Idea & Request: Aliens (1986) SE Recut

I was wondering if someone consider to make a recut of special edition of Aliens. There are couple of scenes which in my opinion are unneeded. As source i would use Alien Anthology 1080p.

I would cut these

• holographic park, conversation about Ripley’s daughter

• Scenes inside the colony (outside shots are fine)

• Scenes with Newt’s family (after discover of the Derelict)

• Hudson talk about how badass he is in drop ship

Fine scenes

• Longer shot inside the sleeping Sulaco

• Automatic guns scene

• Outside shots of the colony

• Newt’s family discover Derelict (only to the point where father said “Folks we have scored big this time”, let scene end with car closing to the Derelict and then cut)

• Negative “contact” inside the colony (mouse inside the cage)

Is there anybody who would do this?

I'd keep the park scene because it adds pertinent information to the film and the reveal is quite a clever shot.

I agree with you about the rest of the scenes though, in fact I'd go further and try to trim some of Newt and Burke's more cringe worthy lines (and screams in Newt's case).

I'd intercut the robotic guns with footage pulled from AVP2 to get past the cheapening re-use of Alien footage from other scenes in the film (frankly it's all AVP2 is any use for).

I don't know if anything can be done to lift the quality of the rear-projection work so it doesn't look quite as fake.

I think that would be better cut park scene. I like how unspecific Ripley talk about how she once had girl like her. We dont know nothing about her and i like it. Besides it's action movie in the first place so cut it :D and move to the action part.

Darth_Coconut said:

I think that would be better cut park scene. I like how unspecific Ripley talk about how she once had girl like her. We dont know nothing about her and i like it. Besides it's action movie in the first place so cut it :D and move to the action part.

I understand that but unlike most modern action films Aliens (a science fiction action film) understands the principle of the roller coaster ride.

The scene helps with science fiction element but it also throws in an extra crank on the ascent of the ride which adds to the effect of the descent.

It's also one of Burke's less rubbish scenes.

Darth_Coconut said:

I think that would be better cut park scene. I like how unspecific Ripley talk about how she once had girl like her. We dont know nothing about her and i like it. Besides it's action movie in the first place so cut it :D and move to the action part.

This is why you should do this edit yourself.

I dont know which programs i should use and i dont know how :D

Here is a good start,

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/ADigitalMans-Guide-to-MPEG2-AC3-Editing/topic/3444/

If cost is a factor there are a number of rather good free editing programs out there.

If you have enough room to add Linux (you can install Ubuntu on a disc partition if you want to keep Windows) Cinelerra has many of the features of Final Cut and Vegas but is completely free.

Movie creator is a nice little freebie too (it runs on most operating systems and comes from the same guys who produce the VLC player).

Strange. I always thought that the SE of Aliens is the perfect movie :-)

I'd leave absolutely everything about the SE in ... except for the scenes on LV-426 before Ripley and the Marines land there.  Those need to go.  All of them.

If those scenes were excised, and the rest of the SE was left exactly as is, it would be a perfect film.  In my opinion, at least.

That's what chapter skip is for. :p

Eh, perhaps.  I'd just like to be able to watch the movie with my roommate (who has, to this date, never seen any of the Alien films), in its SE form, without those scenes, without her complaining about me skipping parts, which I know would happen if I did that.

The re-used alien kill shots in during the robot sentry scenes ruin those sequences for me (which is why I recommended pulling some from the otherwise pointless AVP2).

I never realized there were reused shots in that sequence.  Huh.

They shot the guns going off but not the aliens getting squished so just used clips from the ambush at the nest from earlier in the film again when making the SE.

Ah, I see.  It's a good scene, regardless.  To bad they never got to finish shooting it.

At least it's more seamless than some of the footage in the Superman II "Donner Cut."

I'm actually not big on the sentry guns.  They do it twice, and it draaaaaaaaaags.  Hicks counting out remaining rounds over and over and over....

I like the scenes because it gives the aliens some of their edge back.

Sure they can be squished with some ease, compared to the one virtually unstoppable creature in the first film (still intact after getting the full blast of The Narcissus engines in it's face) but their numbers and their capacity to adapt and come up with a new plan adds a bit of necessary umph to what is essentially Zulu (the film) with acid for blood.

I made my own custom cut of Aliens a while ago. The only scenes from the SE that I kept were:

* Hadley's Hope colony: Pan from windblown wastelands to place-name sign, crane move over miniature / buggy rolling inside / conversation between colony admin and aide, children / "Wayland Yutani: We build better worlds"-sign

* Buggy with Newt's family rolls over dust-blown wasteland (all dialogue scenes cut out) / parents get out, tell children to behave / enter Alien mother-ship (of which we only catch glimpses, never the 'Giger shot') / Newt's face in window, time passes and wind blows / the door slams open, face-hugger scene, Newt screams / cut to Ripley's hand holding a cigarette (this transition is just too good to miss!)

I also kept all the references to the automatic guns, the setup & one of the firing sequences (the one with Higgs counting down), I just liked the shots of the aliens getting shredded. ;)

The 'official' theatrical released on DVD seems a little stunted to me, while the SE is over-blown to the point of being boring. Not to show the Alien spaceship (in the theatrical) was a touch of daring genius on Cameron's part, signaling that this film stood on its own, without unnecessary throwbacks. The budding love story with Hicks is much more subtle and less distracting in the original. The image of Ripley's daughter is totally superfluous - too short and out of joint to count, but it messes up the timing.

Too bad the film wasn't released on DVD prior to being recut; we'd have a proper source for the original foreign language audio tracks.

I'm no expert but would you get a nicer effect with the rear projection if you used the HD as a source for the background effects (scaled down) and SD as a source for the life action and created a new SD image?

If the two were adjusted they may be made to fit more closely.

It would be plus for me if the aspect ration was rebuilt so it matched that of Alien and the score was adjusted (James Horner's score for Aliens is not his finest hour) there was a lot of Jerry Goldsmith's Alien score that wasn't used so perhaps some of this could be reworked?