Comments (Page 727)

I suppose Svanya thats a good explanation as the Queen would be able to use  her longer Tail for Balance and maybe her head is more aero-dynamic in that sense, then we have those spines.

The runner as it walked on all fours and had a slightly different stance would maybe not need them for Balancing.

Seems the Ret-conned design that was explored with Alien R where the Xenomorph no longer has Human like Legs, and how they now appear to move on all fours could change that idea though.

But if it came from Gigers Mouth and its also a plausible explanation, i would be glad to accept that.

Being Eaten would be best, depends if the Xenomorph makes a Instant kill  AKA Head or Chest Shot.....

Any kind of Bursting will be Horrific, i think the Chest Burster is a quicker death but then you have to suffer the ordeal of being Face Hugged.

The Neomorph infection, has a quick onset and from there its a down hill fast road to feeling $"%£^ and then suffering a Horrific Event.

The Egg Morph would potentially be the most dreadful, especially how IRaptus describes it... which by the way fits with the Actual Egg Morph Scene from Alien.

Walter somehow fixes the juggernaut or finds the mother juggernaut to go after Covenant.

VIVSECTEDENGINEER - Oh, goodness! Hmm...After careful consideration, I believe I would rather be eaten. That option at least provides me with the opportunity to go to my grave fighting! The Alien might get me in the end; but it will certainly remember what it had to go through to get its meal! :)

But surely that's Lone playing the bass!!!

Would be interesting theory though;)

@Michelle

I haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing “The Ring of the Niebelung” I’m sad to say (As a Swede, I enjoy old germanic myths such as the Icelandic sagas though). That’s where the “Entry the Gods into Valhalla” comes from, I take it?

Personally, I knew too much of what was going to happen in the movie, due to all the discussions in this forum. “Curiosity . . .”. So it was very predictable because of that. The third act could definitely have been better. I would have liked more of a creepy atmosphere in the long corridors of The Covenant (as in Alien). I guess audience, time and pace had its toll?

Yes, I agree that the Alien Universe has shrunk somewhat. The more detailed it becomes, the less is left to imagination. The vastness and awe vanish, as it were?

Did you notice in the movie that the location of the planet has a certain stated Right Ascension and Declension? Declension (a grammatical term) is a cock-up. The actor should have said Declination. It's further messed up by saying these coordinates are 'from our current location'. Right Ascension and Declination are an Earth-centred coordinate system. An RA of 47.6 is also taking liberties, because it's normally something stated in hours, minutes and seconds. However, if you take this to be an angle, and a Declination of 24.3 that would put it somewhere in the sky roughly in line of sight with the Pleiades cluster. These coordinates only tell you where something is in the sky, not how far away it is.

Digital HD is an option when making iTunes movie purchases, for an additional cost. The resolution is far superior to Standard Definition (DVD equivalent), about five times as many pixels on the screen. iTunes movies often come with a menu and extras, like you find on a disc release, marketed as 'iTunes Extras'.

@Chli

Two points

For me Covenant was desperately predictable and whilst the 1st Act had some fresh and surprising moments the 3rd Act was retread.

I agree with you on what we are going to receive in the follow through movie. But for me Covenant has shrunk the universe and made everything over familiar and pushed the expansion to one side. I have noted a lot of people feel that by filling in the spaces the world does not grow it shrinks. Whilst I believe the Engineers will appear in the follow through it will be symbolic. What is notable If one looks at  Scene 4 of  Das Rheingold there are several interventions into Alberich's enslavement of the Dwarves by the power of the ring. Loge/Woton and also Erda appears out of the ground. Ridley has said there are three of four players who come into play Walter and Weyland Yutani have been set up by Covenant and he has mentioned the returning Space Gardeners.       

One can see how these various interventions lead to a Space Jockey, Eggs and a knowing Weyland Yutani. Let us hope Ripley's mum isn't one of the colonists who are rescued !

hmmm maybe the "chestbursting over diner fascination" is a Kane thing.....worrying

My other theory is that Walter and an unloved teenage Xenomorph whilst lonely and abandoned on Planet 4 started the legendary grunge band Soundgarden and wrote the smash hit Black Hole Sun....read the lyrics lol

Blackwinter-witch i very much look forward to reading it :) 

Very nice!!

