We have just uploaded the 48th episode of the Alien vs. Predator Galaxy Podcast (right-click and save as to download). April’s episode sees RidgeTop, Xenomorphine and I joined by Xenopedia editor and Alien vs. Predator Galaxy community member HuDaFuk as we walk through and discuss the first draft of William Gibson’s Alien 3 script!
William Gibson was the first writer to complete a script for Alien 3. He would also write a second (and in my opinion, much better) draft that we allude to several times throughout this podcast but this episode is primarily about the very first draft.
We go into some detail about the script and breakdown a lot of the elements including the New Beasts which seem to have inspired Alien: Covenant’s Neomorphs in some fashion.
If you’re interested in reading the script yourself you can find it in our downloads section (along with many other drafts of the various other Alien/vs/Predator films). You can also listen to any of our previous episodes in the Podcast section under the News tab on the main menu. We hope you enjoy!
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http://www.vulture.com/2017/05/william-gibsons-never-filmed-alien-iii-script-a-history.html
Spoiler
I was intrigued by the idea of the proto-Alien's skull also looking like Holloway.
I don't hate that idea and I think they will eventually explain that the Black Goo is sort of doing this, as it seems it has made those Spores grown on Paradise in Covenant.
Overall I think the idea of a Cold War metaphor isn't a bad one, but I also think there were hints of McCarthyism in their with the Bishop character.
I think with ALIENS the subtext is made text, and then they were thrown to find a way to continue the ideas. When looked at this way ALIEN 3 does seem to have made some smart choices with regards to continuing the themes of Motherhood.
It just needed to be rewritten a few more times before they started rolling on it.
When I read these scripts I cant help but feel they could have combined elements of all of them into one very interesting movie.
I always assumed so myself, yes.
That's how Cameron imagined it. Though he never used the term 'drone'. The Aliens in his movie were the same 'class' as the one in the original. They just looked different.
I prefer the second draft by a lot, but there was so much more they could do in the third act when the shit hit the fan. I don't mean firefights, but just suspense sequences where the alien is actually present. Instead it's largely the survivors moving around and the alien popping in and out or taking people out offscreen. And losing the zero-g sequence was a mistake - imagine doing that with just one or two aliens. Would be creepy as hell.
I have always assumed any drone could become a queen in the absence of one available.
-Gibson expands on the typical alien life cycle a bit more, and interestingly enough, he makes the warriors from Aliens a transitional stage to the ultimate form, the one from the original film. That's pretty opposite of every other take I've seen. Also, the idea that any drone can become a queen under the right circumstances is an intriguing one.
-The UPP repairing Bishop with sub standard materials reminded me of a chapter in Red Storm Rising where a German dentist fingers a Soviet spy based on the crappy fillings in his teeth.
-Hicks, the marine famously in need of waking up, spends a chunk of this draft asleep.
-I had a hard time picturing the Hybrid alien, and how it was supposed to differentiate from the standard model. I'm also not sure how the transformation happened to begin with. The embryo just kind of randomly farts on two people, and that's it.
-Also, the "yellow liquid" that the Hybrid bleeds just made me wonder if the Tall Man was somehow involved.
How do you get these scripts?
Yup. So simple.
You wanna be checking the news for that.
Alien 4 1997=Xenomorph Homeworld
that's all I ever wanted
While the first draft is amped-up teen fantasy in a lot of ways, I think the second draft is pretty great. If it had that zero-G finale and a bit more overt action in story (not gunplay) for both Hicks and the two aliens, I'd be very happy with it overall.
It's also worth noting that while her screen time is mostly (mostly) the same, Newt is gone by around the 30-minute mark in draft 1, and lasts til like an hour in in draft 2.
That's one of the best things about it.
And there is so much cannon fodder in the first draft, with what happens to all the residents of the Station. Especially the random focus on the scared woman with the bear, who's surrounded by people, then next shot, she's suddenly vanished, with the bear lying on the ground and no one notices anything lol
I wonder if they took the 'Alien in the corn rows' idea from Harlin/Eric Red
And the Engineers episode will be soon... And I might do the Rodriguez script when The Predator comes around.
Personally I much prefer the second draft. It's a much less outrageous take on the story and it feels more in line with the actual films to me. I think I'd say the second draft is probably my favourite out of all of them. I do think it would have been great to see that zero-G combat (I go on about that all the time lol) though.
I'm looking forward to your episode on it. There's enough fodder in Alien 3 for you! lol
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I quite like doing these script episodes (admittedly I was tired towards the end of this one though). I could imagine nothing more cringe worthy that doing a roundtable reading.
Finished listening, overall it was a very thorough examination of the draft. I had forgotten all about the lemurs and the cabbages.
Today I acknowledge it's often pure fan service and very derivative of the second movie, but still an entertaining read, especially compared to the dour later A3 drafts and final film IMO. I do think Gibson's second draft is a lot better and more horror-oriented, but I also think that draft lacks a strong climax - it sort of just stops after a brief alien catfight in the docking bay, whereas the original draft has a great zero-g setpiece. If they'd added that to the second draft with just the two aliens in that version of the story it would be pretty ideal.
In any event: I still wish they'd made a version of Gibson's story.