Peter Briggs’ Alien vs. Predator is a topic that I’ve always enjoyed and a script I’ve always enjoyed reading. I have just uploaded two new articles about the subject and the 30th episode of the AvPGalaxy Podcast where RidgeTop, Xenomorphine and I discuss the could-have-been Alien vs. Predator film.
Our first article is titled The Hunt Begins: The Early Days of Peter Briggs’ Alien vs. Predator and is a look at the first days of development for the Alien vs. Predator film:
“Briggs’ then agent Steve Kennis coincidently had a meeting with Larry Gordon from Fox and managed to sell the script that very same day. According to one interview with Peter Briggs, Larry Gordon would eventually tell Briggs that the concept of an Alien vs. Predator had only been discussed days before the meeting with Kennis where Fox had asked Gordan to develop the project. It was very much a case of being in the right place at the right time.
Briggs’ first draft was handed to Joe Roth, the then chairman of 20th Century Fox who optioned a second draft which significantly “tidied up” the initial spec script. There are reports that tend to indicate that as many as 4 drafts were produced by Briggs but in AvPGalaxy’s own conversations with Peter Briggs he confirmed he only completed 2 drafts.”
Peter Briggs’ Alien vs. Predator started life in 1991.
Our second article on Peter Briggs’ Alien vs. Predator is a breakdown of the script itself and provides a detailed look at the events of the script itself: “The Hunt: Alien vs. Predator opens with a group of five Predators on a hunt on a barren, acrid planet which is described as “Death Valley on a grand scale”. The Predators land on the planet and make their way to a cave entrance hidden within a canyon. Inside they find the cave walls covered in Alien resin and used carcasses of facehuggers.
Readying themselves, the Predators proceed further into the cave system and eventually encounter the Aliens whom the first victory goes to. An Alien emerges from the floor behind one of the Predators and stabs the Predator through its throat with its tail and drags him below the cave floor.”
I’d like to thank Peter Briggs for taking the time to chat with us and to fact check The Hunt Begins: The Early Days of Peter Briggs’ Alien vs. Predator article. Last, but by no means least, we have the 30th episode of the AvPGalaxy Podcast.
We mention in the episode that this episode was intended to be the last of the year but not long after Alien: Covenant was announced and we recorded another episode. This should hopefully be released sometime next week.
So what did you think of Peter Briggs’ Alien vs. Predator script? Have any comments on our newest episode or articles? Let us know in the comments below.
I'm not a massive fan of doing the break-downs. I just find them a little dull to write. It quickly becomes very he said, she said. They're important to have though - not everyone wants to read a script.
That I didn't notice! Cheers!
Yeah, I really enjoyed reading through and researching the Alien 3 scripts when I did the pages for them on Xenopedia. Although Eric Red's was hard going...
Pft. You got credit. By common law that's all fair game, brother.
In all seriousness though, I had a blast putting that one together.
Fixed!
You helped out with this one yourself. I don't know if you noticed the picture?
Some of those quotes may have been appropriated for Xenopedia
I think it's really a good example of everything falling into place at the right time - obviously that didn't all hold together until the end but it all fell into place quickly early on.
Those were real treats for me. I'd had memories of that new opening sequences for the second draft for ages but I couldn't remember where I'd seen them confirmed. Had to go through all my old conversations to find the ones with Briggs.
To be fair, if you're read the script then the Early Days article will be of more interest. The breakdown is there for folk who haven't read the script.
Good articles anyway, I've only skimmed them so far but I'll have a proper read this afternoon. When I'm not busy watching space stuff
Exactly why I'd love to see that!
While I liked the AvP films, this one feels like it sticks more true to the roots.
Wow, now that I heard it in the podcast, I'd love to see zero gravity combat!
You know how liquid turns into a sphere in zero g, imagine the Xenomorph acid spheres floating around melting whatever they touch. It makes wounding them so much more dangerous as you have less control in zero g unless you grab onto something and push yourself out of the way.
First off lets keep the insults to a zero please.
And secondly, it really doesn't have to be bad. There's a lot of potential in the concept. It's just about balance.
That's something we discuss in the podcast actually. I'd love to see an animated AvP - whether CG or cartoon. I think it'd present less of a risk to the studio and mean they could experiment more.
You can have it both ways; the beauty of Alien is that you can have stuff like Isolation and the AVP computer games in the same universe and it all works. Aliens work equally well as either lone, invincible warriors or swarming plague monsters.
I am all for multiverses, and I would love it if it was confirmed but... we were kinda cock-teased into thinking there was one but.. weeeell... >_<;
For me, as a fan who grew up with the old stuff and the two movies, it's something I care about. Lately I feel like as an AVP fan, I'm no longer really part of the demographic and I want to keep on supporting one of my passions but at the same time, I feel like... that's just not happening with the current direction they are going. But if they did do a hypothetical AVP3, and keep it in the same universe-- even with little references to the previous films.. I'd be happy. I just want to be happy again.
I mean this is what we call a loose continuity, and some movie franchises have it more than others. Jurassic World, while having tighter knit roots to the previous movies, is a case of that in a way. Also, TMNT 2007, while touted as the fourth movie... generally is kind of it's own movie that can either be taken or left with the previous TMNT movies (although there are references to Secret of the Ooze and TMNT III), it's kind of a stand alone.
So... if AVP3 does that like Jurassic World or TMNT 2007, fine. I'd be down with that.
As long as it's set in the same universe as the previous two movies with little to no reference, without Prometheus or PREDATORS influence, I'd be for it.
That's pretty much the kind of approach I would love to see them take too.
This was a good listen, very nostalgic for me and it reminds me of my childhood and teenage years when I was really getting into Alien-Predator. Those were some good times, good times indeed and... perhaps those were just better times in general for me, not just as a fan for the films.