Arthur Dallas is a character from Ridley Scott's Alien. He is the captain of the commercial towing vehicle USCSS Nostromo. He was portrayed by Tom Skerritt.
History[]
When MU/TH/UR detected the signal from LV-426 and roused the crew of the Nostromo from hypersleep early, Dallas and Ash pointed out to the reluctant Brett and Parker that Weyland-Yutani orders dictated they had to investigate, despite only being a commercial towing vehicle. Although Dallas fully intended to follow the order, he was clearly annoyed and anxious at the extra risk involved.
After the Nostromo was damaged by dust entering one of its engine intakes while landing on LV-426, Dallas, Lambert and Kane set out to find the source of the signal MU/TH/UR had picked up. They eventually discovered a derelict spacecraft on the moon's surface and the deceased pilot inside, Dallas taking a particular interest in the latter. When Kane was attacked by a Facehugger while investigating the derelict's cargo hold, Dallas and Lambert built a makeshift stretcher from the equipment they had available and carried him back to the Nostromo. Despite Dallas' orders to the contrary, Ripley initially refused to let them back on board, citing quarantine concerns, but was eventually undermined by Ash. Once on board, Dallas' anger and frustration at how the company-imposed investigation had turned out meant he ordered the Nostromo to leave even though repairs had not been completed.
After Kane's Chestburster was born and Brett was killed by the soon fully-grown Alien, Dallas concluded the creature was using the ship's ventilation ducts to move around and proposed a plan to flush it into the main airlock using a flamethrower, at which point it could be jettisoned into space. Although Ripley volunteered, Dallas overruled her as Captain and elected to enter the vents himself while the other crew members used the motion detectors designed by Ash to track the Xenomorph. Before carrying out his plan, Dallas accessed MU/TH/UR in an attempt to gain some advice but received none.
Fate[]
Theatrical release[]
Once in the air shafts, Dallas had Ripley close all the air shafts behind him as he moved, preventing the Alien from coming up behind him but also blocking his escape route. A malfunction in the motion detector forced him to pause, and rapidly he began to succumb to the terror of the situation. When the tracker began working again, Lambert picked up the Alien, moving straight towards Dallas. In his panic, he fled down a ladder, despite Lambert's pleas for him to head in the other direction, and was ambushed and taken by the Xenomorph. Parker later recovered Dallas' flamethrower, but found no sign of his body.
Director's cut[]
In the Director's Cut of the film, Ripley discovered a still living Dallas cocooned in the Nostromo's hold during her escape from the ship, next to the body of Brett, who was slowly being transformed into an Egg. Dallas begged Ripley to kill him, which she subsequently did, torching both him and Brett with her flamethrower.