What if... Alien was remade?

"I don't really see how it would be a bad idea.

Remake is bad- Still have the great original

Remake is good- Now you have 2 enjoyable movies."

Exactly. I'm not sure where people get the idea that a remake somehow throws shade on the original.

I understand how people can be a bit touchy or protective of the First movie....

But i see what the OP is trying to suggest,  Alien is a classic and yes it may seem dated by todays standards because the Technology at the time... they would not have been able to foresee we would have Flat Screens 30 years latter never mind in the future and if they did it was how do they replicate that?

They never had Technology to pull off the Screen Effects that modern movies can such as the Prometheus VDU's

But i can see this Topic Starting as a ... What if Alien was never made until now with the Technology we have now... how cool would the ship look, how would it look etc.

I personally dont see why it needs a Reboot... like Robocop or Total Recall etc

But it could be one time... in 20, 30 years time... the Xeno could still be one Monster that Fox has that it can bring out again in future.. and reboot sure.

But for now, its not needed...

What if they did? what would it achieve or change?

Do we CGI overlay the Cast to make Sigourney Weaver look 35 years younger?  do we get a lookalike Actress or one who looks different.

Do we end up with what happened to the Terminator Franchise... with so many different John Connors and 2 different Sarah Connors and assume they are the same people..

If we reboot Alien then how does that effect Aliens and Alien 3 and Alien R and Alien 5.... 

Again it would end up like Terminator as far as differences to Characters looks...  Emilia Clarke does not look 100% like Linda Hamilton likewise also Lena Headey if we count the TV Series.

They would have to reboot the whole Alien Franchise, and we dont know if we can then carry on from Prometheus and Alien Prequels as Canon to a new Alien Franchise Reboot a lot depends on what the Prequels show..

I understand a Soft Reboot... or even if they did do a Robocop and Total Recall Reboot...

Then its a case as the OP said what elements are kept what are changed.. i think they maybe could change One or more of these.

1) Names of the Crew, even if its keeping similar but changing Sex of the lead... i.e Alan Ripley.... or do we have completely different names.

2) Name of the Ship and maybe change its design a bit.

3) The destination i.e LV-426 in the Zeta 2 System (this could be a soft reboot).

4) The Cargo, do they replace Eggs with Urns?

5) Android, do they change the role of the Android or drop it?

But i think the Core Plot would remain the same...

*We see a Organism related to the Xenomorph

* We would have a Human Ship (does not have to have the same role as Nostromo had) detect a Alien SOS and go to investigate.

*They come across a Derelict Alien space ship with a deadly Cargo.

They can reboot it by changing any number of those 5 things but have to keep to the basic story as the 3 above points.. the more thats changed the more of a soft reboot as far as does not end up a direct reboot.

But why?

Why cant they give us something more Original but related...

is LV-426 the only place with Engineer ship and cargo?

AVP universe is set within the same as Alien but a Alternative as we have Weyland-Yutani and the Xeno and Androids and even if we go by the Movies they rebooted the history if you would in a poor way.

So we could go a Alternative reality... yes..

But to have a alternative ship go to LV-426 would be to much of a similar theme....

We could have a alternative reality where Alien never happens... or maybe it does? either way.

Have another Human ship goes off someplace and then some how comes into contact with the Xeno or related Organism..  be that via Egg or some other method.

i mean Covenant could have gone this route...

We could have a Colony ship, on a voyage for a uncharted Earth like World.... that is many many years away... a long hypersleep...   the ship could contain hundreds of Human Crew, all taking it in turns on Shifts?  Or even like Prometheus left to a Android..

Then something could happen, and we start the movie in the aftermath...

A few Crew are awakened and find themselves on a ship that is in a state of disrepair, like how the Marines and Ripley found Hadleys Hope...

They then go to explore what happens and come across dead Humans, with Chest Buster Holes... the few awoken crew does not have a idea of what has happened...

We latter come across in the dark (have main power is down) Xenomorphs not many just a few, say 3-5 tops.. but only need show ONE to start and only show its shadow... the first close up is its face and teeth...

This crew then as they go on find, a Laboratory with Face Hugers inside Tanks like at Hadleys hope, some are dead... some of the Tanks broken... and then we get a alive on and either by sabotage a member of crew (the others could found some alive) or by accident we see a Tank get broken and someone Face Hugged..

