Customer Reviews

Alien 3: The Novelization

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Alien 3 (Film Novelization) / 0-446-36216-6

I had the highest hopes for this "Alien 3" novel because I always felt that certain parts of the movie were confusing, and I hoped that this novel would clear up those points. In this respect, the book shines brightly - carefully explaining how the facehugger in the Sulaco caused the acid burn on Newt's cryo chamber, and why the electrical fire started and forced the chambers into the escape pod, an opening sequence that always left me a bit bewildered. The birth of the alien warrior is also explained more carefully than I felt it was in the movie - one of the worker animals used to recover the pod wreckage (in this case an ox, not a dog) was impregnated and the apparently lifeless corpse was dragged back to the prison's abattoir, where the alien was born in relative privacy. It is also carefully explained why Ripley didn't initially believe she was infected, how she knows the alien she is carrying is a queen when she does discover it, and why the queen doesn't emerge as quickly as the warriors do - little details that always bugged me when I'd watch the movie.

As far as overall quality, however, I have to say that the source movie is better, particularly in the area of character development. In the book, Ripley displays an unusual combination of squeamishness and vanity, refusing to shave her head until the lice problem becomes painfully manifest. That seems incredibly out of character for Ripley at this point in her life, and I'm grateful that the movie didn't belabor that point. Clemens, too, displays a strange oscillation of character, bouncing from impossibly patient and good-natured to rather pouty and belligerent for no apparent reason, and I preferred the unruffled, even calmness of the actor in the movie, which seems better suited to the situation. It's also not clear whether Clemens is still serving his sentence as a prisoner (Andrews claims he is, and the book reinforces this idea several times), or whether he is a free man who has chosen to stay on as the medical staff (as Clemens himself claims). The movie doesn't present this ambiguity and it feels less like a deliberate moral question on the status of Clemens and more like an accidental mistake in the script.

For good or ill, the Ripley in the novel takes great pains to confirm that the company does in fact want the alien alive, a point that is deliberately left vague in the movie until the final point of no return. In some ways this is good because it underscores that Ripley is an intelligent survivor who isn't the type to throw her life away based on mere hunches, but in other ways this change is bad because it strips away the anxiety that Ripley might be wrong, might be wasting her life in her final gesture. That Ripley might be wrong does not necessarily paint her as reckless so much as a woman driven by her conviction - she is willing to sacrifice her life for the certainty that the aliens are destroyed, rather than save her life and merely hope that the company will do the right thing. Of course, the movie cops out with Bishops final plea, showing us that Ripley has been right all along, but the book strips out even the possibility that Ripley might have doubts, and I'm not certain that addition is a good one.

I definitely recommend reading this novel if you are a fan of the series, particularly if you've read Foster's novelizations of the first two movies. Just be aware that there are some flaws here, but the explanation of some of the more mysterious parts of the movie make the read well worth it.

~ Ana Mardoll

So you didn't like the film. Thought it was the worst of all time. The book must be bad too, right ? Wrong. This is by far the best of the four Alien novels - definately the most terrifying. It is a compulsive page turner, and quite different from the film. I strongly advise that you read this novel. It is terriffyingly realistic and will keep you looking above your head, at the ceiling, for weeks.

The book was much better then the movie, but, like in the movie, they should never have killed off Newt or hicks, or Riply for that matter. I didn't understand why they felt the need to put one of those things inside her. in the last movie, she had nightmeres about it happening to her. It was an unjust thing to do to such a strong, surviving charracter. What's worse it only opened the door for Reserection. It was a good movie, but only braught the series down. For it's entertainment value, 3 was great, but it's one movie that I try to avoid watching.

Alien 3 is a bad movie, and is definitely the worst of the four. But the book is fantastic. It is much more in depth than the movie and easily explains everything that the movie didn't. This book is suspenseful to say the least. You won't be able to help yourself from reading on.

The novel itself was a great read. It followed the film very precisely and adequetly. The beginning portion of this book was very indepth, discriptive, and interesting. The beginning talks about the history of the planet Fiorina 161 and how it came to be. I felt the book was ongoing, historical, and inline with the film itself. The one issue I felt was that the author rushed through a few important parts of the novel that where shown in the film with more indepth and discriptive motion. I was hoping to see a bit more descriptivness in the novel than in the film. But it almost all parts of the novel it was fasinating and descriptive. Overall this was a facinating read and would recommend this book to anyone with alien follow by intrests.

Alien - 5 star awesomeness
Aliens - 5 star awesomeness
Alien 3 - 4 star coolness

The novelization of the first two Alien novels were bang-on action, just like the movies, of which I'm a huge fan. Love 'em! The third novelization (meaning a book written from the movie) was full of detail, history and filler all throughout. Many things are explored deeply, while the movie just touched upon a few things. Unfortunately, the ending was too abrupt for such a great space saga. Ripley's journey through three Alien movies/books ends in a bit of a disappointment from its abruptness.

A strange and radical departure from the previous Alien stories, as
Ripley basically ends up on a planet of pacifist monks. If the Aliens
could spell pacifist they would probably eat the people that came up
with the word, then anyone who made a dictionary with it in. Quite a
few of the smaller, faster variety here.

I bought this book and I didnt regret it, its the best Alien movie book, its better than resurrection. The alien 3 book has much more to it than the movie, you'll wanna read this book in a day. This book has the most suspense you'll ever read. I recommend this book to anyone who didnt like the alien 3 movie, you'll love the book, its just that good. Buy it!

Would you buy the book of the first Alien movie after watching it? Nope, me neither. But with this book things do change. Not because the movie is bad (though it was not; if you think the opposite, it may be time to refine your cinematique taste) but the story is so capturing and well told that you never regret your time and money spent at the bookstore.