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It's gonna be funny if the supposed spoilers that the film features poisonous spores that crew members inhale and then have neomorphs erupt from them like William Gibson's terrible Alien 3 script are true.
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Nov 24, 2016 04:02
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Xenomrph posted:It's a similar problem as when comparing the "quippy" characters in 'Aliens' to those in 'Alien Resurrection'. I think that this is a real shame as well, because Alien Resurrection has a great cast. I would have loved to see more of Michael Wincott and Brad Dourif in that movie, and some of the darker themes explored more deeply. quote:Or to use a more recent example, the art design in 'Prometheus'. A common complaint I've seen is that everything looks too high-tech and shiny and new, and it creates this disconnect from how an Alien film is "supposed" to look lived-in, tactile, etc. I think that this is most evident with the space jockey room itself. In the original movie there's an atmosphere and if I remember correctly there's an emphasis on wetness and humidity throughout the movie that gives it a certain look. The eggs are oozing liquid, the walls of the derelict appear to be sweating and of course we have the sprays of blood from Kane or the milky spurts of Ash, all the way to Brett standing under the leaking water and characters drenched in sweat. Then of course there's the alien itself, covered in slime. I think this is one of the key aspects of how the original movie fused sci-fi technology with real biological grossness to create an unsettling atmosphere, it's so dirty throughout. In comparison, the space jockey room in Prometheus along with much of the set design is spotless and immaculate, and comes across as fake and well, a bunch of movie sets. They're so clinically clean and flawless that it detracts a lot from what an environment like that had achieved in prior movies.
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Dec 1, 2016 02:36
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I like Blomkamp's concept art for Hicks:
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Dec 13, 2016 23:25
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Some new spoilers for Alien: Covenant:quote:
This goes alongside these previous leaks: quote:
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Dec 15, 2016 15:08
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Apparently one of them bursts through someone's throat as well.
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Dec 15, 2016 18:28
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wuffles posted:So is Covenant the movie that's supposed to tie directly back to Alien? If that's the case, I guess they're gonna have to set up the Space Jockey/Derelict/Distress Beacon scenario at some point in Covenant so the Nostromo can come across it in the future? I think that Alien: Covenant is one of three planned prequels to Alien? I don't recall specifics but I'm fairly sure that multiple sources have confirmed that there are more films in this series coming from Ridley Scott, as well as Blomkamp's movie as well.
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Dec 16, 2016 19:04
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On the subject of art, it looks like Alien: Covenant will have a visual style much closer to Alien if these photos of the ship are anything to go by. Looks much better than Prometheus did: 
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Dec 17, 2016 23:33
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:Also Alien3 did provide closure for the character. Alien, Aliens and Alien 3 really were a brilliantly executed trilogy that achieved perfect closure in relation to the overarching themes and narrative of the franchise as a whole (up until that point) in my opinion. I'm actually really curious to see if Blomkamp is going to ignore Alien 3 entirely or instead try to craft some kind of Alien 2.5 that attempts to slot neatly between both Aliens and Alien 3. He certainly has the opportunity to do so but I get the impression that he might instead try to ignore Alien 3 entirely, which would be unfortunate I think since it's really the perfect ending for a series such as this. Given how Aliens ends with Ripley & co. entering hypersleep and Alien 3 begins with them still in hypersleep, there's nothing to prevent him from crafting a story between those two points where they awaken somewhere else and tell whatever story it is that he wants to, before ending with the three of them back in hypersleep and the events of Alien 3 taking place. What we have seen from the concept art however is images of Ripley and Hicks reflecting the age that both Weaver and Biehn currently are, so I'm thinking that he's going to find some way to ignore Alien 3 entirely which I think would be a mistake on his part. I vaguely recall mentions of Newt being an adult now as well, so it seems like Blomkamp is just going to pretend that Alien 3 never happened at all. I don't think that it's a wise decision but I'm interested to see what he creates regardless, especially since from a visual standpoint I've no doubt that he would do a superb job aesthetically.
