Aliens: The 1989 TV Version
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- Опубліковано 19 сер 2024
- In March of 1989, Aliens made its network television premiere on CBS. This version was edited for content, but also included never-before-seen footage. I take a look at the broadcast and journey back to that night over 30 years ago.
![АЛАУДИНОВ у Скабеевой: эти их ВСУ нас НЕ ДОГОНЯТ 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/an0anqU4WGQ/mqdefault.jpg)
This is the type of content we had back in the good old days of T.V. Truly awesome times being a teen.
I feel so sry for the kids today. I remember watching aliens one day after school with my buddy Dom at like 10 yo that both of our parents knew about. Give 0 FS because we had watched Freddy cruger at it in his house with his big sis the weekend before and didn't wet the bed. "Game over man". Used to be bragging rights for kids how much you could handle. Now they all get a blue ribbon at sports and get offended if you don't know ther a boy larping as a girl. Worlds f'd
Nobody cares @@johndillinger5142
getting that blank vhs tape ready so can watch it over and over for free.
good old times when TVs weighted a ton haha
@@johndillinger5142Such a strange comment under a video about a severly censored, ad-riddled and sanitized TV-version. When today any kid can watch these movies uncut in great quality (and widescreen!) easily. Strong boomer-vibes from a soft, whiny, deluded has-been. Cry more, old man. 😂
Also that spelling while talking crap about others, how embarassing. Though I'm truly sorry if you're suffering from dementia, sure reads like it. 😢
Back in the 1980s, it used to be a big event when a blockbuster movie like "Aliens" made its debut on network television.
True the only other way was to rent or buy it from your local video store and renting wasn’t cheap. Buying a video tape was ridiculously expensive and renting depended if your store had any copies in stock, which could also be a reserve list for popular movies such as Aliens. So waiting for the network debut was the cheapest option to rewatch big movies, just had to wait a long time for these events.
@@jammin2575 Scotch Tape, Memorex and the Radio Times at Christmas was a godsend in the face of £9.99 £16.99 HMV/Virgin rip offs in the late 1980s. Films from the 80s held their value for nigh on a decade. Only DVD brought the price down.
and you'd find out about the upcoming big-draw movies in TV Guide, weeks before
@@jammin2575In the UK we had TITLES, CHOICES and BLOCKBUSTER that put an end to reserved videos. I recall red tab "reserved" tabs on vhs video store titles in my local Somerfield type supermarket. Even on JAWS the Revenge lol! Blockbuster had a UK ad which had male Holly red dwarf actor Norman Lovett in 1995.
@jammin2575 I remember when the first three classic Star Trek movies were released in a VHS boxset. This would have been 1985 or so. The boxset retailed for around $79.95. The individual films were $29.95 each. And these prices were in 1985 adjusted dollars. PAramount used to have ads for the VHS releases at the back of every Pocket Books Stra Trek paperback.
I remember watching this on TV in 1989! I was 13 at the time and was terrified. Loved it and ended up getting a "director cut" of the movie at a comic convention on VHS.
Ditto man! I was 13 too, til June of that year, and watched it on TV same time that you did. My oh my... Here we are!!! 👍
I was born 86 but saw Aliens in 1995 I'd say peaking through my fingers, and so began my love for xenos 😂
I was 8 and remember watching this, the sentry guns scene always stuck with me.
I was sixteen and stayed up watching this. I recorded it smartly and watched it over and over. The extra scenes blew my mind. I wonder if I still have that text somewhere. Because I would not have recorded over it. When I watched it I didn't see how they were gonna cut out all the swearing lol
i was 13 also and was so jacked to see it again
Tried several times to stay in the room past ten, remaining "unnoticed". I think my personal record is three whole minutes. Father proceeds to walk past me, stops, looks down (assumed) while I'm watching the TV as if not noticing him. "What are you still doing here?" - and that was it. My foray into post-ten-o'clock tv watching. Great video!
My dad let me stay up to midnight to watch the first film when it premiered on British TV, I was nine, good times.
I learned to stay quiet. I used to lie on the rug by the fire, as soon as I spoke it reminded my parents I was there and I was sent to bed.
The cbs broadcast was the first time my brother and I saw Aliens. It was our introduction to what would become a franchise. Our love for it continued into the purchasing of the Toys by kenner and comics by Darkhorse. The three hour run time was barely noticeable to us. We were intrigued from the start! I was seven and he was six. Though some scenes were horrific and we would run screaming from the tv at times, we couldn't keep from coming back. By the time the movie was over our Mom came home from work with some friends. We couldn't shut up about the movie. One of her friends was surprised we saw it. I remember asking him why didn't Bishop die when he go split in half. He had to explain to us what an android was. This hands down was my introduction to the world of Science Fiction. Your posting of the commercials is opening a ton of more memories! Thanks!
