David Securely Reported to Weyland-Yutani in the Novel
Kethol
MemberChestbursterJun-16-2017 8:48 AMI don't think this has been mentioned here yet, but there is another difference at the end of the novelization vs the movie.
In the film David sends a message to Weyland-Yutani as Walter, reporting the accidental deaths of the entire crew and stating the mission is continuing on to Origae 6. He would have already studied information in the ships computer by this point and know every detail about the mission, details about the company, et cetera.
In the novel it is different. David asks Mother to open a secure channel to Weyland-Yutani headquarters on Earth using secure hailing code David 31822-B. Mother says it will take some time to establish a link so what he reports is not in the book.
It's an interesting twist that hints one of Weyland's research divisions, one that actually knew what Weyland was really going there for, may still be active on Earth. Prometheus implied David had authority over the real mission, and was the only one who knew what was really going on, other than Weyland himself, so it makes sense that secure channels would have been set up for reports.
Had they left that in the movie, it would have been a more direct link to Ash's mission to get the Nostromo crew to LV-426 and bring a xeno back to the secret research division.
Kethol
MemberChestbursterJul-10-2017 5:49 AMLooks like all the posts in this thread from late June have been deleted.
I Moon Girl
MemberChestbursterJul-10-2017 5:38 PMI did notice a big gap in posts on this thread between June 28 - July 09, but I don't remember reading any posts between those days. Maybe David is interfering with your computers processor? He wants to exist in real life this time! The Alien universe just isn't big enough.
ali81
MemberNeomorphJul-11-2017 11:05 PMI think the idea of david interfering with the covenant in space with some explosion may well have been something that was discussed but it just isn't believable. as soon as david kills the engineers he would have to design an elaborate trap with detection grids that would then trigger the device. but then he would have to build such devices, mine the material required to simulate the explosion from a star and launch such devices. all of this done within 10 years and on his own??? no chance. I believe he is expecting someone but not for a long time as honly has the video signal of shaw and hel be aware that only ships passing close to the system will detect it. which also leads me to believe he is very limited on the planet in terms of technology. if he had more advanced and powerful forms of communication at his disposal im sure he would have used it to communicate with mankind. also his work shop doesn't look particularly advanced. he arrives at the site of the lander only after he has heard the explosion
I Moon Girl
MemberChestbursterJul-12-2017 4:56 PMAfter reading your writing, I still think David has the opportunity to interfere with the Covenant mission, but only if Mother is working with him as well. David wouldn't use a device to start the explosion because it is a natural star phenomena. If a solar flare did cause damage to the Covenant, all David would have to do is interfere with the Covenant planning teams research. He could have similar changed the data to show that "solar flares from nearby stars are similar to our own Sun" (when in reality, they are 1,000 of times more powerful). He would also alter the passive and active cycles data that the planning team found and change them so the Covenant is traveling near enough to a star during it's (or their since mostly likely numerous stars data were changed to increase his chances) active phase, which significantly increase David's chances of the Covenant ship get struck. So, the Covenant would travel far enough to avoid the expected solar flares, but then get struck by the solar flares real power during it's active phase. This plan's chance of happening isn't 100%, but what does David have to lose. So, in the story, it does happen.
I think he does have some advanced Engineer technology on "Paradise" or at least in the juggernaut that he could amplify, if it was damaged, to reach human civilization. The reason he doesn't contact humans is because they would come rescue him and take him away from his discoveries. David can theoretically live forever, so he is in no hurry. I think he would rather keep his discoveries of an alien race with alien technology that no human knows about to himself as long as possible. This is why David communicating with Mother is important because she's a computer similar to David. He can trust a programed machine, but he can't trust a human being. He hates humans anyways.
I think it's a plausible theory.
BigDave
MemberDeaconJul-12-2017 5:50 PMI am not sure why the Posts had disappeared? I can chase this up if you would like.
I think we could be seeing something going on behind the scenes as far as secret objective of the company or the AI, but who knows if David set all this up from the Start?
Maybe he could have, maybe its a case of WE ARE DAVID and so there are a number of collective AI at play, but i get the impression David is unique in this respect.
Who knows what kind of route they are going? I do often wonder if those who write these Plots actually sit down and consider every possible angle and scenario that comes from the things they are trying to show... or a lot is a lazy oversight.
