Alien Resurrection deleted scenes

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This article covers all the known deleted scenes from the 1997 film Alien Resurrection. Some of these sequences never progressed past the early script or storyboard stages, while others were filmed before being cut during the editing process. Despite their removal, several of these scenes were included in the movie's novelization and comic book adaptation.

Note that sequences initially deleted from the theatrical release of the film but later reinstated in the extended Special Edition are not listed here; details on these scenes can instead be found in the Special Edition article.

Overview

Most of the changes made to Alien Resurrection during development involved the removal of prohibitively expensive action sequences, including the final confrontation with the Newborn at the end of the film, which was rewritten no less than four times during production.

Deleted Scenes

Dark dream

The film originally opened with a surreal dream sequence. A woman and a small girl stand in a wheat field, and the little girl says, "My mommy always said there were no monsters, no real ones, but there are." She looks up at the woman, but she is now more than fifty yards away. The child slaps at a bug on the back of her neck. Pulling it off, she sees that it is huge. The sound of insects fills the air and a thick sea of blood rises rapidly from the ground. The strange bugs swarm the little girl, and as she opens her mouth to scream the black insects pour down her throat. Ripley 8's nightmare ends.

While this was never filmed, the insect idea possibly inspired the bug seen at the very beginning of the film's Special Edition.

Surgery

The surgery to remove the Chestburster from Ripley 8 was originally going to be performed with remotely operated robotic arms. The idea was eventually dropped due to budget constraints, but the original version still appears in the novelization. A similar idea was also dropped from Alien, where robotic armatures were going to be used to removed Kane's helmet when he is brought back on board the Nostromo.

Mosquito

A comedic scene would have shown a mosquito biting Ripley 8 while she is in captivity, only for it to vaporize when it drinks her acidic blood. The idea was scrapped because the necessary CGI (still a relatively new technology at the time) would have been too expensive. It did, however, appear in the novelization.

Egg chamber

The sequence where the kidnapped civilians were impregnated was originally going to be longer and more elaborate. The victims would start out lying on their back in their cryotubes, before they would angle up, tipping their occupants into the vertical posture seen in the film. At the same time, the Eggs used to impregnate them would be lowered in from above on a circular gantry. The sequence was simplified for the film, and starts with the victims and Eggs already in place, although the more elaborate version appears in the novelization.

The fall of the Auriga

The script includes two brief montages showing the Cloned Xenomorphs rampaging through the Auriga after they escape, attacking the science staff and other crew as the soldiers ineffectually attempt to kill them. Between these sequences, the scene where General Peréz wakes in his quarters is also slightly extended, and he talks to a Lieutenant over the intercom and learns that the Xenomorphs first attacked the ship's barracks, killing or taking many of the men while they slept, a sign of the Aliens' strategic intelligence. However, these sequences were dropped from the film.

Peréz's death

The manner in which the Newborn is killed in the film — being sucked piecemeal through a very small rupture in a spaceship's hull — was originally supposed to be used for Peréz far earlier in the film. As scripted, blood from a Xenomorph that is killed during the evacuation of the Auriga splatters on one of the ship's windows, and Peréz is gruesomely sucked out through the opening until all that remains is his skull, with air continuing to rush out through his evacuated eye socket. Several nearby soldiers cling to the walls and floor against the depressurization until a watch one of them is wearing is torn free and flies across the room, blocking the socket in Peréz's skull and sealing the hull breach. The production team decided such an end was too spectacular to waste on a relatively unimportant character, and it was given to the Newborn instead. The storyboards for the sequence are available on the Alien Anthology Blu-ray set.

Cocooned scientists

Concept art of cocooned victims by Sylvain Despretz.

Originally, the fates of the Auriga scientists who simply disappear in the film were revealed when the survivors find several of them cocooned in a small Hive built by the Xenomorphs in one of the labs, their chests torn open by Chestbursters. This whole sequence was likely altered due to the cost of building the Hived set; in the finished film, several dead bodies are simply found lying on the floor. The scene appears in the novelization.

