I've started reading A L I E N by Alan Dean Foster.
I must say I'm very disappointed so far.
Its completely unlike the dialogue in the film. There are no lines I recognise at all.
OK, I'm not after the exact screenplay in a film novelisation but I am after plenty of familiar landmarks and speech in there.
Foster did such a great job with the Star Wars' novelisation, so much so that half the fun was spotting what he'd changed.
Not so A L I E N.
The introduction about pro-dreamers is clumsy and overly long and the conversations during the wake-up meal and descent to the planet are unrecognisable.
Did Foster set out to exclude all dialogue featured in the actual film?
I'm not very far into this book but already feel my chest bursting with frustration!
What's your experience readers?
Is it possible that Foster was working from an early script? I know the film underwent many changes. I believe it was much more explicit that the Nostromo crew were being deliberately used by their company as tests for their new biological weapon, for example.
ReplyDeleteThat's true, hadn't thought of that Kevin. I shall have to look into that. Dan O Bannon wrote the original story didn't he?
DeleteI think so along with others. There were quite a lot of books about the making of it when it came out but I don't have any. I'm currently re reading Foster's Star Trek Log series, novelisations of the animated Star Trek from Filmation.
DeleteThat's amazing, a novelisation of an animated series! You would have thought there wasn't enough on them to be novelised.
DeleteThe last 3 books cover one 20 minute episode each!
DeleteSecond Kevin there, a very plausible explanation.
ReplyDeleteForgot to comment on your previous Swordcast discussion with Bill on Foster's Star Wars novelisation, which brought back an important personal insight I'd completely forgotten. In Finland, the novelisation was published prior to the film's premiere, which customary to the era dragged some 6 months behind the U.S. premiere.
Went back to my diaries and found out that I had read the novelisation some weeks *before* seeing the film itself. That brought back a memory of intense anticipation, of having fantasized a thousand times over what I was about to see. That must have contributed remarkably to the utterly satisfying movie experience that Star Wars was for me.
Foster's Splinter of the Mind's Eye was equally influential, alleviating the long years of waiting until TESB premiered. It is hard to imagine today what it felt to wait for the next installment, day by day, month by month, year by year. Happy days though!
Thanks again guys for the great discussion.
Great memories there Arto! Glad we could help out. I'd forgotten we spoke about Alan Dean Foster in the SWORDcast! Nice connection! The chronology of Alan Dean Foster novelisations is interesting now you come to mention it. At what point did he get involved in Star Wars and Alien? I'm sure it will all be laid out beautifully somewhere on the net.
DeleteYup, quite right about the revisions to the script being made at the last minute - sometimes Ridley Scott would roll up on the day of shooting with new material and they would just shoot to film which caused a lot of problems for the studio. I also seem to recall that back in the day when the studios had all the power they had to have a final shooting script for insurance purposes but Scott, being the genius he is, was always having ideas about improving the movies he makes so he started off by following the script before sneaking in the changes as the shoot progressed which lead to a lot of problems for the studio who had to send execs down to sit beside him and ensure the work was completed on time. Brian Johnson who created the big refinery to Scott's designs, says he came in one day to find Scott had taken a hammer and chisel to the model cutting away much of the ancillary architecture to make it more industrial and less gothic looking. But hey - just be grateful we didn't get Scott's original ending: https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/04/ridley-scott-reveals-his-cruel-original-ending-to-alien-watch/
Deleteits a good job old Rippers didnt get killed off, as she had her finest hour in the sequel. it probably should have ended around 3, though and left her dead, as A4 was just a little too much gore.
DeleteI shall check that alternative ending out, thanks Mike. I'm always amazed that A L I E N is classed as a British film, often cited on lists of the best of British horror. Continuing with the Alan Dean Foster novel, I never knew that Kane, John Hurt's character, was the Nostromo's Executive Officer, second in command to Dallas.
DeleteIve got almost all of Fosters books, movie tie ins to the Commonwealth sequence and he was my third favourite author behind William Gibson and the fabulous Gene Wolfe. What Foster does well, is expand on the basic script,fleshing out the scenes with realistic and authentic detail,making the novelisation a cinematic experience in itself. Rather than just give a blow by blow account ofbthe film, he adds depth and backstory to the script, which enhances the overall film experience. Brian Daley fid a similar thing for Star Wars, with the Radio Dramas and Han Solo spin off novels, retelling the original story and giving secondary characters a much richer world to inhabit. Splinter, as Arto concurs was a fabulous bridge between New Hope and ESB, introducing new characters, the Yuzzem, which almost made it into ESB, in lieu of the Wampa. In short, id stivk with Alien and rather than reading it like the photo novel, enjoy it as a new take on the film script, relishing the detail and characterisations.
ReplyDeleteI'm carrying on with A L I E N Bill. The dropship has landed badly and systems are failing. Again I don't recall that in the film but I'll shut up. I need to read the screenplay I think! Isn't the A L I E N script a publication in itself?
DeleteDropship? youre venturing into Aliens timeframe! The Alien script is available online, but it might be worth looking at Dan O'Bannons first treatment, 'Star Beast', which is much more brutal and grim.
DeleteOK OK, what would you call the detachable ship that's dragging the refinery? And don't say the Nostromo!
DeleteFound the A L I E N script online in a nanno second. http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/alien_shooting.html
ReplyDeleteIts based on a screenplay.
So Bill, what's the difference between a script and a screenplay?
a screenplay is a template for a film, story plot, cast and characterisations. A script is the actual lines and details the actors will create the drama from.
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