Changes in the movies you would have made ?

[The Kurgan]

What are some changes in the original quadrilogy movies you would have made to improve the movie or movies more to your liking?

Two things are off limit : No skull/No-skull discussion and Newt and Hicks die between Aliens and A3 

Some things for Alien Resurrection i would have changed:

I would have Ripley 8 die during removal of the chestburster in A:R, so no Ripley 8 helping the crew of the Betty, Ripley stays dead. Staying with Resurrection i would have changed the setting from a military vessel  to a WY vessel with research staff and mercenaries for security. No evacuation after the aliens break out of their cells and the mercs get the order to eliminate all witnesses to the illegal research.
Also i would have the weapons in A:R more akin to the previous designs. Maybe something similiar to the weapons they designed for A:CM.

What are some things you always wanted to change?

[The Old One]

Resurrection's premise.

(Prometheus' writers)

Alien- Theatrical Version but with both slaps, from Lambert to Ripley to the Alien to Jones.
Cut out the terrible visual of switching from the fake Ash head to Ian Holm, use Ripley's arm obscuring the screen to bridge them.
Wouldn't have the Alien bouncing around the exterior of the shuttle, it just looks ridiculous.

Aliens- Special Edition but without the Jorden Family or the view of the colony before it's overrun.
Don't reuse footage of that Alien exploding in the Sentry guns sequence.
Cut Ripley's hospital nightmare on Gateway. The inference is enough.
Ripley and Hicks exchanging first names is corny but I can take or leave it.

A3 Special Edition- Cut the shot of the egg. Clean up the composites, no outlines.
Cut a couple instances of repeated dialogue. Cut "Spikey?" Or use the Dog instead of the Ox.
Cut "You're crazy."

[Elmazalman]

Add an extra hour to ALIEN's running time. I want to see an even more leisurely paced & detailed account of the Nostromo's final voyage.

[Voodoo Magic]

Add an extra hour to ALIEN's running time. I want to see an even more leisurely paced & detailed account of the Nostromo's final voyage.

Hmm.... can't tell if you're being serious....

[windebieste]

A few changes to 'ALIENS' I'd make - and this would solve a lot of problems.

'ALIENS' is a great movie.  Actually, it's a Great movie.  There's no denying it - but it has caused problems for being such an achievement.  Some of the greatest film makers ever have attempted to make a sequel and had varying degrees of success.  This would indicate to me that the problem doesen't like with these movie makers, Scott and Fincher in particular - but with 'ALIENS' itself. 


'ALIENS' is almost too perfect.  That's an important statement.  It's a great, stand alone experience but it doesn't allow for much expansion.  Hadley's Hope has been destroyed, arguably the derelict too and the Queen has been booted out the airlock.  'ALIENS' effectively closed off opportunities for sequels right there.  Bang. What exactly is there to build on after that?

It's no wonder 'ALIEN 3' has problems - it can't even get started without bringing on board an egg of mysterious origin - that's not the movie's fault, 'ALIENS' left little to build upon.  It's a closed experience with very little openings for advancement and Cameron wasn't interested in making a followup, either.

But what if he did want to see the series go beyond the 1986 film and decided one small change would be enough to advance 'ALIEN 3' into another movie, something more in tone with his sequel?  What if 'ALIENS' was intended to be 2 movies?

If the series was intended to advance as a series of cohesive sequels rather than the piecemeal episodes we have seen then the logical conclusion to 'ALIENS' with a planned follow up would be to end the movie with the dropship landing back at the Sulaco.  Make the big reveal of the Queen happen as a cliff hanger AFTER the 4 survivors had entered cryosleep. 

Then the opportunity for more 'ALIENS' style action is set up for the next movie. Cameron's 'ALIEN 3' would start with the survivors being awakened by an emergency situation.  The confrontation between Ripley and the Queen would take place 15 minutes into the film instead of at the end.  Then the remainder of the movie, Ripley Hicks, Bishop and Newt have to find a way to deal with a Sulaco loaded with Alien eggs. 

If Cameron was genuinely invested in advancing the story beyond his movie, he would have left an opening to do so.  No such opportunity exists.  The movie can - and is - too perfect in this regard.  That's the basic change I'd make to it - I'd cut the ending with the Queen/Ripley encounter from the end of the movie and use it at the start of the third movie to propel its story along.

I love 'ALIENS' and 'ALIEN 3' - but it could have been very different result if the Director of the second movie approached the continuity of what followed with a little more foresight than seeing it as 'someone else's problem'.  I'm glad 'ALIEN 3' takes a different direction, though.  Diversity is a good thing.

-Windebieste

[426Buddy]

What?

The story could have went anywhere after Aliens, it was wide open. The derelict obviously came from somewhere and the next film was free to introduce new characters as well as bringing back old ones in a story that explored the jockeys or other locations where there could be more ships and eggs. I never understood why they felt they had to pick up immediately after aliens forcing themselves to add an alien egg with no logical explanation for how it got there. It showed such a lack of imagination.

[windebieste]

Actually, yeah.  You're right.  A retcon is in order. 

'ALIENS' should never have been made in the first place.  It's so out of touch with everything Ridley Scott wanted in the first place. 

LOL.

-Windebieste.

[426Buddy]

Sequels dont have to copy the film before in theme and tone. In fact one of my favorite things about aliens is that it follows a similar story structure to the first film, still continues the story logically, but makes it also feel like a completely different film through the tone, atmosphere, and themes.

Alien and aliens feel like siblings in that way. They just work.

I have to add that I do like Alien3 and dont want any of the films to be retconned. But it always bothered me how they couldnt imagine any other story other than one that starts with the Sulacos return trip.

[DerelictShip]

Windebieste, I could not agree more. I've always thought about how difficult it must have been to write the third alien film after Aliens, since it does put an end to the events of both films.

My next option would be make Alien 3 with all new characters/story.

Or take a break between Aliens and Alien 3 to release a film based on the space jockeys. Not as Prometheus portrayed them.

[Rankles75]

Actually, a sequel to Aliens featuring a new cast could have been a good way to go. Ripley's story had a perfect ending, or at least a stepping off point where she could have returned down the line if need be. There's plenty of interesting storylines that can still be written involving the alien, regardless of whether she's a part of them or not. Unfortunately, I suspect FOX didn't have enough faith that the fan base would stick with the series if Ripley wasn't involved, so they just shoehorned her into an unnecessary sequel built on a flawed premise and here we are.

[Voodoo Magic]

What?

The story could have went anywhere after Aliens, it was wide open. The derelict obviously came from somewhere and the next film was free to introduce new characters as well as bringing back old ones in a story that explored the jockeys or other locations where there could be more ships and eggs. I never understood why they felt they had to pick up immediately after aliens forcing themselves to add an alien egg with no logical explanation for how it got there. It showed such a lack of imagination.

Hear! Hear!

'ALIENS' effectively closed off opportunities for sequels right there.  Bang. What exactly is there to build on after that?

You replace 'ALIENS' with 'ALIEN3' and I agree with that statement.

[Perfect-Organism]

A few changes to 'ALIENS' I'd make - and this would solve a lot of problems.

'ALIENS' is a great movie.  Actually, it's a Great movie.  There's no denying it - but it has caused problems for being such an achievement.  Some of the greatest film makers ever have attempted to make a sequel and had varying degrees of success.  This would indicate to me that the problem doesen't like with these movie makers, Scott and Fincher in particular - but with 'ALIENS' itself. 


'ALIENS' is almost too perfect.  That's an important statement.  It's a great, stand alone experience but it doesn't allow for much expansion.  Hadley's Hope has been destroyed, arguably the derelict too and the Queen has been booted out the airlock.  'ALIENS' effectively closed off opportunities for sequels right there.  Bang. What exactly is there to build on after that?

It's no wonder 'ALIEN 3' has problems - it can't even get started without bringing on board an egg of mysterious origin - that's not the movie's fault, 'ALIENS' left little to build upon.  It's a closed experience with very little openings for advancement and Cameron wasn't interested in making a followup, either.

