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5 Simple Changes That Would Make ‘Prometheus’ Better (For Fans Of ‘Alien’)
by Vic Holtreman
(6 of 5)
There has been a lot of debate regarding the connection between Prometheus and Alien. Some people think it's enough that Ridley Scott's latest film takes place in the universe established by his original (and fantastic) film way back in 1979, while others feel that Prometheus should have been a more proper prequel that gives answers to some of the unanswered questions from the original film (read our review).
The purpose of this article is not to debate the merits (or faults) of Prometheus, or to suggest that answers about The Engineers be answered - rather it is to present five very small changes that could have been made to the movie (and would not change the storyline at all) - that would have made it dovetail perfectly with the original film.
Needless to say, there will be plenty of spoilers for not only Prometheus, but Alien as well.
The purpose of this article is not to debate the merits (or faults) of Prometheus, or to suggest that answers about The Engineers be answered - rather it is to present five very small changes that could have been made to the movie (and would not change the storyline at all) - that would have made it dovetail perfectly with the original film.
Needless to say, there will be plenty of spoilers for not only Prometheus, but Alien as well.
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I don’t understand why people would be upset by this film. I love the Alien series as much as any other fan and was completely taken with Prometheus. I think that Prometheus is the second best film in this franchise thus far and the prospects of a sequel will most likely provide the answers to our questions. This film was extremely effective at creating more questions than answers. Prometheus is about the search for humanity’s meaning and source of creation. Sure it takes place within the Alien universe, but this film was primarily about the findings on LV-223 and how the crew reacts to those findings. One of the driving forces of this film was human curiosity and David (played incredibly well by Michael Fassbender) is an extreme representation of human curiosity. Scott tries to make the point that it is our curiosity which can take us to new heights and even unleash new evils. This movie is somewhat of a prequel but I think this film was always intended to have at least one sequel. And in that sequel, then we may get some answers as to the Xenomorphs origins and their eventual placement aboard the derelict spacecraft. We live in an era where good science fiction films are extremely rare and this one was superb by any standards.
Well actually, ALIENS is the second film, and it’s far superior to Prometheus.
There’s not a lot to love about it, that’s the problem. Acting: Not very good (apart from Michael Fassbender), Character’s and Character Development: again, not very good (except for the robot David), Story: Not very good.
What’s best: Michael Fassbender, special effects.
What’s bad: The rest of it.
An interesting article! The only point I’d question is No.2 of 5, regarding the ship that flies away. Didn’t David say there were other ships on the planet? I was under the impression that they had piloted one of the other vessels in their attempt to find whoever made the Engineers.
Yeah that’s right. If they are going to search for another Engineer planet than the ship they left on may still not even be the ship from Alien. I thought about that right when it was leaving and then I was like, well damn, good one Sir Ridley.
Jason,
I see what you’re saying, but these 5 points are basically a chain, one connecting to the other.
Thanks,
Vic
Well, your chain worked far better than the movie’s, as far as I’m concerned.
Yeah, I completely agree. To have the engineer get infected and have a life form burst from his chest and NOT be the space jockey from the original felt like Ridley Scott flipping a big ol’ middle finger to all of the fans expecting a connection to Alien.
but what if Shaw and David never made it to the Engineer planet, what if the space Jockey that was found in Alien is really just Shaw in that Engineer space suit… David could of told her what to do to fly that spaceship plus while she was trying to escape that pod thing after the cesarean, goo from that alien creature fell on her wound, so she could of had another alien thing in her?? Lol well it’s a theory…. Besides if they ever do reach the Engineer planet I don’t think they will be to happy with them for brining a spaceship full of that biochemical liquid weapons… Shaw and David are probably gonna wipe out the Engineers with that stuff even though its not there intentions …
I think people should ask why he chose the name Prometheus and think back about the original Alien script’s elements that were tossed which related to a popular book from that time period Chariot’s of the Gods. The Greek Titans(Gods) gave birth to the Gigantes or giant men of earth so they themselves were “giants” and their DNA must have been identical or similar to their offspring which lead to stories of half-giants, Nephilim, Anakim, Rephaim, Titan, Cyclops etc.
