William Gibson’s Alien³

References

	Alien3 (1st Draft) William Gibson, 1987. Unproduced Script. Alien3 (2nd Draft) William Gibson, 1988. Unproduced Script. Aug 23 2179 Timeline Date: Aug date mentioned in script

William Gibson's Alien³ was a 1987 script draft for a sequel to Aliens. Gibson was the first of six different writers to tackle the Alien³ project. The story bears no relation to the finished and produced Alien³, revolving around Dwayne Hicks battling genetically-altered Kiande Amedha aboard an enormous space station named Anchorpoint.

Gibson later produced a second draft of his script in 1988, altering the overall tone of the screenplay fairly drastically — whereas the first draft is an action extravaganza very much in the vein of Aliens, the second draft radically scales back the number of Kiande Amedha antagonists to just three, and instead presents a story more akin to the claustrophobic horror of Alien. However, both iterations of Gibson's screenplay were turned down by the studio.

Gibson's script explains how there can be Kiande Amedha aboard the Sulaco following Aliens — an Ovomorph develops from Kiande Amedha genetic material inside Bishop's remains, presumably deposited there when he was ripped in two by the Acheron Queen. From this Ovomorph, a Facehugger then emerges and attacks a member of the U.P.P. team that boards the vessel. However, his body is immediately jettisoned into space, and no explanation is given for the two Soldiers that later attack the boarding party from Anchorpoint; even if more Facehuggers somehow developed on board the Sulaco, there were no hosts from which the adult creatures could have been born, as Ellen Ripley, Newt and Hicks are all discovered intact.

The script explicitly states the Kiande Amedha began as an artificially engineered creature; at one point, one of the U.P.P. characters mentions that it is "as though the Kiande Amedha's gene-structure had been designed for ease of manipulation", going on to theorize that they were created by an unknown extraterrestrial race for use as a biological weapon. This concept has long been a popular theory amongst fans of the series (and is even shared by Alien director Ridley Scott), but has never been officially confirmed.

The script has marked Cold War overtones, mentioning an ongoing war and arms race between the socialist Union of Progressive Peoples (based on the Soviet Union) and the unnamed faction that the main characters belong to (the United Americas). In the script, both the major powers attempt to develop the Kiande Amedha as biological weapons, fearful that their opposition is likely doing the same and that they must meet this threat themselves, mirroring the nuclear stockpiling that took place between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. At the end of the script, Bishop proposes that the existence of the Kiande Amedha may successfully unite the two opposing powers against this common threat, thereby bringing an end to their conflict.

Finally, the script paints a realistic representation of decompression in space — when an unnamed lab tech is exposed to the vacuum of space by having his helmet torn off, he simply freezes solid, far more accurate to what would actually occur in such a situation.

Kiande Amedha changes

Gibson alters the nature of the Kiande Amedha, bestowing the creatures with fairly substantial new abilities. Most notably, the Kiande Amedha exhibit an ability to reproduce via a close-proximity airborne contagion, similar to a virus (similar to how Bloodbursters work). When this contagion is inhaled into the lungs, the victim, after a variable amount of time, goes through "the change", and becomes a form of Kiande Amedha. The transformation process is a rapid and involuntary change in the human's skeletal and muscular makeup below the skin, concluding with the newly formed Kiande Amedha graphically tearing the flesh husk off of its body. The survivors would not know if anyone among them was infected until the change suddenly occurs.

In addition to "the change", the Kiande Amedha also reproduce through the more typical means of Chestbursters, although often multiple creatures burst simultaneously from each victim. One character is even impregnated with Chestbursters after simply being bitten on the lower leg by a Warrior, implying the process is also viral in nature. The Warriors in this script are "bigger, meaner, faster" than the creatures seen previously, able to reproduce far more quickly than before, changes ascribed to the cloning and genetic modification experiments undertaken on them by both the U.P.P. and the team aboard Anchorpoint. This concept bears striking similarities to the Cloned Kiande Amedha featured in Alien Resurrection, which were similarly altered (albeit unintentionally) through cloning attempts. Gibson also touches upon the idea of Kiande Amedha created from organisms other than humans, with one scene briefly featuring Kiande Amedha born from lemurs kept in an eco-module aboard Anchorpoint. Later, even vegetation is apparently taken over by the Kiande Amedha "infection".

Second Draft

Compared to the widely-available first draft, Gibson's second script draft is relatively unknown and hard to find. Whilst it contains the same overall plot and setting as the first screenplay, it is in fact a very different take on the story, featuring less action, fewer human characters and far fewer Kiande Amedha that stalk them. Instead of a bustling, heavily populated space station housing a small contingent of Colonial Marines, Anchorpoint is manned only by a skeleton crew while its construction is completed, and the personnel stationed there have access to almost no weaponry.

