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I had a friend visiting who had never seen ALIENS, so we popped in the disc to watch it last night. What I hadn’t realized is that Carl and I had purchased the Special Edition. Which meant it had added back in deleted scenes and dialogue that had been cut from the theatrical release.

And oh my dear gods and little fishes, they should never have done that. There was a reason those scenes were cut and some dialogue trimmed.

I’m going to do a SPOILER WARNING! SPOILER WARNING! SPOILERS!!!(even though I think it’s stupid because this movie has been out for 37 years).

Anyway, after Ripley is questioned by the corporation there was this new scene on the planet where Newt and her brother and parents are in a crawler going out to investigate the ship, and mom and dad go inside, and when they come back dad has a face hugger attached to him and Newt screams and screams.

Now in the theatrical release Ripley is questioned by the corporation, has her pilot’s certification removed, and the big boss tells her that people have been living on LV-426 for years with no problem — the Shake and Bake moment. Then there is a cut to Burke and the Lieutenant coming to Ripley’s apartment to tell her they have lost contact with the colonists. This was far more chilling, increased the tension instead of diluting it by showing us the scene of mom and dad and the face hugger. Big mistake to put it back into the film.

The other notable moment was where they are on LV-426, gathered in the med lab and Bishop is talking about the aliens and they start talking about hives and queens. Way to wreck the eventual reveal of the damn queen. Another big mistake.

One addition that I actually thought worked was the extended bits about setting up the sentry guns and them firing their way down to empty as waves of aliens try to get to the few survivors. Another possible place is letting us know that Ripley had a daughter (though I don’t know if it was all that necessary, in fact it might dilute her heroic choice to defend Newt without a personal stake).

Bottom line, this was a really great example of the power of film, how less is often more when you are telling stories in a visual medium. Maybe in a novel where you could go into the point of view of the parents or the kids that added scene might have worked, but in the film it just took all the air out of the tension and the sense of dread of not knowing. We’ve also met Newt way too early, so the power of the reveal of the little girl is completely undercut.

As I recall in the theatrical release the only clue you have is Ripley asking “What’s laying the eggs?” but it’s a single line and then you are swept up by the subsequent action instead of telegraphing with an arc light that there is going to be a queen that Ripley will have to battle.

I love writing scripts, and I love rewriting a script in the editing room because you can totally do that and it often will help take a movie or an episode of TV from something merely okay or good to something sublime and unforgettable.