Comments (Page 106)

"I think that from the beginning you saw the alien more like a parasite that grew in the body of its host and where it absorbed nutrition from its host (not DNA). I think with Alien 3 we got the notion that it took on traits from its host, the xenomorph running on all fours e.g. That is, it absorbed DNA from its host."

Ridley spoke about the Alien taking on traits of the host in interviews while they were making the first film.

Alien3 just made it really obvious.

I'd like to see a Dr. Frankenstein and Igor land on LV-223 and do some xenoarchaeology.

Two figures enter an alien tomb...

Maybe characters like this were aboard the Patna. Just waiting to dissect Ripley..or anything else. Like David's lab on Planet 4...Except we get to see the odd hatched monster attack villagers ( colonists) Prison population work also work...if they could only find a prison planet!

You would think they could have found alien DNA on fury 161?...The xeno/Runner ran around and touched many surfaces. Must have left some traces?

So maybe Patna did find something...it just wasn't controlled very well....( they grew something big and nasty and it ate them ) It'd make a cool novel or short story or an episode for the tv series.

I think that from the beginning you saw the alien more like a parasite that grew in the body of its host and where it absorbed nutrition from its host (not DNA). I think with Alien 3 we got the notion that it took on traits from its host, the xenomorph running on all fours e.g. That is, it absorbed DNA from its host.

The canon that an Alien takes traits from the host has been a thing since the first film.

And the USM not successfully separating DNA with Ripley was precisely my point.

I do prefer the look of the Original Aliens head however, and so yes a modern look based on the Smooth Head is the one i favor.

Nice compilation here! Thnx for sharing. 

Official Site

S.M.

They didn't separate alien DNA from the cloned Ripley either. The Queen, the drones and Ripley 8 were a blend of alien and human DNA.

The canon nowadays seems to be that the alien embryo takes on traits from the host. The alien aboard the Nostromo would therefore have a resemblance of Kane, just as the xenomorphs on the Auriga had traits (and memories) from Ripley (and she from the Queen).

Thanks chli, going to have to read that novel!

Right now the Alien universe seems really tiny! Just how many spacecraft are out there? What's the furthest human settlement ( if any ). With Star Trek I get a great sense of scale. Alien Universe not so much. I'd think a tv show would flesh it out. World building in movies is asking for trouble.

They didn't have to separate Alien DNA from Dolly the sheep.

Update

Marvel's Alien comics have been announced today for a March release. Guess we'll see how that goes.

Concerning the concept "bio-mechanical".

I think we have to decide what we are talking about:

* The aesthetics: It's just how they look

* A blend of biological and mechanical parts

* A blend of biology and machine

Most biological creatures have both biological and mechanical parts (bones). Also, humans blend with machines e.g. in hospitals (respirators, heart-lung machine, intravenous treatment, etc.)

If the Derelict is grown, and perhaps even the Space Jockey, I would say its biological - not bio-mechanical.

Well, first of all, we have a problem with David and the time span of 18 years since he created the xenomorph (unless we want to retcon). How can the derelict look ancient and the Space Jockey look fossilized?

Secondly, the rib cage does look like bones and not a suit. However, a trunk does not have any bones so if time has gone by, it would have disappeared. Unless we want to retcon, it's an Engineer who is the Space Jockey which is what Scott wanted to show us in Prometheus. The reason why the Engineers are smaller than the Space Jockey is probably just because it was easier to make Prometheus.

In my opinion, should the Space Jockey be something else, it would be a retcon (I don't mind that).

As a fan of both Prometheus and Covenant I just may admit that Isolation was my favorite Alien of the decade. I not too long ago finished 5th play through on nightmare difficulty lol. That was a challenge that felt like authentic Alien. 

What I want from a story and characters is something Aliens Defiance. Now that was damn f@$&ing fine story. I highly recommend that comic. And it was about a colonial marine but wasn't a ridiculously action heavy story either. Defiance has been my role model for what a new Alien movie can be.

If people say Isolation was not scary, they likely watched a playthrough and never played it themselves. That was exhausting and I just wanted it to be over- sort of how Ellen may have felt. It was beautifully brutal.

The franchise can go different directions and be good. I would like to just see good characters dealing with the mythos. Kind of old school, but not getting into flute playing, axe grinding, and cabin building bull shit. GO BACK TO THE BASICS. I vomit a bit by typing this, but as BigDave once said, MAGA- Make Alien Great Again.

Well, David could have sent out an armada of ships full of eggs, but they can't have had Earth as a destination because in that case there would be no Earth when the crew of the Nostromo wakes up. Neither can there have been an evolution of the xenomorph (e.g. on a planet somewhere) because they would have been there for only a couple of years.

