MU - TH - UR 9000 is see inAlien : Romulus , which is an homage to the AI aboard the Nostromo inAlien , aka MOTHER .
There are obviously MASSIVE spoiler ahead forAlienandAlien : Romulus !
If you love sci-fi andhorror movies, then chances are you’ve seenAlien, the amazing film directed byRidley Scottthat introduced us to Sigourney Weaver’sEllen Ripley, who some consider one of thebest “final girls” of all time.
SinceAlienhit theaters 45 years ago, numerous sequels, crossover films with thePredatorseries, and more have continued the story. And this year, we have another prequel to add to the franchise:Alien: Romulus.
Directed by Fede Álvarez and written by Fede and Rodo Sayagues,Alien: Romulusis set between the events ofAlien(1979) andAliens(1986) and follows a group of young space colonists who dream of escaping their world in search of a better one. This leads them to board a spacecraft just outside their colony’s orbit, and, well, chaos ensues.
Now, since this movie comes after the events ofAlien, it’s filled with some great details,Easter eggs, and more that pay tribute to Ridley Scott’s original sci-fi horror movie, as well as James Cameron’s beloved sequel,Aliens. So here are just 13 that connect the three movies:
1.First, in a not-so-subtleEasteregg for longtimeAlienfans, the new movie opens with us seeing the destroyed Nostromo, the ship from the OG movie.
2.Of course, this is where the Weyland-Yutani crew finds the original alien, aka xenomorph, thatRipleysends out of the shuttle at the very end ofAlien. If you look closely, you can see the harpoon still stuck inside of it, too.
3.InAlien: Romulus, you can see MU-TH-UR on one of the computers, which is, of course, a reference to the AI that ran the Nostromo inAlien, aka MOTHER. However, the AI appears to have been updated because it’s now MU-TH-UR 9000 instead of 6000.
4.InAlien: Romulus, Andy reveals to Tyler and Bjorn that he prefers to be called an “artificial person,” which is exactly what Bishop tells Burke and Ripley inAliens.
5.InAlien, after Kane’s chest is ripped open in the iconic chest-burster alien scene, Brett notably builds an electric stun rod so they can keep the rest of the crew safe. In the new movie, Bjorn finds a similar tool and threatens to use it on Andy, and then uses it on an alien and several facehuggers.
6.Of course, one of the biggest connections betweenAlienandAlien: Romulusis Rain, Andy, and Tyler coming across Rook, the ship’s science officer, who looks like Ash from the originalAlien.
7.Also, when Rook explains why he’s on this ship, he says it has been 20 years since the Nostromo incident, which is how we officially know when exactlyAlien: Romulusis set.Alienstakes place 57 years after the events ofAlien, which puts this movie right in the middle.
8.When Rain, Tyler, and Andy come across the colony of facehuggers on the walls and the various cocoon of people where they find Kay, Andy says, “Busy little creatures.” This is the same thing Burke says inAlienswhen they come across a similar hive.
9.Also, the blue mist that Andy notices on the floor is similar to what Kane finds inAlienwhen he first finds the alien egg while exploring. The mysterious blue mist can be spotted above the chamber where the egg is.
10.InAlien: Romulus, Rook tells Rain that he can’t lie about their chances of survival. InAlien, Ash says a similar thing after he’s been revived by the Nostromo’s crew and asked about the alien.
11.One of the best callbacks is when Andy uses the rifle to blast and kill a xenomorph who is about to attack Rain while they are in the elevator shaft. Andy says, “Get away from her…you bitch,” which is, of course, a nod to Ripley’s iconic line inAlienswhen she’s saving Newt.
12.InAlien: Romulus, when Tyler teaches Rain how to use the rifle, it’s actually an earlier version of the weapons seen inAliensthat all of the Colonial Marines carry. It’s also reminiscent of a similar moment inAlienswhen Hicks teaches Ripley, too.
13.And finally, the entire final fight between Rain and the human-alien hybrid is seemingly an homage toAlien.Like Ripley, Rain is ready to put herself into cryosleep when she suddenly needs to fight an alien and jump into a spacesuit. There’s even a moment with a closeup of Rain’s space helmet as the creature sneaks up on her, which is similar to the iconic moment with Ripley inAlien.
