[Barry the Sprout]

Burke is slimy and Machiavellian, but the Bishop android/maker (whichever) seems much mroe sincere. He is obviously trying to get some kind of personal (or company) gain, but he just comes out and says it, unlike Burke. With Burke its all about the money, whereas with Bishop he practically pleads with Ripley to let him examine the Alien - he seems much more trustworthy than Burke, they're not really the same in my opinion. I know you're not saying they were the same, but I mean that they don't play the same role. Burke shows how humans will climb over each others dead bodies for a bit of money, but Bishop (in Alien 3 at least) shows how raw ambition and desire (he embodies the company effectively - whether he's human or not) cause us to make our greatest mistakes. Burke doesn't care what he does to anyone, as long as he's okay. Bishop is just overconfident and feels he can handle anything. Aliens is a very 80s film - about the greed of man, Alien 3 is much more 90s - with a message that we shouldn't get too confident in ourselves. Thats my take on it anyway.

But it still doesn't help answer the question of whether he's human or not!

Pete Postlethwaite is very good, but does he actually get eaten in Jurassic Park 2? I thought he had an epiphany halfway through and vows not to hunt anymore, therefore making him untouchable as far as the film script goes... I could have sworn it was Richard Schiff who gets eaten by two T Rex's. But either way Postlethwaite is one of the only good things about that film.