Alien: A Proper Movie Trilogy (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Alien, Aliens and Alien 3. Alien Cubed if you’re nasty. This franchise has become the cornerstone of space and science fiction horror, helping build and establish the careers of both director Ridley Scott and actor Sigourney Weaver.

And while some might have called it the weaker of the installments until Joss Whedon tried his hand at the franchise with Alien Resurrection -- not to mention the lackluster received prequels Prometheus and Alien Covenant that marked Scott’s return to the franchise -- the ending of Alien 3 at the time solidified the first three films an arc telling the tragedy of Weaver’s Ellen Ripley in the form of a trilogy. But is it a PROPER trilogy? Let’s find out

INTRO

Alien was released in 1979 by 20th Century Fox after the affiliated production company Brandywine acquired the script from Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett.

In its original form, Alien was a concept of O’Bannon and Shusett’s that was reworked from an early comedy draft of the script, six months after workshopping an adaptation of Dune that never hit the ground.

It was during that time that the two met and worked with Swiss artist H.R. Giger, and decided to pitch it to studios as “Jaws In Space” until David Giler and Walter Hill of Brandywine made a deal with O’Bannon and Shusett and processed the script into the final version that we received.

Despite the success of Star Wars boosting multiple studios investment in science fiction properties -- with the irony of Star Wars being distributed by the studios themselves -- 20th Century didn’t really want to invest that much money in Alien; aiming for a budget that was just under 5 million but ended up growing to that of around 14 million.

This was mostly in part of Giler and Hill’s decision to hire at-the-time up and coming director Ridley Scott, who wanted to do right by H.R. Giger’s designs for both the Xenomorph and for what would end up being the Engineer’s laboratory ship in the prequel Prometheus when Kane found it and the undercarriage carrying the Xenomorph eggs in the first act of the film.

/The fight for the raise in budget and production paid off very well, however. It made over 3.5 million over the memorial day weekend of its release, ranging an overall box office count between 100 to just over 200 million dollars worldwide. But outside of this being Ridley Scott’s second film and what put him on the map, Sigourney Weaver’s portrayal of Ellen Ripley was also what solidified her stardom in Hollywood; the role being her third and the one she would be most known for over the course of her career, second only to Dana Barrett of Ghostbusters/

James Cameron’s Aliens was released 7 years later in the aftermath of Giler and Hill’s bout with 20th Century Fox’s hodgepodge of executives and multiple powershifts to get it made.

Being a fan of Scott’s original and in the midst of making The Terminator, the two tapped Cameron to write and direct the film. He did the former while in pre-production with Terminator and during the time he had to wait for Arnold Swarzenegger to wrap up filming on Conan the Barbarian, and was only allowed to direct the latter by Fox if The Terminator ended up being a major success. And we all know how that turned out.

Like I stated before, there were a lot of machinations between 20th Century Fox and both Giler and Hill and even Sigourney Weaver at the time.

Giler and Hill were in the midst of suing Fox for wrongful payouts over how much the original Alien truly made in the box office.

Fox didn’t want Sigourney Weaver back as Ripley because she was too expensive thanks to Alien, and even wanted Cameron to write a version of the script that didn’t include her.

He quickly shut that down and got her salary to 1 million plus a percentage of the box office percentage.

/Then, with a budget of 18 million, he went on to make not just the most memorable Alien film to date, but also the film that established Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley as one of the most badass female characters in american cinema to date/ (get away from her you BITCH!)

So now we come to Alien 3, released 6 years later, directed by brand new film director David Fincher and bringing an end to Ellen Ripley’s saga of survival and her fight against the authority of huge galactic corporations that see human beings as a means to an end.

And if you thought that the road to get Alien 3 made was just as complicated as it was with James Cameron’s Aliens, you would be wrong. It was worse. It was...SO much worse...

CURRENT STANCE

/There’s a portion of me that wants to say that the road to Alien 3 was paved with GOOD intentions. Then I remember the road that was ACTUALLY taken to get there, and I become surprised that we got the version of it that we got./

I say that because after the success of James Cameron’s Aliens, it was obvious that 20th Century Fox wanted a third Alien movie. But for the longest time, they couldn’t really decide on the angle that they wanted to take with it.

