OP is absolutely right. the texture to the design and photography is amazing, sound design and score too. one of the richest films ever made.
the assembly cut is the only choice.
also i'm sure you know, but the new blu ray (2010 or 2011 i think) has a finished sound mix w/ looped dialogue etc.
pure listening pleasure for the purposes you're talking about!

The hybrid alien, the cheesy one-liners, lazy writing, the plot-holes There were a couple of good scenes but not enough to make it a good film imo.
Anyway, I'm probably too much of an Alien '79 fanboy to give too much of an un-biased opinion - some days I can't stand any of the other films either!

bluersun,
I actually REALLLLY like Resurrection. I know it's not AS serious as some of the previous films but it's definetally a fun movie and in my opinion far more entertaining than Prometheus.
Ever since I've seen Resurrection I have never been able to grasp the large amounts of distaste for this film. Yeah it has its flaws here and there but it's by no means a, "Bad" movie. I don't understand why anyone would view Resurrection as such.

I rate it slightly higher than Aliens, but they are both two sides of the same coin for me Neither come close to the original And A:R can pissing up a rope IMO!

Thank You!
I'm so happy that someone truly understands my love for this film. It seems like as the years go on more and more people are starting to understand and respect Alien 3. And Hellits deserved it.

lol I was just calling it super metroid-esque the other day! Alien 3 is definitely one of my favourite films ever, it just nails down a vibe that I haven't seen done in anything in the last 10 or so years.