This crew dont know what to do, and try and put them in Stasis or in a Bed and then we get the Chest Buster.. the crew then realize this could be related to what Monsters they saw in the Shadows that had killed (1-2 of them).

Its latter they come across more Xenos...

They latter find another Laboratory with Urns in Freezers...  either a crew foolishly examines them or again by sabotage (maybe they come across a Synthetic unknown to them like Ash was.. or they came across this Person before who taken them to the other Lab).

We then can have Mutated Human Crew i.e Fifields but more Xeno related..

To me this is a way to reboot it, and tie in Face Huger and Urns.. Xenos and Hyrbids....

Then the end of the movie we uncover that on the way to find this New Earth like World, they detected a SOS and investigated a Crashed Engineer Ship... and some Urns where brought on board...

This could explain the cycle needed from Urns to Xenomorph..

A Reboot like this could work very well, and be very dark...  a Huge colony ship..  where they spend time in Cryo-sleep so the ship would have tight corners and spaces for Xenos to attack from like in Aliens.

Feature 1-2 Xenos we dont see clear at first, then as the movie goes on a total of 4-6 Xenos and 1-2 Mutated Humans and the reveal of Android who has gone AWOL.

This could work... this is how i would do another Alien movie that does not tie in to the Prequels and Ripleys journey.

why, and no...everything doesn't have to be (newly) translated for new generations, go rent it or re watch with same enthusiasm and amazement for its moment in time....smh @ the rebooters....should we reboot the planet earth too? god didn't make it good enuf to look at and nurture?  some things should be left alone.......alien is one of them.....after prometheus sequels come out, if theres any more avp or alien reboots, ima stop being a fan because the magic will have been watered down and over played....please dont .... make something new,...

Ridley didn't leave Alien alone when he did the Directors Cut. Or Blade Runner. A few times.

A remake leaves Alien alone more than the directors tinkering.

@Thoughts_Dreams.

Father Jacks Best Moments

No to a remake.

Yes to a reboot.

@BigDave

Excellent ideas! Love to read some fanfic scripts or stories. 

Yes thanks MonsterZero...

I have had many ideas for how to do a Alien movies, but i have not progressed from a broad synopsis stage lol

One was a sequel to Alien Resurrection that happens at the same time and after, where the Failed Xeno Queen and a sample of Ripley 8 DNA is sent to another Lab..  that was working on Genetically Modified Clones... think of Replicants but in Prime Physical Condition  they would basically be Super Soliders that are genetically altered but with a kill switch..... basically they have to be fed a special serum to keep them alive and this prolongs there life but also is a means of control as the company find that Android Synthetic Soldiers had problems.  Upon hearing about Ripley 8 they wanted a sample as to be able to Clone Ripley 8 or add her Genetic Code would give them the Ultimate Solider

The Lab would also experiment on the Failed Queen and Produce Hybrid Xenos...  that would be 50/50 Human and Xeno and well look similar to some of the New Born concept work...

Then i was thinking how could such creatures procreate and i was thinking Egg Morph? Or they Impregnate Females to then rabidly give birth to either Trilobite type Organisms or Xeno Hybrids that are more Human like 70%

But i was to have a Xeno Hybrid outbreak that the Clone Soldiers could not control and ultimately its a Ripley 8 DNA Clone that does the business.

Note this does not have to have Ripley just her DNA and so would be a Female or Male who does not have to resemble Ripley at all.

That was just one idea i had lol

As for the Alien Re-boot...

Well i just thought of that as i was replying the other day...

I think its the way to go as far as a Re-boot.. that does not re-boot or De-canonize the Original Franchise.

It basically carries core elements from Alien

*Human Ship on a mission (Colony ship to Colonize a new Earth like World)

* Ships Android (maybe other crew) detects a signal from a world/moon on the way and go to investigate.

* Find a Engineer ship with a Cargo and dont know nothing about the Engineers or Xenos...

* Bring some of the cargo on board to examine... and then Hell breaks out.

* Ship is mainly a ship where Cargo is in Cryo-sleep and only a handful take it in turns on a rota or a Android is in charge of flight.... and so the ship is not spacious inside... which with Failed Power would mean a Dark Claustrophobic Environment for the Xenos..  and so would give us a similar kind of feel as Alien and Alien 3 only with a few more Xenos...

