There are really two iconic mothers in James Cameron's macho action sequel to Ridley Scott's space-slasher Alien: first there's Sigourney Weaver's indomitable blue collar hero and maternal figure to Newt, Ellen Ripley, but there's another in the form of the alien queen, and both are willing to use deadly force in order to defend their charges. It says a lot about Weaver's character and performance that she pipped the Xenomorphs to the post on this one, but Ripley's tenacity and completely sympathetic need to protect the young girl she and the colonial marines find in the abandoned outpost make her a towering cinematic presence. Well, that and being a complete badass. Later on in the series Ripley does actually become a biological mother of a sort, as she 'gives birth' to an alien at the end of Alien 3 shortly before sacrificing herself in order to save humanity; and she actually kind of is mother to herself in Alien: Resurrection when Ripley's DNA is used to create clones of both her and the alien foetus that was inside her. But the less said about that the better, and it's really Weaver's fearless performance in Aliens that cements her claim as one of cinema's greatest mothers.
