Aliens: Bishop crawling through the pipe to the transmitter references Ray going out the window to a car in the car park to radio for help in Hill Street Blues season 1 episode 4, Can World War III Be an Attitude? (originally aired January 24, 1981)?

 

 

leading from

 Aliens: Aliens' attack on the colony complex references the police station from Hill Street Blues season 1 episode 4, Can World War III Be an Attitude? (originally aired January 24, 1981)?

 

 

 

a.i) In the 47th minute, Detective Goldblume is thanking Alf for telling everyone tha the phones are dead, and then says in the direction of Ray (Lt. Ray Calletano) "Listen, before anyones goes off the deep end, suppose we check out the terminal box. Ray, where's the terminal?"

Ray responds "Good questions"

Goldblume continues "Okay. call a repairman"

Ray responds "What? the phones are dead"

 

a.ii) Esterhaus says to Ray "We're under seige. Ray you're ranking officer here"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a.iii) So Ray with uncertainty tells everyone "Hey I want your attention, this could be an emergency situation. So let's secure those windows and doors. "

 

He tells the people to "Move those desks, and let's barricade the corridor and put some cover over here."

 

Measures are taken to barricade the windows and doors

 

 

 

a.iv) He comes out with another order "I need eight volunteers for a perimete rcheck. Only single men under 35"

 

 

 

 

a.v) An officer points to Esterhaus and says "That leaves you out, sarge"

 

 

 

 

a.vi) Esterhaus to Ray "You're not sending people outside Ray"

 

Ray replies "That's how we did it in the Marine corpse"

 

Esterhaus' response was "They could get killed. This is not the Marines"

 

 

 

 

 

a.vii) Detective Goldblume suggests "Let's radio division from one of the units in the parking lot"

Ray asks "What about our backup system?"

 

 

 

 

a.viii) Detective Goldblume response "Are you crazy? That thing hasn't worked in years."

 
Esterhaus protests with desperation "You can't send people outside"

 

 

 

 

 

a.ix) Ray then say "I'll go." 

 

He turns to Goldblume and says  "Henry you are in charge"
 

 

 

 

 

a.x) Goldblume with confusion says "Oh wonderful What's he doing" and wails after him "Ray! What do you think you're doing?"

 

 

 

 

 

a.xi) Bishop the android volunteers to crawl through the pipe to get to the transmitter dish to bring down the spare dropship by remote control

 

 

In Aliens, with the news that the atmosphere processor is getting ready to explode, Ripley says that they have got to bring the other dropship down from the Sulaco.

Hudson having a rant tells Ripley "How.The transmitter was on the APC it’s wasted!"
 

Ripley replies "Well I don’t care how, we’d better think of something. We’d better think of a way"

Hicks then says "What about the colony transmitters? The uplink tower down at the other end. Why can't we use that?"

 

However Bishop reports that he checked. The hardware between where they are, being the operations centre and the antenna has been damaged, so he can't align the dish.

 

Perhaps it's like Alf's declaration in Hill Street Blues that the phones are dead.

Ripley states that somebody’s got to go out there, take a portable terminal, go out here and patch in manually.

 

Hudson thinking that it means he would have to do it, sourly echoes the anxiety the police in the building in Hill Street Blues about going outside about getting killed outside, with all the aliens running around . 

 

But he's happy to know that Bishop will volunteer to go instead

 

 

 

 

 

 

b) Stepping through

 

b.i) Stepping through the window by the 49th minute

 

Esterhaus tells the others "Cover him you guys. He's goin' outside"

 

Ray stands at the window

 

 

 

He bravely steps outside through the window and the various police officers point their rifles out through the window to cover him.

 

 

 

Of course nothing is actually happening outside at all because the attack was really a hightened state of paranoia and so the paranoid fear here becomes the alien hoards that attack the colonial marines in the movie Aliens

 

 

b.ii) Bishop crawling through the pipe

 

In Aliens, Bishop  the android, as he is the only one qualified to remote pilot the drop ship, volunteers to crawl along a duct that runs almost to the up-link assembly.  

 

It's one hundred eighty meters and so will take about forty minutes to crawl down there. 

When he gets there, it will take an hour to patch in and align the antenna, then  minutes to prep the ship, and about fifty minutes flight time.