Aliens: No Hope Edition

This may be my favorite fan edit. Not for its inventiveness or originality... but because it elevates one of my very favorite films from the "incredible" category to the "perfect" category. I love the director's cut of this film. I can't go back to the theatrical cut. I lose too many amazing things. But the bloody mustache on the Mona Lisa is that all suspense and tension is gutted by the scenes added in with Newt's family the reveal of an alien creature before the titular "ALIENS" show up to kill most of the marines. Also, JUST seeing Hadley's Hope as a ghost town makes the whole experience much more unnerving. Let us get scared about what we don't know. Let use our imagination on what to expect. There are just too many answered questions for any real fear to build up.

This is edit is a great execution of adding peanut butter to chocolate. The director's cut keeps all its missing gems... and the theatrical suspense and intensity is retained. This IS my go-to version of Aliens. Perfect. Visual and sound quality is superb. And the cuts necessary to make the transition work here is entirely seamless. I really don't have much to add. This edit is pure perfection. Thank you, good sir.

I was one that never had an issue with the colonists or the revisit to the derelict, so fo me this loses something as a result.; a vital umbilical cord to the original IMO.

The theatrical version was too tonaly distant from ALIEN and in my mind wouyld be a strong 8 in narrative and enjoyment; and the Special Edition fixes some ofthat with those very sequences and becomes a weak 9. Consequently this sits between the two on a solid 9 for both categories since no matter how well assembled, ALIENS (for all its superb action, and plot) is just so dissonant from its parent but reains a sold 9 due to the retention of the other expanded moments. In fact, one has to presume that given what the derleict sequence must have cost to shoot and make in post, that it was Cameraon, and not the studio, who decided to remove that umbilical cord to pace things up, and for me that robbed the movie of one of the few sections that echoed its progenitor which IMHO is ultimately a loss. There were many other ways Cameron could have dropped those few minutes AND retained that echo.

On technicals, there is nothing to gripe about as always with Bobson's edits, so another solid entry. I just dont' know when I get the urge to watch ALIENS again, if my choices actually remain with the two originals for me, however, if you dislike the colony revisit, then this is defo the way to go for sure.

The anti-Darklighter Cut! Truthfully, I love these micro-surgical fan edits where the excision or addition of a small number of scenes (or scene, in this case) makes a world of difference. I've long been a fan of the Director's Cut of Aliens but also wished that the Hadley's Hope sequence could take a hike, as it revisits the locales of the first Alien to diminishing returns, unlike most other aspects of the movie which manages to surpass the first film.

Bobson's decision to include the commentary track-laden deleted scene in question makes this the only copy of Aliens you really need to keep at hand (well, I haven't watched Bobson's extended Cocoon Cut of this same film yet, but for now, this one more than does the trick).

A simple but effective cut.
The movie improves a lot just cutting out that scene.

From now on, I will definitely choose this version every time I watch the movie.

The inclusion of the deleted scene as an extra was also nice.

Thank you!

Aliens done right. The simple and seamless omission of the whole Hadley's Hope preview brought a big impact to the overall quality of the cut. Without it, the suspense and narrative built-up quite nicely and had served to match the standards of what an Aliens film should be.