Countless fan theories surround Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror masterpiece Event Horizon to the video game series Dead Space.
The movie follows Sigourney Weaver’s iconic heroine Ripley as she attempts to evade the titular Xenomorph aboard the cramped, claustrophobic Nostromo. Alien is a tight and terrifying sci-fi horror movie with a string of sequels that created complicated mythology surrounding the eponymous beast, its life cycle, and the shadowy Weyland-Yutani corporation’s attempts to use it as a bioweapon. The Alien franchise's continuity has prompted all manner of speculation from fans of the series, and some of their theories are surprisingly convincing.
Take for example one James Cameron’s 1986 sequel Aliens, Jones seems on the surface to be nothing more than the heroine’s trusty sidekick and generally plot-inconsequential feline friend. This could reasonably lead the viewer to wonder why he’s included in the movies, which is a line of inquiry that can lead to a surprising conclusion. The idea of this pet being a secret android may appear far-fetched at first glance, but it’s pretty convincing when considered in tandem with what the series has shown viewers about androids, the Alien universe’s connection to Scott’s later classic Blade Runner, and how the Xenomorph tracks its prey.
Alien's "Jones the Android Cat" Theory Explained
The basic thrust of this theory is that the alien’s decision to ignore Jones as both a threat and a potential food source comes from the fact that, since the cat is an android, the Xenomorph doesn’t it as a living thing. Ash is later revealed to be a villainous android in the movie, one sent to collect data on the ship’s team unbeknownst to them while posing as the science officer. He’s working with the Weyland-Yutani corporation, who don’t view the lives of their crew as too high a price to pay for access to the Xenomorph, given the beast’s potential application as a weapon of war.
This theory posits that there’s no reason to think Ash is the only one who isn’t human and as a result, isn’t immediately turned into a bloody mess by the monster. Jones the cat should have triggered the alien’s attack mode like the movie's human characters do unless of course, the cat is not a living animal. This theory provides even more evidence of the possibility via the sequel’s action. In Aliens, Ridley is informed - in one of the franchise’s saddest scenes - that she has been in hypersleep for 57 years. It’s a period that the movie specifies is a long stretch for any human to endure in hypersleep, so it stands to reason that Jones the cat would be drastically affected, as he's much smaller than Ripley. So why is Jones completely unharmed by his spell in hypersleep, and acting the same as ever? Probably because he’s a robot, not a real cat — at least, according to the theory.
Why The Jones Android Theory Might Not Be True
Like a lot of Alien fan theories, this is one surprisingly convincing on the surface, but there are a few issues to nitpick with the interpretation. For one thing, the Nostromo’s decision to bring a minimal amount of animals aboard with them means that viewers have no idea how the Xenomorph reacts to non-human mammals. For all the audience knows, the alien ignores Jones because aliens just don’t see cats as food or foe. Until a Xenomorph is let loose in a petting zoo, it’s unlikely anyone can say for certain how the monster normally reacts to non-android animals. After all, unless Weyland-Yutani is arming themselves for a battle against non-human organisms, odds are they only need this bio-weapon to work against humans. Or, more simply, maybe the alien just likes cats.
Another reason that the theory may not be plausible is that the franchise has never implied the existence of robotic animals. This one is a little trickier, as the Alien franchise shares a fictional universe with the Blade Runner series, which does feature a very creepy robotic owl. The movie's source novel is even entitled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, a metaphorical inquiry which does, nonetheless, tease the possibility of potential robot animals. So, it's fair to say that the jury is out on whether an android cat would be an option for the franchise — it's definitely not impossible.
What Jones Being An Android Would Mean For The Franchise
The big question, as with any fan theory, is what it would mean for the Alien franchise if the theory does prove to be plausible. It’s an interesting inquiry. After all, any changes to the franchise lore are likely to have an effect on the two fictional universes that the Alien movies share a convoluted and sometimes contradictory timeline with, the Predator and Blade Runner series. If there are robotic animals in the Alien series - and by extension, the Predator franchise - this could open up the possibility that the Weyland-Yutani Corporation’s corporate spying is even more insidious than previously suspected, and that the evil company has progressed past utilizing only humanoid androids such as Prometheus’ David and Alien’s Ash to infiltrate their employees’ inner circle.
If the theory were true, it would mean viewers should look at any Alien franchise character, human or animal, with suspicion in any subsequent installments, and trust no one (and no cat) when watching an Alien movie. It’s tempting to believe the theory, since the idea makes the already terrifying Alien cinematic universe an even more paranoia-inducing setting where no one is safe. Yet, a lot like Bishop and Newt’s Alien 3 deaths were too much bleakness for some fans of the franchise, it’s pretty understandable if viewers can’t bring themselves to see one of the movie’s only remaining pure characters as another dangerous threat. If no one can hear you scream in space, the least viewers can be reassured of is that their pet cat can be trusted, right?
