[CJClarke]

Originally Posted by E0N

The 'Alien' universe is much bigger than the Xenomorph. That is the impression one gets from listening to Ridley Scott. He stated explicitly that crew members will encounter other creatures that are capable of 'eviscerating' them. Perhaps the Pilots (or Space Jockeys) could be zoological scientists, trawling the universe for interesting life forms, which they tinker with, but that is purely my own speculation. Alien stagnated after a promising beginning because of a narrow focus on Ellen Ripley. This film offers far more.

I'd bet money on some kind of Xenomorph being in the film, even if it isn't the one we're familiar with, let's not forget that the only types of aliens we've seen so far in the Alien films have come from Earth based lifeforms (humans and a dog, or a large bull/cow if you go for the Alien 3 Assembly Cut). It'll be interesting to see the type of creature that bursts it's way through the Space Jockey's chest.

[MartinImber]

I enjoyed the original and to a slightly lesser extent its sequel, the prison film is OK. Another film in that universe by RS will be good.

The box set also includes a DVD like mat to put your cups on.

[Noiseboy]

Loved 1 and 2, hated 3 and mildly disliked 4.

This trailer looks absolutely fantastic - I think they nailed it.

[Lii]

If you look at stills of the space jockey chamber grabbed from the HD trailer, you'll see something very curious. It's clearly the same room as Alien, but not.... the bones are missing, it looks much more mechanical.

I would guess that the "biomechanoid" aspect of the original Alien is somehow import to this story, blurring the lines between organic and manufactured. Intrigued.

[mr muggles]

The derelict features quite extensively throughout the trailer, one shot clearly shows it rising on its back whilst another shows it rolling over the ground.

Theres another shot of the space jockeys head in a laboratory. The 'eggs' look different though. They're not so much eggs as oval tubes. exciting stuff!

[Inspiration]

Well I'm guessing this film may well answer the question of where did the Aliens actually come from. I think Ridley always speculated that the ship may have been designed to drop the alien eggs onto planets, so perhaps the metal tubes are an indication that the aliens originated from a manufactured scenario.

I can't wait for this film.

[Kapellmeister]

The trailer looks so awesome! I've waited years to see a Ridley Scott prequel to Alien and it's nearly here!!

[Alvar Hanso]

interesting humanoid figure on the far right in the space jockey shot

[Johnny Clay]

Originally Posted by CJClarke

As a massive Alien fan (i even did my Film Studies dissertation on the four original films) i really can't wait for this!

What was your angle on the four films, if you don't mnd me asking?

I can understand the first three being seen as a trilogy as all three have strong thematic value, but always thought the fourth mucked all that up in certain ways.

Prometheus trailer - wow. Scott's put his name to some turgid old tosh over the years, so I hope this is a cracker for his sake and ours.

[DemdikeStare]

That trailer is sooo perfect.
The music... the tantalising snippets of action.... the Alien typography.
At this point I couldn't care less about any of the other big films next year.

[bad-beat]

That trailer was liquid sex. Holy hell do I wish I could watch this film tomorrow.

[revolver44]

I still have a lot of doubts but I must admit that trailer is captivating.

[seosamh]

Originally Posted by mr muggles

Lets just pray that this invokes the spirit of the original and doesnt try & emulate the 2nd war movie.

I want ART

Not silly toy soldiers...

!

HILARIOUS! Yeah let's hope it doesn't try to emulate one of the best and most influential movies ever made which by the way has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes ..

My favourite film of all time as well

[Johnny Clay]

Originally Posted by seosamh

HILARIOUS! Yeah let's hope it doesn't try to emulate one of the...

Why should someone who favours Alien and not rate Aliens be deemed hilarious? Sounds like your lack of perception is the funny thing here. They're both very different films.

The enticing thing about Prometheus is the prospect of Scott returning to the genuinely dark, supernatural feel of his original - something none of the sequels ever came close to.

In spirit, Alien was very much the product of seventies horror - The Exorcist et al, which is not something you could say about Cameron's gun-toting sequel.

[Presyden]

We see two shots of what looks like a disfigured human. The first around 0.45 with him jumping off the truck & the second almost immediately afterwards with I'm guessing the same person barechested beside the "empty" jockey chair.

