Early January 1998:
After seeing this film again, two more vague situations I had previously been conscerned about became more glaring. The first is that one guy falling to his death in the pool of water. Why was everyone so concerned with him falling? More aliens? Acidic water? Is he dying from the burns on his face? Water would help them. What was so heroic about him cutting loose from Pinion's character on the ladder? The second involves the landing of the "Betty" on Earth. Why couldn't they just go into orbit? Of course, Rider's character could have sped up the military ship to ensure there was no reactor fuel left to alter the course later. She actually hints to this when Pearlman's character tells her to undo the collision course correction. Rider's character says, "You can't now," or something. If the main military ship (which includes the "Betty" at this point in the movie) was moving faster than the "Betty" could counter in total acceleration in the amount of time they had left at the end of the film, they may only be able to reverse thrust, then aerobrake during reentery(using the atmospheric friction to slow down as much as possible). They may just be able to avoid crashing or burning. Pretty cool, huh? This would definitely be suspenseful.
May 19, 1998:
Dorif's character:
"The blood sample contained both Ripley's cells and trace alien cells."
"In order to clone the alien a compatable donar egg must be used. The most obvious egg donar would be a female, queen, alien. But, if we had her, we wouldn't need to clone an alien at all!"
"The next best thing is to create a hybrid of an alien and another species. Since we were going to need a host for the alien clone anyway, why not use a proven host like Ripley for both the hybrid egg donar and the alien host?"
"Of course, things are a bit more complicated than that. Hybridization is a very touch and go process and the differences between the two species made it a nightmare."
"You're the first hybrid egg donar and incubation host that has brought an alien to term. It's no wonder, you're a superb combination of the two species. In fact, you're worthy of study yourself."
The Jamacan guy's arm should be cut off, or some other danger should result from falling into the water -- perferably, a cut off arm prior to falling; this also aleviates any possability he could grab on to the ladder and help climb. As is, this is an awkwardly forced and artifical scene in need of alteration.
Rider's character should meantion she used the military ship's remaining fuel to speed it up to crash into Earth. She doesn't think about getting off alive, just ensuring the ship's collision course can't be altered.
Based on their relative velocity in relation to Earth, they realize the Betty isn't powerful enough to break into Earth-orbit. Even with aerobraking, using atmospheric friction to slow down, at best, they have to land. They're not even sure if the ship will hold up during this severe reentry. Even if it does, a crash-landing may be unavoidable. They're very unsure about the survivability of this, there only option.
I realize that these scenes may already exist, or at least the writers probably already thought of them. Nonetheless, they are absolutely essential for the film to make sense.
I also wouldn't mind the editing out of the "brain touching scene" and the scene where Dorif's head is eaten. These are a bit distracting in not only their detail, but also in their use as irony/comedy devices.
June 2, 1998:
Of course, none of the above addresses the "queen alien womb". While the genitic engineering could have required the slight hybidization of the alien DNA prior to insertion into the denucleated hybridized Ripley egg (sort of meeting halfway), the fact that the resulting humanoidal offspring from the womb was different than the parent may be difficult to reconcile, even with a more complex explanation. Denucleated egg organell DNA/RNA transfer to the alien DNA/RNA during womb related reproductive processes? The possible scientific explanation has been pushed to the limits already. They would have been safer without the womb/'humanoidal alien' ending.
