Alien and Star Wars Prequels: A Tale of Two Controversial Reboots!
Ridley Scott's Alien Prequels and the Star Wars Saga: A Striking Parallel
Let's be honest, those Ridley Scott Alien prequels – Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017) – sparked serious debate. And guess what? It's strikingly similar to the reaction to those Star Wars prequels. They've been praised and slammed—often for very similar reasons, folks!
Scott's return to the Alien universe, 15 years after Alien Resurrection, should have been pure awesome, but turning into prequels explaining xenomorph origins made many fans very, very skeptical. And they were proved correct at first. Prometheus had a somewhat mixed response; and was hugely divisive.
Covenant attempted a course correction; focusing on old-school haunted house horror for that intense suspense from earlier installments; this however was a controversial choice. Many thought this felt totally disjointed and failed to create a proper sequel; even alienating those who enjoyed Prometheus.
The Same Complaints, Different Franchises: Why Both Prequels Got Slammed
The criticisms leveled at both the Alien and Star Wars prequels? Almost identical, my friends! They're both accused of overexplaining the universe and that these additions weren't very necessary! Those explanations, many felt lacked artistic cohesion! Star Wars' infamous midichlorians and the overly-scientific explanation of the Force— that concept that previously remained largely unexplained – received heavy criticism! And similarly, Prometheus’ infamous “black goo” origin explanation of the xenomorphs, many found to completely destroy previous ideas and felt clumsy, forced and unecessary.
CGI? That's another common criticism! Both relied too heavily on it–ruining much of the gritty practical effects that defined Star Wars and the terrifying creatures from Alien’s early installments. That made some very questionable creative choices, which are now known for its lack of effective visual style, not feeling like its parent franchise!
Time Heals (Almost) All Things: Reappraising the Prequels
That’s only half the story, folks. Both sets of prequels underwent fascinating reevaluations since their releases. The Star Wars prequels— initially panned—got praised for their allegorical points – such as this fascinating story on the dangers of dictators and those terrible aspects of democracy – yet failed initially to convey this message completely which would then impact how critics and viewers really approached this new set of entries; this shows some fascinating aspects of human perception. We’ve got this transition and it changes how things appear – now there’s renewed appreciation, this demonstrates how initially difficult viewing experiences, after some time spent reflecting could result in entirely unexpected positive reevaluations and positive shifts from negativity that would impact those viewing perceptions and attitudes over time. There's this recognition of Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan and John Williams' music. These were all previously unappreciated elements that only surfaced later as these elements began to shine further.
Prometheus is often considered among the Alien franchise’s most underrated entries; a perfect illustration regarding the difficulty around accessing these kind of early audience responses, and how some time to allow those creative concepts to generate its own momentum; the amazing themes; those mindblowing visual aspects, and the fantastic Michael Fassbender performance all only increased over time! And similarly Covenant’s jump scares; Katherine Waterston’s Daniels, and that absolutely breathtaking finale twist; only later came into its own!
The Bigger Picture: Why Studios Keep Doing This!
This is where the actual parallel gets hugely revealing; especially for fans who are curious about this specific trend and why they consistently observe the same issues repeating themselves throughout several production choices and how this affects storytelling; demonstrating a problem in many big-budget productions: those creative decisions always get overridden by financial reasons!
Ridley Scott had a Biblical space epic story for Prometheus; making funding it incredibly tough unless it is presented as an established title! So many of the things are created simply to increase revenue; thus prequels might not feel organic due to not existing out of narrative need; that need to explain lore never quite achieves its aim of satisfying viewers; even leaving these lingering questionable aspects within that plot. A perfect demonstration on why artistic expression gets negatively affected by funding.
Plus early negative opinions might be knee-jerk reactions. It shows people focus initially on issues, then later acknowledge those other, positive aspects originally overlooked! So those early responses can often be very unreliable; even for professional critics – who themselves might get easily affected.
Conclusion: A Lesson in Storytelling and Audience Reception
The parallel between Alien and Star Wars prequels exposes some problems: The overwhelming reliance on creating more entries due to economic concerns; as opposed to artistic integrity which was previously hinted by how these franchises initially managed to maintain its immense appeal despite obvious weaknesses in plot or character development and storytelling in earlier entries which continued and produced several highly memorable entries in later years!
Yet that transition from initial negative responses into the acceptance and renewed enthusiasm proves to many how the human understanding of cinema often varies and depends largely on context; the specific details and time-frame needed to completely access some deeply ingrained biases that we use to filter any creative work, leading to widely different responses and experiences among individual people.