As for the 57-year time span between Alien and Aliens, there is the game Alien: Isolation and the novel by the same name. The USCSS Anesidora lands on LV-426 in 2137. Captain Marlow’s wife is facehugged and they bring her to Sevastopol Station. There, the xenomorph is born eventually leading to the destruction of the space station.

The interesting thing with this story is that they turn the beacon off which gives an explanation as to why W-Y hasn’t found the Derelict. It also explains why no others have been lured to LV-426. The trade route between Earth and Thedus was probably used extensively.

@BigDave

My 57 Years plot would start 6 months after Alien and involve Pavonis being a junior member of the team and  being part of the second group to encounter the derelict on LV-426.

They wouldn't even get to the space jockey until season 2 (2123)

Series would be more about what happened in the 57 year span. No Ripley or Amanda references at all...except a Rip[ley mention on the Nostromo crew manifest.

Thanks BlackAnt!

I'd like to see the franchise move away from planet based action for a couple of films. Superstructures, Hyper Space Gateways, Dyson spheres.

Planets are just not claustrophobic IMHO. Almost always a place to hide or run away. 

I understand planet based story is easy on the budget....but I think the green screen tech can handle a bizarre alien structures.

While I'm at I must add other Alien media is seemingly on the ropes. There have only been 3 major console Alien games in the past ten years, and 6 years since the last. We've only been given a few mobile offerings. I believe this is because Aliens Colonial Marines was a over hyped train wreck of a game, which lead to the excellent Alien Isolation to underperform. Yes Cold Iron is making a game but it's been known about for three years and we only occasionally get vague updates. I feel Alien is largely dead on the video game front.

Comics have been thriving but I also feel this is coming to end due to the transition from Dark Horse to Marvel. Dark Horse has been a steady home for Alien for 30 plus years. Marvel's talent pool seems more than a bit weak these days if their Star Wars comics are anything to go off of. Even the super heroes are at a weak point, the average Avengers issue only sells 400,000 copies a month. That may sound like a lot but it really isn't. I also can't forget that nasty business with Marvel tracing over existing art work for Star Wars, and it looks like its already happening with Alien. Check this Wolverine vs xenomorph and compare it to this Alien advertising image from Isolation. Marvel aren't what they once were and I think It'll possibly affect the novels as well. The Alien RPG along with merchandise such as Necca figures are what seems to keep Alien afloat at the moment.

Yes it's true the franchise is hanging in there (for now at least), There's only so long a franchise can depend on other media. Yes it's also true Alien has managed to release a movie every 5 or so years, but with continued diminished box office returns. I hate to keep making it all about the money, but ultimately that's what keeps any franchise rolling. As much as I like and care about 3 and Resurrection, they were cash in sequels that didn't draw the same crowds Alien and Aliens did. The AVP's in the 2000's were basically reboots before that concept became really popular. Again thanks to the dismal quality these films failed to invigorate either Alien or Predator. Both series have kept separate on the big screen in the past decade. Prometheus was a more blatant reboot because Fox insisted on rewrites to separate it from Alien. Remember the confusing advertising campaign? The whole is it a prequel or isn't it? Fox I think knew Alien had been sagging for quite some time and tried there hand at something new. And when that failed to impress (at least initially) it was back to Alien which yet again failed to make an impact.

Alien as a film is at a crossroads on where to go next. Will Ridley Scott make his third and apparently largely unassociated prequel? Does Blomkamp get his Alien 5? Or will it be Giler and Hill's treatment? Or does James Cameron back his own 3 concept much like he did Terminator Dark Fate? Or does Disney just straight up reboot? (what I think they'll do sadly) I dont think Alien's prospects as a film have ever been so uncertain. Will there be another movie? Most likely yes eventually. The real question is what will it be and how long will it take. But suffice to say a balls out action epic is not a likely approach.

Dolly, the sheep, was cloned from a cell taken from a grown-up sheep’s udder in 2003. So this technology was definitely available and most likely improved in 2179. So we have to come up with an explanation as to why they didn’t think of this until 200 years later.

The Patna (W-Y/Bishop) might not have needed to go back to LV-426 in search of the perfect organism. They might have found at least one facehugger on Fiorina 161 and Ripley’s blood sample. But why didn’t they do anything with these findings?

 dk: The franchise will ultimately die. The only question is when, where and how.  This is good a place as any to take our first steps to seeing the franchise continuing until then.  The only question is how does it continue? Do you want it in the comfort of your own home streaming, or on your fucking knees in a crowded and dirty theater begging people to STFU and get off of their phones?  I aint much for begging. Disney never gave me nothing worthwhile since I was four years old, so I say Fuck That company with this franchise!  Let’s FIGHT IT!!!!

Forum: smdh

We have the problem of what might please a majority (economically satisfying) and what would please (some) fans (even avid fans have different opinions about the franchise).

