Aliens: Colonial Marines Technical Manual

High-tech meets giant insect in excruciating detail

• Aliens: Colonial Marines Technical Manual
• by Lee Brimmicombe-Wood
• HarperPrism
• $17.00/$23.75 Canada
• Trade Paperback, June 1996

stensibly, the Colonial Marines Technical Manual is a look at the Marine Corps of the Aliens movies -- how they're organized, how they're armed and why such a well-organized, well-armed team was shredded by a bunch of jumped-up hyperbugs.

In reality, the "why" is subsumed by the "how." This manual mostly consists of highly detailed breakdowns of the Corps' interstellar command structure, its history and goals, and its equipment and armament. Brimmicombe-Wood presents this cornucopia of information in simple, standard guide form, as though it were an actual Marine technical guidebook. The color movie stills aren't exactly standard-issue, but the schematics, diagrams (43K .GIF) and first-person essays make the illusion impressively complete.

The bulk of this 160-page book is dedicated to the nuts and bolts of Marine weaponry and support machinery, including tanks, dropships, personal armor, mines, nukes and hand-held weapons of all types. The details go far beyond range and firepower; Brimmicombe-Wood pries into the machines' innermost workings, with microscopic factoids about weight, length, construction and configuration, optimal and optional operation, muzzle velocity, trigger pull force, cyclic fire rate, metallurgical composition, etc. It's all backed up with personal anecdotes from the Marines themselves about how the weapons and devices handle and how well they're trusted.

The scientific detail is amazing, and it's supported by clever personal touches ranging from informal unit insignia to Corps graffiti. Unfortunately, few people need information this overspecialized. Anybody who cares about the metric tonnage of the Sulaco or the spalling prevention factor of 1500 denier Venlar fibers need look no further -- but the average Aliens fan probably isn't interested.

In fact, the manual takes the stance that the Marines' gear is far more interesting than the xenomorphs themselves. The book's final chapter does take a brief look into what went wrong with the Marines' fatal mission on Acheron -- but the entire segment appears to be an excuse for technical information on equipment unrelated to the Corps, like the Daihotai tractor and the commercial ship Nostromo from Alien. The investigators, quoted in detail as they hypothesize about xenomorph blood and growth factors, reach few conclusions, nor do they add much to the Aliens mythos. Of the entire book, this is the section with the broadest appeal...and the sketchiest detail. Compared to the high-tech segments, it seems like a tacked-on afterthought.

As a sourcebook for Aliens fiction or an Aliens-related role-playing game, the Colonial Marines Technical Manual is beyond impressive. And for those fanatically interested in futuristic weapons and weaponry, it may just be fun. But for anyone who liked Aliens for the action and imagery, this is just a dry, static analysis of something that was a lot more exciting in motion.

This is way more than I ever needed to know about any kind of weaponry -- let alone fictional weaponry. Different squids for different kids, though. -- Tasha

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