Alien: The Blueprints Book Review

Titan Books has published a hardback book titled Alien: The Blueprints available from numerous online retailers and high street book stores. Alien was revolutionary in every aspect of horror and sci-fi when it released in cinemas in 1979 and is classed by many creators within the horror and sci-fi genres as a huge inspiration, alongside being considered as one of the very greatest visionary films of any genre of all time. Alien spawned a blockbuster franchise that spanned multiple decades with such sequels as Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection; complimented by prequels including Prometheus and Alien Covenant as well as numerous videogames such as Alien Trilogy, Alien Resurrection and Alien: Isolation and novels. Does Alien: The Blueprints deliver what it sets out to by producing technical coverage of every major ship and vehicle within the Alien film franchise?

Alien: The Blueprints is in genuinely experienced hands as it is created by Graham Langridge that has previously constructed exterior blueprints for the USCSS Nostromo from the original Alien film in 2009, while also having produced blueprints for the USS Sulaco, the M577 Armoured Personnel Carrier and P-5000 PowerLoader from Aliens between 2011 and 2015. Graham Langridge has produced technical blueprints and graphics since 2002, while also having worked on the design production of mixed-media advertising for stage productions in the UK.

Alien: The Blueprints comprises half a dozen core chapters with each chapter focusing on the technical blueprints for every major ship and vehicle within that specific film from the Alien franchise. Technical blueprints include Cygnus Tesotek Refinery, the Nostromo and the Narcissus from Alien; Derelict Alien Ship, Space Jockey, APC, the Sulaco, Dropship, PowerLoader, Hadley’s Hope and Diahotai Tractor from Aliens; Emergency Escape Vehicle and Penal Colony in Alien 3; the Betty and USM Auriga from Alien Resurrection; the Prometheus, RT01, RC01 and ATV from Prometheus; and the Lander, Cargo Lifter and the Covenant from Alien: Covenant. An additional chapter titled Afterword includes the artist and author Graham Langridge’s view on the production of the blueprints in the sense of not only the history of effort towards creating the book, but also the methodology of building the blueprints from the ground upwards.

The quality of writing is amazing; not only from the perspective of narrating each major component of the Nostromo and various other ships and vehicles, but also in introducing each film at the beginning of the respective chapter, while detailing some of the design direction accompanied by equally quality imagery and artwork. Meanwhile, the afterword and its subject matter is a very thoughtful trip down memory lane from how Graham Langridge gradually progressed through creating such an unbelievably detailed set of blueprints and analysis of each facet of the ships and vehicles.

Alien: The Blueprints is presented in a rather sensational fashion from the blueprints on the hardback front cover to the back cover that also features an interesting synopsis. However, the truly exceptional part of the presentation is the immensely in-depth ship and vehicle blueprints that really make Alien: The Blueprints stand out from any other book on the Alien film franchise.

Alien: The Blueprints’ value is in the quality of quantity seen in the ship and vehicle blueprints, alongside an introduction to each film and brilliant analysis on each and every blueprint throughout the superb 156 pages.

Alien fans should also look at other Alien books from Titan Books including The Making of Alien that released on July 23rd 2019 at https://titanbooks.com/9786-the-making-of-alien/ , the Alien: Isolation novel at https://titanbooks.com/70010-alien-isolation/ and various other Alien novels in volumes containing multiple novels per volume of The Complete Aliens Omnibus:
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7

Analysis
• Title: Alien: The Blueprints
• Writer: Graham Langridge
• Art: Graham Langridge
• Publisher: Titan Books
• Length: 156 pages
• Cover: Hardback

Alien: The Blueprints can be purchased in the UK from Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alien-Blueprints-Graham-Langridge/dp/1785654950/ and Forbidden Planet at https://forbiddenplanet.com/276257-alien-the-blueprints-hardcover/

Alien: The Blueprints can be purchased in America and Canada from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Alien-Blueprints-Graham-Langridge/dp/1785654950/

You can also find Titan Books’ official website including a back catalogue of captivating books at https://www.titanbooks.com/ and product details regarding Alien: The Blueprints at https://titanbooks.com/9152-alien-the-blueprints/