Prometheus minus Alien - any good as a film?

my opinion yes, i actually prefer it separate from alien and did seem to stand out as something different, Ridley even mentioned in an interview that if u saw the first alien then great but he wants this film to be seen as something different and new, he could have easily separated it from alien i don't know why he made it set in the same universe.

@Custodian: [i]"Would Prometheus have stood up as its own story?"[/i] Your question is meaningless because the elements of Alien that you mention are integral to the film and its forthcoming accompaniments. We know that there will be at least one follow-up movie that reveals more about this particular universe. [i]"he seems to have gone off on a totally different cinematic voyage"[/i] Well spotted. That's what it is to be creative.

Last night the three of us watched Prometheus in one setting. One person heard abouit the movie,,but only casually. My wife had warched it before..one time... Both of them saw no connection to the Alien storyline..until after the movie was over, My point is they watched and enjoyed the movie,,on it's own ,, without any connection(in their mind) to another movie. We used the audio track*which is quite helpful for first time viewers.. It stands on it's on it's own..in my opinion..and the others. At the end it was like I expereinced in the theater..they started asking questions..because the story was not over.. One of the first questions that came up was why didn't Vickers and Shaw run to the right or left when the Juggernaut was rolling!!! After the movie was over we had a 1/2 hour discussion about then themes...quality questions..in depth questions..curious questions. I can't recall after watching another movie(except for 'Usual Suspects") that the other viewers discussed a movie in such depth.. Though they had more questions than answers,,,the wanted to see it again...and so do I.

With 6 changes I think this movie could have been separated from the Alien universe. First, no David. Second, no spore- like placement of urns. Third, no Medpod scene. Fourth, change the Juggernaut to something else. Fifth, no Trilobite impregnation of the Engineer. Sixth, no Deacon. But then what do you have? The Alien universe is huge and there is no one as qualified to run with the legacy as Ridley. He opted not to re visit the slasher in space format, and open the door to as yet unimagined possibilities, he dared to create a new vision! This is GOOD news!

"..basically, did we need the (constant) back referencing to Alien throughout the Prometheus .." I didn't that Prometheus was in anyway tied to the Alien movie until my son mentioned this as we saw then movie together.. In my mind my first viewing,was more as an adventure story not knowing anything about the plot... So for my mind most the questions discussions were more about the Prometheus story,,rather than the Alien inference.. I didn't find the 'Alien' revferences distracting..and would leave the storyline the way it is,, If it does become more of an 'Alien' story in the next release..instead of following the David/Shaw search for the Creators then I would find it objectionables. Keep the obvious Alien connections and use many of them,,,for part 3 of this adventure started by the movie Prometheus.

. . . with all due respect, but without the Alien elements, connections and references, there. is. no. story. There is no space jockey without Alien.

So, with those things in mind, does Prometheus stand up on its own two feet? Like if Ridley Scott announced, "I'm making a totally new science fiction film called Prometheus, about our ancestors," would it have had the impact it did being an (obvious and homage-ic) Alien prequel. ZZ need not reply - we know how he feels already Free Planet alias Custodian, again and again - and no I've not reported you for harrassment and (potential death wishes in your 'sci fi humour' LOL post elsewhere in this category).

YES, by itself, YES! I would have enjoyed it without the Deacon at the end! I wish the Engineer had killed the Trilobite!!!!!!!!! Long live the ENGINEERS!!!!!!!!!!!!

With so much of the Engineers' story not told,,I suspect that when all is revealled they(Engineers) and perhaps even the Goo will be story elements that humans,,movie goers...will understand and embrace. That would be quite surprising,,rooting for the Engineers and Goo!

Why do people insist that the word "universe" refers to like a galaxy... The universe is the whole shibang, there is nothing bigger than the universe. I dont understand how people call themselves some type of sci-fi people but dont know how to explain space. I mean come on I see it all over this site. "derrr uhhh why is LV-223 in the uhhh derrr same universe as duhhhh LV-426 derrr". Just a simple explination... the universe is what everything is in there is nothing bigger.

@SpaceJockey1082 - 'Just a simple explination... the universe is what everything is in there is nothing bigger.' I agree with your statement, but let's hope Chuck Norris does not hear us, as he is biggest?

