Do watch Prometheus. It's not as bad as some of the previous Alien movies (and is gorgeous as others have said). But I would watch Alien first, particularly if you or your GF are genuinely unknowing of what the franchise is about and the type of stuff that happens in the movies. Prometheus treats certain ideas from Alien, that were surprising at the time, as fairly run-of-the-mill.
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Which to watch first: Prometheus or Alien?
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Bobby Roberts
Banned
OP, please do not follow this man's advice, as he somehow believes Predator movies really should be mixed in with Alien movies as if that wasn't a dumb comic-book conceit that barely translates to video games, much less feature films.
Instead, watch the Alien Trilogy, and then if you really wanna replicate this viewing order, pour the contents of a fucking grease trap into your eyeballs.
Note: If you're going to watch ANY Predator movies, watch Predator. Then MAYBE Predators. Then stop.
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
The advice I came to give. Prometheus was pretty mediocre at best.
Well, this is true I suppose. But, not much of a compliment since Alien 3 and 4 are absolute garbage.
TheJollyCorner
Member
don't listen to the hate.
Prometheus is excellent. :}
Prometheus is excellent. :}
Booker Dewitt
Member
Alien and then Prometheus. While it doesn't continue the direct story of Alien, it's more of same house different room kind of thing. A lot of the story beats are based on the assumption that you're familiar with Alien, and try to subvert your expectations. It's not really that successful, but it's a entertaining film on its production value alone.
I watched most of Prometheus last week on television, up to where David begins talking to the
. The characters were mostly forgettable except for David. I was fairly annoyed by the incoherent plot's focus on existentialism. Also, the action scenes were surprisingly dull for the most part, but that
was fairly gross, was surprised Shaw didn't pass out during the process. There were no iconic moments, but I guess I set my expectations too high. Prometheus felt like a beautifully shallow film.
awakened engineer in the pod
surgery scene
For whatever reason, that scene truly got to me. Most nauseated I've been in a film. I don't even really have a clear memory of how graphic it was. But nothing else in the film (or series, or really any other scene I've witnessed) has made me feel that ill.
I am male though *shrug*
Wild hypothesis: it has little to do with nostalgia, and a lot to do with how young those people are.
itwasTuesday
He wasn't alone.
I want to see how your gf reacts to watching it in this order.
Ghostbusters -> Prometheus -> Alien -> Aliens
Ghostbusters -> Prometheus -> Alien -> Aliens
Star Falcon
Member
Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection are still fun movies.
The Directors Cut of Alien 3 i actually really rate as it adds a LOT more to the film. The confines of the prison create a great atmosphere IMO. Alien: Resurrection is daft but i still find it entertaining.
Leagues better than the crap that is AvP, AvP 2 and Predators anyway.
Prometheus - i didn't mind it. But it was nothing special. I don't think you really need to worry too much about what order you watch them in. However i would say watch Alien first simply because its a much better film.
The Directors Cut of Alien 3 i actually really rate as it adds a LOT more to the film. The confines of the prison create a great atmosphere IMO. Alien: Resurrection is daft but i still find it entertaining.
Leagues better than the crap that is AvP, AvP 2 and Predators anyway.
Prometheus - i didn't mind it. But it was nothing special. I don't think you really need to worry too much about what order you watch them in. However i would say watch Alien first simply because its a much better film.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
Watch Alien first, and Prometheus never
I don't think the problem is the order they see the movies in, I think the problem is that the prequels (therefore, by proxy, their taste) are fucking terrible.
Shadow of the BEAST
Banned
you could probably skip prometheus completely.
just watch alien, and if you like that watch aliens and then maybe the long version of alien 3.
just watch alien, and if you like that watch aliens and then maybe the long version of alien 3.
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
In case it hasn't sunk in yet from all the other posts, definitely watch Alien first. Then watch Aliens and Alien 3: Directors Cut. After that, i'd say stop altogether. Alien Resurrection is garbage and Prometheus is worse.
sixteen-bit
Member
Never watch Prometheus
Darias
Member
Prometheus is beautiful.
