Prometheus - Ridley Scott's 'Alien Prequel' (or not)...
Discussion
Halb said:
Very informative.This may have been mentioned, but is the massive difference in technology as the films progress explained away?
Prometheus had some serious kit including those funky monitoring balls, Covenant was rather less well equipped but I kinda explained that away by Prometheus being a research/military vessel and Covenant just being a colonization ship (and a need to tie it into Alien a little better!)
Nostromo is then a serious time warp with very little tech whatsoever. Sure it's just a towing vessel, but 30 years have passed, I'd expect a bit of tech filtering down.
Prometheus had some serious kit including those funky monitoring balls, Covenant was rather less well equipped but I kinda explained that away by Prometheus being a research/military vessel and Covenant just being a colonization ship (and a need to tie it into Alien a little better!)
Nostromo is then a serious time warp with very little tech whatsoever. Sure it's just a towing vessel, but 30 years have passed, I'd expect a bit of tech filtering down.
ukaskew said:
This may have been mentioned, but is the massive difference in technology as the films progress explained away?
Prometheus had some serious kit including those funky monitoring balls, Covenant was rather less well equipped but I kinda explained that away by Prometheus being a research/military vessel and Covenant just being a colonization ship (and a need to tie it into Alien a little better!)
Nostromo is then a serious time warp with very little tech whatsoever. Sure it's just a towing vessel, but 30 years have passed, I'd expect a bit of tech filtering down.
Think you've answered your own question there - Covenant is equivalent to a polar exploration vehicle so would need all the latest kit to prepare for any eventuality, the Nostromo is an old cargo ship designed to move things as cheaply as possiblePrometheus had some serious kit including those funky monitoring balls, Covenant was rather less well equipped but I kinda explained that away by Prometheus being a research/military vessel and Covenant just being a colonization ship (and a need to tie it into Alien a little better!)
Nostromo is then a serious time warp with very little tech whatsoever. Sure it's just a towing vessel, but 30 years have passed, I'd expect a bit of tech filtering down.
ukaskew said:
This may have been mentioned, but is the massive difference in technology as the films progress explained away?
Prometheus had some serious kit including those funky monitoring balls, Covenant was rather less well equipped but I kinda explained that away by Prometheus being a research/military vessel and Covenant just being a colonization ship (and a need to tie it into Alien a little better!)
Nostromo is then a serious time warp with very little tech whatsoever. Sure it's just a towing vessel, but 30 years have passed, I'd expect a bit of tech filtering down.
I assume the Covenant was commissioned by the colonists on a commercial basis. Probably the equivalent of purchasing an airliner from Boeing. The Prometheus was Weyland’s personal exploration vessel. It’s the ship he had designed so he could hide his private medical facility from the rest of the crew. Presumably no expense spared. Prometheus had some serious kit including those funky monitoring balls, Covenant was rather less well equipped but I kinda explained that away by Prometheus being a research/military vessel and Covenant just being a colonization ship (and a need to tie it into Alien a little better!)
Nostromo is then a serious time warp with very little tech whatsoever. Sure it's just a towing vessel, but 30 years have passed, I'd expect a bit of tech filtering down.
Although the events of Alien are years later, the Nostromo might have been in service for decades.
SpudLink said:
I assume the Covenant was commissioned by the colonists on a commercial basis. Probably the equivalent of purchasing an airliner from Boeing. The Prometheus was Weyland’s personal exploration vessel. It’s the ship he had designed so he could hide his private medical facility from the rest of the crew. Presumably no expense spared.
Although the events of Alien are years later, the Nostromo might have been in service for decades.
I'm not sure what's canon with the Alien universe but apparently the Nostromo was built shortly before the events of Alien.Although the events of Alien are years later, the Nostromo might have been in service for decades.
Either way, I thought they might have made more than a token effort to pull it all together as it's quite jarring watching them in sequence.
I like to think that by the time of the original Alien movie, some IT folk had realised that CRT screens with DOS-style scrolling text was charmingly retro compared to those holographic displays in the earlier-set films. Sort of why some of us drive cars with manual gearboxes.
/j - It takes a ballsier studio to do the sort of retro-futuristic film that would fit in a pre-Alien technology universe. I'd guess they'd do very badly in focus-group screenings.
/j - It takes a ballsier studio to do the sort of retro-futuristic film that would fit in a pre-Alien technology universe. I'd guess they'd do very badly in focus-group screenings.
I have watched it.
Mostly a pile of s
t, one good scene, the bit with the space lift. The bast majority of action scenes in modern films are devoid of any tension due to a combination of; extraneous to the plot, no real danger for the protagonists, devoid of interesting characters, too fast/shakey and the use of CGI. This one scene was good, but didn't make up for the rest which made no or little sense. What a sad addition to an increasingly boring and predicable and st franchise.