In the Prometheus story the God has fallen to earth, been banished and begins to teach mankind science, he is credited as the father of science, the maker of man out of the earth(clay) with Zeus’s daughter Athena who created Greece mind you so they both were in Greece and she(Athena) breathed LIFE into man. Athena became impregnated by a human and gave birth to the first half-God at Prometheus’ prodding as a way to create a race that could counter the Titans rule on earth. Prometheus does something else that angers Zeus, this in addition to a civil war started by the Greek hoplites under the Aegis of Athena and her brother Hephaestus against the home of the Titans, Atlantis; he(Prometheus) gives fire to man, teaches man metallurgy, chemistry and agriculture.
In short makes man self-sufficient and a threat to the Gods as Prometheus is Zeus’ brother and this appears to be a fight for control or Kingship over the earth. Afterwards one of the punishments Zeus gives to man is his imprisoned daughter Pandora. Pandora is gorgeous and highly intelligent but makes men crazy fighting over her and is banished in her homeland because of the trouble she starts.
The virus containing amphora ARE Pandora’s Box of pestilence she brings with her when Zeus sends her to live with man.
Shaw will become Pandora in the flesh when she is captured by the engineers, impregnated again and gives birth to the first female Queen of the xenomorphs known as Aliens. The engineers will send her and her eggs to earth but that ship will never get there as it crash lands on LV-426. Read the Greek myths and apply them to the story to see where he is getting his ideas from and potentially where this is headed.
You do realize they’re making more of these movies and that not all of your answers were meant to be in this film. For all we know the very last scene of the Prometheus series could be the Engineer in his seat ready for take off and an alien bursts out of its chest. When you assume the ending of a movie well, you know what you’re making out of you and me.
love to see what the fans would want to see in Prometheus
A Vic Holtreman article? Well im honored lol
But I agree with everything in the article. The film either needed to answer some “Alien” question and provide an connection to the films or make a clear distinction that this is a seperate film. It tried to straddle the fence of both and failed IMO
Basically, you can call #1-4 one big change…
I respect – and to some extent, agree with – your point of view, but disagree in certain aspects; mainly, I’d love to see someone – Scott, preferably, because it makes sense; if not then Jim Cameron – put together another film in between that will tie them together. The groundwork is laid out, the destination is there, a real kick-ass story can be told in between.
Vic, great article, I been on this site a long time and I know you are a big Aliens fan.
I agree with your ideas for creating a true connection. The Engineer scene at the end of the film bothered me a bit, because I knew he was suppose to be in the seat. However, heres one reason why I feel the movie is perfect the way it is until a second film wraps up this semi-origin story.
The film in itself is set in the year 2093 and the original is set in 2122 (arguably 2179 if you go along with dialogue hinted by Carter Burke). Thats a large time gap for genetic mutation of the creatures scene in Prometheus and the ones in Aliens. That in itself could explain the different appearances of the new creatures, especially since the Xenomorphs were addressed as either weapons or captured creatures from another atmosphere. Also, since the events in Prometheus take place on the Engineer’s military base, theres a possibility that there are more Engineers in cryogenic sleep. This means that maybe the one who died at the ending of Prometheus, is not the fossil verson we saw in the original.
I really enjoy these debates because there have been so many things left unanswered that seemingly point to this film being possibly a direct prequel or merely associative. The Aliens Universe is a big one. Great Article, sir
Great input. I love the Alien universe via Ridley Scott. (No AVPs here) True fans know the timelines between both movies and that evolution and time takes in account of the different mutations of the xenomorphs. But the normal movie goer wants ANSWERS NOW in Prometheus. If you know the writer Lindelof, you know he’ll give you some ambiguous information without answers until a sequel is made. (Which they are going to do.) Plus I intend to watch it a second time on things I missed and read on Screen Rant. So there.
To me all of these points would have been too easy for Ridley to have done at the end of the film just to satisfy everyone…let’s wait and see since there are more movies planned where these questions may be answered…
David and elizabeth flew off at the end in another ship. Does that mean that there was an Engineer Hyper sleeping in one as well, or the others. This movie was rushed and a complete fail
Am I supposed to believe that the Squidy thing came from elizabeth and her infected boyfriend having sex only to spit out a snake like thing at the Engineer. The same snake like thing that attacked one of the lost dudes in the cave. why didnt something emerge from the human like it did the engineer, another missed opportunity. And how was it one of the lost dudes who had acid melting his helmet make it back to the ship and not the guy attacked by the snake. And the position he was laying or sitting in when the door initially came down as if uit had a xenomorph quality. Ansd why he went on a murdurous rage as oppose to explaining himself. Why wasnt his blood acid
The things affected by the black goo in the ship are worms indigenous to LV-223 and not part of the alien life cycle. They clearly have bacteria in them that also affects the crew member who attacks the rest of the crew.