I was in the military in Germany when the movie came out, but I was back home in 89 and got to watch it on tv. I still have all my VHS copies of Alien everytime it was on.
Such gems in those days. Loved watching this on TV or Predator on fox and Predator 2 on KTLA 5 🔥
RIP to the ultimate badass Bill Paxton!
Haha yep Bill Paxton, the only man to face Xenomorphs, The Predator, and The Terminator!
@@Day-ZDuke Lance Henriksen too. THE TERMINATOR 1984, ALIENS/ALIEN 3 1986, 1992 and AVP 2004.
@blackcurtains4710 You are correct. I think the line is supposed to say, bill paxton Is the only person killed by all three. Technically we never see Bill paxton die in Aliens though, but It's pretty safe to assume he died. I always hoped before Alien 3 came out they would show him escaping somehow
@@GR-bn3xj He died in the nuclear meltdown. I dislike any fan-wanks where characters in popular comeback due to plot kryptonite, cloning, franchise convenience or just bad script writing. Where death is treated as some plot inconvenience without consequence.
@@blackcurtains4710 .....eh, many people don’t really consider AVP as being a true Predator (or Alien for that matter) movie. They are kinda goofy and really are their own thing. So that’s why Paxton is considered to be the only person to be in all 3 original movie franchises
Nothing prepared you to watch a movie better than those epic pre-movie musical intros!
I remember the morning after at school, my friends and I LOST OUR MINDS! We talked about it all during our lunch break. One of my favorite movies.
Me and my nerd friend were completely obsessed with it. When it was on VHS we basically leased-to-own the rental video on endless extensions.
I was there!! my friends and I were all huge Alien/Aliens fans, but I was the only one to catch it on TV that Tuesday night. (The Arkansas CBS affiliate was KHTV, channel 11) My 10th birthday was the Wednesday on the week before. I remember telling my friends on the playground about the sentry gun scenes... no one believed me!!
I remember the dialogue while the survivors watched the sentry guns work: what Hudson actually says is "Watch those ammo counters go!" But what I always thought I heard him say was "Watch those animal-killers go!"
In hindsight, I feel like my mis-interpreted line fits the character of Hudson better.
Dude, thanks for bringing this very special night of TV for me... you have gone over this in stupidly amazing detail. I remember so many of those commercials. Maybe not from that specific night, necessarily, but definitely from that time.
I was eventually vindicated with my friends about the directors cut scenes, but it was quite some time later.
Fun fact: the penultimate "Aliens" Arcade game was released to Arcades that same month! March of 1989 was definitely a Red Letter month for Aliens fans.
I remember telling people there were different scenes in the TV version, And no one would believe me who didn't watch it!!
Rented this movie almost every weekend when I was a kid. Great movie and it’s not the nostalgia goggles talking. Saw it again with my son not too long ago and it’s still leagues better than all the sewage coming out these days.
I remember that day and it was a huge deal. Not everyone could afford cable or Blockbuster/ hollywood video rentals then so a release on network TV was huge still to many in the country at that time. I love how you included the commercials and timeline. I'm sure depending on the region it was shown some of them may have been a little different. This brought back a ton of great memories and thank you for that. Beer commercials back then ROCKED!!!
Ah, the glorious 80s. Great decade. And this night in March of 1989 was the first time that 18 year old me had ever seen this movie. For years after, I wondered why I would never see those sentry guns scenes whenever I watched the movie again...lol.
I was 18 that year and still love these movies
you can now though :)
Yes same with guns. No one believed me when I said I saw the sentry guns scene if they didn't watch the CBS movie lol
I totally remember this airing. It was definitely a thing. TV movie premiers back then were always a thing. We didn't have a VHS player at the time, and I was too young to have seen it in the theater, so this was the first time I had ever seen it. I was super stoked, and it started me down my Alien road.
Consequently, I fell in love with Dune via the same method; David Lynch's 1984 version.
This was a real treat. My family taped this and I personally rewatched it dozens of times. It’s funny, my recollection of the movie was the edited version, what I thought the true theatrical version would be dashed when I purchased the dvd later near the year 2000 when I was about twenty years old! After I bought the Quadrology dvd set I realized my memories were skewed about the sentry guns scenes and Ripley’s daughter’s fate scene. This was a great walk down memory lane for me and I appreciate your content! My wife and I watched this video and were laughing at the old ads and local news spots
I had a similar experience with The Professional. I'll never forget Gary Oldman yelling "Mickey Mouse bullsquat!"
I remember watching this in rural Ireland, Kerry in 1993 for the first time and it was on TV and I think it was the semi-extended version you were showing here, I was watching it with my friends while on holidays and a bunch of drunken fishermen came into the house at about 11pm after arriving back from their haul, and a load of drama ensued because the mother of the house was really into the movie (with us kids who were watching with her) and the fishermen were getting rowdy and asking stupid questions about the film 😂 seems like dumb events like that just don't happen any more.
