warning: I am assuming you saw Alien and Aliens already, so don't come crying if I spoil any surprises for you.

The director's cut of Alien is out in theaters. I never saw it in its entirety on TV and may go see it in theaters. Why am I not sure I'll go? Well, the first Alien movie I saw was the sequel: Aliens, an intense sci-fi action thriller and one of my top two favorite movies. The first time I saw a chestburster was in that movie. So seeing the original will lose some of its biggest punches since I already know what's going to happen.

But to celebrate the first Alien opening in theaters again I give you some fun facts about its sequel Aliens:


That can't be, that's inside the room.

• Only six alien suits were used. The appearance of hundreds of aliens is simply clever editing and planning.
• Most Aliens Research and Development time was on the 'Motion' of the Alien.
• Gymnasts and acrobats were in the alien Suits.

El riesgo vive siempre!

• During the scene inside the APV preparing for battle, "El riesgo vive siempre!" can be seen scrawled in white across Vasquez's armor. This is Spanish for "The risky always live!" Also, you can see "ADIOS" spelled out on the smart gun itself.
• The body mounts for Vasquez's and Drake's smart guns are taken from Steadicam gear.
• The M-56 smart guns and the sentry guns built for the movie were designed around German MG 42 machine guns.
• Cameron had the actors (the marines) personalize their own costumes (battle armor and fatigues) for added realism (much like soldiers in Vietnam wrote and drew things on their own helmets). Actress Cynthia Dale Scott, who plays Cpl. Dietrich has the words "BLUE ANGEL" written on the back of her helmet. Marlene Dietrich was of course the star of Blaue Engel, Der (1930) or Blue Angel. Bill Paxton has "Louise" written on his armor. This is a dedication to his real-life wife, Louise Newbury.

"Die Motherf-----! Die Motherf-----!"

• The pulse rifles that the Marines use are made from a Thompson M1A1 machine gun with a Franchi SPAS 12 shotgun underneath. (I always thought they were MP5s)
• The ammo used by the pulse rifles are caseless according to the movie but you can see casings fly out in some scenes.

I only need to know one thing, where they are.

• When Vasquez says to Ripley, "I only need to know one thing, where they are!" you can see Hicks in the background moving his mouth in time to what she says.
• "She thought they said 'illegal aliens' and signed up..." said Hudson. This line (directed towards Vasquez) was in inside joke amongst the actors. Jenette Goldstein (Vasquez) had gone to the audition thinking the film would be about illegal immigrants. She arrived with waist-long hair and lots of makeup. Everyone else was wearing military fatigues.
• Like most films, the movie wasn't shot in sequence. But for added realism, Cameron filmed the scene where we first meet the Colonial Marines (one of the earliest scenes) last. This was so that the camaraderie of the marines was realistic because the actors had spent months filming together.

Look into my eye.

• Al Matthews, who plays a Marine sergeant in this film, was in real life the first black Marine to be promoted to the rank of sergeant in the field during service in Vietnam.

Will we dream?

• A Mirror was used in the hypersleep chamber to make it seem bigger.
• All the marines (with the exception of Hicks, Gorman and Ripley) use their real life first intials as their characters' first initials. You can see this on the cryochamber personnel listing.

You now have 15 minutes to reach minimum safe distance.

• In both the standard and special addition VHS versions, the fifteen minute countdown at the end of the film is indeed fifteen minutes.

Come fly the friendly skies

• Ferro, the dropship pilot, has "Fly the friendly skies" written on her helmet, hinting to an American Airline company's slogan.
• James Cameron had several designers come up with ideas for the drop ship that took the marines from the Sulaco to the planet. Design after design, he finally gave up on them to come up with one he liked and constructed his own drop ship out of a model of an Apache helicopter and other spare model pieces.

Queen Takes Bishop

• In the opening "breakfast" scene in Alien (1979) Ripley asks for the biscuits and Ash the android hands her a piece of cornbread, which she accepts. In this movie, when the marines are seated at a meal, the Android, Bishop, offers Ripley cornbread, which Ripley rejects by slapping it across the room and telling Bishop to stay away from her.
• According to Lance Henriksen, the actor who played Bishop:

  It was a mix of milk and yogurt. It made me very sick, because the prop people had done a mix of it early in the morning, and then left it out as we worked all day, and it went bad. The first time I tasted it, I got so sick from it, but I just had to keep working, no matter how sick I felt. I was spewing that stuff 10 feet and the fact that it tasted absolutely horrible helped get it out, and with my 'death-throes expression.' Now you know.

Sources:
Planet AvsP
Internet Movie Database