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Ridley says Covenant is 100 years before Alien...

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ninXeno426

MemberPraetorianFebruary 09, 2018

Last summer i bought the Alien Covenant collectors guide to the film which contains various interviews with cast and crew,behind the scenes info etc.I was just recently reading through the interview with Ridley Scott and he was asked a question regarding the difference in technology between the Covenant and the Nostromo.He says and i quote

"This Is not a grungy ship-this is a pioneer ship,on a scientific mission.So by the time you get to the first Alien,you're maybe 100 years on from this,where they've now quite clearly become capable of actually digging and mining off the surface of planets."

Now there of course has been many debates on whether the derelict on LV-426 is ancient or needs,whether David actually created the xenomorph etc.But Ridley's claims of Covenant being 100 years before Alien instead of 20 does sort of help explain the time line in his mind,less so the established one that is.Has anyone else read this?

Nothing the God of biomechanics wouldn't let you in heaven for 

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chli
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Well, I think it shows that RS isn't so much into plot details as visions of how a movie should look and feel. This could, of course, be both good and bad?

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ninXeno426
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Nothing the God of biomechanics wouldn't let you in heaven for 

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ninXeno426
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I couldn't find the interview on the internet so here's some ss lol

Nothing the God of biomechanics wouldn't let you in heaven for 

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Gavin
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Hopefully a typo,

We all know that the events depicted in Covenant occur in 2104, 10 years after Prometheus, which was in 2093/94, and that the events in Alien started at 3rd June, 2122, with the events in Alien occurring 57 years later in 2179.

If this isn't a typo, then it is quite worrying...

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ignorantGuy
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Gavin

Relax it's just a slight case of "Sir Scott or how I stopped giving a dime about continuity and started loving the Fassbender". 

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cuponator3000
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Uhhh yeah... I guess it's a typo as Gavin suggested/hoped. I sort of feel like he may have meant just 100 of years worth of advances in technology or something. Well, I hope. It seems like everyday we see or hear something that points to Sir Ridley cares very little about some of the details that go into building a franchise. 

One of the good things about when more Alien movies are made in the future without him (or with him at more of a distance, producing or something) is that hopefully the director(s) and other producers stay on top of these continuity errors. 

Not a map, an invitation

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ninXeno426
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Not a typo it think.While Fox has an established canon and time line,it's clear Ridley has little regards for it.Some known things such as the Jordans stumbling across a dead queen in River of Pain have already been thrown out the door.On hand it does help explain how the LV-426 derelict might still be old if indeed all those souls aboard the Covenant are the eggs.On the other hand it overwrites his previous comments about the derelict having left LV-223.While i'm a fan of both Prometheus and Covenant,I do feel Ridley is making shit up as he goes a little if he's playing by his own rules and timeline

Nothing the God of biomechanics wouldn't let you in heaven for 

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Thoughts_Dreams
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Obviously I don't know Scott but it sees to me that he has a million ideas and can say one time say X and at another time say Y about the same topic. He seems to be more into visions of how the ship will look for example rather than to how they story will be so he is not a writer. Keep him away from everything that has got to do with the story/script.

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BigDave
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I would say its a TYPO i think we need to look at it Logically.

If we take this 100 years comment as Legit, then how does this work?  The Marketing/Viral for Prometheus indicates this was the year 2093 December when the Prometheus arrived, and even in the movie we are also shown this Date... even as far as the END when Dr Shaw tells us the year is Jan 1st 2094,   The Marketing for Alien Covenant and even in the movie we are shown its set 10 years after Prometheus.

So what ships are 100 years apart?  Prometheus and Nostromo?  Covenant and Nostromo?  The Prometheus being the OLDEST but looking the Technologically more Advanced/Pristine, while the Nostromo looks far less Advanced (this is due to Special Effects limitations 40 years ago).

So we are left with what.... the Covenant being 100 years over the Nostromo? So what the Nostromo was commissioned in the year 2004?    Or that the Nostromo is 100 years newer and so ALIEN is now set in the year 2204?

I think its more sense that what was meant was 10 years and not 100

Alien takes place nearly 18 years after Alien Covenant the Nostromo was refitted in the year 2116 so 11 years after the events of Alien CovenantDallas was given Command of the Nostromo in the year 2120  the rest of the crew join in the same year apart from ASH who is re-assigned in June 2121 as it arrives at Thedus 

R.I.P Sox  01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017

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BigDave
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If we take it as 100 years, then its a bit of a odd Comment.

"This Is not a grungy ship-this is a pioneer ship,on a scientific mission"

This must be regarding the Covenant and in regards to it NOT being Grungy like the Nostromo

".So by the time you get to the first Alien,you're maybe 100 years on from this,where they've now quite clearly become capable of actually digging and mining off the surface of planets."

This is the Odd Comment but we need to look at what COVENANT is about, its a Large Scale Colonization  Mission, to Explore a Charted Earth like World (Origae-6) and to attempt to Colonize it.

The next part must mean that by the time of ALIEN Mankind/Company have expanded to actually go around Mining Worlds across the Galaxy, now the Prometheus Viral Site shows that Weyland Industries had actually already  began Mining of worlds, many many years prior to even Prometheus. But this site has been taken down and replaced in what we can only assume is due to changing of some of the Background Information about the Company/Mankinds Ventures into Space and Technology at certain Time in the Time-Line.