The alien life cycle begins as black goo-virus which when an infected male impregnates a female of his own species created the first face hugger which can now, once IT infects a female create an alien queen who can lay eggs with face huggers. Shaw will be the progenitor of the alien queen which is sent with her eggs in the ship that crash lands on LV-426.
In the end I like that fact that the movie didn’t directly tie everything into Alien.
From the previews I would say to myself and I think most other people did to that ok this ties in here, that will be that and this is that but in the end when it was something else I said to myself “well done guys”.
Did that sentence make any sense?
I’m trying to avoid spoilers so I hope so
I’d love to see a sequel but I worry that this may not make enough for the studio to want to invest in it. Ridley has a lot of other things going on and let’s be honest, he’s getting older and there might not be enough time.
Somebody mentioned Cameron doing a sequel and while I’m not his biggest fan I like that idea. He could come aboard and work it together into a more straight forward story that connects to Alien.
I know a lot of people were disappointed with the movie and that’s fine. When you expect certain things and it doesn’t end up that way it can be. Prometheus wasn’t what I expected but I ended up liking it all the same. I flow Lindelof on Twitter and like Vic says in this article he’s getting slammed. That I don’t get. You don’t have to verbally assault someone because you don’t like his work.
All in all, I’m happy with Prometheus. It’s going to be added to my Blu-ray collection the day it gets released.
Another thing I don’t get is that for at least the past 10 months Scott, Lindelof ad anyone else involved with this film has said it’s not a direct prequel to Alien.
We’ve known this and yet people are still upset because it’s not. Even the last 6 months when we started getting info we were told the same thing, it’s not s direct prequel and that although it takes place in the same universe it’s not about what happened immediately before Alien.
If you don’t like the film because of the direction, script, acting and so on that’s fine. But you can’t be mad if something is exactly what you were told it would be.
Why didnt we see what Shaw’s boyfriend was changing into. Why kill him off before we can see what he would change into? why did the squidy thing grow so large and when in combat with the space jockey instead of biting him, it spit a snake at him into the jockeys mouth. was the space jockey really that strong and how did he make it from his ship to Shaw without his mask when the other engineers running for their lives in the hologram wore masks.
Why travel all those light years with only shotguns and flamethrowers, there are no advance weapons in the year 2089? why didnt Shaw tell everyone what she aborted as if she was leaving a surprise for whoever went into that room.
THIS MOVIE WAS RUSHED AND PLAYED ON THE INTELLIGENCE OF ITS VIEWERS!!!
The answer to your question about the weapons was answered in the movie. It was an exploration ship, not a military one. They were only lightly armed.
They didn’t have guns in Alien either, probably not standard issue for non-military personnel. Wouldn’t want someone going nuts out there and blowing a hole in the hull.
I love how many people keep complaining about certain things in the movie, and how they don’t match up or make sense and are ripping the film a new butthole because of it. The simple fact of the matter people is that you DON’T KNOW WHAT SCOTT HAS PLANNED FOR POSSIBLE OTHER FILMS. All of those answers you’ve been complaining about not getting? They’ll probably be addressed in the sequels. Not sure how the Alien evolved, or how it made it’s way to LV-426? SEQUEL. Until you’ve seen a sequel or Scott tells you what he intends to do next, you can’t stone the movie to death because you have no idea where he wants to go from where the film left off.
they could have given us something, they gave nothing, except contradiction and more questions. this movie was so poorly done, who would want to wait for or watch a sequel.
I’m glad people like you are out there because all this complaining is so stupid. If you go into a movie thinking that you know everything that will happen you’re obviously going to be upset when your theory is wrong. I love how people act like they know so much about the Alien universe when they didn’t have anything to do to help create it. How about we let Ripley Scott make the rest of his movies and answer the questions that need answered instead of condemning this movie for not being what you expected.
***Alien Spoilers***
There is one thing I can’t get past that I haven’t seen commented about as of yet. In all the alien movies, AVP series as well, after being impregnated, the alien that bursts from its hosts chest is nothing more than a snake like creature, so how in the world did a fully developed alien come out of the engineer. Even the queen alien from Alien 3 that came out of Ripley as she flung herself to her death was in pre-alien form. This threw me as an after thought, and a last minute hope to satisfy some fans, when I feel it actually ruined some of the experience for me.