This is kind of a soft re-boot that would work... but not rule out the other movie as Canon...

The Colony Ship could have left in say 2120 on a say 50 year journey and thus not be aware of the events of Alien and Aliens.

If the right elements were in place I could embrace it. The basic storyline is fantastic in its simplicity and in the hands of a talented crew it might be amazing to see. But that's a long shot. 

It would have to be an entirely new life form that is even more horrific in its appearance and habits. An even colder and more graphic depiction of same. It's down to quality of imagination, really, and that's one thing we don't see a lot of.

I think that the only way a remake could dilute the significance of the original would be if it was superior, and for those of us who care the original and it's makers would still be dear. 

Which is why a few stories i was going to do as far as other Alien movies...

Would feature similar but different Xenomorphs... another idea was for a Ship to settle down on a Moon to mine it..

They uncover a Chamber with Eggs but Spores hanging from the ceiling and they get infected with a slightly different Xenomorph.. and i was pondering does this Organism use the Egg Morph or does it actually have the ability to Mutate its victims to evolve into more of their kind or maybe implant Embryos itself... i.e the Adults are Part Xeno related and Face Huger.

The Mining Colony attempt to blow up the Cave with the Eggs/Spores and after doing so, they uncover a passage that leads to a Derelict with a dead Pilot, Chest Busted... but not in his chair...   The ship buried after volcanic activity

The Crew then uncover another Horror... a alive Engineer and understand they had a Cargo that was similar on the ship.

it would have been ambigious so we would not know.

1) Was these Engineers collecting those Spores from this place to take to the Ship... is this where the Origin of the species is from? to then experiment on?

2) Did they create them and was using this place to store them or incubate them?

3) Did the ship crash and the Cargo had got out and started to procreate and lay/create the Eggs in the Cavern.

It would have been left very open...

In the end the Humans blow up their Outpost so that it causes a Volcanic Eruption that buries and floods the caves with Lava.... thus sealing up the Engineer ship.

Again this is another Alien Plot that would maybe connect the Evolution of Origin of the Species.. it would be ambiguous... but it shows we can have a movie that connects the Engineers and Xenos but again a different kind of Xenomorph..

It's ironic that amidst all the flat ou rejections of a remake and the few surprising embracements of the idea no-one has made mention that, if handled properly with the right team (a big if I know) Alien could be remade in its entirety...

By this, I mean incorporating the original ideas that were abandoned only to be reused in later installments. Let me clarify, visually...

Speaking of graphic artists, remakes, and alternate events, what about books/ graphic novels/ manuals, etc. for the Alien and Prometheus stories?  I went to 3 separate book stores today and found very little to do with the Alien franchise.  One store had the paperback novel series, and two store had the new Dark Horse G/N of, ready? Batman vs Aliens.  With the added feature of Superman vs Predator.  WTF?  Do these guys have nothing better to do than to sit around, smoke dope, and come up with this crap?

At every bookstore it was 90% Batman and Star Wars/ Star Trek.  With a few odd Marvel characters thrown in.  The fact that the Alien had to be tied to Batman to get it into the store was telling. 

I went to Amazon and found a few books and vids, which I suppose you have to buy sight unseen.  Oh well, so much for mainstream again.  Here you have the best sci-fi horror film ever made and any supporting literature for the fans must be special ordered.

I am the only one that finds this strange or is the fan group just that small?   

Even in the magazines, there was no feature ads about Alien 5 or A:C.  Is Ridley just not part of the click or what?   

Gavin-

Yes it's the unicorn of ifs.

Some of the images you posted I don't understand?

I think Gavin was suggesting a Re-boot could explore the Seperate Temple/Pyramid Complex and Egg silo and maybe give a few clues to the Space Jockey Race.

It would be a Alien Re-boot with a bit of Prometheus Mystery added to it... pretty much a evolution of the Star Beast Draft that Alien was based off, but without dropping some of the elements that had to be done for the shooting of Alien.

"I am the only one that finds this strange or is the fan group just that small?   "

The latter.

"Here you have the best sci-fi horror film ever made and any supporting literature for the fans must be special ordered."

It was at its peak 30 years ago.