I remember concentrating on the old CRT TV trying to make out what Hudson and Hicks and Ripley were saying while the mother of the house was yelling and kicking the fishermen out of the living room, bit of a random anecdote but you did ask!
There's a reason Freud said only us Irish are impervious to psychotherapy! Lol
I’m playing this out in my head as if it’s an episode of Father Ted.
@@jekw23 Back then we lived Father Ted every single day
@@Gneeznow I remember the first night that was on, I was in college, we lived over a pub I tried my hardest to get the lads up to watch it, they all refused "it's about priests ffs it's not going to be funny" The same shower are first on the boat every year for Ted Fest!
Freud never said that, obviously. I don't even need to look it up. @@ytsm
The first time I watched Alien was in the summer of 93. I was at a friends house for a sleepover weekend. His parents went out so we had the place to ourselves and I finally got to see Alien. His parents had a parental lockout timer on the tv. Unfortunately the tv switched off right when Ripley took the Narcissus to escape and found the Alien on board. His parents tv set had a surround system which didn’t switch off due to the timer so I got to listen to the end of the movie instead of watching it. Very unique experience. The next night we watched Aliens and this time we started earlier so we managed to see the whole movie. That was my first time watching Alien and Aliens and it is a milestone in my life. Since that day I was the biggest Alien fan, which remains to this day
I watched them one after another when I was 8 and 9. After having seen Jurassic Park 1 by that point, Aliens , Xenos, They became the raptors in space. JC once said he wanted to do Jurassic Park. No reason, Aliens IS it. Aliens 1986 might be the greatest film ever made.
My cousin and I used to watch it together all the time. Also probably around summer of 92 or 93. So much fun
I remember when I was younger I did some acting for some small name agents and one of them told me a story about how he had worked with Cameron on Aliens or something and how there was a whole chunk of the movie they shot that was missing from the final version that detailed how the colony first fell and I loved Aliens and was so annoyed by the idea that there might be part of the movie missing that I just decided he was making fun of me and never thought about it again. And then...like 10 years later, the special edition was released that had all the missing footage and I was like "THEY WERENT LYING?!"
I also remember seeing a scene with the sentry guns going off in the tunnels and Hudson counting them down but then being perplexed that that scene was missing from later versions I viewed. Now I know why. I saw that scene in this version and it always stuck with me.
16:20 Sounds like Charlie Sheen to me.
I watched this exact airing of Aliens in '89 when I was 12 years old. It was my first time ever seeing Aliens. My parents didn't let me watch R-rated movies, but for whatever reason they let me stay up for this. A number of years later when I was finally able to see the theatrical release of Aliens, I remember thinking to myself that it seemed like there were things missing from the movie. I distinctly remember the scenes with the sentries. For a long time I thought it was some sort of Mandela effect. A friend of mine said he also remembered something about the sentry guns, and thought he had dreamed it. It wasn't until a couple years after that I realized there was a special edition of Aliens with all of those scenes put back in, plus the Hadley's Hope scenes of course. To this day, I only ever watch the special edition. The theatrical version just seems hollow without the extra content.
Aliens is one of the very rare movies that I paid to see again and again when it first came out in the theaters, that's how much I loved this movie. As such I clearly remember way back then how excited and impatient I was to see the TV airing when I saw the advertisement in TV Guide Magazine tempting us with additional scenes specially included for the televised premiere that weren't in the theatrical version. I couldn't wait to see what the new scenes would be! My anticipation was fueled by how much I enjoyed the additional scenes I remember they included specially for the TV premiere of Superman II in the mid-eighties. Excellent idea the networks devised to get people to tune in regardless of how many times someone may have seen a movie in the theater-put in deleted scenes not in the theatrical cut. It absolutely worked with me. Thank you for all the time and work you put into your videos, I'm a big fan of your channel!
Those 80s commercials bring back some amazing memories. Nothing is more badass than us gen Xers who graduated between 1987 and 1993. Life was so cool and simple, nothing was complicated until the Internet came along :/
Those guys who graduated between 1938-1944 or so were more badass than us
@@albertomartinez714 WTF are you talking about? Take your meds bro
@@That_ViperDude :(
It was the sentry gun scene that I remember the most as a kid. I hadn't seen the original Alien yet, but the CBS cut of Aliens is what got me interested about the whole franchise. I was 11 years old at the time, so it took some time for me to get my hands on the R-rated originals. It all started with this cut, though.
Funny Story: The night that this was broadcast, I was in college, - guys dorm - back then (pre-internet / pre-smartphone) most people left their doors open so guys could stop by - chat / hang-out.
That evening, walking down the hall, every room or suite that had a TV was playing this. So just walking past each door you could hear, or watch, the movie in continuity as you walked back to your room.
Everyone was tuned to CBS - watching Aliens!
P.S. I do remember that people were buzzing about the scene where Ripley encounters the photo of her (now aged) daughter.