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Dec 18, 2016 19:17
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Biomute posted:In the third movie the Alien itself has regressed. It's more animal-like than in the first one, and it does not feel like it's done purposefully. We learn nothing new of consequence about it. It feels pretty inconsequential to the movie that it is an alien doing the killing. A woman washes up on the shores of a monastery and helps reveal a murderous monk who is killing his brothers? I could see it. I always thought of the alien as being Ripley's guardian angel in the third movie, it was an interesting change in the dynamics between the two characters I think. It's a shame that they never adopted Giger's proposals to make the alien more feminine either, but I think they were too conscious of how that might interfere with the established order for the species after the queen was unveiled in the second film.
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Dec 18, 2016 23:28
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New teaser image was shared with the numbers '220512052104'. We know that 2104 is the year that Alien: Covenant takes place and people are speculating that the other numbers represent a date for a teaser or trailer of some kind. More leaked rumors spreading around confirming that David somehow merges android DNA with that of the protomorph (the alien shown on the film poster) to create the xenomorph we all know and that's where the biomechanical look comes from. Looks like Fassbender might steal the show again.
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Dec 20, 2016 00:57
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The crew of the Prometheus used some kind of laser handguns and shotguns in the scenes where they fight Fifield and the engineer, you could see the blue electric flash from the barrels as they fired and they didn't sound like conventional weaponry despite looking so. The weapons in Alien Covenant could be similar in that they have familiar designs but futuristic behavior?
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Dec 20, 2016 01:53
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Trailer just passed classification and clocks in at just over two minutes. Couple new images released as well. 
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Dec 21, 2016 00:33
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Another new image And for comparison, a similar scene from the original Alien 
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Dec 21, 2016 18:51
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Baronjutter posted:The first one looks like a perfect CG render while the 2nd one looks like an actual physical place. That was a problem with Prometheus as well, the engineer environments were far too clean and plastic-looking, giving everything a fake movie set appearance compared to the original Alien that looked much more real and genuine.
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Dec 22, 2016 09:53
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Another new image. Don't know why they don't just release a trailer at this point
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Dec 22, 2016 22:25
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Trailer's gone up it seems, and it looks like all the leaked rumors were true regarding the spores and backburster etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0VW6sg50Pk SUNKOS fucked around with this message at 06:20 on Dec 25, 2016 |
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Dec 25, 2016 06:15
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UmOk posted:I don't get it. I thought this was going to be about Robot man and Cheekbone Woman? It's not a sequel to Prometheus? Apparently that crashed juggernaut they find is the one Shaw and David were on, and David is the only survivor on the planet after killing Shaw and all the engineers or something. Fassbender also plays another android called Walter that David fucks with and creates the xenomorph by merging android DNA with protomorph DNA or something. Probably black goo again, which is now airborne as well.
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Dec 25, 2016 06:27
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I wonder if the corn field scene is going to be the same as it was in the unused Alien 3 script?
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Dec 25, 2016 07:04
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The REAL Goobusters posted:Basically this. I'm not excited at all for this, hopefully Ridley Scott can turn it around because his recent track record has been v bad. It's pretty obvious now that the original Alien was so great because of all the talented people collaborating on the movie and that Ridley is incapable of recreating that magic on his own with a new crew. I'm still interested in watching Covenant, but only out of interest for whatever happens with David & Walter since Fassbender was so brilliant in Prometheus.
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Dec 26, 2016 02:56
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Hodgepodge posted:I actually really liked how Prometheus handled the xenomorph, with its image emerging from the mural in the room with the black goo as a cryptic warning. I'd rather they have that aura of mystery and almost religious terror even for the godlike beings which supposedly created humanity than a concrete origin. The xeno mural and the green crystal below it looked goofy, I thought. I agree with your sentiment regarding mystery but it seems that Scott is determined to replace good mysteries with bad ones.