In Alien when the crew first come across the Space Jockey Dallas comments that it's been there a very long time, that it's fossilied, & that it's grown out of the seat.

I think this may mean that the Space Jockey is/was human & the threat that humanity face is one of being transformed into the alien aka master race.

What do you think?

[leosw4]

Originally Posted by DemdikeStare

That trailer is sooo perfect.
The music... the tantalising snippets of action.... the Alien typography.
At this point I couldn't care less about any of the other big films next year.

Well i see 2012 as tale of two parts really-this for the summer and for Winter.

Both saga's infatuate me immensely and both feature among my favourite movies ever (both being Alien and Middle Earth of course).

There are other movies I am looking forward to see, including TDKR and The Avengers, but these are side shows in comparison to me,

As a friend said on line the other, its like two/three years of good quality movies all rolled into one.

Out of the three trailers this week, I would say this is the most intriguing-that said, TDKR and Prometheus are in post production stages I believe, whilst the Hobbit is still very much in production-certainly the effects for part one are being worked on now, hence why the Hobbit trailer was in comparison SFX lite.

[leosw4]

Originally Posted by CJClarke

I'd bet money on some kind of Xenomorph being in the film, even if it isn't the one we're familiar with, let's not forget that the only types of aliens we've seen so far in the Alien films have come from Earth based lifeforms (humans and a dog, or a large bull/cow if you go for the Alien 3 Assembly Cut). It'll be interesting to see the type of creature that bursts it's way through the Space Jockey's chest.

They are apparently-although I am only going on what was said/commented on in the Prometheus FB pages.

A Xenomorph costume (at least one although it could have been more that one) was seen on set-although from my understanding they are not the main focus of the movie at all.

I think that given 'the Company' wanted to used them as biological weapons, this may given some clue as to what this movie may be about. Perhaps the Company got this idea from somewhere else......?

[mr muggles]

Originally Posted by Johnny Clay

Why should someone who favours Alien and not rate Aliens be deemed hilarious? Sounds like your lack of perception is the funny thing here. They're both very different films.

The enticing thing about Prometheus is the prospect of Scott returning to the genuinely dark, supernatural feel of his original - something none of the sequels ever came close to.

In spirit, Alien was very much the product of seventies horror - The Exorcist et al, which is not something you could say about Cameron's gun-toting sequel.

This. Its the sense of mystery/supernatural/revulsion that was missing from 'the war movie'. That, and the terrible design of the queen on her bandy turkey legs chasing after Ripley towards the end... Hilarious rather than giving me the chills, which I still get when I see the opening shot of the space jockey in the first movie.

Yeah, its a great Reaganite 'shot-em-up' war movie in its own right, but...Thats all it is.
I also dont rely on a rating by rotten tomatoes.

[mirrorimage]

Originally Posted by Johnny Clay

Why should someone who favours Alien and not rate Aliens be deemed hilarious?

in fairness, that could have been a response to the "silly toy soldiers" remark.

[Lii]

Originally Posted by leosw4

They are apparently-although I am only going on what was said/commented on in the Prometheus FB pages.

A Xenomorph costume (at least one although it could have been more that one) was seen on set-although from my understanding they are not the main focus of the movie at all.

I think that given 'the Company' wanted to used them as biological weapons, this may given some clue as to what this movie may be about. Perhaps the Company got this idea from somewhere else......?

Ridley has now categorically stated that the original Alien won't be in the film, but it seems very unlikely that the studio would produce the film without a monster of some form appearing. Like the original Alien, its form is one secret they're keeping firmly under wraps.

Mention of "the Company" gives me an excuse to share one of my favourite bits of Alien trivia. Weyland Yutani was invented by the artist/designer Ron Cobb as some far future evolution of British Leyland, following a merger with a Japanese car company. Certainly explains why the Nostromo was being repaired for so much of the film

[CJClarke]

My post contains spoilers for anyone who's not seen all four films! You've been warned!

Originally Posted by Johnny Clay

What was your angle on the four films, if you don't mnd me asking?

My main angle was analysing how each film was a product of it's era, paying particular attention to how each film mixed genres.

