Comments (Page 578)

I could not follow that guy's chattering all through the end of the review and as much as I saw it did not bring anything not debated here yet.

I was not patient enough to wait for the bad stuff about the movie but I don't believe it's new either.

Blackwinter-witch Thanks for sharing our opinion on Alien Covenant :-)

VivisectedEngineer

Without your story, mine never would have had the necessary and crucial 'starter'. :) You're very welcome, of course!!

But part of the credit for my story does rightfully belong to you, as your work directly inspired it, after all.

joylitt

TY for reading and letting me know you enjoyed it!! :D

Walter, that character just needed to be saved from oblivion, and if not for VivisectedEngineer this story most likely never would have happened.
So a good share of credit for the essential 'Starter' is due them. :)

Manticore's Engineer, yeah, when I came up with the character, the voice of Lacey Chabert circa Lost In Space movie just 'fit' the character PERFECTLY. Glad you liked the 'nod', Walter allowed me to plausibly give the audience a solid connection to how I hear Sharie's voice. :)

Yeah, Walter is aboard Manticore to stay, as long as he chooses. I really thought it'd be harder to integrate him in, but it really caught me off-guard how easily that went. :)
Suffice to say, this short story is set towards the start of ALIEN: Manticore 'Paradise', and Walter will be around from that point on. :)

ALIEN: Covenant, my take on it.
3.5 out of 5 stars. Quite Good, not Great. I will NOT forgive the glaring edit-slip when the facehugger attacks Lope towards the end of the movie. That really bugs me.

Overall, I enjoyed it as it serves as a nice 'gateway' piece to more stories across that universe.
EG: Say Covenant becomes a ghost ship, some future salvage crew happens on it, finds the facehugger embryos and some science guy decides to put one in a support-growth tank to see what it is at maturity...OOPS. :D

I liked the visuals, I liked the tech, I liked the casting and it was a treat to see McBride take on a serious role...but I REALLY wish they'd kept James Franco around and involved more.
I DO have a problem with Space Idiocy as we saw mr. throatburster do his own version of 'Pulling A Holloway' by having his face less than a foot from some UNKNOWN pods and poking them, then just staying there with the spore cloud in his face...folks don't even do that with plants/pods/things in nature here on Earth for fear of getting a lung infection or allergic reaction.
However, well,I can roll with it.
I LIKED how Ledward was infected, that was just 'Life's Cruel' and I liked how the spores are Mobile and Seeking.

(Gideman stands outside a chamber with 3 aliens. One approaches the glass, draws back its lips, opens its mouth and the slimy tongue issues forth slowly at Gideman.)

Gideman- Is that a distended externus lingua...or are you just happy to see me?

V I N E T I C U M that is a very interesting angle with David having access to not only a surplus of eggs to work with, but an entire ship of terraforming equipment at his disposal!! He could build the perfect world for his perfect organism! 

I like it!

May I ask where Protomorphic wolf comes from? I goggled it and only this thread comes up? I guess this is the taxonomic name for the Protomorph?

@I Moon Girl

I like your theory that we are not seeing Michael Bishop in Alien 3, but another Bishop Android! ...But I would like to respectfully disagree!

First, re-watch the scene in Aliens where [Lance?] Bishop gets impaled by the Xeno queen. 

The Bishop getting impaled and ripped in-half scene is a subject of fascination for me, I sometimes watch it on a loop because it is so captivatingly expressive.

From this scene we learn that Bishop Androids are very much capable of feeling and expressing reactions to pain! So, I think if one's ear got partially severed it would have more of a reaction than Michael Bishop did.

Second, sometimes when someone sustains a very severe injury, adrenaline prevents them from feeling the full extent of their injuries and they do not initially express normal pain reactions. This may have been the case for Michael Bishop.

Third, Michael Bishop bleeds a red fluid resembling blood, whereas most Androids bleed a white fluid. This could be easily explained away though, I admit.

Fourth and finally: though I'm probably personalizing things too much, and this is not likely what the writers and directors intended... I like to consider what sort of personality type is likely to create Androids. 

For a number of reasons, I personally think we High Functioning Autistics are just the sort of people for the task. 

Many of us have atypical pain responses, sometimes including abnormally high pain tolerance, or not readily detecting that we're in physical pain. This is actually a disadvantage because it can and does lead to injuries and illnesses going undetected and untreated. 

We're also decidedly not captivatingly expressive, but many of us are fascinated enough with the concept, that I think designing emotionally expressive Androids would fall well within our sphere of interest.

Maybe Michael Bishop is a High Functioning Autistic, who set out to create an empathetic, expressive android who doesn't share his same flaws, and maybe Michael Bishop didn't notice that his ear was hanging off since his sensory processing is a bit wonky. That's my pet theory, anyway! :P

@Blackwinter-witch

I HAVEN'T READ YOUR STORY YET because I really have to get to bed, but I'm replying so that I can find it later and I am so excited to read it!!! I know I'm going to love it!

Also, thanks for plugging my story! :D :D :D

OH MY GOSH I LOVE THIS SO MUCH! It fills in the gaps so perfectly and I love the background music and just everything!

But also, I'm a freaking fool for watching this right before bed when I need to be up early tomorrow...

(We then get scenes of all the "Betty" crew members and how they are spending their night.  Some are enjoying some quality alone time and some with each other.  Perez could be found in his quarters completely oblivious to what the "Betty" crew is up to.  All is quite like the night in farthest reaches of the human planetary system.  Nothing is out of place for Vriess, Hillard and Elgyn are their normal selves, alone of course, and Christie, Call, and Johner are playing pool in the mess hall.  The "Betty" crew now has money in their pockets and a few days to figure out how they're going to spend it and live life after they leave the Auriga.  That's more than enough time.  Nobody is worried tonight.)

Gediman replies with all intentions to lessen the bloated pride of his colleague, "Well... the guy does smell..."

(Ripley's blood drops than sizzle on the floor -- not eating through, but melting a small patch.)

I guess he forgot to mark the Fox logo as a winning point lol

:/

Blackwinter-witch BTW, let us know what you thought about Alien Covenant! 

Blackwinter-witch Nice nod to "Lost In Space". I noticed how neatly you tied things up between your narrative and Ridley Scott's. It looks like Manticore got its own "Data" :-)

[She looks down on him - in both senses of the phrase. Looks around at everyone staring at her. She spits a bif of blood out of her mouth. Exits, scooping up the basketball and easily sailing it into the basket as she goes.]

Wren - (speaking to Gediman) She is something of a predator, isn't she?

@ Lawrence of Arabia

No covenant just has a lot of problems and just because some members on this forum like it doesnt take those away over some conspiracy theory that everyone else is against it. Honest trailers comes out and its totally off base but this comes out and the comments all saying it's spot on when it is equally off base just in the other direction that the fans of the movie happen to agree with.

I agree with Durp.

Im Durp

"You can watch something and acknowledge the good AND bad" Indeed but in the case of Covenant a lot of stuff is being misconstrued negatively on purpose because they are unhappy with the direction and vids like this balance it out with facts, not blind fanboyism. But I guess Honest Trailer is more acceptable despite the blind hate, correct?

These type of vids encourage blind fanboyism as much as the negative vids encourage hate. You can watch something and acknowledge the good AND bad rather than just skewing it heavily to one side because extremes are easier to defend.

^ That's the sad reality of internet today, people like to hate on things just to get attention or to make themselves look smart, I remember when the first trailer for arrival was released, everyone was shitting on it with comments like "How can aliens that have mastered interstellar travel not speak English?" and other jokes with Amy Adams having sex with aliens (like she did with Superman). But when the movie came out, most of that went extinct very quick, because the movie was good (there are still some trolls roaming in the comment sections).

But that's the internet today.

Ripley calmly replies, "He... smells."

Johner speaks with barely a breathe in his lungs, "What the fuck are you?"

I thought the VFX/special effects were great in Covenant and this video proves it lol

I really hope the Japanese release helps out the overall box office for Covenant, don't let me down Nippon! Also can't wait for the Origins novelization.

Great video but watch it not gain as much traction because it's cooler to hate on stuff unfortunately.

Oh, I like this.

Are we unreasonable to expect additional "Alien: Covenant" stories (promotions) such as Phobos and Advent in the run up to the Japanese release and the Alien: Covenant prequel novelization released this month as well?

Thank you for saying that Ati. 

sherris asked me for a timeline in regards to the manic approach to topics I take jumping back and forth in-between centuries to give context. I was happy to do it. 

