The Making of Aliens

(My actual rating is closer to 3 3/4 stars)Although it's definitely the most marketable and crowd-pleasing entry in the "Alien" franchise, it's rather surprising that this is the first really substantial book ever published on the making of "Aliens." This follow-up to J.W. Rinzler's "The Making of Alien" (which I've previously reviewed) is a rather fascinating read and a fairly solid reference but falls short of the standard set by its predecessor.I'll get some of the negative stuff out of the way first. As "Aliens" is a bigger and more elaborate movie than "Alien," one might expect that this book would be a bigger and more elaborate affair. Oddly, that's not the case. Although it follows the same format to a T, it's not quite as detailed, or as interesting on a visual level. The production stills tend to be much darker and grainier this time, there aren't as many concept sketches, and once again, the movie screencaps are extremely small and look like they've been sourced from the laserdisc edition. Interestingly, it's actually 300 pages long as opposed to the 256 pages in the product description. A good chunk of those additional pages seems to be occupied by dark, grainy production stills which have been spread across two pages.Thankfully, Rinzler does a fine job following every aspect of the production from the earliest screenplay revisions all the way to post-production and initial critical and audience reactions. Much of it is derived from magazine articles published before and immediately after the film's release, as well as a number of interviews the author conducted in 2019. There's definitely a heavier emphasis on how models, miniatures, puppets, and practical effects were employed, although I still can't figure out how the powerloader operated! I suppose if you're an "Aliens" fanatic you won't find much new here, but it's still pretty cool seeing all of this material in one place.If there's one thing I've learned from reading this book and its predecessor, it's that "Prometheus" and "Covenant" probably would have been better movies if their principal photographies had been nightmarish 14-week long dumpster fires. It's good to remind ourselves that a lot of classic movies are the product of financial and technical limitations, and lots of backbreaking work carried out by people who generally don't really like each other. Although it could have been a bit better, I still recommend this book to fans of the "Alien" franchise.

Despite the considerable drama on set (multiple firings, a "crew mutiny" at one point), this is a dryer read than Rinzler's previous books, though it isn't really his fault for the most part. 'Aliens' was a pretty straight-forward affair, without all the opportunities for interesting glances into "what-if" territory that helped make Rinzler's other 'Making of' books so fascinating.In fact, one of the more surprising revelations is that Walter Hill & David Giler had already written an initial treatment and much of the concept was in place even before Cameron came on board (by the way, the feeling from 'The Making of Alien' that Hill & Giler are pretty shady gets really, really confirmed here). There also aren't as many colorful personalities here. James Cameron and Gale Hurd are their own brand of crazy, but they lean more "sociopath who never gets intimidated even when they should" rather than schizo or neurotic. You won't read anything like "let's try putting live maggots into the alien head, that should look interesting" in this book.Most annoying is the continuation of the prior book's tendency not to follow up on interesting threads. The one that comes immediately to mind is when it brings up that multiple scripts had been commissioned for an 'Alien' sequel in the years prior to 'Aliens' but never bothers to go into any details. If they're just not available that's one thing, but the book seems straight-up uninterested, which is irritating. Finally, with the exception of the Queen, there aren't many large photos on display of the aliens themselves, and they had a unique look in this film, so it's a bit of a shame.That all being said, this is still the best 'Aliens' book on the market - after all, for all my complaints we're still talking about a 4/5-star book. In fact it's probably *because* it's the best we can reasonably hope for that the book comes off ever-so-slightly disappointing.

Aliens is by far one of my favorite movies. The struggles James Cameron and crew had to deal with while making this epic sequel are as action-packed as the movie. I own several 'Making of' books about Aliens and this one trumps them all. This is the de facto book of Aliens detailing everything from the script changes to actor struggles all the way to crew infighting and world-building. The book has it all and is written in sizable chunks. Let's be clear: there are a lot of never-before-seen photos, but there is also an equable amount of research and crew interviews that will take days to read through. If you want to add any book of Aliens to your collection, forget the rest and pick this one up. You won't be sorry.

If you're an ALIENS fan, you know you're going to get this book anyway. Yes, the many interviews and stories have been mentioned and talked about before in DVD, Bluray and other books - BUT - Rinzler does manage to elaborate on these stories just a little bit more to make you say, "Okay, I knew about that, but I didn't know that...". There's additional stories about the effects teams and what they went through - you actually tire of how much they complain about how awful it was, until you finally get it - it was awful! It's these little bits and the consolidation of all the other stuff into one resource that makes this book worth it. As usual with Rinzler's book formats - it's hell to hold and read on a toilet.

Cannot say enough great things about this tome.If nothing else, even if you aren't a fan of Aliens, you should get it purely for Ron Cobb's drawings!So far, best book ever.

Mostly excellent content, but too few pics of the movie miniatures and props made for the film, and too little of Syd Mead's concept art and drawings for the film.

Great book. Lovely pictures, shot with an ACTUAL FILM CAMERA (I find the complaints about grain in some reviews quite bizarre). The text is well paced, though I could have done without the introduction about James Cameron (he’s rumoured to be a bit of a pr*ck, which this book doesn’t disprove). Once the book reaches the actual production its unputdownable - the film was notoriously difficult to make, and its all covered.Another great book from Mr. Rinzler.

This 350 page large format hardback book is probably the definitive behind the scenes look at the making of the Aliens film.Covering every single aspect of production, from Cameron's original pitch for the movie, his early versions of the script, the difficulties in negotiating a deal with a studio to get funding, how the sets and props were constructed, the search for the acting talent that ultimately starred in it and why they were chosen for their roles, the troubles they had dealing with the UK's union laws, and so much more.The book is an absolutely indispensable tome of often never before published information and little known facts, and is packed with hundreds of images that will allow you to view this old movie with a brand new set of eyes.Excellent!

Hi, this would be the perfect companion for the Aliens fan or even the most casual of Sci-fi action fans! Utterly resplendent with concept art, production sketches, script samples, interviews and plot analysis. The best large Sci-fi coffee table 'brick' you could hope for. The author is also responsible for a close-look at the original Alien as well. Both publications are worth checking out, but would also look more fetching in any book-case crammed with studies of the classics!

Nice big book on a brilliant filmHowever, too many large, dark, slightly grainy stills from the film.I would have left them out, they didnt add anything.Not enough on the cast,Some nice behind the scene info and photos and artwork.A bit dissapointing to be honest in parts, probably needed to dump 20 pages.

I’ve seen other reviews mention the grainy images in this book and it’s true - a lot of the book is made up of grainy set photos and film stills (not what you expect of a coffee table book like this) and pages of the script which again take up lots of the book but don’t add much for a fan of the movie. Disappointing to be honest and after a 30 minute browse I think this will probably stay on the shelf. Feels like a waste of £30