Another noteworthy refinement in the second draft is that a glaring plot hole in the original version — the presence of two Kiande Amedha Warriors aboard the Sulaco when it arrives at Anchorpoint, despite there being no conceivable way they could have got there — is corrected. In the second draft, the U.P.P. commando who is attacked by a Facehugger is not flushed into space, and his colleagues are forced to leave him aboard the ship. The Drone that emerges from him subsequently goes into hiding aboard the vessel. When the team from Anchorpoint boards the Sulaco, they are not attacked by Kiande Amedha, there is no firefight in the hypersleep bay, and instead of being destroyed by flame, Ellen Ripley's cryotube is said to have been damaged by the commando when he was attacked by the Facehugger earlier. The Drone later gets aboard Anchorpoint, and only then does it begin killing the crew. Apart from the Drone, the only other Kiande Amedha in the story are the "hybrid" that Welles transforms into, and the genetically modified creature created in the U.P.P. labs, which is killed when the station is destroyed with a nuclear weapon.

Other notable additions/alterations include:

Many of the unidentified supporting characters are named and fleshed out with additional dialogue.

During the Anchorpoint team's search of the Sulaco, Welles enters the ship's officer's quarters and inspects some personal belongings, including a photograph of Lieutenant Gorman's wife/girlfriend and Bishop's instruction manual. She also find's the body of the U.P.P. commando, his chest burst open.

The Drone aboard the Sulaco spends the first half of the story hiding inside a cooling unit on the ship. However, the cooling unit is coincidentally found to be damaged and Walker removes it (using a vehicle similar to the "Flying Bedstead" from a deleted scene in Alien) and brings it aboard Anchorpoint for repairs; this is how the Drone gets aboard the station. The cooling unit is replaced with a new one for the ship's journey to Earth. It is later implied that Fox, one of the Weyland-Yutani representatives, knew about the Drone and intended for it to return to Earth aboard the Sulaco. When he discovers it may be aboard the station, he panics.

With the Drone aboard Anchorpoint, there is no mention of Kiande Amedha material of any kind being sent to Earth.

In the first draft Bishop hesitates before destroying the Kiande Amedha samples in the lab, and it isn't explained why. The second draft notes that he feels a moment of conflict because it is against his nature to destroy any living organism, even the Kiande Amedha. Lance Henriksen made the same observation in interviews following the release of Aliens; Bishop is the ultimate pacifist who is paradoxically employed in military operations and violent life-or-death situations.

Rosetti survives almost to the end of the story in the first draft, but is killed by Welles when she transforms in the second draft. The earlier version instead had her kill Fox, who lives longer in the second draft.

Tully commits suicide by locking himself in a freezer before he can change into a Kiande Amedha. His frozen, half-transformed body is later found by Spence.

To prevent anyone from calling for help (and either exposing what Weyland-Yutani has done or allowing the Kiande Amedha to spread), Fox destroys Anchorpoint's mainframe. After Hicks has sent Ellen Ripley to Earth on an EEV, Fox trashes the other pods, rendering them useless as a means of escape.

Instead of a wealth of advanced weaponry, the only firepower available to the survivors comes in the form of three hand grenades and a "suitgun" — with only five rounds remaining — taken from the dead U.P.P. commando's combat exosuit.

Spence reveals what the term "bug hunt" means — the Colonial Marines are often tasked with eradicating "redundant species" on colony planets to make the area safe and habitable, and to ensure there is no competing ecosystem for the colonists.

The survivors learn that Fox has a personal shuttle that they can use to escape. However, when they reach it they find that the Drone has turned the shuttle into a small Hive, inside which Fox is cocooned, still alive. The script explicitly describes this as a tribute to the cocoon scene originally cut from Alien (and reinstated in the Director's Cut). Hicks destroys the shuttle and the nest with a grenade.

In the first draft, the character Tatsumi is somehow impregnated with multiple Chestbursters after being bitten on the leg by a Warrior. In the second draft, he instead undergoes the change (although he is killed before fully transforming into a Kiande Amedha).

The hybrid and the Drone meet and fight each other, with the Drone quickly emerging victorious, tearing the hybrid in half.

The large action sequence on Anchorpoint's hull that ends the first draft is essentially removed. Instead, the Drone is killed in the station's hangar airlock by the fighter craft piloted by the sole surviving U.P.P. commando. The commando then rescues the survivors as in the original version.

This script is later adapted by Johnnie Christmas into a 5-issue series by Dark Horse in Nov 2018.

Alien³ (Eric Red)

References

	Alien3. Eric Red. Feb 7 1989. Unproduced Script. Events placed in the year 2176 as it was written 3 years prior to the release of Alien3.

Eric Red was the second of six different writers to tackle the Alien³ project. The story bears no relation to Alien³, focusing on a character named Sam Smith battling kiande amedha aboard a space station, part of which consists of a giant glass dome containing an entire small-town USA settlement called North Star.

This draft that proposed killing off all of the surviving characters from the previous film at the very beginning of the story. However, no explanation is given for where the kiande amedha that kills Ripley, Newt and Corporal Hicks and turns them into Ovomorphs.

The draft repeatedly names the station on which North Star is located as Sulaco Space Station, even though this name has already been used for the USS Sulaco in the opening sequence. Similarly, the shuttle that the Smiths escape on at the end is also called Sulaco. Another source of confusion is Sam Smith's cybernetic arm — much is made of it in the opening scenes, but after this it plays absolutely no part in the plot and is completely superfluous to the story. It is only mentioned again when it is severed aboard the transforming shuttle at the end of the screenplay.

