Automated Attack Monkeys, Scalpel Mines, & Acid

Hm, curious. *ponder*
While I would definitely agree with you on Ripley being one of the best characters in Sci-Fi, full stop, I do occasionally wonder about whether she really is this beacon of feminism in Sci-Fi that she is always made out to be. (But I freely admit that my relationship with the "Alien"-Saga is an intense and difficult one.)(I will actually stand up and defend every single one of the proper films in front of a live audience.)
I mean, it b cool that they decided to turn Ripley into a woman in "Alien" and that the studio had the guts to run with it. You only need to compare Ripley to Lambert to see how it might have turned out in different hands. And the gender-issue certainly adds a nice extra level to Ash's insubordination. But on the whole, I never found anything particularly female setting her apart from the male characters in that film's Ripley. But maybe I am being overtly critical.
"Aliens", well... first "The Man" doesn't listen to her, then she gets taken along to Acheron with all the big burly men and those wishing to be one (Vasquez is tres cool, but by Cthullhu, this is a Cameron, isn't it?) And how does Ripley end up? Copying the men, sporting big guns and then doing her womanly duty, looking after/saving the child. In a major battle with another woman. It is cool, it probably hasn't been done that much before but I don't find the subtext particularly feminist.
"Alien 3" (aka "British Skinheads in space")... actually, yes, you are right. She is a feminist icon in that one. And in "Alien: Resurrection" (aka "I want some of what the director is smoking"), too.
Sorry, I forgot what I was going to say.