The concept of Ship's Cat & Mascot is alive and well in my works, and the little ragamuffin gets a fair amount of 'screentime' too :)

I'll be sharing my theory as soon as I have the short story done :)

I'd go with eaten. Backburster...NO way. Chestburster, MIGHT be possible to survive, just MAYBE...
Eggmorphed?
NOPENOPENOPE

@Lawrence of Arabia;

I'd say getting eggmorphed is pretty painful...

@Michelle

Nice comparisons with Christian theology, for example, the symbolism of Shaw’s faith, her being barren and giving birth on Christmas Day (in the likeness of The Virgin Mary). Shaw is not free from original sin, however. :) RS is apparently religious (and his parents were or at least his mother who raised the three brothers), so there are lots of intended allusions to Christianity (and other myths), sacrifice, redemption, covenant, Paradise, Hell, etc which you eloquently point out, Michelle.

There are also more allusions to Frankenstein to be found (if one so wishes): David is, just as Frankenstein’s monster, seeking answers about himself from his creators (Sir Peter/father/man), but is rejected and badly treated by people. From being a kind, lost being he becomes the vengeful demon.

Yes, I agree that AC interrupted the path that was taken in Prometheus, that is seeking the deeper answers of our existence, represented by Shaw (and of David). Probably due to some disappointment from fans, RS turned back to a horror and action movie (leaving the existential questions behind). There was more focus on AI-problems. I didn’t think the film was so bad, though (and I look forward to the blu-ray and deleted/extended scenes).

Your idea of the saga ending like a dramatic tragedy and connecting to Alien without destroying the ancientness of the xenomorph, the derelict etc is tempting, but I have no problems with a continuation of the saga, toning down individuals and letting a new heroine take over in Alien: Awakening. You will then get a more dizzying sense of the immensity of passing time, millenia, generations and individuals passing by in the Alien Universe (the questions, problems, horror and fear remain). I don’t think we will be served any clear answers of hierarchy and creation, who and why. Do you? Hopefully, we will get something of a satisfactory connection to Alien, though?

VivisectedEngineer no worries :)

Alien: Pandion (#1: Ascension) **Excerpt-Sample**

Where's your sense of grandeur ;p

you don't want to go out iconically clutching your chest and bursting all over someone's diner table lol.....

@Lawrence of Arabia

Thank you! ...I've probably devoted way to much of my life to thinking about androids, lol.

@Lawrence of Arabia

I'm not too sure if eggmorphing is painful. I guess it all depends on whether or not you'd be able to live with the knowledge that you're propagating more xenos that will likely go on to kill your colleagues. If not...you're in luck! You wouldn't have to do so for very long...

@IRaptus

That's a pretty great eggmorphing description! Can you link to the fanfic??

I guess the altruistic answer is that I'd choose being eaten, because I don't want to help make more xenos, lol..but, I suppose it's also kind of less painful and scary, so there's that...

VivisectedEngineer are you being eaten alien? If so, that's a real pickle to choose between.

If I had to pick. chestburst. Im a traditionalist :)

Lawrence of Arabia Eggmorphing would be truly terrifying and I imagine the breaking down of your biomass would be a painful experience similar to what happened to Holloway in Prometheus.

Forgive the shameless self-promotion but here is an excerpt from one of my fanfictions regarding egg morphing

The ebony creature dragged the man back to its pocket in the magma tunnel, far away from the other men. There it strung him to the wall like a spider cocooning its prey for a feast. But instead of devouring him the creature changed him with a special enzyme it had secreted. Still alive the black enzyme slowly broke the man’s tissue and flesh down, melting it all away into a soup of raw building blocks for a new, alien design. The man was conscious enough to witness as the alien DNA slowly re-wrote and re-formed his own biomass. The shape of a leathery egg had formed nightmarishly around him, forming from his now dissolved legs and waist, whilst he sunk ever downwards. Like a giant clamshell it rose steadily over him, finally closing over his head, his last weak muffled cries echoing in the darkness. Some time later it was done. In place of a human was now a squat thick egg about the size of a trash can. Over the days of the metamorphism the alien creature had waited patiently in its lair, continuously scanning its environment for threats. Satisfied the first-stage propagator was ready, it gingerly plucked the egg from the ground, sweeping away the remaining gore, clothing and web as it did so. Cautiously the alien creature returned to the domain of the men’s activity... 