Ridley Scott’s Alien pretty much became the catalyst of Survival Horror in Space, and James Cameron’s Aliens immediately became the catalyst for Science Fiction Action Horror. There’s a reason why the first two Dead Space video games respectively feel like they’re channeling the spirit of both of the first two Alien movies, after all.

But in the case of Alien 3, it came down to not knowing what kind of story they wanted to tell, getting the right people to properly tell it, and studio executives being willing to dish out the cash to make it a reality.

One of the first pitches for Alien 3 was actually akin to the second and third Matrix and Pirates of the Carribean movies...

...Part 3 and 4 would be shot simultaneously to save money on production with Michael Biehn’s Corporal Hicks as the lead fighting with a socialistic militia that has declared war with a version of Weyland-Yutani that finally got their hands on the Xenomorphs and successfully created Xenomorphic bio-soldiers, with Weaver’s Ripley reprising her protagonistic role in part 4 to properly bring an end to the conflict that rightfully started with her.

But thanks to American capitalism, the two-parter pitch concept was given a page one rewrite by Renny Harlin -- director of Nightmare on Elm Street 4: Dream Master -- more than likely because they didn’t want to paint conglomerate corporations in such a bad light.

And while this version seems to be the fan-favorite with the majority of Xeno-heads out there in comparison to the version of Alien 3 that was released, it was criticized for just being the same old song and dance as the first 2 and lacking the human connection that they had. The only difference being that because it was the late 80’s, the Xenomorph was used as a metaphor for HIV, which was...definitely a choice.

Ah, to be white, cis, straight and only have to live out the regular horrors that minorities live through via narrative media. Must be nice...

As you can imagine considering when the final version of Alien 3 was actually released, the indecision of the studio executives caused multiple rewrites of one version of the script and various others to be created and -- in the case of the script we actually got -- caused them to fuse together. More specifically a version of Alien 3 where the Sulaco escape pod landed on a wooden planet run by a group of monks that considers the Xenomorph as a punishment brought upon by God (yeesh), and a prison planet consisting of all male inmates

No, seriously; they literally fused those two ideas together.

/The prison planet was chosen as the main location over the wooden planet because a wooden planet didn’t seem all that feasible, and some of the inmates displayed the monk aspect by having them find God. However, that didn’t mark the end of the film’s time in development hell before we get to the final product./

After realizing that the schedule for Ridley Scott to reprise his directorial duties for the film as he did for the first Alien wasn’t going to align, 20th Century Fox tapped David Fincher to direct, making Alien 3 his theatrical debut. However, getting Sigourney Weaver to come back for the movie was where things began to get difficult, considering the bad blood between her and the studio developed because not only did they wanted to cheap out of her initial salary, but they also cut a lot of her backstory scenes out of the theatrical run of James Cameron’s Aliens.

/She demanded that the final draft of the script should be written by Hill and Giler, stating that outside of James Cameron, they were the only ones who properly understood Ripley’s character considering the multiple Alien 3 scripts she read in the past.

/She demanded that there’d be no guns in the narrative so that more creative ways to defeat the Xenomorph could be implemented like in Ridley Scott’s classic.

/But the biggest demand that she made that forced 20th Century Fox to break out in an anxious sweat because they now knew the worth of her character, was that in Alien 3, Ripley had to die./

And thus we have the version of Alien 3 that we have today. Ripley, being once more the only survivor of the Sulaco after the crash landing to the all-male prison planet Fury 161 killed Corporate Hicks and Newt and left the android Bishop damaged beyond repair, we find out that a queen facehugger was on board and attached itself to Ripley while in cryo-sleep, impregnating her with a queen Xenomorph.

/That same facehugger then attaches itself to another being which births a Xenomorph that terrorizes the complex, so it’s up to Ripley and the inmates to destroy the creature and for Ripley to destroy herself before the representatives of Weyland-Yutani arrive to claim both it and her for their bioweapons division./

Now considering how much knowledge there is regarding how this final version of Alien 3 came to be, you could say that this was a solid, yet poorly executed, premise. Most of this is due to 20th Century Fox not really coming to agreeance with a lot of things when it came to the flow of the script unless said changes were forced to keep Signourney Weaver on board the project.

And considering that despite this being Fincher’s first theatrically released film, he has since disowned it because of the studio’s heavy involvement that kept him from making it his own -- unrelated to the clauses placed in Sigourney Weaver’s contract -- and has since gone on to become one of the most well known directors in the sub-genre of psychological thrillers.

