Alien: Covenant/Alien Series thoughts.

  • Want to keep track of this thread?
    Accounts can bookmark posts, watch threads for updates, and jump back to where you stopped reading.
    Create account
Anyone know when this is going to be set? In between movies? After? Modern day? Oh wait, Wikipedia says that it will be set "three decades before the events of the movie Alien". So... we get xenomorphs on Earth prior to the Nostromo even arriving at LV-426?
According to the head of FX:
“Alien takes place before Ripley. It’s the first story that takes place in the Alien franchise on Earth,” said Landgraf. “So, it takes place on our planet. Right near the end of this century we’re in — so 70-odd years from now.”
 
I hope the part about this being set around the same time as Prometheus was some sort of miscommunication, because keeping a Xenomorph outbreak on Earth so secret that nobody in Alien or Aliens knows about it 30 years or 87 years later seems a little hard to swallow. Unless this is in the AvP-verse, I guess.
Every Alien and Predator website does nothing but shit on the AvP movies as if they are irredeemable. Yet this now another Alien project that entirely rips off Dan O'Bannon and Paul Anderson's AvP movie and the ancient alien concepts introduced there. And places the xenomorphs on Earth before the first Alien movie takes place. It's all so tiresome.
 
It smacks of retarded executives where "Aliens on Earth" is too sexy a concept but it isn't at all feasible with budgets. They will have looked at filming in some modern architectural Arab state like Star Trek but found it too hard and expensive. So they'll settle on Thailand and want some mix of future/crowded third-world aesthetics like The Creator.

When they could have done something similar set on a colonised planet. Where they'd not be boxed in on it being Earth with the problems with the timeline. Where ultimately it'd make no difference to the success of the series because "being on Earth" as a concept only really works if it's recognisable as the Earth we currently live on. Whether you say it's Earth in 70 years time or LV 69, if they're indistinguishable from each other so who gives a toss what one it is? It further boxes in the creativity of where future seasons of the show can go. You could literally do anything if it's some far-distant colony. As opposed to Earth.
 
https://youtube.com/watch?v=sgTBZmqrAIAUhh.
I hope the part about this being set around the same time as Prometheus was some sort of miscommunication, because keeping a Xenomorph outbreak on Earth so secret that nobody in Alien or Aliens knows about it 30 years or 87 years later seems a little hard to swallow. Unless this is in the AvP-verse, I guess.
My guess is they're gonna crib hard from a mix between the AvP movies, one of the first rejected scripts from Alien 3 ever made, and the Earth War arc that existed in the comics. We might actually see the Cult of the Immaculate Incubation get thrown in here too.

Given this franchise's desperate retardation to overexplain shit that don't need it, I bet they're going to gurgle that this is why Weyland-Yutani wants these guys and sent the Nostromo once the signal from LV-426 was detected. At least if this is supposed to happen before Alien. Ignore that the simpler and less retarded take was due to dumb luck/suspicion of a big find given highly developed alien life wasn't found for another few years at that point.

I'd not be shocked; some of the comics did dumber shit than this. One I in particular tuned out of involved aliens making onto the moon of Europa somehow.
 
Last edited:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=sgTBZmqrAIAUhh.
I hope the part about this being set around the same time as Prometheus was some sort of miscommunication, because keeping a Xenomorph outbreak on Earth so secret that nobody in Alien or Aliens knows about it 30 years or 87 years later seems a little hard to swallow. Unless this is in the AvP-verse, I guess.
It's painfully predictable how this will go: first episode won't show the Alien except maybe the egg or a facehugger at the end. A lot of talking among chicks talking about nothing. Black and/or Latino sidekick and/or love interest, the mantra "corporations are bad m'kay?" Will be hammered over and over and over again, muh patriarchy, muh trans rights, we finally see the Alien in episode 3 or 4 and it's just a quick shot, and it'll be a 10 episode series with maybe about 10-20 minutes worth of decent action stretched out WITH THE MOST FUCKING ANNOYING FUCKING TV TROPE I FUCKING HATE WHERE SHIT IS GOING DOWN THE PLANET IS ABOUT TO EXPODE ALIEN FACEHUGGER RAPE EVERYWHERE AND THE EPISODE ENDS WITH A CLIFFHANGER ONLY FOR THE VERY NEXT FUCKING EPISODE TO OPEN WITH A LONG BORING CONVERSATION THAT HAS LITTLE IF ANY REFERENCE TO ANYTHING.

FUCK
DISNEY


Which is better Resurrection or Romulus?

Yo mamma.
 
It's painfully predictable how this will go: first episode won't show the Alien except maybe the egg or a facehugger at the end.
It depends on what incompetent feckless retards to write and direct for it, but yeah I can see this as likely. They'll claim it's to build tension, but the real answer is that it saves budget that they're gonna embezzle in catering and burn through due to changing the scripts on the fly.
A lot of talking among chicks talking about nothing.
And so many of them are gonna try to duplicate Ripley and Vasquez it's going to hurt. We might also see rip offs of Machiko from the AvP comics, and Zula Hendricks from the newer Alien comics slop. Hendricks in particular since her backstory is literally she's a crippled black woman who got put down by the Colonial Marines, so hell yeah they're gonna be retarded with that one.

I'm curious on what mixed race nepobaby headcase whose insecure with being half-white they're gonna farm from next.
Black and/or Latino sidekick and/or love interest
They'll push for it, but probably shift to thirst posting in desperation at some point. They've done that with the newest flops after all.
the mantra "corporations are bad m'kay?" Will be hammered over and over and over again, muh patriarchy, muh trans rights,
Yes on the first, much to the hypocrisy of the 150 billion dollar company making this future flop that will get defended for no reason. Iffy on the tranny rights; they're far more likely to just shove like PhilosophyTube or some troon into a bit part for clout at most. I predict more of it will be sobbing about how they're women tbh.
we finally see the Alien in episode 3 or 4 and it's just a quick shot, and it'll be a 10 episode series with maybe about 10-20 minutes worth of decent action stretched out
It'll be bad cgi slop, which is saying a lot, since I think the last three movies look kinda shitty due to the CGI slop. It'll be made far worse however when Disney uses AI to dictate how to change the flow and direction of the show mid shoot.
WITH THE MOST FUCKING ANNOYING FUCKING TV TROPE I FUCKING HATE WHERE SHIT IS GOING DOWN THE PLANET IS ABOUT TO EXPODE
In fairness every film but Alien3 had an exploding facility/ship/planet. It's still boring tbh.
ALIEN FACEHUGGER RAPE EVERYWHERE
Agreed. Find the obsession with the tentacles a bit too Kathy Kennedy for my tastes.
AND THE EPISODE ENDS WITH A CLIFFHANGER ONLY FOR THE VERY NEXT FUCKING EPISODE TO OPEN WITH A LONG BORING CONVERSATION THAT HAS LITTLE IF ANY REFERENCE TO ANYTHING.

FUCK
DISNEY
You forget my favorite possibility. The delusional narcissism of expecting multiple seasons, and then despite assuming that failing to actually make anything that couldn't just be edited down to a really bad 3.5 hour movie at best... AT BEST. Oh, and it getting shitcanned when its numbers die, thus making it end on a cliffhanger.

It did that with Alien Isolation and the AvP game. Colonial Marines did it too, so I fully expect this show to end on a fucking retarded cliffhanger.
 
Which is better Resurrection or Romulus?
I'd go with a comfortable Resurrection on that one but not because it's wholly one way or another but because Resurrection has a few particular elements that work best for me. It has Sigourney Weaver reinterpreting Ripley as the hybrid which I find interesting. She is always good in everything she does. It also has Brad Douriff who is similarly excellent. (His daughter is actually also really good. She played a character called Bart in the Dirk Gently show and was adorably horrifying). The underwater sequence is also a lot of fun. And there is *that* shot with the basketball. Fun fact: the reason that scene cuts so rapidly is because Ron Perlman that fucking idiot, broke character before the director called cut.

The movie is of course not great. The offspring thing, its death, some of the formulaic nature of how it all devolves. Romulus has a number of positives over Resurrection. It's less cheesy ("Who were you expecting - Santa Claus?" line in Resurrection for example or the over the top general). Some of the acting is frankly better in Romulus. I'll take Andy's actor over that guy with the pop-out pistols or other supporting cast. Or if not "better" striking a more realistic tone. The effects in Romulus are good, the facehuggers creepy, the cocoon thing that the xenomorph grows in, the ship design and production values. I've said it previously but Romulus is not so much a bad movie as a flawed one. Taking all the elements as a whole I'd say it's generally better than Resurrection. But those key singular elements in Resurrection - primarily Sigourney Weaver's presence, give it to Resurrection for me.

Also, on the subject of Resurrection, I actually like Wynona Ryder in it, contrary to apparently the entire rest of the world's opinion.

It smacks of retarded executives where "Aliens on Earth" is too sexy a concept but it isn't at all feasible with budgets. They will have looked at filming in some modern architectural Arab state like Star Trek but found it too hard and expensive. So they'll settle on Thailand and want some mix of future/crowded third-world aesthetics like The Creator.
I can't be bothered looking up the exact timelines but I think in the Aliens franchise around the time of this TV show we'd be entering "the oil wars". Maybe they'll use that and we'll see Earth in the throes of widescale energy shortages. Could be pretty atmospheric. Having expressed my concerns about how much sense this will make being set before the first movie, I'll keep an open mind until we know more. The showrunner is apparently the guy who did the Fargo TV show and something called Legion. Neither of which I am familiar with but I vaguely recall people praising the Fargo show.

tbh I kinda like Resurrection, but I had seen City Of Lost Children prior to Resurrection so I was able to laugh at Alien Vs City Of Lost Children
City of Lost Children was more disturbing than any of the later Alien movies. I'll take the Xenomorph over that Santa Claus any day.
 
I want a Generation Kill set in the Aliens universe. Not even a bug hunt, just what the USCM is like when they're not getting picked off in a hive while the ROE prevents them from using their weapons.
One of the most interesting bits of lore I read was a skim of TV tropes describing a series of aliens marine short stories.
1725439924872.png



Basically the big reveal is that that the aliens are not the only threats Marines have to fight and the bug hunt line from aliens is actually referring to non sapient life that marines occasionally need to clean up on isolated planets. There's even the implications that they've encountered unique variants of xenomorphs before but they were literally so different and blown up so thoroughly that they didn't realize it at the time.

It's paints a picture that the verse of aliens for marines is essentially a more casual version of starship troopers, but they are self aware of how shit the jobs can be and there's more robocop corpo backstabbing in the background.

Also it had interesting backstory for the movie marines and Bishop, with a story of him in particular stoping a terrorist attack.


Also Bishop says that the Xenos blood oxidises extremely fast after death, rendering it harmless. Fucking lol, I say Bishop is full of shit.
Id argue it might be a planetary atmosphere thing.




My big problem with aliens covenant is David's motivation for going crazy. I think the movie would have been better if shaw died on the way to the planet via the cryo not being compatible with her physiology and David just going mad with grief and isolation after finally finding someone special and interesting.
 
Given this franchise's desperate retardation to overexplain shit that don't need it, I bet they're going to gurgle that this is why Weyland-Yutani wants these guys and sent the Nostromo once the signal from LV-426 was detected.
"If you like that, you're gonna love this." (mostly swiped from/collected by AvPgalaxy, mostly):
- 8-episode first season, planned to be an ongoing series.
- in the works since 2019, delayed (but also saved) by Disney buying Fox, SAG-AFTRA strike, etc.
- Original movie aesthetics (no holograms), Xenomorphs were not "created half an hour ago" by David.
- Ridley Scott's Scott Free Productions is producing, Noah Hawley has had more conversations with Ridley Scott about Alien than with the Coen Brothers about Fargo. Totally different situation from when he was about to do a Star Trek movie "until someone said, “Well, wait a minute, what are we even doing with this valuable IP? Just giving it to him to make up a story? That’s not how corporate filmmaking works.”" (The Hollywood Reporter)
- Weyland-Yutani is in it, but isn't the main megacorporation. Also, "class warfare with Xenomorphs".
- Digital and practical creatures by Weta
- "Alien is a fascinating story because it's not just a monster movie; it’s about how we're trapped between the primordial past and the artificial intelligence of our future, where both trying to kill us. It’s set on Earth of the future. At this moment, I describe that as Edison versus Westinghouse versus Tesla. Someone’s going to monopolize electricity. We just don't know which one it is. In the movies, we have this Weyland-Yutani Corporation, which is clearly also developing artificial intelligence—but what if there are other companies trying to look at immortality in a different way, with cyborg enhancements or transhuman downloads? Which of those technologies is going to win?" (Esquire interview)
FX is looking to cast a man in his early 30s, open ethnicity, to play “Hermit.” Hermit is a medic with the Army. The prototype they are looking for is Domhnall Gleeson
FX is also looking to cast a woman of any age and any ethnicity to play “Wendy.” Wendy is Hermit’s sister, but stuck in another person’s body. Until now, Hermit believed his sister was killed in an experiment, but comes to realize that she is in fact in this soldier’s body. They are looking for someone who is well muscled and able to do action. FX is also looking for someone with comedy chops. Danai Gurira is the prototype for this role
.
It looks like Alien is looking to cast a man in between 20 and 30 for the role of J.D. Hermit. J.D. Hermit, known as Hermit, is a human Medic for Prodigy Tactical Response, the private military of Prodigy Corporation. Hermit is described as a young man with an anxious temperament, but a good heart. Hermit is struggling to find his way believing himself to be curse as he mourns the loss of his family.
Hermit was particularly close with his 10 year old sister Marcy, who he was told died of cancer. Hermit is driven to help others, but he feels untethered and isolated in his grief. However, in the face of great danger Hermit proves that people have severely underestimated him and that he in fact has the heart of a hero.
Alien is also looking to cast a woman in her mid 20s to mid 30s to play Wendy. Wendy is described as tall, athletic, and androgynous. Wendy is not a human instead she is a “Hybrid”, a superhuman who is essentially perfect. However, all is not as it appears with Wendy as she in fact has the mind of Hermit’s 10 year old sister Marcy. She learns how to live and control this new body under the tutelage of “Synth” scientist Kirsh and human scientist Dame Sylvia.
Wendy eventually becomes a leader to the hybrids and creates the path for a new era of enhanced beings. Wendy, once she reaches full development, will have super strength, speed, and agility combined with the limitless courage of a young mind. Wendy is not only a new being, but a tool of monumental value to the world.
Boy Kavalier – a very young man who is the CEO of a company called The Prodigy Corporation. This company is at the heart of the series, with their experiments and creations leading a new wave into metahuman territory.
Atom Ein – Boy Kavalier’s advisor. He is older but understands manipulation and the way to help achieve larger goals.
Kirsh – synth who acts as a mentor and trainer for Wendy. Slightly older and more highly developed, the character will train Wendy but might have other intentions.
These three pieces of concept art depict planned scenes which all take place during the earlier part of the season. The concept art shows a Weyland-Yutani spaceship, the USCSS Maginot, crashed right in the middle of a city, cutting into the underground levels. The city is controlled by the Prodigy Corporation, a rival to Weyland-Yutani. The next piece depicts two soldiers within an industrial looking room. They’re approaching Xenomorph eggs in containers hiding within a cover of mist. Finally, we can see an adult Xenomorph snatching someone in a vertical shaft.
CrashAvPG-1.jpgDiscoveryAvPG.jpgXenoShaftAvPG.jpg
The first piece depicts Wendy within an urban forest, wielding blades as a Xenomorph stalks her through the trees. Next up we can see another angle of the USCSS Maginot Weyland-Yutani starship crash, something we shared artwork on last fall. Prodigy Tactical Response, a PMC unit of the Prodigy Corporation rushes to view the crash from their rooftop recreation area. Lastly, we have a view of the crashed Maginot’s cryosleep chamber, being explored by Prodigy Tactical Response soldiers Hermit and Idoya.
AlienFX2-1s-1.jpgAlienFX2-2s-1.jpgAlienFX2-3s-1.jpg
Tourism and Sports Minister Sermsak Pongpanich is flanked by Christopher Lowenstein (right) and Apinat Siricharoenjit of Living Films, the local facilitator for the shooting of FX’s Alien TV Series in Thailand. Mr Sermsak paid a visit to the Alien production crew at a studio in Samut Prakarn province on Saturday, the project’s final shoot day.
c1_2829068_240714200212.jpg
The showrunner is apparently the guy who did the Fargo TV show and something called Legion. Neither of which I am familiar with but I vaguely recall people praising the Fargo show.
Fargo was pretty good, except for the fourth season. The first and fifth seasons are the most similar to the movie, but they all have that quirky Coen Brothers vibe.
Legion is interesting, it's based on an X-Men character/son of Professor X, but goes in a more psychedelic direction and nobody's wearing capes or typical comic book character costumes (and it's not in the MCU either, it's a standalone that someone with absolutely no knowledge of anything about the X-Men could watch and mostly follow - or at least try to, since it gets weird). I liked it, but I could see how some people would absolutely hate it.

I'm cautiously optimistic about Earth, but the "30 years before Alien" thing and some of the character details are not sparking joy. Fargo jumped around in time, with the seasons taking place in 2006, 1979, 2010, 1950 and 2019 (in that order), and there were no androids or cryo-sleep pods in it, so theorizing about Xenos not actually being on Earth 30 years before Alien isn't necessarily total cope.
 
@CervixHammer There are some positive signs in what you found there. Sounds like the show-runner is on the same page as a lot of fans regards some of Prometheus/Covenant and sounds like the guy is competent at least. I'll keep an open mind. I'm not into hating something for hate's sake.

How the hell did she manage to not look good wearing a tube top?
I'm afraid you are no longer a teenager and your ability to distinguish between attractive and available is only going to grow from here on.
 
Oh goody, so "delusional about getting more than one season" is going to definitely be in play.
- in the works since 2019, delayed (but also saved) by Disney buying Fox, SAG-AFTRA strike, etc.
- Original movie aesthetics (no holograms), Xenomorphs were not "created half an hour ago" by David.
That sounds like a good thing, but I'm going to be leery given this is current year slop. Especially since at any point they could be told during filming to actually shove that shit in there anyway, because it's being produced by Ridley Scott.

Actually since Scott's producing, it's probably going to be shit.
- Ridley Scott's Scott Free Productions is producing, Noah Hawley has had more conversations with Ridley Scott about Alien than with the Coen Brothers about Fargo. Totally different situation from when he was about to do a Star Trek movie "until someone said, “Well, wait a minute, what are we even doing with this valuable IP? Just giving it to him to make up a story? That’s not how corporate filmmaking works.”" (The Hollywood Reporter)
That's actually a bad idea, since Scott lost the plot decades ago, and this was far more Dan O'Bannon's and Giger's baby than it was his, and both of them are dead. Fuck's sake this is far more James Cameron's fucking universe, since he actually did most of it. Scott did basically fuck all on that front; hell, even the most iconic version of Weyland-Yutani's logo was a Cameron design.
"Did IQs just drop while this was in development?"

The most insulting thing about this is that they reference Aliens, while not actually talking to Cameron. This is low key one of the worst ways to sell this to me, and it's comical because the corporate dystopia does fit. It's just horribly framed.
- Digital and practical creatures by Weta
*rocks hand*

I predict they're gonna lean more on CG due to the tortured dev time.
- "Alien is a fascinating story because it's not just a monster movie; it’s about how we're trapped between the primordial past and the artificial intelligence of our future, where both trying to kill us.
Nope. Alien's a fascinating horror film because it's set in an almost Lovecraftian Universe, where space is hostile to our particular way of life. Space is cold, uncaring, and you are motes in its horror. It's a fascinating movie due to elevating a slasher movie or creature feature into something more.
It’s set on Earth of the future. At this moment, I describe that as Edison versus Westinghouse versus Tesla.
Braindead take. Earth in the setting of this period, BASED ON CAMERON'S TAKE FUCKING MIND YOU, is that it's the greatest example of class divide you could ever see. Entire sections of the Earth were revived into these beautiful and pristine vistas and venues for the ultra wealthy. For those not in that club? Sci-fi Favelas and pods for you lol. It's why colonization pushes were so strong in the setting; you could actually own shit.
Someone’s going to monopolize electricity. We just don't know which one it is.
It'd be tech or shipping due to infrastructure and expertise needed IMO.
In the movies, we have this Weyland-Yutani Corporation, which is clearly also developing artificial intelligence—but what if there are other companies trying to look at immortality in a different way, with cyborg enhancements or transhuman downloads? Which of those technologies is going to win?" (Esquire interview)
I was gonna make a reference to Dr. Eisenburg's plot in the AVP 2 game being a reference, but after skimming the ideas, honestly fuck all of these plot points. Also fuck Ridley Scott for pushing that immortality bullshit again. Metahumans? We're doing "the Boys" style retarded shit? Oh fuck off.

Also we got basically Tranny "Metahumans" where for no goddamn reason a kid's brainwaves were implanted in an adult woman. And of course she has super powers and will be the key to everything. Here's the entire fictive suicide note for those curious, since the deets were cut off due to formatting:
Alien is also looking to cast a woman in her mid 20s to mid 30s to play Wendy. Wendy is described as tall, athletic, and androgynous. Wendy is not a human instead she is a “Hybrid”, a superhuman who is essentially perfect. However, all is not as it appears with Wendy as she in fact has the mind of Hermit’s 10 year old sister Marcy. She learns how to live and control this new body under the tutelage of “Synth” scientist Kirsh and human scientist Dame Sylvia.
Wendy eventually becomes a leader to the hybrids and creates the path for a new era of enhanced beings. Wendy, once she reaches full development, will have super strength, speed, and agility combined with the limitless courage of a young mind. Wendy is not only a new being, but a tool of monumental value to the world.
Peak "Current Year" Writing.

Also it's clear there's going to be the goofy ass brown comic relief; they're looking for their not white minstrel show they're going to pretend is stunning and brave. Also the plot points for this show are one of the dumbest ways you could do Aliens on Earth. It also pops a squat and shits all over the setting given even with corporate fuckery, losing a whole city via explosion or whatever would be noted, even if propagandized. They literally are going to pull off the "this is why Wey-Yu wants them" shit I was concerned about.

I'm not vibing for this one.
 
Last edited:
Alien is a fascinating story because it's not just a monster movie; it’s about how we're trapped between the primordial past and the artificial intelligence of our future, where both trying to kill us. It’s set on Earth of the future. At this moment, I describe that as Edison versus Westinghouse versus Tesla. Someone’s going to monopolize electricity. We just don't know which one it is. In the movies, we have this Weyland-Yutani Corporation, which is clearly also developing artificial intelligence—but what if there are other companies trying to look at immortality in a different way, with cyborg enhancements or transhuman downloads? Which of those technologies is going to win?"
Ridley, the franchise is about a deadly space alien and people being forced to fight it all while corporate entities try to exploit the alien for profit.

What the fuck does immortality and transhumanism have to do with Alien? When did those concepts ever come up?
 
It's actually funny, because I think Alien vs. Predator 2 tackled the immortality angle better than Prometheus did, and that was as a minor plot point for one of the antagonists. It complimented the reasoning and his character in a way that didn't come off as stupid.

I don't mind the search for extending life being a thing in Alien as a franchise, but I feel like it gets handled in a high handed and stupid way each time it does.

Using synthetics to cheat death? Sure, could be a neat plot point. Using Xeno gene codes to try and figure out how to make medicine to prolong life or something? Okay, a decent motivation for evilco for wanting them besides as weapons. But that's not what you should focus on when writing this shit; these are plot points that get fixed up while doing the overall story or episodes.

And honestly super bad-ass female supersoldier fighting xenos comes off more like Paul WS Anderson's Resident Evil movies than anything else, and those were clown shoes.
 
Back
Top Bottom