Also I’m with Beserker, what was up with the squid thing? This should have just been a stand alone film.
I think they should have changed the name of the planet to nothing resembling anything Alien. Remove all forms of the Space Jockey/Engineers and just start a whole new Alien style franchise.
Well let’s keep in mind that the alien that burst from the chest of the Engineer was an early form of the xenomorph. The second mouth was protruding but was not fully developed. Additionally, this alien was also much smaller than the typical xenomorphs we have seen. Every organism is subject to some sort of evolution and this xenomoprh may be the catalyst for the evolution of that alien race. This xenomorph might also be the queen. What we know about xenomorphs is that their birth rate and evolutionary cycle are extremely fast so their potential to evolve as a race may be just as quick. What I have grasped from all of this is that a journey back to LV-223 is in the works for Shaw and David. Or, the Engineers aboard other space ships on this planet will encounter this xenomorph from some kind of distress call from the crashed ship and upon searching for their friend, they encounter a hive or other face huggers that this xenomorph gave birth to. Since this planet has been deemed as a weapons garrison, Engineers are likely to return to either investigate what happened or obtain these weapons to resume their impending attack on Earth.
The film left us with more questions than answers which is good and bad. The bad is that we now have so many unanswered questions about the xenomorphs’ existence to how we know it. Also, the ending where a fully developed xenomorph emerges from an Engineer is questionable. And what is the deal with massive face hugger? How did that one happen?
The good is that we may get an even better understanding of the Alien universe with a sequel or two. We have more questions now than we do answers about the xenomorphs and engineers. Prior to this, all we had were questions about the Space Jockey and the xenomorphs. Our questions revolve around, where do the engineers come from, are xenomorphs their own race or a genetically engineered weapon, what happened to Shaw and David, and the biggest question which came from this movie: in the Alien universe, does God exist and if so, where is God? Their research suggested that higher beings do exist, and since they discovered a more advanced lifeform in the Engineers, this suggests that their creator(s) might be even more powerful, i.e. God.
Some things did feel out of place in the film but they were probably done intentionally because Scott has an entire story arc planned. This may be the first act in an epic and intricate story. I guess we will wait and see.
Much smaller, in proportioned to the space jockey not humans, not to mention it emerged eith fully grown or half grown. Shaw and david in my opinion will not see the light of day once they arrive to the Jockeys home planet with the package they are carrying. and we still havent figured out why they want to attack earth since they havent been there for thousands of years.
The design for the Xenomorph making it an organism that can survive in the vaccuum of space, under water and extreme cold is what most fans were hoping they would get from this film, how and why these organisms were created. what was on the ship before the eggs were laid or were the eggs the cargo when the jockey became pregnant in “Alien” and instead of stay away why didnt he just self detonate the ship
Basically a magic trick sucks unless the magician shows you how he performed the trick? There are unanswered questions and things you didn’t understand, which means the movie was bad. The Engineers could be muscles on top of muscles on top of muscles. We’re almost at a point where we can engineer our own offspring and eliminate imperfections and these guys are our creators. They are superior in every way. Also, epic implies the scope isn’t narrowed to one alien that’s exactly how you envisioned it and everything being explained in a two hour movie. The way it was fashioned, with unanswered questions, confusion and a multitude of possible races, planets, etc. is epic. They developed a biological weapon that essentially morphs whatever it touches into crazy, violent aberrations with varying, crazy effects. Imagine it being dumped on a planet and the chaos that would ensue as it interacted with the various lifeforms. I think a second viewing would also offer a lot of clarity with some of the issues presented.
People dont go see magic tricks to see how its done, they go to get WOWWED!!!! We went because it was about the Space Jockeys and who where when how and why they made the Xenos, and its affect on them and why and how we eventually crossed paths. the film started off in a confusing way and continued to not make sense for 2 hours.
I go to movies to be wowed and there were no promises of answers. He even distanced the possibility of this being a prequel as much as possible. However, I guess we will have to agree to disagree on the merits of this film :]
Ok, agree to disagree. I guess i had this movie to so up there that when it wasnt to me, it was an utter failure in my humble opinion. I didnt and dont meant to offend anyone with my rants, i think we all see what we want to see when we want to see it
. “Additionally, this alien was also much smaller than the typical xenomorphs we have seen.”