Pulse Rifles and Smartguns are absent in the script. Characters use 20^th century weapons like the Colt .45, M16, and Browning machine guns. Sam Smith's mother arms herself with a Winchester Repeater.

The script is excessively violent. For example, two victims having sex are graphically mutilated by the kiande amedha.

Red alters the nature of the kiande amedha, bestowing the creatures with fairly substantial new abilities. The standard kiande amedha are around 15 feet in height, making them at least as tall as the Queen in Aliens. The script resurrects the idea of the kiande amedha cocooning their victims and transforming them into Ovomorphs. In fact, the characters discover the station's military commander cocooned to the wall, and when he begs to be killed Sam incinerates him with a flamethrower, mirroring Dallas' fate in the Director's Cut of Alien. The kiande amedha also exhibit an ability to transform their cocooned victims directly into new adults, bypassing the Ovomorph stage altogether. Through the use of these cocoons, a single adult is able to multiply rapidly in a very short space of time. The adult responsible then dies, apparently of natural ageing, implying kiande amedha have only short lifespans, an idea that was later proposed in the book Alien Vault, about the making of the first film of the franchise.

This script explores the idea of kiande amedha bred from non-human hosts, with Alien pigs, dogs, cats, cows and even chickens featuring in the story. Red's screenplay is the first in the Alien franchise to feature a genetically mixed human/Kiande Amedha hybrid creature (foreshadowing the Newborn featured in Alien Resurrection), as well as similar hybrids between various farm animals and Kiande Amedha.

The concept of a "Xenomorph virus" is also reused and expanded upon from Gibson's draft — in Red's script, the virus is no longer airborne, but is capable of assimilating and altering any genetic material it is mixed with, leading to many of the more curious kiande amedha forms, including a kiande amedha mosquito and the large gestalt creature seen towards the end of the story. The virus is even able to take control of inorganic matter and technology, ultimately turning the space station itself and the shuttle the Smiths flee aboard into giant kiande amedha organisms at the climax of the screenplay.

Eric Red has since disowned this screenplay.

Alien³ (David Twohy)

References

	Alien3. David Twohy. October 1989. Unproduced Script. Events placed in the year 2176 as it was written 3 years prior to the release of Alien3.

David Twohy was the third of six different writers to tackle the Alien³ project. His draft is the first that bears a resemblance to Alien³ as it was ultimately made, being set inside a huge prison/ore refinery aboard a space station orbiting Earth (forming the basis of the Fiorina 161 Class C Work Correctional Unit); this location ultimately formed the basis of the prison setting used in the final shooting script, fused with much of the plot from Vincent Ward's subsequent monastery planet story.

While Twohy's setting was carried over into the filmed Alien3, none of his plot or characters were retained. However, the character of Packard bears many obvious similarities to Clemens, both being medical personnel who come to trust and work with the protagonist despite their initial misgivings. Other aspects of Twohy's screenplay later resurfaced in Alien Resurrection. Notably, the script features several characters being sucked piecemeal into space through small ruptures in Moloch Island Prison's hull (or in one case, through the bars of a prison cell), foreshadowing the death of the Newborn in the fourth film; such a demise had originally been planned for Lambert in Alien, but had to be dropped due to the special effects limitations of the time. Similarly, the room containing glass tanks holding the dormant kiande amedha prototypes, some of which are grotesquely deformed, is very reminiscent of the "clones of Ripley" scene in Alien Resurrection. Unlike the preceding screenplays, which generally featured increasing numbers of kiande amedha for the protagonists to defeat, Twohy's script instead moves in the direction of the original Alien, with only a very small number of the creatures. A large portion of the story features no real contact with the kiande amedha at all, and focusses instead on the escape attempts of Sykes and his fellow prisoners. The script also uses "Weylan-Yutani", the original name for the company in Alien.

As with all of the unproduced Alien3 scripts, Twohy alters the nature of the kiande amedha, bestowing the creatures with fairly substantial new abilities in his story. The creatures on Moloch Island are not created through the traditional means of impregnating hosts with Chestbursters, but rather are engineered and grown by the scientists in an artificial "womb" in a lab. None of the kiande amedha are ever seen attempting to recreate on their own, although the creature living below the cell block does begin building a Hive inside a water tank. The script also features kiande amedha being altered through genetic experimentation, an idea first touched upon in William Gibson's script (and again later featured in Alien Resurrection, although the alterations to the creatures in that film were unintentional). Perhaps as a result of this manipulation, the creatures do not share the Hive mentality of kiande amedha seen previously, and at one point two of the kiande amedha actually fight each other to the death on sight.

Alien³ (Vincent Ward)

References

	Alien3. Vincent Ward, Mar 3 1990. Unproduced Script. Wreckage and Rage - Alien3. Alien Quadrilogy, 2003. Making-of documentary.

