1992. What a fantastic year 1992 was. It gave us Tim Burton's spectacular Batman Returns and the beginning of the well-acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series. Along with that, we were given Candyman, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, and Single White Female as a few examples of the horror genre. By this point, we also had the Super Nintendo available. I had extremely fond memories of playing Super Mario World and Super Mario All-Stars.
1992 was also the year that gave me Alien 3. You see most people get to see the Alien films in order. They begin to go on the journey with Ripley as she encounters the xenomorph in the first film. Then follow her into the depths of a hive to face the Queen in Aliens. For me, I didn't have that experience. I mean there's high chance that I got to see Aliens. But I tended not to remember it all that much. My first experience with the xenomorph was in David Fincher's Alien 3.
I remember not seeing the film in the theater as I had with Batman Returns. No, it wasn't till it hit VHS that I was able to see it. Now mind you, I was around 4 years old when that was. My mother tended to get some housework done - not much mind you. She's a bit of a garbage person, but that's another story for another day. I do remember my mother liked to put on movies. She really didn't care all that much about what was on the TV. So I'd usually be playing with some action figures or Super Nintendo then come out to the living room to see what was on the TV. One of these times it happened to be Alien 3.
I didn't know what the film was. I knew that it was a bit creepy. It felt a bit long back then. It was something that I wasn't sure if it could keep my attention. But then I saw the first appearance of the Xenomorph. It wasn't an Alien yet to me. It was just a monster. It was after the people. And there were a group of people that were trying to kill it. That's honestly what my brain had managed to think back then. I couldn't help but just find myself fascinated with it.
Then I remember going to our local video store, Real Video, and seeing the Alien 3 Super Nintendo case. I immediately grabbed it and was ready to go home with it. I wasn't sure what it was entirely. I just knew that it had something to do with the film that I had seen the one day. So, I tried playing the game and finding myself frustrated with it. I wasn't the right age to be playing it. That's for sure. But I appreciated what the gaIt me was trying to do. It was trying to capture that same wonderful feeling the film presented.
Oh, I do remember seeing some ALIENS things by this point. It was the Kenner Alien toys. By this point, they were in full swing and releasing in tandem with Alien 3. It literally felt like the year of Alien. Those were some wonderful figures. I remember having the Gorilla Alien, the Queen, and the Flying Alien Queen. Each of these were something that just captivated me. Fantastic monsters. Think I still have one or two of them at my Dad's house.
Over the years, I tended to revisit Alien 3 a lot. Whenever I had the chance and it was available for $10 for 10 movies for 10 days, I'd get it. It just had this fairy tale quality to it. At that time, I didn't know about the behind the scenes issues between Fincher and the studio. It was just a film about a 'dragon' as Paul McGann's character kept calling it.
A few years later, Alien Resurrection would be released. And my fascination with the series continued. I didn't go see that at the theater either. But you bet, I got to see it when released on video. Resurrection didn't catch my attention as well as Alien 3 had. It felt like a step down. But it was okay because that just led me to turning my attention back to Alien 3.
Then in 2003, the studio approached Ridley and it was time to celebrate the series once again. It was time to release the original film on the big screen. What a time it was for Alien fans. The best thing of this whole scenario for me was the Alien Quadrilogy. All the films receiving a 2 disc deluxe DVD treatment. I was going to be able to appreciate the films finally in their full story. However, it was a bit pricey when that was released. DVD was a little in its infancy still. It wouldn't be till a few years later that I'd find the Quadrilogy for a decent price. And at that point, things changed.
With the release of the Quadrilogy, there were new versions of each film. Some of them are labeled Director's Cuts but are just a few little scenes added back in. Of course, we also received the Cameron's Special Edition of Aliens as well. But for me, the cream of the crop was the new 'Assembly Cut' of Alien 3. This was supposed to be as close to an idea of what Fincher was going for originally. But unfortunately with the way things ended between Fincher and the studio, there is no way to see what his original vision was.
Well, there's that and the fact that there was literally no script in place during the production. It was made up as it went with what they had. The documentary Wreckage and Rage delivers a solid idea of exactly the kind of production it was. It was made to hit a release date.
When I was able to sit and watch this Assembly Cut, I was a bit taken aback. For the most part, the basic beats were there. But there was a lot more depth to the prisoners that Ripley has to work with. One of the big additions that I think the Assembly Cut added was the extended opening. It's less rushed and condensed and allows the film to breathe. It also shows some pretty awesome visuals that were not present from the theatrical cut.
Then there is the fact that the Xenomorph is birthed not from a dog, but an Ox. Yeah, it kinda muddles it a little bit as behaves more dog like but Ox-like. But I honestly chalk it up to production issues. Who knows maybe they could have given us something more Ox-like if things weren't so dang rushed. We also get to see a blink and miss it look at a Queen Facehugger. This was something that looks really cool as it added to the mythos. The downside is that we are never given an up close look during the film. It also adds a small misdirect of whether it was the hugger from the opening of the film or not. My personal headcanon has now been established that it was and that the Queen Facehuggers carries 2 embryos (a Queen and a Drone to protect it). Makes sense to me.
After seeing the Assembly Cut, it's just very difficult to go back to the theatrical. Yeah, it's a bit quicker paced but at the cost of what? Character building and depth.
Assembly Cut Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Theatrical Cut Rating: 3.25 out of 5.
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