There are, at least, four things to consider in an eventual sequel:

* Much action (Aliens)

* More creepy atmosphere (Alien)

* Deeper questions (Prometheus)

* The story arc (Aliens continued the story of Alien; AC continued the story of P etc.)

Even James Cameron expressed doubt about killing off the main characters of Aliens in Alien 3. There was a special bond between Ripley, Newt and Hicks - a potential family.

So, do we want more episodic films without continuation of the story but only connection to the “Alien Universe” or do we want to see what happens to the main characters: David, Daniels, Tennessee, Ripley, Hicks, Newt?

“Anakainosis” roughly means “to think in a new way”. But often we want the same thing, e.g. things connected to tradition. Every year Santa Claus brings Christmas presents. A film, novel or short story usually have the same dramatic structure: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement.

But I think the most important question is if we want a continuation of the story and a denouement or do we want to leave this behind and search for answers to deeper questions within the “Alien Universe”?

You could have both, I suppose? :)

MonsterZero,

PRICELESSSSSSS - LOOOOOOOOOOOL

"Alien3 felt like episode 7 of season 2..the prison planet episode."

Christmas came early this year LOL please keep up the good work and deliver more presents!!!

" it was probably a wrong decision not to continue the story of Ripley, Hicks and Newt."

With Respect i dont agree, this would be a PANIC of Running Out of Ideas and Lack of Imagination.

HOWEVER.... there are a Number of Fans who was REALLY Excited about Blomkamps Alien V and Felt that it was INSULT and a Waste of Opportunity to go and KILL off Hicks and Newt (if i came on board during the Writing/Production of ALIEN 3 i would have had the Chest Buster come from Newt... that would be Shocking and the LOSS to Ripley and Hicks would Elevate their Characters.... i would have had Hicks be the ONLY Survivor as he is taken away on the USCSS Patna but you can then have HICKS go and VOW that he will do EVERYTHING to make sure NO ONE will get their Hands on a Xenomorph again.... so the Torch is Passed to Hicks) But ALAS!

As i was about to say.... Ripley and Eggs/Xenomorphs and the Queen are more Familiar and Associated with ALIEN Franchise to the General Public and so YES it could be that DISNEY could see this as the SAFE BET!

But WHAT kind of Plot do you have? And after WHAT do you do as Sequels?

I think that Blomkamps Alien V and Red Harvest Project could WORK.... but they DONT need to have any of the ALIENS Cast for it to Work.

@Chli

without trying to get Bogged Down in Speculation of Circumstances from 2094-2105 as its been Covered in other Topics (i mean No Disrespect as i would discus these in a Relevant Topic), i Feel the Relevance to this TOPIC is merely to Determine the Distances that a Engineer Juggernaught can Traverse per Year.

I think that we can Safely Assume that about 11 Months Past since the Juggernaught left LV-223 Atmosphere and Entered Planet 4 Atmosphere but as David said he has been on Planet 4 for 10 Years that may NOT be Exact to the Day... so lets say we are looking at 10-12 Month Ball-Park instead of 11.

Regardless HOW FAR it is to Planet 4 we can Assume via the Covenant Recycle Charges and Amount that Remain to Origae-6 that they Suffered the Neutrino Burst again about 11 Months into their Mission, and Planet 4 was a Few Weeks Further.  But again lets PLACE the Journey from Earth to Planet 4 within the 10-12 Month Ball Park.

From the ADVENT we are lead to the Signal Originated in a Area that is NOT FAR from where the Zeta Reticuli Binary System is Located in the SKY!  But we have to Bear in Mind that just because a STAR may seem close to another in the SKY then the Distances could be GREAT and so we CANT go and Assume Planet 4 is maybe 40-50LY, looking at the Drafts it could be at least 250LY Away.

Now the Covenant had Re-Charged/Suffered Damage a Few Weeks from Planet 4 and so the Covenant was Traveling in the Vicinity of the Zeta Reticuli System (Well a Area near the same Location in the SKY) so on its Course to Origae-6 it was Traveling Past this Area of the Galaxy/Star Charts.  And so the Covenant had taken say 11-12 Months (well maybe 45-50 Weeks) from Earth to Planet 4

While David had taken maybe 40-50 Weeks from when they Departed the Surface LV-223 to Planet 4 again we dont know HOW FAR it is 100% from LV-223 to Planet 4 but the Covenant would likely have Passed by the Zeta Reticuli System by say 10-20LY lets Estimate?  My Point being that the Covenant likely had a Extra 30-50LY to Travel within that Approx 11 Months than David had from LV-223 in about the same amount of Time.