Vincent Ward's Alien³ was the fourth of six different writers to tackle the Alien³ project. It is set on a monastery satellite called Arceon (not to be confused with Acheron), which is largely constructed of wood and crewed by an order of reclusive monks who have rejected all modern technology. Much of the plot and several of the characters from Ward's script were fused with the prison setting from David Twohy's script to form the basis of Alien³ as it was ultimately made.

The documentary, Wreckage and Rage, spends some time discussing Ward's script, and includes several concept illustrations that show his "wooden planet".

Alien³

Ellen Ripley's hyper-sleep pod is ejected in an escape vessel which crashes on Fiorini 161, a bleak wasteland inhabited by former inmates of the planet's maximum security prison. Once again, Ripley must face skepticism and the Kiande Amedha as it hunts down the prisoners and guards. Without weapons or modern technology of any kind, Ripley leads the men into battle against the terrifying creature and prevent the Weyland-Yutani corporation from obtaining a sample of the Kiande Amedha to study.

References

Alien3. 20th Century Fox, May 22, 1992. Movie. Alien3 Assembly Cut. 20th Century Fox, 2003. DVD. Alien3 #1-3. Steven Grant, Dark Horse, June-July 1992. Print. Theatrical and 2003 "Assembly" Cut: Alien Quadrilogy. 20th Century Fox, DVD, 2003. Alien Anthology Blu-ray. 20th Century Fox, DVD, 2010.

The story of the comics adaptation exactly followed the plot of the film.

Alien 3 had a difficult production; various screenwriters and directors were involved, and shooting began without a finished script. Upon completion, the studio dismantled and reworked it without director David Fincher's consent, including releasing a teaser trailer that suggested the film would take place on Earth.

An alternate version of Alien 3 - the "Assembly Cut" - had over 30 minutes of additional footage. The film's extended footage includes alternate key plot elements, extended footage and deleted scenes that differ from the theatrical release.

• The alien gestates in an ox rather than a dog, and one of the inmates discovers a dead Facehugger.
• Ellen Ripley's body washes up on the shore of the planet in the special edition instead of being found in the ship's wreckage as in the theatrical cut.
• Some scenes are extended to focus more on the religious views of the inmates.
• The inmates succeed in their attempt to trap the alien, but it is later released by the disturbed inmate Golic.
• In this version, the alien Queen does not burst from Ellen Ripley's chest as she falls into the furnace.
• There is also a scene in the prison's assembly hall where one of the inmates suggests to Dillon that they lead the creature to the furnace so that they can incinerate it in the fire.
• One notable scene that was not restored for the DVD or Blu-Ray extended versions was Newt's full autopsy scene.

Alien³ Novelization

Here, even the wind screams. Abandoned hulks of machinery rust in the colorless landscape. Dark, oily seas beat against a jagged black shore. And the remnants of a reentry space vehicle crash into the rough waves.

In it sleeps Ripley, a woman who has battled the Enemy twice. It killed her whole crew the first time. The second time, it slaughtered a spaceload of death-dealing Marines. Now, on this prison planet that houses only a horde of defiant, captive men, she will have to fight the ultimate alien horror one more time.

Before it rips apart a whole world...

References

	Alien3. Alan Dean Foster, Warner Books, June 1992. Print.

The novelization includes many scenes that were cut from the final film, some of which later reappeared in the Assembly Cut. Foster wanted his adaptation to differ from the film's script, which he disliked, but Walter Hill declared he should not alter the storyline - which included wanting to preserve the life of Newt.

As seen in the director's cut and the novel but not the theatrical release, the Kiande Amedha gestates within an ox, not a dog.

Alien³ Movie Special

References

	Alien3 Movie Special #1-3. Dark Horse International, August-September 1992. Print.

Alien³ Movie Special was a 44-page "oversized" (12 x 8) format comics magazine published in the United Kingdom to coincide with the release of Alien³ in the UK. It served as a spin-off publication to Aliens UK magazine. This publication featured a serialized reprinting of the comic book adaptation of Alien³, together with articles about the film, including an Alien³ Technical Readout section. A reprint of the comic Aliens vs. Predator II was split across Alien³ Movie Special and the main Aliens magazine.

Aliens: Bug Hunt

References

	Aliens: Bug Hunt. Titan Books, April 18 2017. Print.

When the Marines set out after their deadliest prey, the kiande amedha, it's what Corporal Hicks calls a bug hunt — kill or be killed. Here are eighteen all-new stories of such "close encounters", written by many of today's most extraordinary authors. Set during the events of all four Alien films, sending the Marines to alien worlds, to derelict space settlements, and into the nests of the universe's most dangerous monsters, these adventures are guaranteed to send the blood racing — one way or another.

The book's title is taken from the line, "Is this gonna be a stand-up fight, sir, or another bug hunt?" spoken by Private Hudson (as well as the later affirmation, "It's a bug hunt," said by Corporal Hicks) in Aliens. Bug Hunt was also the name of the first DLC pack released for the video game Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Hudson: Is this going to be a standup fight, sir, or another bughunt?

Gorman: All we know is that there is still is no contact with the colony, and that a xenomorph may be involved.

Frost: Excuse me sir, a what?

Gorman: A xenomorph.

