The "Prometheus" trilogy

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We all learned over the summer that Ridley Scott, director of the original "Alien," will be returning to the franchise he created to direct a prequel.

Given the series' overarching story, fans very reasonably speculated that a prequel would take a look at the events immediately preceding the first movie.

It seems that may not be an accurate assumption anymore.

Scott, who in London recently to support his daughter's entry at the London Film Festival, took some time out to chat with Empire about some of his plans for the prequel. He doesn't drop any specific narrative bombs, but there is a general outline of the "when" fans can expect to be deposited into.

"The prequel will be a while ago," he explained. "It’s very difficult to put a year on 'Alien,' but [for example] if 'Alien' was towards the end of this century, then the prequel story will take place thirty years prior.”

What's interesting about this is that the xenomorphs discovered in "Alien" are just that: a new discovery. A prequel set immediately before the first movie could easily justify human foreknowledge of the creatures by simply killing off any human protagonists.

A 30 year gap is a bit trickier. Perhaps the xenomorphs are in fact a secret creation of shadowy human forces? Or an older discovery, carefully covered up (for a time)?

Time will certainly tell. And Scott is excited about the telling.

“I never thought I’d look forward to a sequel,” Scott said. “But a prequel is kind of interesting. I’m looking forward to doing that.”

Originally Posted by _____V_____

THE SPACE-JOCKEY

In addition, the fuselage of the 'cannon' is not only phallic but directing out from the space-jockey's hip area; we seem to come across the huge creature in a Pompeii-like moment of lonely sexual activity, frozen by the advent of the xenomorph that has burst out of its chest. It's a poetic image, and it might take a bit of a plot-hack to give it a practical slant.

Not least the space-jockey himself. He is patently part of a machine, and the machine is patently part of the (now derelict) spaceship. Was he bred for the purpose by his race? Or will the prequel show him ambulatory and getting into the 'empty' telescope/cannon and a whole lot of CGI cyber-bones wrapping round him, like Tony Stark's Iron Man suit?

THE EGGS IN THE DERELICT SHIP

Likewise problematic the reason that all those eggs were in the cargo hold of the derelict in Alien. Were they laid there by a long-dead Aliens-style xenomorph queen after the ship got infested, like the Nostromo, by a single alien? Or are they genetically-engineered weapons created by the space-jockey race to drop on enemies in a ghastly act of biological warfare?

I think two things that need to be mentioned is that based on the original screenplay and novelization:

1) The space jockey was there for a very very long (thousands? Hundreds of thousands years?) time and the "reason" he/she/it seems to be part of the chair is that its been pretty much fossilized to the chair

2) That all the eggs seen in the "cargo" hold of the derelict ship are the fellow crew members of the space jockey - remember before Cameron got a hold of the franchise and made "starship troopers" out of it the Aliens are created by the victims being converted into the eggs by some form of DNA manipulation - of course thats after the Alien gets to eat a little bit first. The famous cut scene from Alien when Ripley gets lost and stumbles into the bowels of the Nostromo and finds Dallas halfway to being an "egg" and another almost fully formed egg is seen with whats left of Brett inside being changed.

In fact Dan O'Bannon was miffed in 79 when this was cut from the film and the whole Queen aspect a few yrs later as it took a really disturbing and creepy angle out of play. I would think and hope a revisit using the original point of the Alien having the ability to transform other lifeforms into its own and what happened to the derelict crew could make an awesome feature

[ferretchucker]

Originally Posted by mloutch

I think two things that need to be mentioned is that based on the original screenplay and novelization:

1) The space jockey was there for a very very long (thousands? Hundreds of thousands years?) time and the "reason" he/she/it seems to be part of the chair is that its been pretty much fossilized to the chair

2) That all the eggs seen in the "cargo" hold of the derelict ship are the fellow crew members of the space jockey - remember before Cameron got a hold of the franchise and made "starship troopers" out of it the Aliens are created by the victims being converted into the eggs by some form of DNA manipulation - of course thats after the Alien gets to eat a little bit first. The famous cut scene from Alien when Ripley gets lost and stumbles into the bowels of the Nostromo and finds Dallas halfway to being an "egg" and another almost fully formed egg is seen with whats left of Brett inside being changed.

