'Alien' Star Tom Skerritt Hasn't Seen Any of the Sequels, Why Bother?

Tom Skerritt has no interest in seeing the latest "Alien" sequel -- instead, he's keeping his streak going of passing on all the movies after the OG, because he says they can't compete.

The actor -- who played Capt. Dallas in the original 1979 sci-fi classic -- talked to TMZ ahead of its 45th anniversary, and says he was well aware while making the Ridley Scott film that it was going to be a classic ... and that's partly why he hasn't seen ANY of the others.

He tells us he also figured the studio -- seeing huge dollar signs -- would order up lots of sequels (8 to be exact) which include crossovers...  and the upcoming "Alien: Romulus."

Tom says the original's unduplicated magic was all about what you didn't see -- and feels the ones that have been cranked out afterward have lost some of that initial magic from #1.

As for him snubbing the other installments ... he tells us he just had a perfect experience making "Alien," and that nothing else can top that -- including whatever came after. Still ... he admits hearing good things about the first sequel, "Aliens" -- but hasn't watched it.

While reminiscing about the first film, Tom says the rumor the cast had no idea how gory and graphic the iconic chestburster scene would be is just plain false ... they definitely knew.

With that said, he does say they were shocked when it went down -- and he even tells us the blood and guts seen on camera might have been real ... explaining Ridley told him at the time it all came from a butchered cow ... but Tom thinks the guy was just joking (hopefully).

On the issue of possibly returning to the franchise for a voiceover or a de-aged performance at some point -- which are all the rage in Hollywood right now -- Tom tells us he'd rather get attacked by a Facehugger ... unless the money was right, of course.