Looking at that does this mean the USCSS Covenant is FASTER than a Engineer Juggernaught?  It really would depend on HOW LONG had the Juggernaught been Floating before Dr Shaw had Fixed David and then she was Placed in Cryo-Sleep and then HOW LONG had David been Planing and Studying the Engineers Ways before he SET COURSE to Planet 4..... did he take the SHIP at Full Speed?  Did he take it SLOW and the Scenic Route we just cant be 100% sure.

I think when we Consider the Engineers Plot and they have been Seeding Worlds for Many Millions of Years... Hundreds at Least...  and RS had said maybe the Juggernaught Technology is Millions of Years Old.

I FAIL to see how such a Advanced Race would NOT be able to Traverse Space at Greater Speeds than a Human Colony Ship.

But this does-not mean the Engineers Ships can Travel say Hundreds of Light Years per Year.... we know they have Cryo-Pods that sustained a Engineer for at Least 2000 Years... thats HANDY for Traveling say Thousands of Light Years if you Ships are NOT really so FAST

Regarding the other Galaxies i cant see them having these in the Navigation System if they CANT go to them, but maybe it takes them TENS of Thousands of Years or Hundreds of Thousands?

IF the Ships dont have any kind of Technology to OPEN say Wormholes or Gateways/Portals....  then i would SUSPECT that throughout the Galaxy there could be such THINGS that the Engineers can reach and USE to get to other Galaxies.

If so then do these Gateways require Engineer Technology to Activate?  If NOT then should a Human Ship discover such Wormhole/Gateway then WHO KNOWS to where they could Travel!  Which OPENS up the Franchise.

The Points i have Raised in Context to the Engineers are that i FEEL its Unlikely  and a Missed Opportunity that the ONLY Places connected to them and were they have BEEN/ARE is Limited to Planet 4, LV-223 and Earth and so within a 50LY from Earth or Potentially 250-300LY to Planet 4 thats a DROP in the Ocean of where i EXPECT the Engineers to be able to Explore.

I am not sure the Sequel to AC is so Relevant to the TOPIC as i was mainly looking at HOW/WHERE we can go in the Alien Franchise if we dont go to LV-223, Planet 4 or Origae-6

But the Process from AC to ALIEN seems to require at Least 2 Movies, it would seem David would be off to Origae-6 first..... in a Movie about A.I and Creation and NOT about the Xenomorph...  But the Engineers will return and be after David and there would be other Parties too...

It is likely the After-Math of that would give us WHERE our Derelict/Engineer Ship could come into Play.

What becomes of Daniels and Tennessee who knows... Daniels is a Problem for David shes Knows who he is... if he makes her Disappear then Tennessee could get Suspicious so its a BIT of a Pickle.!

What they should have done is have Daniels go into Cryo-Sleep and be TOTALLY unaware... as she goes Under then WALTER says Sleep Tight dont let the Bed Bugs Bite in Davids Accent and the Revelation is Revealed to the Viewer but Daniels is NONE the Wiser so they Wrote themselves into a corner with that ONE.

I cant see the Prequels being Finished... although i do have a WORK AROUND IDEA ;)  and YES it has NO DAVID!

The USM couldn't successfully clone Ripley 200 years post-Alien 3.  It's safe to assume the Company explored such an idea beforehand and similarly failed.

Well, David and Shaw have 5 days to collect things (extremely dangerous because of the lurking Deacon) and find the juggernaut. To get to the other juggernaut, they must pass through the pyramid so they must have seen something. Was it empty? Were there Engineer bodies scattered about with holes in their chests? Were there rooms with urns or perhaps with strange-looking eggs?

They leave LV-223 on the 1st of January and arrive at Planet 4 in December the same year. This is a time span of roughly 11 months. We don’t know how long the trip from LV-223 to Planet 4 took. We have to consider earning trust, how much food and water there is, and Shaw’s hair (which could be just something they didn’t care about when filming “The Crossing”). I can’t imagine them having the juggernaut on the ground for months, like a house, walking in and out with a hungry Deacon lurking about (it doesn’t matter if they don’t know about it).

If the juggernaut had been just floating about in space for, say, 10 months, what would be the point in putting Shaw to sleep when there is just 1 month left? Did the food supply suddenly run out? Also, you get the impression that David is alone for a long time (which he, sort of, points out himself) and during that time he learns about the ways of the Engineers.

As we have discussed before, we have a time span of about 18 years. During this time, the experiments of David’s should evolve and make their way to LV-426 in time for the Nostromo to arrive. David himself says that he is on his way to Origae-6 and he has about 2000 colonists and about 1100 embryos to experiment upon. He might, of course, stop by on LV-223 to refuel mutagen.

