Derelict

This is a very interesting and visually stunning mash-up that does a great job at making Prometheus much more of a direct Alien prequel as opposed to a spin-off film that ties into the franchise while setting up things that occur in the earlier Alien. The two films transition into each other flawlessly and I love the use of black and white to really emphasize the shadows and further build up tension and suspense. Both films' narratives intertwine with one another very smoothly thanks to clever editing. I really loved this.

On a quick side-note, I also want to talk about another fanedit from this editor that isn't on the IFDB, a Star Wars prequel fan-edit titled The Chosen One, which I also really liked, as it removes much of the cringier elements from all three prequel films and tells a much more streamlined version of the overall story that works incredibly well, making its best aspects shine all the more brighter.

Not all fan edits exist to simply extend a film or fix some perceived problem with its story or pacing. Sometimes, an editor wants to make a work of art. An interesting mix of elements from different films can be combined to create an incredibly unique experience, and that is just what JobWillins has done here with Derelict, a combination of Prometheus and Alien.

Obviously, it isn’t as easy as sticking both films together at the ends and calling it a day. JobWillins’ vision calls for a marrying of both films’ stories, shifting back and forth between each film. This creates a unique dual narrative structure that increases the mystery element in each film and heightens the dread surrounding each cast of characters.

Roughly 30 or so minutes of Prometheus has been cut and replaced with an hour of Alien, staggered at varying intervals according to how well each scene fits. Beginning with David aboard the Prometheus, Derelict aims for maximum ambiguity: without the beginning of time opening or the Isle of Skye scene, the voyage and David’s role in it become a mystery, one that only heightens when the ship reaches its destination, only for the film to jump 30 years later to the Nostromo.

The unknown elements of Alien gain even more of a sinister edge with this approach. The repeated beacon that calls the Nostromo is now implied to have something to do with the Prometheus mission. The derelict vessel becomes an even bigger enigma once the Juggernaut is revealed. David and Ash become even more intrinsically linked. All of these new revelations aren’t specifically stated by the edit, just implied by the new ordering.

The best bits of this edit are in how the films transition into each other. The touchdown of the Prometheus cuts directly to the Nostromo’s rocky landing from inside the cockpit. Shaw, Holloway, and David’s escape from the storm cuts directly to Dallas and Lambert with Kane at the Nostromo airlock. An excellent montage of Weyland’s group entering the Engineer pyramid plays over Ash’s speech on the perfection of the Alien. And don’t get me started on how tense the new, combined climax is. With each cut of three decades, this edit’s legitimacy as FanEdit.org’s Fan Edit of the Month gets more and more solidified.

As mentioned before, large swaths of both films have been cut. Dropped is most of Prometheus‘ first act, sadly losing some of the better character moments between Shaw, Holloway, and Vickers (poor Vickers suffers the most from the cutting). Gone too is some of Alien‘s better bits of banter between Brett and Parker and some of the third act scares, but it’s all in the name of creating a pacing that fits in both stories effectively without turning the project into a 4-hour monstrosity. Two deleted scenes from Prometheus are also used.

Video and sound are presented at the internet standard of 15 mbps, at 720p resolution with a 2-channel soundtrack. Presented in high contrast black-and-white to cover the obvious differences between the films’ visual styles, Derelict does a great job at emphasizing Ridley Scott’s use of light and shadow. Sound is dynamic enough for a stereo mix and quite adequate.

Derelict is an example of the talent that exists outside the Hollywood system. Taking two films separated by 32 years and combining them into a single, flowing story is not an easy feat, let alone making it a unique and entertaining venture when both films have been pored over to death. JobWillins makes the project look easy-peasy. Highly recommended.

Finally got round to watching this edit and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm a huge fan of the original Alien, but less so of Prometheus and Covenant. Personally I just found the mythology that those 2 films introduces removes some of the shock and misfortune the crew in Alien would have felt.

Overall I found the black and white edit nicely, particularly in scenes with the alien making it more inline with the original Giger artwork, as well as providing a similar tone across the 2 films. The overall pacing works especially well for the first 90 mins, with scenes replicating between the films such as the waking up, landing, exploration etc. Its actually hard to tell if this down to purely good editing or if Prometheus is aping the flow of the original.

Later on however the pacing of Prometheus ramps up considerably, and the juxtaposition of films in the last hour can seem a little jarring, particularly between the more violent deaths of Prometheus vs the less is more of Alien. That said, there is a great transition between Weyland's awakening and Ripley's questioning MUTHR that was a highlight of the edit for me.

My only gripe with the edit is that it felt like it minimised some of Ripley's assertiveness, particularly over her colleagues by removing some of the more off the cuff and sarcastic dialogue with them. However overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable way of enjoying the 2 films and putting them in a new perspective. Definitely recommended for fans of the franchise.

As I write this review, I'm only an hour away from seeing Alien: Covenant. I didn't have time for both Alien and Prometheus, but I did luckily have time for this. To start off, I love the decision to take the color out of these movies and make them black-and-white. Ridley Scott's cinematography is already so dark and artful, but black-and-white brings out the beauty in the shadows even more. When I read the description on this edit, I didn't think the narratives would gel, but with the removal of scenes in both films, the narratives intertwine very well and it's not nearly as jarring as I thought it would be. All in all, it was just a nice and interesting way to view both films in one sitting.

Derelict is an excellent edit for those who think Alien is too slow and Prometheus is underwhelming. Both movies look great in black and white and the editing is superb. This edit is great for those who know the Alien franchise well, definitely reccomended.