James Cameron Is The King Of Sequels, But One Follow-Up Stands Above The Rest

It's funny that with the recent "Halloween" revival, a new trilogy supposedly focusing on trauma didn't take notes from a classic franchise chapter that is still leagues ahead of most nowadays. Sigourney Weaver even earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in a rare horror nod from the Academy. Ripley's recovery in accepting that the nightmare she blew out of the airlock is alive, well, and multiplied is a journey that few other horror franchises have tried to follow and succeeded in. With James Cameron, though, it's something he replicated when it came to making a sequel to his own franchise and a badass with her own personal battles.

The similarities between Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and Ripley in "Aliens" stretch beyond the tough female protagonist calling the shots and taking some too. Both fear a threat on the edge of everyone else's understanding, with the only ones sharing the dread being children knowing what danger is hiding around the corner. They even have the same trust issues with artificial persons. Sure, "The Terminator" might predate Cameron's trip into the world of acid-spitting beasties, but the interplanetary interval between it and "Judgment Day" proved a huge help. You can believe "Judgment Day" is the better sequel, but in the end, by daring to take on "Aliens," it wouldn't have even been marked on the calendar.