Comments (Page 588)

I didn't know about that regarding the O'Bannon script and Robert Morse's publication. Thank you IRaptus.

Robert Morse describes the attack on Andrews above in the cafeteria so well in Space Beast.

Thank you Kethol for the above description and context. Great work. Below, Peter Weyland is speaking in 2023.

Here are the below notes on the corporate timeline when each model was released and Peter Weyland's age when that respective David model was released.

According to the corporate timeline:

David 5 was released when Peter Weyland was 61, David 6 when he was 71, and David 7 in 2068 when Weyland's age was 77. 

It's hard to tell when the interaction in between David and Peter Weyland in Alien: Covenant was.

Below is the press release regarding David 8's release to mass-market.

Does Ridley Scott citing Peter Weyland's age in late 2093 account for time spent in hypersleep? I guess that doesn't matter much because Scott's comments seem to reconcile with the corporate timeline in regards to Peter Weyland's age. 

Ingeniero thanks mate :) 

always pick up something new 

Ripley - I doubt that

Wren - We're not flying blind here you know. This is the United Systems Military, not some greedy corporation

gaaaahDuplicate post. I'll make the most of it.

Bump!

That is interesting artwork.

Happy Father's Day IRaptus. Have a wonderful day with your family (and many more after).

Yes, binge watch your gift. I know we missed something in one of the films.

Nice topic again Ati.

The below Colin Shulver image from the link you provided above is amazing. Thank you.

Have I told you before that I love this stuff?

Yes VivisectedEngineer, the warning label is not the first place I have read "reanimation" lately (also David 8's drawings).

This organism below looks very similar to the Colin Shulver bottled example.

And the X-Ray.

This is a bit OT I Moon Girl, but here is the referense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0K6Cb1ZoG4

What's the, "Ani Matrix 2nd Renaissance"?  I've never heard of it or maybe I'm just not used to how you are describing it.

In the expanded universe Morse went on to write a contraband novel called Space Beast, homage to O'Bannons original Star Beast script for Alien.

Nice Touch

Ingeniero This style of story telling is reminiscent of the Fifield thread- again, very good job of summarizing and using images.

Thanks for the work and sharing! 

Ingeniero great stuff!

A while back I was curious about the scientist you posted above. I wanted to work him into a fanfic i was writing. There is virtually nothing about him. He is credited as "Company Man" and that's about all.

One of the DLCs for Colonial Marines expands Michael Weylands (and USS Patna) story quite significantly but i agree it was a missed opportunity to expand his character more in film

Thank you VivisectedEngineer.

I love the details shown in the other films that give you an idea of what the technology, challenges, and horror are contributing to the background of the story. Michael Bishop's history is a missed opportunity in what we have been shown.

I Moon Girl That really helps flesh out The Ani Matrix 2nd Renaissance. Things didn't work out too well for humans.

Ahh! The perfect Father's Day gift! ...For my husband, of course.

...

IT'S MINE!

Love it! That is a very ominous warning label.

Cool, Ingeniero ! I like these! It's like watching some kind of mini-recap episode...but better, because you've pooled information from multiple sources. A fun read!

...I wish I could assign my students reports on topics like this, lol.

Weren't these the parasites bursting out of the Paradise jockeys? 

Wren- Our Ripley's former employers. Terran Growth conglom, had some defense contracts under the military. Before your time. Gediman- they went under decades ago, bought out by Walmart. Fortunes of war.  (To Ripley) You'll find things have changed a good deal since your time.

I think he means modified as in they modified the look of it to be used as a prop in David's lab (just in the background).

I only own Prmetheus on Bluray, but my dog destroyed the box and whatever came on the second disc, so I have been looking at this box set. I almost went to get it last weekend because it was on sale for $19.99 at a local Target I think.  But I live in Houston, TX and Harvey decided I shouldn't get that kind of a deal.  So I'm probably going to get it soon.  Is there a better boxed set that might have more content?  Or would this be the best set to get the bluray and digital copies?

The xeno always has such perfect teeth lol.  If David could single out that gene to pass onto humans it would be great.

Rewatching the bombing scene in HD and pausing to see some of the scenery that the camera flies around and through as the "Engineers" are all exploding with black tentacle things, you can see the horror/pain in their faces.  Crazy good scene to see all of this in high detail.

