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Alien vs. Predator (novel)

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Alien vs. Predator is a 2004 novelization of the film of the same name, written by Marc Cerasini and published by HarperCollins.

Publisher's Summary

The two most terrifying forces in the universe are about to fight to the death... and Earth is their battleground!

A mysterious structure has been detected via satellite far below the ice at the bottom of the world. Assembled by a billionaire industrialist, a crack team of scientists, drillers, archaeologists and adventurers has travelled to the Antarctic wastes to make history by exploring what is believed to be a fully preserved pyramid pre-dating those built by early Egyptian and Mexican civilizations. But once this expedition crew enters, there will be no way out — and no hope left for mankind. Because deep within the labyrinth, a terror is stirring — an alien monstrosity more vicious, cunning, evil and unstoppable than any species in the universe — except one: the otherworldly Predators who brought the nightmare to Earth to begin with and who are now returning here to face the beast once more in unholy combat.

The battle is about to begin — and to the victor will go the planet.

Differences from the Film

The novelization of Alien vs. Predator is somewhat unique in the franchise in that it not only contains scenes not found in the film, it includes entire characters that were absent from the movie, such as Funan, Sven Nyberg, Olga Arenas and Captain Leighton. The added scenes from the Unrated Edition of the film are also included, such as the extended opening set in 1904[1] and Miller examining a severed human skull and spine.[2] Lastly, the novel does not eschew more graphic violence like its film counterpart; several scenes feature levels of blood and gore more comparable to the preceding films in the Alien and Predator franchises.

