Podcast 229: Aliens

Movie Title: Aliens
Release Date: July 18, 1986 — U.S. theatrical release
Runtime: 137 minutes / 2 hr 17 min
Director: James Cameron
Screenplay Written By: James Cameron
Based On: Story by James Cameron, David Giler, and Walter Hill; sequel to Alien (1979), based on characters and concepts created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett.
Is it a remake?: No. It is a sequel to Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and the second film in the Alien franchise.

Main Cast:

Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley
Michael Biehn as Corporal Dwayne Hicks
Paul Reiser as Carter Burke
Lance Henriksen as Bishop
Carrie Henn as Rebecca “Newt” Jorden
Bill Paxton as Private Hudson
William Hope as Lieutenant Gorman
Jenette Goldstein as Private Vasquez
Al Matthews as Sergeant Apone
Mark Rolston as Private Drake
Ricco Ross as Private Frost
Cynthia Dale Scott as Corporal Dietrich
Colette Hiller as Corporal Ferro
Daniel Kash as Private Spunkmeyer

Budget:

$18.5 million.

Box Office:

Domestic original release: $85,160,248
Worldwide original release: Box Office Mojo currently lists $85,208,713, but international reporting for 1986 is incomplete.
Reported worldwide range: Sources differ, commonly listing approximately $131.1 million to $183.3 million worldwide, with Fox’s later estimate at about $157 million. This discrepancy appears to come from incomplete or inconsistent overseas box-office reporting for 1986.
Opening weekend: $10,052,042 from 1,437 theaters.
Distributor: 20th Century Fox.

Awards:

Academy Awards: Won 2 Oscars — Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Visual Effects.
Academy Award nominations: 7 total, including Best Actress for Sigourney Weaver, Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Sound.
Saturn Awards: Won multiple awards, including Best Science Fiction Film, Best Director, Best Writing, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Special Effects, and Best Performance by a Younger Actor.
Critical legacy: Frequently ranked among the strongest science-fiction, action, horror, and sequel films; Rotten Tomatoes currently lists it in the low-to-mid 90% range depending on page/version.

Short Plot Summary:

Decades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is found in deep-space cryosleep and reluctantly agrees to return to LV-426 after contact is lost with a terraforming colony. She joins a squad of Colonial Marines sent to investigate the site. The mission quickly turns into a survival battle against a growing alien infestation. The film shifts the franchise from haunted-house-in-space horror into military science-fiction action while continuing Ripley’s trauma-driven story.

Key Quotes:

“Get away from her, you bitch!” — Ellen Ripley
“Game over, man! Game over!” — Private Hudson
“They mostly come at night. Mostly.” — Newt
“I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.” — Ellen Ripley
“This time it’s war.” — Marketing tagline

Trivia

Director:
- James Cameron wrote and directed Aliens after the success of The Terminator. The film helped establish him as a major blockbuster filmmaker.
- The sequel was delayed in part by a legal dispute between 20th Century Fox and Alien producers David Giler, Walter Hill, and Gordon Carroll over profits from the 1979 film.
- Cameron changed the genre engine from Ridley Scott’s haunted-house horror to a Vietnam-war-in-space survival/action structure.
- The marketing tagline, “This time, it’s war,” clearly positioned the film as a more combat-driven sequel.
Cast / Casting:
- Sigourney Weaver’s Best Actress Oscar nomination was unusual for a science-fiction/action-horror performance at the time and became one of the film’s most important awards milestones.
- Michael Biehn replaced James Remar as Hicks after filming had already begun. Some shots of Remar from behind reportedly remain in the finished film.
- Carrie Henn, who played Newt, did not continue as a film actor after Aliens.
- Bill Paxton’s Hudson became one of the film’s most quoted characters, especially for his panic-comic delivery.
- Jenette Goldstein won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Vasquez.
Soundtrack / Score:
- The score was composed by James Horner and recorded at Abbey Road Studios with the London Symphony Orchestra.
- Horner reportedly had a difficult scoring schedule, arriving expecting more time but ultimately having only about three weeks to compose because filming and editing were still in flux.
- The climactic music for Ripley’s battle with the Queen was reportedly written under extreme time pressure.
- Unused parts of Horner’s Aliens score were later repurposed in Die Hard (1988).
Location:
- Principal photography took place mainly at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England.
- The story is set primarily on LV-426, the same moon where the derelict alien ship was discovered in Alien.
- The large colony, hive, and power-plant environments were built as practical sets, reinforcing the industrial, lived-in look of the franchise.
Behind-The-Scenes:
- Principal photography began in September 1985 on a planned 75-day schedule.
- The production was reportedly difficult, with tension between Cameron and parts of the British crew over working style, schedule pressure, and industry traditions.
- Stan Winston handled major creature effects after H. R. Giger, designer of the original Alien, was not involved. Giger was reportedly contractually tied to Poltergeist II: The Other Side.
- Cameron and Winston expanded the alien mythology by introducing the Alien Queen, one of the franchise’s defining creature designs.
- The alien warriors were redesigned to move faster and appear more insectlike; dancers and stunt performers wore lightweight suits, while mannequins were used for more unnatural poses.
- Several scenes were removed from the theatrical release, including Ripley learning about her daughter’s death and a longer colony prologue showing Newt’s family discovering the derelict ship.
- Fox wanted a shorter cut under two hours for more daily theatrical showings, but Cameron resisted deeper cuts; the theatrical version stayed at 137 minutes.
Nostalgia:
- Aliens became one of the defining action/sci-fi films of the 1980s and helped shape the “space marines versus monsters” template in movies, games, comics, and pop culture.
- The Colonial Marines’ gear, pulse rifles, motion trackers, dropship, APC, and tough-guy banter became iconic genre imagery.
- Ripley’s power-loader showdown with the Queen became one of the most recognizable finales in science-fiction cinema.
- The film expanded Alien from a single haunted spaceship story into a larger franchise mythology involving colonies, corporate exploitation, military response, and xenomorph biology.
Easter Eggs:
- The name Bishop continues the franchise tradition of artificial-person characters after Ash in Alien.
- The movie returns to LV-426, connecting directly to the first film’s derelict-ship discovery.
- The Weyland-Yutani corporate presence continues the franchise theme of human institutions being as dangerous as the alien creature.
- The extended/special edition’s colony prologue makes Newt’s family central to the rediscovery of the alien ship, creating a more direct bridge back to the first film.
Misc:
- Aliens was number one at the U.S./Canada box office for multiple weeks and stayed in the top ten for 11 weeks.
- Industry expectations reportedly grew from strong word-of-mouth, screenings, and pre-release response.
- The film’s success led to continued franchise expansion through Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection, crossovers, prequels, comics, novels, video games, toys, and later streaming/TV projects.
- AFI has highlighted Ripley as one of cinema’s major heroes and described the film as an explosive science-fiction classic.