Phy posted:

Considering that the Nostromo was literally a refinery (or hauling a refinery, something like that) I think the decision to make it sort of run-down and grubby was exactly the right one, even aside from the pristine nature of most SF films. It's like any industry where the profit motive has priority - you clean where you can, especially on poo poo where grime can gently caress up the company's machinery, otherwise it's your rear end. If someone dies because the grime was obscuring a crack in a process pipe, welp. And if stuff breaks you bodge a fix toot sweet no dogfucking. The motion tracker and flamethrower in Alien were very much in that spirit, now that I think about it.