Letter: An alien cubed

Sir: Gilbert Adair need not fear for the talent of those who name films in Hollywood, for Alien 3 is in fact much more clever than the 'Son of' and 'Return of' sequels he mentions (Arts; 'The last detail', 28 August).

Each film in the Alien cycle has carried a name that reflects the number of aliens involved, hence in Alien there is just one and in Aliens far too many to count.

The third film represents a problem, since there is only one creature, but the film is the third in the sequence. Employing the superscripted 3 allows the makers to indicate that this is the third film, while reinforcing the idea of there being a singular alien, since one cubed is . . . one.

Yours sincerely,

JONATHAN GURD

Wollaton,

Nottingham

28 August