Empire Classics Presents Alien: The Complete History

[Ingwar]

Ridley Scott birthed it. James Cameron evolved it. David Fincher, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and more mutated it. And nearly 40 years since the 1979 original, the Xenomorph remains one of the big screen's greatest movie movies. From Alien to Covenant, the sci-fi horror saga has had a fascinating journey through four decades of cinema – and telling that full story is the new issue of Empire Classics, Alien: The Complete History.

The collectors' edition magazine charts the gestation of Scott's horror classic and the genesis of its most shocking moment, as well as the making of James Cameron's tooled-up sequel and a look at why it's the perfect follow-up. Then it's onto the troubled production of Alien 3, with original set reports and a journey into Vincent Ward's left-field vision to set the third film on a wooden planet populated by monks. Completing the original cycle, there's the making of Alien: Resurrection as well as interviews with Jeunet and Sigourney Weaver herself.

But the story of Alien didn't end in 1997 – the series continued in the '00s with the controversial Alien vs. Predator entries, before Ridley Scott returned to repopulate the universe he originally spawned with Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Inside the mag, just waiting to burst out, you'll find set reports, interviews, reviews, and much, much more from all of those movies.

Alien: The Complete History is jam-packed with gooey, Giger-y goodness – and you can find it on shelves now, or pick up a copy online here with free p&p. This is Empire Classics, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/empire-classics-presents-alien-complete-history/

[Huggs]

"Ridley Scott birthed it. James Cameron evolved it. David Fincher perfected it."

There, I fixed it. 

[426Buddy]

Lol thats a good one Huggs

[BonesawT101]

Defo picking this up after work! 

[Corporal Hicks]

I've picked this one up but haven't had the chance to read through it yet. From talking to HuDa, though, it sounds like they included that old Alien$ story. Sigh.

[426Buddy]

Guess they didnt do their homework.

They should have visited Strange Shapes first.

[Whiskeybrewer]

Ill wait to hear back about whats in there before really getting it. Or reading it in the shop lol

Yes im one of those

[Corporal Hicks]

Looks like it's a compilation of old material and some new stuff anyway. Might be an older article.

[Keyes]

Yeah I picked this up a week or two ago, didn't even hear that it was coming out until I saw it on the shelf!

It's mostly a compilation of previously released Empire articles, set visits and interviews for all the Alien/AVP films, though with a few new pieces.

I'm half way through, and it's been nice catching up with set visit write ups for films I missed out on first time.

[Voodoo Magic]

Article reprints?  Hmm. I may still check it out.

[iain]

Is it available in the UK?

[Keyes]

Is it available in the UK?

Yes, I picked mine up at WH Smiths.

[HuDaFuK]

I've got through to the middle of the Alien 3 section so far. Mostly reprints of archive articles from previous issues of EMPIRE, but as I've never read any of those, that doesn't really bother me. Nice to have it all in one place.

Most interesting thing so far has been the on-set report from the third film. Even knowing what a clusterf*ck that production was, it's quite eye-opening to hear the journalist say even the people involved in his visit were fully aware of what a shitshow it was.

The "Alien$" thing is in an archive piece.

[Nukiemorph]

Is this exclusive to the UK?  I don't see any American sellers.

[Corporal Hicks]

Does Empire just publish in the UK?