I'm with you all on the one black goo theory.  Davi has said that the effects are different in every organism, meaning with just the one goo, you could technically get every result we have seen in all of the movies from the same goo, just reacting differently with different organisms.  And the ingestion amount also seems to make a difference.  This is plenty evidence for me to believe that all of the different outcomes from the goo are just due to the organism, and how it was ingested. I see that as also meaning that you might get similar results from two different types of infections.

It sounds like a way to simplify all of the mystery around the black goo, by saying you could get any result from it, or you could get the same result (like the two neomorphs).  I don't mind that part of it being simplified.  It doesn't make it's origin any less mysterious, and it gives the franchise more freedom to expand without having to come up with an explanation for how different goos were created for different effects.  Gets too messy, no pun intended.

Thnaks for posting the breakdown chart as well.  It was a lot easier to comprehend than some of the infographic charts out there lol.

The picture of them in the labelled slots looks very similar to what was used in the movie, except David only placed two facehugger embryos in, and I think they were the ones with the facehugger facing forward, not sideways.

(@ dk"It shows that you have recently watched the movie and inserted insights into this."

I try my best at getting the thoughts behind why things happen right.  If I get it wrong, it still allows me to analyze and movie almost like a book, which I end of understanding the story and characters better.  It's fun.)

"Weyland. Yutani," says Wren in a very, matter-of-fact kind of tone and with a smile on his face. (Wren is ready at the opportunity to show that he knows more Gediman.  Wren's also getting cocky with the success he's been having on the ship full of scientists experimenting with human cloning, most likely illegally and probably for the first time in human history at the level of actually getting living clones.)

Call all the way for the boys.  The world would be a dangerous place if all androids looked that good!

Of course, David/Walter is very attractive for the ladies.  

Why are androids being made to look so good?!  What is the world coming too?!  They need to look like Ash or Bishop and all androids need to come with different models like the Walter did for Alien: Covenant (you know, Teacher model, Therapist model, etc.).  That way, there is no computer/human intermingling going on and everybody gets one that fits their personality.

@Ati "Are you talking about this spare-part owned by David?"

I can definitively see a nice, naughty shop existing on Earth where androids look as good as Call and David/Walter.  Some people just got to have an upgrade.  If not legally, than illegally.  

Even if androids didn't look attractive, I am sure somebody will go into a business that sales exterior skins to put on androids.  It would be like a plastic surgeon, but for androids who don't have a say in what their owners do or say to them.

There would have to be some kind of "no consent" security system built into the androids that would do an auto-shut off and contact the builder of the android that the android is being mistreated.  Of course, there is another business someone could go into, which would be overriding the security system.

I'm telling ya, if those androids get mistreated, we are in for an android revolution!

I think Alien: Earthbound would have been a bit worse than Alien: Resurrection alone, to be honest.  I, honestly, liked the idea of Alien: Resurrection, but it just isn't enough to be a classic like Alien.  If the two could've been combined, I could possibly see that Alien: Resurrection could be better.  There would definitely be more cool action scenes (and don't get me wrong here, Alien:Resurrection had some good action scenes too).  The Alien franchise does need the Xeno's to come to Earth sometime, even if it's just one Xeno that is very smart or that got lucky.  A very intelligent Xeno getting on Earth could be interesting to see how it plans on surviving there and continuing it's species.

The Xenospiders just seem to random for me.  Yea, so there's a story to why they exist, but it still isn't the Xeno!  I felt like the spores in Alien: Covenant were stretching the Xeno a bit, but it still is good.  I just wasn't expecting with those spores something so different and sci-fi-ish.  I almost felt like Alien: Covenant used the spores because the writers just wanted to do something different.  I guess they have to since all of the Alien franchise uses the facehuggers.

@IRaptus

I think the Neomorph would have been a fantastic alternative to the spider xeno.  

It's a tie between David and Call for me, though i've always adored Bishop.

Instead of the proposed spidermorphs, I'd like to see Ridley's Neomorph's as the Earthen invaders. They can multiply much more rapidly than the Xeno, and unlike their stealth and dagger bigger cousins, the Neomorph attack with chaos and anarchy. The Xeno's would come once the Neomorphs have established a foothold.

