Quote from: The Eighth Passenger on Nov 27, 2015, 03:51:39 PMNot really no. If you were to watch Alien 3 without having seen Alien or Aliens you'd still have lots of questions regarding Ripley and her previous encounters with the beast. How did she end up on the Sulaco with a child, a marine and half-a-droid? Why is she so distressed about their deaths? How come she knows so much about the beast? Aliens also heavily references the events in Alien.
Not at all. Case in point -
Alien 3 was the first one I saw, quite a long time before the others, and it still made sense all by itself. Sure, you might get more out of it if you've seen the previous movies, but it's not necessary to enjoy the film. Everything that's really important - that Ripley cared about Hicks and Newt, that they had history, that she's met this Alien before, and that it's very, very bad - is clearly laid out in the first act of the film.
Same with
Aliens, although that goes even further by literally summarising the plot of the preceding film.