You must be talking about the Alien Queen from the first A vs P movie. Otherwise I have absolutely no clue what you are talking about. Because this is the biggest chest-burster I have ever seen EVER!
Well keep in mind that the Alien that burst from the dog in ALIEN3 was also of full size. That was a male Alien, so this is probably a type of male alien. Also we see that the space Jockey that ends up in the first alien movie is significantly bigger than the ones even in this movie. That would explain why we see much taller Aliens. I don’t think this Alien is a queen, it’s just a hybrid that we haven’t encountered and will probably cause some problems in the sequal.
To those that are complaining, it does answer a lot more than you are giving credit. It definitely answers where the heck this annoying species came from.
I can’t wait for the next film.
Would’ve been an awesome way to tie everything together (great job Vic)
If only…
I don;t disagree with the article, that these changes would have made it a more direct connection, but I do disagree that these connections should have been made. When I left the theater I was completely satisfied that they answered some of the the questions without leaving it closed ended. Ridley Scott left it open for a sequel that will no doubt answer more questions. Also on a side not, I think it would be awesome symmetry if James Cameron directed “Prometheuses,” or a less meta title for the sequel.
I disagree that any questions were answered, i felt they had a take it or leave it mentality and basically this is what they were giving us. In fact they made it even more complicated. They didnt answer who the space jockeys were, why they were sleeping, who were they fighting that they needed those bombs for, where they were from, why and how did they create the Xenomorph, what the hell that big squidy thing was and why did they make that knock off Xeno at the end of the movie and what expectations did Shaw have going to their home planet unless she was going to givr them back their ship and its contents
That’s why it was so good is because it left those questions on the table. I assume Ridley understands horror the same as Lovecraft did, in that it’s the unknown that frightens more than the known. Just like the tension and the horror of the first Alien wasn’t that you saw some guy in a suit chasing people down. It was scary because you didn’t see it and you lived vicariously through the fear and panic of everyone who was trapped on-board. We don’t know who these Engineers are, why they want us dead, how their weapons work, how they developed them, what they have been doing for some two thousand years, etc. It’s wide open and it’s awesome that the alien from the original Alien may not be the same as the alien from the end of Prometheus. How do these things develop? That muck seemingly interacted with various lifeforms in a variety of grotesque and horrid ways. The giant face-hugger that overtakes the Engineer is obviously not the one we’ve known prior. Ridley is just opening everything up to broader horizons and everyone seems to expect that closure and easy tie-ins are the proper approach.
I felt like it was suppose to answer questions, and it did not, in fact they added more questions and contradicted the questions that were already on the table.
They were 8, 9 10 feet tall, that average hhuman is 6 feet. they had 10 packs and had muscles that would be non-existant on any human with Peak Physical development. there would be at least one group of humans that were in their likeness. If they were from earth then they would be similar in appearance to any one group from any region of this planet which tells me that they were not from here. it wasnt the fact that the squid thig was giant it was the method in which the Engineer was impregnated; a snake spit into its mouth. that was the best they could do. And was it me or was the space jockey doing a decent job fighting it off, I actually thought the Jockey would win. What happened to the metal teeth that we were accustomed too. this movie was far from good and the one could tell that the money was spent on the lavish surroundings on the ship. They should have spent money on a script
I don’t understand why we need to resemble the Engineers more. You like the Alien movies but the aliens don’t look exactly like us, even though they come from us. I think the interesting aspect is how everything that begets something else is different and perhaps the point. I also don’t understand why it’s bad that the Engineer was almost able to match the “squid”? He’s not only an Engineer, but he’s also one of their military or warriors. He’s not a push-over and Ridley stated in an interview that the Engineers are impressively tough, hence why the shots from the guard in the command room didn’t even phase him. Not to mention in Aliens, Ripley fights off a face-hugger as well and we know how strong humans are, which isn’t much compared to the Engineers. Lastly, the “snake” was pretty much in sync with the method in which the face-huggers impregnate their victims. It shoots that thing down their throat and incapacitates them. He’s just showcasing different variations, as if to say the same process doesn’t repeat everywhere with everything. It’s a different alien, different face-hugger just like the maggots interacted differently with the “goo”.
