Ridley Scott’s polarizing 2012 blockbusterPrometheuswould’ve been much better received as a brand-new sci-fi franchise than a tangentialAlienprequel. Set around 30 years before the events of Scott’s originalAlienmovie,Prometheusfills inthe unseen origin story of the xenomorphsthat terrorized Ellen Ripley. Although it was a box office success, grossing $403,354,469 worldwide against a budget of $130 million (viaBox Office Mojo),Prometheuswas met with a mixed response from both critics and audiences. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a good-not-great critics’ score of 73% and a certifiably divided audience score of 68%.
Prometheuswas praised for its stunning visuals, its thought-provoking themes, and the brilliant performances by its cast (particularlyMichael Fassbender as a cold-hearted android). But it was criticized for having a poorly paced script, asking more questions than it answered, and making unnecessary additions to theAliencanon.By explaining where the xenomorphs came from,Prometheustook away a lot of the mysterythat made the originalAlienmovies so terrifying. It’s a great concept, sinking its teeth into the origins of humanity and the confounding enigmas of the universe, but it arguably would’ve worked better as an original story.
Ridley Scott’s Prometheus Should’ve Started A New Sci-Fi Franchise (Not Continued Alien)
Prometheus Is A Strong Enough Sci-Fi Story To Support A Franchise Of Its Own
Prometheusisn’t a bad movie at all, but it is arguably a badAlienmovie. It has some great moments of body horror that would make H.R. Giger proud, like Elizabeth Shaw’s horrifying self-abortion sequence, but it doesn’t really seem interested in being anAlienmovie — and it makes too many radical changes to the franchise’s canon for a film that doesn’t really want to be a part of that franchise. It doesn’t haveAlienin its title, it doesn’t feature any of the series’ pre-existing characters, and it even has its own visual language separate from the established aesthetic.
Prometheus Was Always An Underrated Alien Movie & I’m Delighted It’s Finally Getting Its Due
Prometheus has always been one of the Alien franchise’s most underrated entries, and I’m glad it’s finally getting the appreciation it deserves.
It would’ve worked much better as an original movie kickstarting its own franchise, not a prequel forcing its Biblical allegories into the backstory of theAlienfranchise. A group of scientists venturing into deep space to solve the mysteries of the universe is a solid enough premise for a sci-fi franchise without bringing the familiar xenomorphs into the mix.Prometheusmight not have made $400 million if it wasn’t marketed as a newAlienmovie from the original director, butaudiences would’ve gone in with more of an open mind.
Prometheus' Engineers Could’ve Been The Start Of A Whole New Sci-Fi Universe
The Worst Thing About The Engineers Is Their Forced Connection To The Xenomorphs
The story ofPrometheusrevolves around the Engineers, a race of highly evolved, highly intelligent beings who create new lifeforms across the universe with specific goals and purposes. The movie reveals thatthe Engineers were responsible for creating the human race, and after seeing how greedy and harmful humanity is, they started plotting humanity’s destruction. InPrometheus’Alien-adjacent storyline, the Engineers created the xenomorphs to be humanity’s mortal enemy and ultimately wipe them out. Butif the xenomorph is taken out of the equation, that would still be a compelling story.
An early draft of thePrometheusscript was calledAlien: Engineers.
With all the wars and genocides in humanity’s history, it would make sense for the universe’s all-powerful overlords to deem human beings unworthy of existence. By turning that plot into the creation of the xenomorphs,Prometheussucked all the tension and intrigue out of the earlyAlienfilms. What made the xenomorphs so terrifying was the ominous mystery surrounding them; giving them an origin story ruined that.Prometheusisn’t a good sci-fi movie because of its connection to theAlienmythology; it’s a good sci-fi movie in spite of its connection toAlien.
Not Much Of Prometheus Needs To Change To Remove Its Alien Connection
It’s Barely Connected To The Alien Saga As It Is
It would’ve been pretty easy to rewritePrometheusas an original story with no official ties to theAlienfranchise. As it is,Prometheus’ connections to the largerAliensagaare tangential at best. All the film’s references toAlienlore — from LV-223 to the Space Jockey to the Weyland-Yutani Corporation to the Proto-Xenomorphs — would be easy to replace with similar original concepts. Rename the moon and the company, swap out the Space Jockey for another astronaut carcass, and redesign the Proto-Xenomorphs to look less like ancestors of Giger’s iconic xenomorph, andPrometheusis an original story.
I Really Wish Prometheus Hadn’t Added This Controversial Part Of Alien Mythology
Prometheus isn’t as bad as some critics suggested, but I’ll never forgive Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel for derailing the franchise with one detail.
IfPrometheuswasn’t anAlienmovie, then it wouldn’t have been criticized for failing to answer the franchise’s unanswered questions.If it was just the beginning of a new franchise with many sequels ahead, then the unanswered questions wouldn’t be a point of contention; they’d drum up excitement for the next installment. Hollywood is becoming increasingly wary about taking a chance on big-budget original movies — studios are more confident pumping money into projects with links to existing I.P. — butPrometheusis a rare example of a film that would’ve been more successful if it wasn’t tied to a beloved franchise.
Prometheus
Cast
Prometheus, released in 2012, is a science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott. It follows a team of explorers as they uncover clues about humanity’s origins, embarking on a perilous interstellar expedition where they confront formidable challenges to secure the future of mankind.
