The Hunt: Alien vs. Predator – Peter Briggs’ Script

Posted by Corporal Hicks on December 11, 2015 (Updated: 22-Aug-2023)

The Hunt: Alien vs. Predator is the first script written for Alien vs. Predator on the big screen.

The road to an Alien vs. Predator film is a winding, twisting one filled with road bumps and disappointment at the end that started long ago, on the 4th of September 1991 when Peter Briggs finished those last keystrokes on a script that was meant as nothing more than a writing sample but thanks to being in the right place at the right time, it started 20th Century Fox developing Alien vs. Predator.

Ultimately what was actually released is generally regarded as a disappointment, and you can find out more about the early history of the Alien vs. Predator film in our other article, The Hunt Begins: The Early Days of Peter Briggs’ Alien vs. Predator, but this article will be taking a closer look at that first draft (of two but unfortunately the second never materialized online) by Peter Briggs and seeing what could have been had The Hunt: Alien vs. Predator been filmed.

Peter Briggs wrote The Hunt: Alien vs. Predator over a 6 week period in the summer of 1991. The Hunt: Alien vs. Predator - Peter Briggs' Script

Peter Briggs wrote The Hunt: Alien vs. Predator over a 6 week period in the summer of 1991.

The Hunt: Alien vs. Predator

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.

Six Alien Warriors attack the remaining four Predators. One Predator finds himself pinned by an Alien and uses his disk weapon to cut the Alien’s face in half, covering him in acid. At the end of it though, the Predators stand victorious having suffered 2 casualties.

Whilst his surviving comrades collect their trophies, Broken Tusk approaches the acid wounded Predator whom offers Broken Tusk a knife. Broken Tusk ends the life of the ailing Predator and signals their shuttle which appears at the entrance to the cave system. Prior to leaving, Broken Tusk activates the self-destruction device of the dead Predator and leaves aboard the shuttle.

Broken Tusk and the remaining Predators return to the waiting Mothership in orbit, leaving the world behind them with a fresh crater on its unremarkable surface. Broken Tusk makes his way through the ship to the viewing gallery which contains a captive Alien Queen who is breeding eggs to be used by the Predators to seed hunts on other planets. As she lays them, the eggs are scanned. One of the eggs is identified to contain a Queen facehugger and is swiftly disposed of.

Whilst later inspecting his collection of weaponry and trophies, Broken Tusk comes to a decision and heads back to the unmanned viewing gallery where he interrupts the egg scanning process and allows one of the Queen bearing eggs to be loaded onto one of the seeding pods.

The script then moves to Ryushi, a green planet awash with nebulous clouds. In orbit of the planet is a massive artificial construction that is comprised of hundreds of communications dishes. The planet itself is covered in swamp and trees and amongst that greenery we find the Yutani-Templin Communications Relay Station.

Station commander Hiroko Noguchi is interrupted from her training by two monitoring technicians, Cassie Dollander and Rob Parsons, who have detected two incoming artificial objects. After determining that the course of the two objects is Ryushi and becoming concerned that the objects may be tactical nuclear missiles, Hiroko orders the technicians to alert the nearest RimCorp (Colonial Marines) Base.

In the swamps of Ryushi, a private hunting party led by Ackland, is hunting the native lemur-like creatures that populate the swamps. We encounter their camp-site where the other hunters York, Beauvis and Minh are getting ready. Off handedly one wishes there was something on Ryushi “with a bit of fight in it“.

Cassie and Parsons have been continuing to monitor the trajectory of the objects. They determine the objects course will bring them towards the orbital communications platform. As the technicians attempt to alter the orbit of the platform and send out a repeated distress signal, Hiroko remarks that perhaps the theory about the objects being smart missiles was correct. Kamen, head mechanic, disagrees, stating that the platforms destruction would only punch a temporary hole in the network.

Despite attempting to manuever the communications platform away from the incoming objects, they alter their course and destroy the relay. With the relay destroyed the colony loses the downlink and is now blind to the galaxy.

One of the objects is destroyed in the collision but the second lands on the surface of Ryushi where it is seen crashing by the hunters in the swamp. Suspecting it to be a meteor Ackland and York investigate. Near the crash site they come across a comatose rhino and an empty Alien egg nearby. They become spooked by the metallic fragments in the impact crater and the trail leading away from the crater. They follow it and found a second egg, unhatched. Whilst investigating Ackland is attacked by the facehugger.

