Engineering Technician Brett
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Brett (ID# 724/R4-06J) was the engineering technician of the commercial towing vessel The Nostromo in the 1979 science fiction film Alien. He was played by actor Harry Dean Stanton.
As Engineering Technician, Brett was an assistant to Chief Engineer Parker. His duties included general maintenance and repair, engine maintenance and repair, fueling, electrical work, and the rest of the engineering work.
Brett was, according to Parker, a man with "no personality." Brett would purposely over-estimate time limits, giving himself plenty of time to complete a task. He liked to complain to Parker about working conditions, the food, their bonus money, and just about everything else. He often encouraged Parker to bring up their dissatisfaction to Captain Dallas regarding various Company regulations.
Brett was probably most remembered for always saying the word "right". Whenever anyone said anything, he would always reply, "Right." This habit annoyed Warrant Officer Ripley on more than one occasion.
Brett rigged the portable incinerator units that were used as a weapon to combat the alien. He was part of Ripley's team when the crew split up to search for the "chestburster". He was trusted to hold the net to catch the chestburster, once Ripley and Parker found it. When they inadvertently cornered Jones the cat, though, Brett instead let go of the net, allowing the cat to escape. Parker ordered Brett to retrieve the cat, to prevent them from again picking it up on their tracking device.
As he went deep inside the bowels of the Nostromo looking for the cat, he found large amounts of slimy, non-human skin and Jones near the bottom of the landing gear room. When Brett attempted to pick up Jones, the full grown alien descended from the chains hanging from the ceiling, and grabbed Brett, pulling him up into the air ducts at the top of the room. (The Director's Cut also reveals the alien's "nest", with Brett being cocooned within a slimy, secreted resin. He was virtually dead ever since his abduction by the alien; he was killed in actuality when he was euthanized (along with Dallas) by Ripley using an incinerator which Brett himself had first rigged to capture the "chestburster".
Like the Nostromo itself, Brett and all other crewmembers' official whereabouts remained unknown for the next 57 years. He was missing and presumed dead from 2122 until 2179, when an off-course Narcissus escape ship returned Ripley and Jones to civilization (and solved the riddle of the missing Nostromo, which had mysteriously vanished without a trace).
Memorable quotes/exchanges:
- Dallas: "[over radio] How much longer?"
- Brett: "Tell him about seventeen hours."
- Parker: "[over radio] twenty five hours."
- Parker: "I think we should just freeze him [Kane]. I mean, he's got a disease, why don't we just stop it where it is?"
- Brett: "Right."
- Ripley: "Whenever he says anything, you say 'right', do you know that, Brett?"
- Brett: "Right."
- Ripley: "Parker, what do you think? Your staff just follows you around saying "right". He's like a regular parrot."
- Parker: "(laughing) Yeah man, lighten up. You some kind of parrot?"
- Brett: "Right."