How nice that it added more texture and flavor to the movie.
P.P.S. The summer that the movie actually came out, I did read the novelization by ADF, and remember being a little disappointed that the 'sentry guns' scene was not in the theatrical version.
It never occurred to me that the footage would show up in the CBS version. At the time, prior to the CBS showing, I didn't even think the footage existed. When it showed up in the CBS version, everyone was kind of blown away. Waycool ; - ]
P.P.P.S. I didn't see the Hadley's Hope scenes until MANY YEARS LATER - prime-time showing on Fox Movie Channel early 2Ks
I really loved this trip down memory lane. Most of my exposure as a child to big budget movies were from TV broadcasting.
I’ve seen aliens well over 300 times since being on this earth and it’s still my all time favorite movie.
I taped Aliens and paused all the commercials out of the recording. It was a library recording, oblivious to the fact that we would get dvds, blu-rays, and UHD disc's in the future. I believe I still have that cassette, probably collecting dust somewhere.
Priceless. Thank you brother, especially for those of us who feel like March of 1989 was yesterday. Obviously America was already going to shit, it just hadn't accelerated to where we are now. Nostalgic memories of a time when it still seemed like there was a chance to turn things around.
No more. "Game over man, game over."
I never realized how much better we had it back in the 80's and 90's. Everyone didnt seem to hate everyone else. Miss those days. Now, i do feel we are coming up on the end times
Don't lose hope or you've already lost
@@ericgaskins571
Dude, we were kids. OF COURSE things seemed better then. We had no responsibilities.
Adults like my Dad bitched about how much better the ‘50s were and how MTV and Nickelodeon were rotting kids’ brains.
It never changes. People hated each other just as much back then…they just didn’t have 24/7 news and social media to broadcast it out constantly.
I was terrified of Aliens as a kid, but deadly curious. Then one night while having a sleepover with a friend, it was on TV. He wanted to watch it, and I didn’t want to look like a wussy, so I watched it too. Excellent decision. I couldn’t believe how awesome it was.
This is the first horror movie I remember my parents letting me stay up to watch. I laid on the floor under my parents legs with pillows creating a fort around my head. I had the mistaken logic that if I can't see the monster, the monster can't see me.
Worked for Newt. Mostly.....
My mum let me and my little bro watch w here...under our bedcovers on the couch in living room...first UK TV showing..scared shit out us...loved every minute of it!!!
Thanks for the trip down memory avenue. I remember many nights like this, didn't appreciate them as much at the time, being an angsty young teen, but looking back I didn't realize how good we all had it back then.
I absolutely love that you guys made this. I didn’t see this specific broadcast of the aliens TV version but I did see it a little while later on a Saturday night when I was about 10 years old. I had never heard of this movie and I didn’t know anything about it but I stayed up all by myself watching this while everyone else in my family was asleep. This movie scared the absolute crap out of me. The experience I had watching this movie, and the night I spent, terrified in my dark creaky house afterwards is forever tattooed on my brain and on my soul. I also love all the attention that was given to advertisements that were aired at the time of this showing. This was very nostalgic for me and lots of fun to watch . That being said, I’d like to end this comment by saying “I don’t know what cockles are and I don’t know why they should be warm.”
It's funny that back in the day, this was the only way for most people to even glimpse the deleted sequences prior to the Laserdisc release two years later in 1991, coincidentally right around the time T2 was also releasing to home media. But Laserdisc market adoption was incredibly low and in order to see these new scenes prior to that, we had to deal with the compromise of the film being censored.
Today it's just taken for granted that all additional bonus content and extra features will just be included as par for the course on a home release a few months after a film leaves theaters, but it simply wasn't a thing back then. Jim Cameron wasn't just an incredible filmmaker, he was also genuinely one of the earliest pioneers in the post-theatrical digital multimedia landscape, not just with Aliens, but with several other films. And the entire industry basically followed in his footsteps.
Great deep dive ! I saw this with a friend on a re-broadcast on CBS in 91-92. i was excited, but my friend was somewhat of an Aliens nut! He went gaga! I remember Ripley's daughter pic and the century guns. Overall I remember my friends reaction. He was calling people during commercials about this version!
After watching this on home video back in the day, I had more than a few nightmares. And they were awesome! I'm a freak who enjoys nightmares, thanks to films like these.
The sentinel scene should indeed never have been deleted as it explains why the aliens are coming straight through the roof instead of trying the doors first! Great job in doing this video!
Agree one hundred percent. The only question I had was I felt like the sentries would have taken out most of the aliens with the ammunition it had
One thing that always bugged me was when Hudson and Vasquez are testing the sentries in the service tunnel, they then close the door to the tunnel which is functional and seemingly completely undamaged. Did the colonists just open that door for the xenomorphs?
