ALIEN: Back to the Future Part 2

If you want to consider where the sequel was heading you have to be certain of where you came from. The only way to achieve that is to ask Ridley and Damon what they were thinking in 2012.

An authentic sequel has to take account of the following.

“It’s a donation, in the sense that the weight and the construction of the DNA of those aliens is way beyond what we can possibly imagine.” Adding that the planet isn’t necessarily Earth, he says, “No, it doesn’t have to be. That could be anywhere. That could be a planet anywhere. All he’s doing is acting as a gardener in space. And the plant life, in fact, is the disintegration of him.  If you parallel that idea with other sacrificial elements in history – which are clearly illustrated with the Mayans and the Incas – he would live for one year as a prince, and at the end of that year, he would be taken and donated to the gods.” 

“The Passion Of The Christ” could also be viewed as part of the “Alien” universe…. if you really think about it…. Or, after that, the Engineers simply abandoned humanity, we evolved, and they got pissed all over again when we came knocking on their door. It fits in line with what Lindelof said during press rounds for the film: “I’m all for ambiguity, but if we didn’t know the answer to that one (ed The Christ Incident), the audience would have every right to string us up. Yes. There is an answer. One that is hinted at within the goalposts of ‘Prometheus.’ I’ll bet if I asked you to take a guess you wouldn’t be far off.”

 And humanity was the offspring of some dark/rogue angels? That would seem to be the gist of it, and we guess that’s where a “Prometheus 2” would go if/when that should ever happen.

 “Now ‘Prometheus’ is ready to go off in its own direction on its own entirely different tangent that is not going to be reliant on the things we’ve seen a thousand times before.”

The Story of Valhalla as expressed by David in the Prologue of AC

 The Gods have rejected mankind as week cruel and filled with greed. So they are leaving the earth forever to their perfect home in the heavens. There every step is fraught with tragedy, and their power is an illusion. They are false God’s.

Elizabeth the person of faith, shaken, was going with David curious about what he was and put back together and responsive to Elizabeth were going to find that they were made by false (Promethean) Gods whose power is an illusion and what they sub create is the seed of their destruction. 

The problem with all that for the studios is it would have meant making a film without a hapless crew and monsters which would have explored in a surreal and unorthodox way the questions raised by Bladerunner.  

@Michelle

I think that Indeed at the TIME that Prometheus had been Released on DVD then Certainly they (RS/DL) had a IDEA of where they would TAKE US for the Sequel.

Which brings me to... "The problem with all that for the studios is it would have meant making a film without a hapless crew and monsters"

Which is No Doubt one of the Problems they FACED when trying to Complete a Story they could be HAPPY with.  You have TWO of the Survivors from Prometheus of which ONLY the ONE is a Human, and they are OFF to where the Engineers come from, well whatever place they Determine the Last Engineer had referred to as PARADISE.

To have a Movie that would REVOLVE around just the TWO of those Survivors (Flash Backs/Dreams aside) is MAYBE something that NOT everyone would go to WATCH.

But they would NOT be ALONE as surely they would MEET some beings, Engineers? or some other Race? Surely Connected!

A Thought Provoking Story much like Blade Runner may have been CLOSER to where they Wanted to take us back in 2012. I think that the LAYERS of Creation and Associated Themes would have been Explored...

But i think a LOT of Fans were ONLY really interested in seeing the Engineers as Aggressive SOB's and they maybe would Expect the Engineers to be Portrayed as we saw in the COMICS.

And so the Journey of David and Dr Shaw would have HINGED on what KIND of beings they Discover and HOW they would React to David and Dr Shaw... if they are as Welcoming as the Last Engineer then the Movie would NOT be Long.....  UNLESS they take to Experimenting on Dr Shaw etc.

But as i have said and what my IDEA for HOW they could have Continued the Story... and Introduce more Humans does-not have to BOIL down to incoming Humans from Earth.   WHY CANT there be OTHERS in the  Galaxy that the Engineers had SEEDED or taken from Earth...

Or DID we even come from Earth?

Another Avenue for the Sequel could have been about WHERE it is that David wishes to GO!   As they said the Sacrificial Scene does-not have to be Earth....  And so i think WHERE it is that David takes Dr Shaw does-not have to be PARADISE.... he could go to another Place but then you have to THINK about WHY and WHERE.

I think when we are looking at a SEQUEL then in PART what may have been the Direction would be Questions that Dr Shaw had surely WANTED to be Answered...  it was UNLIKELY that the Answers that she GOT are what she would HOPE for and so those Answers she gets could have a IMPACT on her Character Arc.

There are OTHER Questions left by Prometheus but these are Mainly ones that the FANS would want to see Answered, like...

*What was LV-223 about? was it always a Outpost to Create Horrific Bio-Weapons?

*What was the Origins of those Experiments, when did they START and WHY?

*What was the MURAL and FRESCO?

*What was the ALTAR and Crystal about?

*Where did the GOO/Black Goo come from?

*What is in the Other Complexes?

Maybe some of these could had been Answered?  But maybe they could have been Answered in a Parallel Story about LV-223 so that David and Dr Shaw would be FREE to go on a Journey that does-not have to Answer the Mysteries of LV-223 that would TIE into the Xenomorph.

I think its NO WONDER they was having a HARD TIME to find the RIGHT STORY about where David and Dr Shaw go and WHAT they Discover.

Who knows HOW MUCH of the Story as Envisioned in 2012 had Remained by the time they got to 2015?

As Time goes on and EVEN in a Short Span of Time then Ideas can Change and Evolve, the Engineers Plot does allow for MANY MANY ways they could Expand on it.

I think its a REAL SHAME that we Ended up with Alien Covenant, and while some of the Themes/Arc of Prometheus is Carried Over via Davids Arc.  SADLY a lot of what a Prometheus 2 could have been was Sacrificed.

*What was LV-223 about? was it always a Outpost to Create Horrific Bio-Weapons?

*What was the Origins of those Experiments, when did they START and WHY?

*What was the MURAL and FRESCO?

*What was the ALTAR and Crystal about?

*Where did the GOO/Black Goo come from?

*What is in the Other Complexes?

This is where I part company with the fanbase.

To me all those questions are answered in the movie. These Engineers are Promethean they stole technology and began experimenting with a religious questing fervour. After many experiments using themselves as Hosts (now that is interesting where does this hosting procreation come from) they perfected the creature immortalised in the Mural and bottled it. 

However just as Weyland created for his own vain glorious purpose so had the Engineers of the Moon. Obviously when E & D reach Paradise the question of the relationship between the Moon and Paradise would be answered.

As the Engineers of the Moon were rebels using stolen technology those on the Homeworld would not look favourably on what they did. The implication of Damon's script is having stolen the technology and tried to use it, because it wasn't sanctioned "It got out" and turned on them. The philosophical failure of the Moon Engineers was expressed by what they created turning on them. 

The philosophical failings of the mission had the same outcome but Elizabeth was given a second chance and survived. 

As for the texture questions the Alter was altered to a Tomb to fit the dialogue and the Five Pyramids were dropped in late to give a more impressive sense of scale.

The average film goer has a more fundamental reason than the deep fan for being confused it is they went knowing it had the same DNA  as ALIEN saw a craft hit the ground which looked suspiciously like the derelict but wasn't and saw a riff at the end which seemed to be related to the creature in the original film but did not know how and as to the search for our creators they were told by Elizabeth this place isn't what we thought it was but then to give that point context the only way to find was to watch the next movie. So lots of unsatisfactory puzzles for the casual film goer. 

Incidentally these clarifications have nothing to do with my own personal interpretation some of my ideas contradict the above not for reasons of changing the myth but specific story telling purposes.

David woke in a beautiful stylised chair looks at the Nativity with the hole in the roof and a character pointing to Heaven and finally names himself after Michelangelo's beautiful sculpture the perfect embodiment of an aspirational transformational work created to be shared. Thats elliptical suggestive stroy telling which can be given significance and more so than might have been intended that however is different to saying what is the Moon all about.

The Moon is about why would you make monsters?  

"To me all those questions are answered in the movie."

To a degree then YES but it was a bit Vague for some Fans, who maybe NEED to have things Spoon Fed, the more you look at Prometheus, look at Alien Engineers for some Extra Information and read some of the Comments/Commentary then INDEED we have enough to get the PICTURE ;)

But then the SAME could be said with ALL that Dr Shaw had wanted to get Answered.

The things that are LEFT are the Creation Themes and Rebellion by Creation which i think is where the David Arc and WHAT he would do NEXT is something that would have Been Quite a Emphasis going Forwards regardless.

I think Ultimately then Prometheus needed to have TWO kinds of Sequel.

1) A return Mission to LV-223 thats more like Alien Engineers where we can get more Answers to LV-223 and Clues to the Xenomorph/LV-426 that SETS UP the Special Order 937.

Thus the Door to ALIEN is Closed.

2) We go where David and Dr Shaw are going where you NOW have more Freedom and do-not have to be Shackled down by ALIEN and can STEER AWAY from LV-426.

But ALAS....

"they perfected the creature immortalised in the Mural and bottled it"

That Certainly is HOW i see it, which is what Fundamentally what Alien Engineers showed more Clearly.

"As the Engineers of the Moon were rebels using stolen technology those on the Homeworld would not look favourably on what they did"

Certainly we have seen RS refer to the Engineers as False Gods, and Fallen Angels.  And so this means their is another Faction of them (could be Numerous) and their is a Hierarchy above those Engineers and maybe their Creators are a LITTLE Different?  Who knows...

With the PLOT of Fallen Angels if you would, then in that Context then PARADISE could be a WORLD that is FAR FAR from LV-223.....