In fact Dan O'Bannon was miffed in 79 when this was cut from the film and the whole Queen aspect a few yrs later as it took a really disturbing and creepy angle out of play. I would think and hope a revisit using the original point of the Alien having the ability to transform other lifeforms into its own and what happened to the derelict crew could make an awesome feature

Very good points, although I'm not so sure. To me it seemed that the cocoon like eggs were more of an emergency attempt by the Alien to survive, because weren't the contents of them fully fledged xenomorphs and not facehuggers? The ones on the derelict ship were far too small to be from the cocoon like ones, expecially with the size of the space jockey. Unless they simply shrivel over time...


another point to note, V, is that it seems Weland-Yutani did have prior knowledge of the Aliens, hence why they sent the crew to answer the distress signal. Isn't it possible they've known about them since AVP:R but have simply never had the opportunity to get any before?

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Originally Posted by ferretchucker

another point to note, V, is that it seems Weland-Yutani did have prior knowledge of the Aliens, hence why they sent the crew to answer the distress signal. Isn't it possible they've known about them since AVP:R but have simply never had the opportunity to get any before?

Very much so, if you take the timeline of the Alien franchise into account. AVP:R happened much before Alien and Aliens, so yes it ties in nicely.

If you remember, Ripley sits down to decipher the "distress" signal in binary and realises that its actually a "warning". Its very much possible that the signal was picked up/beamed through Weyland-Yutani satellites/ships back to Earth and they already knew it was a warning signal, yet they changed the course of the Nostromo to go ahead and intercept it.

I am sure this is one of the things which we will see in this prequel. Ridley Scott will surely touch upon this part.

[ferretchucker]

Any new news, V?

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Nope. Just rumors.

Keep your fingers crossed for an update once Predators is released this summer.

[crazy raplh]

I am not really a big fan of any of the alien movies. So I'll probably miss out on the remake as well.

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Shadowlocked has confirmed with Star Wars and Alien art-director Roger Christian that Ridley Scott’s upcoming Alien prequel will be shot in 3D.

Christian, who ran into Ridley at a recent film festival, hopes to work on the film, and briefly expressed his excitement for the project:

“Ridley told me some of his ideas when we were here in Toronto. He has a very clear understanding of where this should go. They kind of stopped dead one of the greatest horror franchises there’s ever been, and it had legs to go on. So I’m hoping he’ll revive another three. The world certainly wants it, and the fans want it - everybody.”

In May 2009, it was revealed that commercial director Carl Erik Rinsch was attached to direct a remake of Alien. We have since learned that it is more of a prequel than a remake. Rinsch’s commercials show an amazing sense of imagination, visual effects artistry and composition. But apparently 20th Century Fox wasn’t happy with the Scott’s choice of director, holding out for the original helmer — Ridley Scott.

Fans believed that would never happen. Why would Scott return to film a prequel of one of the most popular sci-fi film franchises of all time? Why compete with yourself? Producing the film seems like a much safer bet.

Who knows why, but Ridley Scott signed on to direct a prequel to Alien.

The film will be a direct prequel to Scott’s original 1979 film. In a 2002 interview, Scott wanted to return “to where the alien creatures were first found and explain how they were created.” Chances are this idea would also be incorporated into the reboot.

Jon Spaihts will write the screenplay, a job he earned after pitching the studio and production company Scott Free. Spaihts has no produced credits, but has written Shadow 19 and Passengers, both of which are also sci-fi space thrillers.

Empire spoke to Scott when he was out and about in London to attend the local festival premiere of his daughter’s movie Cracks, and the filmmaker threw out some really general statements about the film — they know where it’s going, the screenplay is now being written by Jon Spaihts, and then this more specific tidbit:

“It’s a brand new box of tricks. We know what the road map is, and the screenplay is now being put on paper. The prequel will be a while ago. It’s very difficult to put a year on Alien, but [for example] if Alien was towards the end of this century, then the prequel story will take place thirty years prior.” … “I never thought I’d look forward to a sequel but a prequel is kind of interesting. I’m looking forward to doing that.”

[Elvis_Christ]

Originally Posted by mloutch

The famous cut scene from Alien when Ripley gets lost and stumbles into the bowels of the Nostromo and finds Dallas halfway to being an "egg" and another almost fully formed egg is seen with whats left of Brett inside being changed.

Never heard of this. Is the scene available in extras or anything?

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Originally Posted by Elvis_Christ

Never heard of this. Is the scene available in extras or anything?

Alien Director's Cut.

Also part of Alien Quadrilogy box set.