My issue with that was the similarities of the snake thing that attacked the scientist on the ship and the one coming out of the mouth of the squiddy thing. if the squid was new and hadnt been seen then the impregnation process should have been different. And that tube forces its way doewn your throat. The snake on the ship attacked the arm and broke the arm of the scientist and then went into his mouth, why didnt a alien emerge from his chest. I thought the squiddy thing was going to bite or eat the jocky not just spit a snake down his throat and then lay on him and die. It ws too big to have one snake and then just collapse on the jockey totally covering him up and then not being seen anymore. i would have expected the squiddy to have more snakes with it or do other types of damage, maybe merge with the jockey but that would have been too much like the “thing”. this movie sucked
I’m not going to assume to know what happened with the snake on the planet, as I’ve only seen the movie once and may have missed something. However, my take was that everything interacts differently with the “goo”. The snake came from the “maggots” interacting with the “goo” and became something hostile. I don’t believe it was meant to impregnate anything, just like the crew member who got nailed by the acid went face down into the “goo” and ended up a hostile aberration. The individual who ingested the “goo” was incinerated, so we don’t know what would have become of him, but whatever creature he was becoming, he impregnated Shaw “naturally”. Also, we don’t know if anything burst from the chest of the crew member who had the snake break his arm and then go down his throat. We just don’t see that like we do the Engineer, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Finally, I can’t quite recall whether we see the squid afterward or not. But I would assume like the face-huggers we are accustomed to, it probably just died after it impregnated the Engineer. But, it could very well have lurched off, I don’t recall whether it was included in the final shots or not. But essentially, my impression is that one thing begets another. It did what it was born to do and it died, which for me is kind of disturbing in its own way… that giant thing overcoming the Engineer, impregnating him and then just expiring.
The “Engineers” don’t look like humans because they are not humans. They probably evolved on a different type of planet and/or if they were able to play around with DNA altered themselves somehow. That might also be why they all looked similar, if they purposely or through science breed out any differences.
As for squid, your argument that since it looked different it should impregnate different goes against a lot of the other things yourself and others have said about the way the creature evolves. If that method was the best way for it to kill and impregnate its prey, why would it be eliminated as it evolves?
In the end this all just something created by writers so it may just come down to that was the way they saw it. How it would or would not really work isn’t even an issue.
A clue can be seen in the scene where David sticks his fingers in green blood. The blood has sparkling nanites/nano bytes in it meaning that the engineers have evolved themselves using technology and that is why they are similar-looking but not the same. Also, the cave drawings imply that the engineers were once on earth which fits into the title of the movie suggesting that they (engineers) are our Titans and from earth. Is it too much to believe that another more advanced race existed on earth and left it?
Who built Tiahuanaco, Puma Punku, The Temple of Baal in Jordan or the Great Pyramids?
How hard would it be for 12-15 foot tall, 700 pound males as they are described in the bible AND by the ancient Egyptians AND the Greeks to fashion stone monuments with individual stones weighing 50 tons?
Now how hard would be for us to do it compared to them.
If they were discribed in the Bible they were angels that were that big and they would come from the heavens and mate with women, having shaq sized kids. so in your bible reference, yes. but if we are from their DNA, shouldnt we be 12-15 feet tall and 700 pounds, not the pigmy reflections of these engineers
…and yet in Enoch AND Ezekiel angels mated with earth women. No, not every one who breeds with someone taller than themselves has children that are tall. Genetic traits are random.
This whole movie is about DNA and EVOLUTION… No organic life form is perfect in its initial stages. You think the very first xenomorph was the perfect killing machine that we saw in Alien? Ridley set this up so it wasn’t a direct tie in to the first Alien movie and I would be willing to bet he has plenty of answers for us in his next installments. If you went into Prometheus with an open mind you would have enjoyed it. Instead many people believed they knew how it would end and as a result of that they ruined the movie for themselves.
Your 4 changes make a whole lot of sense and I’m hoping that this just the beginning and they going to tie it up afta a bit more drama. If not, then it is a bit of disappointment. For me what would have been really cool (or corny) is if in the last scene a few predators flew in, you know, to take care of business! I reckon they’ll announce a sequel in no time, cause thou I liked it there too much left to question.