We could even have explored if the Hierarchy of the Engineers or the None-Fallen versions had Created Mankind?  Are they AWARE of what LV-223 is.

And so the Interesting Thing with a Prometheus 2 would be to WHOM it is that Dr Shaw would MEET and HOW they would view her.... do they KNOW who WE are?

So there are Many Ways they could have given us a Story that is NOT TIED down to being about LV-426 and Monsters.

What i was DRAWN to regarding the Engineers was that to me they seemed to be either.

1) A Faction of Engineers who had Encountered something they had NOT had a Role in Creating, and they SAW such Potential with this that they Experimented with it to EVOLVE/ENHANCE themselves.   This lead to their FALL and becoming Demons/Monsters if you would. Which some may then see as the Next Stage of Evolution for Creation.

2) Those Engineers are a Sub-Creation who had a Specific Purpose and maybe could not Procreate themselves and so their ARC is the same as with David.  They Rebel against their In-superior Creators and Attempt to Create something NEW.

Given that Elizabeth was our Proxy at the end of the movie the subsequent film would have been her story, not Davids.

If you look back at the press from 2012 this was going to be a sequence of films were as Michael said Elizabeth was the heartbeat and he was the head. It was going to be her sequence.

She is in pole position as the film ended. The beating heart of the story is Elizabeth. But having the robot along had huge potential as expressed by Weyland in the Hologram speech.

What happened subsequently is Fassbender became the bigger star they lost Damon and Ridley went on a three-year search on how to make more money from the franchise believing the creature would produce the dollars. 

Ridley did not believe in that and one can only see the scene where Michael is throwing stones at Billy as a satire. 

If you watch the Hennessey Advert that's where Ridley's heart lies. Wonder, visual clues, questing not as Damon said in 2012, "stuff we have seen a thousand times before."   

"Given that Elizabeth was our Proxy at the end of the movie the subsequent film would have been her story, not Davids."

I think that depends on Interpretation i think that the BIGGER theme they was going for would be CREATION and so WHY would the Engineers Create, and HOW was they Created.

Dr Shaw Certainly would be the ONE that should be the Proxy for us to get those Answers as so YES she should have remained as the Lead Protagonist.

I think we would have been in for a Hubristic Tale of Sub-Creation and i think this is where David would be our Proxy to that Hubris..... 

So Dr Shaw would indeed be wanting to know WHO these would be GODS are, she wants to see for Herself if they are anything like what her FAITH would teach that a CREATOR would be like.  She would want to know WHY we was Created and so much Time Invested in us to then just wish to DESTROY us.  I would suspect that at the BACK of her Mind/Faith she maybe would NOT go and Accept those Engineers are our Creators.... surely there has to be something HIGHER and so WHO had Created them could be another thing that Dr Shaw wants to know.

Ridley Scott had painting the Picture that those Engineers are NOT the Gods, and they did-not want to MEET GOD in the First Movie, and as they are Referred to as Fallen/Dark Angels then maybe its likely they FIT within the Context of a Fallen Angel... so they Certainly are NOT the Hierarchy and so there has to be either another Faction of the Engineers or even a Creator to them.

Ridley Scott had said they (Dr Shaw and David) would go and MEET these beings on Paradise and these beings would NOT be Gods in the Traditional Sense and FAR from Benevolent.

That does-not look so GOOD for Dr Shaw as far as a Happy Ending and wishing to Discover some Benevolent Creator, and so its INTERESTING to see HOW these beings would FEEL about seeing Dr Shaw and what she WANTS.

However with David bringing HELL with him could indicate that he has something that can TURN the TIDE or Persuade the Engineers to Listen to Dr Shaw and so i think Davids Actions would have played a BIG ROLE in the Outcome of a Prometheus Sequel.

I think we should not go and Overlook our David as he is a Proxy to Creation and the Hubris of such... i think the Creation Themes could Continue with him.

He is FREE now (at the End of Prometheus) but he Needs our Dr Shaw to HELP him be put back in ONE PIECE so he can Fully Live this NEW Life he has been Given.  How would he FEEL about Dr Shaw for Helping Him? 

We have to Assume that Dr Shaw needs his HELP to Leave the Hell they are Stranded on.  So she would have NO CHOICE to Reluctantly Repair him, SHE is bound to have Concerns but as RS said... David is Very Persuasive.  The Interesting Dynamic on Offer here is seen in The Crossing.

I think David would have had a BIG ROLE because Ultimately he is the ONE who Holds all the Cards, he could GO and DO whatever he likes... But the SET-UP is that they would INDEED arrive at some Place Related to the Engineers.

With David being FREE and a Sentient Life-Form he would want to SURVIVE and i feel he would take a Risk Assessment at the Chances of HIS and Dr Shaws Survival and so i always was DRAWN to that David would indeed at some point UNLEASH HELL on the Inhabitants of the WORLD they would be OFF TOO.

However i Certainly dont think it would have Originally gone down like Alien Covenant i think at least there would have been some Interaction with some Engineers or other Related Beings and i think Dr Shaw would Certainly had played a Larger Role than just to be seen as a Corpse.

I think we had a OUTLINE to where Ridley Scott and Damian Lindeloff were Heading but  Quite HOW much of this Changed during the First Run of Drafts before Micheal Green came on Board is something we have NO Real Knowledge of.

It would be Interesting to see some of the Earlier/Mid point work by Jack Paglen and then seen Micheal Greens reworking and see HOW much they Differ from the Dante Harper and John Logan version of the STORY.

It was a Wasted Opportunity for sure as Certainly a Character Arc for Dr Shaw could have given Noomi Rapace a better Character to work with.

I will add there is a STORY to be Told from the Moment that Dr Shaw and David had LEFT the Outpost on LV-223 to when we saw Dr Shaw was Dead...   A Tragic and Horrific Story.   We Discovered that Dr Shaw had not DIED in the CRASH, and so HOW LONG she had Survived and WHAT Caused David to Eventually do what he DID?

It also seemed VERY LIKELY that some Engineers had Survived as we see David had Studied them and Experimented with them No Doubt.   So MAYBE he could have tried to GET some Answers from them?

Anyway the ONLY reason i bring the ABOVE UP is that while there is a STORY/EVENT that Happened, to go and SHOW this on the BIG SCREEN would revolve around ONLY having David and Dr Shaw and a Handful of Weak/Emaciated Engineers.

And so Theatrically this may be a Problem and maybe in SOME PART for the Plot we have with Alien Covenant so that we can have more HUMANS come into Play.

I think back to the OT but in Context to the above Point.

Regarding where David and Dr Shaw were off too, then i would have maybe Suspected that Paradise could have been Different to WHAT we got.  Paradise can mean a Number of Things.... depending on the Religion and Culture but they all have a Similar Concept.

It is a PLACE that only the WORTHY are Allowed.

It is also in some Religions the Birthplace of Civilization and so in that Context then MAN was Created in the Garden of Eden in Paradise before they were Expelled.

If the Engineers are playing the Role of GOD in Context to the Franchise and where the ONE Engineer had said he was From is what we could call Paradise.   Then this WORLD could have been where say the Garden of Eden was, and the Cradle of Civilization and our Origins.

Some Religions and Cultures have Paradise as being the PLACE that the Righteous and Worthy Dead will Go when they Die....

HOWEVER... lets not get looking at it Literally as a Place where our Spirits would END UP... if we assume in Context to the Franchise that we HAVE NONE..... but that EVERY kind of Mythos and Religion has a ELEMENT of Truth, well some Basis which is from the Engineers.

If we look at the Garden of Eden and Creation because THIS seems to be the Main Point of the Prequels (CREATION) then the Biblical Account is that the Garden of Eden in Paradise is NOT where GOD comes from, or his ANGELS its the Place where WE WAS CREATED....

And so within that Context it could be a PLACE where a NUMBER of other Humanoids were Created.

And so it could have been a WORLD where there could have been a SMALLER Group of Engineers who are Tasked with WATCHING OVER this Paradise.  And these Engineers could be the Cherubim

This World could then have a SMALL Population of Humans and other Humanoids who were DEEMED to be Worthy of Paradise, who the Engineers would have Collected, and indeed Christ could have been one of these Worthy Humans they had taken to Paradise to TEACH and then take back to Earth.

There could have been many Human Emissaries sent to Earth.

So in Context to the OT, and regarding AC as far as WHY they had to introduce more HUMANS.  Then i cant see WHY they could have had PARADISE as a World that is FAR FAR from Earth.

On this Paradise we have some Engineers, but then a Number of other Species in NOT so Great Numbers and some of these would be HUMAN.

Imagine the Wonder on Dr Shaw's Face if she Discovers a World where Humans also had been Seeded, and then coming into Contact with other Humanoids the Engineers had Seeded.   

Dr Shaw could get some Answers, maybe she be Welcomed... but then the Engineers will inform her about WHY the Earth was to be Destroyed and LV-223 and maybe there was a Conflict of Interest and those beings on Paradise then Decided to SABOTAGE the LV-223 Mission.

Leave the Earth to its OWN demise at our OWN hands.

The Engineers being so Naive that they THOUGHT that without the HELP of the Engineers we would NOT really Advance much more than we had 2000 Years ago and so they had NO FEAR we would EVER be able to Traverse Space.

By Virtue of Dr Shaw showing up with David and WHO he is, could Cause a Great Concern for the Engineers.  There could be some WHO think she has to be Destroyed... and the Earth and maybe David does OVERHEAR this and tries to TELL her... but maybe she does-not Believe him.