If we look at just the plot and the characters, it was probably a wrong decision not to continue the story of Ripley, Hicks and Newt. If we don’t focus on deeper questions, there is also a story to be told about what happened to Daniels and Tennessee and the rest of the colonists, or are we supposed to conclude that David murdered them all in his experiments?

@Leto

Absolutely there is ALWAYS a Market for the ALIEN Franchise beyond the Big Screen... this is where you can RISK things, and Offer Various Avenues that are all Expanded and dont have to Connect... Numerous Alternatives if you would.

I think in Terms of a Movie then its a GAMBLE... where do you GO? Would it Please Everyone?  And should a MOVIE be Made and BOMB or just Disappointment then it could be CURTAINS as far as Theatrically...

Do they RISK a Bigger Budget of $200-250M if this only brings back say $300-350M then it would NOT be deemed a Success and it would be DOUBTFUL they would Continue.. if it Fails to make $250M then i Feel its Curtains!

To Resurrect the Franchise i think DISNEY would Need to see a 200-250% Return... so a $200M they expect Box Office of say $450M+ to be Worthwhile to Consider MORE...

With a Lower Budget of say $80-120M would be Less Risk but it would LIMIT what you can do with Special Effects, Sets and A-List Stars.

This is WHY i have been Concerned they would PLAY SAFE.... and try to make a Alternative Alien 3 with Ripley back...... and Eggs and Queens... and IF this does not make 200% Min Return then its R.I.P to the Franchise..

Well for 15 Years before a Complete 100% Reboot!

But lets Wait and see what ALIEN DAY 2021 brings.. as well it seems we have a Project in the Works.. that WONT continue with the Prequels... and well lets say WONT have Ripley either!

Wait and See Game now... ;)

"Alien is an extremely difficult series to reinvigorate"

I would agree with this Especially if they want something more FRESH than say to go and Bring Back Ripley, and IGNORE say Alien 3 and Alien R and then what we get?  Oh the Company has gone to LV-426 and recovered the Derelict or some Eggs... and Ripley like "oh no they DONT i am gonna put a STOP to that" Very Original  YAWN!!!

The Prequels with Prometheus was NOT to everyone's Cuppa Tea.... the idea of Blomkamps got some Excited because they maybe FELT that PROMETHEUS was NOT a Worthy ALIEN Movie...  But thats the Point it was supposed to be SET in the same Universe but to STEER AWAY from ALIEN and Sequels would do something DIFFERENT!

In Hindsight i think FOX Needed to Invest, take a Gamble on TWO Movies, it seemed they was going to GO for Blomkamps Idea with Ridley Scott even to be  a Producer but they WANTED to get the Sequel to Prometheus out First and that was BOMB! of Sorts.

Blomkamps Idea could have worked... just DONT need to have Ripley in it.. shes DEAD!

I have said this OVER and OVER...  I think what they SHOULD have done was this...

Prometheus Sequel that would be Released First that would GO BACK to LV-223 they could Cast Fassbender as another David Clone (or have a New Android).... One that does-not have a Mind of its Own...    We basically have a more Action Movie that would be more Similar to Alien Engineers... We get more Clues/Answers to the Xenomorph Potential Origins we DONT have to have Xenomorphs but similar, maybe a FEW different Monsters... some Answers to the Murals and Frescos...

We can THEN go and CLOSE the Door to ALIEN and allow for another Sequel that goes with Dr Shaw and David to a FAR FAR FAR away world where we can Find out more about the Engineers and NOT be Shackled by ALIEN.  Thus giving us a Expanded Prometheus Universe that has LITTLE to do with ALIEN!

The ALIEN Franchise would NOT have been Finished.. such a Prometheus 2 like Alien Engineers would OPEN THE DOOR to other ALIEN Movies due to the knowledge of the Horrors the Engineers had Conducted on LV-223, inc Xenomorphs and Similar and we could ASK... ok so did any of this STUFF get Unleashed on a World?

If so then thats a AVENUE for a ALIEN Movie..

But... ALAS!

"If there were other juggernauts leaving LV-223 at the time of the outbreak with biological weapons aboard, where did they end up?"

I think this Depends on IF we Consider that AC is Canon.

*Have the Engineers used the Bio-Weapon we saw on LV-223 on other Worlds, even as a TEST?  If so then WHAT had become of these Worlds and WHERE are they?  This is a Avenue for a Story/Plot ;)

*Prior to the Outbreak had they Decided to Eradicate all Humans or Similar they have in the Galaxy and so maybe some Ships Left before the Outbreak had Started?  Or was their ANGER only with Earth in which case we know that NO SHIPS had Managed to Reach us so maybe the Outbreak had PUT a Stop to the Engineers Plans Totally?

