Sigourney Weaver once famously declared that what the “Alien” franchise needed was no guns. This, I believe, was coming on the heels of James Cameron’s mega hit “Aliens”, which gave Ripley, as well as those too awesome for words space Marines, more guns then they could handle. Weaver got her wish in “Alien 3″ (directed by a then-fledgling David Fincher) — no guns. The film, needless to say, bombed like nothing that has ever bombed before. So the guns came back for part four — the less-than-successful (although I enjoyed it myself) “Alien: Resurrection”.
Now, with speculation that an “Alien 5″ is somewhere on the horizon, MTV got Weaver to talk about possibly bringing the franchise back, and she had some interesting things to say about it. And of course by “interesting” I mean I hope no one asks her what to do with “Alien 5″, because I still don’t think Sigourney Weaver has any idea why people love the “Alien” franchise. Hint: it’s the aliens, stupid.
Highlights from the MTV interview:
However Weaver wondered if the alien itself can and should factor into another film after the exposure its gotten in two “AVP” films. She asked aloud “whether there’s unchartered territory for a creature who’s become somewhat debased by this computer generated thing. I haven’t seen ["Alien Vs. Predator"] but I just think if you overexpose the creature, that’s a mistake.”
Weaver confirmed that she and Scott have discussed re-teaming for a fifth film, “Both of us feel a kind of commitment to that woman. He’s as much responsible for who she is as I am.” Then as she opined on the way the alien creature had been ruined in the recent films, Weaver’s comments got especially interesting.
“We’d have to go back to the drawing board on [the alien],” she said. “Ridley said that right away when we first talked about [a fifth film].”
And finally, the quote that’s gotten me mighty curious, “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.”
See, it’s an “Alien” movie — minus the aliens!
Brilliant, Sigourney. Just effin’ brilliant. God, I hope no one asks her anything regarding story on the fifth movie, if one should even get made. This woman doesn’t have a clue at all. What’s next, Sigourney, a “Ghostbusters” sequel without ghosts?
Below: “Gosh, if only we didn’t have to deal with these pesky aliens with these annoying guns…”
I like long walks on the beach, puppies, and Kevin Costner post-apocalyptic movies. You can reach me at nix (at) scificool.com. Also, check out my other ridiculously ill-informed opinions and reviews over at 
if there is a sequel, I would prefer it to be a prequel to the first. Events that led to what befell that alien (in the pilot seat?) on the ship in the first movie.
Make it kind of like an attempt was made to invade earth or some such thing of human kind by that race of aliens (the one in the pilot seat I mean), only to have us genetically engineer the lizard like aliens to combat the invaders and thwart their nefarious scheme and cause the armada of invaders to crash on that distant planet where Nostromo mysteriously went out of its way to investigate.
Just wanted to comment that one of the best parts about the “Alien” films was- SIGOURNEY WEAVER. As a kid I saw “Aliens”, and she’s been my favorite ever since. While having a Ripley story that didn’t involve aliens could be interesting (and obviously it wouldn’t be called “Alien”), I would still like to see another “Alien” film that she stars in. (I never saw any of the “Alien vs. Predator” stuff because… NO RIPLEY!!!) Hmm, I guess the aliens aren’t the ONLY draw to this series… STUPID!
I agree with you that the franchise wasn’t just about the alien. I hoped that the next film after Aliens would continue the story of Ripley, Newt, Bishop and Hicks. The reason that Alien 3 bombed is because the audience was invested in those characters – and to have them conveniently DOA for the third film was a betrayal. I am also more interested in the backstory of the dead alien pilot, the origin of the alien, and the greedy corporation that runs the show in this universe. I am NOT interested in watching yet another movie shot in the dark, with characters running around being picked off one by one by the alien creatures, whether Sigourney Weaver is in it or not.
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