Is Covenant the Xenomorph homeworld you didn't imagine?
Gavin
MemberTrilobiteMarch 02, 2017When most Alien fans think of the Xenomorph homeworld, referred to in the Dark Horse comics as Xenomorph Prime they usually imagine a dark, hostile and barren world (pictured below), not too dissimilar to LV-223 or LV-426. Because of the Xenomorph's methods of propagation, this assumption would make sense as they consume hosts to further their own existence, and as such one would imagine a world almost void of indigenous life with Xenomorph hives scattered through the landscape. However, it seems as though Ridley Scott and his new creative team have imagined a less obvious and more intriguing possibility, one not too dissimilar to a scenario I myself have been imagining for many years...
Being a science fiction fan the Alien movies are not my only favorite franchises. Growing up I enjoyed the Predator, the Thing, Knight Rider, Airwolf, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the Blob, Planet of the Apes and (until recently) the Terminator and Ghostbuster franchises. While there are probably more that I've forgotten to mention the point is as a fan, and like many of you fellow fans I have imagined how future installments would play out - what new Terminator will feature, we will ever see a female Predator, will the force ever truly be in balance.
Sometimes, as long term Scifiders will attest to I have been known to throw the odd curveball in my imaginings - what if the Nostromo wasn't destroyed, what if the Juggernauts are alive, what if Aliens and Predators are the same species. One such out-of-field idea I imagined was the "fallout" of a sequel to John Carpenters the Thing...
I imagined a sequel in which the three survivors (MacReady (Kurt Russell), Childs (Keith David) and Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead)) were quarantined and detained ever since in a top secret facility now covering the locations of the American and Norwegian base camps and the remains of the crashed spacecraft. Also detained in this facility, though under heavy guard and surveillance would be the shapeshifting creature itself, reformed from the cells that survived. A psychological thriller, the movie would play on the possibility that the creature may not be the only "Thing", while investigating its motives, intentions, and background. During the many scenes with the creature, in which it would frequently change its appearance the viewer would be reminded that beneath its feet would be a failsafe device in event of the creatures escape - a thermonuclear warhead. Ultimately the sequel would end with the commanding officer of the facility antagonizing the creature into attempting an escape, detonating the fail safe and destroying the whole facility and those within.
In a final twist, likely played during the closing credits, it would be shown that some cells of the creature were thrust into the Earths atmosphere and spread around the globe by our planet's weather fronts, before descending down with heavy rainfall where these cells would then contaminate the plant life, creating an all too familiar flowering pod...
Yes, I imagined that Invasion of the Bodysnatchers was in actuality the sequel to a sequel to the Thing, whereby the self-propagating cells of the Thing would be spread across the globe causing a worldwide invasion of Things, using plants as the method of propagation. Looking at Alien Covenant, the spores featured in the trailer and what little we know of the Back Goo it looks as though either Ridley Scott has had the same idea, or just downright ripped me off.
Whichever, the possibility of black goo infected flora means that any and each of the planets plant life is capable of utilizing non-plantlife, such as the crew of the Covenant, as host for the Xenomorph. This actually makes the Xenomorph much deadlier than many fans first imagined - we have postulated that a planet could well be wiped out from a single Xenomorph egg, but imagine a Xenomorph infestation that is unseen, instigated my the very ecosystem you depend upon. Its just a shame Ridley can't play with the paranoia and mistrust elements seen in Invasion of the Bodysnatchers and The Thing, but his juxtaposition of Bodysnatchers into the Alien lore does open up many frightening possibilities.
Although this is all just speculation, it could be that the flora on this "paradise" planet carries traits of the Xenomorph such as acidic sap, hardened outer bark etc. But that all of this flora is self-propagating as evidenced with the wheat.
It's when fauna is introduced into the ecosystem that the deadly truth of this idyllic planet is revealed, sowing its seeds into the organisms and giving rise to a Xenomorph infestation, which as we know is designed to eradicate all hosts as it propagates and spreads.
Once the hosts are all exhausted, rather than a barren planet with a few thousand eggs you instead have what preceded the infestation, an empty let scenic "paradise" that may possibly be able to care for the remaining eggs (possibly explaining the root-like appendages found on the eggs).
Essentially the whole planet is a parasite, just waiting for the curious to venture within so that it can eradicate it. We think of a Xenomorph as an eight feet tall humanoid creature with an elongated, eyeless head and spindly tail. It could be that Ridley Scott has indeed taken inspiration from the creatures name, which means "Alien Form", and made it so that genetically and characteristically a Xenomorph can be so much more, even a god damn tree.
