By William Gibson, adapted by Dirk Maggs

Audible, available now

An alternate sequence of events following Ripley, Newt, Hicks and Bishop’s escape at the end of Aliens…

This is the first of Dirk Maggs’ Alien adaptations for Audible where I’ve not known a lot about the plot, characters and dialogue before pressing play – the earlier stories were based on novels produced by Titan that I’d read and reviewed. I was aware of the troubled history of the third Alien film, and that what we got on screen eventually had its roots in some very different storylines. William Gibson’s 1987 script doesn’t start with the punch to the gut of David Fincher’s film – Newt and Hicks are alive and well – but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some nasty surprises along the way. (For those who don’t remember the end of Aliens there’s a very good recreation of the critical elements – and don’t skip it just because you’ve seen the film 3,227 times!)

It’s a little hard to review this without giving away some of those surprises, but suffice it to say that Gibson posits a slightly different socio-political set up to that which we’re used to from the Alien universe, with a group who control an area of space into which the survivors on the Sulaco drift. This group have their own agenda… which, you will not be too amazed to hear, is thrown off course by the presence of the xenomorphs. In dramatic terms, this means that the story follows events in two separate locations but you’re never in any doubt as to what’s going on.

There’s a strong cast across the board, and in a masterstroke, Maggs has brought Lance Henriksen back as Bishop – narrating parts of the story – and Michael Biehn as Hicks. Inevitably both men sound a little older than they did in 1986, but anyone used to the Big Finish range of Doctor Who audios knows that your ears adjust quickly to the increased depth in the voice, and there’s no mistaking the distinctive intonations of both characters. Laurel Lefkow returns as Ripley from Maggs’ earlier rather more-Ellen-centric stories, with Mairead Doherty stepping into Carrie Hehn’s shoes as Newt, and one of this version’s intriguing elements (certainly if it had become the official third film) is how these two characters are treated.

There’s no shortage of blood and guts for those for whom these are the main attractions of the franchise, and as ever the scenes where the xenomorphs are doing their thing are almost more frightening on audio than on screen – Maggs ratchets up the tension considerably as the audiomovie progresses, with James Hannigan’s score an essential part of proceedings.

The movie ends on a really interesting note (and one that, I’m sure totally inadvertently, is echoed by the recent Independence Day sequel!) and I’m certain I’m not the only one who wants to hear the next phase of this branch of the Alien franchise…

Verdict: A terrific version of a very different path for the Alien universe – recommended. 9/10

Paul Simpson