Ridley Scott Prometheus: NOT the Alien Prequel Details

[Jedi2016]

This reminds me of something else I read, that he's going to present Fox with two different cuts, one R, one PG-13. I think that's a mistake myself, since Fox will obviously go with the PG-13 version. Artistic integrity be damned, they can get more butts in the seats this way (despite the fact that teenagers are NOT the intended audience for a film like this).

In terms of the studio taking an axe to the film, I think that's going to come down to the film's length. If he submits a two and a half hour epic, they're going to butcher it down to around 100 minutes. That's when I'm going to want to see a Director's Cut. If that happens, I hope Ridley actually says something about it publicly before the film's release.

It's still too early to tell.

 

[rodneyfaile]

I wouldn't mind a PG-13 and an R-rated version (director's cut) if they would just release both versions into the theatre.

 

[Carson Dyle]

And that there could, in theory, be a Prometheus II that has even less to do with the films that came before than this one does.

I'd say that's a pretty safe theory.

Depending on the film's reception at the box office, Prometheus may be the tip of a much larger and more complex cinematic ice berg.

One thing I can promise you; Prometheus raises more questions than it answers.

 

[Guy Cowen]

Ian Whyte (AVP) plays one of the jockey's, and if you look at the Jockey in the trailer he does resemble Mr Whyte.

 

[Harada357]

Yeah, that's... The one we've been... Yeah.

OH ..... YOU got me ..... :confused

I have only spent a YEAR watching for the REAL trailer and not some YOUTUBE fake Hack Job listing it as the OFFICIAL trailer. ....


.... I finally got to see the real trailer ... tried to share .... and .... well ... WAS LATE TO THE PARTY..... :cry

Now I have to go back and read 35 pages of posts to catch up !!! - :cool

Might as well just wait for the movie. :love

What else have I missed?

:love

 

[baron von blondle]

Dear Sir Ridley Scott, how dare you utilize your years of experience and creative ideals to crush my teenage fantasies of what I imagined Alien to really be about and go ahead and carte blanche imagine something ridiculously fantastic and against the flow of what I, sir Punter of **** all imagined it should be. You may have many films under your belt as 'director' or 'producer' but what I feel is right as 'consumer' relegates your elevated status to servant. sort it out Ridley or you shall feel our collective wrath at the premiere 0f -$953 that the studio will recoup plus bonus upon the bluray release in 6 months when we all buy it in order to 'screen accurately recreate' the space jockey's left kneepad.

 

[rodneyfaile]

 

[Space Jockey]

Wow, they really kicked you guys outta Charm School, huh?

 

[Nwerke]

Yes, let us by all means be uncritically accepting of anything that is served up to us. Are we not sheeple, after all? :rolleyes

 

[Nwerke]

As for Jeyl's theory, there is the fact that Special Order 937 specifically says that the ship was rerouted.

I never thought that element was even in question, mesself.

These fixes are present on both cuts of the film on BluRay, so if you have the Quadrilogy set, that's the most true version of the Theatrical Cut of ALIENS available.

Why in heck, then, did they not bother to fix the Queen puppet's exposed neck armature? I mean the cleanup and brightening of that shot makes the flub just kick you right in the balls.

<everything Carson said>

SQUEE! :lol

 

[Jedi2016]

I already had the Quadrilogy set on DVD, and I didn't feel that the Blu-ray set was worth it. Same extras in both sets. And only the first two films got any special treatment, with the second receiving a little too much treatment, IMO. Color changes and all that. So I just picked up Alien by itself on Blu-ray, so I'm good.

 

[JunkSabers1138]

R

While I will always prefer the original cut of ALIEN, there are two scenes that I will miss that were in the Director's Cut.

1. The Alien Transmission. I LOVED the new sound design they went with for the transmission. If you listen closely, the humming sound that plays underneath the static is actually the main title theme to the film. So the music you hear at the start of the film when it pans across LV-426 is actually the alien transmission. I thought that was brilliant. Jerry Goldsmith incorporated!

