Ridley Scott Prometheus: NOT the Alien Prequel Details

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

Jeyl said:

If you listen to her, she states "But each one of these things comes from an egg." See? Not so illogical.

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Yes, and earlier in the movie she said that there were thousands of eggs. So again... the part about all of them coming from eggs shouldn't be an issue.

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

Hey if Giger gets on board, I'll be first in line at the box office. His nightmarish visions are what intoxicates the first film. It truly looks Alien and not a man in a rubber suit, nor a crappy CGI critter. I'd be absolutely delighted if they could somehow use the original design in all it's horrific glory.

Dave

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

http://io9.com/5525820/the-classic-alien-wont-appear-in-ridley-scotts-prequels-at-all

The acid-blood sleek-skinned aliens dreamed up by H.R. Giger and Ridley Scott are among the most memorable creature designs in movie history. But Scott says they're "worn out" thanks to endless sequels, and they won't be in his new prequels.

In an interview with Screen Daily, the director revealed that he has plans to redesign the aliens, and show how they became the majestic killing machines we know and love.

He also explains a bit more about the storyline of his two prequels:

The film will be really tough, really nasty. It's the dark side of the moon. We are talking about gods and engineers. Engineers of space. And were the aliens designed as a form of biological warfare? Or biology that would actually go in and clean up a planet? It will take place in the years before that, when they first come across this thing on a planet called Zeta Reticuli. ...
Yeah, the thing about Alien vs Predator is, I know it's commerce, but what a pity... I think, therefore, I have to design - or redesign - earlier versions of what these elements are that led to the thing you finally see in Alien, which is the thing that catapults out of the egg, the face-hugger. I don't want to repeat it. The alien in a sense, as a shape, is worn out."
So what do you think these new aliens will look like? And what could these "gods and engineers" who designed the ultimate biological weapon have been like?

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re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

alienscollection.com said:

http://io9.com/5525820/the-classic-alien-wont-appear-in-ridley-scotts-prequels-at-all

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Hmm. No classic aliens? I think my interest went up a couple of notches. :thumbsup

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

Too Much Garlic said:

So again... the part about all of them coming from eggs shouldn't be an issue.

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I honestly have no idea what point you're trying to make. She asks a question how these eggs are being made. It's logical. She knows they come from eggs, she knows that the alien warriors don't lay the eggs, so what does?

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

The fact the Ripley asks where the eggs come from stems from them trying to figure out more effective (or at least different) ways to kill the Aliens before they run out of ammo.

So she asks about part of the reproductive cycle- the idea that these eggs had to come from "somewhere." I think it was asked in a hope to discover a weakness the Aliens have- nothing to do about the number of eggs greatly outnumbering the colonists.

I understand the point that Too Much is getting at, but I don't think it applies to the context of Ripley's conversation with Bishop.

Kevin

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

Jeyl said:

I honestly have no idea what point you're trying to make. She asks a question how these eggs are being made. It's logical. She knows they come from eggs, she knows that the alien warriors don't lay the eggs, so what does?

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Please go back and watch the movie. There would be no reason to think about an egg-layer when she knows there are already thousands of eggs on the planet, so it shouldn't surprise her that there are enough to infect the whole colony.

SSgt Burton said:

The fact the Ripley asks where the eggs come from stems from them trying to figure out more effective (or at least different) ways to kill the Aliens before they run out of ammo.
So she asks about part of the reproductive cycle- the idea that these eggs had to come from "somewhere." I think it was asked in a hope to discover a weakness the Aliens have- nothing to do about the number of eggs greatly outnumbering the colonists.
I understand the point that Too Much is getting at, but I don't think it applies to the context of Ripley's conversation with Bishop.
Kevin

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She stated at the hearing that the Derelict wasn't indigenous and that Kane saw thousands of eggs. You don't begin asking who's laying the eggs if you find an old truck full of chicken eggs with enough to give you salmonella if you eat them.

It's an illogical switch from knowing to unknowing just to set up the queen.

