I disagree that it was "brave" to kill off Hicks and Newt. What's the point of them surviving Aliens? It makes the finale of that movie a waste. They didn't want to pay Michael Biehn and Carrie Henn....not so brave.

Ripley goes through an hour of saving Newt and she is killed off before we can say goodbye? Thematic letdown - and a big reason why Alien 3 was a downer and was a failure.

If they wanted to kill them off, do it IN THE STORY, make it mean something - not just wipe them out in the first 10 minutes of the film.

Glad you got attached to the characters - sorry though!