2. Brett's Death. This one scene almost made me scream out "I LOVE IT" in the theater when I saw it. I liked how the scene works in terms of how it transitions to the next scene with Parker explaining what he saw, and seeing the Cat's face looking up with Parker screaming "BRETT!!" really get me.

I do hope that Scott releases Prometheus in a way that doesn't leave him or audiances thinking "Something is missing". I skipped Robin Hood so I wouldn't know what was cut or altered on the BluRay/DVD release.

I'll definitely agree with you about Brett's death. While its implied that Parker saw the creature carrying Brett through the ship i the theatrical cut, the extended death scene with them entering just as hes being carried away gives a better pace and sense of transition to me, though I will admit the theatrical scene has a better sense of isolation and "suddenness" to it.

As for the transmission, I dont recall hearing the score in there. Can you find me a clip to clarify? Thank you

 

[Guy Cowen]

According to Ms Theron, fans of the chest burster in Alien will be big fans of Prometheus, she didn't confirm a chest exit as such but said we would be very very happy. I would like to see Ms Theron's chest kept as it is personally and pretty much the rest of her also.

Nice to know the cast are trying to add *** bits into interviews now.

 

[ghostryder]

I already had the Quadrilogy set on DVD, and I didn't feel that the Blu-ray set was worth it. Same extras in both sets. And only the first two films got any special treatment, with the second receiving a little too much treatment, IMO. Color changes and all that. So I just picked up Alien by itself on Blu-ray, so I'm good.

Jedi2016, with respect, there were a lot of unique extras on the Blu-rays that weren't on the original dvd release or quadrilogy.

 

[Jedi2016]

Not worth the money. Fan of the franchise? Yes. Willing to spend large sums of money to purchase a set that I already own 95% of? No.

I've read about the new extras, they seem pretty pointless to me, or things like "MUTHER" mode that I could give a **** about. I don't do interactive features, I watch the film and I watch the documentaries. That's it. And there isn't near enough new material in the set to make it anywhere near worth the cost. The only two things that even remotely interest me about the set is the new master of the first film and the isolated score for the first film (I could care less about the other three). And what do I have on Blu-ray? The first film, which has both of those things.

If I didn't already own the DVD set, I would have been there day one to get the Blu-ray set, but almost everything on there is recycled from the DVDs I already own. It's just not worth it.

 

[ghostryder]

If I didn't already own the DVD set, I would have been there day one to get the Blu-ray set, but almost everything on there is recycled from the DVDs I already own. It's just not worth it.

Well as a producer on both DVD releases as well as the Blu-ray my opinion differs. For anyone interested, you can find an import of the complete set for 34 bucks on amazon, so under 9 bucks per film... But it's all good, to each their own.

 

[Jedi2016]

Ah, I see your point of view now. You neglected to mention that you worked on them.. hehe.

The thing the studios have to remember about Blu-rays in general is that the jump in quality and features isn't like it was from VHS to DVD. Given the choice, it's obvious to go with the better one, but when you're talking about upgrading a title that you already own, they need to make the deal a bit sweeter. I'm not a big fan of double-dipping in general, so it really has to be worth it.

The only titles I've re-purchased on Blu-ray are things like Star Wars or the Pixar movies. I haven't even bought Lord of the Rings because of the ****-up on the remaster of Fellowship. I also got in on that deal that Warner Bros was doing, where you can "trade up" DVD to Blu-ray for five bucks.

For Prometheus, I'll be watching carefully to hear word of special editions or director's cuts before I buy the Blu-ray when it's released. I skipped on the movie-only release of Avatar for that reason, because I knew a better edition was coming later. And that edition was absolutely worth it, but it may have been less so had I already bought the film.

 

[ghostryder]

With you on Avatar - that release strategy was ridiculously whorish... For Alien though - this was it's first time being released in hi-def - and the studio used the same team that did that Blade Runner boxed set which, imo, in the single greatest example of the potential of the medium - 4 versions of the film and enough extras that it was like going to film school. While Alien didn't receive that exact same exhaustive treatment - I do think enough work was done on them to make 'em worthwhile. Personally, I wish we'd done more of what was planned, but that's another discussion for another time...