#1082 and Cblue, Ridley, when he talks about 'in the same universe' it doesn't mean he 'doesn't understand physics or astronomy' he's using the 'universe' word like a literary person might use the 'genre' word, but with more of a 'time' attachment, and a space attachment, too. A more useful way for Ridley to describe Prometheus (as it relates to Alien) is to say, "Prometheus and Alien NEVER MET, though they both existed round about the same time." Imagine two redheaded kids on passing buses, they're both in the same 'heading to school' universe.

Yea, I understand the connotation of 'Alien Universe'. I was just trying to warn you all that when Chuck Norris finds out someone is saying this so-called "Universe" is bigger than him, there will be hell to pay! We have been warned!

that Chuck Norris meme's been rubbed a little thin, no? LOL

HA! I know, I just could not resist it!

Who is Chuck Norris? WHOMP Hey who just kicked down my door? Hey! Put me down! AAAAAAAAAAATHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP

@Major Noob - You were given fair warning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HA HA!

Custodian- being a longtime fan of Alien, I can't objectively say if it would stand on its own. Without the Alien connection it would have actually been confusing, I think, whereas I found Prometheus to not be confusing at all. Again, though, I lack perspective, as I knew most of the story before I saw the film. This is the only reason I wish I had never seen this site! Ridley could have secured much acclaim for himself by taking the safe route, and kudos to him, Fox and Lindelof for not doing so. Custodian, I get the feeling you want to like Prometheus, but are unsure if its place in the Alien story. I assure you, it belongs. If Ridley had made the first sequel, it would not have been this. This is his answer to all that's gone before, and all that's happening now. I doubt anyone has greater respect for the Alien story than he does, but he shrewdly shook it up. Artists do unexpected things, dilettantes do the obvious.

@major noob: +1 regarding your last paragraph (above). Really...spot on.

Undoubtedly, Prometheus could stand completely apart from alien, and there are many who think it should. It's not so much that alien has bad elements it's that Prometheus is telling a much greater story, where the aliens are just one element of the same universe.

I do like many elements of the Prometheus story/film/presentation etc. I just felt a little 'betrayed is too strong a word' that it felt like it had to pander to or pamper the alien-fan somewhat with its clumsy relics of an old 1979 movie like the spacejockey and the eggroom and the android and ... you know, Giger. I wanted it to have YES gone through that homage process via Spaihts and Lindelof, but then REALLY CONCRETED what it wants to be and not let the past linger, "Move on," if you like. But have your own identity, you know? Did it? Or was it lumbered with the past? The Giger-baggage, which (to me) it didn't really need. A pre-film cleansing would have purified and unified the ideas present in the early script while shuffling off the remnant skin of 'what was'. Ya know?

Custodian, I get what you're saying, I just don't see these elements as baggage. To me it's a marvelous glossy technicolor examination of the cool stuff in Alien that was never before addressed, plus lots of awesome new stuff to goggle at and kick off the new story. I keep saying it, this is a cross fade from the Alien franchise to hopefully a big new one, but with familiar elements that deserve their time in the blockbuster sun! Get in board, man, it's ginna be like nothing else!

^^^ What the man said.

I enjoyed THE THING prequel, and I was expecting THE SAME sort of wondrous discover, the journalistic who what where when whys of the Space Trucker and his eggy cargo. Nope, didn't get that - got Stargate, got Chariots of the Gods, got (literally) Space Jesus'd.

You are one glum customer! You got a cool brilliantly realized package well obsessed over by the man himself! LOOK at that thing! Stargate. HMPH.

Stargate, you just REFUSE to see, lover. Denial is not that river in Egypt. :)

subjective and personal aesthetics. Not denial. Your (custodian) personal expectations turned out to be incompatible/in contrast with Prometheus. So?

Joey Joe, I remember reading a book once, from my favourite author Haruki Murakami, and he's an expert at writing the 'anecdotal tale' where a story/world is plunged into at an almost random point, some enigmatic narrative things happen, then the book ends, leaving one feeling that it's NOT FINISHED; unpure. Most of Murakami's attempts at this succeed: [b]After Dark[/b] doesn't. I feel the same way about Prometheus; unpure.

Spaithis's original script was undenialably superior. The Engineers and their part in the story should have been the undertone, not the Xenomorphs

I can understand his desire to expand the story and universe of Alien beyond its original boundaries, but I still question his execution. No offense to Sir Scott, but I have a really bad feeling that he's trying to lean more towards a Wrath of the Titans. Spaithis stated in interviews that the only "main" reason why his script was scrapped was because he hadn't had any produced films and Lindeloff did (not that any of work is that good to begin with). I mean seriously, his script turned the story into a total cluster-[you know what I mean]