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Bishop 341-B
	; Bishop in Aliens
First appearance	Aliens
Last appearance	Alien 3
Created by	James Cameron
Portrayed by	Lance Henriksen
Information
Aliases	Bishop
Occupation	USCM spaceship Sulaco executive officer
Title	Executive Officer

Lance Bishop 341-B, portrayed by Lance Henriksen, is a character from the science fiction films Aliens (1986) and Alien 3 (1992). Bishop is an android created by the Weyland-Yutani corporation. In Alien 3, Henriksen also plays a character named Bishop II who claims to be the android's designer. In Alien vs. Predator (2004), which serves as a prequel to the Alien series, Henriksen plays Weyland Industries chief executive officer Charles Bishop Weyland.

[edit] Depiction

[edit] Aliens

Bishop is executive officer of the Colonial Marine vessel Sulaco, which is ordered to investigate the loss of contact with a terraforming colony on LV-426, with Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) serving as an adviser on the mission. In the previous film, Alien (1979), Ripley is attacked by her android crewmate, Ash (Ian Holm); Ripley is at first disturbed by Bishop's presence, but comes to accept and trust him.

The Marines from the Sulaco — along with Ripley, Bishop, and company executive Burke (Paul Reiser) — set down on LV-426 and discover that Aliens have killed almost all of the colonists. The Aliens then kill Burke and most of the Marine contingent. Bishop does not engage in combat, however, instead acting as a medic and tending to other support functions. Bishop saves Ripley, Newt (Carrie Henn), and Corporal Hicks (Michael Biehn) by piloting their dropship out of the exploding atmosphere processing station. However, upon landing on the Sulaco, Bishop is ripped in half by the Alien queen that had attached itself to the dropship. When Ripley opens the airlock to expel the Alien queen into space, Bishop saves himself and Newt. Afterward, he is placed in hypersleep with Ripley, Newt, and Hicks.

[edit] Alien 3

In the opening scene of Alien 3, a fire aboard the Sulaco causes the four survivors from Aliens to be launched in an Emergency Escape Vehicle (EEV) while still in hypersleep. Ripley is the only survivor when the EEV crashes on Fiorina "Fury" 161, the site of a penal colony. The prisoners indicate that Bishop was smashed beyond repair, but Ripley partially repairs his speech and memory functions. He reveals the events that followed the conclusion of Aliens, including that an Alien facehugger was aboard the Sulaco and that a fire was the cause of the passengers' ejection. He then asks Ripley to disconnect him permanently, saying, "I can be reworked, but I'll never be top of the line again. I'd rather be nothing." Ripley complies with his request.

[edit] Bishop II

In the final scene, a squad of Weyland-Yutani soldiers arrives to retrieve Ripley. With them is a man identical to the android Bishop, also played by Lance Henriksen and listed in the film's credits as "Bishop II". Ripley believes him to be another android; Bishop II claims to be the man who designed the Bishop series, sent by the company to show Ripley "a friendly face." Mr. Aaron (Ralph Brown) attacks Bishop II with a monkey wrench, calling him a "fucking android". The "Assembly Cut" released with the Alien Quadrilogy boxed set in 2003 shows Bishop II bleeding and groaning, with additional footage of the flap of ear and skin hanging from his face. He reasserts that he is human by screaming, "I'm not a droid!" to Ripley. This portion, however, was cut from the film's theatrical release. In Alan Dean Foster's Alien 3 novelization, the character is named "Michael Bishop" and indicated to be a human.^[1] According to Henriksen, the studio at the time kept the issue open as to whether Bishop II was human or android because they did not yet know what they would do with his character in the future.^[2] Henriksen believes Bishop II was an "advanced model" android.^[2]

[edit] Charles Bishop Weyland

Henriksen plays Weyland Industries chief executive officer Charles Bishop Weyland in Alien vs. Predator. He and his team search an ancient pyramid under the ice of Bouvet Island. Terminally ill, Weyland views the discovery of the pyramid as his last chance to make his mark on history. When Aliens attack, he refuses to abandon the high-tech guns the team acquired earlier because he feels that "too much has been lost to leave with nothing". He is killed by a Predator while distracting the creature from pursuing the rest of the team.