York tries to help and in his panic, Ackland injures him with his rifle. Ultimately the facehugger is able to grip firmly onto Ackland’s face leaving York to drag his unconscious form back to camp. On his way back to the camp, York encounters a lemur who has been attacked by a facehugger. This is observed by Predators who recently arrived on a shuttle, unseen to the people of Ryushi. Having detected the camp’s radio signals, the Predators move off into the swamps to investigate.

At the camp Beauvis is awakened by York and Ackland’s return. She is horrified by the facehugger attached to Ackland’s face. Whilst York and Beauvis argue about attempting to remove the facehugger, Minh is distracted by the camp’s motion sensor. Using his smart-howitzer, Minh kills a cloaked Predator. He is instantly killed by a plasma caster shot. Beauvis is then killed by a Predator spear and York barely escapes on a hover bike, killing a Predator on his way. The remaining Predators leave the camp site, leaving the facehugged Ackland to be retrieved.

Having been unable to contact to contact Ackland and the hunting party because of the destroyed relay, Hiroko and Kamen head out at sunrise the next morning and they arrive to find the camp destroyed and void of all life except the motionless (and now facehugger-less) Ackland. As they investigate, Hiroko finds the skinned bodies of Beauvis and Minh. They take Ackland, the lifeless facehugger they find at the camp and the bodies of of Beauvis and Minh back with them. Ackland is taken to the Infirmary.

One of the Predators, cloaked, rode along with Hiroko and Kamen back to the colony, hanging from the back of the chopper. He alerts the other Predators still in the swamps hunting Aliens of the colony’s location.

With  York missing and the other hunters dead, Hiroko and Kamen suspect him of murder. As they discuss what to do in the Command Center, Parsons is alerted that Ackland has woken. Hiroko and Kamen question him about what happened at the camp but the last thing Ackland can remember is the Predator pod crashing to the surface of Ryushi. Outside the colony York is seen crashing his hoverbike, still wounded from his encounter with the Predators and a Predator spear embedded in his hoverbike.

In the Infirmary, Ackland gives birth to a chestburster, a Queen chestburster. The doctor, Revna, seals off the Infirmary, preventing its escape. She grabs a knife and attempts to kill the chestburster. Hiroko arrives at the sealed Infirmary to find York unconscious outside and whilst colonists attempts to open the door. On the other side they can hear Revna struggling, and loosing, with the chestburster. They managed to open the pressure door slightly and the Queen chestburster escapes into the sewage system. They find the doctor dead, killed by the acid blood.

Hiroko organizes teams to track and kill the chestburster, promising a bonus to whoever gets the killing blow. She and Kamen talk to York who tells them about the Predators. For 3 days the colonists try to track down the chestburster but there is no sign of Alien activity (or Predator, who are just now approaching the station through the swamps).

Whilst searching the colonists notice the rhinos behaving in an agitated fashion. When they investigate they find a hole torn in the high-tensile mesh fence that surrounds the rhino pen and a trail of gore leading off the edge of the station and into the swamp below.

Urioste and Diller, two colonists, are working on clearing the clog in the sewage system where Urioste is taken by an Alien. Diller manages to kill the one coming for him with his pulse rifle and manages to escape and meet up with the others but he leads the Alien back with him. Diller is killed by the Alien which punctures his chest and throat with its tail.

In the midst of the chaos a cloaked Predator (who is revealed to be Broken Tusk) jumps down and impales the Alien with its spear. Enraged, the Alien uses its tail to stab the Predator, knocking out its cloaking device. Broken Tusk’s mask is knocked off whilst fighting with the Alien but he manages to use his smart disk to slice the front of the Alien’s skull off. After throwing the Alien’s body into the swamp below, Broken Tusk leaps to the roof and disappears.

More Aliens begin to appear from the sewage system but Kamen manages to seal the bulkhead. The reprieve doesn’t last long as the Aliens begin to smash their way through various other entries. The assembled colonists  attempt to hold the Aliens (many of them looking different due to the variety of host creatures on Ryushi) off with their weapons. Kamen and Hiroko are cut off from several other colonists, De Vries, Guttierez and Thomas, who manage to get into a crawler and attempt to escape.

The crawler is attacked by an Alien. They manage to kill it but the acid blood damages the crawler and the three are forced to abandon it and are now trapped outside. They attempt to hold off the Aliens but are quickly running out of ammunition. In an act of desperation, De Vries targets a fuel container and causes a massive explosion, to try and kill the advancing Aliens. It doesn’t work.  On the verge of their deaths, a Predator takes down the Aliens with its long ranged weaponry, giving De Vries, Guttierez and Thomas time to escape into the auto-shop, a fire now raging outside.

