'Prometheus' is Prologue

I have seen the future and it looks like the past.

As usual, I waited for Ridley Scott's "new" film "Prometheus" to run a while before seeing it in IMAX 3-D. It is in fact based primarally on old material. True "Alien" afficenados will recognize plot elements, themes and visuals from the entire Alien film franchise. I will not inflict spoilers on any reader who has not yet seen the movie. I sat through the end credits and took note of the recognition given to "Alien" creators Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Schusset. I saw the original "Alien" film in 1979 at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood just a week after it had premiered there. I became an ardent fan of the film. I learned that O'Bannon and Schusset's original script and vision for "Alien" had been greatly truncated for the first film. For budgetary, technical and running length reasons a huge amount of script never made it to celluloid. Quite a bit of the unused material has finally found its way onto the screen in the form of this "Alien" prequal. I was surprised to see some concepts that appeared in the non-Ridley Scott "Alien" films that have been recycled into this new offering. It appears that Scott is entirely aware of elements common to the other movies. He has given to the fan base what it expects to see.

The movie will always be compared to its seminal material. It is over-all a satisfying experience.