Looking at prior to AC then YES at that Time we had RS go and Explain the Space Jockey, he indicated the Event Happened likely a Few Hundred Years after the Outbreak as something EVOLVED in the Cargo Hold and Infected the Pilot, this Most Likely Happened prior to Leaving LV-223, but could have Happened shortly after Departure..

The Space Jockey knowing he was Infected had Set Course to Baron LV-426 to Quarantine the Bio-Weapon/Cargo.

IF we consider AC as Canon this would Indicate at some point in the Future between 2105-2122 then the Experiments of Davids are either being Taken to LV-223 to Study but Evolve and get to the Pilot who only makes it to LV-426..... OR we have  Davids Creations taken to LV-223 to be Evolved and  then the Derelict would LEAVE to go somewhere but ONLY gets as FAR as LV-426

Regardless of if we take AC as Canon, or Prometheus or IGNORE the Prequels.... then it does-not matter which we Consider, we have to ask WAS the Derelict the ONLY ship that had the Eggs?  We cant 100% Rule out that other Ships had them to REGARDLESS of what Scenario/Canon we are going for ;)

"the Engineers managed to get some DNA from this creature and concocted the mutagen from it?"

Certainly is Possible.... the Fresco and Mural where Interesting in Prometheus and IF we take a Look at Alien Engineers/Genesis then it seems to IMPLY that the Engineers back in that Draft had USED their Creation Tool on something they Encountered to go and Create/Experiment on Various Horrors.

In those Drafts it seems  the Holloway Morph was the ORIGIN to those Experiments.... when we get to PROMETHEUS then we can Speculate... and Wonder.. was the FRESCO what was the ORIGIN?

All Interesting things to maybe have had Answers.... where a Movie/Plot to LV-223 could have Provided instead of giving us Alien Covenant ;)

@Chli

Where do i START ;)  You raise Good Points i think a LOT of Problems came from the Decision with Alien Covenant...

IF they had gone with something like the Plot/Idea i had as to WHERE it would be that David and Dr Shaw go then these Conflicts would be Reduced.  Because i was taking them to a FAR FAR Place, like 10'000LY at least maybe even 50-60'000..... WHY maybe another Galaxy!

Going Further means maybe they DONT go and Arrive for a LONG TIME and the Events of Aliens/Alien 3 have Passed by the Time they ARRIVE... so any Aftermath could SPILL out to after the events of Alien Resurrection so you DONT go and Conflict the Franchise.

But then a Problem we also see and its NOT limited to the Prequels but the Prequels are more GUILTY is it seems they DONT go and Consider as to HOW the Plot could Effect the Future or Conflict/Contradict the Franchise.

"If the sacrificial Engineer in Prometheus is seeding Earth"

Ridley Scott said it does-not have to be Earth... so this could be at ANY Point and even another World... he had said this was JUST how the Engineers Seed Worlds and so at some point the Engineers would have done Similar on Earth, maybe Multiple Times and maybe they EVOLVED the Process ;)

But YES they would likely have to be Hundreds of Millions of Years OLD at the Very Least... likely Much Older.  And so its a Good Question to HOW COME their Technology has NOT really Advanced much in Millions of Years or the Engineers themselves!

"One problem with the Engineers travelling to other galaxies is, of course, the distances."

They could have WORM HOLES that maybe are Natural or Engineered at Certain Points in the Galaxy... Portals they can Access?  Maybe at the Center of the Galaxies?

Otherwise then YES it would take VERY LONG to get to other Galaxies but thats maybe WHY they have Cryo-Pods.  If the SHIP has Technology to Reach Galaxies in Short Time then Travel in our Galaxy would NOT take Long!

Looking at Planet 4 it seems Close to Zeta 2, it Certainly would seem its not Hundreds of Light Years.... this is a PLOT Convenience for the Covenant Plot.

However i dont think it took the Juggernaught say 11 Months...  It had taken the Covenant something near that to get to Planet 4 from Earth...  this would make the Juggernauts much SLOWER than the Covenant.

Dr Shaw had left the SOS/Warning Message saying it was January 1st 2094 we can maybe Assume this was WHEN they Left, but she could have SENT this LIKELY via the Lifeboat, then had set off on the ATV to go to GET another Ship.

The Crossing we see the Ship is Floating... David is in TWO Pieces and Dr Shaw has had some Hair Growth i would Estimate she had been on the Ship for 6-10 Months before her and David had SET the Course to Planet 4 and Dr Shaw was placed in Cryo-Sleep

We dont know for sure HOW FAR away it is to Planet 4 but its within a Year for the Covenant i dont recall any information is Given.   We have the Advent which places the Signal near the Zeta Reticuli system but with a Point in the SKY does not mean its close in LY to Zeta 2/LV-426.

