Division of Fans (number crunch)

Myself, I am fan of the original Alien direction.

Dark and Mysterious. Brooding and Godless.  

I pick the first division, but no eggmorph.

fair call joylitt. Thoughts on the Queen? yes/no?

I am not against the queen, but  I would be careful not to portrait her as if she was a giant ant. A little bit of mystery is always welcome.

I wouldn't discard the stuff from Prometheus neither, it has potential. 

I agree with all comments Tdby. And the mess has created these camps/division of fans. A3 follows the original direction closely imo. Resurrection is so far removed in time and direction it is its own unique little bubble. Prometheus had a vision that a lot people thoroughly enjoyed before being railroaded by Covenant. The least said about the AVPs the better lol.

That leaves us 3 camps.

joylitt agreed. exactly what they did wrong in the original AVP. Paul W.S Anderson chucked in a Queen because he thought it would be cool. She sat in a giant open chamber, full of light then ran around in the snow like a big T-rex chase scene. No mystery, suspense, horror at all. If you are going to use a Queen do it well. She is suppose to be the climax, end-game big mother, everything is f%$ked now of the aliens species. James Cameron used his Queen well. Despite being a subscriber to the eggmorph vision I can appreciate and respect that.

But I should note I am up for innovation and expansion. Covenant for instance make the franchise seem stagnant. And the only direction it points at is the wrong direction.

I’m a fan of the original Alien and have been consistent in that. Aliens on the other hand I like, but my feelings towards it have varied over time like a pendulum.

Prometheus I find is as far removed from Alien as it gets. It might as well be another Sci-fi movie inspired by Giger’s art work like Species (seems to get rarely mentioned these days).  Although I like Prometheus, I found that having it marketed as an Alien prequel was misleading in some respects to some. Remove the name Peter Weyland and the Engineers juggernaut, and look at what’s left to compare with Alien.

I have found that there is something of an age factor involved, because I know younger fans of Prometheus who have never seen Alien, but have seen Covenant and enjoyed it.

Well i dont think its as easy as those 3 groups as they can be further split up too.... and some fans like elements from different parts of each.

If i had to do a Order it would be

1) Prometheus (purely on the scope)

2) Alien as such a introduction to the very Alien World

3) Aliens.. which for most part is Popcorn flick

@Batchpool

Thats what i call HITTING A NAIL ON THE HEAD.

If Prometheus had a bit more Xenomorph connections then it maybe could have been a Classic Hit.

Or indeed if the Alien elements was totally moved... so same Plot only no connection to Alien Universe so no Weyland Company and no Alien Ships that look like Derelict and Space Suits that look like the Space Jockey and less Xeno looking clues.

And who knows if Prometheus may have gone down as a Classic Stand Alone Sci-Fi movie.

In either case i think the Story needed a bit more of a Tidy up though.

Some say Prometheus Jinxed the Franchise and put a Smear on it.... i would say that Prometheus Plot based in Alien Universe has Jinxed that movies potential success.

Taking out those Alien connections (Weyland, Derelict/Space Jockey) we would have had a more of a Remake of At the Mountains of Madness Movie

BigDave great points! It's hard to define the lines between the divisions as you say, some like bits and pieces from different films.

The fence-sitting in regards to Prometheus really hurt that film. I remember it was an Alien prequel at first, then it was a stand-alone film with nothing to do with Alien, then it was sort-of a prequel. I agree it jinxed itself and it had potential to lead to something great one way or the other. Covenant did not do Prometheus any justice.

Batchpool totally agree!!! I loved Aliens growing up, it was my favourite. Now however my taste has changed and I prefer A1 and A3 more. I still enjoy Aliens but as more of a popcorn flick in my favourite sci-fi universe.

I can live with all three since they do not necessarily exclude each other, provided they're properly connected. Except David. He was an interesting character. Having him as the "creator" would ruin so much more than it would benefit the franchise.

Tiwaz agreed. David as the creator of the Xeno has limited the scope of the franchise to a self-righteous, jealous Android with a teenager-angry-at-my-dad /  Napoleon complex lol

IRaptus, yep! ;)

To the op:

I'm 1 and 3, and don't feel the need to choose between them. Taken together, they make the verse bigger, but Covenant is making it smaller. I understand what they're trying to accomplish by linking everything, but it doesn't work for me. I don't see the sense in linking Prometheus directly to Alien if the only way you can do it is by sucking all the mystery out of Alien (the better of the two = it resets everything to a lower bar). *edit big YES to the last few comments before me - u all said it much better :)

I'm open to one more sequel, but Ridley needs to start answering the questions he raised in Prometheus. No more filler material. 