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

Personally I don't know what to think of the two announced prequel movies. It's good to see Scott back in the director's chair and I like what he's saying about the movie(s) and that he wants Hans Rudi back on board, on the other hand Scott hasn't made a movie that really thrilled me in a long time. But surely even a "bad" Ridley Scott movie would be much better than 3 and 4 :lol

A couple of weeks ago I watched the Alien DVD with Ridley Scott's audiocommentary (from 1999 afaik) and thought it was pretty interesting, especially since now he actually is making a prequel. I tried to write down a couple of his lines for you concerning the derelict:

"I always wanted to go back and make an Alien 5 or 6 where we find out where they came from and go there and answer the question: Who are they? Mars is too close, so they can't be gods of war but the theory in my head was that this was an aircraft carrier, a battle wagon, of a civilisation and the eggs were a cargo which were essentially weapons. So like a large form of bacteriological stroke, biomechanoid warfare. […] The space jockey I've always thought was the driver of the craft who is now after many ages, of cause it would be dustless but, has started to look like a perfect example of Giger's mind which is „where does biology end and technology begin“ because he seems to have grafted the creature into what essentially was, let's say, a pilot seat. But clearly from here this is where the transmission would emanate from, propably in an automatic transmission, so this creature obviously has experienced that maybe one of the eggs had been disturbed and a creature had got out and attacked the rest of the crew, don't ask me where they got to. He's pretty gruesome, but let's say he was part of the civilisation he came from and had now melded into his seat. […] So he [Kane] is being lowered into the hold, this would be argued as the hold of the ship."

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

I like the idea of the Xeno being re-designed to show it in its prototype form as the Jockey or the jockey's creator worked to prefect walking death. If they are supposed to be a true bio-mech creature, then it would be hard to go from design to perfection without some prototypes.

The 30 years in the past part though, it just seems abrupt, maybe back date to when the mining worlds are first being colonized, and the long haul freighter idea is still in its infancy as well.

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

I'm definately in the bandwagon of "i dont want it all explained". To me the first film had the mystery that keeps one captivated and excited. To have that all explained away will just, well, ruin any preconcieved notions I had about the first film and will, if it goes in the direction people are saying it is going, cheapen the first film in my opinion... I cant watch it the same anymore.

I know they are likely going to get Giger involved, but oh if they allow him to explore all the things he wanted to do with the creature in Alien 3, oh god I'll put a pistol in my mouth!

Dont change things up for the sake of change just because you feel that this icon of cinema has tired itself out; to be honest it was that train of thought and all the sequel designs for the creature which spawned from it that what ruined it for me... ridged heads? Dog alien? human-dna-infused, fleshy aliens? The NEWBORN!?!?! UGGH!!!

Just bring back the original 79 design already! I miss it so much and I'll pay my weight in gold just to see it terrorize the screens again. dont cheapen it to the point that this monster is merely nothing more than a scratch-built weapon from an R&D department (or a spiny leopard beast with "erotic lips" for that matter)...

I've always wanted to see the Jockeys being the intelligent species of their planet, harvesting the narutally-occuring Aliens as a beast of burden (or trading with the Preds, though I know nobody will ever allow that storyline to develop) and using them as tools of war against another sentient species. Eventually their planet was destroyed in a major battle, leaving the jockey from the first film, and his Alien cargo, the supposed last of their kind, and in desperation he tried one last suicide assault upon his enemies.

However, I've speculated that this move was purposely forseen, and the enemy species would have sabotaged any surviving ships with some stolen eggs, thus killing any remaining jockeys and forcing them to drift or crash land. The signal to stay way would have been transmitted by the jockey from the first film as a warning for any possible survivors of his species to stay away since not only was he infected, but he speculates the ship would have likely been damaged and the barriers to the cargo hold demolished/deactivated which would mean that ANYONE who comes to help will meet their doom at the hand of the eggs.

So it sits there, for an untold length of time, and eventually they Company picks up the signal and sends a ship to investigate. Ultimately the mission ends in tragedy since all personel would be lost due to contact with the aliens, so they have to rethink things, cover it up, and go under the radar for their second recovery attempt, the Nostromo Project, which is how the first film begins.

Its been a while since I actually saw the film, but this idea of a backstory has always remained fresh in my mind and seemed plausible and mysterious (I.E. not explaining too much about the creatures themselves) without ruining the Alien creature for me. Then again, I've always liked the "pyramid" theory of a mysterious and long dead race, one that offers the Aliens as a sacrifice to their "god" similar to the practices of slaughtering lambs and calfs, or having them be ceremonial "food" stored in their temple, and the Jockey being an unfortunate victim just like the Nostromo crew. But its always been a hastle to come up with a backstory to that, though it does seem simpler and more mysterious just like the first film, and all in all I'd like to see either story be used as inspiration for this prequels plot.

I know I'm setting myself up for the slaughter here, but I cant really fathom a film set so soon before the first film that directly involves the Jockey creature and portrays the Aliens, which used to live out there in deep space and terrorize various planets throughout the galaxy as far as popular image is concerned, as mere "nearly organic" machines/terminators fabricated in a lab for the Jockeys, which sort of cheapens the forbodingness and sense of terror they once held as a force of nature that had to be dealt with, but to to avail.

