Bishop (Aliens)

Bishop 341-B
File:Aliens-Marines-Bishop.png Bishop, as portrayed in Aliens.
First appearance	Aliens
Last appearance	Alien 3
Created by	James Cameron
Portrayed by	Lance Henriksen
In-universe information
Alias	Bishop
Title	Executive Officer
Occupation	Officer onboard the USCM spaceship Sulaco

Bishop 341-B is a fictional character from the science fiction films Aliens (1986) and Alien 3 (1992), portrayed by actor Lance Henriksen. In both films 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 CEO Charles Bishop Weyland.

Fictional background

Bishop is a "synthetic" (he indicates in dialogue in Aliens that he prefers the term "artificial person"), an android assigned as executive officer to the Colonial Marine vessel Sulaco. Like other synthetics, Bishop possesses strength and hand-eye coordination superior to humans, as shown by his ability to stab a knife in between his spread fingers at high speeds. He does not engage in combat, however, instead acting as a medic and tending to other support functions of the mission. Bishop made his first appearance in Aliens when the Sulaco was ordered to investigate the loss of contact with a terraforming colony on LV-426, with Ellen Ripley serving as an advisor on the mission.

During the events of the previous film, Alien (1979), Ripley was attacked by Ash, another android that was commissioned on her ship the Nostromo as a science officer. Ash had been ordered in secret to bring back the Alien life form at the expense of the crew and ultimately had to be destroyed by the Nostromo's crew. Due to this experience Ripley is at first disturbed by Bishop's presence, but comes to accept and trust him through the events of Aliens.

Aliens

The team of Marines from the Sulaco, along with Ripley, Bishop ,and a company executive set down on LV-426. Ripley first notices that Bishop is a synthetic when he cuts his finger and some of his lubricating fluid leaks out, and demands that Bishop stay away from her due to her experience with Ash, even though Bishop reassures her that Ash's model was flawed and that his programming does not permit him to directly harm or let any harm come to a human being through his own inaction (likely a reference to Isaac Asimov's First Law of Robotics). After arriving on the colony where the Aliens have killed almost all of the humans, Bishop's calm, selfless bravery throughout the crisis gradually wins Ripley's trust, risking his existence to remotely pilot down a dropship after their original ship is destroyed by the Aliens. Bishop saves Ripley and Newt from the Alien hive by piloting their dropship out of the exploding atmosphere processing station, but upon landing on the Sulaco he 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 is able to save himself and Newt by grabbing onto a vent in the floor with one hand and holding onto Newt with the other. Afterwards he is placed in hypersleep on the Sulaco with the rest of the survivors so that he may be repaired later.

Alien 3

In the opening scene of Alien 3 (1992), a fire onboard the Sulaco causes the four survivors from Aliens (Ripley, Bishop, Newt, and Corporal Hicks) to be launched in an Emergency Escape Vehicle (EEV) while still in hypersleep. Ripley is the only survivor when the EEV crashes down on Fiorina "Fury" 161, the site of a penal colony. The prisoners indicate that Bishop was smashed beyond repair, but he makes a brief appearance when Ripley finds his remains and 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 being ejected. 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.

Bishop II

In the final scene of Alien 3, a squad of commandos sent by the Company arrives to retrieve Ripley and the Alien queen gestating inside her. With them is a man identical to the android Bishop, also played by Lance Henriksen and listed in the film's credits and the script as "Bishop II". When Ripley expresses her belief that he is another android, Bishop II claims that he is 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 wrench, calling him a "fucking android". The film shows Bishop II bleeding red blood and groaning in pain, with a large flap of ear and skin hanging from his face. Reeling from the injury, he reasserts that he is human, screaming, "I'm not a droid!".. Some fans claim this is proof that he is human, while others claim exactly the opposite, i.e., that no human could withstand such a blow and still be standing.

The 2004 film Alien vs. Predator cast Lance Henriksen as Charles Bishop Weyland, CEO of Weyland Industries. Henriksen stated in an interview relating to the new film that at the time of Alien³, the studio was keeping the issue open as to whether Bishop II was human or android, because they did not yet know what they would be doing with his character in the future; he then gave his own opinion on the matter, which is that Bishop II was an "advanced model" android, not a human.

In some secondary materials, such as the final draft of the script, and Alan Dean Foster's Alien 3 novelization, the character is indicated to be a human. Additionally, the novelization gives Bishop II the name "Michael Bishop". The script was, however, continually changed during shooting, eliminating a number of inconsistencies, such as Aaron dying twice, &c., and making other changes (compare and ).

Lastly, it should be noted that the ship in which the company "rescue" team arrives is exactly the same model as the USS Sulaco featured in Aliens and at the beginning of Alien 3. Carter Burke, the company representative sent along with Ripley to Hadley's Hope, states in Aliens that it is "common practice," and that they "always have a synthetic on board". It is thus logical to assume that Bishop II is the on-board android.

Alien vs. Predator

Alien vs. Predator (2004) features Henriksen in the role of Charles Bishop Weyland, the founder and CEO of Weyland Industries. He and his team conducted a search inside an ancient pyramid under the ice of Bouvet Island after the company's satellites detect a heat source there. It is later revealed that Weyland is terminally ill and views the discovery of the pyramid as his last chance to make his mark on history. Unlike the company that will continue into the Alien series, he is a fundamentally good person; when the Aliens attack, he refuses to abandon the guns they acquired earlier because he feels that "Too much has been lost to leave with nothing". He is eventually killed by a Predator while attempting to distract the creature from pursuing the rest of the team, sacrificing himself to attack it with a makeshift flamethrower even after it was prepared to leave him alone after determining his ill health.

In academia

Bishop (often in contrast to Ash) 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. The portrayal of androids in the Alien series (including Ash in Alien, Bishop in Aliens and Alien 3, Bishop II in Alien 3]], and Call in Alien Resurrection) has been studied for its implications relating to how humans deal with the presence of an "Other", as Ripley treats them with fear and suspicion and a form of "hi-tech racism and android apartheid" is present throughout the series. 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.