I think when people got to a cinema they want to see a piece of cinema, if they want to watch television they will stay at home and watch television.
The rules for cinema drama are very different from that of television.
It's largely a question of scale, even an intimate piece of cinema should approach the small with a greater richness and depth than television can afford.
With something with the scope of space opera there should be a more epic sweep in a cinema presentation than in television.
What can only be achieved in a few key places in a long running show should be the full focus of a cinema film.
C3PX said :
Interesting take on First Contact being a remake of Aliens, and Aliens being a remale of THEM!. I have seen all three movies, and acknowledge that there is a similar theme, but I have a hard time seeing them as "remakes". They all fit into the us vs. the hoards of monsters! sub-genre of sci-fi/horror, but I think the similarities of the three end there. Movies with this theme are fun to watch, so tons of them have been made. It is exciting to see your protagonist survive against the odds when vastly outnumbered, and it is entertaining to watch as all the characters but the main ones get slowly picked off one by one. There are countless movies with this theme.
A survivor of a previous encounter with a deadly enemy, suffering from nightmares and survivor guilt and the distrust of people above them in the chain of authority, is plunged back into another encounter in an isolated community. The enemy infiltrate the hero's stronghold converting a large area near a reactor into a hive, capturing comrades with an eye to reproduce. They kidnap a key character and in rescuing said character the hero encounters a previously unseen Queen controller version of the enemy.
Aliens or First Contact?
Aliens resembles THEM! in various other ways, it's also rather like the Doctor Who story The Ark In Space.