Do special effects extras ever ruin the actual movie experience for you?

Not at all for me. I loved the behind-the-scenes of Alien: Covenant.

The only change I would prefer would be that the special effects engineering not be released before the film. 

Do you mean as far as the Alien franchise is concerned or about movies in general? It depends on how they use it and if the genre that the movie belongs to requires it much. For example it could work in a Superman movie but not in an Alien movie if they use too much special effects in it. There is no yes or no kind of answer to this, it depends.

The picture is fun it is like "nah fuck this I am going for a shitbreak"

(The dog that walks there)

I think it depends on the Balance.... when CGI or Practice Effects are done great, they look great.. when they are done poor they look rubbish.

I usually find its the use of both in tandem that give the best results, but this also has to take into consideration..

*The Team behind the Effects, Both Practical and CGI

*The Budget for them.

*The amount of Time to work on them.

Practical Effects with CGI Gloss Over seem to work best for me.

I'm addicted to extras, bonus material and making of docs, they are total bliss to watch. I just wish every old Sci-fi movie I love had some extras. 

The Furious Gods in particular. It has to be about the, greatest behind the scenes documentary ever made. It's nine hours + of Ridley Sci-fi heaven. Totally epic!

Needless to say, the bonus material for both ALIEN and Blade Runner top my list too.

Plus of course, some deleted/alternate scenes always give rise to lively debate.

These movies involve such talent and skill, that you want to find out exactly how the effects were achieved!

Thoughts_Dreams Do you mean as far as the Alien franchise is concerned or about movies in general? 

We can have open season here. The first making of/behind the scenes for me was The Matrix when bullet time was pioneered. Those scenes were fascinating and yet watching the movie still looked convincing despite knowing how they did it. 

As far as AC goes, I think the CGI for the baby neomorph attacking that lady in the drop ship ruined it a bit for me

It looked so badly done.

But, I think films like this are ruined because the cast are made to act like dumb idiots who slip and fall on every surface and miss targets a couple of feet in front of them when firing guns lol.