
Her shuttle drifted for fifty-seven years before a salvage crew found it, by which time her daughter had grown old and died, a detail restored in the longer cut. Nobody at the Company believes her account of what happened to the Nostromo.
4. What is the colony on LV-426 called?
- Acheron Base
- New Eden
- Gateway Station
- Hadley's Hope
Hadley's Hope is a terraforming colony of a few dozen families; the Company sends one of them out to the derelict once Ripley's debriefing supplies its coordinates. Acheron is the planet's name in the script; Gateway Station is where Ripley recovers.
5. What nickname does the surviving little girl use?
- Pip
- Newt
- Birdie
- Mouse
Newt has outlasted the entire colony by living in the ducts and crawlspaces, which she knows better than the marines know their own gear. Carrie Henn, who plays her, never acted in another film and became a schoolteacher.
6. What is Newt's first name?
- Rebecca
- Amanda
- Elizabeth
- Sarah
Her full name is Rebecca Jorden, though she says only her brother ever called her Rebecca, and Ripley quickly gives in and uses Newt. Ripley coaxes this out of her over cocoa in the colony's medical lab, the scene where the mother-and-daughter story begins.
7. Which marine carries a smartgun alongside Drake?
- Ferro
- Vasquez
- Dietrich
- Frost
Vasquez and Drake carry the two smartguns, heavy weapons slung on steadicam-style harnesses, and both quietly ignore Gorman's order to hand over their ammunition inside the processor. Jenette Goldstein plays her as the one marine who is glad to be there.
8. Which marine is played by Bill Paxton?
- Apone
- Hudson
- Hicks
- Gorman
Hudson is the loudmouth whose bravado collapses after the first ambush, and 'Game over, man' was Paxton's own improvisation. Michael Biehn's Hicks is the quiet one; Biehn replaced James Remar a few days into shooting. Apone is the sergeant.
9. What is the name of the team's android?
- Bishop
- Ash
- Walter
- David
Bishop is a newer model than the one Ripley met on the Nostromo, and he earns her trust by crawling down a pipe conduit to call down the second dropship by remote. Ash was the android in the first film; Walter and David belong to the prequels.
10. Who plays Bishop?
- Lance Henriksen
- Brad Dourif
- Ian Holm
- Michael Wincott
Henriksen had been Cameron's first choice to play the Terminator before Schwarzenegger came along, and he got Bishop instead. The knife trick over Hudson's hand was done for real and then sped up; Ian Holm played the android in the first film.
11. Which company representative joins the mission?
- Peter Weyland
- Paul Van Leuwen
- Dallas Kane
- Carter Burke
Burke is the Company man who sent the colonists to the derelict without warning them, and he later tries to smuggle specimens home inside Ripley and Newt. Paul Reiser plays him; Peter Weyland is the Company's founder in Prometheus.
12. What tool becomes a weapon in Ripley's fight with the queen?
- A drilling rig
- A power loader
- A welding arm
- A forklift crane
Ripley shows off her loader license on the Sulaco by hopping into one to help the marines unpack, which pays off when the queen follows her back to the ship. The suit was a full-size prop, built from Cameron's sketches, with a stuntman hidden behind Weaver.
13. What do the marines use to detect nearby movement?
- Heat balloons
- Radar helmets
- Motion trackers
- Sonar gloves
The trackers read movement, not identity, so the squad is left watching numbers fall while the room stays silent. In the final siege the readings keep closing until Hicks realizes the creatures are already inside, above the ceiling panels.
14. What is the name of the marine transport ship?
- Prometheus
- Auriga
- Nostromo
- Sulaco
The Sulaco is a Colonial Marine troop carrier named, like the Nostromo, after Joseph Conrad; Sulaco is the town in his novel Nostromo. The Auriga is the ship in Alien Resurrection, and the Prometheus belongs to the prequel of that name.
15. Who composed the score?
- James Horner
- Jerry Goldsmith
- John Williams
- Alan Silvestri
Horner was given only a few weeks to write and record the score while Cameron was still cutting the film, and the two fell out over it. The music was nominated for an Oscar anyway, and they did not work together again until Titanic, which won Horner his.