Hicks: It’s a bughunt. Aliens. 20^th Century Fox. 1986. Movie.

The Complete Aliens Omnibus: Volume 4

References

	The Complete Aliens Omnibus: Volume 4. Titan Books, June 2017. Print. Collecting Music of the Spears Berserker

Classic original fiction set in the Alien world, featuring Music of the Spears and Berserker:

The Complete Aliens Omnibus: Volume 5

References

	The Complete Aliens Omnibus: Volume 5. Titan Books, December 2017. Print. Collecting Original Sin DNA War

Classic original fiction set in the Alien world, featuring Original Sin and DNA War:.

Aliens: The Cold Forge

References

	Alien: The Cold Forge. Alex White, Titan Books, April 24, 2018, Print.

With the failure of the Hadley’s Hope, Weyland-Yutani has suffered a devastating defeat—the loss of the Kiande Amedha. Yet there’s a reason the company rose to the top, and they have a redundancy already in place. Remote station RB-323 abruptly becomes their greatest hope for weaponizing the Kiande Amedha, but there’s a spy aboard—someone who doesn’t necessarily act in the company’s best interests. If discovered, this person may have no choice but to destroy RB-323… and everyone on board. That is, if the Kiande Amedha don’t do the job first.

The Complete Aliens Omnibus: Volume 6

References

	The Complete Aliens Omnibus: Volume 6. Titan Books, June 2018. Print. Collecting Cauldron Steel Egg

The sixth book in The Complete Aliens Omnibus, an essential collection for fans of Twentieth Century Fox's iconic blockbuster action-packed science fiction film Alien, featuring Cauldron and Steel Egg.

Jonesy: Nine Lives On The Nostromo

References

	Jonesy: Nine Lives On The Nostromo. Titan Books, October 2018. Print.

In space, no one can hear you meow.

Aboard the USCSS Nostromo, Jonesy leads a simple life enjoying The Company cat food and chasing space rodents. Until one day, his cryostasis catnap is rudely interrupted. The humans have a new pet and it’s definitely not housetrained.

This full-colour, illustrated book offers a cat’s eye view of all the action from the movie Alien.

The Complete Aliens Omnibus: Volume 7

References

	The Complete Aliens Omnibus: Volume y. Titan Books, Dec 2018. Print. Collecting Criminal Enterprise No Exit

The seventh book in The Complete Aliens Omnibus, an essential collection for fans of Twentieth Century Fox's iconic blockbuster action-packed science fiction film Aliens, featuring Criminal Enterprise and No Exit.

Alien: Analects

References

	Alien: Analects. Youtube, Dec 24 2018. Web.

Scified and Alien-Covenant will be presenting the continuation of the well received Alien: Unofficial Animated Series, however this time with a new title. In collaboration with Futprnts Workshop, we will be unveiling the first episode of the Alien: Analects!

The Alien: Analects Animated Series is a non-profit fan project created by Scified.com, animator Jason Cardona (Futprnts Workshop) and the community of Alien-Covenant.com - a fan website dedicated to all things Alien and Prometheus.

Alien 40^th anniversary short films

References

Alien: 40th anniversary short films. 20th Century Fox, 2019. Movie.

The Alien 40th Anniversary Short Films are a collection of short films produced in collaboration with 20^th Century Fox and Tongal to commemorate Alien's 40th anniversary.

The competition was launched on June 27, 2018 to find the creators of the anniversary short films, with nearly $250,000 in prizes up for grabs. Applicants were encouraged to write "a fully original tale with completely new characters" that drew on the elements that made the Alien franchise so popular, and then adapt it into a five- to nine-minute short science-fiction horror film.

Each short required to include characters from the working class and at least one stage of the Xenomorph's life cycle. Applicants were specifically urged to draw inspiration from the original Alien film. The contest got more than 550 submissions, more than any other production project on Tongal at the time.

Tongal culled through the applications and came up with a selection of 18 prospective shorts, which the creators then had to flesh out and pitch to the studio. Six winning creators were chosen, and each was given a $35,000 budget to work with in order to complete their project. Each winning candidate was also required to submit a series of trailers and pictures that might be used to market their short film.

Tongal's competition resulted in the following short films:

• March 29th: Alien: Containment – Four survivors find themselves stranded aboard a small escape pod in deep space. Trying to piece together the details around the outbreak that led to their ship’s destruction, they find themselves unsure to trust whether or not one of them might be infected. Written and Directed by Chris Reading
• April 5th: Alien: Specimen – It’s the night shift in a colony greenhouse, and Julie, a botanist, does her best to contain suspicious soil samples that have triggered her sensitive lab dog. Despite her best efforts the lab unexpectedly goes into full shutdown and she is trapped inside. Little does she know, an alien specimen has escaped the mysterious cargo, and a game of cat and mouse ensues as the creature searches for a host. Directed by Kelsey Taylor
• April 12th: Alien: Night Shift – When a missing space trucker is discovered hungover and disoriented, his co-worker suggests a nightcap as a remedy. Near closing time, they are reluctantly allowed inside the colony supply depot where the trucker’s condition worsens, leaving a young supply worker alone to take matters into her own hands. Written and Directed by Aidan Brezonick
• April 19th: Alien: Ore – As a hard-working miner of a planet mining colony, Lorraine longs to make a better life for her daughter and grandchildren. When her shift uncovers the death of a fellow miner under mysterious circumstances, Lorraine is forced to choose between escape or defying management orders and facing her fears to fight for the safety of her family. Written and Directed by the Spear Sisters
• April 26th: Alien: Harvest – The surviving crew of a damaged deep-space harvester have minutes to reach the emergency evacuation shuttle. A motion sensor is their only navigation tool leading them to safety while a creature in the shadows terrorizes the crew. However, the greatest threat might have been hiding in plain sight all along. Directed by Benjamin Howdeshell
• April 26th: End of Entry Return to Top