Hiroko and Kamen become separated and are being pursued by Aliens. Hiroko is chased into her office by an Alien which smashes it way through a window. Hiroko is able to distract it briefly with a holographic simulation and manages to grab the Predator spear that York brought back with him. She uses the spear to kill the Alien, slicing into the Alien’s skull. She manages to find Kamen again and together they head for the Command Center.  Kamen is caught by an Alien who attempts to drag him under the floor. Using an axe, Hiroko swings it into the Alien’s head, causing acid-blood to spray onto Kamen’s leg.

Injured, the Alien retreats as Hiroko attempts to get Kamen to safety in the Command Center along with Cassie and York. The acid from the Alien that Hiroko injured has caused a fire and the station’s fire suppression system attempts to put it out, filling the corridor with foam. Kamen is dragged away by an unseen Alien that emerges from the foam, leaving Hiroko to barely make it into the Command Center as the pressure doors slam shut.

The Predators are drawn to the rhino pen where the Aliens are slaughtering the native creatures. The Predators start to get overwhelmed by the Aliens. Some are taken by the Aliens, other are being killed. A Predator is taken down, swarmed by numerous Aliens. It attempts to activate its self-destruct but an Alien destroys its wrist-computer and kills the Predator in the process.

Only 2 of them left, Broken Tusk and another Predator are able to retreat to the rooftop. Fighting back to back, they attempt to hold the Aliens back with their shoulder cannons. Eventually the Aliens are upon the Predators and it’s back to close quarters combat. During the fighting, the main power to the station is accidentally taken out leaving them with only 36 hours of back-up power.

The remaining colonists device a plan to move the admin module onto a massive vehicle known as Big Bertha and move away from the colony in an attempt to survive until the Colonial Marines arrive. Unfortunately the crane that would move the module can’t be operated remotely so Hiroko volunteers to go out there herself and operate the crane.

In order to avoid encountering any further Aliens or Predators, Hiroko crawls through the sewage system in an airsuit. Whilst navigating the sewage system, in the Central Reservoir she finds the Alien hive. She finds the bodies of humans, rhinos, lemurs and other animals stuck to the walls as well as a strange large sack.

Whilst trying to open a grille so that she can move on through the sewage system, Hiroko is attacked by a facehugger. It is unable to get purchase on her helmet due to the sewage slime and Hiroko is able to kill it with her rivet gun before moving on. She barely makes it out the system and back to the surface after being attacked by an Alien, acid damage causing her to abandon her airsuit.

The Aliens continue to pursue Hiroko as she finds a nearby hoverbike and drives it towards the crane. Hiroko is able to climb into the cab and initiate the automated procedure whilst another colonist blows the explosives bolts that keep the Command Center module attached to the rest of the colony.

The crane successfully attaches to the Command Center and starts to move the module towards Big Bertha as the other survivors not in the module arrive to hold back the Aliens attacking the massive vehicle. Once the Command Center is safely deposited onto Big Bertha they start driving away from the colony, into the thick of the surrounding swamp and forest.

Hiroko is cut off from Big Bertha and the others when her hoverbike is attacked and destroyed by the Aliens. She orders the others to leave her and heads off towards the landing pad to take a heli-jet with the Aliens in pursuit. Surrounded by Aliens, Hiroko eventually runs out of ammo and ideas when Broken Tusk, now the only remaining Predator, arrives. Having been watching the events unfold from above, Broken Tusk jumps down and kills the Aliens that had been attacking Hiroko. He offers Hiroko a spear and she accepts.

The damage caused by the Alien and Predator attacks and the human defenders is starting to take its toll on the colony. Fuel pumps have exploded and fires are ravaging the place. Hiroko begins to move off but Broken Tusk jumps into the swamp, distracted by something else. Hiroko, now alone, decides to follow the unlikely Predator ally instead.

She follows him back into the sewage system, to the hive in the Central Reservoir. Exploring further into the hive they come across a sleeping Queen but that’s not what Broken Tusk is looking for: he is looking for his fellow Predators.

They find a Predator cocooned to the wall, his chest burst open. Broken Tusk activates the self destruct device of the dead Predator, his own broken earlier in combat. Hiroko also comes across Kamen, cocooned to the wall. He begs to be killed but Hiroko is unable to grant his last wish. Instead the duty falls to Broken Tusk and they make a move to escape.

As they attempt to leave the Reservoir, the sac Hiroko saw earlier bursts and an immature Queen Alien emerges and attacks them, destroying Broken Tusk’s shoulder cannon. The ongoing fires that ravage the colony cause an explosion that reaches the hive, burning the adult Queen. In the confusion, Hiroko and Broken Tusk are able to injury the immature Queen and escape.