Alien = 70's horror movie mixed with sci-fi, how the alien embodied the fear of sexual violence which was a theme quite prevalent at the time in rape revenge films.

Aliens = Reagan era war movie with riffs on Vietnam (it's no coincidence that the gung ho marines get wiped out) etc...

Alien 3 = Misguided attempt to return to the feel of the original film, why it failed, production problems, and how it could have been different (if you ever get the chance to read the original script with a wooden planet populated by monks i'd highly recommend it. I'm not convinced it would have been a better film, but it was definitely original and very, very odd).

Alien Resurrection = A mixture of the dark tone that Fincher introduced in Alien 3 and the more action orientated Aliens (action movies were big in the 90s).

Obviously it was far more in depth than this brief outline makes it sound (i think my final word count was around 14000 words). I did enjoy the research though, it made me appreciate all four films even more than i initially did, which is no mean feat considering that Alien and Aliens are two of my favourite films ever. Alien 3 really did get shafted by Fox though, if they'd left it alone and let Fincher do his thing rather than rushing him to make a release date then i'm sure we would have got a much better film, although i personally think that the Assembly Cut of Alien 3 improves the film immensely and makes it almost worthy of standing alongside the first two.

Also, for the record, i disagree that killing off Newt and Hicks in Alien 3 negates the previous film, they're two seperate films, even though one follows on from the other it doesn't mean that one has the power to totally negate the previous film. If they'd brought back Newt they would have had to recast the actress too considering that Carrie Henn would have been in her late teens/early twenties by the time Alien 3 was filming, and obviously you don't age in hypersleep so i think that killing her off was the right thing to do really, plus if Newt was still alive then Ripley probably wouldn't have been able to kill herself at the end.

[seosamh]

Can't agree there - they should have left Ripley alone and gone in a different direction but Fox obviously didn't have the balls to do so. If you've done so much research can you tell me how the eggs got on the Sulaco in the first place? Surely they would have searched the ship before going into hyperspace?

It's just a ludicrously contrived attempt wring more cash from a franchise that had nowhere to go after the first two terrific movies and don't get me started on the crapfest that followed ..

[Noiseboy]

Originally Posted by CJClarke

Also, for the record, i disagree that killing off Newt and Hicks in Alien 3 negates the previous film, they're two seperate films, even though one follows on from the other it doesn't mean that one has the power to totally negate the previous film. If they'd brought back Newt they would have had to recast the actress too considering that Carrie Henn would have been in her late teens/early twenties by the time Alien 3 was filming, and obviously you don't age in hypersleep so i think that killing her off was the right thing to do really, plus if Newt was still alive then Ripley probably wouldn't have been able to kill herself at the end.

All excellent reasons why 3 and 4 shouldn't have happened at all with Sigourney (or Carrie Henn of course). She was superb and 1 and 2, but the story had nowhere to go with her that wasn't contrived. I think Prometheus - and maybe its sequels - will be seen as the real heirs apparent and 3 and 4 will be ever more marginalised. For the first time since Cameron's take, we are being driven by story and ideas again.

There's a bit of revisionist stuff going on that 3 is a misunderstood bit of genius. Fincher is an amazing director, but he never stood a chance with it - no blame attached to him. Ditto Jeunet in a slightly different way - Alien Resurrection is his only duff film, he is a masterful filmmaker.

Just as in the narrative, it's The Company that are responsible...

[floopy123]

Possibly the best teaser trailer of the year! The music is really creepy. The shots of the landscapes look fantastic. If the actual film captures the spooky vibe of the trailer it could be a classic.

21st century cinema needs a classic sci-fi film, perhaps Prometheus will be the one?

[Matt D]

Originally Posted by CJClarke

Alien 3 really did get shafted by Fox though, if they'd left it alone and let Fincher do his thing rather than rushing him to make a release date then i'm sure we would have got a much better film, although i personally think that the Assembly Cut of Alien 3 improves the film immensely and makes it almost worthy of standing alongside the first two.

I bought the BD box set a few weeks ago. I have no intention of watching 3 & 4, although someone on another forum did say that the box contains a brilliant documentary about 3 which shows how it all went wrong.