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During the rollercoaster production of the Alien 3 film, a number of different scripts by different writers were written and discarded. Ultimately, the film used a mishmash of ideas that the various scriptwriters had come up with, resulting in the 1992 film we're all familiar with. The first script written for the film was penned in 1987 by cyberpunk writer William Gibson. Gibson wrote two drafts of the script, both of which have been recently adapted into print form. The latter was adapted in a graphic novel, and the former has been adapted into the present novel, about which this review was written. I don't know why Pat Cadigan was chosen to adapt the script into a novel. She is a newcomer to the Alien universe, and I had not ever heard of her. However, she has quite the resume, so you'd think the novel would be in good hands. Unfortunately, the final product proves otherwise.

The plot of "Alien 3 - The Unproduced Screenplay" is substantially different from that of the film. At the end of the second Alien film, Ripley, Hicks, Newt, and Bishop are asleep aboard the Sulaco. In this new version of events, the Sulaco drifts through space controlled by the Union of Progressive Peoples (UPP), a throwback to Soviet socialists on earth. After a short though tumultuous visit, the Sulaco continues on to space station Anchorpoint, where the majority of the novel takes place. Stowaway aliens quickly make a mess of things, and venerable hero Corporal Hicks must step up to the plate and face the galaxy's most fearsome creatures.

I'm not entirely sure who is to blame for the rather poor product that is "Alien 3 - The Unproduced Screenplay." Since both Gibson and Cadigan had a hand in the final product, I'd say they both share in the blame. First of all, let's tackle the lackluster story. When the script was penned in '87, the plot ideas would have been quite a lot fresher than by today's standards. There was no Alien expanded universe at the time, so that particular story idea had not been visited ad nauseum like it has in so many Alien novels already. The novel produces some interesting evolutionary ideas about how the Aliens procreate, but those already feel like old hat, readers having already seen similar ideas in many other Alien novels. Having Hicks as the protagonist is kind of lame, but again, we have to consider Gibson's original idea--that Ripley would return as heroine in a future Alien 4 film. I also think you could have cut out the parts of the story taking place in UPP space and still had a largely coherent story. So, while the story of the novel may have been effective when penned as a script decades ago, it does not hold up well by today's standards.

While I can excuse the plot deficiencies (due to poor aging), I surely cannot excuse the unpalatable prose. I understand that the author was aiming for a writing style with an ornery attitude, but it just came across as obnoxious. The humor falls flat, there is excessive hyperbole, and italicized emphasis litters every page. The dialogue is inane; when faced with certain death, all the characters seem to be able to muster are some (un)humorous one-liners that induce some serious eye rolling. Description is confusing to the point of being non-sensical. I was constantly confused about what was going on, and about the physical descriptions of the settings. Basically, the book was just reduced to people going from point A to point B, in no particular hurry, and for some confusing reason you forgot about ten pages ago. When it becomes convenient for a character to die, they do just that--like clockwork. The author does include some uncomfortable descriptions of violence and gore that feel right at home in an Alien novel, and she can be commended for that. However, such descriptions often accompany totally unbelievable evolution in Alien procreation.

While an interesting idea to bring William Gibson's script to life, the final product leaves much to be desired. One of the poorest Alien novels to date, perhaps the book would have fared better in the hands of a veteran Alien writer, such as Alan Dean Foster, Steve Perry, or Tim Lebbon. However, I do appreciate Titan books trying something out of the ordinary, and bringing some lost story ideas into the light. If you are a die-hard Alien fan, you might give this adaptation a shot. Otherwise, check out some of the other great Alien titles that have been written over the years.