Item: Alien III: An Audible Original Drama
Rating: 5
Author: ASMacKenzie

Felt Like A Movie

5 out of 5 stars

Any time I see something that says “Alien” on it and has the iconic H. R. Geiger design, I’m in. Doesn’t really matter what it is, if it’s any good, or if it is worth my time and money. I’m in. Same goes for anything that says “Predator” but that’s a different review.

When I saw this Audible Original advertised I felt my pulse quicken. My mouse was already heading towards the ‘purchase’ button before I even remembered what I knew about this story. This story is based on the original script that was pitched for Alien III, but as we know, was not used.

When Alien III came to theaters I was so excited. Had ticket in hand, went inside with a friend of mine, and we sat with popcorn in hand for some of our favorite creatures to tear their way through space. When we left, I was still a fan of the series but I think my friend summed up our feelings best when he said:

“Uuuhhhhhhhh…huh…”

This was not the next act we were expecting in this saga. We had so many questions as to why Hicks and Newt had to die and why Bishop was such a poorly used plot point. This felt like our story was hijacked, and come to find out, it was.

So, for this new story, I was all in and ready to find out what should have happened to these characters. This production was everything an Alien fan could hope for. The varied cast, atmospheric effects, and the story picking up right where we remembered from Aliens made it perfect. To Have both Lance Henriksen and Michael Biehn back for this only made it better. The two-hour run time made it feel like a movie.

The story picks up right after we last saw Ripley and gang get into hypersleep. Their vessel is heading into a restricted space operated by the UPP who are independent of the corporate authority. They send a strike team in and discover the crew in hypersleep and accidentally wake Bishop’s chamber, releasing something else that was dormant in there with him.

Yep…

Shortly thereafter, one of the corporation’s stations, Anchorpoint, find the vessel after it left the restricted airspace. They discover Ripley, Newt, and Hicks inside and find the aftermath of Ripley’s fight with the queen. When two corporate agents from Weapon’s Division show up, they secretly decide to start cloning the alien material they discovered on Bishop’s lower half, still in the place it was ripped from him in the previous story. Then something goes wrong with their process.

Yep…

The tension keeps building as more and more new discoveries about the xenomorphs develop, as well as giving us a better look in the wider Alien story universe with new departments, enemies, and situations. If I could have one wish for this audiobook it’d be to make it an actual movie. It deserves to take its place in the series, and maybe give the original Alien III movie a chance to be considered an alternate reality of even the continuation after this one. All I know is there is enough world-building in this series to give us nothing but stories for many years to come.