Aliens: Echo

References

	Aliens: Echo. Mira Grant, Imprint Books, Apr 9 2019 . Print.

An original young adult novel of the Alien universe.

Olivia and her twin sister Viola have been dragged around the universe for as long as they can remember. Their parents, both xenobiologists, are always in high demand for their research into obscure alien biology.

Just settled on a new colony world, they discover an alien threat unlike anything they’ve ever seen. And suddenly the sisters’ world is ripped apart.

On the run from terrifying kiande amedha, Olivia’s knowledge of xenobiology and determination to protect her sister are her only weapons as the colony collapses into chaos. But then a shocking family secret bursts open—one that’s as horrifying to Olivia as the kiande amedha surrounding them.

The creatures infiltrate the rich wildlife on this untouched colony world—and quickly start adapting. Olivia’s going to have to adapt, too, if she’s going to survive...

Olivia Shipp was due to return as marine in Aliens – Colonial Marines – Rising Threat set in 2177, but the series was cancelled in 2019 when writer Brian Wood was fired after being credibly accused – not for the first time – of sexual misconduct.

Alien³ Audio Drama

References

	Alien3 Audio Drama May 30, 2019. Audible Studios, Audio Drama Adaptation.

Father of cyberpunk, William Gibson's original script for Alien III, written in 1987 as a sequel to Aliens, never made it to our screens, although it went on to achieve cult status among fans as the third instalment that might have been after being leaked online.

This terrifying, cinematic multicast dramatisation — directed by the multi award-winning Dirk Maggs — is the chance to experience William Gibson's untold story and its terrifying, claustrophobic and dark encounters between humans and kiande amedha as a completely immersive audio experience. It stars Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen, reprising their roles as Corporal Dwayne Hicks and Bishop respectively.

The story begins with the Sulaco on its return journey from LV-426. On board the military ship are the cryogenically frozen skeleton crew of that film's survivors: Ellen Ripley, Hicks, Newt and Bishop.

We travel aboard and hear an alarm blare. Our heroes are no longer alone...

Alien: Isolation

References

	Aliens: Isolation. Keith R.A. DeCandido, Titan Books, July 30 2019 . Print.

Alien Isolation, the 2014 survival horror by Creative Assembly and Fera Interactive, is getting its very own tie-in novel. Two-thirds of the novel will be an adaptation of the game, while the remaining third will be devoted to backstory for the Ripley family, including Amanda's relationship with her stepfather. The novel will also feature Zula Hendricks from Alien: Defiance and Aliens: Resistance as a supporting character.

The product of a troubled and violent youth, Amanda Ripley is hellbent to discover what happened to her missing mother, Ellen Ripley. She accepts an assignment with a Weyland-Yutani team being sent to retrieve the Nostromo flight recorder from space station Sevastopol, which they find out of control due to a kiande amedha that was brought there with the recorder. A conspiracy unfolds, revealing ever greater threats - including an entire kiande amedha Hive.

Over the course of the novel, Amanda’s history is revealed beginning with her childhood. Her father Alex’s battle with alcoholism caused her mother, Ellen Ripley, to sue for divorce. Ellen was forced to take off-world assignments, ultimately leading to her assignment aboard the Nostromo. Left behind, Amanda became determined to find out what happened to her mother, learning more and more about Ellen and the events that led up to her disappearance.

Along the way, Amanda develops a fast friendship with Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks (from Alien: Defiance and Aliens: Resistance).

From birth, Amanda Ripley's life is riddled with hardship. Her parents live on the edge of poverty, so her mother — Ellen Ripley — seeks off-world contracts that lead to a position aboard the commercial hauler Nostromo. Then when the deep-space vessel disappears, Amanda passes into adulthood focused on discovering one thing.
What happened to Ellen Ripley?
Amanda's quest pulls her into the underbelly of society, where few can be trusted. On Luna she meets someone who seems the exception — Private Zula Hendricks of the Colonial Marines — but their relationship is short-lived. Just as Amanda appears to hit rock bottom... a lead appears.
To follow it, she must travel to the remote Sevastopol Station. There she hopes to find the answers she needs. But the station is in ruins, and death stalks the corridors in the form of a deadly alien the likes of which she never could have imagined.

Alien: The Blueprints

References

	Alien: The Blueprints. Graham Langridge, Titan Books, Sept 10, 2019. Print.

