Since I got the entire ALIEN LEGACY movie pack this Christmas, I gave them a much-needed viewing (for the second time, since I had already seen them) the week after. When watching the Alien: Resurrection End Credits (yes, I do watch those, but mainly for the music , I realized something I hadn't seen before:

One of the credits says THEME BY JERRY GOLDSMITH.

I was astonished by this, as I have the Alien: Resurrection score and nowhere on it is it written that Goldsmith created the brilliant theme Frizzell uses for Ripley. Then I asked myself if it could be a really good variation on the original ALIEN theme by Goldsmith, but my slightly-untrained ear couldn't make a match with these two.

I have the entire Resurrection score and remember hearing this... if your interested, I can toss it to ya via e-mail. It was neat hearing some of Goldsmith's work being used by Frizzell. What a tribute to the maestro!

Of course, everyone knows how I am about Goldsmith...

Jeron

We have the soprano voice ala Goldenthal, the Goldsmithian cold orchestral mood and the Honerism with the clash-bang action cues...

As for the score -- it's growing on me, but perhaps much like a fungus does. I still wouldn't buy the album. At least not for more than five bucks. And even then ...

Ironically, the finished version comes very close to what original director Vincent Ward (who gets story credit) had in mind before he got sacked (he never shot any footage) -- including the planet of religious criminals and the final fate of Ripley.

Alan Dean Foster's novelization of ALIEN 3 preserves much of what was lost from the final film.

I'm surprised there's never been an ALIEN 3 collector's edition, with the proper scenes and sequences restored. As Fincher's star rises, though, I imagine it'll come about. (I like it that Sigourney Weaver still sticks up for the film, despite its relative unpopularity.)

By the way, Elliot Goldenthal was probably brought onto the film by executive producer Tim Zinnemann, who was briefly ALIEN 3's main line producer. He got canned and the "executive" credit represents kind of a buy-out. Goldenthal also scored PET SEMATARY for Zinnemann, that's why I figure he was referred. I groaned when I heard the news, since I hadn't liked anything Goldenthal had done before. Surprise surprise, eh?

Who was David Fincher's original choice? The guy he worked with on that Madonna video Fincher directed -- Patrick Leonard, a sometimes songwriter ("Live To Tell") and producer for Madonna. I must say that my groan on hearing that Goldenthal was doing it wasn't NEARLY as loud as the noise I made when I heard ALIEN 3 was to be scored by Patrick Leonard ... ! Well, someone talked Fincher out of it, and it all worked out just fine, didn't it.

Maybe the movie could get better and correct all that senseless laughable dialogues (or should I say preaching?), which conducted the movie to a mere "who's the next bald-head mute to be killed?" race after the first half hour of movie...

I have to say this about the third film...

It's actually a very good film.

It's also one of the worst SEQUELS ever made.

The opening of the film negates everything that "Aliens" finishes with, killing off Newt, Hicks and Bishop immediately. It is then followed by one of the darkest films ever, which only aggravates the wound created by the opening sequence (although I have to say that Terry Rawling's montage for it is very well done).

However, the third film has several very interesting elements, including Alex Thompson's amazing cinematography, H.R. Giger's "dog" version of the alien*, Sigourney Weaver and Charles Dance's performance, a fantastic chase sequence for a finale (I don't agree with Andre on that scene) and Elliot Goldenthal's fantastic score.

It is not a perfect film, and I personally relegate it to a "alternate universe" story (after all, would Ripley be so stupid as to go into hypersleep without SCOURING the Sulaco for any signs of alien-ness?), but find it to be in all ways a much superior film to the overpumped "Alien: Resurrection." I have to agree with Thor that Jeunet's sense of humor (however dark) was very out of place in the grim "Alien" universe.

John Frizzell's score never really grew on me, although I like aspects of Ripley's theme and the electronics. Like the film, it was over the top and didn't really have much to say.

Since it was brought up, I think it important to mention that the story for "Alien3" was changed drastically throughout all phases of pre-production. The original story had the prison setting, but it was on a space station, and Hicks and Bishop were supposed to go through the whole rigamarole. The prospective "Alien 4" would then have had him rejoining Ripley and Newt to protect Earth or something. Many aspects of this version of the story would have made for a better follow-up to "Aliens."

There was a really interesting article in a magazine about the permutations the story went through before it was finalized in the version that was shot (which is not entirely the version that ended up on the screen). Unfortunately, I read it some years ago, and can't remember the magazine or issue.

* Except the optical superimpositions that don't look very convincing... and the alien's head cracking apart at the end looked like it was animated by Hanna Barbera.

NP 1 - "Total Recall" by Jerry Goldsmith - 4/5
NP 2 - "Once Upon A Time in the West" by Ennio Morricone - 5/5