But what if he did want to see the series go beyond the 1986 film and decided one small change would be enough to advance 'ALIEN 3' into another movie, something more in tone with his sequel?  What if 'ALIENS' was intended to be 2 movies?

If the series was intended to advance as a series of cohesive sequels rather than the piecemeal episodes we have seen then the logical conclusion to 'ALIENS' with a planned follow up would be to end the movie with the dropship landing back at the Sulaco.  Make the big reveal of the Queen happen as a cliff hanger AFTER the 4 survivors had entered cryosleep. 

Then the opportunity for more 'ALIENS' style action is set up for the next movie. Cameron's 'ALIEN 3' would start with the survivors being awakened by an emergency situation.  The confrontation between Ripley and the Queen would take place 15 minutes into the film instead of at the end.  Then the remainder of the movie, Ripley Hicks, Bishop and Newt have to find a way to deal with a Sulaco loaded with Alien eggs. 

If Cameron was genuinely invested in advancing the story beyond his movie, he would have left an opening to do so.  No such opportunity exists.  The movie can - and is - too perfect in this regard.  That's the basic change I'd make to it - I'd cut the ending with the Queen/Ripley encounter from the end of the movie and use it at the start of the third movie to propel its story along.

I love 'ALIENS' and 'ALIEN 3' - but it could have been very different result if the Director of the second movie approached the continuity of what followed with a little more foresight than seeing it as 'someone else's problem'.  I'm glad 'ALIEN 3' takes a different direction, though.  Diversity is a good thing.

-Windebieste

Whoah!!  The film is too good!  Tone it down a little!  Lol.  That's just poppycock.

There's no indication actually in the film that Ripley's Barbecue destroyed the derelict.  If it was close enough to Hadley's Hope that it would have been destroyed, then they would have all known about it.

Aliens left so much that could have been followed up on.  4 of the most loved characters survived.  The derelict could have been explored.  The only problem was that the most probable sequel would involve an exploration of the derelict which the studio clearly didn't want to pay for.  Aliens simply set up something too awesome for a sequel and the studio totally "misunderestimated" the audiences appetite for that.  They played it safe with a very muted sequel and the franchise paid the price.

Miraculously, 30 years later, it's still not too late to fix the debacle that was Alien 3.

[TC]

I would have ended Ripley's presence in the franchise arc with the end of Aliens. It was the natural and fitting place to say goodbye to her character.

Newt, on the other hand, had great potential in Alien 3. Just as Ripley had unfinished business at the end of Alien '79 dealing with survivor guilt from her Nostromo experience (and also surviving her daughter); Newt, in film 3, would have unresolved issues following the death of her family at Hadley's Hope. Maybe, as an adult, she could have ended up on Fiorina instead of Ripley.

Hmmmm...

So Newt Jorden, mid-20s, fuelled by a search for justice, signs up with military intelligence to learn more about Weyland-Yutani's shady dealings. Ripley has retired, having raised Newt, and Hicks is nowhere to be seen. Newt receives a message from an anonymous informant about some suspicious activity in an off-world penitentiary being run by W-Y. So she flies there, crash lands (W-Y sabotage her ship before she leaves), gets rescued by the inmates, and discovers that the prison is a front to hide dangerous xeno experiments taking place in the basement (using the occasional inmate as research fodder). Newt organises a prison rebellion and eludes a stalking xeno before escaping in a visiting W-Y science vessel that shows up to deliver "product" to the basement laboratory. The vessel is the Auriga.

And on to the next movie...

