Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Feb 26, 2015, 03:52:24 PM
Not really - Alien 3 didn't ruin opportunities, Resurrection did that itself with the line "for all intents and purposes, she succeeded". There was far more they could have done after 3 but it was the need to bring Sigourney back that took AR where it went.
Hicks I can't understand how you can justify that perspective. (I mean the sheer fact that you chose Corporal hicks as you tag suggests you would have a different perspective, but I digress
)
Let's take a look at some story / film fundamentals:
Every story is basically one of 3 archetypes
Man vs Man
Man vs Nature
Man vs Himself
The story of Alien is essentially Man vs Nature. In this case it is Ripley (Woman) vs the Alien (Nature). The Aliens are exotic but for all intents and purposes they're just stupid animals. (How could they cut the power?). Independently of a cast of people, the Aliens have no story of their own. Pure Sci-fi fans may differ in their opinion of this because they are more fascinated with the fantastic situation than they are with the actual human aspects which are intrinsic to every good story. For any story to be any good, it has to have the human element. It can't be denied that Alien 3 finished Ripley's arc effectively, but to say that it allowed for further continuity is not consistent with good story telling.
Granted you could just tell another tale in the established Alien universe, but any such story would be hollow without the lead character. The Aliens are the equivalent of a tornado. A force of nature. You can tell different tales about a tornado, but without the protagonist from the first story, they are just unrelated tales. To continue with an exploration of LV-426's derelict without Ripley is no more than an epilogue to the central story arc. It may satisfy some fans' curiosities, but for the most part it will fall flat. It is like the Rocky series without Sly Stallone's character (but instead some other boxer), or Superman without Clark Kent (but with a similar super-being).
Do you recall the Airwolf TV series? How about the Knight Rider TV series? They had very compelling universes. An intelligent talking car and a futuristic helicopter. At some point the lead characters went away and then they were replaced by other lead characters in a follow-up series. Each series fell flat. You can't just delete the main character and expect the story to continue regardless of how amazing the context is.
My 2 cents.