“Aliens: Bishop” — Bottom Line

Should have been the film sequel to “Aliens”

Bottom Line

Just over a month ago, I came across a book called, “Aliens: Bishop” while browsing the Amazon web site. I was searching for the original, unproduced screenplay of “Aliens 3” written by William Gibson. I had heard several years ago that this screenplay was far superior to the film that ended up actually being released and for some reason that thought bubble popped into my head on that morning and I started searching for the book online. But then I saw the cover image for “Aliens: Bishop” in my search results and I had to click on it and find out what was behind this powerful illustration. That must be Bishop’s severed hand.

SOURCE: Amazon.ca

The description on Amazon was:

A direct sequel to Aliens and Alien 3—Weyland-Yutani, the Colonial Marines, and Bishop’s creator all pursue the android for the deadly Xenomorph data contained in his brain.  Written by T. R. Napper, award-winning author of the acclaimed 36 Streets, whose explosive work explores the artificial intelligence and what it is to be human.

And:

The USCSS Patna has been found.

Although the synthetic Bishop asked to be shut down forever, his creator has other plans.
Michael Bishop seeks the Xenomorph knowledge stored in the android’s mind, and brings
Bishop back to life—but for what reason? No longer an employee of the Weyland-Yutani
Corporation, Michael tells his creation that he seeks to advance medical research for the benefit
of humanity. Yet where does he get the resources needed to advance his work, and with whom
do his new allegiances lie?

That was enough to hook me.

I was a massive fan of the James Cameron film, “Aliens” and had seen it probably three or four times since it came out in 1986. I was also a huge fan of the synthetic human (android), Bishop, played by Lance Henriksen. Damn, Bishop was uber cool. And now here we had a complete story about what happened to him after the Alien Queen ripped him apart at the end of “Aliens” (sorry, if that was a spoiler for you)!

I usually check my library catalogue for books that I find on Amazon that I am interested in and I quickly found “Aliens: Bishop” was available as an ebook and an audiobook in the library system. I opted for the audiobook, downloaded it and started listening to it right away. The rest was history.

A face hovered above. Pale skin. High, arching forehead with a shock of brown hair atop. Deep-set lines bracketing nose and mouth. A mouth that smiled. Bishop’s mouth. Bishop’s face. A mirror. A slightly older version of himself. Bishop moved a hand to his face, then reached out to the one above. Scrutinizing blue eyes watched the synthetic as he touched this other’s face, this doppelgänger.

SOURCE: “Aliens: Bishop”, by T. R. Napper

I became totally engrossed in this book written by T.R. Napper and over the next couple of weeks I listened to it pretty much whenever I could — while washing dishes, riding the Air Assault Air Bike, doing resistance training, drinking my morning coffee, shaving, brushing my teeth and while falling asleep in bed. The plot was well conceived and expanded on the concept of synthetic humans and Artificial Intelligence introduced in “Alien” and “Aliens”. It delved into several questions including:

• What the ‘mind’ of an android would be like?

• What the implications would be of such a mind being transferred to another host body would entail?

• Whether an android was an intelligent being equal to a human and therefore deserving of the same rights?

• What would happen if the android exceeded the intelligence and abilities of its human creator? And could it exceed its programming?