Nice article.

Not sure how they would have shot the space elevator...Green screen....Don't think the effects in the mid 90's would have been enough.

Can imagine some amazing, outside the elevator action in space suits or maybe at a lower level in the atmosphere.

Long drop to Earth! *splat*

Cool movie poster: Ripley 50 miles above the Earth dangling/swinging from a cable as a xeno is descending to meet her!(Alien:Covenant style descending head first..like it does on the Covenant ...NOT some dude in a xeno suit sliding feet first!)

A lot of dizzying heights and many falls through the clouds tops below.....Xeno smashing through a window and to it's death ...I can pretty much play the whole movie in my mind.

wow, awesome, I had never heard of this script so thank for sharing it Chris. 

I absolutely love his premise with the claustrophobic space elevator and the impending invasion on Earth. But that should've bee the the climax of the film, most of it should have dealt with trying to stop the xeno's from getting that far. The whole events should have transpired without the good people of Earth ever knowing how close they came to destruction.

But like Alien: Out of the Shadows novel and even Resurrection - it didn't need Ripley and/or any of her long lost relatives.

Perhaps Cpt. Demian Brackett from Alien: River of Pain who survived Hadleys Hope could have made this his fight? 

@ Joylitt - "Ayn Rand, whose philosophy is very outdated and not very well regarded nowadays except by elitist conservatives".

I would say Ayn Rand was the enemy of intellectual conservatism. She preached the death of conservatism. Her objectivist philosophy was more libertarian/liberal.

If you want to compare it to Star Wars it's much closer to the themes in the prequels. The good guys trying to succeed, but ultimately just pushing the ultimate goal of the antagonist forward.

Yes, I also felt happy for David. Pursuing his dreams!

Almost like a 'Friday The 13th' movie, where you start cheering for the monster! Hoping it kills off the last whiny teenager. 

I'd like to see David get absolution like Vader.

OR...

David survives and lives far into the future(millions of years).

It is very Lovecraftian. So was the original Alien. Probably the closest thing to a big budget Lovecraft tale we will ever get.

I listened to the commentary last week. Ridley repeated several of the same stories that he told on the other Alien commentaries. There are no new revelations, but I heard a few interesting things (SPOILERS AHEAD).

• Ridley states the stellar shockwave that hit the Covenant was a "random accident that can occur in space often".

• Ridley says Shaw may have accidentally recorded and transmitted the signal when she was trying to work out the ship controls. She just happened to be singing. The script makes it seem David recorded it and used it to lure a passing ship.

• When talking about the giant heads in the temple room he said they were kind of like Mt. Rushmore. Probably the six elders of the entire civilization. The intellects, the artists, the wise men.

• He said the Engineers lifespan was probably 150 years. I assumed they were much farther advanced than that and had probably conquered death by re-writing the DNA coding responsible for aging cells.

• What you see at the beginning of Prometheus is the Engineers DNA being denoted to the planet to water. From the water is one of the best distribution systems you can have.

• The Engineers role is evolution

• The Engineers are not gods, just higher forms of life.

• The Engineers are more powerful that we are, but nevertheless they were defeated by their own invention. Human life fundamentally fails, and in so doing, so do the Engineers.

• The Engineers let their children, human beings, get out of control. So they (humans) are both no longer valid or useful.

• Ridley guesses that Weyland was probably 100 years old in Prometheus. He looks to be in his 60s or 70s in Covenant, so that means he was probably created around 2050-2070. The timeline on the Weyland website would make it seem David 8 was created before David 7.

I Moon Girl (It shows that you have recently watched the movie and inserted insights into this. I like it and encourage it but I think Ripley may have said something like it not being exactly out of the manual lol!)

Gediman- Company?

Ripley simply states, "It'll breed. You'll die." (As her own words get a second chance to become real within her mind, she starts to get angry.)  Everyone in the... fucking... (she searches for the word, then spits it out)company.  Will die. (Ripley is so angry that these aliens that she remembers killing are put on a pedestal with, it seems, at least one other human being she comes across.)(Ripley starts to think the aliens will never die and starts to give up hope.)

Gediman- How did you know that?