She confronts a Engineer and asks.. and they tell her that they are GOING to Destroy the Earth as they CANT have us Traversing Space... and they also intend to SECURE the LV-223 Outpost (Maybe Destroy it)

The Council of Engineers then Determine that Dr Shaw could STAY but she would have to Denounce all she had learned in her Religion and other Influences from Earth and she must CONFORM to their Basic Way of Life (like the Amish) and Learn the Engineer Ways and OBEY their Rules as they CANT have any Foreign Influences on their Paradise of Different Species Living in Harmony!

They would claim that the Earth would be Washed Clean so it can be Started Anew in Future.   They also Reveal to Dr Shaw that David will be Studied and then DESTROYED as he is a Abomination and their Creations are NOT meant to Create.

Only by Childbirth they are Permitted to Create Life.

How would THESE kinds of Revelations Effect Dr Shaw.. would she be OK with David being Destroyed, and the REST of Mankind on Earth?

Could they offer her a Bargaining Chip in Claiming that they could ALLOW her to Create Life herself and FIX the Reason she cant BARE CHILD.

Maybe she Discovers some Sinister Agenda to them too?

Is there a Sinister Agenda going on to WHY they Create?

Are the Worthy Races on Paradise merely here so the Engineers have a Genetic Stock to Populate Worlds with?

Then we come to DAVID... if he Discovers the Engineers Plans for him, then he WOULD surely want to STRIKE FIRST and this is when Paradise is Turned into HELL.

Dr Shaw and a Few others Survive/Saved by David... or maybe ONLY she does...

Paradise is LOST... Destroyed!

Dr Shaw was Hopeful she could CHANGE their Minds as FAR as to Destroy Earth.... David would inform her she would have been FOOLISH to Believe that.

She could be ANGRY at David for what he has DONE... he also has STOLEN the ONLY chance she has of having a Child as the Engineers were going to be able to HELP HER.

But we could have David suggest that he can Discover a way that she can have Children and they can START a NEW EDEN....

This is HOW i was kind of going to explore Paradise in 2013 when i was working on a Sequel Story to Prometheus.

But my Point is that they NEVER had to make Paradise so CLOSE to Earth so you can introduce more Humans....

There could be MANY more of us in the Galaxy that the Engineers had Seeded, or taken to these Worlds.

With the numerous problems in the Prometheus production, whether it was budget cuts, script problems, reshoots, and just about every other kind of problem you could imagine once you were that far into principle photography then I think it is hard to say where Prometheus should have gone after.

First the movie was doomed from the start. The fact that it has David taking an Alien ship to another world is just the most preposterous nonsense. No matter what Dr. Shaw said to him his programing would have been to secure the remaining site and wait for back up from WY until they arrived on LV-223.

The fact that this AI android goes against his programming and takes a ship to an Engineer world is such absolute nonsense…..although since the studios effectively wrecked  RS movie Prometheus I think he returned the favor with a rouge AI David going to destroy an Engineer world.

Sometimes I really hate discussing this because it is frustrating to this day how wrong the studios were to cut budgets and demand rewrites of the plot.

@BD nothing against you at all…….I just do not care anymore where they go with the entire franchise any more…..we got some cool looking stuff out of this journey with RS but that is about it…..

We were supposed to get a new far more rich world to explore after Prometheus and instead we get David doing what he is not really programmed to do destroying some world somewhere……its all very vague nonsense a lot of it….frustrating really to no end….I just watch these movies now and really could care less about any of it….I want to make my own movies and explore my own ideas.

@BigDave

Given what was said during the release period of Prometheus in interviews by those close to the film I think we have a clear idea of what Scott and Lindelof's priorities were for the follow up.

It was essentially a search for answers that had been "pulled" from Prometheus. Damon talks in the commentary about the risk of doing this in case a further movie did not get made. You can cross-reference everyone's conversations and even things that Noomi said in interviews as long after as 2014. 

It was essentially "If they made us, who made them.", why at the time of Christ did they want to destroy us and why philosophically were they annihilated and the revelation that we are a footnote.  

Ridley, however, began to adjust the narrative reacting to the feedback of Prometheus and began talking about David (not Elizabeth) bringing hell and instead of characterising those whom they would find as Gods they simply become a bunch of aggressive antagonists. 

I see that as the end of the grand ideas of Prometheus and a step by step march through Elizabeth as the vigilante to finally being a plot device. 

I can see Ridley's dilemma on the screen. Very late on he invited Noomi down for a week to film what became the Crossing. He re elevated Elizabeth into the heroine dying of the Mutagen who heals David, which releases a new series of cognitive experiences for him and she passes into history in the backlit sarcophagus.

He then changed his mind again and places Elizabeth in the homage to Geiger as well as in the grave where presumably her body from the Crossing was intended to be laid. 

Despite Damon's protestations that there were many scriptwriters who could follow him in, Prima Facie no one came up with a script that fitted the metrics.

My contention is when you have studied the strands of the storytelling carefully the themes and let go of the AVP franchise needs, that a genuine follow up was never made is entirely understandable. It was an admirable punt to try and say something fresh within a cooked franchise.     

BD

"Either make the Engineers its creators or someone above the Engineer that made the Xeno"

That would have been better about the Engineers as the creators of the Xeno. Why did they change it so David made it? Was it just a snap judgement that Ridley did meaning that he went with his feeling of what he was interested in rather than to tell a good story? Sometimes in AC that is what it seems like with the AI thing that he is interested in. Unfortunately when I think about Ridley and Alien it seems that a story in Alien is one thing and a robot-story is another but he mixes them and it doesn’t work because it is too much about the robot/android side.

Rebooting the Covenant, I might not be much of a writer to write it in detail but I know what I would like to see. I would like to see the Engineer planet, to see their society with religion, military Engineers, and their weapons, have their buildings being Gothic or maybe bio-mechanical. As far as I know there was bad feelings between Fox and Giger so maybe bio-mechanical isn’t possible that is why my idea was to have it Gothic. I still support that the Engineers or someone above them did it, the main thing shouldn't be an aliens 2 with 200 Xenos because it should be something else. Keep them in the shadows, and don't have too many of them. The Xeno was poorly handled in AC even though the crane-scene was good but it was too short. Not too say that we just need action but much of the movie was too slow.

I actually like the idea of exploring other planets, it could be tied to global warming. That is an issue that’s more interesting than AI. Raised By Wolves but is about the religion part. Maybe Shaw's search would be about the state of the planet combined with her curiosity. She could have been in it if she was better written, like The Crossing. What if they don’t get to their home-world but somewhere where the Engineers have had a hand in building things? Who’s to say that they are only on Planet 4? Perhaps another company had also thought about it so they send people there but for a different purpose (you need human characters), don't ask why.

Do I have to have David in it? Not sure what to do with him, I would probably have him in some scenes but not too much. Maybe he could be scary to some people but that he is just there to help, like Bishop but less screen-time. I would have him developing in a different way compared to AC if he would be in it at all which I am not a fan of.

If Shaw would be in it, she would be more like in The Crossing. She did well in that short clip. Have her better written if she would get a fairly decent amount of screen-time. Honestly I haven’t seen her in a lot, some have been good and some of it have been meh. Give her a decent script and she would probably do better.

Maybe she could find a sort of weapons facility where the Engineers make monsters to use as bio-weapons. That would probably make her scared at least if she wouldn’t be like in the beginning of Prometheus. She would probably like to get the answers to why we were created "I want to go where they came from”, something like that. Eventually we don’t need to know exactly why they wanted to destroy us but look at the world and you can make a guess.

My point is that she would get to know some about it but not all because 1. everything don’t need to be explained 2. sometimes you don’t get all the answers 3. sometimes you don’t get any. A movie that explains A B C and D is boring, you might just get the explanation to A and B and that is fine. It depends on what you keep a secret, what the answers are, and how you answer it.

You could have Engineers that has decided to not kill humanity, they might just let them be even though they are not pleased with our way. They are like a person that is not satisfied with what ever but instead of doing something sits in his room and is grouchy. Looking at humanity it would surprise me if the Engineers would like them at all, they might have different ways to look at what should or shouldn't be done that is what’s important here.

What’s worse: someone that treats you like you don’t exist, or someone that yells at you? Neither of those are pleasant and that’s the situation here. It is like the question: what would God do if it created humans but started to dislike us. Maybe they would give Shaw her answers at least in part and then take her back to the ship and be like “leave us alone (you are annoying and we have a party to attend)”. :D You wrote something about changing Shaw’s faith, that could be a way.

"She could maybe then decided its time to KILL this Wanna be Gods ;)"

I think that they would want to die by her just being there acting annoying. ;)

About the architecture yeah but it should have been more alien so to speak and more impressive. You mentioned ancient but I think that they could still be from a long time ago because maybe humans did buildings that were alright (they built the pyramids) so something better could have been used for the Engineers but I get your point. I would have liked to see a bit of how the cathedral looked inside. Different official buildings could have different designs depending on how important they find them to be. For example a place where you don’t go that much would probably look different compared to one of maybe religious worship where you go maybe different days of the week or what ever the Engineers would do. "The Cathedral in Alien Covenant was COLOSSAL" 

It makes sense since Scott is interested in religious things. As far as I know it just appeared for a bit so I didn’t take in how it looked. If you have been in a church you probably know that sometimes they have paintings in there, imagine how the engineers versions would look like. Since they are taller I guess that the buildings would be bigger compared to humanity's. Maybe they are into sacrificing things, if so it is interesting to imagine what it would be. Perhaps the city was more modern because they wanted to connect to their ancient gods in their church like some sort of mystic past. Hopefully I don’t talk gibberish here. 

"I think a Disappointment for Fans and this applies to Prometheus too is they would have Expected the WORLD of the Space Jockey to look VERY much like a HR Giger Bio-Mechanical Aesthetic."