@@williamgiesen4910 They made their stand at a different point. That's how I saw it, but it's a good question
Thank you ALIEN THEORY for sharing this, especially the effort you went through to even put the ad-breaks in - it was awesome, and it reminded me of the time I watched ALIENS on TV. The retro-ads really added to the viewing experience, something we probably appreciated at the time to go make a cup of tea etc I remember going to school the next morning and just listening to the other kids who hadn't seen it on VHS before, they were over the moon. It was an amazing movie experience which overshadows and beats what they do on NETFLIX and AMAZON today, which is just stream it wholesale, audiences don't appreciate the value of a movie anymore.
This extended television version reminds me of a few other movies that aired on television in the 80s: Star Trek TMP, Star Trek II, Superman I and II. Most notable about Superman is that ABC aired the complete 188 minutes of footage (versus the 138 minute theatrical cut) in 1982.
However it aired split as 2 hours on one night and 2 hours the next night.
I remember seeing an advertisement for this CBS airing of Aliens. I like how some of the deleted scenes had aired, but hate the dialogue butchering. I know that there are reasons, but movies such as Aliens, Big Lebowski, Deadpool are examples of movies that should never be dubbed dialogue.
Btw the commercial voice is Charlie Sheen. Although it sounded almost like Martin.
This was such a trip down memory lane. This is the exact date and network that I actually saw this movie in full. I had gotten permission from my mom to stay up and watch. She how much I lived the franchise as I had a lot of the toys and it would be some time before my aunt got her own vhs copy. And then later, when I was able to see the directors cut on PPV, after learning about it in a video game magazine.
This is also the night my uncle scarred me for life when I fell asleep during the movie. He woke me up with his hands on my face screaming I had a facehugger on me. I watched the rest of the film after I had calmed down, but for some time, I had trouble sleeping. I always wanted to get back at him for that and yet despite that I can bench press him now if I wanted, I look at how his life is and just say time gave me my revenge lol.
Thanks again for posting this.
I still remember watching the TV version in the UK as a kid..the language edits were different but still just as funny. I remember in the UK version Hudson saying 'Whoopee for her' 😂 I think the UK version generally only edited the F words but left the rest of the swear words in
The one that was shown on ITV in 1990? It was the theatrical release with overdubs. Annoying ITV censored it again in 1992 when shown at night time! They even muted Hudson's final dialogue just before the Aliens grab him and that was at way past the watershed.
I remember taping it off the tv and had to stay up and pause the recording for news at ten coming on right in the middle 😅
@@SamuelBlack84 I'd forgotten about all of that! So much hassle - and just for a censored copy. 😂
@@captaincorleone7088 Those were the days, weren't they? 😊
@@SamuelBlack84 Yup. 😁
I was 13 years old that night and this was the first time I got to watch Aliens. I remember it well, I was so excited! I've since seen it hundreds of times, but I'll always remember that night on TV. Thanks for putting this presentation together!
I was 17 in 1989 and a junior in highschool. I watched Alien for the first time in 1985 and then bought the book Aliens before the movie came out. Never in my life has a movie been so accurate to the book. Between Aliens and Point Break, I've probably watched them both 1000 times and owned them both 6 times over both on VHS and DVD.
Alan Dean Foster chose the wrong time to eviserate a major quote. Book says: "Get away from her, you!" I purposely left the book on the bus.
ALIENS was my first introduction to the "Alien franchise" (by lack of a better term)
I might've been a little too young to watch it at the time but MAN, did I LOVE it!
(living in the Netherlands, so I didn't have to deal with the censorship)
Still a fan after all these years.
Keep posting this awesome content AlienTheory, I can't get enough.
Yeah. Not so God fearing over here 😱
Hey thanks for sharing your experience with Aliens. I grew up in San Jose and I was watching the Warriors vs Blazers game that night. And immediately after the end of the game I watched the remainder of the movie. Thanks for paying attention to the tv commercials a little. It's amazing to hear the brands names that no longer exist. You're just a couple of years younger than me. But you pretty much described how it was for me in the 80's also. Aliens is one of my top 3 science fiction flicks from the 80's. The Thing and The Terminator being my other two. Not long after this and just after the World Series Loma Prieta Earthquake we moved away from Silicon Valley to the Central Valley...Fresno CA. #goldhearted! 💯 🙋 💛
I first watched Alien and Aliens when I was 9 in 1987. My mom had the VHS of Alien and taped Aliens from HBO. I never had nightmares from either of them. I used to watch Aliens 3 times a day til I was about 15. I was glad when The Extended versions came out.
I wanna thank my Aunt for recording this. I was 6 when I saw this movie and I absolutely fell in love with it.
I was 11 when this debut on TV. I remember it very well and recorded as well. It sucks knowing that I used to have a copy of this version (before its release) on hand to watch anytime. I also remember seeing in the theaters 3 times with my mom and dad. Those were the days.
I was 9 years old and recorded this on a VHS tape when it aired, and watched it constantly for years after! I remember my dad letting me stay up past my bed time to watch and record it, good times...
