I like your point about Prometheus, but I wish the characters in that film had more dimension. The screenplay in general on that film was lacking in a similar way to Alien 3. In the first two films, Ellen Ripley was simply a person trying to survive; she didn’t have anything so obvious as the spiritual pursuit of Noomi Rapace’s character, or the spiritual/symbolic drives of the prisoners in Alien 3. She was simpler than a grand existential conflict, yet also more complicated. The characters in Alien and Aliens were just people in a common story, but it was the treatment, vision, and artistry that made them special.

The sequels from Alien 3 onward all tried to be “about” something, which usually I have no problem with. But in the context of an alien film, the “about” takes over the story and leaves the monsters, the people, and the survival story much less involving. Moreover, the alien keeps changing from film to film, especially in Prometheus, so that there’s little connectivity or wholeness to the franchise’s mythology. It feels disjointed after Aliens and will probably continue to feel disjointed.

Here’s hoping Alien: Covenant at least tries to return to the original’s roots!

That is one thing that bothers me about the Alien series in general: after everything we’ve learned about the xeno species, they really haven’t done much damage to anyone or anything outside of Ellen Ripley. I think that’s why I appreciate Prometheus more than most because I like that Scott is giving them more damage to inflict upon the rest of the galaxy.