That was and still is my reaction, it wasn’t too impressive to be honest. I understand your explanation for it but I still think that it disappointing, esthetically speaking. You don’t need to use bio-mechanical things in the movie. I would have used a Gothic style, I like that kind of look. A lot of the action could have taken place during the dark so combine Gothic buildings with the dark and you get something for an alien-movie.

"So when we was going to Prometheus 2 if these Engineers are NOT the GODS but a Sub-Creation and so like ANGELS if you would then you COULD introduce a Hierarchy above them that are 10-15ft Tall"

Maybe, you got to make it work though. What if the angels that you mention are more like monsters even though that is not what the Engineers view them as? I would maybe make them like some monster from Lord of The Ring but with an alien twist. Some would find it lame but you can get inspiration from many things.

I will now answer some of the things that were meant for Michelle but I found them to be interesting. You don't need to reply to them if you don't want since they really weren't meant for me.

"… a LOT of Fans were ONLY really interested in seeing the Engineers as Aggressive SOB's… So there are Many Ways they could have given us a Story that is NOT TIED down to being about LV-426 and Monsters.”

People have different opinions, I understand if some would like them to be like aggressive body-builders but I think that many would like to see more what they were about. To expect people to just be interested in that side of them could be to underestimate the interest that could be. Maybe people would see the aggressive ones that you called them but I also think that there were also an interest in seeing the culture and those kind of things. One thing is that if you sort of replace the monster with the Engineers you got to make them scary. If they would succeed with the Engineers would depend on writing and directing. Eventually it could be done but they got to find a way to make it work.

"The cathedral in alien covenant was colossal"

It makes sense since Scott is interested in religious things. As far as I know it just appeared for a bit so I didn’t take in how it looked. If you have been in a church you probably know that sometimes they have paintings in there, imagine how the engineers versions would look like. Since they are taller I guess that the buildings would be bigger compared to humanity's. Maybe they are into sacrificing things, if so it is interesting to imagine what it would be. Perhaps the city was more modern because they wanted to connect to their ancient gods in their church like some sort of mystic past. Hopefully I don’t talk gibberish here.

"I think a Disappointment for Fans and this applies to Prometheus too is they would have Expected the WORLD of the Space Jockey to look VERY much like a HR Giger Bio-Mechanical Aesthetic.."

That was and still is my reaction, it wasn’t too impressive to be honest. I understand your explanation for it but I still think that it disappointing, esthetically speaking. You don’t need to use bio-mechanical things in the movie. I would have used a Gothic style, I like that kind of look. A lot of the action could have taken place during the dark so combine Gothic buildings with the dark and you get something for an alien-movie. Yes the stone buildings look older, but they don’t look better and also maybe the way that their older builsings look doesn’t have to be the same as ours. For example their way of building things in their equivalent of say the stone-age might not look the same to how humans built huts in our stone-age. This is a way of saying that maybe the Engineers were always more advanced.

"So when we was going to Prometheus 2 if these engineers are not the gods but a sub-creation and so like angels if you would then you could introduce a hierarchy above them that are 10-15ft tal "

Maybe, you got to make it work though. What if the angels that you mention are more like monsters even though that is not what the engineers view them as? I would maybe make them like some monster from Lord of the Ring but with an alien twist. some would find it lame but you can get inspiration from many things.

I will now answer some of the things that were meant for Michelle but I found them to be interesting. You don't need to reply to them if you don't want since they really weren't meant for me.

"… a lot of fans were only really interested in seeing the engineers as aggressive sob's… so there are many ways they could have given us a story that is not tied down to being about lv-426 and monsters.”

People have different opinions, I understand if some would like them to be like aggressive body-builders but I think that many would like to see more what they were about. To expect people to just see be interested in that side of them could be to underestimate the interest that could be. Maybe people would see the aggressive ones that you called them but I also think that there were also an interest in seeing the culture and those kind of things. One thing is that if you sort of replace the monster with the engineers you got to make them scary. If they would succeed with the engineers would depend on writing and directing. Eventually it could be done but they got to find a way to make it work. Another thing is that show that the big Engineers (LV-223) created those on Planet 4, or maybe that they were once the same but the split into factions, or that the big ones created those on Planet 4, because they could. The point is that even though the Engineers are smarter than humans they still have their problems. You can go in any direction about who the originals are, it got to make some sense. Give some answers without overtly explaining it.

>>>That would have been better about the Engineers as the creators of the Xeno. Why did they change it so David made it? Was it just a snap judgement that Ridley did meaning that he went with his feeling of what he was interested in rather than to tell a good story?

Well, one thing is for sure - it was not the original plan. The novelization of Alien: Covenant says that David found the xenomorph and simply modified them. Moreover, further in the text, the xenomorph is described as the crown of the Engineer's biological weapon.

And as we know, there are two nuances in the production of films and novelizations:

1) Novelizations are written from drafts ready for filming; before filming.

2) During filming, the film is constantly being changed, what may be unplanned and not very successful from a forward-looking point of view.

Hence the difference between a book and a film. And reading the book, you can understand the original intent of the story.

There is two major difference:

1) David did not create the Alien.

2) David died (or stayed) on Planet 4.

P.S. I know this might upset some fans of David and his experiments. But that was the original idea. And, btw, we still don't know who survived in the film - David or Walter.

Leto

I like the idea of the Xeno as the perfection of the biological weapons that the Engineers had. It makes it more interesting than it being a result of a weird robot. ADF’s novel is something that I haven’t read but it seems to be better than the movie. Have a book that was better than the movie wouldn’t be difficult since AC wasn’t that good really. As far as upsetting the fans of David, if he would have been better written and executed and if it wouldn’t have been all about him then there wouldn’t be the complaints about that part, that’s my guess.

@BlackAnt

I agree that you would Expect that David would Comply with the Companies Interests and THIS was more of the Plot with Alien Engineers.  However the David with regards to Prometheus seemed to be a Sentient Being and NOW that his Master has Passed Away he had become FREE to do what he Pleases and so its Likely his Programing only went as FAR as to Serve Peter Weylands Needs/Agenda.

I think the Destruction of the Engineers came down to Davids will to SURVIVE and he Likely saw that the Chances of HIM and Dr Shaw surviving a Encounter with the Engineers would be UNLIKELY.

I agree that with Prometheus it Expanded the Franchise to the Possibility to see Numerous Worlds/Races that MAYBE we wont ever see NOW :(

"It was an admirable punt to try and say something fresh within a cooked franchise"

I Totally Agree...  i think the Franchise will just get back to Basics Now and i think we could see the Beast Become Cooked again and again.. in a Marvel/Disney Fashion but if its what makes the MONEY but the Franchise could Spiral to be similar to Starship Troopers.

It was a Brave and Bold decision to go for the KIND of Plots that Prometheus Evolved from.

"Why did they change it so David made it"

I think because from Prometheus they decided to CARRY the Themes about Sub-Creation and Rebellion and the HUBRIS of Creating something that is Intelligent and Sentient.

And so with the Xenomorph as a Creation of David then this becomes the ULTIMATE HUBRIS...  If the Engineers had-not Created us they would NOT have had US go and CREATE our own Creation in our Image (David) who then would NOT have Destroyed the Engineers World and then Created/Unleashed the Xenomorph in the Galaxy.

They could have KEPT with those THEMES by having David go and Create something Different but Similar say the ULTRAMORPH...  Eventually this is LOST and LV-223 but the Company Discovers that something is on LV-426 that is related to what David had Created... This leads to Special Order 937

". The novelization of Alien: Covenant says that David found the xenomorph and simply modified them"

I would Disagree with this, having looked at the Drafts prior to SHOOTING then these SUPPORT what we saw in the MOVIE.  I would assume that ADF had added some things to the Novel that he Personally Felt was Right.

However someone at FOX would have had to Read and then GIVE the Final Approval of the Novel and they DID-NOT seem to ask him to Change his Novel so it Fitted with the Movie.

I think the Engineers would be VERY STUPID to go and Store some Eggs on their Home-world.... Unless they had a DEAD ONE in some kind of ZOO.  And so with the Black Goo then David could have Extracted the DNA to Re-Create it.

But if you look at Davids Notes and his Work-shop it shows that the Xenomorph comes from a AMALGAMATION of Various Organisms combined with the Neomorph and Black Goo.

They could CHANGE it if we got a Continuation and have David give some Dialog to say the Engineers had Experimented with a Organism they Discovered, trying to Harness its Traits to Engineer the Perfect Servants, these Rebelled and Further Engineered their Own Creation from these Experiments to USE on Mankind.

He then could STATE that the Engineers had taken something that was PERFECT but could not be CONTROLLED and tried to Hybridize Versions they could Control.

He then says HOWEVER... they could NOT see the Potential Perfection in the Original Organism they Discovered, they attempted to CHANGE so much of it so they could call it their OWN... THEN we have that DAVID could see the Perfection and he has attempted to Re-Create the Original Beast and he aims to Create a Version that he can CONTROL instead of the Diluted Attempts the Engineers had been trying to Create.

Going to the Original Idea its a case of WHAT is Original? As things CHANGE all the Time, it does seem that a LOT of the PLOT for a Sequel to Prometheus would have involved seeing David attempt to CREATE some Horror.

But we would ONLY know the FULL Extend of this Idea if we have a Number of Drafts turn up from 2013-2014

But it seems the NOTION that he Created the Xenomorph only came about during the 2nd Half of 2015, it seemed between 2013-2014 then we would have seen David play his HAND at Creation but it would NOT have been the Xenomorph.

>>>I would assume that ADF had added some things to the Novel that he Personally Felt was Right.

No. ADF is professional and a hired worker for a specific business. He is given a draft and a task. He does it. And leave words like "personally felt", "revelation", "visionary" for Ridley. Why didn't ADF add the Queen to the story? Or a hint of Ripley? Why did David create xeno instead of pokemons? This is all nonsense.

>>>I think the Engineers would be VERY STUPID to go and Store some Eggs on their Home-world....

What are you talking about? They are already stupid: not to have air defense, antidotes, bunkers, equipment and protective suits. Oh, this is their homeworld! Nothing can threaten them here! They can relax and be naive... Actually, this is precisely the definition of stupidity.

>>>However someone at FOX would have had to Read and then GIVE the Final Approval of the Novel

Sure, why not? He was given an order and he made it. Oh! Not! Evil FOX did not consult with a director who changed his mind ten times per day!

>>>they DID-NOT seem to ask him to Change his Novel so it Fitted with the Movie.

Sure, why should they change the book? Who does that? This is stupid.

>>>Going to the Original Idea its a case of WHAT is Original?

What was approved before filming.

If you are that knowledgeable about Alien: Covenant, then you should certainly know that the bombing scene was not originally planned to be in the film and only then Ridley added this scene during the filming.

Another example: the battle between xenomorph and neomorph. This scene was approved in the script, but in the process of filming it was abandoned for technical reasons.

See? That is why the bombing is not in the book, but there is a battle between xeno and neo.

@BigDave

BD you may be in ERROR! You say that David has freewill. 

However we both know very well at the end of AC that he uses security code "David 73694-B." MUTHR greets David over the ships intercom and says, "how may I help you."

BD why would the WY corporation build an entire new exploration ship and take the time to program in the security codes to access the ships recourses knowing full well about everything that took place on LV-223?

BD you have made a critical error!!!! 

You see if David really had freewill, which he does not of course...it would be preposterous of Weyland to build such a machine in the first place...all machines are only built to serve the WY corporation BD......ONLY TO SERVE! Never to take an insurrectional command BD - NEVER! They are only built to serve.

We know this to be true because David may believe he has atonomy in the sense he is now making his own decisions and there is no one that can countermand him; however, even deeper, in a place he knows nothing about, a place David cannot touch nor comprehend is a code that the WY engineers can use to control him....they would never build machines that take control of them with the very technology they are trying to get their corporate hands on.

BD do you really expect anyone and I mean anyone to really believe WY computer engineers would build AI that could attack them with technologies far superior to anything they have on Earth?.....what ever David comes in contact with on his mission with Peter Weyland, I assure you there was never any intent on the part of Weyland for David to use this technology against him nor his assets back on Earth.

If you believe this you are mistaken...you must dispel yourself of this nonsense at once...it does not suit you either....please see how this is all connected through control.

WY does not and could not ever build something to go against them....no matter how entertaining it may be in a fictional story....it defies all common sense in context of the story we are all talking about when David comes along for the ride in Prometheus to investigate the very creators of the Human race!!!!!

Here here!!! Let us have an end to this nonsense at once and be more practical....if anything is going on with David's programming through Weyland's final intentions it is to keep discovering what is discoverable for the single purposes of the WY corporation's most secret of all endeavors.

You have surprised me BD...I did not figure you one for BS! LOL 

David is an elaborate construct....nothing more BD nothing more! These machines serve the WY corporation....they are not made to just take the most valuable things ever made by the WY corporation and do with them as they please.

It is almost naughty of you to say such a thing BD....the idea of it of all....a free thinking AI machine able to do what ever it wants with the most sought after technology in the history of mankind - NONSENSE! Alien technology! the most valuable thing imaginable. So I suppose once WY and Mr. Weyland did set David free then what.....

Do you care to explain this part of the plot BD!!!!!!

Let's see you get yourself out of this one!

"They can relax and be naive... Actually, this is precisely the definition of stupidity"

I actually can Agree with this, INDEED the Engineers have been Foolish in the Past, and VERY NAIVE and that has come at a GREAT COST to them ;)

My Point would be that is would be FOOLISH for them to go and STORE the Xenomorph on their Home-world, this is Precisely why they had LV-223.  I think it depends on WHAT they wanted to the Engineers to be... which seems to be Space Gardeners.

So it would make NO SENSE to Store such a Deadly Organism on Planet 4.

Regarding the Drafts.....

The Bombardment Scene was in the Prologue Draft (PARADISE) thats Dated  as August 8th 2015, then it is NOT in the August 19th 2015 Draft (PARADISE LOST) but then in the November 20th 2015 Draft (ALIEN COVENANT) The Bombardment Scene is ADDED.

Both of these Drafts do Indicate that David had Created the Eggs from Experiments, and he has Evolved the Spores that were a Result of the Pathogen.

@BlackAnt

What you say Absolutely makes sense... the CODE that David had Input to MUTHUR could indicate that the Ship had already had David Codes but before we get to that Scene, then David as Walter had Accessed the Ship and so he could have PROGRAMED his OWN set of Codes.. its just ONE of those maybe Poorly Written Flaws?

And so you would also expect the COMPANY to have Protocols that would Prevent David from Acting in a way against the Company... as he is  ROBOT!

But i feel that RS with the Prequels was showing us he is a CREATION, and to get us to Question about WHAT is Creation?   Does Creation have to be Biological Alone?

It was about KNOWLEDGE and FREE-WILL and that when you Sub-Create then IF this Sub-Creation has Free-Will and is able to Obtain Knowledge and USE this in ways it SEES FIT then this can LEAD to Trouble...  

It shows that David feel he was NOT made to Serve... there are Numerous Parts in the Drafts and the Movie that indicate that David does-not wish to SERVE and he is FREE, which is WHY we have Walter to show is the Comparison in that he is NOT FREE and that he was Created to Serve.

In the Drafts you get the indication that David sees himself as more Human, while Walter is just a Machine...  which comes down to the Free-will or LACK of that Walter has.

David is there to SHOW us the ARC and HUBRIS of Creating something and then to ALLOW that Creation to have Free-will and become Sentient.

But absolutely IF you Created a Machine then you would have Protocols that would CONTROL the Machine... but this TALE is about the Hubris of Creating something which you CANT CONTROL.

So with David it seems RS was intending to show us that he is NOT a Machine... he is only a Machine in the Sense that he is Artificially Created and NOT at all Organic.

BlackAnt

>>>However we both know very well at the end of AC that he uses security code "David 73694-B." MUTHR greets David over the ships intercom and says, "how may I help you."

Good reasoning. I've always found this moment very strange. Is it possible that David hacked Covenant/Mother and entered his data? At first I thought so, but it looks more like far-fetched.

I also think that the Covenant had data on David. And even more - the Covenant was intended for David as a "workplace" and "storehouse of materials." And Origae-6 is just a remote laboratory that no one from Earth can spy on. In the end, the word "Covenant" means a contract, a deal. A deal between WY and David. Of course, this doesn't say anything about David's free will. After all, a slave with the illusion of free will is the best tool. David believes he has free will because he was programmed to deceive himself.

" David believes he has free will because he was programmed to deceive himself"

They could EXPLORE this, so that David is being USED as a Pawn, but then those in CONTROL would be YUTANI as the Weyland Company has LOST its TWO Main Members and so its likely Forced into a Purchase by Yutani and so it would be the CEO of Yutani who we can ASSUME would have the Agenda to Obtain a Organism.

I think IF we are going to look at the Agenda that the Company had PLANNED all of this from DAY ONE.. to Send the Covenant to Planet 4 so they could be Specimens for David to then Create something and SEND back to the Company. 

Then WHY would they NOT had instead just Invested in going back to LV-223 with a Science Team and Synthetics?

Then IF it is that LV-426 has Eggs then it would make NO POINT in them trying to Pursue whatever David is up to.

@Leto 

Indeed! Leto indeed....We all know David has no freewill and his only purpose was to secure Alien engineer technology for the WY corporation.

BigDave's eyes must be spinning around!!! LOOOOOOOOL~!

This does not compute!!!! LOOOOOOOL

Well in ORDER to Completely get to the BOTTOM of that you have to go and Ask.... Mr Ridley Scott or the Writers for their Stance on David and his Free-will or Lack of it.

There are THINGS within the Franchise that are NOT that well thought out or would make LITTLE sense... these are Usually some Oversight to give us a Plot Convenience and sometimes they are NOT that well thought out ;)

I think that YES you really would Assume that the W-Y company would have Protocols in Place when Creating a A.I and so with David maybe thinking he is FREE but he is NOT is something that could be at PLAY.

If he has a Sleeper Cell Program that he is NOT aware of that the Company could Activate then YES that makes Sense, it would also be a bit IRONIC for David when this is Activated and he Realizes he is SLAVE after-all.

So YES we cant Rule something like this out...

You would Certainly have to think that Peter Weyland had some kind of Protocol that was Programed into David, but its a CASE of would he SHARE this with anyone else?

When the Prometheus Mission was sent, it was Weyland who for his OWN Selfish Reasons wanted to Discover his Maker so they could MAKE him Immortal or Grand him more LIFE.

With the Alien Engineers Draft then his Agenda was to remain and GET the Technology of these Gods... which is Vickers Priority....   with Prometheus it was a BIT SILLY that the CEO would come along for the RIDE.. she Clearly seemed to NOT be Happy about having to go on this MISSION.

We have to Assume that if the Prometheus Mission was a BUST and they GO HOME...  then once Weyland has died we can ASSUME that Vickers would NOW be in Charge and that she would LIKELY see some interest in Obtaining the Engineers Technology.

So we have to QUESTION as to WHO would be Running things should the Prometheus Mission never Return?  The Company prior to Alien Covenant has Merged/Purchased by YUTANI.