I first watched it in the nineties as well. 94 if I remember it correctly.
It was really something, the scariest thing I've ever seen to that day, I was 8yo , and got a little traumatized, and started to swing my head left and right in the bed, like in a "no" movement, to get to sleep. That stuck with me until my 16's, when I started asking myself why the goddamn hell I was doing that, and got through a kind of auto-therapy. Got to watch all the movies again, and became a hardcore fan since then.
Yeah, I remember this. This was my first exposure to Aliens. I was 10, and this was the only way I was allowed to watch R-rated movies at that age. Good times. I sure do miss Sears, and the holiday catalog.
Yes the Sears catalog used to be in every person's home, like a telephone book.
@@GR-bn3xj 😉that was how my brother and I used to do our Christmas lists for Santa. Just circle all the stuff we wanted, and leave the catalog in plain sight for Mom and Dad to see.
I remember recording this onto Beta when it was aired and I edited the commercials out on the fly. My friends and I watched it almost every weekend thereafter. I didn't realise the significance of the presence of the non theatrical scenes until the special edition came out many years later.
This exact broadcast is why, for years, I thought I had dreamt up the extra scenes.
Yes, I lived in the Portland/Vancouver broadcast area at the time.😊
For years this TV version left my younger brother thinking he had hallucinated the entire sentry guns scene every time he saw any other edit of the movie until the special edition came out.
first time this aired on tv in 89 my folks said no ifs ands or buts, bedtime was still bedtime the night before school. so, if we wanted to watch a movie, our folks popped in a 6 hour vhs tape and recorded it. commercials and all. lol. those were good times though. sitting there running the tape back watching all those commercials in order to get back to the movie.
This was my first Aliens experience, hahaha! I convinced my dad to let me stay up late on a school night (Sunday evening?) to watch this on TV in 1989.
Is this live?
@@callumcc8897 Yes!
There had been a magazine (maybe Starlog or The Enterprise Incident) that had a picture from the scene of Ripley sitting on a park bench, and I remember being a bit confused not seeing the shot in the movie when it came out in 1986. Special longer versions of movies was starting to be a thing (Star Trek The Motion Picture was the biggest one of these "events" I can remember). So, even though we owned the movie, I did watch this on TV and remember - finally - getting to see that scene.
Interesting stuff. The UK version I had taped from the TV from probably 1990-1991 had different censorship dubs entirely. It left in some of the milder language that was cut from the version shown here, but I distinctly remember Hudson saying "Well whoopee for her!" when seeing Ripley for the first time, and I'm fairly sure it was missing any extra scenes.
Great video! This actually WAS my first viewing experience of ALIENS, I did not see the theatrical release until much later. The language changes were obvious and expected, but I of course didn't realize those various scenes were added, and so I was surprised to not see those scenes when I finally watched the theatrical!
We did have the foresight to record this when it aired, I am pretty sure I still have that recording on VHS somewhere. Great trip down memory lane! I have clear memories of those interludes (for a long time this was my only copy, so I watched it over and over), and I especially remember the commercial break right after they escape the planet, which really does feel like it could be the happy ending for the movie. Surprise! It isn't.
Great retrospective.
You made me remember how sometimes a movie would extend past your bedtime and there’d be this discussion between the parents “Finish the movie, or go to bed?” I don’t remember any specific movies but it definitely happened and it was such a bummer when you had to go to bed and had no clue how the movie ended, haha. Good times.
Love how you provided context to this.
I miss the days when movies were a special event. If it was on tv you had to be there right on time otherwise you miss it. If you had it on VHS you had to be careful not to wear the tape down to the point of being unwatchable, so you had to watch it sparingly. Nowadays you can just whatever whenever and I feel we have lost something from that.
I have a personal story about this very subject. Aliens was my absolute favorite movie when I was a kid and it was also one of my best friend's favorite films. I asked him what was his favorite scene and he told me it was the scene with the robot guns. I said there was nothing like that in the movie and he insisted it was. So we sat down and watched the whole thing on VHS. At the end he was genuinely confused because the robot guns were not in the film. He swore to me that such a scene existed and for some time I was confused about the subject. Well it turns out that he had seen the TV version and I had not. Apparently he had forgotten that the scene with the robot sentry units was not in the theatrical version (we had seen the movie together on opening night in 1986). But this incident drove me crazy because it was the first time I became aware that there was a longer version of my favorite movie in the world. From that point on, I became obsessed with finding the Special Edition of Aliens, which is kind of a laugh now since it is so readily available. The fact that there was more of my favorite movie just meant that there was more to love.
One of my earliest memories was watching this with my family at 5 years old. Scared the ever loving shit out of me and I’ve been a fan of the franchise ever since!
And this is why I am glad I watched these films on Canadian TV! Every line stayed intact!
