If there's one thing I've learnt from Hollywood it's that prequels to beloved sci-fi franchises always turn out to be really good.

Telling the story of the Space Jockey seems like a mistake. I loved how mysterious and unexplained it was in Alien.

Then again, who knows. I think I'd prefer doing it this way to yet another increasingly implausible sequel.

/But I still thought Alien3 was good, dammit.

Bunnyhat: Your going to love my movie then.

You never even find out peoples names in it, or where they're at, or wtf they're even doing.

I give so few details it's gonna be all about mysterious and unexplained.

Sounds like you wouldn't like my movie, then. Every element in it is directly explained with straightforward dialogue immediately after it's introduced, so there's never any confusion or ambiguity in the viewer's mind. For example, the main villain's first lines are "Why must I be constrained by the foolish morality of humans? I am too smart for that foolishness." Also, in my movie, the monsters only show up in well-lit areas, so you always know exactly how they look. Oh, and at the final "THE END" screen, in slightly smaller text I have "And The Moral Is: Beware The Limits of Science" displayed.

The movie will be a veeeerrrrrryyyyyy ssssllllooooooowwwwww tour of H.R. Giger's house done to creepy music ;)

Will Natalie Portman show up to do some "acting" as well?

Toshiro Mifune's Letter Opener: CitizenTed: It will be awesome. There'll be these guys building the Nostromo:

"Hey Jim, got any 2mm rivets?"
"Yeah. How many do you need?"
"Oh, a dozen. Say, you guys finished on C deck bulkheads yet?"
"Nope."
"Damn. That's gonna push back work on the HVAC."
"Yeah. What can ya do? See ya, Dave."
"Yeah. See ya Jim."

And this all happens IN SPACE!!!

In the FUTURE!

First, though, they have to dismantle a 1970's-era datacenter, refinery, and factory, then they need to cruise old junkyards and part out old model kits. That could be a two-parter right there ;)

Senescent Dawn: Telling the story of the Space Jockey seems like a mistake. I loved how mysterious and unexplained it was in Alien.

Then again, who knows. I think I'd prefer doing it this way to yet another increasingly implausible sequel.

/But I still thought Alien3 was good, dammit.

I don't really see what's to tell. Some aliens got infested with the titular aliens. Carnage ensued. The end.

And what about humans? I doubt they are really going to have a film with no human characters, so they'll shoe-horn some group of cliches awkwardly into the plot.

I thought Alien 3 was good too.

Rob Schneider as in Deuce Bigalow or am I being stupid I can't find another actor with the same name. Weird he sucks.

Darth_Lukecash: I didn't like Alien 3 for the fact they killed off Newt and Hicks off screen. It was also one of those "dark ending" of franchises that never seem to work.


THIS.

I think it was Peter David who offered the theory that the whole movie was Ripley having a nightmare on the way back to Earth.

"I reject your reality, and substitute my own!"

Toshiro Mifune's Letter Opener: BesiktasBoy83: Rob Schneider as in Deuce Bigalow

SpinStopper: First, though, they have to dismantle a 1970's-era datacenter, refinery, and factory, then they need to cruise old junkyards and part out old model kits. That could be a two-parter right there ;)

Ennuipoet: The NEAR FUTURE!

RUSTY TAILPIPES AND CORRODED RADIATORS!

OF THE KINDA SORTA SOMEWHAT FUTURE!!!

whats the joke I dont understand

Saw Carrot Top in Vegas a few months ago, only because we were comped the tickets and were a little gambled-out after 3 days.

It was about what you would imagine. At least some of the audience forced some muffled courtesy laughter.

Senescent Dawn: Telling the story of the Space Jockey seems like a mistake. I loved how mysterious and unexplained it was in Alien.

Then again, who knows. I think I'd prefer doing it this way to yet another increasingly implausible sequel.

/But I still thought Alien3 was good, dammit.

You had me until the Alien 3 comment.

