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> Funny thing was that our local cable network showed the "extended version" (with the sentry turrets, scenes with Newt's parents, etc) and for years I thought I'd imagined some of those scenes because the extended version wasn't available on video until much later.

Wow. So there WERE sentry guns. For years (pre-Google years) I used to argue that there was a scene with sentry guns, though I don't think that's what I had called them. Those guns were awesome and they had made a huge impression on me. Problem was, no one else could remember seeing them. My family and friends swore I was crazy. So I asked for the uncut version of Aliens for Christmas one year (probably around 91 or 92) and I was so disappointed. No sentry guns. So I just figured everyone else was right. I must have imagined it or was mixing up my films. A few years later I purchased a "special edition extended version" on VHS which, sadly, also had no sentry guns. So that was that. I was wrong, there were no sentry guns, and that was the last I thought of it until now. I knew I saw those damn guns!

sentry gun clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQDy-5IQvuU

Holy crap! I'd never seen that before! For its time, that's masterful! It also makes the sci-fi facet of the screenplay much more intelligent. (Of course the Colonial Marines are going to use lots of automated weapons!)

I am shocked there is a version without these ! Definitely one of the many memorable bits of this film.

It sounds like we had essentially the same experience! I know it definitely made me feel crazy!

What threw me off is the the "extended cut" with sentry guns was seemingly shown on cable television right off the bat - like as soon as Aliens was shown on cable, it was the extended (or at least an extended version). I don't think that was very common, so it never occurred to me that's what might have happened. They usually saved the special editions for home video sales.

they're on the DVD version with the director's cut. I bought that a few years ago. my guess is they're on the Blu-Ray equivalent now also. but I mostly just buy stuff from iTunes now, and I don't think they have the director's cut (aka "special edition") on iTunes. they might.

> Fun fact: Jenette Goldstein (Pvt. Vasquez)

Did you ask her about the auditioning gaffe where she turned-up thinking it was a film about illegal aliens?

Hence the Vasquez recruiting joke that made it into the film.

Anyway, I have found that it's pretty much impossible for a group of adults to sit and watch Aliens. Everyone wants to shout Hudson's lines, at least after dubbing-over Frost for the first 30 minutes. Completely spoils the atmosphere.

   Did you ask her about the auditioning gaffe where she turned-up thinking it was a film about illegal aliens?

YES! In fact, this was the only thing I asked her.

She said that she did mistakenly think it was a movie based on resident aliens going into the audition, but it was her understanding that the joke was already in the script and was not specifically based on her audition.

The way she phrased her answer suggested that she was pretty sure of this, but perhaps not 100% sure.

My personal and completely uninformed speculation: even if the joke in the script was inspired by her misunderstanding, they may have told her otherwise for politeness' sake. I have no idea how likely that is.

What's an illegal/resident alien?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(law) see "Categories"

An even better question might be: why is it still an issue in 2179? :)

There will always be border disputes, but they don't usually last 200+ years.

It always bugged me that one of the more important scenes was cut out of the shorter version: the two-minute scene where Ripley learns her daughter grew old and died while Ripley was in cryosleep. It's short, and it provides the entire motive for Ripley in the last third of the film - saving Newt as a surrogate for her own daughter.

Wow, I didn't realize that was in the shorter version - I haven't watched that version in a long time. You're right: what an odd choice.

The other cuts make sense. They're great scenes that make the movie better but they're not strictly necessary.

My dad took me and my sister to see Aliens in the theater, when I was ten or so. At about 15 minutes into the opening scene I suggested to my dad that maybe we didn't need to see it, and we left. When I was a little older we rented it as a video, and it's been one of my favorite movies ever since.

I hope you later apologised to your dad. Imagine how hard that was to leave!

Why wouldnt you wait more than 15 mins before judging the movie ? It's not like the first 15 mins were complete crap either :P

I think allochthon means that he didn't feel mature enough to watch it.

Enitrely this.

The first time I saw Aliens - it was one of the strange TV edits that included the sentry guns, but lacked the other salient bits - holy fuck, it immediately gave me the sense of "this is what films should aspire to."

Roughly seventeen years later, I always experience the same thrill that I did the first time I saw it.

On an unrelated but personal note, which I feel appropriate given the subject matter: it took me YEARS to figure out what the fuck was wrong with my memory, because that strange cut that had the sentry guns (CBS edit, I believe?) was not readily available until the director's cut came out on DVD - I was not fortunate enough (keks) to own a Laserdisc player, so I spent a good number of my formative years thinking I was insane for insisting that "ALIENS HAS SENTRY GUNS! IT'S BAD-ASS!"

Further unrelated note, because I'm that much of nerd, and couldn't afford it, but went nuts anyhow: I purchased a $4,100 replica of the M41A pulse rifle built by Phil Steinschneider, and while I no longer have it - wow. What an amazing piece of film history, even if to only have a meticulously researched, almost exact replica of an item that defined a good chunk of my existence.

TL;DR: Aliens is the greatest film ever, and I hope every future generation (and those that show it to them) have the same enthusiasm that OP and I do for the film. Masterpiece.

The sentry rifle purchase is impressive! Next time you have disposable income, you could always get one of the sentry gun computers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_Compass

There's one in the Smithsonian Air & Space museum in Washington DC if you're in the area and prefer to window-shop without buying. :)

There was one to grab for 50$ on a local craigslist, I saw it a few hours after it's been bought, I was mad.

Hah good info. So far Fredericks is the only resource for my girl. Jenette was also in T2 and that odd ball vampire movie where some of the crew from Aliens were re-united. Don't recall seeing her in anything else.

Invariably whenever we run into a dev problem, somebody on my crew will always blurt out, "Game over man, we're fucked!" We're an agile shop of course.

  > Don't recall seeing her in anything else.

That's actually how I found her bra shop. A friend and I were geeking out over Aliens and we realized that Pvt. Vasquez was such a memorable character but seemed to almost totally disappear after that movie. So I Googled her and saw her current venture. In an unbelievable bit of good luck, we were actually already planning to visit LA in a couple months' time, so we knew we had to find a way to make that visit happen.

I didn't realize until just now that she was John Conner's foster-mom in Terminator 2.

John? Where are you, honey? It's late. You should come home, dear. I'm making a casserole.

Totally agree, and I also saw the turrets version on cable, but only one. I has a cool start