In general I do not like prequels… and it’s not just because the Star Wars ones were let downs. With prequels, you already know certain things will happen… and certain things won’t happen… which takes a lot out of a story for me.
Anyway, if you’re going to do a prequel, you might as well put it in the right hands. There is an Alien prequel coming, and it’s been confirmed that director Ridley Scott will be taking the helm for the movie.
Our friends over at Movies Online give us this:
News from Variety has come in that Ridley Scott has been tapped to direct the new Alien prequel which is being planned as a brand new prequel. This is great news for fans looking to get their fix from the franchise, especially after the mess that Alien vs Predator was. The film is set up to be a prequel to the groundbreaking 1979 film that Scott directed.
So will the heroes in this new movie kill the Alien race??? Well obviously no, so there goes any real mystery.
Still… if you’re going to do an Alien prequel… this is the right guy to do it. I just don’t think they should be doing it at all.
Great. Ridley Scott is a beast and one of my favorite directors (even though I wasn’t a huge fan of Kingdom of Heaven and Body of Lies…not a HUGE fan…)
Wow, so glad Scott decided to take on the role but…what ever happened to Carl Rinsch? IMDB still says he’s directing?
Although, don’t get me wrong, I’m feeling somewhat relieved Scott is directing.
THANK GOD! If anyone should be directing this movie, it’s him. So glad that no name director they were saying that they got to do it is out now.
Really after the AVP movies and Alien 3-4 not being that good or not good at all, in order to get people interested in another Alien film, let alone a prequel, they pretty much HAD to get Ridley Scott at the helm. This makes me so so happy. Ridley Scott’s return to sci-fi and not just any sci-fi, but an Alien movie? Oh hell yes!
Even though it is a prequel, I’m sure it’s going to be amazing, and little doubt in my mind that he can bring this series back to being one of the best Sci-Fi stories EVER.
Some people think the Aliens were genetically engineered buy the “Space Jockeys” or some other race. Created as weapons to destroy other planets. That the Space Jockey’s plan back fired on them and that’s why their ship is found crash landed on that planet.
Who knows though where they really come from or what they really are. But this movie just might finally answer that for all of us… ;P
First off David Fincher is one hell of a director and look at what happened to Alien3 thanks for Fox running the show. What makes you think anything will be different with this movie?
Don’t you see the problem with them answering those specific questions? They’re not going to do justice to the originals intended mystery which allowed the viewer’s imagination to play out.
The more we see the alien the less alien it becomes and the more familiar it is to us.
Agree with Andy, I don’t WANT an answer to that stuff.
The prequels to Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Star Wars added NOTHING to the original film’s mystery. Because WHATEVER they put on film won’t ever be even close to the horrible and exciting/dramatic stuff we imagined from a few lines of dialogue or a badass character.
When Obi-wan mentioned fighting the Clone Wars with Luke’s dad, kids all over the world imagined the most bad-ass thing possible. It was mysterious, and the name was awesome. Even if Lucas had made Apocalypse Now in space as a prequel, it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as amazing as what we all imagined.
In this case, the horrible stuff we could imagine with Aliens: What the hell were these huge pilot things? Why were they keeping Alien eggs? A weapon? An experiment? I myself half imagined them as vicious pets for something even more nightmarish. Whatever the prequel movie says about these things, it won’t live up to the crazy stuff we’ve all imagined. And what with Giger’s sexually-charged designs, I imagined some CRAZY stuff.
Well as you say if anyone is going to do it then Ridley would be the best choice. I am of the same mind that some of the entertainment will be lost because we will know certain things won’t happen. But I still reckon it should be one hell of a good film especially if he recaptures then tension and suspense which made Alien great.
Maybe it will revolve around the alien ship that they discover in the first film with the “Space jockey”.
Well, with the Preds going one way and the Aliens another, and the AvP films stand alone non-existent films….
Good riddance and welcome back.
I’d prefer they play catchup with the Predator series and leave the Alien series alone FOREVER.
Well said Andy, I second that motion:)
I’m down for it, with today’s sfx and Scott on it it should at least be decent. Not a big fan of “Alien” movies to know that much backstory so as long as it works as a movie I’ll probaly dig it.
Sounds like Ridley Scott is desperate for a hit movie, which is why he is resorting back to the Alien franchise. Scott hasn’t made a hit in a long time now. Gangster was a moderate success, but with 2 huge stars it should’ve done much better than 130 mil. Body of Lies, A good year, Kingdom of Heaven, and Matchstick men were all flops.
I think they should just lay to rest the Alien franchise. But if Scott believes there’s still something more to tell in that movie world, then I hope he has good judgement on this.
I actualy think Matchstick Men is highly underrated.
Are you kidding me? American Gangster was amazing! Kingdom of Heaven wasn’t bad and neither was Body of Lies, but they are definitely weaker than they should have been.
