Why do some people prefer Alien over Aliens?

[son_of_kane]

I love that the first two films are so different to each other, and both excel at what they are trying to accomplish. 

[SiL]

Aliens barely has any intriguing moments at all, because we know everything that's coming.

The investigation of the colony, both descents into the hive, the Aliens finding their way into the colony -- these all drew intrigue and apprehension from the audience.

The movie makes us wait 1 hour and 15 minutes just to get to the aliens, something we've already experienced in Alien.

There is no cut of the film where this is accurate. If you go by the DC we see the facehugger significantly sooner; by the TC, the marines still discover the facehuggers earlier into the film. The adults appear around the same time in both movies in their theatrical cuts.

The only intriguing moment in Aliens is when Ripley asks "who's laying these eggs?" and the answer is disappointing to some. The Queen ruins the cosmic horror element of Alien because now the unknowable space demon is now comparable to an ant.

The Alien was never meant to be an unknowable space demon. Insects were an inspiration from the first movie.

With Alien, everybody thought Dallas was going to be the hero of the movie, but then he's killed halfway through. It gives the sense that nobody is safe and that anything can happen.

Not really. It's pretty clear in the film that Ripley is the lead of the ensemble. We experience the events more through her perspective than anyone else even before Dallas dies.

Ripley has a surrogate mother relationship with Newt; and the rules of conventional story telling says she has to save Newt and beat the queen, and of course, she does.

Conventional story telling says Ripley has to defeat the Alien in the first movie, and of course, she does.

[Jigsaw85]

Aliens barely has any intriguing moments at all, because we know everything that's coming.

The investigation of the colony, both descents into the hive, the Aliens finding their way into the colony -- these all drew intrigue and apprehension from the audience.

It's not really intriguing when you know exactly what happened at the colony and what created the Hive. The Aliens did it all, and we know it.

The movie makes us wait 1 hour and 15 minutes just to get to the aliens, something we've already experienced in Alien.
There is no cut of the film where this is accurate. If you go by the DC we see the facehugger significantly sooner; by the TC, the marines still discover the facehuggers earlier into the film. The adults appear around the same time in both movies in their theatrical cuts.

My special edition of the film shows the Aliens showing up nearly 1 hour and 15 minutes, right after the chestburster gets burned to death. And we've already seen both a living and dead facehugger in the first film. So nothing new or interesting there.

The only intriguing moment in Aliens is when Ripley asks "who's laying these eggs?" and the answer is disappointing to some. The Queen ruins the cosmic horror element of Alien because now the unknowable space demon is now comparable to an ant.
The Alien was never meant to be an unknowable space demon. Insects were an inspiration from the first movie.

Being insect like doesn't mean it literally had to be a giant space ant. What about the fact that the Space Jockey was transporting eggs on a ship? Many people theorized for years whether the Aliens were created by the space jockey as a weapon of war or if they just gathered eggs from a planet. If people didn't view the Alien as a mysterious lovecraftian creature, than many wouldn't have been so upset with Ridley Scott for explaining their origins in Alien Covenant.

With Alien, everybody thought Dallas was going to be the hero of the movie, but then he's killed halfway through. It gives the sense that nobody is safe and that anything can happen.
Not really. It's pretty clear in the film that Ripley is the lead of the ensemble. We experience the events more through her perspective than anyone else even before Dallas dies.

Ripley kind of just blended in with the rest of the crew for the first half of the movie. She didn't discover the ship, or the eggs, and she didn't try to save Kane. it wasn't until after Dallas died that she was being put into the spotlight.

Ripley has a surrogate mother relationship with Newt; and the rules of conventional story telling says she has to save Newt and beat the queen, and of course, she does.
Conventional story telling says Ripley has to defeat the Alien in the first movie, and of course, she does.