  • The book contains a completely new opening set in Northern Cambodia in 2000 BC.[3] It follows Funan and three of his tribal friends as they stalk a wild pig near a forbidden sacred pyramid. Just as they are about to make the kill, they are suddenly attacked by Aliens; three of the men are killed almost immediately, while Funan survives to witness a Predator arrive and begin fighting one of the Aliens.[4]
  • The final days of the whaling camp on Bouvetøya in October, 1904 are expanded from what is seen in the Unrated Edition of the film. As the season draws to a close, the whaling team witness strange lights on the horizon and a group is dispatched to investigate. They discover a Predator drop-pod embedded in the ice and it is brought back to camp.[5] Later, the pod opens and releases the Predator inside, which proceeds to slaughter the camp's inhabitants, taking their skulls as trophies, until only Karl Johanssen remains. Johanssen's fate is also slightly different from the film; while stumbling through the ruined camp, he encounters an Alien in the mess, which is then attacked by a Predator as it is about to kill him.[1] In the film he encounters the Predator first, which is then attacked by an Alien as it approaches him.
  • In the film, the receiving station that picks up the transmission from the satellite is in Silver Leaf, Nebraska; in the book, it is located somewhere in New Mexico.[6]
  • Alexa is said to be climbing the Khumbu Icefall, not the "Lho La Ice Fall" as in the film.[7] Kumbu is a real icefall on Everest, whereas Lho La is actually a col.
  • The scene at Sebastian's dig site in Mexico is extended. Before finding the bottle cap, Sebastian meets with a woman named Olga Arenas, who is Juan Ramirez's assistant, and the two discuss the fact that the permit for the dig has run out, with nothing found. The extended scene reveals more about Sebastian's background, and how several of his theories on a link between ancient cultures have ostracised him from the wider scientific community.[8]
  • The bottle cap is simply found in the bottom of a trench in the book, whereas in the film it is inside a (presumably looted) chamber underground.[9]
  • Miller is American and wears incredibly thick glasses.[10]
  • A brief added scene on the bridge of the Piper Maru introduces the captain of the ship, a man called Leighton.[11]
  • The character of Charles Bishop Weyland is significantly different when compared to the film. In the book, he is said to be in his forties, considerably younger than he is in the movie (Lance Henriksen was 63 at the time of filming), and has a habit of carrying a golf club wherever he goes.[12] He also comes across as far more arrogant and selfish.
  • Before Alexa, Sebastian and Miller watch the Southern Lights from the Piper Maru's deck, a scene is added where the team eats dinner, cooked by an expert chef whom Weyland has had flown in specially. During the meal, it is revealed that there is history between Alexa and Quinn's drilling team; Quinn had been prospecting for oil in Alaska several years previously, but Alexa had him shut down on environmental grounds.[13]
  • As the Predator Mother Ship passes the Moon, the occupants awake from stasis sleep, rising naked from tanks filled with viscous fluid.[14] This scene was planned for the film but dropped.
  • Alexa's safety briefing before the team heads out takes place on the Piper Maru's deck, not in the cargo hold.[15] It is also extended, and she goes over some of the equipment the team will be using. At the end, Miller almost falls overboard when the ship strikes the ice, but Alexa saves him.
  • In the novel, there are five Predators rather than three.[16]
  • The Predator armor is described as a pressurized, full body suit that is internally filled with an atmosphere similar to (presumably) that of the Yautja homeworld.[17] This helps to explain why Predators are hunting in Antarctica, the coldest place on Earth, when previous films have stressed the creatures prefer incredibly warm environments.
  • The Predators actually have Plasmacasters among the weapons on their ship, but elect not to take them.[18] The film makes it clear they do not yet have Plasmacasters, and that they are their prize for taking part in the hunt. Before descending to Earth, the Predators also kneel before a large effigy of a warrior god aboard their ship.[18]
  • After the expedition discovers the hole bored through the ice, they discuss how the technology used was clearly far in advance of anything Quinn and his men possess. As a result, Quinn is reluctant to continue without finding out more.[19] This scene was filmed but not included in the movie.
  • As the team explores the whaling camp, Alexa catches Miller without his hat on, complaining that it is itchy. She insists he put it back on, explaining how she once saw a man lose both ears to frostbite.[20] This scene was filmed but not used in the film.
  • As it waits offshore, the Piper Maru receives a storm warning from the U.S. Navy informing them that a serious weather front is moving in their direction.[21]
  • A little later, the Piper Maru detects the incoming Predator ship on its radar, travelling at Mach 10 and heading straight for them. As the ship passes overhead, the sonic boom shatters the ship's windows and the wake rocks the vessel so violently several men are thrown overboard onto the ice.[22] Leighton attempts to warn the team at the whaling station that the object is heading in their direction, but cannot get through because of the storm.
  • The Queen's Egg sac is far smaller in the novel than in the films, reaching only the length of her tail. It is shown that not all of the Eggs that she lays are fertile, and the infertile ones are destroyed by an automated system.[23]
  • Boris is said to be Russian, not Dutch as in the film (he wears a Dutch flag patch on his sleeve).[25]
  • Boris' death is different and far more gruesome in the book; instead of simply being thrown across the room and (presumably) breaking his neck, a Predator lops off both of his arms before severing his throat.[26]
  • As events unfold at the pyramid site, the book continues to follow what is happening aboard the Piper Maru, detailing how the crew battles to clear the ice accumulating on the ship's superstructure, and how they cannot possibly help the others at the whaling station until the storm has passed.[27]
  • The sarcophagus containing the Plasmacasters is built from metal instead of stone and is clearly constructed by the Predators in the book. The lock on it is also based on the constellation of Orion, not the Aztec calendar as in the film. It consists of a series of circles that glow when touched, with a similar set of circles on a nearby wall. When Sebastian sets both to match the constellation Orion, the sarcophagus opens.[28]
  • After the temple has shifted for the first time, Alexa and the others with her cross a bridge over a seemingly bottomless cavern, and they briefly discuss how humans could not possibly have built such a pyramid, and may have been aided by aliens.[29] After crossing the bridge, they encounter a room full of life-sized Predator statues, many of them depicted battling prey, including Xenomorphs.[30]
  • We do not see the Chestbursters hatch from Adele, Thomas and the others in the sacrificial chamber; this happens "off-screen".
  • Some of the Predators use Smart-Discs, which were absent from the film.[31]
  • Miller and Verheiden hear Connors crying for help when they enter the maze of narrow shafts, and then hear him get attacked by an Alien.[32] In the film, Connors has already been taken by the time Miller and Verheiden enter the labyrinth.
  • After becoming separated from Miller, Verheiden finds a shed Xenomorph skin.[33]
  • The fight between Celtic and Grid is shorter and less intense, and ends differently; instead of Grid taking the Predator by surprise when breaking out from the net, Celtic apparently surrenders to Grid and allows himself to be killed.[34]
  • Weyland's death is also different. When he attacks Scar with the makeshift flamethrower, he actually succeeds in setting the Predator alight, and Scar bellows in pain. Despite this, Scar stabs Weyland with his Wrist Blades as in the film, before drawing him into the fire and burning him. Weyland's inhaler tank then explodes, but Scar survives the blast.[35]
  • Scar marks himself with the finger of a deceased Drone, not a Facehugger.[36] After doing so, he is given his name by Alexa, and is the only Predator in the book to be named.
  • When Alexa and Sebastian are discussing how the Predators have visited Earth to hunt before, Alexa mentions an unexplained nuclear explosion that took place on Bouvet Island in 1979, the implication being the Predators were responsible.[37] This is based on a real event that remains unsolved (the Vela Incident, although in reality this explosion did not take place on Bouvet Island but near the Prince Edward Islands, which are over 1,500 miles away). While the cause of the detonation has never been definitively determined, it is thought to have been a nuclear weapons test conducted by South Africa and/or Israel.
  • The two additional Predators in the book are killed while searching the corpses of Stone and Bass for weaponry. The first is ambushed and hoisted up by an Alien using its tail, before the creatures rip it apart.[38] The second then engages the Aliens in a brief fight — at one point it bisects a leaping Facehugger with a Smart-Disc, much like Scar in the final film — but is seriously wounded when the flesh is stripped from one of its legs by an Alien. The Predator is overpowered and pinned to the floor and Grid appears, holding the Predator's head while a Facehugger crawls onto its face and subdues it.[39]
  • Grid is referred to as the "alpha-Alien" and is described as being physically larger than the other Aliens.[40]
  • After Miller shoots the Facehugger while cocooned in the Hive, he shouts, "Score one for the Beakers."[41] This scene as filmed but cut from the movie.
  • After marking himself, Scar mutilates the dead Alien and takes its inner jaw as a trophy.[42]
  • When Alexa and Sebastian jump the chasm, neither of them makes it and they both end up hanging from the edge. They then have to fight off three Facehuggers while hanging over the crevasse.[43] After Sebastain is taken, his Pepsi bottle cap rolls past Alexa and falls into the ravine.
  • While Alexa is fighting her first Alien, Grid reappears and attacks Scar. The two engage in a lengthy and brutal hand-to-hand duel, which ends when Grid is buried under falling masonry.[44] Several more Aliens arrive and attempt to dig Grid out, but Scar flushes them away using his Plasmacaster.[44]
  • Scar is able to manipulate the Pyramid's wall shifting through a hieroglyph keypad on the wall, and uses this ability to seal a door when a revived Grid leads a swarm of Aliens towards him and Alexa.[45]
  • The novel reveals that the mesh worn by Predators over their body is heated and important in regulating their body temperature.[46]
  • While dissecting an Alien corpse, Scar touches the creature's brain and causes its arm to snatch out towards Alexa, an act she interprets as a joke.[47] A similar scene was added to the Unrated Edition of the movie, but with the Alien's inner jaw filling the role of its arm in the book.
  • Scar uses recordings of Alexa's voice to communicate with her.[48]
  • Instead of just a shield and spear, Alexa wears a more complete suit of armor made from Alien chitin, including a helmet. Scar also dons several pieces of Alien armor, to replace his own that has been damaged by acid blood.[49]
  • As Alexa and Scar flee the pyramid, the Predator that was impregnated earlier stumbles into them. The Chestburster inside emerges, but Scar kills both with his Plasmacaster.[50]
  • Grid again attacks Scar at the base of the tunnel through the ice, along with another Alien, which Scar decapitates.[51]
  • After reaching the surface, Scar sees the Queen and her horde racing up the tunnel after them.[52] Grid actually reaches the surface before the Self-Destruct Device detonates, but is killed when the blast shoots up the tunnel and blows the Alien apart.[53] This was filmed but altered so that Grid is killed underground in the movie.
  • When the iron vat goes over the cliff, it does not immediately break the thick ice, and the Queen recovers and prepares to attack Alexa. Just as she prepares to deliver the killing blow, the ice breaks and she is dragged over the cliff and into the ocean.[54]

