The "Alien" Quartet (Pocket Movie Guide) [Paperback]

Originally published at a time when Bloomsbury Books were jumping on the bandwagon of slender-but-highly-expensive film guides established by BFI, the Alien Quartet guide was very much the runt of a litter that included rather good volumes on Jaws and Blue Velvet. The original edition of this book was hideously expensive, and the reprint has at least dropped the obnoxious overpricing and oversizing - though it does not alter the deficiencies of the work itself.

If you want a book that gives you detailed or meaningful information about the making of these films, go elsewhere. The 'behind the scenes' stuff is given no more than a few pages between each film. What we have instead is a running commentary on the events of the film - and this might have been more than enough, if only it were not so self-indulgent, inaccurate, and sloppy.

For example:

For self-indulgence, consider the way the book begins with a lengthy debate about whether the Alien films are in fact a 'quartet' - and seemingly makes a case to the effect that they are not, and then calls them a quartet anyway. At least this was written in the days before marketing idiots coined the word 'Quadrilogy'.

Infinitely worse, though, is the way that the section about the fourth film gives over large amounts of text to a summary of a film narrative that is completely non-existent except in the head of the writer. It's not based on an alternative draft of the script or an earlier storyline... it's just the author's personal fantasy of what the film should have been, involving Sigourney Weaver having sex a lot. This is, supposedly, in order to demonstrate how the fourth film could have been so much better than what we ended up with...

(I actually threw the book on the floor in disgust at this point)

...which is totally pointless and irrelevant. Who cares what the author would like to have seen?! I just want to hear an analysis of the film that DOES exist. I certainly don't want to pay money to receive fragments of pretentious fanfic served up as pseudo-academic analysis.

It gets worse. How seriously can I take a book that is analysing a film widely available on home video formats and which gives the impression that the author hasn't even bothered to rewatch it before writing the book? There is a point where the author literally states that he can't work out how the alien got on board the spaceship to kill the dropship crew, and how he's freeze-framed and rewound the video to see if an alien can be seen jumping on board when it drops the APC to the planet surface. How on earth can the author have failed to notice, from the images and dialogue in the film, that the dropship subsequently parks on the ground at a distance, and is later seen taking off from this position, and does NOT return to the orbital spaceship.

How does one take this stuff seriously? One does not.

Ultimately you can get the same effect as this book provides simply by watching the film in your living room while a talkative friend who is less clever than he thinks he is tells you exactly what is going through his head during every scene - except of course, you can't tell this book that it's wrong, you can only stop reading it.

This book provides no meaningful analysis of the film or its themes, no significant discussion of the films' origins, resonances, creative context, artistic legacy... you can get a whole lot more of value from the DVD extras available today.

Give it a look if you can find it for 99p or less - but never pay good money for it.

This book may be small, it may sit comfortably in your pocket, but it's no lightweight thing. A lightweight thing wouldn't mess with your head or leave you contemplating a shower after reading it. Taking into account the subject matter, high praise indeed.

An unlikely companion to ALIEN QUADRILOGY, it is, however, the perfect antidote to all those 'Making Of...' books that flood the market every time so-called blockbusters hit the multiplexes. ALIEN QUARTET, by DAVID THOMSON, has positioned itself deliberately upon the upper slopes of intellectual analysis (high prose indeed?) and invites the reader to share in the author's overview of a series of films that are substantially more than they might appear. Despite admitting that the first instalment may not even be 'great' - "it is 'only' something I have never been able to get out of my head" - he then proceeds to get right under the skin of ALIEN, ALIENS, ALIEN 3 and ALIEN RESURRECTION with great skill and insight. There are BIG THEMES at play here. And in Thomson's capable hands, the correlation between base instinct and deepest fear feels all too real, highlighting barely concealed metaphors about rape; male impreganation; the inextricable link between life, death and rebirth; sexual identity; supressed urges with regard to species and survival...oh, the deep, down and dirty list just goes on. All this from what was initially conceived as a B-movie set in a place where no-one can hear you scream. Just goes to show.

There's also a substantial 'how it all began' section followed by well thought out scene breakdowns for all four films, details of subsequent box-office returns, and, in the case of ALIEN RESURRECTION, a (partial) alternative screenplay. Even with the great God of hindsight at his disposal, Thomson still conjures up a fascinating and legitimate look at what could have been.

So, ditch the sci-fi geek who riffs on about a tall bloke in a tight monster suit at the pub, okay? and get acquainted with this little beast instead. You may need to be more than a little focused, but I guarantee it's well worth the effort.

Stimulation and Alarm in equal measure.

VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

This book may be small, it may sit comfortably in your pocket, but it's no lightweight thing. A lightweight thing wouldn't mess with your head or leave you contemplating a shower after reading it. Taking into account the subject matter, high praise indeed.

An unlikely companion to ALIEN QUADRILOGY, it is, however, the perfect antidote to all those 'Making Of...' books that flood the market every time so-called blockbusters hit the multiplexes. ALIEN QUARTET, by DAVID THOMSON, has positioned itself deliberately upon the upper slopes of intellectual analysis (high prose indeed?) and invites the reader to share in the author's overview of a series of films that are substantially more than they might appear. Despite admitting that the first instalment may not even be 'great' - "it is 'only' something I have never been able to get out of my head" - he then proceeds to get right under the skin of ALIEN, ALIENS, ALIEN 3 and ALIEN RESURRECTION with great skill and insight. There are BIG THEMES at play here. And in Thomson's capable hands, the correlation between base instinct and deepest fear feels all too real, highlighting barely concealed metaphors about rape; male impreganation; the inextricable link between life, death and rebirth; sexual identity; supressed urges with regard to species and survival...oh, the deep, down and dirty list just goes on. All this from what was initially conceived as a B-movie set in a place where no-one can hear you scream. Just goes to show.

There's also a substantial 'how it all began' section followed by well thought out scene breakdowns for all four films, details of subsequent box-office returns, and, in the case of ALIEN RESURRECTION, a (partial) alternative screenplay. Even with the great God of hindsight at his disposal, Thomson still conjures up a fascinating and legitimate look at what could have been.

So, ditch the sci-fi geek who riffs on about a tall bloke in a tight monster suit at the pub, okay? and get acquainted with this little beast instead. You may need to be more than a little focused, but I guarantee it's well worth the effort.

Stimulation and Alarm in equal measure.

VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED