what i think the next alien movie needs to have.

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I like all the points you made here, Timmy. The only one I could argue is the Alien not being shown as much. I think it can work if we see it. Maybe handled differently than it's scenes in Covenant, but still. I think the next film comes down to focus. Covenant ended up being the result of an attempt to be connected to Prometheus, while also forgetting Prometheus, be like the Alien films we have already seen, and also be it's own thing. It was too much. You have to pick one or two of those elements to REALLY make the film and then maybe sprinkle the others (or don't worry about it.) Mashing everything together doesn't usually please everybody.   

@cuponator3000 What I enjoyed most out of Covenant was that it homaged the previous movies a lot. While it may have worked to it's detriment, it said to me that Ridley isn't going to retcon anything but embrace their zany history. I thought it was a great start to the new trilogy of films, start out on familiar territory before branching towards something new. That's my opinion though lol I'm sure the next chapter will take us in a new direction and will provide more info on the Engineers. I also agree with you on the Xenomorph, showing less isn't more imo, it's about execution. The Xenomorph is a beautiful creature and deserves to be seen!

1) I agree with this, i think a bit more information is needed, but i think there was a number of clues, just not easy to work out.  I think the Engineers will appear but as RS has said its TWO more movies to Alien, i dont think we would be getting to many Answers in the next one.

But the 3rd Alien Prequel i think will surely have to give us a bit more information because unless the Derelict is a Ancient Event prior to Prometheus, they have to end up back close to LV-426 which means LV-223 and also if the Space Jockey is a Engineer then Engineers would have to return to this area (Zeta 2 Reticuli)  as i would find it a bit of a Coincidence the Engineers head to Earth and just happen to pass this System and crash there.

2) Some felt the Xenomorph was rushed in AC, some wanted to see it more... some felt showing it too much Hurts it, i think it depends if your more the Alien Fan or Aliens Fan.... RS was not a fan of how Aliens and Alien R handled the Xenomorph he said they was Shoot-em-ups... he preferred the more Horror Approach.

Considering David only has TWO Face Huggers means we will only see TWO Xenomorphs, unless they explore how these Can Procreate to Create More Eggs.  I think AC as far as Neomorph/Xenomorph attacks was just about right, a lot depends how the 3-4 Factions which include Engineers interact and who fights with who and how... as to how much Xenomorph Screen time we shall get... hopefully its not a Aliens or Alien R kind of over the top multiple Xeno Fodder Flick

3) I think they tried this with the slow build up in Alien Covenant, this suffered latter as this build up left less time to cover the Prometheus/David parts and introduce the Xenomorph parts.   They are going to have their work cut out covering 3-4 factions and building up a decent amount of back story to these....

If you meant suspense as in the Horror/Threat Element then indeed it all happened fast and the only part like this was the Lope Xenomorph but this was rushed..   I think maybe we could see some tense scenes and suspense, as David is alone and awake after all, while the rest of the crew are in Cryo-sleep... so they are all Pawns to Davids Game/Agenda.  This would make some tense scenes and suspense but then if they are introducing 3-4 Factions includes the Engineers, its a case of how do they fit all these in?

4)  Totally Agree.. nothing more needs to be said on this one, they showed and marketed way to much.

5) I think the Story is important but this could be tricky, the movie is likely to follow David and the Covenant as it heads towards Origae-6... its a case of does any action take place on the Covenant?  Or do we see it take place after the Colony sets up shop on Origae-6 and do not suspect David at all.

The movie will eventually lead to Alien, it appears David does create those Eggs on the Derelict and the Engineers are returning and i think potentially the movie will lead to the next one where we will see how these Eggs get on the Derelict and how the Pilot is.. and i think a Engineer or related has to be the more preferred route.

Introducing another 2-3 Factions/Players is also going to be interesting who these are and how they fit all within the Time-line.

Lawrence of Arabia, oh yeah homages and connectivity to the movies so far is good, it's just that they were packed hardcore and rather obviously into Covenant, plus with Promethean stuff going on and the Covenant making it's own thing, there was just SO much going on. I don't support retconning anything, or forgetting anything, I just didn't like how it all turned out (Well, I did like it. I like the movie, I just think it could have come across better.)

This is another one of those things that I won't, like, argue with anyone though, you know? It is super subjective and doesn't really have much to do with continuity, plot, or whatever, so yeah. 

AC seems so focused on symbolism and bad characters/not believable that I just have zero faith in Ridley beyond audio/visual. I hope we do get a sequel as I think everything is salvageable. The black goo is now the ultimate terror in the galaxy so I don't know how you turn the clock back on that. It's just going to take a jedi quality script and considering those great minds seem impossible to find post O'Bannon/Shusset/Giler & J.Cameron! Or is it a master story telling director who's needed that can collaborate with all the ingredient makers/peers to make something special and lasting?  I want believable characters with limited tropes and a well paced and compacted script. Really disappointed but I and others have to bide their time in this beloved franchise. Brighter days ahead, surely.

No more digital xenomorphs, what I love from the Alien movies is that the aliens are real. Digital destroy the magic and looks bad.

Timmy: I like this topic and yes it is indeed something that is worthy of a discussion.

Some information about the Engineers would be good but they also need to be done right. The way they were described in Prometheus was lame so they need to give this a lot of thought. More information of how their society is organized (mainly military, government, and religion) would be nice. Let the Space Jockey be an Engineer or something related that was one its way to destroy mankind and then things went wrong.

I also think that they need to keep the Xeno in the background. The most effective death was that of Calle Hernandez I think her name is. We just heard a scream and then she was dead. Yes the floating head was sort of lame but other than that it was good.

One problem with AC was that the monster things were too fast. You need to build up tension before things go bad and that won't be achieved if things happen too fast. Sometimes things dragged on and it became too slow, at least for me. In Alien things didn’t happen too fast either but at least there were interesting characters, in AC there were too few interesting characters because they were not really built up that well. They should have had something like The Last Supper in it because that gave us some insight to the characters at least, they felt more human or how ever to say.

The trailers were a problem since a lot was shown there. I think that they were examples of how it shall not be done. Surprise is a part of getting scared and you don't get surprised if you know what will happen.

New things can be good but that depends on how it is done. Maybe they can look at old drafts of Alien 3 to get some inspiration. I bet that there are many things there that they can use in one way or another.

Good relatable characters is a must and keep less focus on David. David was interesting but I don’t want alien turned into a AI story. Unfortunately because of  the way AC ended I believe that it could turn into that, yuck. We still have Daniels and Tennessee, I hope that they will be developed in an interesting way.