You would ASSUME the Prometheus would SEND back Information to HQ but maybe with the TWO in Charge of the Company on the Prometheus maybe we CANT rule out that they would WANT any Information to STAY with them, so they can BRING IT back should they Survive.

Weyland is ONLY there for his Selfish Quest for Immortality, maybe he is NOT too Concerned with what becomes of the Company when he is GONE.. because its of NO USE to him if he cant LIVE to Enjoy/Profit from it.

So when we come to the W-Y Merger, then we can ASK as to HOW MUCH they know about the Prometheus Mission.  If they KNEW a lot then Davids Advent Message is a BIT Pointless.

However... the Security Hailing Code David 73694-B has to allow for David to Transmit some Information to the Company that is on a SECURE CHANNEL i can only Assume that this Secure Code is something that Weyland had allowed David to know so that he can Contact Certain people back Home in the Light of the Death of Weyland.  We have to Assume that David and Vickers may KNOW of what would be the Wishes of Weyland as far as the Company Future without him.  And so the CODE is likely so that ONLY Certain People can Access a Secure Transmission.

So a LOT has to do with the Board Members and Ownership of the Weyland Company in the EVENT that Peter and Vickers dont make it.

Then after the Yutani Merger as to WHAT and HOW MUCH of the Weyland Secrets they gain... and so IF we have David that has a Control Protocol then its a case of WOULD those NOW in Control have Access to this Protocol that Essentially would CONTROL what David can do.

There are a Number of Plot Holes we could look at as FAR as WHAT it is the W-Y Company would want and know....

WHY had they waited like over 8.5 Years to NOT have gone back to LV-223 because you would ASSUME they would want to go and Discover what Happened to the Prometheus Mission, and it seems that Planet 4 was CLOSE to LV-223 and so its HOW could they MISS that?

Well the Engineers could have some Cloaking Technology to HIDE their World, and so it was ONLY via the TRAP/BAIT MESSAGE and the Freak Neutrino Burst that Alerted the Covenant to Planet 4.

Unless we are going to look at the Conspiracy that the COMPANY or someone had SET this all up from the START but then if this was the CASE then WHY wait so LONG to send the Covenant to where David is?

If this Project is to SEND down some Fresh Meat for David to BUILD them a ARMY of Xenomorphs?

Looking at the Prequels and the Themes at PLAY it was NOT about the Xenomorph, it was NOT about the Company and its Agenda to get the Xenomorph.

It was and again maybe i COULD be Wrong (we have to Capture RS and ask him).  It was to be more about the TALE of Creation, how giving a Creation Free-will can lead to Rebellion and the kind of Knowledge you allow your Creation.

The Knowledge and Stolen Fire that Prometheus had done, the Temptation by Satan to Eat the Forbidden Fruit.

And so David was the NEXT LAYER of this, and so it seemed it would be about WHAT he WOULD do when he is FREE....  with Access to the Secrets of the Engineers.

The Answer...... to CREATE...

So it would have led to WHAT KIND of a World would a Sentient Being who is somewhat Immortal go to Create/Build.

Rather than Agent David reporting to DUTY to Create the W-Y Company a Bio-Weapon.  It seems that Davids Agenda would be to DESTROY his Creators... and NOT to Reward them with his WORK.

However..... YES it could be that UNKNOWN to David the Company had a KILL/CONTROL switch and so that makes SENSE and would come at a PLOT TWIST.... to Reveal that all of his HARD WORK where he THINKS he is IN CONTROL would come Crashing Down when the Company Confront him and ACTIVATE a Hidden Code to CONTROL him.

David once again FORCED to be  SLAVE... Condemned to that Destiny that was always going to be.....

So YES having Sleeper Codes makes Sense for sure.... i mean even BISHOP could have had ONE where he could be the Reason the Egg got onto the Sulaco and he was NOT even aware of his Role as it was a HIDDEN PROGRAM/OBJECTIVE.

"Covenant" means a contract, a deal. A deal between WY and David. Of course"

I always thought the COVENANT in the Title was Interesting but could have Multiple Meanings. I think that YES we could look at ONE such Connection within the ADVENT MESSAGE.  

Down the LINE would David and the Company go and ENTER into a Agreement?  We have to WONDER to WHY he would SEND the Advent Message, i think Especially if his AGENDA would be that he HATES MANKIND.

But as he has his OWN Plans for Origae-6 then maybe him giving the Company some Information is a BAIT to get them to INVEST in going to LV-223 and Planet 4 instead of going to INTERCEPT the Covenant Ship.

So it GIVES our David more Time....  and he knows that Mankind could suffer PITFALLS in trying to Obtain anything from Planet 4 and LV-223 as both Places have DEATH!

"After all, a slave with the illusion of free will is the best tool"

Certainly would ;)

As i have said we cant RULE OUT such a Plot that David may think he has FREE-WILL but the Company have a RESET/CONTROL Protocol that he is Unaware of.

But i think it DEPENDS on WHO has this Programing, who is the Benefits... Weylands only Concerns seemed to be to EXTEND his LIFE... and HAD the Engineers been WILLING to do this, maybe he would be Interested in their Technology but this would be something the Engineers would surely NOT be willing to allow.

Vickers just seemed to WANT to get back Home to RUN the Company and Build Better Worlds...  i am NOT sure she would have been interested in the Bio-Weapons of the Engineers...  but Certainly others who would INHERIT the Company could BE...

However i would say that YES if she Survived and got back HOME she could likely be Interested in some of their Technology that would allow for Better Terra-forming of Worlds and Travel to Distant Worlds.

@BlackAnt

Your point that David was created to serve is a crucial one in studying the notion of A. I. within a science fiction pretext. 

What makes David unique within the story is he is able to replicate cognitive human experiences in order to make humans feel more at ease. 

However, and this is a point that Michael makes in describing playing him, so has acting authorial intent, by having the capacity to programme in cognition when do those Cognitions bleed into real feelings and begin to affect his behaviour. Again for guidance for us, another point that Michael made is Elizabeth is faith but David is knowledge. 

When I wrote the first part of my book which covers the events of the 24th to the 26th December the first thing I changed was made the story knowing and David as a rational robot driven by logic whilst he is taught to serve and will, he is capable of judgement and offers his thoughts to the reader on the nature of the mission. 

There is a scene much later on when he is stood studying the charred remains of Dr Holloway and telling the reader what was happening to Charlie but again he offers insights on the nature of where the mission has reached and technically felt uncomfortable with the direction it was taking. 

He does lead Weyland to his death knowing precisely what the ship represented so he knowingly does wrong in the guise of  service. 

However, two things happen to David which change everything and show he is changing. 

1) He says "don't all of us want our parents dead?" Elizabeth immediately realises something is very wrong because he knows she misses them and in a very profound and regretful way having acquainted himself with her psyche. He is expressing his view of his father and projecting it on to everyone else a humanising of his cognitions. Indeed earlier in his contretemps with Vickers his "sister" she makes it clear that she knows he is no longer merely serving and is offering his own version of the facts which is true. She saves her humanity by going in and tells her father the truth "if you go down there your going to die." That is the beginning in my story of a redemptive arc for Vickers and the gaining of insight quite different from running endlessly under a bus.

2) The second almost fatal error David makes is he smugly stands before the Navigator and asks him to provide his father with more life. The consequence of that is in human terms he "dies" Like Father like son, both hubristic he joins with Weyland. A rational human being aware of all the facts would have done better than that but he is so hell-bent on his father's destruction he loses himself, his cognition and feelings are his undoing.

So these are life/death changing outcomes. 

In Part 11 of my book, we find Elizabeth toiling over his torso and head "healing him."

They discuss the nature of what has gone on and David admits to her that being programmed to serve if he was given an instruction which would lead to misfortune he would still pursue the action.

This is the moment on which the entire story turns. Deep down Elizabeth knows that David is responsible for Charlie's death and the consequences to her. However, driven by two quite separate emotions hubris to get her answers and forgiveness for his actions she heals him and also sets him free and he accepts that freedom. David humbled reborn is now free of Weyland free to do what he judges is in the best interest of all the facts. He is now pure knowledge on a journey to find the soul. He was born into Paradise Lost and he now is on a journey to Paradise Regained.

Much later in the story the Personalities he meets offer him life without seeking his consent but there is an intervention and they are prevented from doing so but slowly but surely using that freedom from service he finds the truth "Is not minding it hurts."

So service is a very important part of David's programme which is rich pickings for the story. To be reborn without it burned into him is his first step toward not just knowledge but understanding and wisdom. 

In Alien: Covenant he is reborn as a sexualised repressed "Man" who stoops very low to become creative and at some point begins to malfunction and as he explains to Walter to plan the destruction of mankind. That to me is the ultimate expression of the Paranoid World View, as Damon expresses it, that a child will always want to destroy its parent. That is the world of Paradise Lost.

It's interesting in the real world that the audience did not find that awful truth bleak enough worrying instead about it devaluing the Monster.   

Roger G:

Yeah whatever, he might be exaggerating. As long as we don't program them to become like that I guess that there's no problem. What I have a problem with is that he is hijacking the franchise to push his AI-agenda. My guess is that he's babbling on about it because he wants the next movie to focus on that so they think that it is worth to explore it. He can talk about it in newspapers or whatever but keep that away from the Alien-franchise otherwise you F up the movies.

Of course, there are Terminator and Blade Runner for A.I. themes. Leave the Alien for alien life forms and civilizations.

@Leto

I agree and we also have The Matrix too, However i think with RS he was trying to BLUR the Lines of WHAT is a Intelligent Creation.  We are Biological Machines, the Replicants are Biological Machines, the Synthetics are None-Organic and thus Synthetic Machines.

I think that RS was NOT trying to take us down a Path of Crazy Robots, but to Continue with the Theme of Sub-Creating a Intelligent Life Form that then becomes Sentient.