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Dec 26, 2016 05:56
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It would have been nice if rather than trying to explain the space jockey in Prometheus, they instead left all of those questions unanswered and introduced something equally mysterious that expanded on the universe and introduced even more cosmic horror elements.
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Dec 26, 2016 07:16
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Xenomrph posted:Since it looks like Covenant is going to tackle the origin of the Alien, I wonder if it'll even bother trying to reconcile it with the Derelict in 'Alien' being thousands of years old. I think that Ridley Scott is supposed to be making another two or three Alien movies after Covenant and that one of the stated goals is to lead directly into the original Alien at the end of this arc of movies. I'm not 100% sure and don't have any links to hand immediately, but I'm fairly sure I've seen that stated in multiple places/interviews at this point. It's going to be interesting to see where the eggs in Covenant come from. Probably chicken eggs from the ship's canteen being mutated by the black
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Dec 26, 2016 19:54
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I wonder if someone farting into a cloud of black goo spores before a member of the crew inhales them would affect the biological makeup of the alien that bursts out? Would it be an rear end burster? We already have chest/back/throat bursters. Maybe that's what Franco's small role is for? Or maybe they'll make another space weed joke.
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Dec 26, 2016 21:34
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Just noticed that David's wearing an engineer cloak in the trailer for Covenant.  
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Dec 26, 2016 22:18
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Xenomrph posted:"Aren't you a little short for an Engineer?" "David, why are you wearing a suit, man?" "I beg your pardon?" "You don't breathe, remember? So why wear a suit?" "I was designed like this because you people are more comfortable interacting with your own kind. If I didn't wear the suit, it would defeat the purpose." "They're making you guys pretty close, huh?" "Not too close, I hope." Tenzarin posted:So hes wearing the robes are he is one of them now? One of them basically learned all their advanced knowledge by having access to it. That would be kinda interesting that David is the "prometheus" character who stole fire from the gods but that idea isn't touched in the movie Prometheus. Maybe there's alittle social commentary of absolute power corrupts all in the new movie, that David just wanted to do it "the right way". I think they're setting it up so that David is the main villain and essentially responsible for everything. Having access to a whole colony ship of people in cryosleep would allow David to experiment a lot, given that it seems he wiped-out everything on the engineer home world, if rumors are to be believed.
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Dec 26, 2016 23:54
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That and visual consistency isn't exactly something that Ridley Scott considers to be important.
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Dec 27, 2016 01:06
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Apparently the deacon scene at the end of Prometheus was a mixture of CGI-enhanced puppetry and completely CGI imagery, so it seems that technically you're both right  It seems the trilobite scene was handled in the same way as well. They did create a real creature to use that looked impressive, but had to go with CGI for the final movie because of how difficult it was. Apparently it was a huge pain to even do digitally as well, since they went so far as to ensure the digital image wasn't stretching tentacles unrealistically etc. while simultaneously syncing up with real footage of the engineer actor. Here's some unused deacon designs that were sketched by Giger himself: 
SUNKOS fucked around with this message at 18:26 on Dec 27, 2016 |
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Dec 27, 2016 18:23
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Lord Krangdar posted:That kinda looks like the new design you see very briefly in the trailer (beint shot at through a net). I think that's probably one of the little guys in the middle of this photo: http://i.imgur.com/xBGTqjg.jpg
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Dec 27, 2016 18:38
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Snowman_McK posted:It turned them into bizarre space god who may or may not have created us, possibly by accident, and now hate us or something but without ever explaining anything I just mentioned. I think what he's getting at is that the entire derelict spaceship and space jockey in Alien is completely and utterly alien. It's unlike anything anyone has ever seen before and was almost Lovecraftian. In a short span of time it introduced a whole wealth of mysteries that were executed perfectly. To pull the curtain back and say it was basically a guy in a suit is pretty bog standard, yeah. It's why they should have left it a mystery. The actual idea for the engineers themselves wasn't too bad and would have been better served by letting the story stand on its own without trying to shoehorn it into the Alien universe in the way that they did. Having some very loose threads to connect them would have been fine (the biomechanical body of the engineer and a better mural that doesn't look tacky would have been sufficient) but going as far as they did with the ships and suits etc. was a poor choice, in my opinion. They should have been their own separate race with their own mysteries and identity.
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Dec 27, 2016 23:37
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Snowman_McK posted:Virtually everything about them was. The guy's specifically talking about revealing the space jockey to just be a guy in a suit. You're also ignoring everything else in the film, such as the characters literally telling the audience what everything is. Basebf555 posted:It's easy to sit here and say now that you wish the movie would have not elaborated on the Space Jockey at all, but that's basically what the entire thing was sold on. Had Scott copped-out and not shown any more of the Space Jockey the fan backlash would have been worse in my opinion. Yeah, they shouldn't have sold the movie on that premise and the intention of revealing all of that stuff. Take the cesarean section scene, for example. Originally that was going to be a chestburster removal because Ridley wanted to show someone surviving impregnation, but Fox execs demanded the film showed some new monsters instead so we got the trilobite which was much more interesting and made for a great climactic scene with the engineer. I remember everyone thinking the addition of the deacon at the end was a poor choice as well and would have been better left out of the movie altogether. Prometheus definitely suffered from trying too hard to tie into Alien and provide fanservice, rather than be a confident work that stood on its own. I think it might be the one example where a film would have benefited from more studio meddling.
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Dec 28, 2016 00:17
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Schwarzwald posted:Human's weren't part of a "grand design" so much as a mistake the engineers were embaressed about and all to eager to rectify. The movie goes out of its way to make it clear that the engineers deliberately created humanity. What gives you the impression that they did so by mistake and were somehow embarrassed by it?
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Dec 28, 2016 01:02
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:The main character literally yells that they were all wrong about there being a grand design. No, that's Shaw saying "We were so wrong" with no reference to any grand design. The ritual at the beginning of the movie along with the various cave paintings indicating prior human/engineer contact made it abundantly clear that the creation was very much deliberate. What Shaw is saying they were wrong about was interpreting those cave paintings as an invitation, because somewhere between then and the events of the movie something happened to make the engineers dislike humanity and want to eradicate it. The movie itself leaves this a mystery, with Shaw herself screaming "Why?!" at the last living engineer and the film ending with her insistence on traveling to their home world to find out why. The early drafts of the script (and silly Christmas references in the movie) reveal that the engineers turned on humanity because we crucified one of them.
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Dec 28, 2016 01:24
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Tenzarin posted:When she says this its actually just the commentary track with Ridley Scott. SMG said this: SuperMechagodzilla posted:The main character literally yells that they were all wrong about there being a grand design. I pointed out that Shaw doesn't reference any grand design, and instead merely says "We were so wrong" which as SMG pointed out is in the trailer, at 1:45. SuperMechagodzilla posted:The opening scene doesn't take place on Earth. Nobody is saying that the cave paintings depict a creation story. What makes you think that the opening scene doesn't take place on Earth?
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Dec 28, 2016 01:45
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Xenomrph posted:For what it's worth, Ridley Scott has said that the opening scene may or may not be Earth, it's intentionally ambiguous. That's a good point, actually. It's this interview: quote:Movies.com: Do you worry that you’ve lost the element of surprise that worked to your advantage with the original Alien? By now, we’ve seen numerous movies in the Alien universe, and like it or not, audiences are coming in with an expectation that deflates tension and suspense. Did you feel the need to pull the audience in to the story in a different fashion this time?
