The Alien franchise seems to be slipping a bit, with no new powerhouse trailer today for its annual Alien Day. But the director did release the above image of the new facehugger creature from this summer’s latest film, Alien: Romulus (somebody please get it a toothbrush). The seventh film in the franchise (or ninth if you count the Predator tie-ins), it stars Cailee Spaeny (Pacific Rim: Uprising) as Rain Carradine, Isabela Merced (Transformers: The Last Knight) as Kay, Murder is Easy star David Jonsson as Andy, plus Archie Renaux, Spike Feam, and Aileen Wu. We previewed the movie’s first trailer here.
With the exception of the vast expanded universe of Star Wars, Doctor Who, and Star Trek, probably no other sci-fi property has branched out in as many exciting ways as the Alien universe. Every new tie-in novel consistently has been packed with suspense and innovative takes on Weyland-Yutani and its influence years before, during, and after the events of Ridley Scott’s original Alien movie. Each year fans of Alien celebrate April 26 as Alien Day, reflecting not a specific day inside the Alien universe, but the designation of the moon in the film Aliens: LV426. There’s even more reason to look back this year, as fans celebrate the 45th anniversary of the release of the original Ridley Scott film.
Here are some of our favorite revisits to the Alien universe…
You’ll find a definitive look back at the movie Alien in the late J.W. Rinzler’s The Making of Alien, available here (reviewed here).
While you’re waiting for Alien: Romulus, Titan Books has released its next 3-for-1 omnibus of Alien novels following Alien: The Shadow Archive (reviewed here): The Complete Alien Collection: Symphony of Death (available now here at Amazon). Last year I reviewed both Alien: Enemy of My Enemy (here) and Aliens: Bishop (here), two novels I’d put at the top of a decade of great tie-in novels. Before last year I would have put at the very top Tim Lebbon’s Alien: Out of the Shadows (reviewed here), a fantastic journey featuring Ellen Ripley, and like the new Alien: Romulus it bridges the first two Alien movies. A close runner-up to that book also packed with excitement, sci-fi, and horror, is Tim Waggoner’s Alien: Prototype. You’ll find it and more in the new collection.
And there’s Jonesy: Nine Lives on the Nostromo by Rory Lucey (reviewed here), which reminds us: In space, no one can hear you meow. Aboard the USCSS Nostromo, Jonesy leads a simple life enjoying The Company cat food and chasing space rodents. Until one day his cryostasis catnap is rudely interrupted. The humans have a new pet and it’s definitely not house trained. This full-color illustrated book offers a cat’s eye view of all the action from the movie Alien.
Not enough? You say you want a full-on fix of Alien today? Check out any of these Alien tie-ins and films previously reviewed here at borg:
Alien: Out of the Shadows by Tim Lebbon
Alien: Sea of Sorrows by James A. Moore
Alien: River of Pain by Christopher Golden
Alien: The Cold Forge by Alex White
Alien: Colony War by David Barnett
Alien: Inferno’s Fall by Phillippa Ballentine
Alien: Prototype by Tim Waggoner
Alien: Into Charybdis by Alex White
Alien: Enemy of My Enemy by Mary Sangiovanni
Alien The Complete Collection: The Shadow Archive Collection by various
Alien The Complete Collection: Symphony of Death by various
Aliens: Infiltrator by Weston Ochse
Aliens: Bug Hunt by various
Aliens: Vasquez by V. Castro
Aliens: Bishop by T.R. Napper
Aliens vs Predator: Rift War by Weston Ochse and Yvonne Navarro
Alien3: The Unproduced First Draft Screenplay by William Gibson and Pat Cadigan
The Book of Alien: Augmented Reality Survival Manual, by Owen Williams
Alien Covenant: Origins, by Alan Dean Foster
The Making of Alien by J.W. Rinzler
The Making of Aliens by J.W. Rinzler
The Art and Making of Alien Covenant, by Simon Ward
Alien Covenant: David’s Drawings by Dane Hallett & Matt Hatton
Aliens: Bug Hunt, anthology
Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report, by S.D. Perry
Aliens: The 30th Anniversary Edition
Cinema Alchemist: Designing Star Wars and Alien, by Roger Christian
Aliens: The Set Photography, by Simon Ward
The Movie Art of Syd Mead, Visual Futurist
Jonesy: Nine Lives on the Nostromo
Find the Xenomorph: An Aliens Search-and-Find Book
Tech Noir by James Cameron
Need to resupply your collection of Alien toys? Look at all that’s available here at Entertainment Earth.
Or go directly to the source, the movies themselves, all at affordable prices on Amazon, and even less with subscriptions to various streaming platforms:
Game over! Keep coming back to more Alien coverage at borg. Happy Alien Day 2024!
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