To clarify the pictures - Dan O'Bannon's original Alien script had the crew of the Nostromo land on Acheron LV-426 during a dust storm. Once the dust storm started to pass they spotted the source of the Signal before them with the Derelict craft. Lambert, Kane, and Dallas went out and entered the alien vessel to find a dead pilot inside, his chest exploded from within. As the storm continued to pass the crew of the Nostromo noticed a pyramid behind the Derelict. Lambert, Kane, and Dallas then explored the Pyramid, sending Kane down inside

Dan O'Bannon's original Alien script had the crew of the Nostromo land on Acheron LV-426 during a dust storm. Once the dust storm started to pass they spotted the source of the Signal before them with the Derelict craft. Lambert, Kane, and Dallas went out and entered the alien vessel to find a dead pilot inside, his chest exploded from within. As the storm continued to pass the crew of the Nostromo noticed a pyramid behind the Derelict. Lambert, Kane, and Dallas then explored the Pyramid, sending Kane down inside where he found thousands of urns with Facehuggers inside.

This was condensed into what we now see on screen, and there are countless pieces of concept art from Moebius, Giger and Cobb of the Derelict, the Pyramid and the urns - Giger's version of the pyramid is pictured above. A remake could allow O'Bannon's original vision to be explored while taking the muddled world of the franchise and adding some needed clarification in key areas of the myth and narrative in a new, fresh re-interpretation.

Why the picture of Sevastopol?

Which one is Sevastopol?

I'd like to have a little more Cosmic horror. One of the things I like about the Engineers...THEY will bring the horror to your doorstep. Xenomorphs stay put...you have to engage them. Zeno's aren't hopping in flying saucers and invading Earth. Weyland Yutani are the Cosmic horrors, trying to bring back some xenomorphs or goo back to Earth.

"Which one is Sevastopol?"

Ah. Yes I zoomed in on that one because it looked like the Nostromo refinery falling apart, and then realized that's from the game. There's a real downfall to doing this all from one's phone. Thank you!

A remake/reboot would have EPIC FAIL written all over it. Just... don't, don't even think about it. The end.

Why?

There seem to be a group of people that view Alien as above the need to remake, or ability to do so.

I'm sorry but if King Kong can be remade/rebooted so many times in the years it's been out, nothing is out of bounds for a remake.

Its as i have said, we can remake it as far as touch upon the same material and plot, without having to class it as a replacement for Alien.

The movie had these few themes for the backbone.

*unaware Human Crew of a Space Ship.

*Investigating a signal, on a Alien World/Moon

*Discover a Alien Ship with a deadly cargo

*Potentially lured them via undercover mission unknown to the crew apart from a assigned Android.

The originally idea added to the above and changed it, that there was no undercover Android or hidden company Agenda... they ship just happened to be near by and discovered a SOS....

The Egg Chamber was not the cargo but part of another Structure.

And so these Elements can be incorporated into a new story that does not have to rule out or replace the Original Movie.

Besides i think Alien Covenant could touch upon those elements that where never used in Alien

Well, at the end of the day, despite my wishes to the contrary, just about every time I've watched a "directors cut" or "added scenes", or even re-read a book with added material, it never equaled the original.  I'm not sure why.

But when it comes to sci-fi, I tend to make an exception, because I really appreciate the re-done FX.  After watching all those cheesy sci-fi movies from the 50's and 60's, when I see really awesome FX the new technology gives us, I'm always seem to be thinking: "damn, if they just re-did my favorite movie, like Alien with it, it would make the whole experience so much richer, visually.  But the reality is, trying to get Ridley Scott to re-do his masterpiece, with all the bullshit interference from the Hollywood asshats and tools; yeah damn near impossible.

It HAS been done, but no easy task to pull off.  I liked the Total Recall re-make.  Also Godzilla was pretty good.  Ditto Planet of the Apes.  Yes even some of the Batman/Superman stuff.  The Star Trek stuff is pretty good. 

The problem is with any long-running franchise, like Alien or Star Wars, which started at the end of the industrial age, and continued into the information age, there is such a huge gap in FX technology.  After watching Prometheus, it's almost painful to watch Alien or Aliens.  For example, Cameron's Space Marines are laughable, with their cobbled together Viet-nam era military and sports kit.    

I think for those reasons... yes we could see a Re-boot but not for a long time..