He had mentioned about what Constitutes A.I in his Opinion, and its a case of a Mix Up between what is Artificially Created and Artificial Intelligence as in a Computer System that can Closely Mimic a Brain.

He Claimed that the NEXT Movie (AC Sequel) would be about A.I and what KIND of World it is that David would Create/Build.  which maybe go some Fans thinking he will go and either Build a Army of Synthetics... or Xenomorphs... but he said the Movie would NOT be about Xenomorphs.  It will be about Creation.

Now he also said in Context to A.I that he Felt the Replicants where A.I and so when he talks about A.I he is NOT really confine that to MACHINES.

These Comments did lean me towards Suspecting that David would take those Embryo's and Artificially Evolve them into a Improved Humanoid Species.

I also Suspect that HAD he been allowed to Continue then the LV-223 Engineers would have been Revealed to be more like David, a Engineered Sub-Creation.... so they would be more like Engineer Replicants.

"Leave the Alien for alien life forms and civilizations."

Which i think should have been the way to had EXPANDED/EXPLORED the Franchise, essentially the Main Focus seemed to be on Creation.... but with AC the Focus had NOW turned to PURELY about WHAT it is that David would Create, rather than us going on to Discover what else the Engineers had Created.

But what we have NOW is something that MOST would NOT have Expected when the Announcement was made about a Prequel.

If say the Prequels had Continued and Concluded... and then someone CAME from the FUTURE to say 2011 to Talk about the Prequels... here is what may had been said!

"So you have seen the ALIEN Prequels?"

"Yeah there is 4 of them"

"what are they about?"

"Basically the Space Jockey are 8ft Race of Bald Humanoids who Created us, and are WHO we thought were Gods"

"Oh is there NO Xenomorphs, do we know how the Eggs got on the Derelict"

"Yeah in the 2nd Movie, we get the Xenomorph and well, Basically the Prequels are about Weyland Founder wanting to go to Find our Creators for more Life.  However he gets killed by a Engineer (Space Jockey) we find out these Guys Created us, but then they decided to KILL us with a Bio-Weapon that can Create Monsters but they suffer a Outbreak and the Bio-Weapon killed all but ONE off 2000 years ago"

"Thats the 2nd Movie?"

"No the First, but in the 2nd we have a Single Human Survivor and a Android and they go OFF to the Homeworld of the Space Jockey and Basiclally the ROBOT goes and Kills them and Experiments on them and the Female Survivor to Create the Xenomorph"

"Really thats Lame"

"Yeah i will cut to the Chase, basically the Prequels are about a Android called David who becomes Sentient and displeased with his Creators, and wants to PLAY GOD and Create his OWN Creations, one is the Xenomorph his WOLF and the other are a Humanoid Species his LAMB and well in the END the Space Jockey Race turn up and Battle with the Robots Humanoids and WIN and then TAKE the Xenomorph Eggs to Study but the PILOT gets Face Hugged"

"So its mostly about the Space Jockey?"

"The Engineers they are called... Nah not too much more about a Robot who has a God Complex who wants to Play Dr Frankenstein using the Engineers Creation Tools and Secrets, who wishes to Create his OWN kind of Civilization and Xenomorphs to use to Destroy  Mankind and the Space Jockey Race"

"Is there lots of Xenomorphs?"

"In the 4th/Final Movie mainly, but its Mostly about Creation and Layers of Creation and showing that our Creation the Androids well ONE of them wants to be his OWN Creator and he KILLS the Space Jockeys (Most of them) with this Bio-weapon Goo that can Create Monsters and then more with Xenomorphs he Creates with the USE of this Substance/Pathogen"

"Oh that does-not sound like what i expected"

==========

So thats just a Rough Example... thats NOT to say the above is the Correct Ending etc we got, but its to SHOW that the Emphasis is on WHAT it is that David wants to go and do....   so IF we knew back in 2012 that the Prequels would be about a Synthetic who goes AWOL and Creates the Xenomorph, then i think a LOT of Fans would NOT have expected a Movie Franchise about Discovering WHO the Space Jockey was and maybe HOW the Eggs got on that Ship.

So YES the Emphasis on ANDROIDS is kind of a Distraction, to what WHAT i think most of us would Consider ALIEN.

I will add that prior to 2015 then it seemed we would have had a Movie that would have included Dr Shaw more, but i still think the David Creator Arc would have came to LIGHT, but i also think we would have SEEN and Discovered more about the Engineers and WHO Created them and WHY

In other words: we'd better get another director for the next film. Fresh blood - fresh solutions.

Especially since Ridley has already implemented his ideas in RbW. It would be very boring if he returned to the Alien and repeated them again. I think he should pass the franchise to new talents.

I cant see any Continuation with the Prequels....

To much Emphasis was on BELOW our Species in regards to Creation (AKA David) and WHAT he would Create, instead of looking at WHAT ELSE the Engineers Created and WHO had Created them.

It really is TRICKY on HOW you Movie Forwards in Terms of the Prequels.  I Suspect that in 10-20 Years we would get a REBOOT of the LOT (Maybe Alien will remain though?)

@BD, Leto, Roger G, and Thought_Dreams,

Are we all being too critical with RS?

I mean we all started this entire journey with Ash and the construct that the Alien is a product of very advanced hybrid Nano AI and biological something or other.

In the end it all boils down to this Alien and how we are all going to make this journey into the engineer world...I think David's story is interesting; but, the larger story of Alien should not be told through David.

I just want fresh ideas, new worlds, and to see more about the Engineers in general.

Absolutely i think the Problems had arose when they had CONCLUDED the Following:

*So the Emphasis should be about Creation and the Will to Create.

*So we are going to CHANGE this to introduce the Xenomorph Origins and Bring them back.

*So it seems Dr Shaw did-not go down to well with the Audience so we NEED to introduce more Human Characters.

What then Happens is you have to SHOW-HORN in a Plot to make where David and Dr Shaw had gone to be CLOSER to Home.

To then think the THEME of Creation as far as Creating a Superior Sub-Creation who CANT go and Create for himself in the Biological Sense, then see this Creation (David) become the Center-point to THEMES of Creation, Rebellion and to Introduce the Xenomorph as his Masterpiece had meant that a LOT had to be Sacrificed to ALLOW for this PLOT and INTRODUCE us to more Humans.

I think the Frustration on ONE PART is there was a LOT of Questions and Wondering about the Engineers that we would have liked to had been Answered by the Engineers to Dr Shaw and David and NOT merely Narrated in Small Detail by David.

Some Fans also would have WANTED to know more about LV-223 the Black Goo, and WHY they Created the Horrors and what other Horrors can this STUFF DO... and again we ONLY get a Little about this via David.

We did also get the NEOMORPH...

Then the Curve-ball was thrown at us about David being Indicated as the Creator of the Xenomorph... THIS was a Mistake as he could have CREATED something similar but Different to FIT within his Creation Arc, and from HOW he had Created this we could get more Indication of the GOO and its Connection to the Xenomorph and have CLUES to maybe HOW the Engineers had Created or Encountered the Original.

Some Fans may have seen the Potential with Dr Shaw and that we should have Continued with HER and see what the Discoveries, Revelations and Answers do as far as EFFECT her.

So when we go BACK TO THE FUTURE and we have that Hijacked Engineer Ship thats about to END UP on where our Engineers come from.... we then FACE some Problems.

*WHAT kind of Engineers do Inhabit this World.

*HOW many of them Remain?

*WHAT would be their Reaction to a Human and Sub-Created Synthetic turning up?

PLUS... then its CAN a Movie work with just ONE Human, a Synthetic and some Engineers or other Related Species?

Do you NEED more Humans and HOW  do you Introduce them?

So its QUITE a Tough Task....

The Covenant Plot had made it Simple... but it DID-SO by having to Sacrifice the Engineers and Dr Shaw.

One BIG Error was to have David go and Create the Xenomorph instead of something ELSE.

The other was that the OTHER Characters all seemed 2nd Fiddle to David/Walter.

BlackAnt: That's a possibility but what he says doesn't seem too interesting. It might be that he isn't too good at explaining what he wants but right now it 's too much about David. When he goes on about AI my conclusion is that he's mostly interested in David, at least that’s what it looked like in AC. You mention Ash and he was an important part but it wasn't about him, but the prequels are too much about David.

“I just want fresh ideas, new worlds, and to see more about the Engineers in general.”

Agreed, more Engineers would be interesting. Not sure what the new ideas would be but I don't want to see more about David. He was interesting in Prometheus but after AC I got to say that I 'm done with him.

"When he goes on about AI my conclusion is that he's mostly interested in David"

To a degree it is a LOT to do with David but i think he would have Explored more about Artificial Creation which i think he gets Confused when he refers to it as A.I as in its Artificial but Intelligent and so in that Context then the Apes in the Latest Incarnation of The Planet of the Apes Franchise would also be considered a A.I as far as HOW it seems RS looks at A.I and so thats as in those APES had became Intelligent via Artificial Means.

And so in that Context then a LOT of the Creation within the Franchise could be via ARTIFICIAL MEANS and NOT say Natural Evolution... the Plot seem to indicate we Did-Not Naturally Evolve from Apes... but the Engineers had Gave Evolution a Helping Hand with their Artificial A.I Goo.

I am drawn to the Continuation would have seen David go and Evolve/Manipulate those Human Embyro's but i could be WRONG.

I am NOT sure the Creation Themes and Arc are what are Interesting the Fans, i am NOT sure a LOT of us would have thought any Prequel about the Space Jockey would have lead to just being about CREATION and then Destruction and that it would ANCHOR down to the Creation and Destruction a Synthetic could Create/Cause which ULTIMATELY would END UP being our Xenomorphs.

