ALIEN III / DIRECTOR: DIRK MAGGS / WRITER: WILLIAM GIBSON/ STARRING: TOM ALEXANDER, BARBARA BARNES, MICHAEL BIEHN / LABEL: AUDIBLE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Cyberpunk author William Gibson’s scripts for Alien III have achieved something of a cult status since being leaked online. Offering a tantalising ‘what if’, the first draft was an Aliens-like action extravaganza. The second draft, whilst retaining the overall plot and setting of the first, has more in common with Alien, with fewer Xenomorphs and a measured build-up of tension. It is this version that Audible has adapted as a full-cast audio drama to mark the 40th anniversary of the birth of the Alien Franchise.
Lance Henriksen, reprising his role as Bishop, narrates a brief recap of what has happened previously in Aliens before Alien III takes off. Due to a navigational error, the Sulaco, with its compliment of LV-426 survivors, drifts into a sector of space controlled by the Union of Progressive Peoples. A UPP boarding party find more than the cryogenically frozen Ripley, Hicks, Newt, and Bishop when they are attacked by a face hugger. The surviving boarding party recover Bishop’s torso and allow the Sulaco to continue drifting through space where it eventually arrives at Anchorpoint station. Xenomorph genetic material is discovered upon the ship, which Weyland-Yutani are keen to experiment on. Unbeknown to them, the UPP also has their own Xenomorph genetic material.
Gibson’s Alien III is clearly a product of the ‘80s as it mirrors the Cold War of that era. The Union of Progressive Peoples is a parallel of Soviet Russia and communist China locked in an arms race with an unnamed faction that Weyland-Yutani (corporate America?) belong to. Both powers attempt to develop the Xenomorphs as biological weapons, and it is implied that the aliens were originally created to be just that. An idea that would be explored thirty years later in Alien: Covenant. One idea that did make it from Gibson’s Alien III into the filmed version is that of the Xenomorphs displaying the traits of their hosts. One scene has a congress of lemurs cocooned, awaiting the inevitable.
Once more, Dirk Maggs has created an absolute feast for the ears. The sound design has such a tangible quality that you can almost feel the aliens breathing down your neck. Close your eyes and with every clang and clank you would swear you are on the hanger deck of Anchorpoint. The entire cast are excellent, particularly Michael Biehn reprising his role as Hicks who sounds as though he hasn’t aged a day, and Lance Henriksen whom reads his lines with a soothing, poetic quality. The score by James Hannigan is notable too for effortlessly evoking those of Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner.
It’s just unfortunate that Gibson’s script is somewhat lacklustre for the first hour. There’s a lot of exposition and scientific theorising, which would have confounded movie audiences, and can cause the attention to drift as an audio drama. Newt has little to do other than to wander the station before being shipped off, and as for Ripley… well! The second half is when the excitement starts in typical Alien style.
How much you enjoy this will largely depend on how much of a William Gibson fan you are. If you are an Alien fan you may be disappointed by the pace of the first half, but what can’t be denied is just how darn good the whole thing sounds.