I don’t understand what the demand is to limit the scope of Ridley’s Alien universe? What is the need to tie it all together via these changes? The way he left it just leaves so many more possibilities. The fact that the other ship in Alien was another Engineer on a different mission begs so many other questions and offers so many other possibilities that the scope is great. The need to limit and receive such obvious closure just confuses me. I personally appreciate the fact that Ridley is creating something more than just the xenomorph line and skipped the easy tie-ins to Alien. Yes, they are small linked changes and he chose not to. Where was the other ship going? How many other satellite sites do the Engineers inhabit? How many branch off races are there? Why are they trying to seemingly wipe everyone out? Further, why are they wiping them out in a manner that begets more fierce lifeforms? I’m sure there are a lot more questions and possibilities, but I really dislike this approach of trying to narrow the scope to one ship that was headed for Earth and it was THIS ship so we can tie everything together with a nice pretty bow.
You said pretty much everything I have been thinking with that.
I honestly dont believe that everyone who is upset about this film wanted the end of the movie to end up where the chestburster kills the space jockey, but more answers that led up to the develop of the Xenos and who and what the Space jockeys were. we didnt get that and there comes the dissappoinment or the empty feeling when leaving this movie
I feel like people are very critic oriented nowadays. I can say I am guily of it as well instead of saying to ourselves maybe i need to really think about this for a while and then discuss my feelings, people will just shoot from the hip. I am that way with david lynch movies, but i don’t watch them because I know what he tries to do
and I am not a fan, but I still respect him as an artist. It use to be that people would watch a movie, read a book, listen to an album hundreds of times to know it backward and forwards and try to understand the creators voice.
I think now people feel entitled to deem themselves creators, this is partly the fault of studios for creating so much content but it ultimately is sad when and piece of art like prometheus is cast aside as lazy. Just a thought.
What was lazy about people spending hours to craft those sets, sounds, textures, costumes… What’s lazy about someone spending weeks and months editing and working a script? What’s lazy is just jumping on the bandwagon of critique. It’s tough to make a movie, dammed tough.
I’m sure that all of that was in the original draft of the script, until Lindehoff came on board and turned it into Lost. You can practically see the join where they bolted his script onto the original Alien prequel, which they should have made.
There was a lot of good stuff in Prometheus, but not a single original idea.
When you were writing those did you take into account that the bodies of Weyland and the security guards were left in the command room and they would also have been fossilized with the Space Jockey, and the they would have been mention in Alien. Also, they cant change it to LV. 426, because it is a different moon, if you wanted that to be LV. 426 then where was the sphere in the original movie, because the derelict ship didn’t crash to far away for that not to have been seen. Last, the ships aren’t even in the same angle to say it’s the same ship. I’m fairly certain that they wouldn’t have made plot holes like that in the movie, since they are trying to make a new series just wait for the next movie, oh and look at Alien and then look at Prometheus, and pay attention to the Space Jockey they’re not even wearing the same suit. This movie mainly made the point that there could be another planet with xenomorphs on it, or the Xenomorph home world, if you would choose to call it that.
P.S. I do think they should have just made it a more direct prequel, but now this way I will have more movies to watch when I choose to have an Alien marathon.
This is simply crazy…Why would you want to reduce the Alien franchise to one planet / ship / Space Jockey??? I simply don’t get it… As long as it is set within the same UNIVERSE it’s a true prequel. Full stop. Do you want Star Trek villains to blow up Vulcan and nothing but Vulcan in every movie? Do you need Doctor No to pop up in every Bond flick? I regard Alien / Predator / Prometheus more as a giant galaxy full of (badass) monsters, not as a single x-part story that all directly interconnect. That’s lame! I’m glad they didn’t do this “direct prequel”…
I AGREE WITH THIS GUY!
Smike, Predators aren’t even apart of the same universe, they don’t exist within the xenomorph/ Mala’kak universe, so leave the Aliens vs. Predator out of here it’s irrelevant, and don’t mention the xeno skull in predator 2 as evidence that they are, the writers and directors of both franchises admit that they are separate. That’s why AVP movies aren’t that good.
Actually I couldn’t agree less. You see Xenomorphs in the AvP movies, so yes, they are part of the same universe / franchise, no matter what some producers may say.
Smike, Predator isn’t apart of the Alien franchise at all, anything about Predator is irrelevant here, AVP doesn’t exist, and Predator 2 with the xeno skull was just bull. watch or read things from the writers and directors of both franchises they don’t interconnect, AVP, is the same bull crap what if thing as Alien vs. Batman comics. I’m telling you this in case you don’t already know.
