Bishop's Tunnel: Where's The Entrance & Exit?

In a memorable scene in Aliens, Bishop crawled through a narrow pipe from Operations to an area close to the uplink tower to contact the USS Sulaco in orbit. In this examination, including maps, we explore where exactly in Hadley's Hope colony Bishop's escape tunnel's entrance and exit were. As there might not be a definite answer, we explore different possibilities and try to find the most probable one. This article uses two maps from the excellent Alien: The Blueprints book with the permissions of its author, Graham J. Langridge, who was also consulted for the tunnel's location.

Bishop's "Escape" Tunnel

After retreating from the Atmosphere processor on LV-426, the Colonial Marines lost their only way off the planet when Ferro's dropship crashed. Not only that, the crash damaged the Atmosphere Processor, and the survivors only had four hours to get off the planet. Fortunately, the group devised a plan to bring down the second dropship from the USS Sulaco by remote control. As Bishop was the only one capable of doing that, he had to crawl through a narrow pipe near Operations, which would take him to the colony transmitter. He could then patch in manually while the others waited holed up in Operations.

Bishop Entering The Tunnel

Although we see Bishop entering the pipe in an undisclosed room, there are several clues to where the room or area is actually located. The tables look like the ones in Medlab, and the floor panels match the medical area as well. Furthermore, Ripley and Vasquez are seen coming from the direction of the Medlab immediately after sealing in Bishop, just when the sentry guns start shooting. Bishop's pipe is said to be 180m long and should take him "almost to the up-link assembly".

The Tunnel Entrance Is In Medlab

A further clue is given when we see the background area where Bishop enters from. It matches the white equipment and walls of the Medlab. However, the white wall looks very close to the pipe, hinting that it could be a smaller room. Still, it could be a piece of the Medlab equipment that was shuffled around when survivors set up the barricade again. The scene also establishes that the pipe runs in the opposite direction as well, but not for very long, as it is closed off several meters back.

Tunnel Entrance Possibilities On The Medlab Map

On the Medlab map from Alien: The Blueprints, we see two areas that match well with the location seen in the movie. The pipe was not accessed from the surgery room where Next was sleeping, as they would have obviously disturbed her. In the main Medlab area, both the north-east and south-east corners have a white table that looks the same height. Between the two locations is the doorway leading to the hallway with the barricade. For simplicity, the places are marked with the letters A and B. Let's see which one fits the tunnel location better.

Option A: The North-East Corner

We don't fully see the area marked as A in the movie, although Drake moves past it with his smartgun and the end of the table is visible. Although there is a big piece of equipment on the table to the left, we don't really see the rest of the table. Further, this piece could have been moved later. What is important is that the floor tiles match the area exactly. Bishop entering the pipe here would move towards the North Lock, which is not exactly in the direction of the up-link tower, but could be considered "close enough".

Option B: The South-East Corner

In location B, we see the grey storage boxes that match the table behind Bishop's tunnel almost perfectly. However, this area is missing the floor tiles that Ripley and Vasquez opened up. Furthermore, the area is quite narrow, with another table in front of the table near the wall. Although the survivors could have moved this table, the bigger problem comes with the direction of the tunnel. Bishop entering from this corner would end up in the west side of the colony, which is in the opposite direction of the up-link tower.

Light At The End Of The Tunnel And Possible Xenomorph Encounter

From the pipe itself, we see that it is long, seems to be straight without any curvature, and has a light coming from the end of it. This would indicate that the area where it ends up is illuminated, hinting that the area is somewhere inside the colony or in one of the adjacent buildings. Although there does not seem to be any other entry points, the novelization and script of the movie mention Bishop encountering a Xenomorph. About halfway through the pipe, Bishop saw an acid hole on the right side, and investigating further, a Xenomorph slashed its inner mouth at him. The Xenomorph ended up ignoring him, and Bishop continued his journey.

Bishop's Tunnel On A Hadley's Hope Map

On another map from Alien: The Blueprints for the whole colony, we can try to set up the pipe as a straight line from the entry point, which we are more or less sure of. Knowing that the colony length was 160m (calculated from the movie and colony model) and the pipe was 180m long, we can draw some conclusions. The map has two exit points, one near the North Lock (in the direction we see in the movie), and another one that would match the dialogue of "almost to the up-link assembly".

Option A: Tunnel Exit At North Lock

The first possible exit point is near the North Lock, where the marines originally entered from, and where Hicks and Ripley escape from later. Although the pipe heading here would only be about 140-150m (Bishop could count the "backwards" pipe into the total as well). If the pipe was straight and level, it would have an exit near the second floor stairway, where Hicks is ordered to "check the second level". Coincidentally, there is a pipe with the same size ending there, which even has the two stripes on it, similar to the ones we see when Bishop enters it. When Ripley and Hicks exit North Lock, the door is open, hinting that maybe Bishop just exited from it (they should have closed it when sealing up the colony). The problem with this area is that it is not "almost to the up-link assembly", and the length does not match up as well.

Option B: Tunnel Exit In Landing Grid Building

The second option is that the pipe really did almost reach the up-link antenna and came out somewhere near the landing grid. A suitable area for this would be the "flight tower" building, which is about 180m from the Medlab entry point. However, the pipe would then have to be curved strongly to the west, and also downwards. Without going underground, it could not exit the main colony complex in a good way. The building is difficult see in the movie, but a glimpse of it is seen when Ferro takes off to evacuate before the crash.

Bishop's Tunnel In Newt's Tale

Bishop entering the tunnel is also included in the Aliens: Newt's Tale comic book, although it does not offer much further clues. The entry point is obviously in the Medlab, confirming what we suggested earlier. The pipe's innards are somewhat different, but it looks to be the same size. We don't see Bishop exiting, nor do we have the Xenomorph encounter from the script/novelization.

Bishop's Tunnel In Aliens: Colonial Marines

Aliens: Colonial Marines lets us explore Hadley's Hope colony after the atmosphere processor explosion, which is a contradiction in itself. It features Operations and the Medlab almost completely intact. There is no sign of Bishop's tunnel, but there probably shouldn't be, as Vasquez and Ripley sealed it up after Bishop entered. Although the game was promised to be very lore accurate, the Hadley's Hope map featured in the campaign has many accuracy issues. Another map, created for the Bug Hunt mode, features the colony before the explosion, but it is still not very accurate.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Bishop entered the pipe from the Medlab, likely in the south-east corner, in the general north or north-west direction. Crawling for 40 minutes, he reached an illuminated area that was inside one of the colony buildings. Exiting from the North Lock, he would have reached the landing grid soon. But, he could have also ended up very close to the landing field, exiting from the Flight Tower building, which we barely see in the movie. Big thanks to Graham J. Langridge for his inputs.

Tag Categories: Alien Lore