Quote from: Aliens1986fanboy on May 03, 2020, 02:03:59 AM
Not much happens in the original Alien
Something happens in every scene of Alien.
They wake up, they investigate the signal, they land on the planet, they incur damage, they go to the derelict, they find the eggs, they encounter the face hugger, they try to cut it off, they realize they cant, they work on repairing the ship, and start home, Kane wakes up, He gives birth to the chest burster, they hunt the alien, it kills Brett, they devise a plan to use flamethrowers and the air shafts to flush it out of the ship, they fail, they find out the the company wants the alien, and Ash is a collaborator, they decide to blow up the ship and bail out on the shuttle, Parker and Lambert get killed while prepping to leave. Ripley sets the auto destruct, attempts to leave, is blocked by the alien, tries to stop the auto-destruct, is too late to do so, returns to the shuttle with Jonesy and launches just before the Nostromo explodes, she gets ready for hypersleep only to find the alien on board, she gets in a suit, uses gas from the shuttles support systems to flush the alien out of its hidey hole, and blows it out the godd*mn airlock. Leaves a log. The end.
Every scene has at least one major piece of plot or character in it. It's just not infused with cinnamon sugar in every bite.
As to why Alien might be preferred by some? It's the original. It's got a great score. It's beautifully shot. It's superbly acted. The original treatrical cut is just about flawless in terms of editing and pacing.
Aliens, though very very well executed, has a few more rough edges. Also the change to Alien design and concept doesn't sit right with everyone. (Even though I would say most people who take that position misunderstand at least one fundamental fact about both Alien and Aliens.)