Having watched Alien and then Aliens just this week with some friends who'd never seen them, it's great how Aliens uses the first movie's plot points as launching pads and yet does things differently or sets viewers up. Lots of people buy the Bishop misdirection because of their prejudice against Ash (and Cameron takes advantage of this). Cameron doesn't bother to show us the whole egg, chestburster, adult Alien in that order -- in fact, an opening egg with a hugger clambering out is one of the last monster images we see in the film. I noticed too that some of my pals couldn't see the Aliens in the walls in the hive sequence (before they reveal themselves) because they expected domed heads.
Just some of the things I noticed. When you're so familiar with a movie you lose a little perspective.