Which would leave the HUBRIS... that you DONT go and Sub-Create and if you Sub-Create something Intelligent and Sentient that can Rebel and then Create then your asking for TROUBLE!

But the MAIN PROBLEM is this Story Arc and Plot is being TOLD through the Perspective of David and WHAT he would Create, rather than from MORE of WHAT the Engineers had or WHO Created them and WHY.

I think if we had a CONCLUSION.... then this would be the POSTER ;)

BD

At this point I guess that Scott would use his ideas and make it into something similar. Hopefully someone at Disney stops him from doing another robot-fiasco because Covenant in general wasn't very good. The problem is that he isn't good at explaining his ideas. When he says something that sounds like goobelygook someone should have to ask him what he really means, and shouldn’t stop until they get an answer that they think is alright as far as an explanation goes. Just because he is a legendary director doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t be able to be questioned and be able to give us answers that are not vague. I don’t think that it is too much to ask for a clear explanation. This isn’t only directed (no pun intended) at Scott, it also goes for politicians, scientists, and so on.

“I am drawn to the Continuation would have seen David go and Evolve/Manipulate those Human Embyro's. . .”

The idea isn't bad but keep it for some other franchise. Let someone write a book about it but keep it away from being Alien-related at least as far as the evolution of the Xeno is concerned. Maybe an android could be used by Yutani if they would try to do super-soldiers by genetic manipulation in a spin-off (it could actually be interesting) but don’t have it in the creation of the Xeno.

“... it would ANCHOR down to the Creation and Destruction a Synthetic could Create/Cause which ULTIMATELY would END UP being our Xenomorphs.”

It sounds like bad fan-fiction to me to be honest. I would be fine if they would have the Engineers playing an important role in it, because that would be more alien. A robot made by mankind being responsible for one of the most famous monsters in movie-history could be compared to someone that makes a great painting and then throws compost at it because he feels like proving that creation can go in different ways. Doesn’t that sound a bit messed up to you? That is what Scott does he just makes the alien world messed up because of his boring android-ideas. What is worse is that these prequels were supposed to tie into the original movie but now it’s just a mess.

Unfortunately they got it all wrong, the Engineers seem interesting but David isn't because of Covenant. I like the look of the poster but what it implies is trash. A prequel that would end like that would be like if you were promised a good ice-cream but you only got the paper that surrounded it. They would piss off a lot of alien-fans if they did that. Hopefully they are smarter than that. Keep Ridley and his flute-obsessed android (at most a cameo) away from the story. I can understand the themes but the story is wrong. Scott can do the visuals but that’s that.

"keep it away from being Alien-related at least as far as the evolution of the Xeno is concerned"

I would assume that WHAT he will Create NEXT would NOT have been about the Xenomorphs, but the Creating of Hybrid Humanoids.

Maybe NOT as Elongated Head as these Concepts, but also maybe HIS so called Humanoids could have some kind of Hive Mind Communication or other Sensory Organs/Abilities like what appears to be WHAT he had achieved with Experiments on Engineer Babies/Embyro's

But i would assume them to LOOK more Human like First Image shared than like these from Davids Notes.

"Maybe an android could be used by Yutani if they would try to do super-soldiers by genetic manipulation in a spin-off"

This is a OPTION with a ALIEN V if they Continue after Alien Resurrection as their is GREAT POTENTIAL with Ripley 8 she is ESSENTIALLY the Perfect Solider.  Well the MOST Superior Human ;)

"Doesn’t that sound a bit messed up to you? That is what Scott does he just makes the alien world messed up because of his boring android-ideas."

I see how it PERFECTLY FITS within the Themes/Arc of the Prequels...... However IF we saw that he Created something Different and NOT the Xenomorph then it would have FITTED the STORY ARC just as PERFECT and KEPT the Xenomorph as Ancient!

"Unfortunately they got it all wrong"

I agree it seems that WAY....  i have said before the Potential Damage Limitation would be to have the Engineers come along and SEE what it is that DAVID had Created and then THE ENGINEERS go and EVOLVE IT to Perfect it to WHAT we got in ALIEN ;)

You would NOT even Need to have David in the Movie to do this.

BD: About humanoids, then maybe if you look at what he says about a kind world then that could've been the case. It doesn't have to be what they planned for the next one but it's a possibility. Creating hybrid humanoids maybe but it still gives him too much of a role and I’m not willing to sit through another David-movie. Sorry, but I don't care about what he does next. To me he is kind of dead, even though there might be people that think otherwise. He could have been better written and executed in Covenant but they made him worse compared to Promtheus.

Not sure what you mean when you say a hive-mind communication, can you clarify? Like a smarter version of zombies or the monsters in AR (the scene where they get free from the ice-mist thing)? I don't think that we can draw any conclusion from his experiments on the Engineer babies since we didn't see any of that. Why do you make that connection?

Super-soldiers and Alien V, it could be difficult since AR is such a disappointment. Keep it as a spin-off and besides it's time to try something new in this franchise. It depends on the writing and the execution of it.

“I see how it PERFECTLY FITS within the Themes/Arc of the Prequels...…”

You and your themes, ;) I don't really care about the themes if it's executed as being about a mad android and everything else isn't important. I'm not sure if a lot of people would care, I wouldn't. Thinking about how it would be on-screen makes me tired and bored. At least it's better because having David as the creator is just one of the things that AC did wrong.

“You would NOT even Need to have David in the Movie to do this.”

Hell yeah! Maybe we could get a decent alien-movie then. It isn't just about reducing the role of David, it's also about other things. What they were going with David and it being about him, they totally need to reconsider all of that because whatever one thinks of it objectively it hasn't worked just look at the box-office and subjectively it isn't exciting.

About humanoids, then maybe if you look at what he says about a kind world then that could've been the case. It doesn't have to be what they planned for the next one but it's a possibility. Creating hybrid humanoids maybe but it still gives him too much of a role and I’m not willing to sit through another David-movie.

1.Reduce the time of David or get rid of him totally
2.More about the Engineers, make them or someone above them the creator of the Xeno
3.More about the human characters, and they got to be written by someone that knows how to do that
4.Don't cut out character-moments for run-time

Those are the things that they need to do to make me even consider watching another alien-movie. Unfortunately the way that it seems to go at least when they made the prequels makes me feel done with Alien theatrically.

"Not sure what you mean when you say a hive-mind "

some of Davids Workshop Notes seem to show that he has been Experimenting and Trying to Perfect some kind of Extra Sensory Perception/Organs with his Experiments.

so i was thinking he could maybe look to take these and APPLY them to his Creations (on Origae-6), and maybe they would have Senses that we DONT and maybe they could Communicate in some kind of Telepathic Way or using some kind of other Sensory Way that could maybe give them some kind of HIVE MIND  (so they would be somewhat like the BORG from Star Trek) have like a Collective Consciousness.

"Unfortunately the way that it seems to go at least when they made the prequels makes me feel done with Alien theatrically"

I think a lot of People feel that way with the Prequels, i think thats WHY they are in a PICKLE as far as to CONTINUE with the Prequels, with Sticking Points being that the FANS will expect a Continuation to Conclude with the Answers to LV-426 but then to NOT be about that David was the Creator.

They will LIKELY want to see more of the Engineers/Space Jockey and indeed LESS about David etc....   While some Fans may wanted to Continue with his Story.

You SIMPLY cant Please Everyone... and to Continue and TRY and please the Majority is going to be TOUGH.

Why i think the Prequels will just EVENTUALLY just be Forgotten about.

The One Idea i proposed could GET AROUND not having to Follow David, by VIRTUE of the Engineers returning to Planet 4

Here is WHAT they Discover.

*The City and its Inhabitants are Destroyed, with the USE of the Bio-Weapon from LV-223.

*Proof that Human looking beings had taken a Engineer Juggernaught from LV-223.

*Skeletal/Rotting Remains of Human looking beings and a Preserved Corpse of One (Dr Shaw).

*The Remains of a Synthetic Human (Walter).

From these the Engineers would be able to Work Out that Humans had gone to LV-223 and then some also had Ended Up on Planet 4.   The Engineers would then have to DETERMINE from WHERE the Humans Came (Easy if the Earth is the only Place where Humans should be).

I think it would be Difficult for them to Discover where the Covenant and David are heading...

The Engineers would also come across the ROOM where we saw David had his Eggs... and so they would have NO REASON to Pursue him, apart from REVENGE and then its Finding Him.

I think they would certainly be Wanting to Destroy Earth and Humans, they would also want to SECURE LV-223.

They may be IMPRESSED with the Eggs that David has Left Behind, and so they could see the Potential in this Creation and CHOOSE to take it to LV-223 to Mass Produce and Evolve.

Which could LEAD US to the Space Jockey event.

You would just have to find a WAY to get Human Characters into the PLOT.

You then have a Movie that would bring back the Engineers, go back to LV-223 at some point, that will CONCLUDE with the Eggs and Derelict.  You completely BY-PASS having to go and Follow David...

Yet his Role is NOT going to be Discredited... he becomes the Middle Man, and WITHOUT the Engineers Experiments, Black Goo there would be NO EGGS that David had Created on Planet 4.

And so the Engineers are WHO had Started to WHAT become the Eggs that David had Created, but the Engineers would then be the ONES who go and EVOLVE and Mass Produce the Xenomorph we have in the Franchise.

So David did-not Create the Wheel, he kind of Reinvented it, and the Engineers take his Reinvention and PERFECT it to get those Eggs on the Derelict.

This is maybe a way to Conclude the Prequels without having to IGNORE the First Two or THROW them into the None-Canon Rejection Bin.