Let's talk about stupid: let's talk about Dallas...

Awesome! :)

Beyond. Dallas was one of the dumbest characters in any of the movies. He was impulsive, dismissive, and haphazard. Definitely a frustrating captain.

These guys in the first film were essentially long-haul truckers.  They can be forgiven.  Now, scientists and captains on colonizing missions?  Get your sh*t together!

@Ripleys_Ghost, he was a captain who knew quarantine procedures. Either way, what should we do with the so called "marines" in Aliens? - just following your line of thinking...

A captain is a captain. Full stop. Can't be forgiven! :)

@Ati, thank you for the first and for the second comments.

And, yep, he was a captain and what he did can't be forgiven - or might be, since without him being stupid, we wouldn't have had "Alien"! :)

You are welcome! :)

I don't understand why people want to see a film like Alien again. I mean, I see, it is special and blah-blah, but I'm sure Scott won't make a film again which is exactly the same as Alien. He wants to tell his story. And it's OK - for me.

@Ati, same here. Glad I am not alone :)

Dallas is something of both Inspiration and anti-Inspiration for the ship's Captain in ALIEN: Manticore. There's aspects I liked about Dallas's command style, but at the same time, yeah he made some grave mis-steps.

@Blackwinter-witch, great point! Thank you.

And @QueenElizabeth Shaw, I agree, but I have a better candidate: that would be whoever chose "Lieutenant Gorman" as a marine senior officer - James Cameron, but that stupidity is to be forgotten...

Ha ha this is so true, you can start with Dallas and go on and on from there. Example: why would you place the corpse of an organism that bleeds acid strong enough to breach the hull on a dish and study it?

The actions and protocols in Alien are far from unimpeachable. I simply don't get the comparisons so often made. But it's a great movie all the same, beautifully made, and ground breaking.

And that's the problem; once the ground is broken, there's no going back. There's only a template to be copied and not even Ridley Scott can make make the 'Xenomorph' (heretofore known as the Morb) interesting again. But hey, let's ignore that entirely and pick on every little detail we can pry loose.

What I find to be interesting is the dialogue this creates outside of the Internet, people who ordinarily wouldn't notice or care about certain things, like astronauts without helmets, for example, are all bent out of shape about it now. All science-fiction action adventure movies are riddled with whimsical conveniences, errors, inconsistencies, gaps in logic, you name it. Why should Alien movies be exempt? And when were they ever exempt? Alien has never, ever been about science or reality.

Alien is light years better than Covenant; in production, pacing, acting, story, score, editing, lighting, horror, suspense, etc, etc and the action in the end is better than all the action in Covenant.

Yes, Dallas was not a great Captain but he was a courageous leader.  He thought of his crew.  He took control of the situation and he remained calm under pressure.  

I do not know how old are you people but I have to say that this generation does not have the same taste as our old school folks on this site. :)

All I see on this site are bitter fans because there are upset that they see fans like myself that dislike the movie for what it is.  And the current box office shows that many people are turned off from what they are seeing from the negative reviews nor want repeat viewings. 

I just had a free invite to a preview of Megan Leavey for military members and that movie was way better than Covenant.  

 In hindsight, none of these movies embrace "safety in numbers".  Just like in Alien3, if all the prisoners just stood together as a line against the Alien; they could of defeated it.  You cannot go one on one against the Alien; unless you have a weapon or like Vazquez who can kick the heck out of an Alien's head lol.

colonialsoldier

I personally agree with much of your criticism on Covenant and take no issue there.

I will say however (at least for me) something that's always frustrated me a bit since Prometheus were the many comments like
"oh please! Scientists would never be so stupid." or "a crew trained for this would never make such bad decisions".

The problem I have with this is that we indeed do live in a world where there is an abundance of incompetence. We see it with politicians, doctors, lawyers, economists, scientists, educators, etc. I don't have a difficult time believing the characters in Prometheus or Covenant would make such poorly thought out decisions because in my estimation, it's a reflection of the current reality we live in. I think there's something about this incompetence that's inherent to humans.

I have had many relationships that have afforded me opportunities to speak with geneticists, law enforcement agents, city councilmen, veterans, teachers, social workers, you name it. I used to be blown away by the stories I'd hear about their colleagues but now I'm used to it. We have a surplus of specialized professionals with NO common sense these days. Then there are the people who have gone so long adhering to the rules that they become desensitized and get lax with their own knowledge.

The point is, there are so often comments about Prometheus and Covenant having professionals that are too unprofessional to be believable, and I just don't see it. I think this was one of the areas that made Alien shine. The crew were so human.

I don't think we should ever stop being critical of Prometheus and Covenant's weak points, but I do feel this particular complaint gets a little too much play. Furthermore I think focusing on things like this which are excusable, take steam away from focusing on things that truly deserve to be lamented over such as poorly thought out editing, bad pacing, lack of character development, and scarcity in genuine tension.

Though I will say one thing on character stupidity...

Fifield smoking pot in his space suit on an alien planet in a situation where he's already freaking out about corpses?

I'm sorry but no. Just no. So forced, I wish it would be removed from the film. A very tacky add-on to market to those who enjoy partaking in such consumption

@Queen.  I agree.  I saw combat in Iraq and did two tours in Afghanistan and I saw some ridiculous tactics when I was on patrol.  My Command Sergeant Major was killed by a suicide bomber because he kept on taking the same route, week after week to see the sheiks.

Also, these movies rely sometimes on the lack of logic or common sense; same with slasher movies.

I just do not like the focus on the android and the engineer story but again; that is just me and I know I am the minority in that department.

BTW Queen, are you a female or a guy that just picked that name?  lol

ScorpioStar

Ya welcome :)

For myself, I can accept 'reasonable stupidity' for the sake of Plot/Story, but there's times when it gets a bit much.
The Spacesuit Hotboxing by Fifield, as example.
As for 'The Holloway Maneuver', heh, a sadistic writer like myself can use that element of stupidity to advance the plot/sction and such.
Not even necessarily due to some body-wrecking horror...just some affects it has in regards to how the Mission Commander sees his overall competence, leading to some fun inter-personal conflict and such.

colonialsoldier

Yes, putting aside the realism of pervasive incompetence, it is definitely true that these movies rely on stupid moves as a means to advance the story.

Also I'm sorry for the tragedy you witnessed while serving. It sounds like you were right in the thick of it. Glad to hear you didn't suffer the same fate as your Major.

Also, in regards to your last question. I once was a woman, until an android with corrupted system files intentionally exposed me to a foreign pathogen. I am now neither male or female. I am an it. I am this...

The biggest problem I have with stupidity and actions driven by such in movies like ALIEN is they make things seem foolish.

Remember the sheer 'Oh hell no' feeling in ALIENS when, despite all logical and practical precautions...the soft beeping of the motion trackers began?
"Hudson may be right." Pretty chilling words.
Yeah, there's scary...and it's not from 'convenient idiocy' but from good writing and suggestions that your enemy is maybe smarter than you are.