Ridley Scott Plans ‘Alien’ Prequels

This is a guest post by Gunter Jameson from Classes and Careers.

The movie Alien opened in the US on May 25, 1975, to mixed reviews. Although much of the science fiction community loved it, it was panned by many other critics who said that it was a just a bunch of special effects and cheap tricks that lacked for real storytelling. Well, those critics are in the minority now. Alien is now known as one of the best science fiction movies ever made which has spawned 3 sequels and a number of other Alien-inspired movies like Alien vs. Predator. At the time of its release, Ridley Scott, the director was a virtual unknown in the world of cinema. But now the 3-time academy-award nominee has one of the most prestigious and most successful careers in Hollywood.

Return to the Past

But now that Scott has received widespread fame for his directing movies like Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven, American Gangster, and more, In an interview with The Independent, Scott reveals that he is ready to return to his roots and produce and direct two Alien prequels. In the interview he gave this tidbit about what we might expect in the upcoming films:

“The film will be really tough, really nasty. . . . It's the dark side of the moon. We are talking about gods and engineers. Engineers of space. And were the aliens designed as a form of biological warfare? Or biology that would go in and clean up a planet?”

In an interview with MTV earlier this year, Scott gave away some of the basics of the plot, saying that it will be set in 2085—about 30 years before Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver’s character) is born—so she won’t be in it. He went on to say that the prequels will have a lot to do with the concept of terraforming alien worlds to make them habitable for humans. He also hinted at explaining a little bit about the space jockey from the original film—the dead figure seated inside the spaceship where Ripley’s crew finds the alien eggs.

Can It Work?

No doubt Scott is an able filmmaker—he’s certainly proved himself throughout the years—and although he says that the prequels will be accessible to anyone who hasn’t seen the original Alien or its sequels, going back and milking the series once again seems a bit gimmicky. But whether or not he can pull the film off, there will be thousands of fans of the original series lining up to buy tickets.

Gunter Jameson writes about several topics including travel, minimalism and online classes.