 

[Nwerke]

I'm ignorant of the LOTR cockup. What's that about?

On topic, I'll be buying whichever version of the film seems 'definitive', myself; and likely waiting at least a couple of years post release. I can't stand the proliferation of copies that you can end up with if you're not careful. Only films I've ever doubled up on intentionally were the theatrical and SE releases of LOTR, because I felt both had their own merits.

 

[Jeyl]

4 versions of the film-

5 Don't forget the Workprint.

The thing the studios have to remember about Blu-rays in general is that the jump in quality and features isn't like it was from VHS to DVD. Given the choice, it's obvious to go with the better one, but when you're talking about upgrading a title that you already own, they need to make the deal a bit sweeter. I'm not a big fan of double-dipping in general, so it really has to be worth it.

Before the Quadrilogy set was released, the digital bits released a book about DVDs. One of the biggest features in the book was a behind the scenes exclusive interview with Charles de Lauzirika about his involvement with the set. His original intent was to actually cover Alien 3 and the madness that went on during production. He presented Fox with this great plan on how the Alien 3 could be presented to movie goers and fans in a way they've never seen before. An alternate version of the film that was the closest thing that David Fincher was trying to shoot, even though Fincher says the entire film would have to start from scratch in order for it to work. Fox was so impressed with Charles' plan, they asked him the question he really didn't want to be asked but knew he wouldn't say no to.

"Could you do all four?".

So now with his work load quadrupled, Charles set out to work on the set.

Alien? Charles had a unique Special Edition cut of Alien, but Ridley trimmed it down. Besides that, No problem with the film or it's bonus features.
Aliens? Couldn't get Sigourney to participate thanks to Holes promotion, and Cameron stopped Charles from including the Burke Cocoon scene. All turned out well thanks to Charles assembling one the best commentaries ever recorded.
Alien 3? While Fincher was dead set on not participating, the new documentary showcasing him being very openly negative would more than make up for it. The documentary is just jaw dropping.
Alien Resurrection? With the exception of the film itself, no problems.

So while Charles didn't get all the material he wanted to incorporate into the set for various reasons, he succeeded in providing an alternate cut of Alien3 and a documentary showing how horrible the production was. Everything was passed and ready to go!......

...at least it was until one studio exec decided to watch it. He probably walked in thinking that this documentary was going to showcase how much of a challenge making the movie was, only to realize that the problems everyone talks about was solely directed at 20th Century Fox and how they screwed over everything and everyone involved with Alien3. So Mr. Exec says that they can't have a documentary that paints the studio in a sour light. Against Charles' wishes, he orders it re-edited with a lot of footage removed. Charles was so unhappy with the edits that were made, he removed his name from the credits. Yes, the one project Charles wanted to do and took on three more projects just to have the opportunity, is the one thing that the studios didn't want him to show.

BluRay Release...

It's been several years since the making of the set, and now was the time for Charles and our good RPF pal alienscollection to come up with another plan for making this set better. Alien and Aliens were getting new transfers while Alien3 and Alien Resurrection were just getting static HD transfers. Charles, knowing that the exec who got the original Alien3 documentary edited was no longer at Fox, decided to resubmit the documentary again, only this time a little bit more differently. You see, Charles pulled a "Team America" bit where he actually added MORE hard core stuff to the documentary incase anyone wanted him to edit it down. If they did, he would just edit out the new parts and hope to retain the original documentary he wanted the DVD to contain. Well, the documentary was shown and it passed. So not only does the BluRay set contain Charles original cut of the making of Alien3, but it runs a little longer! Heck, even Cameron finally OK'd the inclusion of the Burke Cocoon sequence, plus a little extra detailed supplements we've never seen before (Sadly the original Hicks footage was still absent due to Cameron's request).

In the end, this BluRay set completes the Quadrilogy set that Charles and his team set out to create so many years ago, and I'm very proud of what Charles, Willie and the rest of the folks were able to accomplish with this set. It's so nice I even bought it twice. One egg, one regular.