Mostly a pile of s
t, one good scene, the bit with the space lift. The bast majority of action scenes in modern films are devoid of any tension due to a combination of; extraneous to the plot, no real danger for the protagonists, devoid of interesting characters, too fast/shakey and the use of CGI. This one scene was good, but didn't make up for the rest which made no or little sense. What a sad addition to an increasingly boring and predicable and st franchise.I have to add, something that annoyed me so much, I checked my phone for the time and considered walking out, in the first 10 minutes when they get the signal, and the Dallas clone recognises the tune, then they know everything about the planet, it's continents and weather system...WTF? How do they know that? Space Trip Adviser? In the first film they get a signal, and have to home in on the signal...jesus, this film was dumb.
You have to suppose that if they can scan a system for suitable terraforming planets they can scan the planet where the signal is emanating.
Yes, I take the point the original film had what we now consider low tech, but that's thanks to 70's idea of space travel.
For me it gets a 6/10, but Prometheus was a slow burner that got better the more times I watched it.
Yes, I take the point the original film had what we now consider low tech, but that's thanks to 70's idea of space travel.
For me it gets a 6/10, but Prometheus was a slow burner that got better the more times I watched it.
I would have guessed at space probes, like explorer, but more advanced.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/alien-covenant-...
"I don’t know. [I’ll make] maybe two more [films], or maybe one more, I don’t know," the director told Yahoo, when asked if his planned next film will bridge the two decades between Alien: Covenant, which takes place in 2104, and the original 1979 Alien, which is set in 2122.
Elsewhere, however, Scott has also implied that the next film could in fact be a prequel to Alien: Covenant, set in between the events of that film and his 2012 Prometheus (which is set in 2093)."
He really doesn't know what he is doing.
Ridley, time to pass that baton.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/alien-covenant-...
"I don’t know. [I’ll make] maybe two more [films], or maybe one more, I don’t know," the director told Yahoo, when asked if his planned next film will bridge the two decades between Alien: Covenant, which takes place in 2104, and the original 1979 Alien, which is set in 2122.
Elsewhere, however, Scott has also implied that the next film could in fact be a prequel to Alien: Covenant, set in between the events of that film and his 2012 Prometheus (which is set in 2093)."
He really doesn't know what he is doing.
Ridley, time to pass that baton.Are we even guaranteed another film considering how poorly Covenant has done.
Despite being released in all major territories for weeks - it hasn't even taken half what Prometheus did, taking only $163.5 million to date (compared to Prometheus $403 million).
I doubt it'll break even - probably far from it.
Despite being released in all major territories for weeks - it hasn't even taken half what Prometheus did, taking only $163.5 million to date (compared to Prometheus $403 million).
I doubt it'll break even - probably far from it.
Edited by Moonhawk on Friday 2nd June 20:01
I'm assuming that because of the time it has been out - we are dispensing with the spoiler tags? apologies if not - don't read any further!
The whole thing smacked of a remake of Alien with a few new features / rehashings of the good bits of aliens:
we had:
a crew entrusted with bringing a valuable cargo to a distant location - space truckers
an alien signal intercept - some of which can be understood
a lander - LANDER - that has trouble coping with innocuous terrain
people wanding out and getting infected (granted - not the ones exploring the derelict - but infected because of it the same)
poor biohazard containment protocols - resulting in the xtro getting onto the ship
neomorphs attacking en masse - grafting in the scene of the aliens waking up from aliens perhaps?
the crew are offered a safe haven from the aliens guided by the sole survivor
aliens probe the defences - lives are lost - get to medical!
the captain STICKS HIS FACE in an alien egg FFS (after declaring walter to be the devil - and then trusting him - but thats another story)
A rescue ship is prepped with comms via remote to extract the crew - no bishop to go this time - aliens again
Android turns out to be a creepy bd - and off screen supposition has it destroyed (though thats really poor and make blatantly obs what will happen)
There is also the psuedo creepy insinuation about what Walter will do to Daniels mirroring the 'mouth rape' that Bishop tried on Ripley.
Lander turns up and Im sure there was some subtext when the alien is skipping about terrorising people, re frying it with the engines (though I might have been doziing at that point) it certainly was dancing around them (and arguably through physics would have been pulled in)
So the alien is dead - and we are back on board and we have the 'reveal' - an alien is on board!
Al plan is hatched to 'blow it out of the airlock into space' - ala 1, 2, and arguably 4 (though not via airlock)
It almost fails - but hurrah! she succeeds! Like another film I cant quite put my finger on...
Then
Then we all - all of us in the cinema knew it wasnt over and after the third act just knew there would be another final 'stand up curtain close piece'. It was too obvious. We were all waiting for it and then, like we hadnt guessed already, walter was david - cut to credits and music.
The relief/let down - call it what you will was palpable.
I was disappointed.
I gave it 6/10 - it would have been a 5 but I am too much of a fan to be unbiased. It was good to see the Xeno again.
Speaking of the xeno - it was good to see a very faithful version of Gigers vision in this movie. I also didnt see TWO people infected on the planet -that I didnt see coming. The Neomorphs were good - and the CGI was too. The film didnt show enough how the crew were just 'sailors' not soldiiers as it was apparent that as soon as someone held a weapon they were thought of as a space marine (though it did try with whats her face blowing up the lander - it didnt come across)
The ending was horribly predictable - I mean horribly - but the worst bit for me?
