What exactly is wrong overall with the Alien series of films, and why don't the directors and writers seem to be able to

I wish I could chime in, but I have refused to watch anything after the first two.

I think that's a pretty good summation of what happened - although I haven't watched Covenant, so I can't speak to its quality or lack thereof.

Alien was a masterwork of horror, and sci-fi, and it perfectly blended the two genres. It tells a complete story. It has compelling, interesting, and relatable characters. The whole world feels lived-in and real.

Most importantly: it's a visual essay on horror. What are the most common fears of mankind? The unknown and "the Other", the dark, sex, death, monsters, loneliness, betrayal...those are all contained within Alien and within the xenomorph itself (for the most part). The visual evokes this stuff. It takes fear of sex in particular to a whole new level with the rape, childbirth metaphors. It makes you feel claustrophobic, alone, and afraid. It shows you what the other can really look like, and even shows what happens when we are not unified: the other is us (a.k.a., the android, "mother", and the Waylan-Yutani Corporation). All of our primal fears, our fears of civilisation AND the wild from whence we came - all contained here.

None of this is spoken. None of it is spelled out condescendingly to the audience. It's all conveyed through atmosphere, visuals, design, attitude, and unfolding plot. The film is flat-out brilliant.

Aliens is a A-grade action movie. Nothing more or less. It reduces the treatise on horror into a shoot-em-up. It's well-done, but that's it. It retains a *bit* of the motherhood/female themes from the first film by using Ripley and an Alien Queen as the protagonist and antagonist, but that's it.

Alien 3 recycles the first one, but without understanding it, so it just winds up being a monster movie or a kind of slasher picture in a space monastery and/or prison. Definitely executive meddling here.

Resurrection I think had potential but wasted it.

Prometheus was better than people thought it was, but only because people thought it was a dumpster fire. It's not, it's just a little meandering.

This thing should have "dishonourably mentioned" the AvP series. Great Scott, that series is lamentable! It takes the dumb action premise of Predator and combines it with the acceptably entertaining action schlock of Aliens, removes any trace of originality or deep themes, and then mangles the xenomorphs so badly as to turn them into easily-disposed shock troops who can barely hold out against the almighty predators. Granted, Aliens kinda "shock trooped" the xenomorphs already, but regardless of where this practice started, it was a dumb idea.

Each alien should be a demon - a nigh-unstoppable nightmare come alive. I know it doesn't like fire, but other than that, those things should be near-indestructible. I don't think bullets should get through their carapaces. I think they should be hard to swat down, and if you do, you get splashed with acid blood.

Screw AvP.

How can one show Alien 3 never happened?

Simple. It was a dream. Newt, Ripley, and Hicks are still alive. Queen takes Bishop still happened, but she is outside the ship and not inside.

Alien³ went astray with studio interference and the star of the series having too much power, if they wanted to have a horror film for Alien³ but without the family dynamic of Ripley, Hicks and Newt, why not of had Alien³ with a complete new cast, the Giger Aliens were always the draw not Sigourney Weaver.

I’m not trying to dismiss how awesome Weaver was in the Alien movies but this is one avenue they could have gone whilst keeping the survivors of Aliens alive. Killing off Hicks and the child at the start of Alien³ pissed off so many fans of Aliens, Alien³ never stood a chance, whilst no one had empathy for the prisoners who died, and staging it in a monastery as was originally planned would have worked so much better. People may have cared.

I also wonder if the Predator series losing its star, with Predator 2 in 1990 not having the same amount of success influenced them in hanging onto Ripley for two more movies.

I agree with your assessment, except for ALIENS. Cameron stayed true to the mythos created in the first film, then took it in a logical direction. Yes, the movie does have more action, but it also features horror, suspense, and a good dollop of sci-fi. People who call ALIENS an action movie have apparently forgotten about the slow-burn buildup. It’s nearly an hour before it begins to hit the fan. Even after the initial battle with the xenomorphs, there are plenty of quiet, albeit still tense, moments.

A big part of the reason ALIEN3 fell apart is it went backwards. We’ve already seen what one of these things can do. Plus, having Ripley “infected” took ALL the suspense out of the movie. She’s the character we care about, but she’s in no danger from the marauding xenomorph. There’s no reason to care or get emotionally involved in the story.

I appreciate your well thought out comments.

I think Alien 3 was excellent... i liked the way it brought back the sense of hoplessness from the first movie... Went against the "team/family" aspect of Aliens... Charles Dance was brilliant in it as well...

It's not a perfect movie, by any means, but was a worthwhile addition to the series...

I'm not a precious about the series as many of the fans... I think by the time Aliens was made, it's all open game to play with the lore...

I liked Prometheus... I thought it was thrilling, thought provoking and highly entertaining... Even Alien Covenant was a solid addition...

The Alien movie i didn't think added anything useful and in fact seems out of place is Alien Resurrection... it took the worst themes of the previous movies (ripley focused, team/family oriented, feel good, etc...) and was a bit silly... Also, from an aesthetic point of view, the Ridley Alien movies tower above the others, but Fincher and Cameron's movies are not bad by any means...

I have the feeling that Alien 3 wanted to be something different - but it lost its way somewhere along the story.

It has a lot more world building - you have all those convicts wrapped in an oddly functional system, you have their oddly shaped religious attitude, each of them has somewhat distinctive features, their world is a literal prison, and they even find a place for the Alien in their reality: it's the dragon.

It also has a very distinctive tone - moody and ghostly industrial in the beginning, then a bit medieval, it almost reminded me of The Name of the Rose in the first part.

It also has the mysterious doctor/convict, Clemens Who Seems to See Through Things

It almost looked like a whole new angle on the Alien story: Alien 1 had the cold, sweaty body horror and isolation, Alien 2 had the thrills curses and shoot-outs, and Alien 3 COULD have had the apocalyptic/mythical gloom.

...Except it didn't.
The religious angle gets lost entirely along the way - I really would have liked to see how a community of alienated religious freaks react to an unspeakable demon, but after Golic's reaction and containment everything reverts to the already standard "survive xenomorph against all odds" tone.

The moodiness comes back a little in the end, in the shape of labyrinthine entrapment, but we'd been missing it for a good hour by that point.

Clemens dies way, way too soon (remember Hicks? who made it to the end of the movie?). What was the point of his "mysterious past", of his connection to Ripley? All down the drain.

And the convicts' personalities were too thin. The final chase scene was fantastic, but the convicts became too suddenly efficient for my taste. They still freaked out and "improvised" :), but overall they were pretty brave and in synch. I would have liked to see them more dysfunctional...

Maybe Alien 3 tried to bring together elements that did not belong together no matter what, and that's it why it failed to be as unique as it could have been...