Just Checked and IF we can take the Information from Alien Covenant Draft as Accurate then Planet 4 is over 250LY away.  But Considering that as Canon... means the Covenant is WAY more Quicker than the Nostromo and in the Time the Nostromo would go from LV-426 to Earth the Covenant would cover like 6X the Distance and YET is Older.

Anyway i am Babble On a bit... to the Point i would ASSUME the Juggernaught would reach Planet 4 in say 3-5 Weeks at the Very Most.

"Where have the Engineers been for the last 2000 years?"

This is a Great Point, after the Outbreak those who WISHED to have us Destroyed would maybe have been all KILLED (Maybe Bar the Last Engineer) or they had Decided to Abandon Earth and the USE of the Bio-Weapon.

They likely thought "Screw the Earth Humans... without our Help they WONT go and Advance and maybe we would even go Backwards and also Eventually Destroy ourselves"  In their Arrogance i think they would ASSUME we would NEVER go on to Advance to what we have and would remain as Technologically Advanced as we was 2000+ Years ago.

The Engineers could Visit Worlds that are Vastly FAR apart he had Indicated they Seed Worlds and Attempt to Reset/Destroy them then they would come back every Few Hundred Years.  It would be LIKELY that LV-223 and everything they was doing there had been ABANDONED.

And Earth was on the Naughty List where we are Abandoned and Left to ROT!   Why CARE about  us if they have maybe MANY other Worlds with Humanoid Creations of even Humans?  We cant RULE that out.!

@MonsterZero

We had similar PLOT for Alien Isolation

I am NOT sure they would WAITED say 57 Years to Investigate the Nostromo, i would ASSUME that at some point after NO-CONTACT they would either Conclude the Ship is LOST or maybe they had Investigated or some way they Discovered it was Destroyed Prior.

Ripley had left a LOG about the Nostromo and maybe this was Transmitted and Picked Up eventually so the Company would be AWARE of the Fate of the Nostromo...  Makes you Wonder if this was the case, as to IF or WHY NOT had they gone to TRY and find the Escape Shuttle (Narcissus) rather than just picking it up 57 Years after as it was Floating at the Outer Rim.  Regardless then NO soon as they recover Ripley then they would be AWARE of the Fate of the Nostromo.

Surely maybe someone Related could have wanted to know WHAT had Happened to their Family Member from the Nostromo but this is something that Alien Isolation had done with Amanda.

I think if we IGNORE the Prequels for a Moment, then looking at ALIEN and the 57 Years to ALIENS. And the Aftermath to both 2122 and 2179 then we have to Wonder would the Company simply just NOT take a Interest in going back?

Firstly to cover the Later Event.... its likely Patna picked up a Distress Message/Information from the Sulaco after the Incident that lead to the Survivors being Evacuated off the Ship.  And so it could be on a Intercept Course to the Sulaco before getting the Message from Fury 161 which lead to the Patna going to that place to ATTEMPT to Obtain the Specimen from Ripley.

After that was  BUST.... i think the USCSS Patna would surely go to LV-426 to Survey the Destruction of Hadleys Hope and Probe the Surface for signs of the Derelict to assess the Viability of the Ship and IF there is anything to Salvage.

IF not then surely at some-point the Company or others would go to Investigate LV-426..... Regardless of WHICH then IF this Proves to be a BUST then this Closes a Avenue to a Specimen and Potential Story/Movie.

If they do Attempt to Salvage something this can OPEN UP a Avenue to Explore (it seems this could be the ROUTE that Blomkamps Alien V had taken).

NEXT... we go to the Aftermath of ALIEN would the Company (or other) had SENT another Mission to LV-426?  Again this is whats implied with the Alien Isolation Plot.

But if the Games are NOT to be Canon, then i think when we look at the Damage to the Derelict in Aliens we have to ask HOW did this Happen?  Storms? Volcanic or Seismic Activity?  

I DOUBT IT.

Looking at the Damage to me it looks more likely to be either.

1) Damage from a Meteor Strike.

2) Damage from some Missile Strike (or Similar)

3) A Explosion from Inside maybe via a Attempt to BLOW UP the Derelict?

When looking at Option 3 this Provides a Avenue for a Movie, Comic or Game!

So there are Avenues to another Movie where they dont have to Continue/Connect the Prequels, where the dont go and Continue after Alien Resurrection and where they CERTAINLY dont have to Retcon anything and make Alien 3 onward NOT HAPPEN!

However... ONCE you apply the Prequels (or Reboot) then you GREATLY increase Avenues for another ALIEN MOVIE.

Firstly SILLY me when i said a few Times 100 Years when its Clearly 200 ;)

I think that INDEED its likely the Patna went to Intercept the Sulaco, i would NOT think that a Fire would Destroy the Entire ship but i would say for the sakes of Continuity i dont think there would be ANYTHING to Recover from the Sulaco.