I was born on February 27th 1989! Man I’m glad I caught the 80s just before it closed for ever! TV networks had very interesting versions of Movies I must say!
I had an ear infection that day. Coughing up yellow mucus . . . I was a Junior in High School. It's interesting that what feels like just yesterday is like a long time ago
This was how I saw the film for the first time. This broadcast is the reason I always thought that it odd having some versions of the movie without the sentry gun scene!!!!! I saw the theatrical version of the picture. And I was like, HEY! WHERE ARE THE DAMN SENTRIES?!!! HOW DO THEY EXPLAIN HOW THEY WERE ABLE TO SURVIVE A SWARM THAT WAS ON THE MOTION SENSOR MACHINE HUDSON HAD?!!! Cuz there were a loooooot of em on there. I mean one dot was a little girl, and that wave of em was half the damn picture on that lil device! Lol
Oh this is taking me back. My father let me watch aliens in 91. I was 7. I've been a huge fan ever since. Alien and aliens are my 2 favorite movies as well as my fathers 2 favorite movies. Thanks dad and thank you alien theory!
I watched this broadcast at age 7, on CBS. The sentry guns excited me as much then and they do now and I had a mild nightmare that night, waking my mom up at 3 in the morning by asking if she was on the spaceship. Another fantastic video and a great trip down nostalgia lane.
I watched in a different market, but I remember many of those late 1980s commercials. Wow, what a blast from the past. Thanks for the nostalgia.
I’m getting nostalgic for the time when network television broadcast movies in Prime Time. Incidentally, this was the first time I saw Aliens.
I watched this and taped it as it aired, so that we didn't have to keep renting the VHS from the video store. Imagine my surprise when the first new scene appeared, about Ripley's daughter. I was like, "What? Where did this come from?" It was in the novelization, so I recognized it, but I had no idea it had been filmed (I was 12 y.o., so didn't fully realize that novelizations came from original/early scripts and that the author wasn't always just adding their own bits to the story). I knew that movies like Star Wars had deleted scenes (such as Biggs on Tatooine), so I quickly became excited that I was seeing previously unreleased or rare footage. There was no internet to look up if this was footage released elsewhere, but it was new to me, so I was all in and super jazzed to see if there would be anything else new. I was not disappointed.
I always had the idea afterwards to try editing the TV scenes into the Theatrical Cut, like with two VCRs or something, but then the Director's Cut came along and quenched that desire to see the extra stuff back in.
With the amount of times I've personally watched Aliens, I never realised how much "God Damn" or "God Damn it!" is present in the dialogue until this video 🤣
I wasn't quite 8 years old, but I do have some memory of Aliens being advertized on t.v. - it may well have been for this broadcast premiere. The iconography of Ripley & Newt in peril stuck with me I remember.
I watched it at the theater three times in Norway when it first came out. I remember the scene with Bishop and the queen was cut!
The first VHS rentals was also cut in places. I'm still looking for a copy,because it facinates me how strict the sencors were back in the day in Norway.
I remember seeing Alien, Aliens, The Terminator, Predator, Commando, The Running Man (and probably more) on Eurochannel satellite TV around August 1989. One memorable aspect of this season of action movies was the promotional video that was used to advertise it. That video was a rapid edit of various iconic scenes and sequences from each film set to the music of The Only Way Is Up by Yazz And The Plastic Population.
I have tried to find a recording of that promotional video, because it was so memorable. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be available anywhere.
Derek I am so glad you posted this! I remember exactly where I was when this was on!!! I was 11yo and this was the very first time I saw Aliens. Thus a lifelong fan was born!!!🖤🖤🖤
First, thank you so much for doing this in so much detail with time sequences, etc.. Honestly I miss that time period the commercials were all family oriented and pulled on that heartland america feel. Second: I was sitting in front of the downstairs TV getting ready to go to camp in about a month watching the broadcast in NJ. The local commercials were from wpix-11 but otherwise, yep this is what we watched and it was glorious :)
I was 16 when this came out, and it was a special night ill always remember. The only other special broadcast of a movie that had the effect on me like this one was when HBO aired Ghostbusters for a Christmas gift and surprised everyone. Luckily I was able to tape this and watch it over and over. I found it funny that people who did not watch. This would not believe me that there were scenes on the tv airing not in the movie. I remember it did pretty good in the ratings but not as good as I hoped. It was rare from a family to watch a 3 hour movie, especially on a Tuesday night. But we stayed up watching it and I was allowed to stay up. It's great hearing other people have the same experience that I had with thia special airing
I remember this being the first cut of Aliens that I saw as a kid, seeing it for the first time on VHS in 1993. My friends and I had a contest not to close our eyes or look away from the TV, nightmares for a month 😅
This.....this was the exact day I became obsessed with Aliens. The first time I was exposed was when it was a new release on VHS, made it to Ripleys nightmare before I had to go home from my grandparents. This video alone took me back to when I was 8 years old, the commercials and everything!