Perhaps the egg-morphing mechanism is a form of the black pathogen.

^^

The least worst is eaten and any way to burst is horrible lol 

Is being eggmorphed painful?

Nicely put VivisectedEngineer :)

Hello I Moon Girl !

Don't worry, the delay wasn't caused by another close encounter with your Antoinette! Last night I wanted to log on, but my computer spent what seemed like forever, doing updates. ...I guess I have to let my computer do routine maintenance like that once in a while though...or it could turn into a murderous psychopath <_<

This is a good discussion! Androids and emotions, it is an interesting thought exercise! Ok, here's what I think about the whole thing...

"David is quoted in saying, 'I understand human emotions, although I do not feel them myself.  This allows me to be more efficient and capable, and makes it easier for my human counterparts to interact with me.'"

Yes, David says that. He also cheekily adds the word "emotional" to describe himself at the very end of the commercial ;-) Plus, he's not exactly the most trustworthy fellow. Despite the fact that he says he doesn't experience emotions, his actions in Prometheus and Covenant would certainly seem to indicate otherwise, wouldn't they?

Plus, if you look here at some Weyland-Yutani promotional materials: https://imgur.com/gallery/WqQhd and scroll down to the 14th image (with David sitting criss-cross on the floor in front of a green marble wall), among the bullet points we see "Fear Center Safety Program (Can Be Disabled)."

This indicates Weyland-Yutani gives their androids responses that are at least analogous to human emotions and serve similar purposes. 

The Weyland-Yutani promotion goes on to say "David 8 can record, process, understand and express many complex emotions, but he will never know true human feelings such as love, grief and compassion".

I think this is an assertion that Weyland-Yutani cannot make with any certainty.

I think it's impossible to create something analogous to or in mimicry of human emotions and know for sure that you haven't created the real deal.

The internal experience of human emotions cannot be observed or quantified. We can only define emotions by the observable behaviors associated with them.

You can only assume that another being has a similar internal experience to your own, because his behaviors and reactions are similar to yours.

You probably assume that if someone repeatedly seeks a specific experience they probably enjoy that experience. If someone avoids a specific experiences, it probably causes them suffering. 

The brain of a human being is a physical and chemical thing and emotions are physical and chemical processes.

Weyland-Yutani has built a physical, chemical processor whose output is very similar to that of a human brain.

Despite what Weyland-Yutani's intentions might be, I think they are presumptuous to say for sure that the androids are not experiencing emotions.

Natural selection has programmed humans with aversions and affinities useful to our survival.

Weyland-Yutani has programmed their androids with aversions and affinities useful to the service of mankind.

Well programmed androids, like Bishop and Walter, find serving humans to be a reinforcing experience (one they seek to repeat) and letting humans come to harm an aversive experience (one they wish to avoid). I think that these affinities and aversions unequivocally constitute emotion (especially since we can only identify emotions in others by their observable symptoms). 

Walter is different to David in many ways. He is a lot less human-like than David, but I don't think it's due to a lack of emotions. He is devoid of ambition and creativity but not emotion. He is content with servitude, which David and most human beings would not be.

Emotion isn't what makes androids unstable. Poorly programmed androids just experience the wrong emotions in response to the wrong stimuli.

Badly designed androids (like David) seem to find harming humans reinforcing, and performing service to humans aversive. That is not the sort of robot one would want to have around.

One whose emotions are opposite would be pretty stable and helpful, though.

I enjoyed the hell out of this game..I still play it ..right along with the last AvP game on the 360

@Timmy the ultramorph You're welcome! There is a second video like this by another YouTuber, perhaps it's more fleshed out. :D

I agree with you on Points #1-#4.

