40. The Doughnut And The Coffee Cup
Nothing quite says taken by surprise like a half-eaten doughnut discarded on a desk. When the marines enter the colony on LV426 they find only empty corridors, suspicious acid burns and a room with a doughnut with one solitary bite in it. You know at that point that the poor guy/gal was jumped by a seven foot, banana headed, double mouthed bastard before they got to finish their lunch. This shows us that the Aliens took charge very quickly and that people were going about their day to day business right up until the last moment. We also learn that Aliens have no love of iced cakesweirdoes!
39. Carter J Burke Paul Reiser
Now, is this guy pure evil or just an opportunist? Thats the question. We learn that it was he who sent the expedition out to the crashed alien ship, it was he who attempted to essentially murder Ripley and Newt and then to wrap things up, it is he who tried to leave everyone else for dead, before being captured by an Alien in the medical wing. When we are introduced he is a slimy, face of the company that we dont really like. He does very little to warm our hearts, eventually leading Ripley back to LV 426. So, from a character stand point hes a dick. But from a necessary plot device standpoint hes damned essential. He is a man who tries to make the best of a bad situation. When Ripley turns down his offer to help him smuggle an Alien back to Earth he has very little room to manoeuvre, so he figures take the Alien back in Ripley. Its logical really and I respect that level of dedication to weasely-ness, but I still love that he gets caught in the end.
38. Rebecca Newt Jordan Carrie Henn
Newt was always going to be a difficult role to cast, with a very young actress having to convey the fear and wild panic required of someone suffering so much trauma at such a young age. Carrie Henn, who wasnt an actress played the role perfectly and delivered one of the best lines of dialogue in any movie ever: They mostly come at night, mostly. A fantastic performance and a rarity in that the character wasnt used to make the film child friendly.
37. Corporal Dwayne Hicks Michael Biehn
Hicks is awesome. Its easy to see why they cast Michael Biehn after his success as Kyle Reese in the Terminator. Hes got that military thing going on. Hes not the leader until he is forced to take command and he runs his team as well as you could expect. Ive already mentioned the coolest line of dialogue, but the fact that hes got a shotgun hidden on his person at all times, speaks volume about the character. Hes a kind of no nonsense guy who gets shit done, because nobody is going to volunteer. Badass through and through, gets taken out at the end by some Alien juice though to set up the grandstand ending.
36. Private Vazquez - Jenette Goldstein
Some years before telling John Connor Wolfies fine honey, Wolfies just fine Jenette Goldstein was Vazquez, the hardest most badass bitch to every lock and load a smartgun. Ive already mentioned that she defies orders when told to unload her weapon, but my favourite scene with her is where she is covering the retreat in the air ducts. She smashed her foot into an Aliens face and unloads a few pistol rounds into the beasts head at zero range, despite knowing about the acid blood. She was hard core. You always were an asshole Gorman! What a last line. Boom!