Yeah, but at least she didn't have a big neon sign above her head that said "Badass Action Hero." while holding a giant machine gun and posing for the camera like she was an action figure. In Alien, she was scared and borderline helpless, she had nothing to fight for except her own life, and with a movie as bleak as Alien, it could have gone either way. The original ending actually had the alien kill Ripley, and given everything that happened throughout the movie, it would have worked just as well. Aliens went through all the trouble of establishing that Ripley lost one daughter and is now fighting to save the other, and considering how everything in Aliens had a far more crowd pleasing tone than Alien, a bleak ending just wouldn't have worked, hence why I felt no tension in the third act. Ripley has to save Newt, otherwise the movie wouldn't have worked.

[SiL]

It's not really intriguing when you know exactly what happened at the colony and what created the Hive. The Aliens did it all, and we know it.

We don't know what we're going to find in the colony. It's plenty intriguing.

My special edition of the film shows the Aliens showing up nearly 1 hour and 15 minutes, right after the chestburster gets burned to death. And we've already seen both a living and dead facehugger in the first film. So nothing new or interesting there.

Again, that's the adults. Aliens show up sooner. There was plenty interesting about learning about the colonists trying to remove the facehuggers and killing the hosts in the process.

Ripley kind of just blended in with the rest of the crew for the first half of the movie. She didn't discover the ship, or the eggs, and she didn't try to save Kane. it wasn't until after Dallas died that she was being put into the spotlight.

We see her interactions with the rest of the crew more than anyone else. She discovers that the transmission was a warning, she confronts Ash about his decision to let Kane in, she confronts Dallas, etc.

In Alien, she was scared and borderline helpless, she had nothing to fight for except her own life, and with a movie as bleak as Alien, it could have gone either way.

Alien isn't a bleak film. It's a pretty standard horror movie in terms of tone. There's never a doubt the Alien will be dead by the end of it. Ripley sails off into the sunset awaiting to be picked up having vanquished the villain.

The original ending actually had the alien kill Ripley, and given everything that happened throughout the movie, it would have worked just as well.

That was never the ending. Scott thought of the idea (after a few drinks, he said), but it was never legitimately considered and never in the script.

[Kimarhi]

That is the law of sequels tho.  The law of diminishing returns.  You are NEVER going to get the same scare and feel of Alien because Alien was the first and so many series staples were included within.


Eventually the Alien just becomes a way for the characters to develop within the story.  Especially when the Aliens themselves can't be characters.

It's like the zombies in the walking dead.  They are there as background to force character interactions. 


I'd say that is an overall weakness of the franchise, is that aside from Ripley, Bishop, and David there are no recurring characters.  They also happen to be the most interesting ones.

Nobody else is developing. 

[Voodoo Magic]

That is the law of sequels tho.  The law of diminishing returns.  You are NEVER going to get the same scare and feel of Alien because Alien was the first and so many series staples were included within.


Eventually the Alien just becomes a way for the characters to develop within the story.  Especially when the Aliens themselves can't be characters.

It's like the zombies in the walking dead.  They are there as background to force character interactions. 


I'd say that is an overall weakness of the franchise, is that aside from Ripley, Bishop, and David there are no recurring characters.  They also happen to be the most interesting ones.

Nobody else is developing.

This was pretty well said my friend!

[TC]

That is the law of sequels tho.  The law of diminishing returns.  You are NEVER going to get the same scare and feel of Alien because Alien was the first and so many series staples were included within.

The same law of diminishing returns kicks in when you watch a movie more than once. And yet, in repeat viewings we try to pretend we're watching it for the first time. Really, what we are doing is using the repeat viewing as a memory jogger. So we aren't so much experiencing the film again, as recalling our emotions from the first time.

Eventually the Alien just becomes a way for the characters to develop within the story.  Especially when the Aliens themselves can't be characters.

It's like the zombies in the walking dead.  They are there as background to force character interactions. 

Yes. One thing that annoys me is when people say things like "the atmosphere in Blade Runner is so thick it's just like another character." These people have no understanding of what a character really is.

Likewise, the aliens and zombies aren't villains in the traditional sense (like, say a Blofeld or a Darth Vader), they are better described as "forces of antagonism," more like the tornadoes in Twister or the asteroids in Armageddon. Usually, writers recognise this and add a personified villain as a subplot, like Carter Burke, or the Cary Elwes character in Twister.