Trivia

  • Several lines of dialogue added in the book are clear references to other movies. For example, while pleading his case at the dig site in Mexico, Sebastian tells Olga Arenas, "Archaeology is not an exact science." This same line is said under similar circumstances by archaeologist René Belloq in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Later, when the expedition is first exploring the pyramid, Alexa tells the rest of the group, "If you liked that, you're gonna love this." This is a quote from Private Hudson in Aliens. Then, when moving deeper into the structure, Alexa muses to Sebastian, "Imagine. In a thousand years I could be a valuable archaeological find." This is also remarkably similar to dialogue spoken by Belloq in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Editions

See Also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 17 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  2. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 138 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  3. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 1 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  4. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 8 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  5. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 13 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  6. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 18 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  7. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 25 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  8. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 38 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  9. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 42 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  10. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 47 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  11. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 50 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  12. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 59 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  13. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 77 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  14. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 84 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  15. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 86 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  16. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 93 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  17. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 94 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 95 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  19. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 104 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  20. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 108 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  21. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 111 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  22. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 118 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  23. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 132 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  24. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 137 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  25. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 142 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  26. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 150 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  27. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 155 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  28. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 159 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  29. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 173 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  30. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 174 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  31. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 181 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  32. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 188 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  33. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 189 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  34. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 199 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  35. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 204 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  36. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 207 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  37. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 212 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  38. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 214 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  39. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 216 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  40. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 215 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  41. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 218 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  42. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 219 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  43. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 223 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 231 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  45. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 234 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  46. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 237 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  47. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 241 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  48. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 242 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  49. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 243 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  50. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 255 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  51. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 259 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  52. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 261 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  53. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 262 (2004), HarperEntertainment.
  54. ↑ Marc Cerasini. Alien vs. Predator novelization, p. 272 (2004), HarperEntertainment.

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