Anyway, I just don't know about this prequel. Are people really clamoring to hear this story? Is there even much demand for an Alien movie of any form at this point?

Kublai Khan: If there's one thing I've learnt from Hollywood it's that prequels to beloved sci-fi franchises always turn out to be really good.

Ordinarily, that logic would apply, but we're talking about Ridley Farking Scott, and he's fired up:

"Jim's raised the bar and I've got to jump to it. He's not going to get away with it."

This is great news. C'mon, this is the director of the original Alien, not to mention a certain other classic. You think he's going to do a half-assed job? If he says it's gonna be ugly, you can take him at his word.

We can count on him not to make the "space jockey" a cute slave kid on a planet with pod races. Give him credit for some taste.

Shrugging Atlas: Senescent Dawn:

Anyway, I just don't know about this prequel. Are people really clamoring to hear this story? Is there even much demand for an Alien movie of any form at this point?

Considering the first two created whole freaking genres and styles of films, comics, video games, and TV shows, then yes, the Alien franchise is very important and it is important to do it right.

Senescent Dawn: Telling the story of the Space Jockey seems like a mistake. I loved how mysterious and unexplained it was in Alien.

I had a long rant about why the Star Wars prequel series was a bad idea. Not because of anything in them (that's another rant everyone knows) but because it focused on Anakin.

Darth Vader and Obi Wan were great characters because they were grew from the unknown. You didn't know who they were in their younger days, you didn't really know what they did, what motivated them to do what they did. You didn't know why Kenobi was in the desert apparently in some form of exile, and you didn't know who or what was the dark malevolent force that was Darth Vader.

When those characters were defined, they fit into a neat little box you could classify and stick in it's appropriately indexed cubicle and never wonder about again.

And right now the Space Jockey.

Currently, the Space Jockey is anything. Its motivations and goals are unknown. Was it a simple cargo pilot on a ship that suffered a containment breach? Or a soldier of a long dead race piloting a bomber armed with engineered weapons of mass destruction? Maybe it sacrificed itself by crashing the ship when it discovered that the corporation it worked for was smuggling specimens back to its home planet for weapons research.

But thankfully we will have this movie which will end all those curious thoughts and musings. Then I can properly index this unknown and stick it up on the shelf.

I love when he refers to Cameron "raising the bar" he is talking about a movie made 25 years ago. And of course ignoring the movies that followed it.

Toshiro Mifune's Letter Opener: BesiktasBoy83: Rob Schneider as in Deuce Bigalow

SpinStopper: First, though, they have to dismantle a 1970's-era datacenter, refinery, and factory, then they need to cruise old junkyards and part out old model kits. That could be a two-parter right there ;)

Ennuipoet: The NEAR FUTURE!

RUSTY TAILPIPES AND CORRODED RADIATORS!

OF THE KINDA SORTA SOMEWHAT FUTURE!!!

UNCOVERED GIANT FANS EVERYWHERE IN EASILY ACCESSIBLE SHAFTS! MOISTURE LADEN CHAIN FILLED ROOMS OF TOMORROW!

Ennuipoet: Toshiro Mifune's Letter Opener: In the FUTURE!

The NEAR FUTURE!

Next Sunday, A.D.

TheWizard: Senescent Dawn: Telling the story of the Space Jockey seems like a mistake. I loved how mysterious and unexplained it was in Alien.

I had a long rant about why the Star Wars prequel series was a bad idea. Not because of anything in them (that's another rant everyone knows) but because it focused on Anakin.

Darth Vader and Obi Wan were great characters because they were grew from the unknown. You didn't know who they were in their younger days, you didn't really know what they did, what motivated them to do what they did. You didn't know why Kenobi was in the desert apparently in some form of exile, and you didn't know who or what was the dark malevolent force that was Darth Vader.

When those characters were defined, they fit into a neat little box you could classify and stick in it's appropriately indexed cubicle and never wonder about again.