I've been waiting for cinema wins to make a video about Alien: Covenant, I really love the Prometheus one they made, really good analysis and positivity.

Indeed it is funny.

Crackpot Apricot nailed it, his other animations are really good.

A truly excellent analysis. This is one smart guy and I agree with just about everything he has to say in this video.

[He falters a moment at her quiet threat, then:]

Johner - Are you gonna hurt me then? I think I might enjoy that.

IRaptus

Ok, we're good on tech-talk then. :)

The pistol-shrimp, or a critter like it...the muscle power that drives it's strikers, that mechanism, built-up, could be a driving-force for a weapon, of some type...dunno, just a mental-feeling, y'know?
Heh, based off electric eels and such, with hybrydized Luciferase/Bioluminescent elements, you could work up an Organic laser-based weapon.

Yeah I know about Jellyfish. *Evil Laugh*
I've been studying them as raw material for some truly UNpleasant critters that make facehuggers look like cuddly housepets. :D
The worst thing?
You don't need to leave Earth to encounter them...

Engineers are a Problem, I agree, due to lack of development and such, almost zero info about them.
Fire-and-Stone...skimmed it, pretty formulaic, and the Engineer 'gun' acts almost like a magic-wand crossed to an OP laser-shotgun.

Talking tech is good i enjoy it.

I figure the Engineers like the whole organic-based (artificial evolution) grown technology. So i look for organic precedents already in nuture as weapons ;-) 

Cnidarians (jelly-fish etc) fire nematocyst barbules often with Neuro-toxins.

Also check out Pistol Shrimp. Not much use as a space weapon, but kind of awesome little beasties nonetheless.

Engineers are tricky, not much canonised tech to work with, especially weapons. The expanded universe comic "Prometheus: Fire and Stone" has an Engineer "gun" but i don't know it seems a bit too fanboy OP laser canon...  

IRaptus

YW, sorry if I drowned you in Tech, but I live with a man who's deeply involved in tech across multiple disciplines in his career, so it's rubbed off on me. :D

RE: Engineers;
In Prometheus we saw how effective (useless) a close range shotgun blast was, clipped him pretty solidly in the right shoulder, which annoyed him but didn't even faze him.
So, yeah, GOOD point!!
Ditto Juggernauts, if you consider the mechanical stresses involved, that ship is amazingly strong!! And the impact/explosion of Prometheus didn't do much either, maybe a slight scorch mark at best.

Heh, so am I, but as I give them pretty nasty weapons to play with, I crank the heat up accordingly.
Doesn't matter how powerful the gun is, if you can't see something to shoot it. ;)
OR, have NO idea where it's vital spots are...
AND you might be outnumbered.
AND, well, spraying acid...

Cnidarians?? I Applaud your Nastily-Creative mind!! :D

I've been giving some thought to what kind of 'conventional' weapons they would have, and looked up the original Spaihts script, which has some intriguing ideas on Engineer hand weapons...
VERY Uber-Tech and VERY nasty. :D

ATI - nice ! i never played it normally go for more action when i dust off the XB1 that is.

dk - nice 1 - u must watch some craziness my man !!

thank you for your informative response :) 

I'll admit I borrowed the idea from the Battletech/Mechwarrior universe. That universe has fletchette machine pistols that fire shards from a "special polymer-composite formula". Mine fire soft-metal sabot's rounds from either shotgun or revolver. 

The other good thing is that fletchettes is how utterly useless they are against a Xeno, unless you stick the barrel down its throat...if you want to get that close. Might be helpful against a Facehugger, if you're quick enough lol.

Also not much good against Engineers. Judging by how damn solid and durable their juggernauts are, you would have to imagine a similar construction to their body armour. The Juggernaut in Prometheus fell from the sky, crashed and rolled, and still maintained its hull integrity!!

Im cruel to my characters, no easy rides lol.

On the topic of Engineers I have a weapon system for them too. Very rarely used, and somewhat organic in nature like their "grown" ships....I won't give too much away, but think cnidarians.... 

Ridley said that David's attire in Covenant was inspired by the character Wilson the Wonder Athlete from The Hotspur comic.

Hello,

where do you get this interface?
I have not found anything yet.
Best regards

that and his summary at the end of the conversation pretty much showed hed made his mind up early in his existence. 'you will die, I will not. I am perfect'