WhilePrometheusisn’t as bad as some claimed, theAlienprequel does seriously screw up the franchise’s timeline and mythology.TheAlienmoviesnever told a particularly coherent or plausible story, but the franchise’s timeline didn’t really go off the rails until its original director returned in 2012. Ridley Scott started the series in 1979 withAlien, so fans were understandably excited when he returned to the director’s chair for 2012’s prequelPrometheus. However,Prometheus’s messy, uneven story soon made it one ofthe most divisiveAlienmoviesas Scott’s story wreaked havoc on the lore of the series.
Alien: Earth - Cast, Story, Trailer & Everything We Know About FX’s Alien TV Show
The Alien franchise is heading to television for the first time thanks to FX. Here’s everything we know about the new TV series so far.
For the most part, the first fourAlienmovies chronicled the struggle between Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley and the Weyland-Yutani Corporation.Alienintroduced the Xenomorph,Aliensrevealed that Weyland-Yutani attempted to utilize it as a bioweapon,Alien 3stranded Ripley in a prison, andAlien: Resurrectionsaw her DNA fused with the Xenomorph so she could be resurrected. WhiletheAlien Vs Predator moviesweren’t well-liked, they did provide a relatively clear, simple prequel to this saga. ThenPrometheuscame along and swiftly retconned all ofAlien Vs Predatoras well as complicating the rest of the franchise immeasurably.
7Prometheus’ Infamous Black Goo Was Never Mentioned Before Or Again
Prometheus’s Black Goo Could Have Been Better Integrated
Prometheusstarted as it meant to go on, with stunning visuals that were utterly inscrutable when it came to straightforward narrative interpretation.Prometheus’s opening sequence depicts a humanoid alien, later revealed to be part of a species known as the Engineers, consuming black goo that causes him to disintegrate immediately. Viewers later learn that this scene depicted the birth of humanity, as one of the Engineers did their own unique recreation of the Prometheus myth by giving humanity life through their self-destruction. This makesPrometheus’s black goopivotal to the entire franchise’s story, but it’s barely mentioned again.
2092
2093
2104
2122
2142
2179
2180
Alien Resurrection (1997)
2379
Prometheus’s black goo is a bioweapon developed by the Engineers, but viewers would have a hard time finding this out by watching the movie. This piece of information is revealed inAlien: The Roleplaying Game, which explains that “Prometheus Fire” was developed by the Engineers so they could wipe out entire planets at a time. Since Weyland-Yutani was originally obsessed with the Xenomorph due to its potential applications as a bioweapon,Prometheus’s black goo should theoretically be central to the entireAlienfranchise’s storyline. Instead, it is only mentioned in this movie and never addressed before or after the prequel.
6Prometheus Made The Xenomorph An Invention (Not A Natural Organism)
Prometheus Heavily Implied The Xenomorph Wasn’t A Natural Organism
Prometheusimplied that the Engineers created the Xenomorph as a bioweapon much like their coveted black goo, although the prequel was hazy about the timeline of this development. This is surprisingly pivotal to the story of the franchise, since the origins of the Xenomorph are subject to some considerable debate among fans and even the creatives making the movies.Alien: Earthshowrunner Noah Hawley admitted toKCRW’sThe Businesspodcast that his show would depict the Xenomorph as a naturally occurring species, since depicting them as bioweapons “Invented half an hour ago,” was less compelling to the director.
While viewers can argue for or against this claim, canonically confirming that the Xenomorph is an engineered bioweapon rather than an existing species has huge implications for the franchise’s villains. IftheAlienfranchise’s Xenomorphwas always a bioweapon, then it is not all that surprising that the Weyland-Yutani Corporation intends to utilize the species for its original purpose. If the monster occurs naturally, then the company’s plans are much more morally dubious. Thus, this seemingly unimportant aesthetic distinction proves to be central to the franchise’s larger story, as the vlllainy of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation centers on this detail.
5Prometheus’s Xenomorphs Arrived Way Later Than Alien Vs Predator’s Aliens
The Xenomorph’s Alien Vs Predator History Was Undone In Prometheus
The history ofPrometheus’s Engineers isn’t entirely clear, but it seems fair to suggest thatRidley Scott’s prequel retconsAlien Vs Predator’s depiction of Xenomorph hordes from thousands of years ago. If the Xenomorph was invented by the Engineers, asPrometheusappears to imply, then it doesn’t make sense forAlien Vs Predator’s titular threats to have hunted Xenormorphs before humanity’s history even began. As noted by users of theAlien/Predatorfan siteXenopedia, it is tough to see how the series can square these seemingly divergent timelines.
Throughout the first twoAlienmovies, the Xenomorph is referred to as a perfect organism that evolved to be a relentless, ruthless killing machine.