I remember watching this in 89 and I remember the deleted scenes but thought I was crazy when I didn't see them again for years.
thank you for making this including the commercials, feel like back to the 80s
Loved every minute of your presentation here, really needs explaining this type of viewing that will not happen again on this scale it was part of my life and deserves this vid ❤❤ liked
A great little piece of nostalgia. Loved it.
Brilliant video mate, thank you for the nostalgia, I didn't see this version, but do remember seeing the uk premiere. I was sat on the floor next to the vcr (as it didn't have a remote control!). Pausing the recording during each add break so I had the full add free video. Must of watched that tape 100s of times!
I saw Aliens in the theater (not a good plan) and don't remember the TV broadcast, but a lot of your comments apply generally to broadcast TV back then: the scheduling meant that if you missed something, you might not ever see it again, and so lots of things were "appointment viewing". There was a certain shared experience with broadcast TV that we've lost with the shift to streaming.
Also, I appreciate how the commercial breaks were deliberately placed -- nowadays, many streaming services just cut things in the middle of a scene without any consideration of the viewing experience.
I remember watching this when it broadcast. I taped it and wore the VHS tape out watching it over and over as a kid I was about 11-12. The extra footage only added to the film and the language edits took nothing away. I jad never seen the movie before. It was an awesome night. . R.I.P Bill Paxton..
I had recorded this exact broadcast but didn't have enough tape so only started when they encountered the lab samples of the face huggers. However I always thought that it aired in 1988. Oh well, it was a long time ago and I really liked the TV dubbed version a lot. Thanks for uploading and the analysis.
Thanks for the vid! I was 11 at the time and remember watching this very broadcast. People these days will never know how a movie or show on one of the big three networks was an event. The anticipation that you felt for one of these airings is sorely extinct these days.
Yeah Oregon! I watched this broadcast live. Love the content and I’m glad you did such an in depth analysis.
This is the version I first saw. My brother and I taped it on VHS and we nearly wore the tape out. This is the definitive version. It's the best cut. Hadley's Hope footage is superfluous and feels awkward and doesn't add much to the movie. However, the scene where Ripley is sitting in the holographic park and discovers her daughter is dead is extremely important. It's almost criminal it was edited out of the theatrical release. The sentry gun scene is also amazing. I really wish I could get a BluRay of this cut.
I believe it's out in 4k and blue ray
@@Rblox135 I don't believe so. You're thinking of the Special Edition, which has many other questionable scenes (Hadley's Hope) and alternate takes added. The 1989 TV Version just had the holodeck and the sentry gun scenes, along with Ripley exchanging first names with Hicks.
My brother and I recorded this when it aired and would watch it over and over again. This was the version that I memorized most. When re-watching the full version of the movie nowadays, I still remember where the commercials would cut in.😂
Man I'm drowning in nostalgia here. Thanks for uploading a part of my young adult years A.T.
Movies on night TV. Those were the golden years. And those commercials. Love it. So many memories
That’s cool you saw Jaws too young. I saw Alien too young, which is part of why I love this premiere! I remember this being broadcast! I couldn’t finish it - too scared!
10/10 movies. Holds up nearly 40 years later and will always hold up.
Wow, this looks like a lot of work, thank you so much for this time travel mate!
My first time watching Aliens (and any of the other Alien movies) was at uni in 2010 or 2011 when someone posted all the movies on the shared dorms 'net'. Every Sunday evening when we returned to our dorms from home, a couple of us would immediately check the dorms net to see if that one guy had hooked up his hard drive and shared some new movies....the movies sat on my laptop until I was alone in my dorms for a weekend when I didn't want home as I wanted to study in peace. So I watched Alien and Aliens at like 1 am or so alone in my dorms. Not the same experience as a lot of the other commenters had but still xD
My older brother was a teenager in the 80s, and Aliens was his favorite movie. He thought the Colonial Marines were so cool, he ended up joining the real Marine Corps when he graduated high school in 1989. He was the first person I watched Aliens with as a kid, and it definitely had an impact on me. I didn’t join the Marine Corps, but I did serve in the Army as an infantryman. During my time in service, Aliens was one of our favorite movies. I still think the Colonial Marines are one of the most accurate film representations of grunts in a fiction role. Al Matthews being a Marine with combat experience in Vietnam definitely made him believable as a grizzled platoon sergeant, and I think that wore off on the other cast members.
Theatrical cut will always be the preferred version for many and I don’t buy the ‘Ripley had a daughter’ retcon, but this is a cool video and a nice piece of film history.
Man... i remember this! I was a senior in high school! It was kind of a big deal! Lol Pure nostalgia! Fresno, CA baby!!
it's crazy how much tech has changed since '89. They had no idea that one day everybody and their mothers would carry a small supercomputer in their pockets wirelessly connected to the world. However, I would gladly sacrifice all modern tech to go back and live in the 80's.