I hope we get to see how the Aliens earn enough money to start their own Taco Bell franchise.
soryy thats illegal aliens…these guys are just as hard of workers but they have other ambitions other then the ones u speak of.
Does that come with cheese?
Alien vs Predator: Taco Bell
In all the alien films the queen and nest are destroyed or what ever we think is the main threat and before it all ends we find out that know there is one last infected.
I will be interested to see if it will be more like his or Camrons Alines I think it will be more like Aliens lots and lots of alines.
Alines FTW!
I would be more upset if Scott wasn’t directing it. Ill give it a chance. Its gotta be better than Alien 3 or Alien Resurrection.
That’s a pretty low standard.
i agree with slash…those films where horrible….not to mention they are a mockery of what literature that has been made in the series.
The assembly cut of Alien3 is better than Aliens. JC turned them into bugs and space marines into the equivalent of the cops in Super Troopers.
Alien 3 is really just a repeat of the formula of the first one. Aliens took a far greater risk by going in it’s own direction and brought more to the Alien mythos than it’s sequels could hope for.
Alien3 should never have been made, I’m not going to argue that. But I also belive Aliens should never have been made. I still think Fincher did a tremendous job with what he was given and I love the original and view Aliens as nothing more than typical 80’s action galore. So of course I’m okay with Alien3 returning to the same forumla used in the original.
To each his own I guess.
My biggest problem with Alien 3 was over what it could have been. I recall the plans they had for it originally were A LOT more ambitious than what we ended up with. But the studio didn’t want to invest the amount of money that was needed.
I seem to recall something about the Aliens making it to Earth.
Correct, one of the scripts involved with the Earth plot had the main character being Hudson while Ripley was in a coma for most of the movie.
@Andy S.
To quote a line from Aliens
“I’m Hudson, sir. He’s Hicks”
;)
My extreme apologies, was quickly typing that up at work. Thanks for pointing it out, sure don’t want to confuse Mr. Bien with Mr. Paxton.
The ‘ambitious’ original script for Alien3 was penned by William Gibson… If anybody here knows their SF, that name is a big deal.
WORST news of the decade. This will just be another failed attempt at cashing in on the original Alien and doing nothing but piss on it. In fact I believe it will do the most damage since it will be a stand alone Alien movie detailing the events prior to the original. This really pisses me off.
why?
how is explaining the back story of one of the greatest horror films of the century a bad idea, specially when it is done by the man who directed the first one.
One of the greatest things going for the original was the mystery behind the creature. Instead of ruining things the viewer is allowed to let their imagination play out. Something that can never be matched by an actual explanation. A prequel will not further the experience at all but rather dilute it and ruin a lot of what made the original such a classic.
In regards to Ridley, he is not infallible. Thank god we were not treated to his intended ending to Alien.
“One of the greatest things going for the original was the mystery behind the creature”
I 100% agree w/ you on that, and thats why I think giving the creature an origin is gonna ruin it…especiall when you KNOW Hollywood if gonna make it just another bio weapon.
I’ve always wondered what the giant alien race was who’s ship they picked the alien up from.
I have to and I’ve never wanted it explained to me.
I think this is a TERRIBLE idea b/c giving the creature an origin is just gonna ruin the character, but having Scott direct gives me some hope, but then again the original director for Indiana Jones directed the fourth installment and it was TERRIBLE.
I SHOULD be excited for this, but Ridley Scott’s pretty hit-and-miss and lately he’s not been on the top of his game. Who knows how this will turn out.
John, I’m with you on this, “I just don’t think they should be doing it at all.”
The problem with this idea for a movie is that the Alien (as popular and awesome as it is) really isn’t a story that would benefit from a prequel.
The real threat in ‘ALIEN’ is really just the alien being product its own species (like Ants or sharks for instance). An Alien’s sole purpose is to hunt, feed and reproduce of the species. So a prequel wouldn’t be as impacting as one that was done for say, Batman where back story is needed and desired. Aside from the ‘idea’ of it, does an Alien prequel really sound desirable?
Sure, it’d be cool if we found out what planet they came from but I think beyond that, it’s going to be hard to come up with an intriguing prequel concept. Would anyone really care about Ripley and the crew of the Nostromo before the ALIEN incident if that’s the direction they went?
Now I’m not saying I’m against an ALIEN film, especially if Ridley is involved, but I think the whole Prequel wouldn’t really solve anything that was unexplained by making this film.
your wrong completely and i say this cause i am a aliens fanboy…i hated the avp movies but for u to say this is not needed is redundant….the first movie only showed a hint of the race that breeds these animals…i mean where do you think that space ship containing thousands of eggs came from…then a mining crew finds it on a asteroid like planet that was bieng watched by the weyland corp…i say that your comment was just thrown out there but coming from a fanboy your just plain wrong and dont know the story line.