My stupid computer posted both of those.
Personally I believe only on-screen material counts, not interviews, not novelisations etc…There is currently one big franchise consisting of 4 Alien films, 3 Predator films, 2 AvP films and Prometheus. If there are / will be contradictions at some point, they can either be explained away or have to be ignored. There are countless continuity gaps in other fictional worlds as well, so there is no reason to split this great franchises up into pieces…
I will not argue that if that is what you would like to believe, but check the time lines of Weyland Industries AVP doesn’t exist and niether does Charles Bishop Weyland until Alien 3, Weyland industries was founded by Peter Weyland, Charles Bishop Weyland is dead when it is founded, but as i said if believing that makes you feel better then by all means go ahead, and trust me there are already some many contradictions made between the two universes it isn’t even funny
Hallelujah!
The film that was made is far better for Alien fans than all of these 5 simple changes combined… Why? Because an Alien prequel TRILOGY is better than a single Alien prequel. Who can argue with that???
I am a huge fan of the Alien series and I thought Prometheus was fantastic. They could have added any of the things that were featured in the article, but Ridley Scott already talked about making a sequel and these additions would have prevented that. The movie was great the way it is.
Could not, the ship that left the planet, be the same ship that crashed on to lv-426? David may have malufunctioned and she didnt know how to pilot the ship. she may have gone on to other planets where the black goo changed and evolved in the final alien shape? consider that she had been already infected with the alien she may have still been a carrier there by helping spread them. Also there where still 3 more pods with spacy jockeys in them, they may be the ones that further evolved the aliens from the proto form we see at the end of the movie.
Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi) is signed on for a PROMETHEUS TRILOGY in her contract. Stop hypothesizing fake possibilities and get excited for the sequel!
100% agree.
The derelict ship on LV426 was already sitting there hundreds of years before the events of PROMETHEUS. Why stay stuck on that same little moon? What? There are other LV – planets? AWESOME!!! The writer of this article speaks for himself. This Alien fan couldn’t be happier with the newly expanded universe.
(Except for wanting the Space Jockeys to still be elephant faced creatures and not albino bodybuilders)
They were beyond bodybuilders, these guys had 10 packs and muscles on top of muscles on their backs and shoulders. Ok, there are more than 2 LV planets. There is an arguement that there are Space Jockeys with different agendas, good and bad, jockeys. and the size of the squid thing made no sense and why it took shaw and her infected boyfreiend to have sex for it to come about. That really made no sense. Killing off the boyfriend before seeing what he would change into before isolating him was dumb as well. this movie added contradiction and confusion and I believe that Scotts name is just on it and the guy who directed Lost was left unsupervised and really ruined what could have made this movie epic
Could the Space Jockey from the original petrify in the amount of time between? I think they avoided a big plot hole by doing it this way. Also, if there were other ships (which obviously there were), the one Shaw piloted could of had a engineer as well that may crash on LV-426 in the next film.
Well even if they did decide to make a space jockey crash there and be petrified in a few years there are a few things they could say to avoid that, like the atmospheric modular broke exposing it to LV. 426 and for all we know before the terraforming began there could have been large amounts of crap i cant remember the element, or even other elements not on the periodic table that can speed up the process, or since its a suit of armor it could have been super heated together, and then the xeno busted through, or before that happened leaving only a skeleton inside, that they didn’t see
Wow, you hit it right on.I think fan editors will take a shot at this.
I couldn’t disagree more with the title of this article. I’m a huge Alien fan, and none of the things mentioned would have made Prometheus “better” for me.
Prometheus gave us an expanded view of this future, with fresh ideas to explore. It told me everything I really needed to know regarding Alien. The creatures the Nostromo encountered are biological weapons, created by another culture to wipe out planetary populations, and apparently even their creators are freaked out about them. The whys and hows of that particular ship crashing on LV-426 are anticlimactic now.
I would be interested in learning a little more about that those weapons. Is the LV-426 creature a different “model”? Maybe an older one not as efficient as the black ooze as it requires eggs instead of a substance that can be transmitted so many different ways? Is the similarity between the creature at the end of Prometheus and the LV-426 creature just a result of common design in weapons development?
Personally, I would HATE for some lame attempt to directly link that creature at the end of Prometheus to the creatures on LV-426.