Carter Burke



The last thing Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) needed after a 57-year nap was another helping of corporate lies. The Company ignored her warnings of danger on LV-426, the planet where she and her crew had discovered an Alien. And now one of their project leaders, Carter Burke (Paur Reiser), was asking Ripley to join the trip out to that planet as an advisor. And they would annihilate any Aliens out there. Yeah, sure.

Accompanied by a crack team of Space Marines, Ripley and Burke would find the settlement on LV-426 seemingly abandoned. Then, they found find traces of fighting, large gaping holes in solid steel, and strange H. R. Giger inspired matte paintings. Indeed, the Marines would encounter an entire nest of these acid-blooded baddies and take a bunch out, but not before most of their own squad had paid the ultimate price. And all the while, Carter Burke, Company Man watches the carnage, plotting his next move. When the Marines are ready to retreat from the doomed planet, Burke advises taking an alien specimen with them. No dice, they say.

Things aren't so easy, however, as their rescue ship is crashed by an alien, and now they'll have to sweat 17 days in the planet until the next ship arrives. The Marines find a young girl named Newt who has survived for weeks in the underbelly of the settlement, and she takes to Ripley like a daughter to a mother. Carter Burke, seemingly out of options, releases an alien facehugger into the sleeping quarters of Ripley and Newt, hoping one of them will become "impregnated" with an alien specimen and they'll be able to carry it back to Earth inside their bodies, undetected by anyone. The Marines realize what's happening, find the women, and kill the alien, and now Burke's ass is grass.

His imminent beating at the hands of the Marines is interrupted by an all-out alien attack. While the Marines fight them off valliantly, Burke cowardly and foolishly scurries out the back and locks the door behind him. The Marines are trapped and forced to make a stand while Burke tries to escape the settlement on his own. He soon realizes this was The Worst Idea in the Universe when he is greeted by an alien. Burke becomes the latest in a long line of victims, ironically by a member of the species he was trying to save from being destroyed. His cowardice in the face of grisly death is unforgivable, especially when a little girl was ready to fight before he was. Carter Burke is even worse when you realize he's a backstabber too. At least a facehugger will look you in the eye when it attacks you... sort of.