Regarding Fury 161 then on that World there would have LIKELY been TWO Face Hugers we have to assume that Ripley was Infected in EEV.

And so INDEED somehow the Ripley DNA Sample was Obtained at some Point... likely NOT that Long after the events of ALIEN 3 (not like USM gonna go to Fury 161 some 200 Years latter for it). 

You would expect the Crew of the USCSS Patna would have done a Thorough Search of Fury 161 and you would Expect they would Discover at least ONE of the Face Huggers unless UNSEEN on Screen we have Ripley go ORDER the Destruction of them!

So in Context of the Franchise and Avenues for Continued Story/Plot after ALIEN 3 then we CANT 100% go Rule Out that Weyland-Yutani had NOT managed to Obtain a Face Hugger from Fury 161 to Conduct Experiments.

We have NO PROOF this had Occurred but that does-not mean it cant be Explored ;)

They didn't give. WY was bought by Wallmart and then became part of USM. In fact, this is one organization (or something like that). The only difference is that WY does not dominate now but obeys.

Why 200 years? Do not rack your brains over what the writers did not think about. It just sounds cool and big.

In any case - why did they find strange blood samples, but not a facehugger?

I assume that the W-Y Corporation meticulously searched Fiorina 161 in every nook and cranny for possible biological residues and facts about what happened? Wouldn’t they have found the remains of Bishop? I also assume that this is when they find Ripley’s blood sample in the med lab? This would make it 200 years until they decided to clone Ripley - by another organisation: USM (not W-Y).

What happened during these 200 years and what happened to W-Y?

As for USCSS Patna, it would seem that it was on its way to the Sulaco when, after receiving information about the pregnant Ripley, they headed for Fiorina 161 instead?

After finding the blood sample of Ripley, couldn't they have cloned Ripley immediately? I assume that the technology was available at the time? Why wait 200 years and why give (sell?) Ripley's DNA to another organisation?

"57 Years"

Cool name for a Alien tv series. 

Have the series focus on the Nostromo's disappearance.

Have a team of insurance investigators track down what happened.....There are still plenty of eggs on Lv-426 for them to find.

Pavonis Parker is searching for his dad (or at least his remains) ?

"The Nostromo Report" 

X-files type drama. (Must be thousands of odd sightings in deep space....most of them xeno related. )

If the sacrificial Engineer in Prometheus is seeding Earth, then the Engineers must have been around for more than 4,5 billion years. Wouldn’t they have developed more? Mankind has only existed for about 4,5 million years and we are soon populating Mars.

One problem with the Engineers travelling to other galaxies is, of course, the distances. If I remember correctly, it took David and Shaw about 11 months to travel to Planet 4 (which is not that far off). Are they using wormholes to other galaxies?

Where have the Engineers been for the last 2000 years? Were they confined to Planet 4? They never revisited LV-223 (I assume the snoozing Engineer would have been found) and they never revisited Earth. Why didn’t some other Engineers carry out the extinction of mankind?

We have the enigma of the Space Jockey. To make some sense of it all, it seems likely that an Engineer travelled from LV-223 around the time of the outbreak with the intention of wiping out mankind. He didn’t make it, though, since he was attacked by a facehugger probably from the cargo hold. He crash-landed on LV-426. If there were other juggernauts leaving LV-223 at the time of the outbreak with biological weapons aboard, where did they end up?

In order to make some sense of the xenomorph, it must be just one of many outcomes: Deacon, neomorph, ultramorph, xenomorph. The mutagen has the potential (or necessity) of creating these kinds of creatures. They are the bioweapon? That is why the “perfect” organism is portrayed on the wall in the Head Room? The question is, of course, if the mutagen “creates” the perfect organism, or, the perfect organism is out there somewhere and the Engineers managed to get some DNA from this creature and concocted the mutagen from it? If the latter is the case, then there might be a homeworld somewhere for the ancestor of the xenomorph?

Thanks S.M

Salvaging the Sulaco from the bottom of the ocean on Fury 161 might make a cool episode.

Bennet "Are we sure there is nothing on the Sulaco?"

Taylor "It's never been fully vetted sir"

Bennet "Send an ops team..."

When they go down to check on the Sulaco they find large stone Engineer heads. Fury 161 is a prison planet, the oceans are just used for fishing..never been mapped.

I absolutely agree with almost everything you say except for the last paragraph.

Alien franchise is alive and thriving.

There are 2 films released in each decade.

Alien in 79 and after 7 years - Aliens.

Alien 3 & R in 90s.

AvP & AvPR in 00s.

Prometheus and Covenant in 10s.

Plus - tons of comics, books and board & video games.

Plus - an active fan community. Creative - including.

Here are the facts - for now, the Alien franchise is doing better than ever.