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

Too Much Garlic said:

She stated at the hearing that the Derelict wasn't indigenous and that Kane saw thousands of eggs. You don't begin asking who's laying the eggs if you find an old truck full of chicken eggs with enough to give you salmonella if you eat them.

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Ok, last addition to this argument. You're forgetting one thing Garlic. If you remember when the Marines are roaming through the processing station looking for survivors, they comes across the nest. This nest is full of dead human hosts, rotted face huggers AND EGGS. These eggs were viewed from the cameras that were hooked to the marines' helmets, and there is a nice shot in the movie itself where we see the inside of the egg from the monitor. There is no reason at all that the colonists carried these eggs from the derelict ship and just placed them underneath a freaking reactor. These eggs were laid recently and did not come directly from the derelict ship. Hence why Ripley is curious on who or what is laying these eggs. It's not so much setting up the queen, it's understanding their life cycle which further emphasizes how dangerous they are! This theory regarding a possible Queen Alien shows that it can breed in secret and annihilate an entire colony without warning from one single dace hugger. THIS is why Ripley asks the questions because it further emphasizes Ripley's dedication to not only understand these creatures, but also establish that not one of these things, no matter what form or stage they're in should be brought back.

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

Jeyl, I'm not forgetting anything - do worker ants not carry eggs around from one place in the burrow to another to where they are needed? Once the first got infected and an alien sprang from the body won't you think it would start retrieving more eggs and setting things up for future exposure? It also stated that the colonists did raid the Derelict, which caused more exposure.

The talking about an egg layer is still an awkward switch when there were thousands of eggs on the planet and Ripley knew it.

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

Jeyl said:

Hmm. No classic aliens? I think my interest went up a couple of notches. :thumbsup

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It's already been established that the Alien warrior assume the shape of the "host". That's why we had a four legged "dog" Alien in 3. So unless this prequel includes human being hosts, of course they would look different.

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

Too Much Garlic said:

Jeyl, I'm not forgetting anything - do worker ants not carry eggs around from one place in the burrow to another to where they are needed? Once the first got infected and an alien sprang from the body won't you think it would start retrieving more eggs and setting things up for future exposure? It also stated that the colonists did raid the Derelict, which caused more exposure.

The talking about an egg layer is still an awkward switch when there were thousands of eggs on the planet and Ripley knew it.

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Haven't we beat this horse long enough? It's not just dead, it's a shapeless heap of tenderized horse meat now. Yes, it was just a plot device. No reason to bicker about it.

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

Bryancd said:

It's already been established that the Alien warrior assume the shape of the "host". That's why we had a four legged "dog" Alien in 3. So unless this prequel includes human being hosts, of course they would look different.

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This thread is just silly now. They say there won't be any classic aliens, I say that's a plus, and now I'm already being 'corrected' just by saying I like where this is headed. What's next? If I say "I liked the Alien from the movie Alien" someone's going to say "They're not aliens"? I'm tired of this crap.

I've seen every Alien movie there is and have seen them many times. I own every Alien movie even when there's a Predator involved and have watched all the bonus material, commentaries, documentaries and even fan documentaries. I KNOW the Aliens look different from film to film, I KNOW they take the general shape of whatever species their host was, so give me the benefit of the doubt that I know how this stuff.

Also, it doesn't matter if they take the shape of a Scorpion or an elephant. If it comes from a facehugger, they're the classic aliens no matter what species the host was from. Classic aliens are EGG -> FACEHUGGER -> CHESTBURSTER -> DRONE (looks depend on host) and/or QUEEN. An Alien that wouldn't be classic would either be the Space Jockey species or something else they devised/created/encountered.

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

Just don't hope he does a Lucas and have prequel ships look more advanced than the original style. Hope he keeps the style in tact.

Guess he has loads of stuff if he can fill two movies...

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

Ridley Scott Dishes on Two ALIEN Prequels And Much More at Hero Complex Film Festival

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

I was at this event. He rambled a lot. Looks like the Space Jockey is actually a space suit of some kind according to Sir Ridley

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

Thanks for the spolier pal! :rolleyes :angry


Kevin

re: Ridley Scott: Alien Prequel Details

I'm with JunkSabers1138 on this. The first movie worked because of its mystery. It's what made it alien (lower case 'a'). Nothing needed any more explanation. The story was complete in itself and only benefited from the unknowns. To paraphrase Patton Oswalt, "I don't care about where the stuff I love comes from, I just love the stuff I love".

I'd be happier if Scott's new movie didn't involve either of the alien species from the first film, but instead involved another crew of a ship like the Nostromo encountering something new. Tell me a new story instead of trying to add to one that doesn't need it.