They are trying tie in Alien Covenant and its sequels to Alien and maybe Ripley (hope not to much) they are planning a Alien 5 with Miss Weaver too....  no doubt a Alien 6 will happen after Alien 5 with who ever is cast as Newt taking the reigns and carrying on the story.

So with Fox investing in having a Alien 5-6 potentially on the cards over the next 10 years that tie directly to Alien and Aliens...

And with a Alien Covenant and Sequels to tie directly into Alien at some point while also tying to Prometheus.

I cant see FOX Re-boot a Alien as in to replace the movie.

But we cant rule out a Re-boot down the line but i doubt it within the next 20 years.

But again we have to ask.....WHY DOES IT NEED A REMAKE?

The effects where good, the movie was great and yes the Ships interior had that 70's Sci-Fi Ship look but the only reasons to REMAKE it are to make a more realistic interior and maybe better effects Xenomorph..

But then the practice effects stand the tide of time... only the Adult Xeno in a few shots could have been improved, but it would take TOP TOP CGI of which even Prometheus never quite matched...

And the Alien was only shown a few times in the dark and thats what made the Movie work so well.... having  a part CGI and Part state of the Art Prospectics Xeno would be a improvement but then are we showcasing these effects by seeing the Monster more on screen?

For how little we saw of it and how well the effects was in Alien i dont see the purpose for it..

So the only reasons for a Remake are....

1) Include elements that was intended but left out... i.e Temple Complex and Egg Silo, maybe Murals and Frescos but would this take away the Mystery.. and Alien Covenant can touch upon these.

2) Modernize the Ships design.... which to be fair apart from CRT Monitors and Mother.... the ships looked fine.. Prometheus made the error of making a more Modern and different ship.....  

Again i think Alien Covenant will give us a Ship like in Alien but with a modern touch and i dont expect everything to be as Nice as Prometheus.

We cant guarantee that in 100 years time if we can send ships into space regularly that they would all have that Polished look that Prometheus and say the Enterprise or Voyage do in Star Trek.

They could have a basic look like in Alien but only replacing CRT Screens etc with Flat Screens and Touch Screens.

In fact this image captures it Perfectly...

so those two reasons for a Remake i said above... are elements that Alien Covenant and its sequels could actually cover.

I love film, not horror, or sci fi but film. A L I E N is one of a handful of truly original films which goes beyond its flaws to make it special in a unique and timeless way. The Ape reboot is an example of a reboot of an original which has a great idea but the original was not a great movie. A L I E N  was great idea and is a great movie. The 50's and 60's sci fi movies "Quatermass" and "W of T W' still work for me as does "One of Our Aircraft Is Missing", "Shangri la" and "Its A Wonderful Life' - lightening in a bottle.     

I am cautiously optimistic that the reboot that began with Prom is worthy of A L I E N but if they attempted an entirely separate reboot I think a PLANNED sequence which had confidence in the narrative and was not constrained by budget restrictions would be worthy of consideration. More along the lines of the original Prometheus 2 a separate but connected vision which dealt with the mythos from a different angle with the Zeno only touched upon. All the themes can be there but a radical recasting of the notion to the point that A L I E N remains rather than is replaced.

I agree with Ridley the beast is cooked for my generation the only thing that will make it interesting is the answers to the questions he is posing the John Logan element. I do not doubt the Zenomorph will be used heavily in the advertising for placement but if the movie is going to work it has to be a lot more than a horror flick  just as reboot would need to be.      

Beast is cooked...but the fans still want Xenomorph action!

Ridley introduced the Engineers....but that's didn't catch on..

One Engineer: capable of killing billions...wiping trillions of organisms from the face of your planet....fans 'meh'

One Xeno: capable of killing your crew(10-15 humans!)...unless you have weapons..then it's a even match.

Maybe Ridley can introduce a creature that will make the fans move on from the zeno fixation.

BravoDelta:  Yeah those tiny flat screens in the original movie are so antique, along with all the blinking LED lights in the mother comms well (what the hell was that all about?! Ooh blinky blinky, in my best Homer Simpson voice).

