Is Ridley Scott's ALIEN prequel necessary??

Last week it was confirmed that Sir Ridley Scott would be directing the upcoming ALIEN “prequel”.  News of the prequel (before Ridley’s attachment) hit the web a month ago and it seems people are split.  Most posts I’ve read think that the ALIEN (and Predator) franchise needs a new direction but no one really knows where they want it to go.  In similar news, Robert Rodriguez is working/developing a (worthy) Predator sequel, so it shows you that these famous creatures are in the public’s minds and hearts but after recent sub-par films, the studios should think twice about adding more weight to the already sinking ships.

I think it’s too soon after the abysmal latest installments to both franchises to try to force another one down our throats.  Sure these guys are talented filmmakers, but we really don’t need more of either franchise.  My humble advice is to hold off a little longer and let the bad taste left by AVP and AVP: Requiem subside.

Now back to the news of the hour (well it was news on Friday).  After thinking about it, I just have a problem with this ALIEN “prequel” idea and I’ll tell you right off the bat it’s a stupid idea.  The problem using this angle for a movie is that the Alien (as popular and awesome as it is) really isn’t a story that would benefit from a prequel.  The real threat in ALIEN was really just the alien being product its own species (like ants or sharks for instance) – an Alien’s sole purpose is to hunt, feed and reproduce the species.  So a prequel wouldn’t be as impacting as one that was done for, say Batman, where back story is necessary to the development of the character.  Aside from the ‘idea’ of this whole film, does an ALIEN prequel really sound desirable?  And this goes without saying but the ALIEN prequel won’t be a back story for that iconic character because why…he wasn’t a character until halfway through the movie.  He’s an animal/insect/xenomorph (take your pick) and the movie is about the incident, NOT the character.  Prequels only benefit the character, period.

Sure, it’d be cool if we found out what planet they came from, or what initially brought that huge ship down on LV-426 in the first place, but I think beyond that, it’s going to be hard to come up with an intriguing prequel concept based around the events of the first movie.  As far as other source material there have been multiple comic books and novels written (but I’ve never read) which fan boys the world over have adopted lovingly (much like Star Wars fans), but is any of that story going to be picked up for this film??  If not how else would a prequel film be set up??  Would anyone really care about Ripley and the crew of the Nostromo before the ALIEN incident if that’s the direction they went?  The problem here is that any of this still technically wouldn’t be considered a prequel…it would be just another ‘incident’ before the events of the first film.  So maybe it’s just the word prequel that’s bugging me.

Now I’m not saying I’m against an ALIEN film, especially if Ridley is involved, but I think the whole “prequel” wouldn’t really solve anything that was unexplained by making this film.  Also, I do realize this does seem way too early to be taking sides or getting up in arms (they haven’t even got a script yet), but I feel strongly that this will be an ill-fated attempt.    Hands down, my gut tells me to say, “Don’t do it!!”  Why would they chance making a film that could very well have a good possibility of becoming an unflattering addition to the series and be a weak lead up to the iconic film we all know and love (cough, Phantom Menace, cough)??  Again, I say leave this alone and instead, let whatever you think happened before ALIEN play out in your imagination.  I think that would work best.  What do you all think?