Bingowings said:

The point I was making is Alien isn't about Ripley or her 'family' it's not even really just about the creatures it's about the adjective as much as the noun.

It's about the disturbing qualities of something being where it normally isn't.

Aliens was a lesser movie but Ripley, Hicks and Newt were still as much and Aliens and survivors as the creatures.

If the next one had gone down the soap route it would have fundamentally altered the nature of the series it was brave to shatter that possibility.

Well said. I would have hoped that folks had come around to what Alien 3 was trying to achieve by now - quit griping, it's over 20 years old! If you want something to complain about, just look at the genuine balls-up that is Alien Resurrection (which makes the critical error of insisting that the series is all about Ripley, against all logic and good taste).

The Star Wars analogy would be the single-minded (or is that simple-minded?) obsession with Jedi and Sith which the prequels and their progeny have relentlessly peddled - at least Abrams can be counted on to give the new films slightly broader scope.