Back
in 1992, 20th Century Fox announced in the summer there would be a
third entry in the enormously successful and beloved science-fiction horror Alien film series. With an original teaser screened showing the
infamous green egg with light streaming from an open crack in it, an ominous
voiceover announced something to the effect of ‘in 1992 on Earth, everyone can
hear you scream’ as the camera pulls back to reveal the egg hovering over our
planet. What’s curious about this teaser
is that it represented one of many various ideas, drafts and adaptations that
were commissioned for what would or would not become Alien 3.
As
the story ultimately went, producers Gordon Carroll and David Giler simply
couldn’t agree upon one singular adaptation and the clock kept ticking towards
that summer release date with no finalized script in the can. Worse still, they kept swapping out directors.
First Renny Harlin set to adapt Neuromancer author William Gibson’s
screenplay before bowing out. Then came Vincent Ward’s screenplay involving a
planet of wood set in the deeply religious middle-ages.
Finally
a pastiche with elements of Ward’s script with finishing touches by Giler,
Walter Hill and Larry Ferguson before an unlucky David Fincher got tasked with
directing what was shaping up to be a sinking ship before being kicked out of
the editing room entirely with a studio mandated team cutting together whatever
ended up in the can. Needless to say,
the end result did not go over well with critics or fans at all.
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| Lance Henriksen and director Dirk Maggs |
Alien fans were dismayed by the film’s bleak and nihilistic tone and depressed that it proceeded to kill off every single character save for a random stock character. Before it even begins, Newt and Hicks are dead and at the end of a long, desperate and sad battle deep in the fire pit of Hell, the series’ heroine Ripley dies too. Not to mention it takes place on a prison planet full of murderers and rapists eager to assault and exploit Ripley, a far cry from the crews of the Nostromo from the first film or the Sulaco from the second.
All
in all it’s a huge downer fans, screenwriters and filmmakers have been futile
in their efforts to de-canonize from the series. Moreover, the film’s director would disown
the picture and both actors Michael Biehn who played Hicks and Lance Henriksen
expressed their own disapproval of what ended up onscreen. The most recent and unsuccessful attempt came
from Neill Blomkamp who envisioned a story not unlike that aforementioned
earlier draft by William Gibson where Newt, Hicks and Ripley survive with the
Weyland Yutani Bio-Weapons Division still trying to get their hands on a
xenomorph at all costs. That project
came very close to actually going into production until the director’s film Chappie tanked and the idea was scrapped
altogether.
Circa
2019, however, it looks as though some form of light opened at the end of the
tunnel with British audio drama director Dirk Maggs who proposed in conjunction
with the Audible company a splendid idea: fully adapt William Gibson’s unfilmed
screenplay for Alien III. Recruiting the acting talents of Michael
Biehn and Lance Henriksen reprising their roles, Alien III: An Audible Original Drama at long last offers fans an
alternative vision of what might have been the third Alien feature film!
Released
exclusively through the Audible program and running roughly two hours, Alien III: An Audible Original Drama
offers an entirely different experience with a variety of new untried concepts
concerning the main characters and above all the biology of the xenomorphs
themselves. We’re also introduced to a
socialist society known as the United Progressive Peoples who don’t take too
kindly to the Sulaco ship from Aliens drifting
into their territory.
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| Michael Biehn and director Dirk Maggs |
Replete
with sampling of the film’s sound effects of power loaders, doors opening and
closing, the Pulse rifles from Aliens and
of course the xeno screams, this audio drama though issued in stereo does offer
directional use of the audio in such a way that you could close your eyes and
imagine what you would be seeing. Probably
the most interesting new concept is one that would eventually crop up in some
form or another in director Ridley Scott’s prequel films Prometheus and Alien Covenant:
the Hybrid.
With
imperceptible particles in the air infecting any and all who come near it, soon
crew members find themselves physically transforming into a new kind of
xenomorph while the species of xenomorph fans are familiar with from the first
two films also run amok wreaking bloody havoc.
Much like the videogame series Dead
Space or John Carpenter’s film of The
Thing, the idea is that people stop in mid-step before an alien organism
takes over their body and turns it into its own killing machine.
Fans
know full well actress Sigourney Weaver, who jump started her career with the
role of Ripley, was tiring of doing these films and was looking for a way
out. With William Gibson’s screenplay,
though Ripley survives she’s largely comatose and in the background before she
and Newt are shipped back home while the torch is passed onto Hicks and Lance
Henriksen’s android Bishop who also narrates the audio drama. After this screenplay was junked and the
studio marched closer to settling in on a director, Weaver’s stance of wanting
out remained and ultimately it was her decision to kill off Ripley.
After
listening to the audio drama, on the one hand it would have been great to
explore the concepts of harvesting a new breed of alien that could take over
another organism completely rather than growing out of it and having all the
main characters survive is a welcome change over simply killing everyone off
outright in a dismal morgue of a film.
On the other hand, yes it does feel less like a wholly original Alien film and more of a continuation of
Aliens with a good chunk of the piece
taking place on the Sulaco. Moreover,
the film would have been a disaster in director Renny Harlin’s hands.
Still,
coupled with a comic-book adaptation of Gibson’s screenplay which came out
alongside the audio drama, Alien III: An Audible
Original Drama is something of a Godsend for Alien fans who wanted to see their favorite characters live while
exploring new ideas and terrain for the series.
All the while it offered Sigourney Weaver a chance to pass the torch
onto Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen who reportedly were overjoyed to
participate in the play. If you’re an Alien fan, Alien III: An Audible Original Drama is an essential listening
experience providing a glimpse into what might have been the third Alien picture.
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki