[Closed] New Alien/ Prometheus film

No action?
I got excited when she choked

[url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/alien-covenant-trailer ]Cool thread.[/url]

Edit: All I could think was Kenny Powers in space.
[i]" No actually I don't. I play real sports, not try to be the best at exercising!"
[/i]

I watched the other trailer.... Damn

I got excited when she choked

I was hoping for another alien exploding out at dinner scene, but it wasn't to be....

It looks a lot like Alien IMO, hope it is better than Prometheus which was a mess,

donkey balls

I think thats being kind!

This one already looks better.

It looks a lot like [s]Alien[/s] a mash up of alien alien 2, Prometheus IMO, hope it is better than Prometheus [s]which was[/s] but it will still probably end up being a mess,

Is what every one is thinking.

So if im reading the trailer correctly, there's a new "David" on the Covenant mission and the hooded character we briefly see is probably the "old" dismembered David who's managed to rebuild himself? Or maybe Shaw?

Nice little featurette I thought, it left me cautiously hopeful for the film (though I reckon Neill Blomkamp's outing will be better).

Pfffftt..

I didn't mind Prometheus, I missed the initial hype and caught it on Bluray long after most people were calling it a stinker, I forgave the silly moments in the script and the slightly odd story - what I couldn't forgive was how the makers went to such massive lengths to make an 'Aliens' film that didn't have the Aliens in it.

It felt like they were so angry about being forced to make it (it's said that Ridley Scott had little interest in it, tried to sub out the directing to a TV ad director but was contracted to do it in exchange for green lighting something else) that they went out of there way to deliver the bare minimum of Alieness.

I hope this one is very good, I like Alien and love Aliens - but I'm already upset about this one. It looks like a kind of Alien reboot which will sit before Alien and after Prometheus- but we likely not reference either directly, and that could be good, but because of this film the people who own the Alien franchise pushed back Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium) Aliens sequels, featuring Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn from Aliens and forgetting about Alien3 the that seems like the better film to me.

Nice little featurette I thought, it left me cautiously hopeful for the film (though I reckon Neill Blomkamp's outing will be better).

Unlikely to happen now, apparently.

Ain't we dond dis ?

Looks like a Force Awakens style reboot whilst also a sequel/prequel. The kind of thing I would expect Ridley Scott not to do......

Looks like a Force Awakens style reboot whilst also a sequel/prequel.

It could be, but I don't think we can assume anything from the prologue. About the only thing we know is it's an ensemble cast. It's just a short to set the scene, the actual film could go in any direction it likes; being colonists it could be a heartwarming film about the touching relationships between families far away from home. Erm, maybe.

The last I heard, the planet they're going to colonise is the one seen in Prometheus, so by rights it's a sequel to that if anything.

I've just thought, there is one plot hole here.

In Alien, were they not the first people to encounter the aliens? How's that going to work if our merry band of heroes discover them earlier?

Cougar don't they mention that other terra farmers had discovered bugs of huge size like cockroaches? Could be similar timelines or maybe it was covered up or Ripley hasn't been found yet as she was drifting around for ages.

I've just thought, there is one plot hole here.

In Alien, were they not the first people to encounter the aliens? How's that going to work if our merry band of heroes discover them earlier?

Could be as simple as 'the company' did know about the aliens, but didn't tell anyone? At what point n Alien did the company know they wanted a specimen collected? After Ash reported back, or did they know about it when they woke the crew up for the 'rescue mission' to investigate the distress signal?

In Alien, were they not the first people to encounter the aliens? How's that going to work if our merry band of heroes discover them earlier?

EDIT Dammit angeldust!

Could be similar timelines or maybe it was covered up or Ripley hasn't been found yet as she was drifting around for ages.

Hmm, potentially. Prometheus was set 30 years before Alien, and I was assuming Covenant was set between the two. But in fact, it only has to be somewhere between Prometheus and Aliens, they're the first colonists.

Ripley was adrift for 50 years and when she was found, LV-426 had had families living on it for "years." That doesn't leave a vast amount of time to establish other colonies if Covenant is post-Alien, unless we assume that other colonies were set up not long after.

Could be as simple as 'the company' did know about the aliens, but didn't tell anyone?

Yeah, that's a good point. Though - why would WU build a colony on LV-426 if they knew at that point that the aliens were there? Could be a breeding programme I suppose, but that doesn't make sense when they sent the Sulaco to capture one for study.

I suppose we can assume WU knew of the aliens, but not much else. If Covenant wipe out all the aliens in their movie, they won't know where any of them are until we trip over them in Alien. Does the Nostromo actually communicate back to Earth at any point to tell them what they've found, I don't remember? If not, the first they'll have heard of the presence there is when they defrost Ripley.

Does the Nostromo actually communicate back to Earth at any point to tell them what they've found, I don't remember? If not, the first they'll have heard of the presence there is when they defrost Ripley.

In Aliens they don't seem to know anything about it other than what Ripley is telling them.

But apart from the Xenomorphs, in that Covenant clip they're talking about some giant bugs that have been found - I'm sure in Aliens everyone is sceptical because no other life has been found yet?

It felt like they were so angry about being forced to make it (it's said that Ridley Scott had little interest in it, tried to sub out the directing to a TV ad director but was contracted to do it in exchange for green lighting something else) that they went out of there way to deliver the bare minimum of Alieness.

Perhaps this sequel will explain why in the future, despite the huge advances in technology, the IQ of humankind dropped so dramatically. I'm guessing it's contagious since the Engineer woke up took one sniff and went mental. Still going to watch it though at least it will look beautiful.

Cougar - Moderator
I've just thought, there is one plot hole here.

Given the utter balls up they made of Prometheus I reckon if they just manage to have the one plot hole it's a job well done.

atfer watching that, not feeling optimistic - retreads of Hitchcock, Wes Craven, Sam Rami and nods to Mr Ridley's own back catalogue - at least mr fassbender is back playing Peter o toole 😀

Said that last time and stick by it.... Hopefully Danny McBride will be an early cocoon chest buster

So long as the Company keep to their ship staffing policy of a couple of scruffs doing it for the money, a captain capable of making bad decisions with gravitas, a cat, a neurotic guy, one or two ladies wearing only space-undies during emergencies and a wholesome type who turns out to be an evil robot

I'll be happy enough.

^^^^

Do you think they might even arrange some jocks v nerds style tension on the mess deck? I'm not sure they've ever used that plot cliche before...

I have to say it all looks a bit tired. Alien was brilliant in the way it ramped up the tension with only glimpses of the creature. Jaws, albeit more by accident as the shark never properly worked, got it spot on and was the precursor to it.

With the new film, I watched the trailer and just came away feeling why would I bother going to see it. So Billy Crudup and the team on the landing craft will die early doors when it explodes. Any sense of tension or buy into the characters story arc is effectively lost for me. The Prometheus trailer was the same. Showing the best bits might be a marketing mans dream but a few mins into Prometheous and I found myself waiting for the engineer ship to crash.

The suggested follow up to Aliens with Ripley, Newt and Hicks is the film I would much rather see to be honest. All of the post Aliens films have been piss poor.

I'd much rather see Ridley Scott step away from the series and do more great films like The Martian.

Sorry. I don't mean to appear grumpy but trailers showing too much of a film have a spoiler effect for me. Bring back voice over man with a few stills or shots from early in the film.

Cheers

Sanny

In Alien, were they not the first people to encounter the aliens? How's that going to work if our merry band of heroes discover them earlier?

Everyone dies, would be my guess.

It's going to be a let down isn't it 🙁
The last good Alien film was Aliens. I don't know what they can do to revive it and honestly think they should just leave it be. I'll probably still watch it though.

So long as the Company keep to their ship staffing policy of a couple of scruffs doing it for the money, a captain capable of making bad decisions with gravitas, a cat, a neurotic guy, one or two ladies wearing only space-undies during emergencies and a wholesome type who turns out to be an evil robot

I'll be happy enough.

You've almost described Red Dwarf there.

I liked Ms Theron in Prometheus

funkmasterp

I don't know what they can do to revive it and honestly think they should just leave it be. I'll probably still watch it though.

Bad as it was Prometheus did set up an obvious sequel premise which could have been interesting, maybe original. It looks as though they've thrown that out completely. The presence of Fassbender hints at some continuity but I wouldn't be at all surprised if his character turns out to be another android from the same range or the guy on which the android is modeled.

I suppose it pays to keep the creature's origin somewhat vague or mysterious but six films in creating an explanation would be just about the only interesting or vaguely original thing they could do.

Sanny

Alien was brilliant in the way it ramped up the tension with only glimpses of the creature. Jaws, albeit more by accident as the shark never properly worked, got it spot on and was the precursor to it.

Alien is just a haunted house / monster movie set in space. There are a myriad of broadly similar films.

Despite its flawed execution, Prometheus explored some lofty concepts that were nothing short of spectacular. I'm hoping this will expand on that. However, so far it just looks like a remake of Alien.

I do think there is a lot of mileage left in the Alien universe, but it needs to be handled properly, and I'm not sure Scott is the man to do this, any more.

[quote=BigDummy said]
Everyone dies, would be my guess.

Spoiler!

mikey74

Despite its flawed execution, Prometheus explored some lofty concepts that were nothing short of spectacular. I'm hoping this will expand on that. However, so far it just looks like a remake of Alien.

There was nothing original about those lofty concepts though, ancient astronauts , alien terraformers manipulating ape dna etc to make people etc .....all old ideas.

I do think there is a lot of mileage left in the Alien universe, but it needs to be handled properly, and I'm not sure Scott is the man to do this, any more.

I don't think he ever was. A lot of the wider universe hinted at in the film seems to have come from Dan O'Bannon and the production designers.

You may be right about the source of the concepts: the evidence certainly seems to support it.

I also agree that aliens and alien DNA etc aren't exactly new concepts, but the Alien world is relatively unique and I don't think it really matters if it's borrowing concepts from elsewhere. There aren't many films that act as a direct comparison to the Alien universe. Of course, I'm sure I've forgotten some films so I'm happy to be pointed in the right direction.

We all have to remember that Alien came out in 1979.

mikey74 - Member

You may be right about the source of the concepts: the evidence certainly seems to support it.

I also agree that aliens and alien DNA etc aren't exactly new concepts, but the Alien world is relatively unique and I don't think it really matters if it's borrowing concepts from elsewhere. There aren't many films that act as a direct comparison to the Alien universe. Of course, I'm sure I've forgotten some films so I'm happy to be pointed in the right direction.

We all have to remember that Alien came out in 1979.

No, I'm not criticising it for lack of originality, just pointing out that Prometheus doesn't deserve credit for having lofty ideas which it failed to properly explore when there was nothing original about those ideas.

If it was the first work of fiction to posit that idea then it would deserve credit but "ancient astronauts" is just another well established sci-fi trope. It may not be a common theme in mainstream sci-fi cinema but it comes up in countless sci-fi novels and comics.

As for Alien being made in 1979, I don't believe there was any deliberate forward planning in Alien for Prometheus. Prometheus was the perfect opportunity to effectively reboot and expand on the universe of the first films in a meaningful and interesting way. They totally wasted that opportunity and it looks like they are going back to a simple formula for this.

I do think there is a lot of mileage left in the Alien universe, but it needs to be handled properly, and I'm not sure Scott is the man to do this, any more.

Agreed, now some time has passed anyway.

I'm a huge Alien/s fan, but I have to admit as a 'franchise' it's had more misses than hits.

just pointing out that Prometheus doesn't deserve credit for having lofty ideas which it failed to properly explore when there was nothing original about those ideas.

I'm not sure if originality has anything to do with it: I'm not saying the creators of the Alien Universe invented aliens, or even aliens as progenitors of mankind. What I am saying is their take on it is quite interesting and exciting and deserves to be explored more, IMO.

I don't believe there was any deliberate forward planning in Alien for Prometheus.

Probably not, but it spawned a host of sequels, spin-offs, comics that expanded the confines of the original story.

mikey74

I'm not saying the creators of the Alien Universe invented aliens, or even aliens as progenitors of mankind. What I am saying is their take on it is quite interesting and exciting and deserves to be explored more, IMO.

I was just replying to your comment that....

Despite its flawed execution, Prometheus explored some lofty concepts that were nothing short of spectacular.

...so I assumed you're saying it deserves credit for exploring lofty concepts that were spectacular, or indeed lofty concepts in a spectacular way. My main problem with that is that nothing about Prometheus was original. Not the idea of ancient astronauts, not the idea of humans going to alien worlds in search of their makers.....nothing.

The entire plot of Prometheus has already been done many many times. Every bit of it. That in and of itself doesn't make it a bad film - 99% of film plots are derivative, I'm just saying it doesn't deserve any credit for exploring concepts it didn't invent, or explore.

I miss "Newt" Waaahhh

...so I assumed you're saying it deserves credit for exploring lofty concepts that were spectacular, or indeed lofty concepts in a spectacular way. My main problem with that is that nothing about Prometheus was original. Not the idea of ancient astronauts, not the idea of humans going to alien worlds in search of their makers.....nothing.

I'd be interested to see your list of the other films that have covered the same territory as Prometheus and the "engineers".

I miss "Newt" Waaahhh

I always held that the biggest mistake they made with Alien Cubed was killing off Newt. a) it could've been a great handover to a new, younger female lead and b) it completely shat on the entire point of Aliens from a great height.

mikey74

I'd be interested to see your list of the other films that have covered the same territory as Prometheus and the "engineers".

Well I said back there that it hadn't been covered so specifically by mainstream sci-fi cinema but it has been done before in novels and comics.

Saying that, here's wikipedia's list [url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts_in_popular_culture#Movies_and_television_series ]of ancient astronauts in film and tv.[/url] And here's [url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts_in_popular_culture#Novels_and_comics ]novels and comics.[/url] Get back to me when you've watched them all.

Those aren't exhaustive lists either, as far back as 1995 I remember reading a Judge Dredd story set on Mars that basically had the entire plot of Prometheus from start to finish. Discussing it with fellow geeks around that time everyone could cite similar plot lines in other sci-fi.

...but not in films?

mikey74

...but not in films?

Remember Stargate?

Precursors?
Xeno[img] [/img]

I always held that the biggest mistake they made with Alien Cubed was killing off Newt. a) it could've been a great handover to a new, younger female lead and b) it completely shat on the entire point of Aliens from a great height.

Losing Newt was a crap idea for the reasons you state. The original idea for Alien 3 actually seemed really good. As usual studio interference put a stop to that. Although Prometheus was a let down I was actually looking forward to a direct sequel.

Neil Blomkamps take on the Alien franchise could have been good. Saying that his last film, the ultra violent short circuit remake, was a bit meh.

Remember Stargate?

Of course. Good film. I'm not sure it's quite the same thing: Aliens having an influence on the planet is little different to Aliens creating humans. However, I do get your point: I just enjoy the Aliens/Prometheus take on it. I'm not saying they invented the idea, it was just taken somewhere that really interests me.

I like Prometheus. Some problems for sure but I enjoyed it and enjoy rewatching it.

I even think Alien3 was interesting.

As well as Newt I think the Hicks/Prisoners conflict would have been interesting with the suspicion over who was killing everyone

Lifer - Member

As well as Newt I think the Hicks/Prisoners conflict would have been interesting with the suspicion over who was killing everyone

At one point Hicks was supposed to be the main character. I can't remember the specifics but there was a big problem with Michael Beihn.....either he asked for far too much money or he had a scheduling issue, or he was being deliberately stubborn out of loyalty to Cameron, maybe a combination of things.

Apparently he still got paid as much for his likeness being used in Alien 3 as his performance in Aliens.

But apart from the Xenomorphs, in that Covenant clip they're talking about some giant bugs that have been found - I'm sure in Aliens everyone is sceptical because no other life has been found yet?

They have definitely come across Alien life before Aliens... whether they're similar to the aliens we know & love we don't know...

Private Hudson: Sir?
Lieutenant Gorman: What is it, Hicks?
Private Hudson: Hudson, sir. He's Hicks.
[signals to Hicks]
Lieutenant Gorman: What's the question?
Private Hudson: Is this gonna be a standup fight, sir, or another bug hunt?
Lieutenant Gorman: All we know is that there's still no contact with the colony and that a xenomorph may be involved.
Private Frost: Excuse me, sir, a-a what?
Lieutenant Gorman: A xenomorph.
Corporal Hicks: It's a bug hunt.

I always assumed "bug hunt" was just Marine slang for flushing out enemies; ie, a direct contrast to a "stand-up fight."

There was also that line where someone referenced the fact that Ripley had apparently seen and Alien and the response was "Whoopee for her" or maybe it was "whoopee ****ing doo".

To be fair, if someone told you they'd seen an alien, would you go "wow, gosh, really?"

It's entirely possible of course that they have encountered aliens before, just not our Aliens.

A further trailer possibly spoiler heavy.

Like the look of the newest trailer. I enjoyed Prometheus, never understood the hate and am a massive Alien fan so to me, a lot of the hand wringing above is pretty funny. You'll all still go to see it, stop kidding yourselves. Stop getting those panties in a bunch over a sci-fi film and just sit back and enjoy the big angry things eating the small scared things.

I'd much rather see Ridley Scott step away from the series and do more great films like The Martian.

Was with you till this. Martian had the tension of a blancmange and the soundtrack made me want to kill kittens.

Scott has barely made a decent movie since Gladiator

*suspension of disbelief moment*

In Prometheus they set off to LV-223 on the basis of some drawings in a cave on Skye

Peter Weyland is a secret passenger on the trip

The trip goes wrong, the ship is destroyed, I'm assuming none of this gets relayed back to earth so everyone is missing presumed dead

Shaw has survived however and takes off in the engineers space ship

Now...

There are 100 billion stars in the universe, and god knows how many planets orbiting them

Given that earth must assume the prometheus mission went wrong, they probably wouldnt send the next ship to the same location

So they send them to a different location, however by some miracle they happen to run into Shaw as they've both arrived at the same planet

😆

I'm assuming none of this gets relayed back to earth

There you go.

Which can only point to an ulterior motive?..

A bit like the original Alien and Aliens.

nickhit3 - Member
Like the look of the newest trailer. I enjoyed Prometheus, never understood the hate

Stupid plot, borderline retarded characters. Supposedly expert biologist removes helmet and touches alien snake, cartographer dude gets lost, captain takes the ship into the dangerous atmosphere without scanning it first, running in the shadow of rolling object (after c-section 😆 ) rather than simply stepping sideways etc.

That said I am a huge fan of the series, and will probably still watch this.

[quote=Drac ]I'm assuming none of this gets relayed back to earth
There you go.

Yeah they didn't show anything being messaged back in Prometheus but it's not outwith the realms of possibility that David was sending reports back.

However given it was the WU boss on the Prometheus, they might have sent a rescue mission, but that's not what Covenant looks like.

Also, if you were going to choose couples to populate a planet, would this be on the list 😆

[img] [/img]

Scott has barely made a decent movie since Gladiator

A line in the trailer mentions a "large scale" colonisation mission, yet there's only maybe a dozen or so folk, however there's a brief scene in the trailer with the hooded character walking towards what looks like buildings and they're surrounded by what looks like thousands of deformed bodies. Could be there's a whole bunch of folk in stasis on the ship that the facehuggers can have a field day with resulting in lots of xenomorphs!

Scott has barely made a decent movie since Gladiator

However given it was the WU boss on the Prometheus, they might have sent a rescue mission, but that's not what Covenant looks like.

He was dying anyway and if the ship or Davied relay back it's fair to say they probably mentioned it.

A line in the trailer mentions a "large scale" colonisation mission, yet there's only maybe a dozen or so folk,

Maybe they're the first. Is that not mentioned in the previous trailer?

Could be there's a whole bunch of folk in stasis on the ship that the facehuggers can have a field day with resulting in lots of xenomorphs!

Or that.

Given that earth must assume the prometheus mission went wrong, they probably wouldnt send the next ship to the same location

So they send them to a different location, however by some miracle they happen to run into Shaw as they've both arrived at the same planet

Pretty sure I've read somewhere that it is LV-223 they go to in Covenant.

However given it was the WU boss on the Prometheus

Point of pedantry, it wasn't WU in Prometheus, it was Weyland Corporation.

It looks like it'll make about as well thought out and coherent as Prometheus

BTW for anyone who wants to see what we should have had in Prometheus, the original script (before that phallus from Lost dicked about with it) is online if you search for "alien engineers script"

The Martian was one

I hugely disagree, the soundtrack alone was nearly enough for me to switch off.
It was a massive missed opportunity to portray sci-fi isolation in a relatively believable context, instead it felt like a jolly-up. There was almost no concept of the time scales involved. Plus having since found out that storms on Mars are fractionally as violent as portrayed kind of kills the reality for me.

I still hope Scott has some quality to offer, Bladerunner 2 will be defining for me.

Plus having since found out that storms on Mars are fractionally as violent as portrayed kind of kills the reality for me.

It wasn't a documentary. It also wasn't great.

I hugely disagree, the soundtrack alone was nearly enough for me to switch off.
It was a massive missed opportunity to portray sci-fi isolation....

slimjim78

I still hope Scott has some quality to offer, Bladerunner 2 will be defining for me.

Define what? He's not directing it and his filmography speaks for itself, about three good films out of twenty four.

about three good films out of twenty.

mikewsmith

Alien
Blade Runner
Thelma and Louise
Gladiator
Black Hawk Down
American Gangster - enjoyed I remember
The Martian

Even if I agreed for the sake of argument it's still not a great ratio. But I don't agree. Black Hawk down is just complete shit. If someone told me Michael Bay made it I would believe it 100%. Just a glorification of the American military from start to finish.

I saw American Gangster and can't remember anything about it, not a good sign. And I got about half way through the Martian.

Thelma and Louise?