Aliens (1986) – Ripley’s Daughter

As stated before, most of James Cameron's films are tightly edited pieces of cinema, but he dropped the ball with this deleted scene from this 1986 classic Aliens. The scene is early in the film after Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) has been awakened from stasis in the future. When Burke (Paul Reiser) comes to inform her of the legal situation following her deposition in the events of the previous film, she is then informed about the death of her daughter two years prior. It's an emotional scene that builds on the themes of motherhood in this film, and helps contextualize her motherly instincts to protect Newt later on in the film. Because of that it's a shame that it was cut from the theatrical release of the film, but thankfully it was restored in the director's cut.