But, while the debate of whether or not Alien 3 is a good movie or even a good sendoff to the character of Ellen Ripley is one that can be made until the cows come home, considering everything there is to know about the production and pre-production...

That is neither here nor there when the purpose of bringing up Alien 3 is to figure out if its writing and delivery impacts its current stance of making the first three Alien films a proper trilogy

And the answer to that one...is “yes, but barely.” Let’s discuss The Thread.

THE THREAD

/Upon my rewatch of the 1979 Alien, I was EXTREMELY surprised at how simple and barebone the plot for it was at the end of the day. It basically comes down to a dangerous creature that’s hunting the crew on board with it one by one. They attempt to contain it at first, but then shift to escape from it soon afterward upon learning aspects of its true nature./

They find this out and make this decision to escape the Nostramo instead of containing the Xenormorph because of Ash, who has been ousted as an android sent by Weyland Yutani and decapitated at the point of the film where exposition is crucial.

/We even hear Ripley correctly theorize to a currently alive Lambert and Parker she tries to reconnect Ash to see if he knows a way they can kill it, what intentions Weyland Yutani have for it/ (they want it for their weapons division)

This is, in fact, solid information that is constantly confirmed in future installments of the franchise.

/We see it played out and backed up in James Cameron’s Aliens when she correctly accuses Carter Burke of planting facehuggers in an attempt to impregnate Newt and herself/ (nobody would know about the embryos we’d be carrying)

/And in David Fincher’s Alien 3, when the creator of the Bishop android spills the beans about why Weyland Yutani want the Xenomorph when the threat of her suicide becomes more palpable/ (you MUST let me have it!).

And if we are to follow the guidelines of what establishes something as a proper trilogy, then we have to acknowledge that Weyland-Yutani wanting the Xenomorph for their bioweapons division and willing to do whatever it takes to get it is both a constant throughout every installment of the franchise and one that is unchanging by the time we make it to Alien 3.

No new information about Weyland Yutani or why they want the Xenomorph that can be branched from what was initially given to us in the first movie. So we can’t really do anything with this thread.

Now because we’re forced to leave this thread alone, we’ve now run into a bit of a problem as far as properly connecting a story beat or possible exposition from the first movie to expand on in the third.

Not only is Weyland Yutani’s obsession with the Xenomorph and its want to use it as a weapon one of the strongest narrative bits of the first three Alien films, but it’s also the main plot hook of the 1979 movie.

/We know this because out of all of the mystery behind the construct that we see Kane explore and the Xenomorph that burst out of the Space Jockey’s chest inside during the Nostromo crew’s time on on LV-426 that we later get slightly more context about in the prequel Prometheus, the only thing the movie and its narrative focuses on the moment they bring his facehugged body back on board are the dangers of the Xenomorph itself and Weyland Yutani’s desire to obtain it by any means necessary./

Could they have rectified this in Alien 3? Of course. One of the scripts that was submitted before the one that was chosen was that a visit to the Xenomorph homeworld was going to be involved.

It would’ve opened up the possibility of all the speculative lore behind the ship of the Space Jockey to be explored and reveal something new about what Kane found in the 1979 classic before what was done with the prequel Prometheus established what it did.

Because the combo of how similar the concept of visiting Geigerland was to the plot of James Cameron’s Aliens and how budget-conscious 20th Century Fox was when it came to a lot of the decisions for it, Alien 3 didn’t have the luxury of exploring other elements that were teased in what ended up becoming the bottom of the Engineer’s ship that held the Xenomorph eggs. And, as a result, didn’t have that element to play with when forming the narrative for Alien 3 that we initially got.

/So the speculative lore thread that is H.R. Giger’s designs for the Space Jockey-slash-Engineer and his ship are also ruled out./

Once again. Considering how simple Ridley Scott’s Alien is in both its storytelling, lore and exposition, a lot of the logical threads from the movie that can be used for Alien 3 are either unusable due to the fear of making the narrative feel too similar to a previous installment, or is already being used as the entire backbone of the franchise.

