Alien III by William Gibson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars Diverting, but Dated (and Ripley Is a Non-Factor) The Audible original drama Alien III (2019) is Dirk Magg’s adaptation and direction of William Gibson's 1987 sequel to the second Alien movie, Aliens (1986). In addition to being about as long as a movie (2+ hours), the Audible drama features a full cast of voice actors, including Michael Biehn as Hicks and Lance Henriksen as Bishop from the 1986 movie and Laurel Lefkow reprising her channeling of Sigourney Weaver from the Audible drama Alien: Out from the Shadows. Like an old school radio drama, Alien III features sound effects for footsteps, tools, doors, human and alien screams, coughs, and the like, and is enhanced by atmospheric and exciting music. The drama begins with a brief summary of the events in Alien (1979) featuring Ripley, Ash, and company and then a brief depiction of the climax of the second movie with Newt, Hicks, Bishop, Ripley, and the alien Queen. It's always good to hear Ripley growl, “Get away from her you bitch!” The main new action begins when the shuttle ship Sulaco (with Newt, Hicks, Ripley, and Bishop aboard in cryo-suspension) enters the outer space territory of the UPP (Union of Progressive Peoples) and is captured and boarded, with the alien that’s been lurking inside Bishop popping out and doing its face clamp thing. Thus begins a chain of events whereby the alien xenomorph is (of course) foolishly viewed as a potentially useful biological weapon, proves a wee bit more independent and formidable than anticipated, starts impregnating mortal hosts in the good old alien way, and is soon wreaking havoc in a previously clean and more or less self-contained space environment (an “anchor point station”). There are conflicts between assholish Weyland-Yutani corporation weapons division soldiers and cool corporation eco tech scientists, between corporation interests and the UPP (a Cold War esque “commie” culture whose people are “comrades”), and, of course, between aliens and humans. There are unusable elevators but eight levels of space station to descend, alien mucus and slime and nests and cocoons and ambushes and pointy tails, plot-helpful touches like a lack of necessary weaponry and working technology, and suspenseful time count downs. There are plenty of lines like, “What the f*ck was that?” and “Oh dear God” “Holy shit!” not to mention the dread, “I have to go back and get my research.” There are some neat developments (new to me anyway) regarding alien DNA and reproductive systems, and the alien-human hybrids are cool. If you are a fan of the Alien franchise, this would scratch your itch, but. . . With the Cold War relationship between corporation states and the UPP, it does feel dated, like the story from before the fall of the Berlin Wall that it is. Worse, Ripley is woefully underused (spending almost the entire time in cryo or drugged coma and playing no active role in the plot). Newt doesn’t get to do enough. On the plus side, Hicks and Bishop are “on screen” for most of the drama and Biehn and Henrikson are good to listen to--if you’ve seen Aliens, you’ll feel that you are watching Hicks and Bishop. It is diverting! But not much more. View all my reviews
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Jefferson Peters
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