Bishop (Alien)
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Background
Bishop was a synthetic (or "artificial person", as he preferred to be called), a very advanced android assigned to the Colonial Marine vessel Sulaco. Like other synthetics, Bishop possesses superior strength and hand-eye coordination, though he did not engage in combat, instead acting in a general support role. Bishop made his first appearance in Aliens when the Sulaco was ordered to investigate loss of colony contact on planet LV-426. Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley was an advisor on the mission.
During the events portrayed in Alien, Ripley was assaulted and nearly killed by Ash, another android that was commissioned on the ship also as a science officer. He had been ordered in secret to bring back the Xenomorph life form at the expense of the crew and had to be disabled and ultimately incinerated by Parker (Ripley's crewmate) to prevent any more deaths. Officer Ripley first noticed that Bishop was an android when she saw a trickle of white fluid coming from the cut on his finger. Her reaction was of deep mistrust, both of the people who had put her on the Sulaco and of Bishop because the company hadn't said anything about an android being on board. Ripley was immediately suspicious of Bishop, even though he reassured her that with his behavioural inhibitors it was impossible for him to harm, or by omission of action allow to be harmed, a human being (a reference to the first of the Three Laws of Robotics, as coined by Isaac Asimov).
Analysis
Bishop, despite being an artificial life form, is a character with multiple dimensions, and is more noble and self-sacrificing than most human characters of the Alien series. The name and character of Bishop is possibly meant to evoke religious imagery. Just as science has gradually replaced religion in modern society, and more so in the future world of the Alien universe, so have artificial life forms replaced natural ones. It is ironic then that an artificial life from spawned from science would be given a name traditionally associated with religious institutions. Furthermore, the lack (as in Alien 3, where the prisoners found religion) of religious paraphernalia or other such indicators of the existence of religion in the world of Aliens is part of the design of the overall universe: that a creature as malevolent as the Xenomorph could only exist in a universe without a god.
The name 'Bishop' could also be a reference to the game of chess. Where the Bishop plays an important role in strategy, both in defense and offense, and is one of the last pieces to be sacrificed in defense of the King. Further, in a grim comparison, Bishop is seriously wounded by the Queen.
Aliens
The team of marines from the Sulaco along with Ripley, Bishop and a company executive set down on LV-426 and were stranded after encountering heavy alien resistance with the surviving Marines when their first dropship was destroyed. Bishop's calm, selfless bravery throughout the crisis slowly wins Ripley's trust. However, when she returned from rescuing orphaned child Newt from the clutches of the aliens he was nowhere to be seen. Ripley had almost given up hope when the second dropship flew up behind her, saving Newt and her from the Alien Queen. This won over the warrant officer, who congratulated Bishop after escaping the planet. Unbeknownst to the survivors the Queen had stowed away aboard the dropship and they only realized this when its tail stabbed through Bishop and ripped him in two. Still operational, Bishop was able to save Newt from falling out of the airlock after the Queen. Although in two parts, Bishop was repairable. He was put into stasis along with the rest of the crew.
Alien³
Bishop makes a brief appearance in Alien³ when Ripley finds his remains and partially repairs his speech and memory functions. Bishop reveals the events that followed the conclusion of the second film, then asks Ripley to disconnect him for good, saying, "I can be reworked, but I'll never be top of the line again. I'd rather be nothing." His body was most likely recovered by the Weyland-Yutani expedition sent to retrieve the alien.Bishop II
At the end of Alien³, a squad of Weyland-Yutani soldiers arrives to retrieve Ripley and the xenomorph queen gestating inside her. With them is a man identical to the android Bishop (also played by Lance Henriksen). Since the movie's release, fans of the series have debated whether the man (who was named in the credits as Bishop II) was an android or not.Though Ripley at first believes him to be another android, Bishop II claims that he is in fact the man who designed the Bishop series, sent by the Company to show Ripley "a friendly face." When prisoner Morse is shot in the leg by one of the soldiers, Mr. Aaron ("85") attacks Bishop II with a monkey wrench, calling him a "fucking android." Though the theatrical edition is not entirely clear at this point, the "Assembly Cut" released with the Alien Quadrilogy in 2003 shows Bishop II bleeding red blood and groaning in pain, with a grusome flap of ear and skin hanging from his face. Reeling from the injury, Bishop II reasserts that he is human by screaming, "I'm not a droid!". Some fans claim that no human would be conscious after such a blow to the head, and that the white circulation fluid of an android was dyed for this "covert model." Others claim that the strike was a glancing blow, which tore the scalp but produced little cranial injury, and dismiss the notion of dyed circulation fluid.
However, according to some the 2004 film Alien vs. Predator settled the question by casting Lance Henriksen as Charles Bishop Weyland, CEO of the Weyland Corporation, suggesting that the Bishop android series (including Bishop II) were created in the image of the founder of one of Weyland-Yutani's parent companies. While Lance Henriksen had declared that Bishop II was human in the commentary for Alien³, he later went on record, along with AVP director Paul W. S. Anderson, to clear up the matter, stating that Bishop II was an android.
Some fans have expressed dismay at the above, claiming the behind-the-scenes statements from Alien³ (such as Henriksen's original statement) along with the on-screen implications specified above take precedence over Anderson and Henriksen's statements 12 years later. AVP's dubious canon states is sometimes also used to debunk the android theory. Fan speculation ignoring Anderson and Henriksen's statements suggests that Charles Bishop Weyland was merely the ancestor of Bishop II, or that Bishop II and Weyland were simply doppelgangers of each other.
Other non-canonical sources pertaining to the series present, as usual, alternatives to the movie canon. The novelization of Alien³ by Alan Dean Foster gives Bishop II the name Michael Bishop and clearly indicates his status as a human.
Trivia
- Bishop used the Gerber Mark II knife in one of the movies.
- Aside from Ellen Ripley and Jones the cat, the original android Bishop is the only character to have appeared in more than one Alien movie.
| Alien movie series |
| Alien | Aliens | Alien³ | [[Alien: Resurrection]] |
| Predator movie series |
| Predator | Predator 2 |
| Movie cross-overs |
| AVP: Alien vs. Predator | AVP: Alien vs. Predator 2 |
| Cross-overs |
| Alien vs. Predator | Aliens vs. Predator vs. The Terminator | Batman vs. Predator | Alien Loves Predator |
| Relating to the Alien universe |
| Bishop | Ellen Ripley | LV-426 | Nostromo | Space Jockey | The Derelict | United States Colonial Marines | Weyland-Yutani | Xenomorph | Yautja | [[Aliens: Colonial Marines Technical Manual]] | M56 Smart Gun |
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