And I just wanna make this clear. The purpose of A Proper Movie Trilogy isn’t to completely rewrite the third film to make it one; we’re only making enough changes in the existing narrative in order for it to fit the mold, not completely starting from scratch in order to do it or make a better movie. Even if we COULD make changes, the DNA of Alien 3 would still remain unchanged at the end of the day.

Nevertheless, there is in fact one thread from Alien 79 that is and was strong enough to carry over to Alien 3 and have it technically still count as a proper movie trilogy. And that thread is the physiology of the Xenomorph itself. Let me break it down for you:

RECONSTRUCTION/BREAKDOWN

/The first Alien doesn't give us anything but speculative lore that's later "explained" in the prequels. It's so bare bones in its storytelling that there really isn't anything in its plot that gives any elements that can carry over to how the events of Alien 3 played out. The only thread that was strong enough from the 1979 classic was the formation of the Xenomorph in its incubation phase./

Because the 1979 Alien and 1986's Aliens only showed how they looked when they use humans or humanoids as their hosts, Alien 3 takes that knowledge and expands on it, showing us that Xenomorphs can not only use different species as hosts, but their physiology also adapts according to said species.

/And in the case of Alien 3, the species in question...is a dog/ (what kind of monster would do this to a dog?)

This is a concept that multiple artists that are fans of the Alien franchise have run with in various amounts of Xenomorph fan art, and was adapted in the form of the Predalien in the alternative universe films Alien vs Predator and AVP Requiem.

But we don't talk about those. At least Requiem; AVP 1 had its moments.

So does that mean the first three Alien films count as a proper movie trilogy, because of this fact? Actually? Yes.

Remember: what establishes a proper movie trilogy is that there has to be an element of the first film’s plot that plays a significant role in the third in a way that makes all three work together as a cohesive story.

Then it’s the third one’s job to expand on the lore of said element carrying over from the first, by either revealing something new about it, make it play a role in the plot of said installment, or sometimes both at the same time.

/In the case of the first three Alien films, it’s the role of the Alien itself. And -- once again -- that’s mostly thanks to the first Alien movie not doing anything but the bare minimum of what the film’s story hook was./

Maybe if the Nostromo crew actually took in more of the lore left over from the Engineers when they went to LV-426 and it was incorporated into the story overall, we might have something meatier to go off of.

But instead, because Weyland-Utani wanting the Xenomorph for their bioweapons division is the main plot that all three of these movies have in common and the Space Jockey lore purposefully being kept unexplained in 2 and 3, the only significant role we have about Ridley Scott’s original movie that can be used in Alien 3 is how it naturally evolves.

It may be small and doesn’t play a HUGE role into the overall story of Alien 3, considering everything. After all, it’s still a Science Fiction Survivor Horror like the first one, at the end of the day.

/But by showing that humans and humanoids aren’t the only life forms Xenomorphs can use as hosts and adapt their physiology according to said hosts, it reveals something new about the creature that we initially learned about it in Ridley Scott’s Alien, and was accepted as the norm due to the circumstances taking place in James Cameron’s Aliens./

CONCLUSION

Considering everything against it -- even the studio itself -- its further evidence that Alien was lightning in a bottle.

It's one of the only film franchises in existence that was majorly inspired by concept art and still proves itself to be captivating in its execution of simplistic storytelling.

And just like the Xenomorph, the main trilogy of Alien movies adapts itself to fit multiple settings and genres but still rightfully calls itself Alien at the end of the day.

It might not have had that much to work with thanks to the usage of the K.I.S.S. acronym in the 1979 classic, but whether you love it or hate it, Alien 3 -- to quote Law Roach -- did what needed to be done in order to make the first three Alien films a proper movie trilogy.

Ah, shit. Now I have to do Predator. (huffs) That’s gonna be fun...

Right now you can stream the entire Alien trilogy, Alien Resurrection, and Prometheus for free with a subscription to HBO Max. The aforementioned movies and Alien: Covenant are available for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime and other similar streaming services.

But if you want to purchase the first three Alien movies and help financially help out the channel, I’ll have affiliate links for you in the description box below.

So with that being said Readers, YOUR homework assignment for the day: Write in the comment section below what YOU think about the Alien trilogy if you’ve seen it.

Or, if you feel like sharing with the rest of the class, how YOU would better link Alien 3 to the 1979 classic without changing what makes Alien 3 Alien 3.

Whichever you decide to answer, I’d love to know your thoughts.