Broken Tusk and Hiroko make it to the heli-jet pad just as the immature Queen and other Aliens start to show up, chasing them. Hiroko makes it into a waiting heli-jet but Broken Tusk’s way is blocked by the Aliens. Instead he heads for the Navigation Tower on the pad, climbing it to the top, the Aliens pursuing him.

Hiroko maneuvers the heli-jet next to the tower and Broken Tusk leaps into it as a nearby fuel tank explodes, knocking the heli-jet into the tower. The Queen uses the opportunity to grab onto the jet, the extra weight causing the heli-jet to loose height. Broken Tusk uses a pulse rifle from the back of the heli-jet to shoot the Queen in the head, causing her to loose her grip and fall, allowing Hiroko the opportunity to accelerate the heli-jet away from the colony as the cocooned Predator’s self-destruct device activates.

The explosion damages the heli-jet, causing it to crash into the swamp. Broken Tusk is impaled by debris and Hiroko helps him out the cabin. As she gets the injured Predator out, they are attacked by an Alien who stowed away on the heli-jet. The Alien uses its inner-jaw to puncture Broken Tusk’s neck.  Using Broken Tusk’s disk weapon, she is able to hold off the Alien long enough for the dying Broken Tusk to finish it off with the pulse rifle.

As the sun begins to rise, the Colonial Marines arrive, calling the colony on the radio. Before she has chance to respond, a Predator shuttle decloaks in front of her. Predators exit the craft and retrieve the body of Broken Tusk. The leader of the Predators offers Hiroko a telescoping spear. She takes it, accepting their offer to join them. She boards the shuttle without looking back.

Characters

Broken Tusk – When we are first introduced to Broken Tusk he is described as having “a curious speckled pattern [that] runs across his forehead marking him [as] different to the others; in addition, one of the fangs of his mandibles has been sheared away.” When hunting on Ryushi he is described as wearing “distinctive armor.

Broken Tusk is the leader of the initial group of Predators hunting on the barren world and on Ryushi. Evidently bored with the usual hunts, Broken Tusk is responsible for letting a Queen bearing egg onto one of the seeder ships and allowing the situation on Ryushi to become unstable as a result. Broken Tusk is eventually killed after succumbing to injuries sustained when the heli-jet he and Hiroko use to escape the colony crashes and he is then attacked by an Alien, his neck punctured by the Aliens inner-jaw.

He is demonstrated to be a capable warrior, single handedly taking on multiple Aliens by himself. He is shown to be intelligent when he attempts to make repairs to his technology but the damage is irreparable.  He also utilizes human weaponry when he has no choice.

Hiroko Noguchi – Hiroko is introducing sparring with holographic ninja. She is physically capable and quite proficient with firearms. Like her comic counterpart, the perception of the colony work force is that Hiroko is cold, uptight and tetchy. She tends to keep herself separate from her colleagues. Despite this she forms a bond with Kamen, the head mechanic.

Hiroko is claustrophobic – so much so she transferred from orbiting to planetary installations. Despite this claustrophobia, Hiroko volunteers to navigate the cramped sewage system in the dark so that she can get to the crane to lift the admin module to safety on Big Bertha. Hiroko never felt she fit in anywhere, commenting that she never found anywhere she really felt at home.

The character of Noguchi in Peter Briggs’ script is often described as an amalgamation of Hiroki Shimura and Machiko Noguchi from the original comic series. This seems quite evident in the name but when talking about the name change, Peter Briggs said he changed the name as that was a more popular Japanese girl’s name at the time.

Don Kamen – Kamen is described as a lean man in his forties who often wears a cowboy hat. His role on Ryushi is that of head mechanic. Despite not really knowing her, Hiroko and Kamen get on very well. He is very personable and easy going. Kamen is brave and everyone seems to like him. During the chaos, Kamen is taken by an Alien.

Hiroko and Broken Tusk eventually find him in the hive, having being infected by a facehugger. Kamen begs Hiroko to kill him but she is unable to pull the trigger. Kamen is eventually granted a mercy killing by Broken Tusk.

Ackland and York – Along with some fellow hunters, they came to Ryushi to hunt.  They are described as “good ‘ol boys.” Ackland is a physically large. He is the first to be attacked and infected by a facehugger whilst investigating the site of the Predator pods crash. His is killed in the Infirmary when the Queen chestburster emerges. York is shot in the leg by a panicking Ackland and is forced to drag the man back to camp.

Doc Revna – Revna is an Indian woman in her late thirties. She is the chief medication officer on Ryushi and is apparently killed by the Queen Chestburster she seals in the Infirmary. She attacks it and is killed by the acid blood.

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