Well, this thread made me want to revisit all the films. I still feel the same about them as i did when I first saw them in the theaters. Alien was a great film, but i saw every "shock" coming. I guess I was a jaded film goer even back in 79. Other than that I loved everything about it - the sets, the acting, the characters, the story, the special effects, Goldsmith's score, and especially the alien itself. One slight technical flaw - I saw the film in 70mm on a huge screen. And during the shots where the Nostromo flies across the screen - the star field disappeared after it went by. I can't really see that on my TV set.

I loved Aliens even more that Alien. I loved the characters, the effects, the story, and especially the Queen. The music was great too. A slam bang war movie.

I had great hopes for Alien 3. I heard it would take place on a prison planet. From the first frame of film i just had a bad feeling about it. the more I saw the more I hated it. The prisoners were Rapists, child molesters, and murderers. Yep - I'm gonna root for them - NOT! Then they killed hicks and Newt. That sucked. I felt cheated. And what was with that autopsy scene on Newt? Ug! The alien design sucked. The Dog Burster sucked. The effects sucked. The final scene trying to get the Alien was OK - and then they killed Ripley. Dumb. So...Hated It!!!

I had higher hopes for Alien Resurrection. I figured it couldn't be any worse. It was better than 3 but still not that great. Some really bad hammy acting in it. Characters for the most part were forgettable. Ron Pearlman was good. The Ripley character was interesting. All the Ripley clones were dumb looking and I'm a guy who loves makeup effects. The underwater scenes were the bast part. The baby alien at the end - horrible. Really badly designed and just stupid looking.

So - 2 great films, and 2 really bad films.

The special edition versions, or whatever you want to call them:

Alien - does nothing to make the film better. OK. I can now say I saw the "cocoon" scene.
Aliens - very nice, but I prefer the theatrical version.
Alien 3 - well, it's a little better than the theatrical version, which isn't saying much
Alien Resurrection - it's Ok. Nothing great. No improvement really.