As to a "grimy" used look in a space-faring ship vs the slick look of Prometheus et al.  The question is will we need POLs (petroleum, oils, and lubricants) in a space ship the same way as today's vehicles.  My best guess is no.  I think the POL's will be so advanced that they will not leave a lot of greasy residue like today's products.  So the grimy lived-in look may be anachronistic to space travel.  Compare a WWI fighter to a modern-age one.  So much mechanical has been replaced with electro-mechanical.  Battery technology will be so advanced that internal combustion engines will be all but obsolete.  Whatever the main engines are, I would bet there won't be a lot of oil and grease involved.

So my best guess is the Prometheus look will be closer to the mark.   And yeah, the A:C cockpit looks spot on with updated avionics.         

@Monsterzero

I think a lot of that is to do with the quality of the movie. Fans are "meh" about the engineers because frankly the movie based around the engineers is meh. Meanwhile the Xenomorph has 2 genre defining movies under its belt.

If you want to make people care about something else, you have to make a movie that grabs them as much as the xenomorph's movies do and for most people I think it's fair to say Prometheus did not.

Adding to the designs with xeno being leagues ahead of buff bald albinos aka engineers.

@Monster Zero

Curiously most of the criticism of Prometheus, which I do not share, is about whats there, not whats missing. People do not like the Shaw character or the Milburn/Fifield scene indeed they do not like anybody. They are puzzled about how it "fits" with A L I E N not that a Zeno is missing. That is the Lindelof factor he is light on exposition and wants us to give ourselves permission to use our imagination rather than be spoon fed. I think for a tent pole it did need more threading but again I say where is the demand for the Zeno.

I think it comes out of the internet response to A. 5. Personally I wouldn't read to much into that it feels like a desire for nostalgia rather like in the rock world where bands are playing entire albums for the baby boomers. Playing you favourite album in concert is one thing, repeating the same tropes in a movie yet again will bite you in the bum.

The other difficulty with Prometheus is the threat is not anthropomorphic it is existential almost in the imagining rather than the reality. Very briefly it becomes person centred first Weyland then the surviving Engineer then the Trilobite then the Deacon. Notice the domino effect, because the real threat is the movies ideas the proposition of it. 

We have the ideas, now watch the narrative harden on Paradise.       

@MonsterZero

Beast is cooked...but the fans still want Xenomorph action!

Sure, if done right.

Ridley introduced the Engineers....but [that] didn't catch on..

Wrong. The Engineers are the most interesting thing in the series now.

Maybe Ridley can introduce a creature that will make the fans move on from the [xeno] fixation.

That would be cool!

Monster Zero:

I think that they could make AC a movie that isn’t Xeno centered but they need to make a lot better characters than Prometheus had. What is needed is characters that get into situations where we sympathize with their struggles and Prometheus for the most part didn’t have that. As a matter of fact I would welcome a movie that isn’t Xeno centered but they need good human characters. The Engineers could be interesting but they got to make things make sense and still have some mystery about it while still make it a (credible) threat.

One thing that they need to show is the intentions of the Engineers and make a good story about why they are threatening. Having them as a megalomaniac specie that is mad at humanity and wants to kill us all. This could be done well but we will see.

Durp 004:

I think that if they made the Engineers like megalomaniacs with a will to power above everyone else that could be a scary thing but it has got to be done right. They need to make credible human characters that we care about something that Prometheus didn’t.

Michelle J:

You wrote:

“People do not like the Shaw character or the Milburn/Fifield scene indeed they do not like anybody.”

I like some characters but I don’t like Shaw or Fifield and Milburn. David and the captain (Idris Elba) were good but there were too few characters that they got right and honestly I didn’t care for most of them. Some of them were just there for what reason exactly? Alien made this right and made likeable characters but in Prometheus there were too few of these. Sure it would have been better tied to the Xeno and have been less ambiguous but the characters were the main problem IMO.

The main problem is that they got a writer that can’t write good characters or the editing process (maybe a combination of these two). Hopefully they will get it right for AC.

@Michelle Johnston

"The other difficulty with Prometheus is the threat is not anthropomorphic it is existential almost in the imagining rather than the reality."

I agree. Nice insight! I would be traumatized by seeing Jonesy bitten in half then 'hearing' about the death of 10 billion Earthlings.

Me: "10 billion dead?! Wow! that's a lot!"

Me: *chomp* "Jonesy dead!?! NO !!! They can't kill Jonesy! OMG!! NO!"