Alien³

An alternate draft of an Alien³ screenplay? By William Gibson? Adapted by Pat Cadigan? Yes please!

Although I found some of the action a little hard to follow at times, it's as exciting as you'd imagine, given the story's pedigree. Way less Ripley (apparently Sigourney Weaver wasn't confirmed to return at the point the screenplay was drafted) but plenty of Bishop & Hicks, with the requisite Company stooges, rookie Marines, and hapless researchers and technicians; plus a whole communist space station for a Cold War vibe to Aliens' Vietnam.

I was initially put off by the many references to the previous film, but it's part of Hicks's PTSD which puts a tragic spin on it. Between Hicks trying to hold it together while keeping the group together, Bishop dealing with a shoddy repair job, and the newest twist to the alien threat, this is something I would have loved to see on the big screen (although there are echoes of this in the subsequent Alien and Prometheus films).