Onboard the Auriga, Newt learns that years ago during the events of Hadley's Hope, Burke was beaten to Acheron by a secretive W-Y science team that managed to bag a few face-hugged colonists after they were hospitalised. One of them was Timmy Jorden. The Auriga scientists had cloned him to recover their first xeno. He is kind of Newt's brother (having his memories), but kind of isn't (exhibiting odd xeno behaviour). Caught while trying to free Timmy, the two are rescued by a W-Y lab assistant - in reality an undercover saboteur named Call, secretly embedded by a governmental special ops unit tasked with taking down W-Y. Newt and Timmy band together with Call to set a timed charge in the Auriga's fuel core. Call says a mercenary supply ship that is due to dock in a few hours is actually an extraction team organised by her special ops unit. If they can make the rendezvous in time, they can escape the explosion. Timmy uses his "xeno-senses" as they fight their way through a xeno breakout but he dies in the battle. Newt and Call make it to the extraction point as the rescue ship docks. The pilot is Hicks. Not there by chance, he's been undercover in the special ops unit for the past 15 years and he was the informant that gave Newt the initial lead about WY's Fiorina prison experiments. He dies in a battle fending off W-Y soldiers as Newt and Call escape in the rescue ship just as the Auriga explodes.

And on to the next movie...

The special ops unit has been disavowed and Newt and Call are on their own, still battling to bring down W-Y.

Rebecca "Newt" Jorden




Tee hee 

TC

[Perfect-Organism]

 .  Tee...   hee...

[Immortan Jonesy]

I would have ended Ripley's presence in the franchise arc with the end of Aliens. It was the natural and fitting place to say goodbye to her character.

Newt, on the other hand, had great potential in Alien 3. Just as Ripley had unfinished business at the end of Alien '79 dealing with survivor guilt from her Nostromo experience (and also surviving her daughter); Newt, in film 3, would have unresolved issues following the death of her family at Hadley's Hope. Maybe, as an adult, she could have ended up on Fiorina instead of Ripley.

Hmmmm...

So Newt Jorden, mid-20s, fuelled by a search for justice, signs up with military intelligence to learn more about Weyland-Yutani's shady dealings. Ripley has retired, having raised Newt, and Hicks is nowhere to be seen. Newt receives a message from an anonymous informant about some suspicious activity in an off-world penitentiary being run by W-Y. So she flies there, crash lands (W-Y sabotage her ship before she leaves), gets rescued by the inmates, and discovers that the prison is a front to hide dangerous xeno experiments taking place in the basement (using the occasional inmate as research fodder). Newt organises a prison rebellion and eludes a stalking xeno before escaping in a visiting W-Y science vessel that shows up to deliver "product" to the basement laboratory. The vessel is the Auriga.

And on to the next movie...

Onboard the Auriga, Newt learns that years ago during the events of Hadley's Hope, Burke was beaten to Acheron by a secretive W-Y science team that managed to bag a few face-hugged colonists after they were hospitalised. One of them was Timmy Jorden. The Auriga scientists had cloned him to recover their first xeno. He is kind of Newt's brother (having his memories), but kind of isn't (exhibiting odd xeno behaviour). Caught while trying to free Timmy, the two are rescued by a W-Y lab assistant - in reality an undercover saboteur named Call, secretly embedded by a governmental special ops unit tasked with taking down W-Y. Newt and Timmy band together with Call to set a timed charge in the Auriga's fuel core. Call says a mercenary supply ship that is due to dock in a few hours is actually an extraction team organised by her special ops unit. If they can make the rendezvous in time, they can escape the explosion. Timmy uses his "xeno-senses" as they fight their way through a xeno breakout but he dies in the battle. Newt and Call make it to the extraction point as the rescue ship docks. The pilot is Hicks. Not there by chance, he's been undercover in the special ops unit for the past 15 years and he was the informant that gave Newt the initial lead about WY's Fiorina prison experiments. He dies in a battle fending off W-Y soldiers as Newt and Call escape in the rescue ship just as the Auriga explodes.

And on to the next movie...

The special ops unit has been disavowed and Newt and Call are on their own, still battling to bring down W-Y.

Rebecca "Newt" Jorden
https://66.media.tumblr.com/1bbd732e1b98f8a6968fd2cbcc5a35bd/tumblr_o0o416I9NA1uze870o1_500.gif



Tee hee 

TC

👏