10 Alternate Versions Of Films To Watch Before The Snyder Cut
8. The Restored Special Edition - Aliens
Aliens was a success on initial release, building on the success of Ridley Scott's Alien and developing the character of Ripley, while also introducing highly memorable new ones. Bishop, Hicks, Hudson and Newt all have become iconic in their own right in the Alien franchise, despite their fates.
The original release had several significant cuts to the footage. This was done mostly to improve the pacing and, to be fair, it was somewhat understandable.
While the special edition restored these scenes, and is available on the excellent Alien Quadrilogy set along with most other editions of the DVD and Blu-Ray, it was not the one that was released in theatres.
Several of these scenes were cut from the theatrical release because the 20th Century Fox executives thought that they spent too much of the film's runtime building suspense and showing 'too much of nothing.' From a bums-on-seats viewpoint i.e. get as many showings of the film into a single day as possible to maximize profits, then this is perhaps understandable.
However, the scenes restored do serve to add a greater depth to the film. Ripley learns of her daughter's fate while she was in hypersleep. Newt's family are shown discovering the derelict. The Marines engage the Aliens with sentry guns before their last stand. These scenes serve to add to the film and without them, while the plot works just fine, there is a sense of something missing from the picture.
The scene of Newt's parents is perhaps the most welcome addition. Still, that poor little girl can't catch a break (more on that later).