I think we also need to consider David in this too, i find it hard to believe that David would be aware of the Covenants exact location in relation to where he would be, we have to remember the Covenant Mission was only starting its planning Stages by the time the Prometheus had set off.
I think it ULTIMATELY Falls down to a Needed Plot Device to allow and explain how the Human Explorers/Colonist end up at Davids House of Horrors... and so it made sense as far as giving us a reason for it.. The whole Neutrino Burst
And so i dont think those who worked on the Plot really gave it deep thought to how all this connects, and so i think the Whole Draft needed someone to go and tidy up little such flaws and potential inconsistencies and Plot Holes..
Unless there really is a Plan behind it all, and after the Next Movie it will make Sense. The Prequel ADF Novel out in a few months may even give some light to the Company Planning and goings on surrounding the Mission.
Potentially giving us any clues to what the AI or David could have known about it and if he is connected to it in some way.
R.I.P Sox 01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017
I Moon Girl
MemberChestbursterJul-12-2017 7:57 PMBigDave said... "I think we also need to consider David in this too, i find it hard to believe that David would be aware of the Covenants exact location in relation to where he would be, we have to remember the Covenant Mission was only starting its planning Stages by the time the Prometheus had set off."
David could have made contact with the data of the mission planning team either on the Prometheus and would at least be familiar with the mission and as soon as he realized he was going to be stranded on "Paradise" or even when he first realized he would need more victims, he altered the Covenant mission. According to the novel, it took 10 years to plan the mission. Alien: Covenant takes place around 10 years after the Prometheus movie. So, David could have been stranded on "Paradise" for maybe a few years. That's plenty of time for a power-hungry, never sleeping AI to realize that he needs to get off that lifeless planet before the space traveling Engineers show up to see what he has done; plus, why wouldn't David want more test subjects in the process? It's a win, win situation to get the Covenant mission to pass in the general area of "Paradise". As long as David interfered with the Covenant data before they left, he would insure they go right where he wants. All he has to do is wait till they find Shaw's transmission and be lured into Paradise after a stellar flare from a nearby star that was in it's active phase. David just needs to change a few numbers in the computer that, if done right, most people wouldn't notice. It's probably all done by computer anyways. So, we could have a hacker AI.
To me, the whole situation is either one, big, super rare coincidence that falls perfectly into David's favor or David just simply changed a few numbers in the Covenant mission data before the Covenant left Earth (with the help of the computer, Mother).
Alien: Covenant was written with a prequel or sequel in mind. Until the next movie, or possibly the next novel, we won't know for sure, but that is something to keep in mind. Alien: Covenant is an open story at the moment, unlike Alien (which does raise the question of some hidden agenda). Aliens had a hidden agenda. I can't remember Alien3, but Alien: Resurrection had a hidden agenda. Prometheus had a hidden agenda too. Alien: Covenant would be the first Alien franchise movie which has an attached story planning on being released right after the movie is released.
Alien (1979)
Aliens (1986)
Alien3 (1992)
Alien: Resurrection (1997)
Prometheus (2012)
Alien: Covenant (2017)
Alien: Awakening (possibly 2019)
Of course, other people on this forum have watched the whole franchise writing and filming years much more than I have, so I could be wrong on how much was in planning at the time of the other Alien movies in the franchise, but from what I know, Ridley Scott is not letting us wait for our answers so there is no reason to have the story end in 2017.
After watching Prometheus, I was led into believing there would be a sequel, but it took them a planned for 4 years (an actual 5 years). Still, maybe Scott is trying to tell one story in two movies. If David is behind the Covenant going to "Paradise", that would be one hell of a twist. (Except for the fact that I predicted it) Who knows! I can't wait for the Alien: Covenant Origins book! It might end my awesome theory...
George-TheGreek
MemberOvomorphAug-05-2017 9:28 AMIn the novel he used David 31822-B
In the movie he used David 73694 - B
too far fetched but I believe that David's programming will change in order to be attached to another movie character from the 'Zulu' movie of 1964 (Michael Cane resembles him too like Peter O'Toole), if you substitute 73 in ASCII with I , the other numbers are not in the correct order to make the year the movie was released but they are there,
73694 - B (probably stands for brother)
David I694 Brother
David I964 Brother -- > or David I Zulu Brother or
David 1(I)964 Brother
David Zulu Brother
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