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Prometheus: Ridley Scott returns to Sci-Fi

I agree with most of what's being said. It's very clear that the film takes place in the same universe and includes millions of Alien tie-ins, however, the direct prequel status does not apply for the reasons already outlined. That said, it IS an Alien prequel ... just not the typical, run-of-the-mill variety.
 
Kinda surprised the trailers so far aren't pointing out that this is an Alien prequel from the guy who directed the classic original movie that started it all. Even for non-scifi nerds, I would think that would be a big selling point.

Just a simple "From the Director of Alien" would be enough to get the job done, I think.

Although I guess it could be argued that the trailers are already so powerful and attention-grabbing that nothing more is really necessary at this point...
 
^I'm certain that the people who'd care about that don't need to be told who Ridley Scott is. As for the rest, well, they don't care. ;)
 
Actually, one of the TV spots does just that.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbl0QNgs1WE[/yt]

davejames said:
Kinda surprised the trailers so far aren't pointing out that this is an Alien prequel from the guy who directed the classic original movie that started it all. Even for non-scifi nerds, I would think that would be a big selling point.

Just a simple "From the Director of Alien" would be enough to get the job done, I think.

Although I guess it could be argued that the trailers are already so powerful and attention-grabbing that nothing more is really necessary at this point...
Click to expand...
 
I have just read the script Shadow 19. This is the one that some say was the basis for Prometheus. According to both Scott and Lindelof the source script was reworked. We do not know for sure that this script is the source, so take this for what it's worth.

Possible spoilage ahead.....






Centers on a space marine that is transferred to a top secret ministry of science type project that no one outside of their group truely knows about. They are involved in terraforming on a distant world through the use of a number of automated machines deployed there by a mother ship called Prometheus. As usual things are not what they seem. The marine has to make a tough decision.

It's okay. It kinda reminds me of a segment of the Outter Limits. It relies a little too heavily on technolgy and VFX tell the story. Its a lot like what you might get with Bruckheiner, Bay, or even Anderson. I am not sure how this had any affect on Scott's Alien prequel project when it was given to him, aside from the ships name.

I do think a few ideas might end up in the film one of them is the "Transporter". It's a unique spin on the concept. Course I could be wrong. Been wrong before.
 
DestinyCaptain said:
I have just read the script Shadow 19. This is the one that some say was the basis for Prometheus. According to both Scott and Lindelof the source script was reworked. We do not know for sure that this script is the source, so take this for what it's worth.
Click to expand...
The script you want to look for is called "Alien Harvest." And that's been radically reworked.
 
From what has been said on some Alien boards is that Alien Harvast was a fan created script with the same writers name attached to it as Shadow 19. Although an interesting read, I hear on several of those Alien boards, it has nothing to do with the film.
 
Yeah, so I read the Alien Harvast script all the way through... It's awful. It is all over the place. It's entirely too preoccupied with sex and not hardly at all occupied with any substantive details about the Space Jockies or the Zenomorphs. It goes off in a dozen places that you'll find you care nothing about. It's bland. It's dull. It's a little too convienant in providing the back story Alien. It reads nothing like either Passengers or Shadow 19 wich have been authenticated as being written the scriptwriter Scott and Lindelof mention in the AMC interview. I doubt it's real or that it has anything to do with Prometheus.
 
"Alien Harvest" is indeed a fan script which was originally thought to be an early draft of what is now "Prometheus". The script writer credited with writing "Shadow 19" and "Passengers" (which Keannu Reeves was attached to for a while) is named Jon Spraits and has script credit for "Prometheus". Damon Lindelof was signed to write "Prometheus" from the the very start IIRC. Spraits we don't actually know what he was given for I believe, only these two have credit for writing "Prometheus".
 
Admiral_Young said:
Spraits we don't actually know what he was given for I believe, only these two have credit for writing "Prometheus".
Click to expand...

According to this old Variety article, Spaiht's did pitch the story that eventually became the Prometheus film to Scott and the studio and wrote the first draft of the script (or scripts, I think back then they were still planning on shooting two films).

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118006722
 
In a Roman version of the myth, Prometheus creates mankind out of clay. In other versions, the myth also includes Pandora. Her eponymous box was originally a jar (pithos) that releases evil upon mankind that cannot be undone.
 
Kaijima said:
Base_Delta_Zero said:
I like how there's all this "It's not a prequel to Alien" tripe, and then EVERY ELEMENT of the film revealed so far refers back to Alien.

Spaceships? Check
Horror both psychological and ichy? Check
Strong female lead(s)? Check
Weyland (Yutani) Corp.? Check
Android crew member? Check
LV-426? Check
Derelict? Check
Space Jockey? Check
Alien Egg-type things? Check
Melting helmet faceplate? Check
Med-bay patient shenanigans? Check
Direct threat to mankind if it gets back to Earth? Check
Ancient Alien Reference? Wait, you mean like in AVP? Check

It takes place before the events of Alien. It involves concepts, artifacts and beings that will, in universe, appear in some form in Alien and elsewhere in the franchise.

It is a prequel to Alien.

Other movies have also taken place in universe before Alien, and like the dreaded Star Wars prequels, still exist in the real world. Get over it.

EDIT: Forgot to mention...Trailer Music & title reveal for new movie matching the original film? Check
Click to expand...

I think the idea is not that it isn't a prequel to Alien. More that, if Scott's claims are true, it doesn't necessarily lead in to Alien. In other words, it would effectively be a reboot, starting with the same or similar characters and certain locations from Alien's backstory. But if another film is made it would diverge from a timeline that includes the original alien.

And honestly, I would find that quite interesting. For example: nobody doubts the quality of Cameron's Aliens. But Cameron did invent things Scott never intended originally. By making the xenomorphs "animals" complete with a queen, Cameron overwrote Scott's original, potential concept of the xenomorphs as purely biomech tools and war machines deployed by the civilization of the crashed ship.

Scott may have decided to get things "back on track" by just starting from scratch and portraying the alien technology, and any biomechanical creatures spawned from it, inline with his original concepts. Further films in a Prometheus timeline could go very different places than the Alien franchise had before. For example, war between humanity and the true alien civilization itself, in which creatures such as the xenomorphs are merely devices and not the stars of the show.
Click to expand...

I think that's quite likely the case. Didn't Ridley also re-insert the human-to-egg conversion scene back into his "Director's Cut" of Alien back in 2003? It implied a very different, and somewhat "alien", process than the one we see in Aliens with the queen just laying eggs.
 
^^
He did reinsert that scene, but he's also stated publicly (IIRC) that the "director's cut" label on that version was a publicity move by Twentieth Century Fox. He prefers the theatrical cut.
 
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