And that's it. As a standalone sci-fi movie it's deplorable - as any part of the Alien franchise it's abysmal - as far as delivering any of the things it said it would, it's... (I don't have a suitable adjective for here, but it would be a terribly bad word)
Beyond the scenery there are no redeeming qualities in Prometheus at all. The character acting is shoddy and lazy, the characters themselves are dumb, inept, unrealistic, typecast, buffoonish caricatures of what would happen if a twelve year old might accomplish if he tried to build an entire movie from start to finish.
The "plot" of the movie (and I am using that word loosely) is roughly people go to place, do dumb things, bad things happen. There really is no more depth to it than that. For all intents and purposes the 'explanation' of the engineers would be best described as Forest Gump is cross-bred with The Hulk.
If you want a 'twist' in this movie, jam your foot between the couch cushions and fall off, you'll be more surprised by the pain in your ankle than Ridley Scott managed to pull off.
If you want a halfway decent ending, skip everything after the first fifteen minutes and go masturbate in the corner. You'll save about an hour of your life as well.
Also - here's the entire movie in animated gif form.
http://i.minus.com/ivmqo5qJHTmMu.gif
And that's it. As a standalone sci-fi movie it's deplorable - as any part of the Alien franchise it's abysmal - as far as delivering any of the things it said it would, it's... (I don't have a suitable adjective for here, but it would be a terribly bad word)
Beyond the scenery there are no redeeming qualities in Prometheus at all. The character acting is shoddy and lazy, the characters themselves are dumb, inept, unrealistic, typecast, buffoonish caricatures of what would happen if a twelve year old might accomplish if he tried to build an entire movie from start to finish.
The "plot" of the movie (and I am using that word loosely) is roughly people go to place, do dumb things, bad things happen. There really is no more depth to it than that. For all intents and purposes the 'explanation' of the engineers would be best described as Forest Gump is cross-bred with The Hulk.
If you want a 'twist' in this movie, jam your foot between the couch cushions and fall off, you'll be more surprised by the pain in your ankle than Ridley Scott managed to pull off.
If you want a halfway decent ending, skip everything after the first fifteen minutes and go masturbate in the corner. You'll save about an hour of your life as well.
Also - here's the entire movie in animated gif form.
http://i.minus.com/ivmqo5qJHTmMu.gif
I'd usually put preference on watching in release order, rather than chronological order of the story. That holds true here. It's not particularly important, but i can think of a few reasons why watching Alien first would be better. People will say Prometheus was made as a standalone, and while it does work quite well as one, there's still a lot of nods to the original film and i just think it's better to watch it afterwards.
I haven't visited Alien 3 in a long time and i haven't watched the "director's" cut, so i'll leave my opinions for the film out of it. But for the love of god, watch Aliens too. It's just a fantastic movie. Stay the hell away from Resurrection and the AVP movies, unless you hate yourself.
EDIT: Also. Make sure you watch the theatrical cut for Alien. I think popular opinion for Aliens is the Director's Cut, which i'm pretty sure is how I've always watched it. Someone may want to back me up on Aliens. But i have a strong opinion that Theatrical cut for Alien is much better.
I haven't visited Alien 3 in a long time and i haven't watched the "director's" cut, so i'll leave my opinions for the film out of it. But for the love of god, watch Aliens too. It's just a fantastic movie. Stay the hell away from Resurrection and the AVP movies, unless you hate yourself.
EDIT: Also. Make sure you watch the theatrical cut for Alien. I think popular opinion for Aliens is the Director's Cut, which i'm pretty sure is how I've always watched it. Someone may want to back me up on Aliens. But i have a strong opinion that Theatrical cut for Alien is much better.
Unknown Soldier
Banned
Alien 3 is interesting for several reasons. It was David Fincher's first "real" studio film and you can see his influence even through the mess that was Fox's interference in the making of that film. It's interesting that Fincher was so bitter about how the production of Alien 3 went that even to this day he refuses to touch it, which is why the Extended Version included in the DVD and Blu-ray sets is famously not credited to him, and he is the only director who doesn't contribute a Director's Commentary track in those sets. It concludes Ripley's story, and whether you like the conclusion or not (most people didn't) is not relevant to that particular point. It's not an exaggeration to say that after Ripley's story was done, every other movie afterwards felt superfluous and like an attempt to milk the franchise. Which they were.
Ridley Scott himself has said that he made the "Director's Cut" because Fox asked him to. He regards the Theatrical version as his definitive cut of the film. The Director's Cut is a bit interesting since it expands on a certain scene that fans have discussed for ages, but otherwise adds content which isn't particularly essential.
