Is Amanda Ripley the future?

I Raptus 8:

Thank you for your response

I am looking forward to reading about why we like the old characters but not the new. To me it is simply because the old ones were better written and /or executed. Yes they were not perfect but they were performed better.

Hmm, I think that they should sit down and think about what they are trying to tell with the story. Maybe have a book of guidelines (not dogmas) that they can follow when they do the movies, like a things to think about kind of list. I am not sure if they were kind of structured in how they were approaching this one. You got to have a plan when you are trying to make things like this.

The problem with Shaw isn’t that she was not like Ripley, her problem is that she was irrational and annoying. About replacing Shaw with Daniels, I don’t think that replacing her was a problem in itself. The problem is that Daniels wasn’t well done either but she was not the only one with that problem to be fair. Once again there is a director that cares more about the themes than the characters. You have the same director for two movies in the same universe and two movies in a row have the same problems so something must be going on there. When I say well done I mean that I did not get how she was as a character. I mean I understood how Ripley was, Clemens, 85, David, Walter, Ash, Dillon, Hicks, Vasques. I did not understand that much about how the characters were as persons in Alien Covenant. If you look at Tennesee, Daniels, Carine, Faris, for example then you try to explain how they were as characters I bet that you would get a difficult time trying to do that, I know that I would. My point is that they almost didn’t have any personality. Do you agree or at least understand my point?

“Does that mean we will get a third lead character in as many films?”

If we get a third one that is, it seems very uncertain right now. I am not sure if I want another prequel, it depends on how they do it. They need to get better writers that makes me at least understand how the characters are as persons because that have not been the case since Alien 3. Don’t give me another movie filled with blank faces (although there are some fairly well-written characters in the prequels), I want characters that I can understand how they are.

You raise some good points Thoughts_Dreams..

I would say that ALIEN the Characters were not extremely well done, they gave us that Space Truckers so regular working folk kind of vibe, i think had Alien Covenant had the Crew minus the Mercs.... and so a bit more time was spent on the likes of Karine, Faris, Oram, Daniels, Tennessee etc then i think we could have connected with them as much as the ALIEN cast.

I think what worked with ALIEN was by the 3rd Act, Ripley had been built into a Character that worked... more than Daniels and Dr Shaw...  But the real EVOLUTION of Ripley was in ALIENS as we have her as the Survivor from the first movie and we really could then pick up from her story and evolve it...

Had we got the ENDING that Ridley Scott wanted with Ripley being killed, then we got a sequel that had NO Ripley then i am not sure we would remember her Characters Impact as much from just ALIEN.

So in part continuing a Franchise with a Survivor from the Previous Movie is usually a good thing to do, and you can then improve on any criticism of the Character from the previous movie.

So what i am saying is if say the next movie they kill off Daniels off screen or early on, or we never get a movie that continues her story....   IF they make a movie where they introduce us to NEW Characters, if they plan a sequel after this then they cant keep introducing Characters especially lead Characters to then KILL them off, or they play NO role in the sequel...

This does-not mean you have to make a 2-3 movie Trilogy about a Character, you can KILL the Character off provided they play some larger role in the movie and pass the Torch to another Character.

For example...

Alien Covenant 2... if Daniels does not appear, then if they introduce another Character, then they cant have a Main 1-2 Human Characters DIE-OFF they have to survive and play some role in any sequel...

You could have Daniels play a Smaller Role, say 30-40% of the Movie, then have another Character or TWO from a incoming Human Ship interact with Daniels and then have them be the Survivors, as long as they play again some larger role in the sequel AKA Alien Covenant 3 but you dont have to have them become some kind of NEW Ripley.

Regarding Amanda... if we are talking a Movie, then indeed 2 Movies with her could work... but if we got that plus countless Game and Comic/Novel Appearances it could make the Character Repetitive.

I am tired of waiting years for a 90 minute movie with plots and characters as complicated as this. They should move to streaming series to develop.