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Dec 28, 2016 02:26
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Basebf555 posted:Its hand waving what exactly? What does that line gloss over that you'd like a more detailed explanation on? You really want a monologue by an Engineer explaining their actions and motivations in detail? You're saying that would improve the movie somehow? I wouldn't say that things have to be so black and white really. It's clear that some people feel there are parts of the movie that would benefit from improvement whilst other parts of the movie were fine. Take the engineer that you mention for example, while people take issue with Milburn & Fifield and feel that their scenes could have been written better, at the end of the movie we see David communicate to the engineer in their own language and have absolutely no idea what he actually said, and yet nobody took issue with that mystery or the reaction of the engineer afterwards. One of the prominent mysteries in the movie is, "But what did he say?!" which is all the more intriguing because David is such a fascinating character. The entire movie builds up to this one specific moment and yet viewers are left completely in the dark and accept this with no complaints. You could interpret this in different ways, but David's behavior is consistent with his character which prevents the scene from seeming unusual or illogical, whereas Milburn & Fifield for example doesn't work quite so well. We've seen incompetence in other movies in the franchise, such as Gorman in Aliens which was highlighted earlier in the thread. This doesn't draw the same criticism however because his character is established as being inexperienced in real-life combat scenarios, much to the dismay of those under his command. When push comes to shove he knows exactly what to do and explains detailed fallback procedure to Apone over the comms, almost like he's reciting a textbook example he studied earlier, but eventually cracks under the pressure to the point that Ripley has to intervene and viewers witness believable incompetence that makes sense. This is all accomplished by small lines if dialog scattered throughout the movie, rather than leaving the character of Gorman blank and viewers to question why he buckles under pressure in the way that he does. I don't think that it would have taken much to satisfy complaints about Milburn and Fifield when you compare their characterizations to someone such as Gorman, and that more effective character development could have been accomplished.
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Dec 28, 2016 22:23
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Ripley: How many drops is this for you, lieutenant? Gorman: 38... simulated. Vasquez: How many combat drops? Gorman: Er... two, including this one. Drake: poo poo. Hudson: Oh man... Ripley and Burke then look at each other with expressions that are halfway between surprise and dread. Hicks is asleep. Huge amount of character development in the space of about five seconds. SUNKOS fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Dec 28, 2016 |
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Dec 28, 2016 22:55
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Bugblatter posted:Nice. I had been wondering if all the Iceland locations in the trailer were meant to imply the planet of Covenant was the same one from the Prometheus' opening. Also fits with the similarity between the plant spores and the particles the Engineer dissolves into. For what it's worth, Covenant takes place on a different planet which is apparently the home world of the engineers. Covenant was also filmed in New Zealand, compared to Prometheus using Iceland for filming. That's a good catch by Toady however, and it will be interesting to see what the deal with that room is, since it appears that David and Walter are the only ones to occupy it.
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Dec 29, 2016 01:21
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Bugblatter posted:You misunderstood me. I know this is taking place on the Engineers home planet, and not the planet the Prometheus lands on. I mean I'm wondering if this homeworld is also the location of the opening scene of Prometheus, and the use of Iceland for the aerial shots/background comps in Covenant (The film did have a unit in Iceland, similar to how Prometheus' aerial and background comps were created by a unit shooting in Jordan) is used to tie the appearance of the locations. Oh, I see. Yeah, that's a good question actually and an interesting consideration to take into account. I've seen some people theorize that the location isn't actually real (referring to the white room in the Covenant trailer here) and is the result of some kind of interface between David & Walter, since the likelihood of a colony ship having a room like that is quite low I'd think, but all possibilities are equally interesting.
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Dec 29, 2016 01:51
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The Sulaco running a skeleton crew seemed like a deliberate choice that was intended to convey the nature of the mission that they were on being suspect and the marines themselves being so arrogant as to think they could handle the job with what they had. I don't think it was an oversight on Cameron's part.
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Dec 30, 2016 02:14
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Xenomrph posted:And here's what the old comic book Space Jockeys looked like: What's the deal here, story-wise? Sounds like an interesting take on the space jockey.
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Dec 31, 2016 08:31
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