[edit] In academia

Bishop has been the subject of literary and philosophical analysis as a high-profile android character conforming to science fiction author Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics and as a model of a compliant, potentially self-aware machine.^[3] The portrayal of androids in the Alien series — Ash in Alien, Bishop in Aliens and Alien 3, and Call (Winona Ryder) in Alien Resurrection (1997) — has been studied for its implications relating to how humans deal with the presence of an "Other",^[4] as Ripley treats them with fear and suspicion, and a form of "hi-tech racism and android apartheid" is present throughout the series.^[5] This is seen as part of a larger trend of technophobia in films prior to the 1990s, with Bishop's role being particularly significant as he redeems himself at the end of Aliens, thus confounding Ripley's expectations.^[6]

[edit] References

^ Foster, Alan Dean (1993-10-13). The Complete Alien Omnibus. Time Warner Paperbacks. pp. 648. ISBN 978-0751506679. "The pipe landed hard on Bishop II's head. The impact was spongy. The man staggered, twitching, and his troops shot the acting superintendent down. Real blood poured from Bishop II's cracked skull. 'I am... not a... droid,' the bleeding figure mumbled in surprise as it crumpled to the floor."
^ ^a ^b Horn, Steven (2004-05-11). "Interview: Lance Henriksen". IGN. http://movies.ign.com/articles/513/513443p1.html. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
^ Buttazzo, G (May 2000). "Can a Machine Ever Become Self-Aware?". in R. Aurich, W. Jacobsen and G. Jatho. Artificial Humans, an historical retrospective of the Berlin International Film Festival 2000. Goethe Institute, Los Angeles. pp. 45–49.
^ Nishime, LeiLani (Winter 2005). "The Mulatto Cyborg: Imagining a Multiracial Future". Cinema Journal (University of Texas Press) 44 (2): 34–49.
^ Kozlovic, Anton Karl (Spring 2004). "HAL-o-phobia: Computer Horror in the Pre-1990 Popular Cinema". Sincronía.
^ Kozlovic, Anton Karl (September 2003). "Technophobic themes in pre-1990 computer films". Science as Culture 12 (3): 341–373. doi:10.1080/09505430309008.

[alienomnibus-0] Foster, Alan Dean (1993-10-13). The Complete Alien Omnibus. Time Warner Paperbacks. pp. 648. ISBN 978-0751506679. "The pipe landed hard on Bishop II's head. The impact was spongy. The man staggered, twitching, and his troops shot the acting superintendent down. Real blood poured from Bishop II's cracked skull. 'I am... not a... droid,' the bleeding figure mumbled in surprise as it crumpled to the floor."

[igninterview-1] Horn, Steven (2004-05-11). "Interview: Lance Henriksen". IGN. http://movies.ign.com/articles/513/513443p1.html. Retrieved 2008-07-28.

[2] Buttazzo, G (May 2000). "Can a Machine Ever Become Self-Aware?". in R. Aurich, W. Jacobsen and G. Jatho. Artificial Humans, an historical retrospective of the Berlin International Film Festival 2000. Goethe Institute, Los Angeles. pp. 45–49.

[3] Nishime, LeiLani (Winter 2005). "The Mulatto Cyborg: Imagining a Multiracial Future". Cinema Journal (University of Texas Press) 44 (2): 34–49.

[4] Kozlovic, Anton Karl (Spring 2004). "HAL-o-phobia: Computer Horror in the Pre-1990 Popular Cinema". Sincronía.

[5] Kozlovic, Anton Karl (September 2003). "Technophobic themes in pre-1990 computer films". Science as Culture 12 (3): 341–373. doi:10.1080/09505430309008.

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