However, it is not onlyAlien Vs Predator that this twist disrupts. Throughout the first twoAlienmovies, the Xenomorph is referred to as a perfect organism that evolved to be a relentless, ruthless killing machine. Not only would this not be true ifPrometheus’s version of events is correct, but the company’s very founder would be the one who disproved this when the Xenomorph was first discovered during the prequel’s events. Xenomorphs not only didn’t evolve naturally, but the Weyland-Yutani Corporation’s CEO was actually killed by one of their inventors on the same planet where they were discovered by humans.
4Prometheus Made The Engineers Pivotal To Alien’s Entire Reality
Prometheus Revealed The Engineers Created Humanity
Speaking of the Engineer who killed Weyland, it is important to note just how muchPrometheusmade the Engineers way more important than the Xenomorph in the franchise’s reality. Outside the history of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation and even the origins of the Xenomorph,Prometheusreveals that the Engineers created humanity itself. This was one of the biggest problems withRidley Scott’sAlienprequels, as they never really delved deep into the implications of this revelation after the opening scene. An existential space-set drama likeInterstellar,Ad Astra, or2001: A Space Odysseyseems better suited to this material.
In theAlienfranchise, the Engineers are effectively living evidence of a creator god. This has massive implications for humanity, which can now come together with concussive proof that they were made in the image of an ageless, extra-terrestrial creator. However, all the massive cultural, social, and philosophical ramifications of this twist are ignored byPrometheus, and viewers hoping to see them mentioned in earlier or laterAlienmovies will be disappointed. Seemingly, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation discovered the origins of humanity itself and then simply forgot about this, even though it appears to undermine or possibly entirely rewrite the theory of evolution.
3Prometheus’s David Is Way Too Advanced For His Place In Android History
David Doesn’t Make Sense Compared To Alien and Alien: Romulus’s Androids
BothAlien’s haywire Ash andAlien: Romulus’s faulty Andy are flawed androids whose operating systems let them down throughout the story of their respective installments. In contrast,Prometheus’s David is an impossibly advanced android with incredible intelligence, perception, problem-solving skills, and even emotional and psychological insight. It is impossible to work out howPrometheus’s David is so advancedwhen the rest of the franchise’s androids lag so far behind. One argument, that the founder of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation has access to its best prototypes, doesn’t hold much water here. After all, there can’t be that big a gulf in tech terms.
It seems absurd for Weyland to use his wealth to make a super-intelligent android and never allow subsequent android designs to borrow from David’s software.
Even assuming that the Nostromo is equipped with a mid-range android, Ash would have been developed years after David. As such, it seems scarcely possible that its functions would be so much more drastically limited than those of the earlier android prototype. The same is true of Bishop fromAliensor Andy fromAlien: Romulus. Again, both of these androids are owned by less wealthy characters, but it seems like a uniquely absurd folly for Weyland to use his immense wealth to make a single super-intelligent android and then never allow any subsequent android designs to borrow from David’s software.
2Prometheus’s David Has No Real Reason To Poison Holloway
Prometheus Complicated The Franchise’s Androids
AlthoughPrometheus’s technology gapwith theAlienmovies doesn’t make much sense,David doesn’t make perfect sense as a character, either.Prometheus’ David uses the black goo to poison and kill Charlie Holloway, but the movie gives viewers no way of knowing how David knew what this would do. Furthermore, the fact that androids work in the interest of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation doesn’t seem to come into play here. Charlie wasn’t impending the corporation’s work and was instead central to its mission, so it makes no sense for David to betray him just to test out an unknown substance.
1Prometheus Invented A New Weyland-Yutani Backstory and Founder
Prometheus Completely Retconned Alien Vs Predator’s Plot
Many of the biggest issues withPrometheuscome back to its biggest change.Prometheusinvented a whole new founder and backstory for the Weyland-Yutani Corporation afterAlien Vs Predatorintroduced Lance Henriksen’s Charles Weyland. InPrometheus, Henriksen’s Charles is replaced by Guy Pearce’s Peter Weyland, an aging billionaire and philanthropist in search of eternal life. This change alone doesn’t seem like a major issue, but many of the major timeline alternations spring forth from it. Forall ofAlien Vs Predator’s problems, its lore made sense within the context of the larger existingAlienseries.Prometheus’s plot did not.
Alien: Romulusis currently available to stream on Amazon and Apple TV.
Prometheusmay have worked as a standalone movie, but its status as anAlienprequel complicated the franchise’s timeline and lore immensely.Prometheusrendered the rest of the movies more confusing by introducing the Engineers and the black goo, even though these were never mentioned before, and making them of central importance to the franchise’s universe. Furthermore, the prequel confused the origins of Xenomorph, meaning the story ofPrometheusmade the series harder to follow upon a rewatch. Thanks to these changes,Prometheusmade the world ofAlienmore impenetrable than ever before, and this all came back to its new Weyland-Yutani founder.