So we know from AVP movies that the preds have been using aliens as thier prey of choice back at least to the ancient Maya. They delivered them and then hunted them. Thousands of years ago. THEN we understand David MADE the aliens in the year 2100+ - wait what?
Even if you dont consider the AVP movies canon - why in prometheus which was a decade earlier were there bas reliefs on the walls showing the xeno? It hadnt been invented yet!
The whole thing smacked of a remake of Alien with a few new features / rehashings of the good bits of aliens:
we had:
a crew entrusted with bringing a valuable cargo to a distant location - space truckers
an alien signal intercept - some of which can be understood
a lander - LANDER - that has trouble coping with innocuous terrain
people wanding out and getting infected (granted - not the ones exploring the derelict - but infected because of it the same)
poor biohazard containment protocols - resulting in the xtro getting onto the ship
neomorphs attacking en masse - grafting in the scene of the aliens waking up from aliens perhaps?
the crew are offered a safe haven from the aliens guided by the sole survivor
aliens probe the defences - lives are lost - get to medical!
the captain STICKS HIS FACE in an alien egg FFS (after declaring walter to be the devil - and then trusting him - but thats another story)
A rescue ship is prepped with comms via remote to extract the crew - no bishop to go this time - aliens again
Android turns out to be a creepy b
d - and off screen supposition has it destroyed (though thats really poor and make blatantly obs what will happen)There is also the psuedo creepy insinuation about what Walter will do to Daniels mirroring the 'mouth rape' that Bishop tried on Ripley.
Lander turns up and Im sure there was some subtext when the alien is skipping about terrorising people, re frying it with the engines (though I might have been doziing at that point) it certainly was dancing around them (and arguably through physics would have been pulled in)
So the alien is dead - and we are back on board and we have the 'reveal' - an alien is on board!
Al plan is hatched to 'blow it out of the airlock into space' - ala 1, 2, and arguably 4 (though not via airlock)
It almost fails - but hurrah! she succeeds! Like another film I cant quite put my finger on...
Then
Then we all - all of us in the cinema knew it wasnt over and after the third act just knew there would be another final 'stand up curtain close piece'. It was too obvious. We were all waiting for it and then, like we hadnt guessed already, walter was david - cut to credits and music.
The relief/let down - call it what you will was palpable.
I was disappointed.
I gave it 6/10 - it would have been a 5 but I am too much of a fan to be unbiased. It was good to see the Xeno again.
Speaking of the xeno - it was good to see a very faithful version of Gigers vision in this movie. I also didnt see TWO people infected on the planet -that I didnt see coming. The Neomorphs were good - and the CGI was too. The film didnt show enough how the crew were just 'sailors' not soldiiers as it was apparent that as soon as someone held a weapon they were thought of as a space marine (though it did try with whats her face blowing up the lander - it didnt come across)
The ending was horribly predictable - I mean horribly - but the worst bit for me?
So we know from AVP movies that the preds have been using aliens as thier prey of choice back at least to the ancient Maya. They delivered them and then hunted them. Thousands of years ago. THEN we understand David MADE the aliens in the year 2100+ - wait what?
Even if you dont consider the AVP movies canon - why in prometheus which was a decade earlier were there bas reliefs on the walls showing the xeno? It hadnt been invented yet!
Moonhawk said:
Are we even guaranteed another film considering how poorly Covenant has done.
Despite being released in all major territories for weeks - it hasn't even taken half what Prometheus did, taking only $163.5 million to date (compared to Prometheus $403 million).
I doubt it'll break even - probably far from it.
Bit unfair comparing the takings of something that's been out for 5 years with something that came out 3 weeks ago Despite being released in all major territories for weeks - it hasn't even taken half what Prometheus did, taking only $163.5 million to date (compared to Prometheus $403 million).
I doubt it'll break even - probably far from it.
Edited by Moonhawk on Friday 2nd June 20:01
paolow said:
So we know from AVP movies that the preds have been using aliens as thier prey of choice back at least to the ancient Maya. They delivered them and then hunted them. Thousands of years ago. THEN we understand David MADE the aliens in the year 2100+ - wait what?
Even if you dont consider the AVP movies canon - why in prometheus which was a decade earlier were there bas reliefs on the walls showing the xeno? It hadnt been invented yet!
Yep - the relief even shows stylised face huggers impregnating hosts. They don't look exactly like the ones we know - but I put that down to artistic licence on behalf of the sculptor. Reliefs from earths history always tend to be somewhat stylised - as opposed to a true 'photographic' representationEven if you dont consider the AVP movies canon - why in prometheus which was a decade earlier were there bas reliefs on the walls showing the xeno? It hadnt been invented yet!
Plus it doesn't fit with Alien either - since the derelict on LV426 was supposed to have been there for a couple of thousand years at least.
The only way it can be retconned is if David was in fact reverse engineering the xenos as opposed to creating them - but Covenant made it quite clear that David believed he was the creator, not just a knock off merchant.
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