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Everyone keeps mentioning how in Alien 3, the first thing to get infected/eaten is a dog. I seem to remember this happening to a rottweiller. But I just saw Alien 3 and the facehugger killed a bull and the alien busted out of that. Did I watch a directors cut with a bull instead of a dog?

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perhaps this question belongs on the movies sight? I'm not sure, is is Science Fiction too... –  AidanO Jan 10 '12 at 8:02
It belongs here, @AidanO –  Pureferret Jan 10 '12 at 8:34
@AidanO I asked a similar question on the movies site and they told me to come here –  puk Jan 10 '12 at 9:57
Stack Exchange has many overlaps, I for example ask a lot math questions that border on the statistical and that I need to code... –  puk Jan 10 '12 at 10:30
@AidanO: if you don’t think alien is science fiction I really don’t know how you sleep at night. –  Paul D. Waite Jun 12 '14 at 14:56

4 Answers 4

If you watch the Assembly Cut on the DVD/ bluray sets (the equivalent of the directors cut, however Fincher refused to be involved), it is a bull like creature that they farm on the prison planet that is the first thing to be a host. The dog was part of the studios considerable recutting .

It's worth watching the Assembly cut, it's far from the sequel you hope for, but a hundred times better than the release version.

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I can't remember the original version but the "Assembly cut" seems to be a lot better at showing the world outside. I am not sure what other differences there are. –  puk Jan 10 '12 at 10:00
Will have to track that down! –  AidanO Jan 10 '12 at 10:06
The Special Edition DVD & Blu-ray section in the Wikipedia listing details the changes, over 30 mins, and generally the film makes much more sense. –  The Wandering Dev Manager Jan 10 '12 at 13:38
My Alien quadrillogy DVD set has all the versions and I do recall the cow-like creature being first in one of the cuts. The dog was definitely in the theatrical version that I saw at the cinema. –  Paul Gregoire Jun 21 '12 at 17:44

It's always the pet dog in any version I've seen. The dog is a pet of one of the inmates. And when the alien busted out it was in one of the air vents, I can't see a bull wandering around the air vents!

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lol it's not in the air vents. They bring the bull in from the outside after it died of 'natural causes', then one of the guys SPOILERS---- picks up a facehugger underneath the corpse and he's like "WTF is this?!?!?" –  puk Jan 10 '12 at 10:32

I am watching Alien 3 streaming and a bull is infected, but the first time I watched it I recall it was a Rottweiler.

I think they changed it to a bull because it more videogenic



Bull vs Dog

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Given lack of any sources referenced or pictures or anything to back it up, this would be best as a comment, not an answer. –  eidylon Mar 7 '14 at 18:55
I've added some sourcing. It wasn't a bad answer, just badly edited. –  Richard Mar 8 '14 at 0:50
You're a good man, @Richard! –  Wikis Jun 12 '14 at 12:37

It was originally supposed to be a cow/ox, the cow was made & filmed but the studio then decided against it as the Xenomorph would have been too bulky and slow. That's the reason it was then changed to a dog (faster)

The whole idea was a mistake in my eyes as the CGI took a lot away from the film for me.

Alien 3 as a whole was a great concept 'Prison with no weapons etc' just poorly executed.

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Saying it is poorly executed is an opinion and should probably be removed. –  Feldpausch All4 Jun 12 '14 at 13:15
@FeldpauschAll4: I think we’re okay with some opinions here on scifi.SE. This isn’t Stack Overflow, nobody’s trying to get their job done by asking questions on here. –  Paul D. Waite Jun 12 '14 at 14:58
For completeness’ sake: Most of what you probably consider to be bad CGI, actually is not. It’s another kind of bad special effects. (Wikipedia on this) –  Wrzlprmft Sep 8 '14 at 20:14

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