Cold warriors and Xenomorphs

The 'troubled third' of the Alien franchise is a fascinating story in movie history. After two blockbuster hits that gave very different takes on the Alien story, the race was on for another unique perspective that would take the franchise forward and deliver another smash.
What happened was rejected treatments, confusion, recriminations, fall outs, and David Fincher's story of bald Yorkshiremen on a prison planet being offed by a dog-Alien. It's famous for its cold killing off of two of the previous films much loved characters (three by the denouement). The film has its admirers but was not a success by any means. The franchise never recovered, spawning a ridiculous fourth instalment with a cloned Ripley, a military spaceship and an uneasy mix of humour and really grotesque horror, include a human-alien hybrid. Then we get the Covenant films, with their weaponised 'black fluid' that mutates living organisms into monsters, an origin story that many disliked and thought unnecessary. It was nevertheless good to have Ridley Scott who directed the original 'Alien' back in the helm. But then we have Alien Covenant, one of my most disliked films of all time, that arguably has the negative power to retrospectively ruin the entire franchise with its idiotic reveals and nasty cynicism that it just hasn't earned.
So we need alternative re-tellings, don't we, to give a multi-verse like journey into different paths taken. So Alien 3, with its rejected treatments, gave us Vincent Ward's wooden planet and monastic order (!) and William Gibson's cold war tale with rival superpower stations set in tension in a neutral zone, and put at odds when the Sulaco is pulled into the fray. It is this one that has been adapted here. It has elements that would be explored in the above films; it has an alien-human hybrid, and a volatile alien substance that turn people into said hybrids. It gives us our beloved Hicks, Newt, Bishop and also Ripley, who is not really in the story, being relegated early on to unconsciousness then a life-pod.
It's a cracking story, with a decent build up of tension before all Hell breaks loose, an, an intriguing take on this future universe, and a more sympathetic and less cynical take on its human protagonists. It intelligently fills out much of the back-story of previous films, giving new insights. We learn, for example, that the Colonial Marine 'Bug-Hunts' are resented by many for species genocide and destroying the eco-balance of other worlds, to make them habitable colonies. We learn that synthetics are afforded the status of citizens in the 'Western' worlds, and more.
Hicks is great, and has a cracking new toy, a wrist mounted plasma weapon. He is as laconic and courageous as ever. Bishop is the central narrator and his perspective frames the narrative. He gives us the films hopeful final message. The cold warriors will have to unite as single species again against the 'anti-life' that is the Alien breed.
The other minor characters are also well delineated and solid, from the weary station commander Rosetti to station crew Spence and Halliday, and the warrior from the 'other' station, Chang.
There are some cracking set pieces, from a lab accident that infects the space station, the infestation and destruction of another star- base, grotesque and violent transformations from human to hybrid, a climactic chase and an execution of space-borne Alien through ship cannons.
The story was also recently brought to life from its script treatment by Dark Horse comics. Check them out, they are a brilliant companion to this audible release. This audio treatment has original actors Michel Biehn (Bishop) and Lance Henricksen (Bishop) who give us a magical continuity to 'Aliens.' Music and sound production, like all of Dirk Magg's releases, is atmospheric, dramatic and excellent, giving the whole a really cinematic feel. An audio drama must unobtrusively frame the action so we understand it, helping us to visualise and understand frenetic scenes in audio without taking us out of the action. It is a delicate balancing act, and Magg's succeeds superbly. When a character shouts at another character cornered by an Alien to "try and get round it," for example, we understand that the unfortunate character has been cornered without being told that directly.
Loved it.

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3 people found this helpful

Enjoyable, but not the best version of the story

The production quality is very good, and it is a real treat to hear both Michael Biehn and Lance Henrickson reprise their roles. The plot, however, is a bit lack luster, as it uses William Gibson’s second draft, a more water downed version than his more action packed first draft. The lack of an untrained Marine contingent for Hicks to lead, and the absence of the multiple Queens and army of Xenomorphs are missed. Altogether, the story feels more like Alien Sea or Sorrow rather than a sequel to Aliens. As it is essentially a film screenplay reading, it comes in a bit short at only just over 2 hours, and the addition of some narration may have helped with some confusing exposition, but I suppose that’s just not the medium producers were going for. That being said, it is enjoyable, the vocal cast all do good work, and it is certainly better than the actual Alien 3. Give it a listen if you are an Aliens fan, but not required if you only have a passing interest.

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1 person found this helpful

excellent but really short

wish it would have been longer
but overall great quality again
really enjoy listening to this book
I highly recommend this book

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1 person found this helpful

Great voice cast

Very well produced, would be interested in a sequel. More hicks and bishop is always good

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Great idea for a movie.

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook, though I felt it was a little short.
Lance Henriksen and Michael Biehn were both excellent reprising their roles, Henriksen is always outstanding in every role I've seen/heard him in.
My main gripe is the voice actors portrayal of Newt and Halliday, I found them to be quite irritating, their exchanges with each other sounded like something out of an anime, which just didn't fit with the rest of the performances.
The lack of Ellen Ripley was a bit annoying for me, I haven't read the original alien 3 script so I am unsure if this audiobook was adapted to exclude her, although I understand why, Sigourney Weaver was probably too expensive to hire for such a small production.

All in all, I highly recommend this to any fans of the Alien universe.

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The Film That Should Have Been

Great to hear Hicks and Bishop return and a very interesting story, should/would have been a wonderful film, can't wait to read the graphic novel.

wonderful music and sound design also

some stale voice performances but overall, terrific.

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A different direction

I’ve always liked the admittedly flawed Alien 3 that got released and always been interested in the different possible versions that nearly went into production.

This audio version with Michael Bien and Lance Henriksen reprising there roles from Aliens gives a great way to experience William Gibsons in-filmed script.

Slightly more varied than Finchers version in some ways and slightly more predictable in others, especially if you’ve read any of the extended universe books (Rogue, Earth Hive etc) it’s a great listen.

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Great story!

Really enjoyed listing to this story and great to have hicks back and bishop back!

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Brilliant !

As ALWAYS Brilliant if you're Alien fan ;) I definitively recommended. Superb performance by actors.

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Excellent Alternative Story

Excellent world-building from William Gibson. The production is top notch from the creepy sound effects, suspenseful music and excellent voice acting.

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