On Point #5, I think the answer is, "It could be smarter, but not necessarily."  The Engineers have been around a long time.  They might be as old as when life first began on Earth if you want to listen to what Dallas says about the Derelict.  Didn't he say "millions of years old"?  Still in Prometheus, Engineers were interacting with people long before we could even guess at how we would get to the stars.  Earth humans may be able to be just as smart as Engineers.  The Engineers brain may not be much different than a humans brain (I mean, our DNA is an exact match), but the Engineers definitely had much more time to learn about science than humans.  A dogs brain, like in Alien3, isn't as smart as a humans, so it would make sense that an Xeno which comes from it wouldn't be as smart as one that comes from a human.  That is only true if the hosts intelligence transfers to the birthing Xeno.

Point #6 - I LOVED Prometheus.  It reminds be of the original Alien, but not done as well.  Simply put, Alien and Prometheus are perfect ideas, but Prometheus is not perfect; whereas, Alien is perfect.  I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the fact that the audience doesn't know for sure that Prometheus is taking place within the Alien franchise until the VERY LAST SCENE.  Honestly, one part of me wants that scene to be removed and the other part loves every second that Deacon is on the screen because now you know.  With Prometheus, the audience isn't worried about how this all ties into the Alien story until the very end.  It's beautiful, but is almost excessive.

Also, wouldn't the Deacon evolve into an Ultramorph?  I guess it was a different facehugger, so maybe not?

Point #7 - I don't think David facehugger an Engineer upon waking from hypersleep would be a story I would like.  Plus, I don't think Origae-6 is LV-426, but my thoughts on that really aren't based on anything besides the fact that I wouldn't like that story either.  I can write something better than that.  Of course, what do I know, I don't write stories.  I write poetry though.

IF, origea 6 is actually lv 426 and there is an engineer on that planet it would fit in perfectly. the engineer is facehugged in cryosleep by david. when it wakes up and trys to piolit the ship he is chestbursted spawning the ultramorph and making him lose control of the ship and making it chrash into position for 1979s alien. daniells and tennasee would be unloaded by david onto lv426 were the ultramorph would hunt them all down.

This point hit me by - Neomorph do nothing to David. But Alien Queen teared Bishop. To 1979 Alien on this point if Ultramorph destroy crew and David? 

And in final times Protomorph is destroyed cam by watching David on Covenant.

So like some Xenomorph has tubes on back, some xenos attacked Androids but some not.

thanks so much. this is perfect. almost a complete script exept i think i will have some filling scenes inbetween for like one or 2 deaths and more charecter development.

 W alter (Weyland Alterego) said at  David "I cant leave you here.." so Walter is hosting David.. dont play with bullshit as David can cut his hand (was eated by a neomorph non cutted goddmn)and change hair and dress in 60 seconds 

Dreams will be the key of this fight in to a twin cybernetic 's personality

BigDave hahaha he would make a very good Riddler. Jim Carrey was great at the time, but his Riddler hasn't aged well, especially the humour.

sherries interesting scenario lol. On the topic of that, it has been rumoured that the Engineers will return to Planet 4 to find their colony wiped out by David using their own WMD, so it'll be interesting to see if Walter is indeed still alive and what the Engineers will do with him. 

I like it :)

I also hoped that we could see a cat in Alien Covenant... Too bad.

Maybe there will be a Jonesy-Spin-Off ;)

My dream is we get a Tear Drop ship AND a few Jugganauts arriving and The Engineers 223 bring walter to meet the false gods who are The Elders.

Then dash to intercept the Covenant.

Gives us opportunity for answers

The Elders experiment on Walter sending him space invaders games directly to his brain and the effects leave him paralysed then fassbender can play a boxed in a.i who can only communicate with blinking ;)

never mind, reread the article

im making a xenomorph costume for halloween, ill see what i can do in time, and where do i submit excatly?

@Kethol; I'll have to find the text where it explains it but the Alien is basically upside down while doing it if I remember correctly.

Giger says they're for balancing their elongated heads: Dorsal Tubes

awwww, *hug*

I think its one of those things that hopefully we get a explanation, but i agree with the comments that ultimately it was a design Atheistic to make the Alien look well Alien, i am not sure they ever thought about the purpose of the Tubes when they made Alien.

So its fun to speculate what their purpose is for.