Nothing is known about the Space Jockey race. Including the reason the alien eggs are on the ship. It’s not even known that they were being “farmed” So you’re incorrect with your reply. There is no need for this movie. Fox has shown that with each new movie they only dig a deeper hole in the franchise. After AR and the AVP films how can anyone have hope in this movie? It doesnt matter how great the director is when he’s given a terrible idea to work with. Alien was never meant to have a backstory, that is a fact.
haha andy your wrong as shit…the space jockies made the aliens for a military reason…what that reason was is unknown….
“It’s not even known that they were being “farmed” So you’re incorrect with your reply.”
your wrong and yes i have read all the books and the comic book series and they were farming them…
are you a fan and are just trying to say what i am sayting is wrong…cause thats just retarded and assinine, and yes there is a whole series dedicated about the fact that the weyland company new about the species before they sent them to the spaceship….they wanted a live subject back.
They also new about the space jocky and in several comics it has showed them and told a little about there story lines….especially in the series of avp comics that show a space jocky that has been imprisoned at a near death stage….i think maybe in the series it was intended to show some kind of alteraction between predators and the space jockey race….btw if the were not farming them then why would the race devise a way to control them like attack dogs….seriously where are your comments coming from?
You do realize that all books and comics are not canon, right? Don’t start an argument with me when you have ZERO approved information to backup your claims. The Space Jockey’s never had any backstory, not until Alien was released did fans decide to write their own ideas. That doesn’t make it so and it’s sad that people like you take them as absoulte fact.
“You’re wrong! You’re wrong as shit!”
BigSam, with all due respect, are you sure you aren’t wrong as almighty flies swirling around a piece of shit?
SCREW the comics from Dark Horse. They mean nothing A new film can contradict or retcon anything that the Outbreak, or Asylum put out. In fact, that would seem to be the case *if* Ridley does go to the Alien homeworld *and* uses The Space Jockey as part of the story (as he suggests in his Alien DVD commentary).
SCREW the novels (most of which is sprung from DH) for they are not entirely canon to the actual films. All the Star Trek novels are non-canon to Star Trek; not all of the Star Wars novels are considered canon to Star Wars. But they are there. Alien(s) is in the same boat. They are separate, but using the characters and a few situations for a new story which may or may not be retconned by a live action film or series later on
Andy S. isn’t “wrong”. He is thinking from a feature film canonical perspective. By the way…
” where do you think that space ship containing thousands of eggs came from…”
In Alan Dean Foster’s novelization of Alien, The Space Jockeys were explorers and collectors; the alien eggs were already there. It is also suggested the Jockey race wasn’t malevolent but peaceful. Later on, other authors in the spin off novels and comics retconned this. Also, since Foster was working from a draft of the script that wasn’t the final theatrical cut of the film (as, most of time, is the case) such “deleted unfilmed” scenes leave room for future directors to expand on such ideas differently if they choose to do so (such as James Cameron had done)
” coming from a fanboy your just plain wrong and dont know the story line.”
Screw that “storyline”, Bigsam. It may have little to no meaning in regards to Ridley Scott’s prequel. What is going to happen if Scott chooses to ignore that “storyline”? He can, and he most likely will. It isn’t canon to the film series. Why put the man and/or his writers in handcuffs?
Yes, it’s also possible that Scott *could* look to the spin off material, but he does not have to stick to it like glue. As such, will the “fanboys” bitch up and down about it, in spite of getting the gift of Ridley Scott?
Sure as flies on shit.
They really need to get Giger back on board if they want to do an origins story.
O_O
Does it need to be a prequel? I imagine the movie will be about aliens attacking passengers on a spaceship. Does that story need to relate to anything that came before(after) it?
way off and there is lots of back story in novels and dark horse comics…..prequals suck ass but this one is gonna be a winner…first the space jockeys are a race of superior aliens with technologies that can control the aliens species….they use these aliens to destroy planets and to later do who knows what with….i really hope he implements the space jockey’s story cause really they are the biggest threat in the universe.
@bigsampson
Everything you’ve just said about the Space Jockey is complete bullshit.
How can you honestly think this is a sure winner, Fox has pissed on this franchise for close to 20 years. With each new installment the franchise has gotten worse. You’re false hope is pathetic.
It goes without saying, if Ridley Scott is taking us to the Alien home world, we’d should be excited.
Otherwise, who knows where this is going?
Phil… I will say it. If we went to the Alien homeworld, they are no longer ‘alien’.
I’m not excited one bit.
Darren:
Alien means different if you reduce it to the basics.. and if you are talking about astrobiology than its definately alien since it does not come from earth.
Sorry to be English Nazi.