Sulaco (fictional spacecraft) Sulaco (fictional spacecraft) The U.S.S. "Sulaco" is a fictional spaceship and important setting in the film "Aliens". It also appears briefly in the opening scene of "Alien 3", in the "" and "" video games that takes place shortly after the events of "Alien 3". The "Sulaco" is named after a fictional town in Joseph Conrad's novel "Nostromo", which is also the name of the ship from the original "Alien". A number of other names in the franchise are based on Conrad's work as well. Some scholarly research into the symbolism of the Alien franchise has considered it significant that
Aliens (film) Kile M. Ortigo of Emory University, agree with this interpretation and point to the "Sulaco" with its "sterilized, white interior" as representing this element in the second film of the franchise. While some claim that the shape of the "Sulaco" was based on a submarine, the design has most often been described as a "gun in space" resembling the rifles used in the movie. Author Roz Kaveney called the opening shot of the ship traveling through space "fetishistic" and "shark-like", "an image of brutal strength and ingenious efficiency"—while the militarized interior of the "Sulaco" (designed by Ron Cobb) is contrasted