Alien: The Blueprints is a collection of brand new blueprints of all the major vehicles, ships and technology of the Alien movie universe. Artist Graham Langridge delves deep into the concept art, set designs and photography to recreate full and accurate blueprints of the drop ship, the Sulaco, the Nostromo and many more. Covering all the movies including Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, this is a must-have for any Alien fan.

Memory: The Origins of Alien

References

	Memory: The Origins of Alien. Exhibit A Pictures. Oct 4, 2019. Documentary.

The untold origin story behind Ridley Scott's Alien - rooted in Greek and Egyptian mythologies, underground comics, the art of Francis Bacon, and the dark visions of Dan O'Bannon and H.R. Giger. A contemplation on the symbiotic collaborative process of movie-making, the power of myth, and our collective unconscious.

Alien: Prototype

References

	Alien: Prototype. Tim Waggoner. Titan Books. Oct 29, 2019. Print. This novel takes place between the novel Alien Isolation and the comic book series Aliens: Resistance

Corporate spy Tamar Prather steals a Ovomorph from Weyland-Yutani, taking it to a lab facility on Jericho 3 run by Venture, a Weyland-Yutani competitor.

Former Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks -- now allied with the underground resistance that opposes Weyland-Yutani -- infiltrates Venture's security team. When a human test subject is impregnated, the result is a kiande amedha that, unless it's stopped, will kill every human being on the planet. Zula and scientist Dan McClaren must stop the resulting kiande amedha before it can escape and kill every human being on Jericho 3.

Aliens: Phalanx

References

	Alien: Phalanx. Scott Sigler. Titan Books. February 25th, 2020. Print.

It’s Medieval carnage meets Alien as a pre-industrial society fights against extinction brought about by a massive infestation of kiande amedha.

Ataegina was an isolated colony world of medieval castles, varied cultures, and conquests, vibrant until the demons rose and spread relentless destruction. Swarms of lethal creatures with black husks, murderous claws, barbed tails and dreaded "tooth-tongues" raged through the lowlands, killing ninety percent of the planet's population. Terrified survivors fled to hidden mountain keeps where they eke out a meager existence. When a trio of young warriors discovers a new weapon, they see a chance to end this curse. To save humanity, the trio must fight their way to the tunnels of Black Smoke Mountain – the lair of the mythical Demon Mother.

Alien: Infiltrator

References

	Alien: Infiltrator. Weston Ochse, Titan Books, July 28 2020. Print.

Alien: Infiltrator is a prequel to the as-yet untitled Aliens online shooter video game being developed by Cold Iron Studios. Unlike the cancelled Rising Threat, Infiltrator focuses on a new cast.

Dr. Timothy Hoenikker, a Weyland-Yutani scientist, arrives at Pala Station and finds the researchers there courting disaster. Lured there by the promise of alien artifacts, instead he finds a warped bureaucracy and staff of misfits testing the e{ects of Kiande Amedha bio-materials on living creatures. Unbeknownst to the personnel, however, there is an infiltrator among them whose actions could spell disaster. Also on staff is Victor Rawlings, a former Marine who gathers together other veterans to prepare for the worst. As the personnel receive a delivery of alien Ovomorphs, the experiments spin out of control, and only the former Colonial Marines can stand between the humans and certain death.

Alien: Into Charybdis

References

	Alien: Into Charybdis. Alex White, Titan Books, Feb23, 2021. Print.

"Shy" Hunt and the tech team from McAllen Integrations thought they’d have an easy job — set up environmental systems for the brand new Hasanova Data Solutions colony, built on the abandoned ruins of a complex known as "Charybdis". There are just two problems: the colony belongs to the Iranian state, so diplomacy is strained at best, and the colony is located above a series of hidden caves that contain deadly secrets.

When a bizarre ship lands on a nearby island, one of the workers is attacked by a taloned creature, and trust evaporates between the Iranians and Americans. The McAllen Integrations crew are imprisoned, accused as spies, but manage to send out a distress signal... to the Colonial Marines.

Alien: Colony War

References

	Alien: Colony War. David Barnett. April 22 2022. Titan Books. Print.

Alien: Colony War appears to be a direct continuation from Alex White’s phenomenal Alien: Into Charybdis with the introduction of Shy Hunt’s sister.

We also seem set to see the return of Davis from Aliens: Defiance, Aliens: Resistance, and Aliens: Rescue, as well as the introduction of Amanda Ripley’s husband Chad Mclaren.

Political conflicts on Earth erupt into open hostilities between their colonies in space, with Xenomorphs as the ultimate weapon.

Political tensions boil over on Earth, spreading to the outer fringes of known space as the UK colony of New Albion breaks with the Three World Empire. When an oil-drilling facility on nearby LV-187 is destroyed, its French colonists slaughtered, the British are blamed. Military forces arrive from the Independent Core Systems and combat erupts.

