Noah Hawley Explains Why ‘Prometheus’ Isn’t “Useful” for His ‘Alien’ Prequel

[Xenomrph]

Between Noah Hawley and the writers of Aliens Dark Descent, I'm glad that Alien writers outright dislike Ridley's path for the alien series.

What did Dark Descent do? If it's a spoiler, throw it in spoiler tags I guess.

[Mr.Turok]

What retro-futurism though? Outside of the intentional style of Alien Isolation, the tech of Alien and Aliens was simply due to being the product of when it was made. It was not intended to be retro back in 79 and the 80s, it was just what they had to work with.

Yeah, like every single decade of their own iconic art style. Each decade had their own artstyle/idea of how the future will look. Doesn't mean they should just lose it's unique artistic appeal to a more sterile one. 

Between Noah Hawley and the writers of Aliens Dark Descent, I'm glad that Alien writers outright dislike Ridley's path for the alien series.

What did Dark Descent do? If it's a spoiler, throw it in spoiler tags I guess.

Spoiler

The final level shows us a very ancient Engineer city but the beings there look like the original Engineers via Alien 1979, hinting that the albino Engineers are not the OGs after all.

[close]

[The Cruentus]

What retro-futurism though? Outside of the intentional style of Alien Isolation, the tech of Alien and Aliens was simply due to being the product of when it was made. It was not intended to be retro back in 79 and the 80s, it was just what they had to work with.

Yeah, like every single decade of their own iconic art style. Each decade had their own artstyle/idea of how the future will look. Doesn't mean they should just lose it's unique artistic appeal to a more sterile one. 

Alien creatures and space travel aside, the franchise is supposed to be set in a believable universe, so technology would evolve in that unniverse just like it does in the real world.
The Alien franchise not set in a fallout-esque alternate timeline where aesthetics is frozen to the 70s.

That all being said, as a prequel, holograms and other such tech would stick out like a sore thumb when comparing to Alien. And I agree that it should not look sterile either. The environment and scenery needs to be memorable have character in its own right.
So they would have to explain it in my opinion.

[Local Trouble]

The Alien franchise not set in a fallout-esque alternate timeline where aesthetics is frozen to the 70s.

[Xenomrph]

What retro-futurism though? Outside of the intentional style of Alien Isolation, the tech of Alien and Aliens was simply due to being the product of when it was made. It was not intended to be retro back in 79 and the 80s, it was just what they had to work with.

Yeah, like every single decade of their own iconic art style. Each decade had their own artstyle/idea of how the future will look. Doesn't mean they should just lose it's unique artistic appeal to a more sterile one. 

Alien creatures and space travel aside, the franchise is supposed to be set in a believable universe, so technology would evolve in that unniverse just like it does in the real world.
The Alien franchise not set in a fallout-esque alternate timeline where aesthetics is frozen to the 70s.

Well I mean, looking at the aesthetics from the in-universe timeline, the "blue-collar" environments didn't change much from 2122 to 2179.

That isn't to say there isn't room for evolution or for alternate depictions provided there's contextual explanations for them, but the first two movies are setting a bit of a benchmark.

What retro-futurism though? Outside of the intentional style of Alien Isolation, the tech of Alien and Aliens was simply due to being the product of when it was made. It was not intended to be retro back in 79 and the 80s, it was just what they had to work with.

Yeah, like every single decade of their own iconic art style. Each decade had their own artstyle/idea of how the future will look. Doesn't mean they should just lose it's unique artistic appeal to a more sterile one. 

Between Noah Hawley and the writers of Aliens Dark Descent, I'm glad that Alien writers outright dislike Ridley's path for the alien series.

What did Dark Descent do? If it's a spoiler, throw it in spoiler tags I guess.

Spoiler

The final level shows us a very ancient Engineer city but the beings there look like the original Engineers via Alien 1979, hinting that the albino Engineers are not the OGs after all.

[close]

Okay that's rad as hell.

[The Cruentus]

What retro-futurism though? Outside of the intentional style of Alien Isolation, the tech of Alien and Aliens was simply due to being the product of when it was made. It was not intended to be retro back in 79 and the 80s, it was just what they had to work with.

Yeah, like every single decade of their own iconic art style. Each decade had their own artstyle/idea of how the future will look. Doesn't mean they should just lose it's unique artistic appeal to a more sterile one. 

Alien creatures and space travel aside, the franchise is supposed to be set in a believable universe, so technology would evolve in that unniverse just like it does in the real world.
The Alien franchise not set in a fallout-esque alternate timeline where aesthetics is frozen to the 70s.

Well I mean, looking at the aesthetics from the in-universe timeline, the "blue-collar" environments didn't change much from 2122 to 2179.

That isn't to say there isn't room for evolution or for alternate depictions provided there's contextual explanations for them, but the first two movies are setting a bit of a benchmark.

