I was determined to cover everything I could about the computer displays only on the Nostromo, But I couldn’t’ ignore the most impressive prop in the movie. The auto destruct.

It’s probably the best know sequence in the film where Ripley sets the ship to self-destruct as she tries to escape via the shuttle, but then tries to undo it all again missing the 5-minute window by only a few seconds.  From my first viewing of the movie at an early age, the complex procedure and steps required to set the ship to blow was always my favourite. A great deal of internet blogs and sites have covered many aspects of this, from the instructions printed in the inside of the mechanism’s lid and how she is not really following it as she should, to the real meaning behind the symbols on the backlit keys. The excellent https://typesetinthefuture.com/2014/12/01/alien/ the future website, by David Addey. Does an incredible job pointing how many of the keys display Sanskrit words, and one key hilariously “Agaric Fly” is some kind of hallucinogenic mushroom, situated next to the “trip button”

 

In all my research I have never been able to find a complete clear shot of all keys across the three separate panels. In trying to recreate them in Adobe Illustrator, I found many inconsistencies in what others have try reproduce. This is probably down to a combination of working off blurry photos different phot lighting and taking some liberties with what may be on a given key.

 

So I am going to break down each one!