Personally I'd avoid AvP and AvP: Requiem like the plague. I'd also stay away from Alien Resurrection. Prometheus ties into the Alien lore, but as others have said, it is it's own movie. I'd go with
Alien
Aliens
Alien 3
Prometheus
And, as suggested, through in the Predator movies for good measure.
Alien
Aliens
Alien 3
Prometheus
And, as suggested, through in the Predator movies for good measure.
I Stalk Alone
Member
OP, please do not follow this man's advice, as he somehow believes Predator movies really should be mixed in with Alien movies as if that wasn't a dumb comic-book conceit that barely translates to video games, much less feature films.
Instead, watch the Alien Trilogy, and then if you really wanna replicate this viewing order, pour the contents of a fucking grease trap into your eyeballs.
Note: If you're going to watch ANY Predator movies, watch Predator. Then MAYBE Predators. Then stop.
f you don't watch predator 2 then you won't see the xenomorph connection....
Is the biggest difference between the theatrical and director's cut of Alien the scene where
? If so, I definitely prefer the theatrical cut. Leaves more to the imagination which makes the alien all the more terrifying IMO.
some of the other characters were found cocooned
yes
Synth_floyd
Banned
Watch Alien then Aliens then Alien 3 and then stop.
TheChewyWaffles
Member
The correct answer is to watch Alien and don't bother with Prometheus.
I watched Alien again the other day again. It actually has some dumb parts too, not as much as prometheus though.
-How come Dallas was all like 'fuck this shit Im gonna go out there and burn that alien fuck yeah.'
Then when he sees the alien on the radar everyones all like 'omg dallas run, ruuuun' and he gets caught unaware instead of being ready with the trigger.
-How come in the end when the two people are at the loading dock ripley is the ONLY one with the weapon, and shes on the other side of the ship leaving them defenseless :/
Then when he sees the alien on the radar everyones all like 'omg dallas run, ruuuun' and he gets caught unaware instead of being ready with the trigger.
-How come in the end when the two people are at the loading dock ripley is the ONLY one with the weapon, and shes on the other side of the ship leaving them defenseless :/
It's a slasher film, the victims can't be too competent.
I guess you could say "they were a civilian cargo ship crew with no experience fighting alien murder machines" if you're looking for such rationalization.
But I don't, I just don't want to go "wait, is he retarded?" every 5 minutes like I did in Prometheus.
Phoenix
Member
+1 on this one. At least in the end you will feel good about what where the series is "going"
GillianSeed79
Member
Alien. And if your girlfriend still wants to watch Prometheus, just rent The Abyss and try to convince her that it's Prometheus. But seriously, Alien.
-Dallas panicked. It's as simple as that.
-Parker did have a weapon. If you pay attention he's yelling at Lambert to get out of the way so he can use the flamethrower, but she's frozen with fear so he rather stupidly tries to tackle the xenomorph.
-Parker did have a weapon. If you pay attention he's yelling at Lambert to get out of the way so he can use the flamethrower, but she's frozen with fear so he rather stupidly tries to tackle the xenomorph.
Spotless Mind
Member
Alien. Watching Prometheus first would be kinda like watching the a Star Wars prequels before the original trilogy. The thought sickens me!! /hyperbole
A girl, you say?
That sounds like weird logic unless you extrapolate it to every person period. Which I don't think many will argue with actually.
It's fine to watch Prometheus as is, but Alien's better.
EDIT:
Ridley Scott's got some great films but I can't go calling him "God" over them.
I just think there are elements of Prometheus (sci-fi tropes, action scenes, visuals) that a guy could latch onto and overlook all the other crap. Women don't usually respond to that, they need some story, some emotion.
Fancy Clown
Member
Watch Alien first and then don't watch Prometheus and watch Aliens instead.
Alien and stop. Aliens changes the franchise genre from Sci-fi horror to Sci-fi action, and while Aliens is a great action movie, the change in genre had a detrimental effect on the franchise from then on. This extends to Prometheus, which was created by the director of Alien.
Watch Alien and then pretend the other movies don't exist. Leave your experience unsullied.
Watch Alien and then pretend the other movies don't exist. Leave your experience unsullied.
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