Freeze trap

In the script, after finding Purvis, the group of survivors encounter several Xenomorphs slaughtering some surviving soldiers in the area where the containment cells are located. They realize they need to go through the creatures but cannot take on so many, and Wren suggests instead luring them into one of the cells and using the freeze jets on them. The survivors get the Xenomorphs' attention and they charge, but the creatures realize it is a trap and stop short of entering the cage. Ripley 8 coldly proposes to the survivors that they throw one of their own to the Xenomorphs as bait to get them into the cage, nominating Call or Rane (a Betty crewmember cut from the final film), promising, "It won't hurt long." A heated argument breaks out over sacrificing someone and several of the party draw their guns on each other, and during the confusion the Xenomorphs lunge at them. Fortunately Wren sees them coming, activates the nitrogen jets, and freezes the advancing creatures solid, before St. Just (another Betty crewmember merged with Christie in the final film) shoots a final one that attempts to flee. Finally, Ripley explains that she started the argument intentionally — the Xenomorphs can sense people's fear, and so she generated some amongst the group to make the creatures think it was not a trap.

Hell's garden

A mocked-up photograph based on the deleted garden scene, created for a magazine article.

A lengthy sequence was cut after Call interfaces with Father in the chapel. The survivors enter a part of the Auriga filled with a huge botanical garden. They find a small four-wheel-drive vehicle and set off through the dense foliage, only to be attacked by numerous Xenomorphs hiding in the undergrowth. As they reach the other side, St. Just is wounded and elects to stay behind and hold the Aliens off while the others escape. As he shoots the creatures, their blood eats through the Auriga's hull and depressurizes the entire chamber, blowing everything inside out into space. The survivors escape into another sealed section just in time.

The sequence was removed early in development — conceptual artist Sylvain Despretz notes it was the first casualty of the film's budget cuts, while the St. Just character was removed/merged with Christie for the final shooting script. However, a photograph of the scene was later mocked up for a magazine article on the film, while the setting would notably be recycled for the novel Aliens: Original Sin, which serves as a sequel to Alien Resurrection.

The Hive

Another scene changed early in the production was that of the Newborn's birth. When Ripley 8 wakes in the Queen's chamber, she finds herself hanging from the ceiling next to Gediman, who tells her the Xenomorphs have been draining him of his blood; blood drips from wounds on his feet. The Queen gives birth to the Newborn, which in this early draft was spider-like and used its inner jaw to drain victims of their blood. It kills a soldier hanging from the ceiling and then Gediman, draining their blood, but before it can drain Ripley's blood, she escapes.

Ending after ending after ending

Another major change was made to the end of the film, with the ending being altered numerous times during production. Originally, the studio wanted to have the Newborn survive the return to Earth by clinging to the outside of the Betty, and for a final confrontation to take place on the planet's surface. The location for this confrontation changed numerous times, from a desert to a giant spacecraft boneyard, the latter of which was director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's personal preference, before finally settling on snowy mountains.

As scripted, the Betty leaves the Auriga with Ripley 8 and the Newborn clinging to its hull. As the ship rockets through the atmosphere, Call emerges from a hatch and fires at the Newborn with a grenade launcher, giving Ripley 8 time to climb inside. As the Betty comes in for a hard landing, the crew realize the Newborn is at the rear near the thrusters, and Call fires them in attempt to fry the creature. While it works, the sudden thrust causes the Betty to crash in a snowy forest. As the crew emerges from the wreck they discover the Newborn is not dead, and that it is heading for a nearby city. Ripley 8 gives chase, eventually meeting the Newborn near a cliff edge. She is soon overpowered, at which point Call arrives in a levitating harvester vehicle and rams the creature. After a lengthy fight, the Newborn is thrown into the harvester, which Call activates, shredding the creature before its acidic blood causes the harvester to explode. The ending was dramatically scaled back to the version seen in the finished film when the budget ran out. Despite this, at least part of the more expansive finale appears to have been filmed as early screen tests mention the harvester vehicle.