QuoteHe didn't leave it in Fox's hands. It was always in Fox's hands via Brandywine. It was effectively in Giler and Hill's hands creatively. Riddles was a hired hand.
Fair enough, but it's a rather moot point anyway.
QuoteWith Prometheus, he as director - a director with enough clout to not be bossed around by Fox - can pick and choose what he wants for the story and isn't beholden to other installments. Especially tangential ones like AvP. He referenced Aliens - while kinda creating some continuity errors there too, but what are you going to do?
Ridley Scott may not be beholden to the AVP films, but any film he makes in the series effectively is. It doesn't matter how much clout Scott has, it does NOT give him the right to add unicorns or Barbie dolls to the story if it doesn't line up with previously established continuity. Also, I think people are giving him too much credit; it appears that all films by major directors are now directed at the general audience rather than the hardcore fans of each genre, like they're supposed to be.
I learned the lesson the hard way with James Cameron's Avatar, much of the attention seems focused on enhancing the special effects and creating a pretty environment for an alien planet rather than on actual plot. The main character, James Sully, was also an idiot (stated implicitly by his behavior and actions, and stated explicitly by various characters); which was hardly someone a fan of diehard sci-fi could related to. In my experience, fans like someone they can relate to while James Sully seemed like someone designed to appeal to the casual audience. After Avatar, I learned what I needed to know and then predicted that Prometheus wouldn't live up to the hype of being a true Alien prequel, which is essentially true however you cast the die since it's more involved in telling its own story rather than keeping in line with any sort of continuity that should be maintained when taking a step into an already established franchise.
No one cares about film integrity anymore, just look at the Star Wars films; George Lucas himself wanted to stop at the 2 trilogies but Disney is forcing him to make a 3rd and it doesn't just stop there, I hear Star Wars is going to become the new Avengers series for Disney with a new film coming out each year. The Avengers films were great to watch by themselves but I hardly see them as anything that really makes a dent in moviemaking history that the first 2 Star Wars trilogies did. This new Star Wars trilogy and its standalone movies are going to be fun (nah, most likely they'll suck, we'll be REALLY lucky if they prove the exception to the rule), but in the end I doubt it'll compare to the original classics (though that might not say much to begin with regarding all the hate aimed at the prequel trilogy).
QuoteYou'd be a tad naive if you thought those problems 'snuck past Fox's nose'. They've never cared as to what continuity problems come up with new material for 25 years - why start now? Especially with a big expensive film and one of the key people involved in the franchises initial success back on board.
You make a point there... unfortunately.