@ElectricAve You are right. We all need to remember that the main reason why we are still here making theories about a larger Alien universe is "Prometheus". With flaws and all, that movie kept the fanbase alive. Covenant only seem to have satisfied a few kids who cannot care less about the Alien lore.

This is tough.  I loved Alien and Prometheus.  I just wish Prometheus was more thought out and explained better.  Alien is perfect and Prometheus is not, but I LOVE how Prometheus is hardly connected to the Alien franchise at first glance, but as the story unfolds in Alien: Covenant, we see that it IS connected along with a how.  Prometheus opens the whole franchise to a COMPLETELY new story.  A nice refresher.  Still, I love the complete shock horror that made me uncontrollably scream at one part and kept me always trying to figure out WHAT THE F@&* is going on!  I mean, Ash was a robot!!!!!  The facehugger hid and died!  I am left wondering if Ash was part of a secret, corporate operation! The characters were so relatable!  I am not going to go on, but the point I am making is Alien is perfect.  I want another Alien movie, but just done in a different way.  That is were Prometheus comes in, but, sadly, it is not perfect.

I guess I have to choose Alien even though Prometheus was more a much more beautiful film.  I don't like my decision, but I am still going to say Alien.  I wish Covenant had the horror Alien had in it.  That is my problem with Covenant.  There was no point where I uncontrollably screamed or wanted to leave the theater!  Not a good horror film.  Prometheus had some scary parts, but not as good as Alien. 

Okay, this post is long enough....

I'm going with a hybrid of Alien/Alien 3/Alien: Resurrection/Prometheus (but mostly Alien) here. Yes, I know that's 4 out of 5 films (prior to Covenant). Let me explain why:

Alien for its oppressive, Alien atmosphere. When the crew first land on LV-426, that bleak landscape with the cold sun in the distance, that's pure art right there. And then there's the space-jockey we all know, and the iconic Giger biomechanical imagery. It's also noteworthy to point out how Ash, a robot, seems to be composed of tubes and fluids rather than cold-machinery. There's an intertwining of the biological and the mechanical throughout this whole movie

Alien 3 even though the prisoners in Alien 3 are unarmed, the Xenomorph still seems vastly stronger than it was in Aliens. It's extremely fast and agile, animalistic. Most importantly though, is the touching bursting scene set to the sermon. Alien 3 might've been a mess overall, but this particular scene is definitely kino.

Alien Resurrection has in my opinion one of the most important scenes in the franchise: the scene with the failed, deformed clones. Such an absolutely stunning scene, emphasizing the duality of beauty and horror of the franchise. 

Prometheus brought with it its own innovations and religious undertones. I generally LOATHE anything to do with Ancient Aliens, but they made it work, somehow. If only that movie didn't have the retard scientists... I think overall the concept of the engineer was done well. The beginning sacrifice scene was absolutely beautiful, although I cringed at the depiction of DNA, but I don't expect 100% scientific rigour from sci-fi movies.

This is why I loved Covenant so much. It had the religious undetones, the biomechanical horrors we all love, biological experimentation and a touching birth scene. 

tl;dr You can put me on Alien but I think these three categories are too simplistic.

This is a great topic.  +1 to OP.

I'm a big fan of the franchise, and I'll take anything that I can get.  I even have some of the original model kits by Halcyon, some recent toys, and I've begun sculpting some of my own favorite pieces from the movies.

Now, the original movie, "Alien" is king in my opinion.  It fires on ALL cylinders.  Overall, there is such a lonely, cold, dark and helpless atmosphere to the movie.  It's just how you'd expect a long-distance space mission to be.  You can't run from the ship that's like a tiny cork on the ocean, and nobody is coming to rescue you.

It's really a haunted house/slasher flick, but it's staged in "space".  You never really get a good look at the antagonist: the Alien itself and that makes it more terrifying and larger than life.  The World Wide Web didn't exist at the time, so you couldn't look it up.  Ash was put aboard the ship by the very people that should have been most concerned for the welfare of the crew... The Company.  Chilling stuff.

The "used", industrial look of the Nostromo/refinery, and even the realistic characters made sense.

Furthermore, the questions as to what the Derelict really was has never been satisfactorily answered, nor has the questions of who the Space Jockey was and how the eggs got on board.  It's such an enduring enigma.

I think that Alien is akin to some first record albums that are put out by music acts.  They work at their craft from their youth, into young adulthood, and they get their big chance.  Sometimes, that first effort is never bested... because they spent their whole lives planning, practicing and creating for that one big chance...

 As a final note, I'd like to say that I enjoyed Prometheus, especially the cinematography and effects.  But, it's a movie bogged down by a lot of religious mumbo-jumbo... it's as if Mel Gibson made an Alien prequel.