Try our affiliated browser extension - redirect to BreezeWiki automatically!

Working Joe

"Working Joes: Brilliantly simple and simply brilliant."
―Tagline for Working Joe advertisements (from Alien: Isolation)


The Working Joe was a type of synthetic manufactured by Seegson. They were encountered aboard the decommissioned space station, Sevastopol, in 2137 and later in 2202, on the surface of LV-895, by Amanda Ripley-McClaren and the Colonial Marine fireteam, respectively.

Overview

"You always know a Working Joe."
―Tagline for Working Joe advertisements (from Alien: Isolation)

The Working Joe synthetic was created by the European conglomerate Seegson in the early 2100s. It lacked the human realism of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation's David and Walter synthetics, and instead featured rubberized skin and a blank face. Seegson prominently advertised the Working Joe's nondescript appearance, portraying the model as safe and trustworthy. The Working Joe also featured eyes that changed colour depending on the situation—when in normal operating mode, the eyes glowed white; when the Working Joe was forced to take aggressive or punitive action, they turned red. Working Joes could be synced to APOLLO, a proprietary Seegson computer mainframe. The Tesotek 2100-B, a model of orbital refinery manufactured by Cygnus, initially featured a storage compartment for a complement of Working Joes. As of 2122, however, a legal case between Seegson and Weyland–Yutani resulted in the replacement of the Working Joes with Weyland–Yutani synthetics.

Working Joes were capable of operating mining vehicles such as haulers.[1] They could also be used in the initial construction of colonies ahead of human crews; however, settlers arriving thereafter would be forced to effectively undo the less–than–ideal work carried out. Such outposts were dubbed "Sloppy Joe" colonies.[2]

History

The Union of Progressive Peoples were rumored to have commissioned Working Joes to be utilized as combat synthetics.[3] This was later proven true with the emergence of the Dzho Automaton, also known as the "Fighting Joe".[4]

Working Joes saw use during Sevastopol Station's run, governed by the APOLLO A.I. After learning of a potential Xenomorph outbreak on Sevastopol Station, in 2137, Weyland-Yutani purchased the outdated station and remotely installed an "operational ruleset packet" into APOLLO, which included Special Order 939.[5] As part of the software update, APOLLO began scanning the station for Xenomorph presence, and upon discovering the creatures in the station's reactor maintenance sector (where they had begun constructing a Hive) the computer activated the special order on 11/24/2137.[5] APOLLO shut off all communications, and subsequently reprogrammed the Joes stationed at the comms center to prevent anyone from attempting to send a message off-station - Comms manager Hughes was killed after confronting a Joe about the issue. Amanda Ripley-McClaren would go on to encounter several Joes within the center, and later still during her plight for survival.

Due to the efforts of Marshal Waits using Amanda as bait, when an Alien was later jettisoned from the station in the Gemini Exoplanet Solutions module, APOLLO responded by ordering all Working Joes to hunt down and kill the station's remaining human inhabitants to ensure the survival of the specimens. All Joes on the station would go on to be destroyed after the station plummeted into KG-348's atmosphere.

Several Working Joes were assigned to the United Nations Interstellar Settlement Corps' Great Mother Mission to the Far Spinward Colonies as of 2186. James and Miss Sophie were two such synthetics aboard the exploratory vessel UNCSS Solovetsky Island, while Jake and Elwood were assigned to the UNCSS Typhoon. Jake and Elwood's programming was corrupted by the living Proto-Hive after the infection took hold of the Typhoon during the expedition.[2]

Working Joes were encountered by a squad of Marines from the UAS Endeavor on the surface of LV-895.

Behind the scenes

The Working Joe synthetic first appeared in the 2014 video game Alien: Isolation, for which they were designed as an enemy type. The Joes' crude look was inspired by 1970s resuscitation dummies.[6] The androids were originally intended to have brown, rubbery hair, but this was dropped in favor of the sleeker bald–headed design.[7]

The androids' behavior, and by extension Seegson's corporate policy, was inspired by a sign that Alien: Isolation writer Will Porter read in a North Carolina McDonald's restaurant in 1999 that read 'Why not ask about our orange drink dispenser?'[8] This statement later evolved into the Joes' line, "Why not ask me about Sevastopol's safety protocols?" but more so struck Porter with its absurdity. "To me, this is the voice of Seegson," Porter later said in an interview. "An ineffectual boardroom (forever leaking talent to the likes of Weyland-Yutani) sending out nothing but self-deluding missives that have little to no use on Earth – let alone for the real people suffering on a dilapidated space station floating alone on the edge of space."[8] Fellow writer Dion Lay went on to explain the Joes' vocal patterns, likening them to "those automated messages you get when you phone a call center — the content of the words are polite and friendly but it's lacking any real sincerity".[8] The darkly comedic way these polite messages are often at odds with the Joes' murderous actions stemmed from Lay's love of cult British television, which often contained similar abstract, understated horror.

It was originally planned to have the Joes quote lines from Shakespeare in a malevolent manner, and this dialogue was even recorded for the game. However, it was ultimately decided it didn't fit with the game world and was cut.[9]

One of the Working Joe's many animations when standing still is one in which the Joe suddenly begins jogging on the spot for a second. This odd mannerism is a direct reference to the movie Alien and the character Ash, who does the same thing. Ash in turn uses some of the Working Joe's idle animations in his depiction in the game. Similarly, in Seegson Synthetics, a dead body that is later identified to be Smythe can be found with a rolled up magazine down his throat, presumably done by a Working Joe. This is another direct reference to Ash as he attempts to kill Ripley in the same fashion.

Although they do not appear in the original print novel, Working Joes are mentioned numerous times in the audiobook version of Alien: Out of the Shadows. For example, when describing the nature of Ash to the crew of the Marion, Ellen Ripley says that the Science Officer "was not just a Working Joe, he was totally flawless, took us in".

Appearances

Gallery

Behind the scenes

References

  1. ↑ Alien: Inferno's Fall
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Alien: The Roleplaying Game — Building Better Worlds
  3. ↑ Andrew E. C. Gaska. Alien: The Roleplaying Game, p. 243 (2019), Free League Publishing.
  4. ↑ Andrew E. C. Gaska. Alien: The Roleplaying Game Colonial Marines Operations Manual, p. 268 (2021), Free League Publishing.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Alien: Isolation - Archive Log 124 - APOLLO Priamry Interaction Log
  6. ↑ Andy McVittie. The Art of Alien: Isolation, p. 32 (2014), Titan Books.
  7. ↑ Andy McVittie. The Art of Alien: Isolation, p. 33 (2014), Titan Books.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "AVP Galaxy - Interview with Alien: Isolation Writers Will Porter and Dion Lay". Retrieved on 2015-02-03.
  9. ↑ "Strange Shapes - Alien Isolation: Interview with Dion Lay and Will Porter". Retrieved on 2015-05-07.