I think it’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Audible’s Alien audio dramas and I’ve been waiting (im)patiently for news of this years audio drama for the last month. Dirk Maggs and Audible have already finished adapting Titan’s first trilogy so were they moving onto the Rage War? Or perhaps the incredibly well-received The Cold Forge by Alex White?
Nope! Dirk Maggs and Audible are releasing an adaptation of William Gibson’s Alien 3, starring Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen themselves!
Word is out, then … https://t.co/62f2Z3M9jN
— Dirk Maggs (@DirkMaggs) April 21, 2019
Unfortunately the product page being linked to seems to have been taken down, so further details are currently unknown. Is it the first draft? The second draft? Who are the rest of the cast? We’re going to have to wait until Alien Day for the official announcement.
William Gibson’s Alien 3 has been getting some extra love lately. Dark Horse Comics recently wrapped up a 5 issue adaptation of the script by Johnnie Christmas and Tamra Bonvillain. The collected edition is due for release in July. We recently interviewed Johnnie about his work on the series for the podcast so check back in a few weeks for that!
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Update 21/04/2019 – The product page is available to view on the American Audible website. There’s no release date just yet but this includes the synopsis and the cast listing:
Audible is bringing William Gibson’s lost Alien III script to life in audio for the first time, to mark the 40th Anniversary of the birth of the Alien Franchise.
Alongside a full cast Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen reprise their iconic roles as Corporal Hicks and Bishop from the 1986 film Aliens.
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 aliens, as a completely immersive audio experience.
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: Ripley, Hicks, Newt and Bishop.
We travel aboard and hear an alarm blare. Our heroes are no longer alone….
Staring: Tom Alexander , Barbara Barnes, Michael Biehn, Cliff Chapman, Samantha Coughlan, Ben Cura, Dar Dash, Harry Ditson, Mairead Doherty, Lance Henriksen, Graham Hoadly, Lorelei King, Laurel Lefkow, Martin McDougall, Sarah Pitard, Michael Roberts, David Seddon, Andrew James Spooner, Siri Steinmo, Dai Tabuchi, Keith Wickham, Rebecca Yeo
Update #2 21/04/2019 – William Gibson’s Alien 3 audio drama will be releasing on the 30th of May!
And my review: https://www.avpgalaxy.net/literature/reviews/william-gibsons-alien-3-audio-drama/
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The only O.G. Alien in the story is the one on the Sulaco, that comes out of Kurtz, then later gets on Anchorpoint and has the showdown with the "newbreed" Alien at the end.
Of course, maybe they changed all that in the drama.
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Fox might have thought it was a risky pitch back in the day?
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The whole point of the 'infection' was because it was genetically modified by scientists at anchorpoint.
If you didn't like it, it, won't change that, but it at least there's a reason behind it, and it isn't trying to replace the original.
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It completely changes the whole Alien concept.. Had it just had normal Aliens abducting people and transforming them via facehuggers it would have been better I thought. Since there was no Alien queen, eggmorphing could have been used brilliantly here.
But I guess there's no action involved with that so bring out the hybrid crap.
Well this gets a nice 7.5/10 but much higher if again
..no hybrids. Hybrids are the lazy way out.
Really liking the voice overs, all voices actually, and that subtle background sound/music. Really well done audible. 1/3 done only, trying not to finish it so fast.
Great to hear Mike and Lance again too.
I reckon it's more an (un)Happy Coinky-Dink...
...besides, the REAL mutation wasn't on Rodina...
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but a pleasant surprise it is that this is the first time I've actually encountered the sentiment.
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Oh, but they do...
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Eggs grow too. Egg lives matter.
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'Tis a curiosity and nothing more.
It's clearly based upon an outdated idea and the original creator's involvement is sorely lacking.
The audiobook's superior to the comic for Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen alone though.
PS>
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I'm pretty keen to hear Laurel Lefkow take on Ripley in an adaptation of Ward/Fasano's script now.
So i finished it yesterday and i love it. Biehn did a much better job hear than he did with colonial marines.
Do you know. What we need now is a novelisation of this screenplay. All tidied up and expanded to 500 page book.
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There is immense power emanating from that hair.
There are big chunks in the script and the audio drama which are glossed over in the comic. There are also sections of the audio drama which completely miss out parts of the script which are shown in the comic.
In general I find the audio drama flows better, and the comic feels condensed and a bit choppy.
Well, that's somewhat depressing.
The comic was actually fairly accurate to the script. Dirk Maggs says the drama's been expanded.
The two combined do work really well together, and it's interesting to see what was cut from each version which was kept in the other.
Not that far in yet. Im at 50 mins remaining.
Im gonna have a guess at either the Decon or the Neomorph ?
Could probably do without the Aliens recap at the beginning, but it's not bad. Henriksen's VO can be distracting at times, though, especially at the beginning. A lot of his sibilant sounds come out as whistles at the beginning, but if they had limited time to finish his parts, I imagine that's the reason why, and it would have been improved if they'd been able to.
I shall definitely be giving it another listen in conjunction with reading the comic, to get a better audiovisual experience, as I feel it's a lot clearer what's going on in this than in the comic.
Yeah. It fleshes things out nicely. I like his comments about the means to which he got 'infected'
I'm enjoying the frame device of
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Did you notice the error very early on ? Regarding rank.
Kinda reassuring to see other fellow creatives working to super tight deadlines ... even on high profile projects.
That's amazing that he can get it out tomorrow if he only finished yesterday.
Im so excited for this.
Thanks for the insight Hicks
That's a nice surprise.
Just got the email that it's now available to download.
Just did it. It's a lot shorter than the other Audio Dramas. It's 2hrs 16mins
Being quiet and collected won't work well in an audio drama.
It kind of hinges on dialogue and sound.