So again i will have to assume its 10 years.... so RS is saying that by the time of Alien (year 2122) Mankinds Exploration of Space is not limited to the odd Scientific Expedition like Prometheus and Covenant but that we have not commissioned many Ships with more basic Purposes of merely Transporting Cargo and acting as a Tug for Deep Space Mining Operations.

So basically its like say how we had the Titanic and other Cruise Liners that are not as Basic a lay out as More Modern Fishing Boats, Cargo Ships and Tugs.

R.I.P Sox  01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017

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Lawrence of Arabia
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Maybe he meant 100 years from today where mankind would likely be capable of mining planets?

"The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts."

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I Moon Girl
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Maybe we could look at it from a technological point of view.   Maybe he meant the the technology on the Nostromo is so advanced and well thought out that it is still useful 100 years after A:C.  To me (and my general knowledge of the Nostromo), I say this explanation could be plausible.  I mean, we got a massive space ship hauling a refinery behind it.  People got pretty pissed when Ripley exploded it (and the Alien) to Hell.  I'm sure they wouldn't have been so pissed if it was low-tech (and not carrying many people's pensions).  I mean, the Nostromo is refining minerials with either zero-gravity or artificial gravity and is most likely not heating while traveling through the most unsurvivable environment (except for one animal that I know of).  The Nostromo might look low-tech, yet at the comment quoted which started this thread... it is a mining ship and is not on a scientific mission.  There is no need for all of the bells and whistles and the nice-to-look-at features we see on the Covenant.  The Nostromo knew what it was going to mine before it left Earth. 

Plus, if we remember how big the Nostromo is and if we remember the construction process for the Covenant in the prequel book, I think we could assume that there aren't many mining ships out there.  The Nostromo could be one of a dozen.  Or maybe it is the first one paving the path for all later examples.  Either way, the technology of the Nostromo could possibly be the same even if it was built 100 years after A:C.

Yet, in all honestly, I like to think that Ridley has got a lot of things going in his life and he has to much to remember it all, especially with Fox trying to push Ridley in different directions.

The big question is, when did that interview happen?

Plus, who knows who wrote that in the page that was taken and posted on this thread.  It could've easily have been a typo by someone that is much better at making pretty looking pages to read then someone who worries about content.  Then, any publishing company proof reading it obviously could've have missed that detail since they're probably not checking for right information as long as it makes sense grammatically.

It is sad when we catch mistakes, yet it happens.  Sadly this one seems to do extra harm since Ridley does seem to change his mind (with no help from Fox either).

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Gavin
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It seems no one dare say what I know we are all thinking is the most likely answer.

Most weekday mornings I catch the bus, of which an old man catches almost every day. This senior citizen is 81 years of age, pleasant and harmless, but he has a habit of repeating himself - in the same week he will often tell me the same stories a dozen times or more.

Ridley is 80 years old, is currently turning out more films per year than any other director and recently had to deal with his life-long friend, collaborator, and brother Tony Scott's suicide.

We have all seen Scott's contradictory statements and non-sensical outbursts, including and not limited to his blatant disregard towards Neill Blomkamp's proposed Alien sequel.

The blatant truth of the matter is that Scott is old, and showing early signs of age-related dementia. As such I would rather he step down, retire and be remembered with reverence rather than carry on directing and heading further down the downward spiral he is already set upon.

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dk
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Gavin You are correct. I have been thinking this for a couple years and danced around it in posts fearing getting flamed for communicating your sentiments. Thanks for saying it.

Leave on top and leave 'em wanting more.

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ninXeno426
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I'm not even terribly certain it's dementia.Those who work with him are quick to point out how good his health and fitness are despite his age.Admittedly that's a little different but still.My grandfather has dementia and this isn't the same.My opinion is that as it's been for a while now Ridley has his own very specific point of view and certainly doesn't give a damn about what Fans consider an accurate time line.Screen writer John Logan should be taken into consideration as well.Interestingly he's not some one interviewed in that book.

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Critters5
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Give him a break he is obviously senile. ;) 

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ignorantGuy
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To play the Devil's advocate maybe you are all wrong, it's 100 years before an Alien Remake. Even Arthur C Clark pushed forward the dates in his later Odyssey novels. 

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Gavin
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@ ignorantGuy,

Disney and Fox would never remake Alien. There is too high a probability that said remake would be a commercial and critical failure. Even if a remake was made that was superior to the original in every way the fandom would never accept it, reverence and nostalgia have placed the original movie on to high a pedestal, similar to how the Star Wars original trilogy is perceived.

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Kongzilla
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@ Gavin

"We all know that the events depicted in Covenant occur in 2104, 10 years after Prometheus, which was in 2093/94, and that the events in Alien started at 3rd June, 2122, with the events in Alien occurring 57 years later in 2179."

 

Interesting moment. In Alien movie nowhere is said about the year. And in Aliens too. All what we knows from movies (only one canon source) - 59 years between them. Nothing more.

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Gavin
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Sorry Leto,

In Aliens, when Ripley confronts Burke about him sending the colonists to check the coordinates of the derelict she states the date the message was sent to Hadleys Hope as June 12th, 2179. Aliens is set 57 years after Alien, which make Alien set in 2122. More specifically June 3rd, the date is seen on a monitor display just before the crew of the Nostromo is awoken from hypersleep.

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