Friday Fiction: Alien (Review)

Some books are as good as the film

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Alien by Alan Dean Foster

I've loved the concept of Alien ever since I first watched the film in the early 80s, the jaw of every family member dropping open at the chestburster scene – before we hit rewind (it was VHS) to watch the scene again. I approve of any work that is coherent, where the form fits the theme. And in the original there is that first feeling of awe at something completely alien to us, a feeling lost in the sequels which – even though some are still good films – increasingly see the Alien become a scary but known quantity. It is no longer alien.

Despite having seen the film many times, reading this novelization based on an early script let me experience elements of it as if for the first time, because there are subtle changes from the film I know: extra characterizations, a different pace, altered details. We can never experience anything again for the first time, but this captured a hint of that feeling of discovery.

These are some of the changes I noticed between the novel and the film. The differences below apply to the novel.