I'd say that is an overall weakness of the franchise, is that aside from Ripley, Bishop, and David there are no recurring characters.  They also happen to be the most interesting ones.

Nobody else is developing.

Also agreed. That weakness stems from the fact that the Alien franchise is an ad hoc film series. Each time they made a new one they pretty much thought it would be the last. Only afterwards did they decide another one might be a good idea. Hence, like any decent film, each one tries to resolve all its character arcs and plots.

TC

[Kimarhi]

When I rewatch films I almost exclusively look for things I missed on an original watch.  Subtext and themes, set designs, etc.  Eventually almost every movie becomes a "how would I do in this situation," type of deal. 

Nostalgia is a factor, but its not the only factor, and no movie I have ever seen retains the exact same feel as it does the first time I've watched it. 



I think a series might be better in the character development regard because you won't (or shouldn't) have sudden shifts in character choices and actions that you will have to try and come up with explanations for.  I think Ripley's character arc in the original trilogy is pretty believable, but many people think her going from survivor, to rambo, to suicide attempter was too sudden.   

When you have 8+ hours of episodes for a hopefully multi season series then you are going to be more invested in the series, and the characters life and deaths are going to be more impactful. 

[Ingwar]

Why do some people prefer Alien over Aliens?

Because its simply better imo. It's cosmic horror masterpiece.

[Kradan]

Also because some people are pretentious dicks. IMO

[SpreadEagleBeagle]

...because it's better than ALIENS.

Lol!

No, but seriously...It's better.

[Voodoo Magic]

Also because some people are pretentious dicks. IMO

Easy there, partner!

...because it's better than ALIENS.

Lol!

No, but seriously...It's better.

Yet Aliens is the favorite Supreme!

https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/index.php?topic=4.0

BOOM! 

[SpreadEagleBeagle]

Also because some people are pretentious dicks. IMO

Easy there, partner!

...because it's better than ALIENS.

Lol!

No, but seriously...It's better.

Yet Aliens is the favorite Supreme!

https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/index.php?topic=4.0

BOOM! 

People love sci-fi action movies, and ALIENS is the "modern" blueprint and formula on how it's done; not only sci-fi action movies but also video games taking place in sci-fi action settings. It hits the spot like a Big Mac & fries with a bucket of KFC on the side.

It's safe to say that the near majority of the Alien part of the fan base here got into Alien/Predator/AVP because of the movie ALIENS.

Anyways, I'm being facetious as I very well know that people have different tastes, opinions and credentials to why they think one movie is better than the other. With that said I find the title of this forum post pretty wonky and pretty much asking for it. Luckily enough huge portions of the ALIEN fans are also fans of ALIENS (and vice versa). I however don't belong to that group as I prefer ALIEN and A3 over ALIENS.

[Local Trouble]

I however don't belong to that group as I prefer ALIEN and A3 over ALIENS.

You're making me feel nostalgic.

https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/index.php?topic=40793.msg1842245#msg1842245

[Voodoo Magic]

People love sci-fi action movies, and ALIENS is the "modern" blueprint and formula on how it's done; not only sci-fi action movies but also video games taking place in sci-fi action settings. It hits the spot like a Big Mac & fries with a bucket of KFC on the side.

It's safe to say that the near majority of the Alien part of the fan base here got into Alien/Predator/AVP because of the movie ALIENS.

Anyways, I'm being facetious as I very well know that people have different tastes, opinions and credentials to why they think one movie is better than the other. With that said I find the title of this forum post pretty wonky and pretty much asking for it. Luckily enough a huge portions of ALIEN fans are also fans of ALIENS (and vice versa). I however don't belong to that group as I prefer ALIEN and A3 over ALIENS.

Even though I prefer Aliens over Alien (to me you can't go wrong picking either in my humble opinion ), I do know the original holds more importance, i.e. among 100 movies a film institute might lock away in a general classic film vault (were talking The Wizard of Oz to Psycho), entries guaged on how many parts "quality film" versus how many parts "important" versus how many parts "groundbreaking", if any film is going in the vault of the two, it's Alien 1979 every time.