Alien: Covenant

english_bob

english_bob said:

CHRISB50 said:

english_bob said:

Longtallronnie said:

I liked Prometheus but found it a bit frustrating. I've got a copy of the original Jon Spaihts script, Alien: Engineers, before Damon Lindelof got involved. It links to the Alien films much better than the final draft. 

Linky:

 http://www.joblo.com/scripts/Alien-Engineers-ORIGINAL-PROMETHEUS-SCRIPT.pdf

Cheers for that.

You're welcome. I hadn't read it myself so I was interested to see it. 

...and having done so, I'm not convinced. The middle section is the most significantly different, but it seems more derivative of Alien and Aliens, while also feeling a bit muddled- there's four different alien antagonists. I don't think the filmed version is any better for the changes, but it's more its own thing. Neither version answers any of the really big questions about the origins of the Xenomorph.

Longtallronnie

Fair one but I disagree
 Here's the bits I preferred but obviously just my opinion:

The way the original describes the evolution of the xeno through the Engineers/David's interference. Beginning as soft skinned invertebrates but weaponised/armoured through mutation (possibly by the scarabs?)

Weyland's plan to discover terraforming tech fits better than the whole eternal life bollocks of the film. 

Milburn and Fifield getting lost is handled better. 

Holloway's death/chestburster sequence etc is way better than the spiked drink/Shaw's giant squid vagina baby. 

No Guy Pearce in old man suit. 

Vickers no longer running away from the rolling juggernaut. 

The scene with David, Shaw and the facehugger!

I prefered Holloways older, less twatty character. 

More insight into the Engineers and their origins (Although i I still wish the space jockeys "trunk" was part of their physiology instead of their flight suits.)

I just felt the final draft suffered from trying to distance itself from Aliens when the original script was so closely related to it. In the end it's not one or the other and proved to me that Studio interference is usually a bad thing. Although, to be fair to Lindelhoff, he had a tough job to mould the script into something not directly linked to Alien.  

I still enjoyed it, more so on second viewing but felt it was more muddled than Spaihts script. 

Longtallronnie

Trailer coming tomorrow!
20th Century Fox have been teasing images all week and finally hinted at a trailer being released on Christmas day! 

http://screenrant.com/alien-covenant-trailer-preview/

I am a bit excited!

mellowsun

Glad that Fassbender is back as he was the highlight of Prometheus.

Is it true that Ewen Bremner is in the obligatory comic relief role?

Bound to be at least one Brit actor bellowing 'wanker' and being one of the first kills in a dark tunnel.

Longtallronnie

I haven't heard anything about him being in it at all tbh. 

thomasross20

mellowsun said:

Glad that Fassbender is back as he was the highlight of Prometheus.



Bound to be at least one Brit actor bellowing 'wanker' and being one of the first kills in a dark tunnel.

+1 and

The actual alien has aged really badly, but the original films are still cool. Alien 3 isn't all that bad.

stickyfiddle

Full trailer out now. It looks like a remake of Alien, which tbh is fairly dull. 

WezV

I am still excited, but yeah.  Looks like they have learned from Promethius and successful films like TFA.... and decided to back away from bringing anything new to the table.

For all it's flaws I am disappointed Ridley didn't carry on with his plan for Prometheus.  I liked it, when viewed as an opening act in a series

eSully

Longtallronnie said:

Fair one but I disagree
 Here's the bits I preferred but obviously just my opinion:

The way the original describes the evolution of the xeno through the Engineers/David's interference. Beginning as soft skinned invertebrates but weaponised/armoured through mutation (possibly by the scarabs?)

Weyland's plan to discover terraforming tech fits better than the whole eternal life bollocks of the film. 

Milburn and Fifield getting lost is handled better. 

Holloway's death/chestburster sequence etc is way better than the spiked drink/Shaw's giant squid vagina baby. 

No Guy Pearce in old man suit. 

Vickers no longer running away from the rolling juggernaut. 

The scene with David, Shaw and the facehugger!

I prefered Holloways older, less twatty character. 

More insight into the Engineers and their origins (Although i I still wish the space jockeys "trunk" was part of their physiology instead of their flight suits.)

I just felt the final draft suffered from trying to distance itself from Aliens when the original script was so closely related to it. In the end it's not one or the other and proved to me that Studio interference is usually a bad thing. Although, to be fair to Lindelhoff, he had a tough job to mould the script into something not directly linked to Alien.  

I still enjoyed it, more so on second viewing but felt it was more muddled than Spaihts script. 

That sums up my opinion on it too. I read the script last week and thought it would have made a far better film than what ended up being Prometheus. A lot of what are plot holes in Prometheus make sense in the original script. Still excited for Covenant though. Promo looks good.

eSully

english_bob said:

 Neither version answers any of the really big questions about the origins of the Xenomorph.

I thought the script did if I remember, they were created to kill off humanity.

mellowsun

Disappointing trailer. Bound to have lots of jumps and gore but yes, it's a straight Alien remake, complete with 'bad' android character 

thomasross20

Looks alright!! As long as it's not too polished and they develop characters. I like dirt and grit like in the original alien and terminator.

Longtallronnie

I'm hoping the trailer was deliberately made to look like Alien but will ultimately be a different film. Could easily end up being a tribute a la Force Awakens though. 
Still excited, can't wait to see the neomorphs!

thomasross20

When's it out?

Longtallronnie

May next year. 

thomasross20

Oh Jesus, ages away 

Longtallronnie

They've brought it forward three months!

mellowsun

Longtallronnie said:

They've brought it forward three months!

Hmm, not a good sign. Suggests that it could be a turkey (hence the Xmas day trailer?)