Another phrase being thrown around occasionally online regarding Alien 3 is that it "goes back to the roots" or that it's more like the original. That's just not true at all. About the only thing it has in common with the first film is the number of aliens and the absence of weapons, but is a much more of a departure in every aspect than the previous film. Yes, it actually drifts farther away from the original
And that is not a dig at the movie, I love it, and the blog wouldn't be dedicated to the Alien Trilogy. But one alien and no weapons certainly does not make this movie more like the first film or doesn't bring the series "back to its roots". It's such a surface similarity. Let's take a look at the facts. Or, as Superintendent Andrews would say, "Rumor control, here are the facts"
1. Alien 3 is the first one not to have an exceptionally long buildup like the original (or Aliens). It has a conventional movie structure, in which action and passive moments take turns, rather than building up for half of the movie.
2. Unlike in the original (and Aliens), in Alien 3 the audience is way ahead of the characters, which is a first for an Alien movie at the time. We know what's going on right away, while we only know as much as the characters do in the original (and Aliens)
3. There's no hypersensitivity in Alien 3, unlike in the original (and in Aliens) in which sound and silence play a huge role. Examples: Brett looking for Jones/Marines entering the Colony Complex
4. The first film is set on a spaceship, while Alien 3 is set on a colony, like Aliens.
5. Alien 3 is the first Alien movie that drops the visual vocabulary of the original alien - it drops the Expressionist, backlit and silhouetted imagery, coated in heavy haze, and the cold colors of the darkness (which Aliens retained and even dialed up). It actually goes the opposite way and creates a completely different and new visual style and warm color theme (although there is one shot from Murphy's death that evokes the original)
6. Alien 3 is the first Alien movie which drops the biomechanical aspect for the alien creature and brings it closer to conventional movie monsters (See HERE)
7. There ARE weapons on board Nostromo, visible in deleted bits of scenes and in promo sessions. They just couldn't use them because of the creature's acidic blood
Alien 3 actually had the original's editor, Terry Rawlings, but so what? Aliens had even more people from the original (like designer Ron Cobb, Cinematographer Adrian Biddle, Model Maker Brian Johnson and one of the alien performers Eddie Powell)
And for those who think that Giger designed the creature, check the link I provided again. Giger did few sketches and was let go after just a month of rough sketches, never even leaving his home or getting any feedback or revision requests, while the design was passed to Studio ADI. Giger got a credit that he had to go to court for, as he thought some recognition of his work on the film, however small, should be honored. Check the link again (HERE), in his own words, how his designs were rejected and he actually hated what ended up onscreen. One of his designs were actually used for the Ox scene, the so called Bambi Burster.
But it was eventually cut out from the movie and replaced with a different design alltogether. Below, a design sketch of a new chestburster design for the Dog scene form of the alien by Alec Gillis and a dog burster puppet
So no, Alien 3 is not closer or more faithful to the original, just the opposite. The only similarity is the single alien and no use of weapons, but those are very surface similarities. It's actually Aliens that is more of a sibling movie to the original, without being a twin, in it's visual look, structure and presentation. And no, the idea that David Fincher liked only the original movie and hated Aliens so he aimed to erase Aliens' characters and make a movie that's closer to the original is purely not true. Fincher stated multiple times before and the release of the film and decades later that he loves Aliens (See HERE), and the idea of the demise of the Sulaco survivors pre-dates his involvement by years