There’s no question that Sigourney Weaver kicked some major Alien ass as Lt. Ellen Ripley. The character was a big part of the success of the films. Ripley was one chick you did not want to cross. She killed Aliens in 3 movies before the character met her demise. And just to give you an idea of how important the character is to the Alien franchise, consider this: When studio execs decided to try to milk the Alien cash cow one more time, they resurrected the character of Ellen Ripley. Alien: Resurrection was a terrible film when compared to the original trilogy. I mean, come on! Ripley met her end in the end of Alien 3, and that was supposed to be the end of the franchise. To bring her back as a human/Alien hybrid clone? They got it all wrong. But enough about that movie. I could go on all day talking about how disappointed I was with Resurrection.
Why would I bring this all up, you ask? For years the idea of another Alien movie has been tossed around. To date, no one has been able to produce a decent enough script for the studio to green light. But as is the case with any great series, fans will always want more. So how can the Hollywood fat cats get more money out of the Alien series? Well, more Ripley of course! Apparently the idea has been discussed by Sigourney Weaver and original Alien director Ridley Scott. A fifth chapter in the Alien saga. Sigourney Weaver spoke to the MTV movies Blog about what is currently being discussed. Ok, I’ll bite. What are your thoughts Ms Weaver?
“There’s definitely uncharted territory for Ripley. What’s interesting is what that uncharted territory might entail. What we’re interested in is taking the character of Ripley and seeing what other science fiction story we can tell about someone who has lived several lives.”
Ok. An Alien movie with no Aliens? How would they go about this? Would it be the adventures of Lt Ripley prior to the events of the original Alien? They certainly would have no problem changing the history of the franchise around to suit the needs of any new movie. Or would we watch another human/Alien hybrid clone fight some other extra-terrestrial menace? I hope they don’t go that route. In fact, I hope this is all just talk. I can’t see another movie centering around Ripley without Aliens. Just sound lame to me. Now if they wanted to do another Aliens movie WITH Aliens, and they got James Cameron involved, I might just be interested. I seriously wish they would just leave it alone. The last movie was bad, the clone Ripley was a lame idea, Winona Ryder was terrible. Stop beating a dead horse!
It seems as though I’ve been saying that a lot lately, haven’t I? Stop beating a dead horse Hollywood. Leave the classics alone. I think the fan in all of us would love to see another installment of our favorite movie series. But it is so hard to make them good films. They hardly ever stand up to what the previous films were. But as long as there is a possibility to make some money, it will be done and there is nothing we can do to stop it. The franchise fan inside all of us urges us to go see the next chapter in theaters, no matter how bad it looks. We just have to go see for ourselves. Maybe it is good? Maybe everyone else was wrong? That’s what we tell ourselves. It is hardly ever true, for any franchise.
What do you think? Would you like to see Sigourney Weaver don the tight white tank-top and fight another deep space menace as Lt Ellen Ripley? What about another movie about Aliens, featuring Aliens?!? Would James Cameron ever return to the franchise? Sound off! And I guess, only time will tell what the future holds…