All the answers

1. Who directed Aliens?

James Cameron

Cameron pitched the sequel while finishing The Terminator and wrote it alongside his script for Rambo: First Blood Part II. He shot it at Pinewood Studios with a British crew that was openly skeptical of a young American with one hit to his name.
2. Who plays Ellen Ripley?

Sigourney Weaver

Weaver was nominated for Best Actress, almost unheard of for an action film, and went on to anchor two more sequels. She disliked guns, so Cameron took her to a firing range before the shoot; the story he wrote for her is about protecting a child.
3. How long has Ripley been drifting in hypersleep?

57 years

Her shuttle drifted for fifty-seven years before a salvage crew found it, by which time her daughter had grown old and died, a detail restored in the longer cut. Nobody at the Company believes her account of what happened to the Nostromo.
4. What is the colony on LV-426 called?

Hadley's Hope

Hadley's Hope is a terraforming colony of a few dozen families; the Company sends one of them out to the derelict once Ripley's debriefing supplies its coordinates. Acheron is the planet's name in the script; Gateway Station is where Ripley recovers.
5. What nickname does the surviving little girl use?

Newt

Newt has outlasted the entire colony by living in the ducts and crawlspaces, which she knows better than the marines know their own gear. Carrie Henn, who plays her, never acted in another film and became a schoolteacher.
6. What is Newt's first name?

Rebecca

Her full name is Rebecca Jorden, though she says only her brother ever called her Rebecca, and Ripley quickly gives in and uses Newt. Ripley coaxes this out of her over cocoa in the colony's medical lab, the scene where the mother-and-daughter story begins.
7. Which marine carries a smartgun alongside Drake?

Vasquez

Vasquez and Drake carry the two smartguns, heavy weapons slung on steadicam-style harnesses, and both quietly ignore Gorman's order to hand over their ammunition inside the processor. Jenette Goldstein plays her as the one marine who is glad to be there.
8. Which marine is played by Bill Paxton?

Hudson

Hudson is the loudmouth whose bravado collapses after the first ambush, and 'Game over, man' was Paxton's own improvisation. Michael Biehn's Hicks is the quiet one; Biehn replaced James Remar a few days into shooting. Apone is the sergeant.
9. What is the name of the team's android?

Bishop

Bishop is a newer model than the one Ripley met on the Nostromo, and he earns her trust by crawling down a pipe conduit to call down the second dropship by remote. Ash was the android in the first film; Walter and David belong to the prequels.
10. Who plays Bishop?

Lance Henriksen

Henriksen had been Cameron's first choice to play the Terminator before Schwarzenegger came along, and he got Bishop instead. The knife trick over Hudson's hand was done for real and then sped up; Ian Holm played the android in the first film.
11. Which company representative joins the mission?

Carter Burke

Burke is the Company man who sent the colonists to the derelict without warning them, and he later tries to smuggle specimens home inside Ripley and Newt. Paul Reiser plays him; Peter Weyland is the Company's founder in Prometheus.
12. What tool becomes a weapon in Ripley's fight with the queen?

A power loader

Ripley shows off her loader license on the Sulaco by hopping into one to help the marines unpack, which pays off when the queen follows her back to the ship. The suit was a full-size prop, built from Cameron's sketches, with a stuntman hidden behind Weaver.
13. What do the marines use to detect nearby movement?

Motion trackers

The trackers read movement, not identity, so the squad is left watching numbers fall while the room stays silent. In the final siege the readings keep closing until Hicks realizes the creatures are already inside, above the ceiling panels.
14. What is the name of the marine transport ship?

Sulaco

The Sulaco is a Colonial Marine troop carrier named, like the Nostromo, after Joseph Conrad; Sulaco is the town in his novel Nostromo. The Auriga is the ship in Alien Resurrection, and the Prometheus belongs to the prequel of that name.
15. Who composed the score?

James Horner

Horner was given only a few weeks to write and record the score while Cameron was still cutting the film, and the two fell out over it. The music was nominated for an Oscar anyway, and they did not work together again until Titanic, which won Horner his.