A3 prisoners - completed list

[elsiniestro]

Hey guys, first post here. Alien/Predator nerd and completionist, always had stuff to post here but never got around to it.

I used to read the Alan Dean Foster novelisations a lot as a kid, and as such I've always been interested in completing the list of prisoners from Alien 3.

I know it has been established that there are 22 prisoners and 3 custodial staff, that we know all their basic names as per the script and novelisation, and that from the Weyland Yutani Report we have 20 of 25 full names.

However, Stephani Perry isn't immune to making mistakes, and there are more than a few in the WY Report (don't get me started on her mangled Prometheus crew listing).

Therefore, through research and deduction, I believe I have confirmed the entire list of prisoners and their actors -- and from that we can fairly reliably gauge the full names of even the stunt prisoners.

Without further ado:

AARON, Francis (aka "85")
ANDREWS, Harold
BOGGS, Edward
BUGGY, Eric
CRANE, Janni
CLEMENS, Jonathan
DILLON, Leonard
DODD, Kevin
ELLIS, Carl (aka "Frank")
GILLAS, Ted (aka "Junior")
GILLARD, Martin
GOLIC, Walter
GREGOR, Peter
JENNINGS, Christopher
JUDE, Alan
LAWRENCE, Sean
MORSE, Robert
MURPHY, Thomas
NEWMAN, Ed
POSTLETHWAITE, David
RAINS, Daniel
TROY, Yoshi
VINCENT, Marc
WALKINGSTICK, Arthur
WILLIAM, Clive

I've compiled this list after looking through various crew photos, gleaned information from various wikis and articles online, and reading multiple different drafts of the script (particularly a 1990 draft which expands on the "burn and bag" scene and confirms that the order of stunt prisoners killed is Ed, Christopher, Janni, Lawrence, Martin).

The stunt actors who play the six uncredited prisoners are most likely:

ED – Mark Anthony Newman
CHRISTOPHER – Paul Jennings
JANNI – Simon Crane
LAWRENCE – Sean McCabe
MARTIN – Nick Gillard
VINCENT – Marc Boyle

Therefore the "full names" of the prisoners are based on the usual series tradition of using actors' first or last name to complete the character name. "Lawrence" could be "Sean Lawrence" or "Lawrence McCabe", and "Martin" could be "Martin Gillard" or "Nick Martin", but the others seem pretty cut-and-dry.

Note that while the WY Report lists Vincent as "Mark Vincent", I have listed him as "Marc Vincent", as I am fairly certain that Marc Boyle played this character.

Interested in any feedback, ideas, or discussion to be had on the topic.

[SM]

I believe Martin is Mark Anthony Newman.

Drafts by Rex Pickett and Giler & Hill list him as one of Ripley's would be rapists, though the later drafts tend to lose names.  The three prisoners in the bug wash (Newman, Gillard, and Phil 'Kevin' Davis) are variously named Janni, Martin and Ed, or Janni, Arthur and Ed or just three prisoners.  Another draft of the rape scene lists Junior, Gregor, William and 'stunt prisoner'.

They couldn't even keep track of Vincent in the final film.  Xeno_Alpha 07 wrote about it here.

[elsiniestro]

Have read that article, and threads on here about it. Must (respectfully) disagree about Martin being Newman.

Newman is definitely the first prisoner killed when Frank drops the flare, and the December 18th 1990 draft explicitly says that this is Ed. I feel like some of the descriptions in other scripts may have been placeholders, but this reference is explicit.

[SM]

How can you tell which is the first guy killed in the explosion?  Do you mean the two guys in the vent?  I can only see one of the faces and he looks white (which Newman isn't). (I only have the Extended Cut handy).  The other guys that follow - flying and running around on fire don't appear recognisable.

[elsiniestro]

Hrmm -- I wasn't aware that the assembly cut differed here, but my version clearly has a few shots of Mark Anthony Newman turning to the camera, seeing the flare hit the ground, saying something like "buh..." and then getting immediately killed by the fire. There's a white prisoner over his shoulder at the time. I'll rewatch it when I get home tonight, but I'm pretty confident.

[SM]

That's Arthur (Deobia Oparei).  There's four black guys in Alien 3 - Dutton, Newman, Oparei, Herbert (Boggs) and they don't really look that alike.  Arthur is generally seen wearing a hat.

In the theatrical cut Arthur is seen walking through the aftermath of the fire, then they're looking at his dead body in the next shot.  In the Extended cut, Golic kills him when he's on duty guarding the waste dump.  Another interesting irony is that Arthur tells Troy that at least they're not on paintbrush detail when they're sorting through batteries - only for him to end up working paintbrush detail.

[elsiniestro]

Again, I respectfully disagree. I am certain that it is Mark Anthony Newman, not Oparei.

In the Assembly Cut, as you say, Arthur is killed by Golic. Newman is killed in the burn and bag sequence in both cuts. I'm absolutely sure the shot I'm describing is Newman (and his reaction shot is specifically listed as Ed in the script I mentioned). It would make no sense for Oparei to be killed in the explosion in the assembly cut -- it would create a plot goof similar to the mercenaries in Prometheus.

As I said, I'll watch it again tonight. But I am very confident that Arthur was never scripted to die in the burn and bag scene until Golic's subplot was cut after test screenings.

[SM]

It's Arthur.  Even if you can't tell him and Newman apart, Arthur wears a gold necklace on a string, which can be seen on the 'buh' shot.

The script isn't terribly reliable with this sort of thing.

[TheBATMAN]

What happened to Eric the cook? I seem to remember in both versions of the film he just disappears. We see Ripley calm him down when he panics by the piston controls, then he vanishes.

[SM]

Ripley stumbles across body just after the piston starts.  You can see his face if you freezeframe.  In the Workprint she verbally identifies him.

[TheBATMAN]

Ah cheers.

[elsiniestro]

Yes, Eric and William's bodies are both found together. In the workprint Ripley apparently says "Eric... William." The novel clarifies that she finds their bodies "all mixed up".

As for Ed/Arthur, I will check again and get back to this thread.

Originally, Dillon was meant to die sooner (in the makeshift hive, where they would find Andrews' body). For the rest of the script, his role and dialogue was split between Aaron and Martin.

Gregor, on the other hand, died earlier in the early scripts -- he was the prisoner who dies in Dillon's arms after the fire. When Dillon's fate was amended, that prisoner was changed to Martin, and Gregor was made to survive until the bait and chase.

Nick Gillard broke a world record for the length of time he spent on fire for the "coated in fire" stunt. Due to this I'm fairly confident that he played Martin, not Mark Newman.

Stunt coordinator Marc Boyle played Vincent, from what I can gather (Stephani Perry seemed to incorrectly think Vincent was played by Mark Newman, hence naming him "Mark Vincent", but the corpse seen being mauled by the alien was clearly white).

[SM]

I suspect William is the body hanging out of a vent holding the flare that Ripley takes.  Though it could also be Troy.

[Local Trouble]

What about Judith?

[Rankles75]

Details in a dream are always sketchy, hence the confusion...