Well said. Genius is knowing when and where to maintain mystery, knowing what not to reveal. Scott did that brilliantly with Alien, it appears he's forgotten this important truism in his old age based on that interview.

Lucas dropped the ball completely with Star Wars (to the point of neglegently trolling his fans), James Cameron continues to make great films. So it could go either way.

Regardless, I'll be reading lots of reveiws before seeing it in theatres.

Senescent Dawn:
Sounds like you wouldn't like my movie, then. Every element in it is directly explained with straightforward dialogue immediately after it's introduced, so there's never any confusion or ambiguity in the viewer's mind. For example, the main villain's first lines are "Why must I be constrained by the foolish morality of humans? I am too smart for that foolishness." Also, in my movie, the monsters only show up in well-lit areas, so you always know exactly how they look. Oh, and at the final "THE END" screen, in slightly smaller text I have "And The Moral Is: Beware The Limits of Science" displayed.


Cool! I had no idea that JJ Abrams posted to Fark!

Kublai Khan: Senescent Dawn: Telling the story of the Space Jockey seems like a mistake. I loved how mysterious and unexplained it was in Alien.

Then again, who knows. I think I'd prefer doing it this way to yet another increasingly implausible sequel.

/But I still thought Alien3 was good, dammit.

I don't really see what's to tell. Some aliens got infested with the titular aliens. Carnage ensued. The end.

And what about humans? I doubt they are really going to have a film with no human characters, so they'll shoe-horn some group of cliches awkwardly into the plot.

I thought Alien 3 was good too.

They certainly don't have much wiggle room for the story, do they? Has there ever been a movie without any humans(humanoids)? Scott is a pretty smart dude, I assume, maybe he gives it a go. That might make it worthwhile.

Senescent Dawn: Bunnyhat: Your going to love my movie then.

You never even find out peoples names in it, or where they're at, or wtf they're even doing.

I give so few details it's gonna be all about mysterious and unexplained.

Sounds like you wouldn't like my movie, then. Every element in it is directly explained with straightforward dialogue immediately after it's introduced, so there's never any confusion or ambiguity in the viewer's mind. For example, the main villain's first lines are "Why must I be constrained by the foolish morality of humans? I am too smart for that foolishness." Also, in my movie, the monsters only show up in well-lit areas, so you always know exactly how they look. Oh, and at the final "THE END" screen, in slightly smaller text I have "And The Moral Is: Beware The Limits of Science" displayed.

James Cameron, is that you?

TheWizard: Senescent Dawn: Telling the story of the Space Jockey seems like a mistake. I loved how mysterious and unexplained it was in Alien.

I had a long rant about why the Star Wars prequel series was a bad idea. Not because of anything in them (that's another rant everyone knows) but because it focused on Anakin.

Darth Vader and Obi Wan were great characters because they were grew from the unknown. You didn't know who they were in their younger days, you didn't really know what they did, what motivated them to do what they did. You didn't know why Kenobi was in the desert apparently in some form of exile, and you didn't know who or what was the dark malevolent force that was Darth Vader.

When those characters were defined, they fit into a neat little box you could classify and stick in it's appropriately indexed cubicle and never wonder about again.

I disagree. I knew what their back stories were(before the prequels were made), as did most Star Wars fans. Stuff like their fight on the lava planet and so on.

I think the major error of the prequels is in telling a story that everyone already knows, everyone already knows what is going to happen. That is what robs the tension and mystery out of it.

If Lucas was set on making three more movies, I would have advised him to make three that take place after Return of the Jedi. That way no one in the audience would know where he was taking the series.

There is just no way that Anakin/Obi-wan fight could have been depicted better than fans imagined it- all the prequels were doomed in that way.

T.M.S.: I love when he refers to Cameron "raising the bar" he is talking about a movie made 25 years ago. And of course ignoring the movies that followed it.

