Following James Cameron's successful 1986 sequel "Aliens," director Ridley Scott is planning to raise the bar on that film with a pair of 3D "Alien" prequels.

Set about 30 years prior to the events of "Alien," the prequels involve an era where the infamous Weyland-Yutani corporation is in its infancy of encouraging mankind to settle on other planets.

The film is fundamentally about discovering who crewed the mysterious alien ship from the original film, according to Scott.

"The film will be really tough, really nasty," he explained in an interview with The Independent. "It's the dark side of the moon. We are talking about gods and engineers. Engineers of space.

"And were the aliens designed as a form of biological warfare? Or biology that would go in and clean up a planet?"

To polish this ambitious concept Scott is bringing aboard "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindoff to strengthen the first prequel's script. In addition, Scott is suggesting a friendly competition is underway with Cameron's acclaimed sequel.

"Jim's raised the bar and I've got to jump to it," Scott said. "He's not going to get away with it."

The prequel may hit theaters in late 2011, or 2012, according to Scott.