What retro-futurism though? Outside of the intentional style of Alien Isolation, the tech of Alien and Aliens was simply due to being the product of when it was made. It was not intended to be retro back in 79 and the 80s, it was just what they had to work with.

Yeah, like every single decade of their own iconic art style. Each decade had their own artstyle/idea of how the future will look. Doesn't mean they should just lose it's unique artistic appeal to a more sterile one. 

Between Noah Hawley and the writers of Aliens Dark Descent, I'm glad that Alien writers outright dislike Ridley's path for the alien series.

What did Dark Descent do? If it's a spoiler, throw it in spoiler tags I guess.

Spoiler

The final level shows us a very ancient Engineer city but the beings there look like the original Engineers via Alien 1979, hinting that the albino Engineers are not the OGs after all.

[close]

Okay that's rad as hell.

True there was more or less a consistent theme for 57 years but all we really see are suits that still resemble present day and they are still using screens. There is no reason to believe technology was frozen though as we get told about atmoshere processors, 500 surveyed worlds. etc

[Mr.Turok]

Alien creatures and space travel aside, the franchise is supposed to be set in a believable universe, so technology would evolve in that unniverse just like it does in the real world.
The Alien franchise not set in a fallout-esque alternate timeline where aesthetics is frozen to the 70s.

That all being said, as a prequel, holograms and other such tech would stick out like a sore thumb when comparing to Alien. And I agree that it should not look sterile either. The environment and scenery needs to be memorable have character in its own right.
So they would have to explain it in my opinion.

Style and tech advancement are two different things though? You can have tech that is 300 years ahead but has that techo-futurism look. I seen rifles that have that 18th century look but can shoot modern day gunpowder and rounds much stronger than back in those days.

Tech can be updated but just draped in that 80s flair. Not using floppy disks anymore so it makes sense that will be gone. Holograms can be integrated, like look at Blade Runner that still captures its essence but still modernized to a degree. I seen the tech in Avatar that can easily fit in the Colonial Marine arsenal with just a bit more art tweaking to fully integrate into the Aliens world, and makes sense too because look at the director.

Hell look at Steampunk. The tech of that genre is centuries advanced than anything in that time period historically has but the look still fits in that time period. We got nothing today that compares like in the Bioshock series, all the stuff they got makes us outdated and this is in the late 19th century!



It's all just artistic vision, bringing back the 80s but in some updated capacity and I hope Noah can capture that essence again.

Okay that's rad as hell.

Haven't played the game yet? It's actually pretty good and I was against the RTS format at first. Wasn't a big fan of that type of gameplay but it turned me around to giving it a 9/10.

[Xenomrph]

Alien creatures and space travel aside, the franchise is supposed to be set in a believable universe, so technology would evolve in that unniverse just like it does in the real world.
The Alien franchise not set in a fallout-esque alternate timeline where aesthetics is frozen to the 70s.

That all being said, as a prequel, holograms and other such tech would stick out like a sore thumb when comparing to Alien. And I agree that it should not look sterile either. The environment and scenery needs to be memorable have character in its own right.
So they would have to explain it in my opinion.

Style and tech advancement are two different things though? You can have tech that is 300 years ahead but has that techo-futurism look. I seen rifles that have that 18th century look but can shoot modern day gunpowder and rounds much stronger than back in those days.

Tech can be updated but just draped in that 80s flair. Not using floppy disks anymore so it makes sense that will be gone. Holograms can be integrated, like look at Blade Runner that still captures its essence but still modernized to a degree. I seen the tech in Avatar that can easily fit in the Colonial Marine arsenal with just a bit more art tweaking to fully integrate into the Aliens world, and makes sense too because look at the director.

Hell look at Steampunk. The tech of that genre is centuries advanced than anything in that time period historically has but the look still fits in that time period. We got nothing today that compares like in the Bioshock series, all the stuff they got makes us outdated and this is in the late 19th century!

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/03/25/arts/bioshock/bioshock-jumbo.jpg
It's all just artistic vision, bringing back the 80s but in some updated capacity and I hope Noah can capture that essence again.

Okay that's rad as hell.

Haven't played the game yet? It's actually pretty good and I was against the RTS format at first. Wasn't a big fan of that type of gameplay but it turned me around to giving it a 9/10.

I'm in the middle of playing it, I just started encountering

Spoiler

the cultists in the shipping container maze

[close]

[Scott Conover]

The Franchise just seems to be getting messier and messier. It's fun to some extent and I genuinely like the creative talent involved in these projects but the time line, continuity is really starting to lack cohesion and a smooth seamless trajectory. I think for that I'll just stick to the first 3 films and let everyone else have their own fun and creative interpretation of this popular franchise.
It's like a kid playing with Lego without the instructions. Just go wild I guess. Anything to bring in a new audience.