Trapped in the middle are Cher Hunt and Chad Mclaren. Cher is trying to find out who was responsible for the death of her sister, Shy Hunt (of McAllen Integrations from Alien: Into Charybdis). At the same time Mclaren, accompanied by the synthetic known as Davis, follows in the footsteps of his late wife, Amanda Ripley, seeking to stop the weaponization of Xenomorphs. When a horde of the deadly aliens overwhelms both groups, however, their only hope may lie with Royal Marine Corps unit known as “God’s Hammer.” Publisher Summary

Alien: Inferno’s Fall

References

	Alien: Inferno’s Fall. Philippa Ballantine and Clara Carija. July 26 2022. Titan Books. Print.

Titan Books will release Alien: Inferno's Fall, a new Alien novel. The information comes from an Amazon listing with a July 26, 2022 release date. Philippa Ballantine penned the novel, which was co-written by Clara Carija.

Clara Carija, who previously headed Studio Yutani and the Yutani Podcast, may be a familiar face in the community. Philippa Ballantine is the author of the "Books of the Order," "The Chronicles of Art," and "Shifted World" novels, all set in New Zealand.

The setting for Alien: Inferno's Fall is a mining planet where a black liquid from an Engineer spacecraft converts animals below into Xenomorphs. To assist the colonists, a rescue squad lead by marine Zula Hendrix is dispatched.

Fans may be familiar with Zula Hendrix's character. She previously appears in the Alien: Isolation and Alien: Prototype novels from 2019, as well as the Aliens: Defiance, Aliens: Resistance, and Aliens: Rescue comic book series.

A gargantuan, horseshoe-shaped ship appears over the mining planet Shānmén, unleashing a black rain of death that creates Xenomorph-like monsters worse than the darkest of nightmares.

As war breaks out among the colonies, a huge ship appears over the UPP mining planet Shānmén, unleashing a black rain of death that yields hideous transformations. Rescue is too far away, and the colonists’ only hope appears in the form of the vessel Righteous Fury. It carries the Jackals—an elite mix of former Colonial Marines and Royal Marines. Led by Zula Hendrix, the Jackals seek to rescue the few survivors from the depths of the planet, but have they arrived time? Publisher Summary

Alien Film Franchise Encyclopedia

References

	Alien Film Franchise Encyclopedia. Joe Fordham, Oct 18, 2022. Print.

The definitive volume on the Alien film universe, covering the Xenobiology, terraforming, synthetics, humans, corporations, military, judiciary, culture, science, spacecraft, hardware, and weapons of Alien, Aliens, Alien3, Alien: Resurrection, Prometheus, and Alien: Covenant from an in-world perspective.

Structured in 3 traditional encyclopedic volumes – Non-Human, Human, Action in Nature - illustrated throughout with concept art, photography and illustrations, with a historical timeline and alphabetical index. From the Alien to Zeta 2 Reticuli, from the birth of Peter Weyland in 1990 to the USM Auriga’s Earthfall in 2381, this is the comprehensive and authoritative official tome on the Alien films.

Aliens: Vasquez

References

	Aliens: Vasquez. Violet Castro, Titan Books, Oct 25, 2022. Print.

A groundbreaking Latinx Aliens novel by a rising star Latina author, featuring the canonical background of the breakout Aliens fan-favorite character PFC Jenette Vasquez from the hit movie Aliens and the family she is forced to leave behind.

Even before the doomed mission to Hadley’s Hope on LV-426, Jenette Vasquez had to fight to survive. Born to an immigrant family with a long military tradition, she looked up to the stars, but life pulled her back down to Earth—first into a street gang, then prison. The Colonial Marines proved to be Vasquez’s way out—a way that forced her to give up her twin children. Raised by Jenette’s sister, those children, Leticia and Ramon, had to discover their own ways to survive. Leticia by following her mother’s path into the military, Ramon into the corporate hierarchy of Weyland-Yutani. Their paths would converge on an unnamed planet which some see as a potential utopia, while others would use it for highly secretive research. Regardless of whatever humans might have planned for it, however, Xenomorphs will turn it into a living hell.

Vasquez’s heritage and family has been explored several times within the expanded universe, with Aliens: Aftermath featuring her nephew who was in search of answers regarding his aunt’s disappearance. In the 1990s Aliens: Colonial Marines featured Vasquez’s younger sister, Carmen, as a primary character.

Alien: Enemy of My Enemy

References

	Alien: Enemy of My Enemy. Mary SanGiovanni, Titan Books, February 2023. Print.

Alien: Enemy of My Enemy is an upcoming 2023 novel to be written by Mary SanGiovanni, and will be published by Titan Books.

"While a moon hurtles toward certain destruction, taking with it a Weyland-Yutani bioweapons lab, talks on a nearby colony could lead to all-out war among the colonies. Hygeia, an outer rim colony, is doomed as the moon on which it was built hurtles toward an inevitable collision with the dead planet Hephaestus. When a distress signal arrives from a Weyland-Yutani biowarfare outpost near the colony, a desperate plan is launched to evacuate the trapped scientists and colonists. Their destination: LV-846, a key United Americas colony where high-level talks are scheduled to address the galaxy-wide hostilities between the colonies. Once there the evacuees, including a contingent of Colonial Marines, discover a plot that could plunge the colonies into all-out war. Their only hope may be an alliance with the deadliest ally imaginable."

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