Scott: We are going to make another Alien movie

[Nukiemorph]

It's okay Huggs, you're both wrong- A3 isn't a masterpiece, but nor is it bad or boring. At worst it's not even mediocre.
Especially the Assembly Cut, but there's a better film in there as an intermediate of the two.
One that does include the alternate opening, Golic's demise, raising servants to redemption and Juniors death.
In spite of what some will tell you.

Give me the Assembly Cut's added scenes but keep the theatrical cut's opening, ending, and dog-burster, and I think we'd have my ideal Alien3.

That said, the AC is still leagues better than the TC.

I can understand the reasoning behind prefering the canine chestburster and Queen chestburster although I disagree. However-
It's lost on me why anyone wouldn't prefer the alternative opening to A3, it's Jordan Cronenweth's best work on the film, gorgeous and the ADR is undoubtedly better from the higher angle of seeing the crashed EEV and hearing Frank's commentary.
The shots of the inside of it are also more tasteful. Whether Rebecca Jordan suffered or not is better left to the imagination.

I guess I just prefer the visuals of the prisoners finding Ripley in the cryo-tube, as opposed to her somehow getting ejected from it and onto the beach.

I also definitely prefer the "arc" of the dog finding the facehugger, and then the emotional impact of the dog's suffering as it gives birth to the Alien, and then Murphy calling out to his dog before he ends up being the Alien's first victim. I think it works a lot better than the ox.

That's why when I watch Alien 3, I watch the theatrical cut until the alien is born, then I switch to the assembly cut.

[The Old One]

I don't think there's anything mysterious about her appearing on the beach, either the cryotube seal broke from the acid and then she washed ashore or she was about to drown like Rebecca Jorden did, survival instincts kicked in and escaped. Facehuggers result in amnesia too.

I don't give a toss about Murphy's illogical Dog, I'll take the better looking, better sounding, cut that's more ripe with the religious imagery;
so that come the revelations of the story and especially the third act- it feels more genuine and earned.

[Xenomrph]

The dog-burster has the same imagery as the ox-burster, nor do I see how the dog is "illogical". Even if you can explain Ripley washing up on-shore, I still prefer the prisoners finding her alive in the cryotube.

Like I said, my ideal cut of the movie would be a blend of the two. In fact, aside from 'Aliens', I'd say the same thing about the 1st and 4th movies as well.

[The Old One]

The dog has no reason to be on a penal colony, it's existence is illogical.

In comparison with impregnating one of the Oxen or a human, I just don't buy it.

[426Buddy]

Why does there have to be a reason for a dog? Its mans best friend and they make great companions for humans. Just a weird thing to question.

Its like questioning the cat in Alien when there are no mice on the ship.

[The Old One]

It's the likelihood I don't buy.

A cat I can see because it's on a travelling starship that stays at commercial locations from time to time. Thedus etc
The dog even getting to the penal colony, a lead refinery before that- I can't buy.

& even further I don't buy the likelihood of the dog being infected, when there's 25 humans wandering around,
presumably 10 or so at the crash site, one of the Oxen which there is at least eight of used for labour-
I can buy being infected and someone not noticing.
They probably have an separate area for themselves like the dogs in John Carpenter's The Thing
where one could easily be infected.

The dog-burster has the same imagery as the ox-burster, nor do I see how the dog is "illogical".

Not as religious imagery which is what I stated, the sacred bull being defiled.

[Xenomrph]

We see why the dog gets infected, it's right there in the EEV when the fafehugger reveals itself. In my book, that makes it a heck of a lot more likely than the oxen, who's living conditions we know nothing about.
Also it's worth pointing out that even in the assembly cut version, the dog still exists - Murphy calls out for Spike before he gets killed.

There's any number of reasons for the dog to be there - it stowed away on a transport, etc. When it's trivially easy to explain why a dog would be present, that's the opposite of "illogical". Like, there is obvious logic to explain the presence of the dog, independent of whether you believe it to be likely or not.
I'd buy a dog being present at the colony before I'd buy Ripley making it out of the EEV when it crashes.

Also the EEV's crashed state in the assembly cut introduces a fun continuity error that isn't present in the theatrical cut - in the TC, the EEV crashes with the starboard side submerged, while in the AC it's the port side submerged. Given where the EEV opens (the starboard side) and the order of the cryotubes from port to starboard (Hicks, Bishop, Ripley, Newt), it makes sense in the TC that Newt drowned since her tube was the most likely to be underwater. In the AC, with the port-side crash, the only way for Newt's tube to be underwater is if all the other tubes are, too. What with Ripley's having a gaping hole in the glass, shed have drowned along with Newt unless she was awake and alert before/during the crash and got herself free. Given how the two prior movies showed that cryotube occupants are groggy for a good while after waking up, that's probably not likely. Not to mention that Kane was real groggy after he woke up from getting facehugged- so Ripley would be fighting off the effects of the cryosleep *and* the facehugging to get out before drowning. Possible? Maybe. Likely? I kinda doubt it.

[The Old One]

Even though I'm not going into argument with how I disagree with your post because I simply don't have the energy, here's a fun fact;

In the DVD version of the Assembly Cut Murphy doesn't call out to Spike,
that was a mistake introduced in the new audio mix of the Blu-Ray.

So like I've stated before about the egg, he's there- but it's a mistake.

Truth be told, I'd be okay with Spike being an a new extended 4K cut- ...I do think the Ox is more appropriate for the film, in thematics even if it isn't executed quite as well.
& It crushes the stupid Kenner style insistence that an Alien born from a bull should have horns.

But I'd never agree that the original opening is superior, even if the EEV is the at the wrong angle.
I much, much prefer Clemens finding Ripley alone and believe it genuinely adds to the film's quality in a number of ways.

[SM]

The Spike error is on the R1 DVD.

[Xenomrph]

To each their own, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

"Mistake" or not (and personally I don't see it as one), the dog is still present in both versions of the movie. When I get home I'll check the novelization to see if the dog gets mentioned just because I'm curious. I just checked the script and it's not, so probably not.

Also the Kenner thing seems like a bizarre complaint - if a future movie or comic or whatever wanted to have a Bull Alien with horns, I'd be totally okay with it. The Alien in the first movie had a human skull while none of the others did. Aliens don't have a set shape, any changes in designs are really easy to chalk up to "it's an Alien".

[Corporal Hicks]

I agree that a better cut exists between the TC and the AC. 100% prefer the dog over the ox too. The ox one just feels so...meh. It's just a dead husk convulsing. The dog one carries a bit more weight to it. That said, I'm really keen to see what NECA does with a Kenner inspired Bull Alien. I loved that figure - it was my first one.

[whiterabbit]

I think the dog is the best version. Lots of people feel more sympathy towards a dog than they do towards there own kind. Also why would it be illogical to have a dog on a backwaters prison planet. How the planet isn't full of rats is way odder.

[Corporal Hicks]

There's loads of reasons why a dog would be there. Easiest being, like Xenomrph says, it snuck on a transports. Others are some prisons allow like support animals now so perhaps they go as far as to allow dogs on some backwater prison colony too.

[The Old One]

Alright, alright I concede the presence of a Dog is fairly reasonable.

But again, that AC Opening far surpasses the TC.

[SM]

There's a stack of other farm animals, so a dog is neither here nor there.