I still think Prometheus had a good amount of potential for it to be it's own singular universe, to some extent.
I desliked Covenant for so many reasons.
Character wise I found them all a load of nothing.
The only character I seemed to actually like died in the first 20 minutes.

Fuuuuuuck continuity. Shared universes and "canon" will be the death of this franchise and the whole medium. Truly who gives a shit. We don't need to see the life story of every single character and answer every unanswered question. Imagine all the incredible shit we could have gotten on screen for the last 40+ years if the producers didn't have such a hard-on for Sigourney Weaver, or if Ridley could check his ego at the door and leave these movies the f**k alone.

At least the Star Wars films had decades to grow and do new shit before they imploded into a shitfest of glup shittos and desert planets. With Alien? They couldn't even last four movies. I'll consider myself lucky if I don't have to see the derelict, space jockeys, David or Ripley again. The movies should have followed Dark Horse after 86 - get messy. Show us crazy shit. Make up a new company that's not WY. Give a robot some crazy swords. Put Aliens on Earth. Make em fight cavemen for all I care. I'd much rather watch something ass that tries something new than another movie from Scott or anyone else that's too scared to leave the shadow of a nearly 50-year-old movie.

[Slutty Badger]

True there was more or less a consistent theme for 57 years but all we really see are suits that still resemble present day and they are still using screens. There is no reason to believe technology was frozen though as we get told about atmoshere processors, 500 surveyed worlds. etc

Just over 300 surveyed worlds, actually.

[Ingwar]

futurism based on what they had available to make it look futuristic.

Totally agree.

Retro futurism has always been full of contradictions in itself. And that's the beauty of it. On one hand it's futuristic vision and on the other available tools people were using to make it look futuristic (product of its time).

In Blade Runner (1982) we've got flying cars (spinners), replicants, off-world colonies (which requires advanced space ships) but there is no Internet, mobile phones, and even flat screens and so on.

In Alien (1979) and it's sequels we've got androids, hypersleep chambers and the most important faster-than-light (if I'm not mistaken) space ships. But no Internet and mobile phones? Who would have thought about stuff like that at the time of making them? William Gibson did it in Neuromancer (1984) though 

[SiL]

Why would the crew of the Nostromo have internet or mobile phones even if they existed? They're in interstellar space and the ship has an intercom.

[Slutty Badger]

Why would the crew of the Nostromo have internet or mobile phones even if they existed? They're in interstellar space and the ship has an intercom.

Plus Weyland-Yutani's deep space communications network was still under development as of 2179, let alone 2122.

[The Cruentus]

True there was more or less a consistent theme for 57 years but all we really see are suits that still resemble present day and they are still using screens. There is no reason to believe technology was frozen though as we get told about atmoshere processors, 500 surveyed worlds. etc

Just over 300 surveyed worlds, actually.

Ah that's right. Still a lot when you factor in the possible distance between those worlds.

Alien creatures and space travel aside, the franchise is supposed to be set in a believable universe, so technology would evolve in that unniverse just like it does in the real world.
The Alien franchise not set in a fallout-esque alternate timeline where aesthetics is frozen to the 70s.

That all being said, as a prequel, holograms and other such tech would stick out like a sore thumb when comparing to Alien. And I agree that it should not look sterile either. The environment and scenery needs to be memorable have character in its own right.
So they would have to explain it in my opinion.

Style and tech advancement are two different things though? You can have tech that is 300 years ahead but has that techo-futurism look. I seen rifles that have that 18th century look but can shoot modern day gunpowder and rounds much stronger than back in those days.

Tech can be updated but just draped in that 80s flair. Not using floppy disks anymore so it makes sense that will be gone. Holograms can be integrated, like look at Blade Runner that still captures its essence but still modernized to a degree. I seen the tech in Avatar that can easily fit in the Colonial Marine arsenal with just a bit more art tweaking to fully integrate into the Aliens world, and makes sense too because look at the director.

Hell look at Steampunk. The tech of that genre is centuries advanced than anything in that time period historically has but the look still fits in that time period. We got nothing today that compares like in the Bioshock series, all the stuff they got makes us outdated and this is in the late 19th century!

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/03/25/arts/bioshock/bioshock-jumbo.jpg
It's all just artistic vision, bringing back the 80s but in some updated capacity and I hope Noah can capture that essence again.

That doesn't matter when Alien and Aliens never intended it to look retro, its the future to them, simple as. To use the same aethetics now, would be retro-futurism such as the case in Alien: Isolation. But back then it was just trying to look genuinely futuristic.

To make myself clear, I am not saying its a bad thing but it was never the intent when those films were made.

[Ingwar]

Why would the crew of the Nostromo have internet or mobile phones even if they existed? They're in interstellar space and the ship has an intercom.

But they didn't exist. That's the whole point. Also, I'm not angry about it as I explained it's the beauty of retro futurism.

Characters in The Expanse use mobile phones and network on daily basis.