Alien was made in 1979.

Birnone: I think the major error of the prequels is in telling a story that everyone already knows... in a totally lame and boring way.


FTFY

Obnox: Kublai Khan: If there's one thing I've learnt from Hollywood it's that prequels to beloved sci-fi franchises always turn out to be really good.

Ordinarily, that logic would apply, but we're talking about Ridley Farking Scott, and he's fired up:

"Jim's raised the bar and I've got to jump to it. He's not going to get away with it."

This is great news. C'mon, this is the director of the original Alien, not to mention a certain other classic. You think he's going to do a half-assed job? If he says it's gonna be ugly, you can take him at his word.

We can count on him not to make the "space jockey" a cute slave kid on a planet with pod races. Give him credit for some taste.

Ah yes, Ridley Scott, the director of such classics as:



and:



and:



and of course:



Let's not kid ourselves here; Ridley Scott is a very inconsistent director. Sometimes he does good, sometimes he does crap. And I bet people said to have faith in Lucas before they actually saw Phantom Menace.

stellarossa: T.M.S.: I love when he refers to Cameron "raising the bar" he is talking about a movie made 25 years ago. And of course ignoring the movies that followed it.

Alien was made in 1979.

No, Alien was made in 1978. It was released in 1979.


A moot point either way as Scott was referring to Ailiens, not Alien.

James Camero directed Aliens In 1985. 1985 was 25 years ago.

stellarossa: T.M.S.: I love when he refers to Cameron "raising the bar" he is talking about a movie made 25 years ago. And of course ignoring the movies that followed it.

Alien was made in 1979.

Had to go and make feel reeeeeaaaally old, didn't you.

saw it in the theatre, one screen house, $1

Trocadero: Shrugging Atlas: Senescent Dawn:

Anyway, I just don't know about this prequel. Are people really clamoring to hear this story? Is there even much demand for an Alien movie of any form at this point?

Considering the first two created whole freaking genres and styles of films, comics, video games, and TV shows, then yes, the Alien franchise is very important and it is important to do it right.

I never questioned it's importance to the genre or it's impact on film. I'm saying it's been over 30 years since the original movie, and again, who's demanding a prequel be made? If there was a story to tell wouldn't you think someone, including Scott, might have done so at some point over the past several decades?

There's been a million different theories about the Space Jockey over the years, and that's the coolest thing about it. Sticking it in a movie and removing all the mystery surrounding it is a disservice after this length of time, no matter how well it's done.

Scooty_Puff_Sr: They certainly don't have much wiggle room for the story, do they? Has there ever been a movie without any humans(humanoids)?

Dark Crystal, Watership Down, The Land Before Time, The Secret of Nimh, Animal Farm, Bambi. Heck, about half of Disney's catalog.

Of course those are all animated, anthropomorphized animals (except Dark Crystal, of course).

Can't remember if Milo & Otis had any humans in it. And I haven't seen "9" so I don't know if there are any in that one.

fusillade762: Scooty_Puff_Sr: They certainly don't have much wiggle room for the story, do they? Has there ever been a movie without any humans(humanoids)?

Dark Crystal, Watership Down, The Land Before Time, The Secret of Nimh, Animal Farm, Bambi. Heck, about half of Disney's catalog.

Of course those are all animated, anthropomorphized animals (except Dark Crystal, of course).

Can't remember if Milo & Otis had any humans in it. And I haven't seen "9" so I don't know if there are any in that one.

I imagine it's hard for directors to find non-human actors.

Senescent Dawn: Telling the story of the Space Jockey seems like a mistake. I loved how mysterious and unexplained it was in Alien.

Then again, who knows. I think I'd prefer doing it this way to yet another increasingly implausible sequel.

/But I still thought Alien3 was good, dammit.

Mystery is always good.

The way Star Trek: Voyager ruined the Borg should give Scott pause about taking all of the mystery out of creating an alien origin story.