How the ALIEN prequels became less ALIEN

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Alien
Aliens
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... And much mooorrreeee
#Alien #Prometheus #AlienCovenant

[@thisguydan]

Ridley's said opposite in interviews, but I would swear he initially didn't want Prometheus to be an Alien film. I think he wanted a huge budget sci-fi film about the origins of life, the origins of humanity, religion, creation, and AI. He's been playing with these topics his entire career. However, no studio is green lighting a 100+ million original IP heady sci-fi film like that. So Ridley had to force it into a franchise to get the budget, and so we have his AI/creation/origins of life sci-fi film forced into Alien, and that's why nothing links up very well or makes any sense as a prequel.

[@shawklan27]

Good point

[@zacharyberridge7239]

The original script gets a bit closer to an alien prequel, wherein there were a few different proto-xenomorphs. That would have been far more interesting in my opinion.

[@alexschneider8494]

I actually liked Prometheus although there were some things that didn't make much sense.

[@EternalDahaka]

@@zacharyberridge7239 I remember being gutted when in the commentary they mentioned one of the new writers thought it would be cool to have the space jockeys create humans? and they rewrote the script to play into that. They managed to ruin the space jockey and xenomorphs, and tying humanity to everything is a tired sci-fi trope.

[@Retrobution]

Ridley would do well with an idea like this and present it to netflix or disney plus or amazon etc - however, his name precedes him, so he can basically take the film hes working on into any direction he wants and it will make money - or break even so that thirst for making something that the fans want goes well out the window. So unfortunately if the streaming giants were to throw money at him, i doubt it would be any good. a film maker is at their best when they are trying to really captivate an audience and to define their career, make creative decision to make budget instead of over inflate it and waste more money. When someone has already achieved their best then their work tends to get less impressive, and would be better suited to hand the movie to someone else. Which imo they should have done with prometheus as perhaps the film would lead into alien as that would be the selling point rather than the name "ridley scott" be the selling point as a lot of people will watch it.. coz ridley scott.

[@analogicaleuphimism2078]

The hair on Predators aren't hair, they're directly part of the Predator's body. It even bleeds its green blood when cut, our hair doesn't do that. They're apparently sensory organs. A xenomorph inheriting it still makes sense. Also apparently without the dreadlocks, people couldn't recognize that its a xenomorph that was specifically born from a Predator so they added it in.

[@bradfork6853]

Can I just say that I've always hated that stupid "Whoever wins we lose" tagline for AVP? Like quite obviously not at all? Humanity will be mostly okay if the Predators win, they only come to Earth every once in a while, have a very strict code of honor to only kill human prey that can fight back while sparing children, the elderly, pregnant women, the sick, and most importantly aren't savage, animalistic bug monsters that want to wipe out entire species.

[@krampusklaws2238]

That and the very strict formula for a movie with aliens is "the main human characters will live at the end. No exceptions" So obviously we won't lose. We never lose.

[@windowsVD]

You’re not entirely wrong, but there is the fact that the humans were purposely lured to the pyramids by the Predators to serve as hosts for the Xenomorphs along with the fact that the Predators are the ones brought the Xenomorphs to Earth in the first place. They’re essentially responsible for every single death that occurred in the AVP films as no Xenomorphs would have ever ended up on Earth if not for them.

[@darkwoods1954]

I think they meant no matter who wins the audience loses.

[@krampusklaws2238]

@@darkwoods1954 That's for sure. We certainly lost so much.

[@riks081]

@@krampusklaws2238 never seen alien 3 huh?

[@wimvanderstraeten6521]

The whole "ancient astronauts" concept of the prequels is interesting, but it should have been used for a separate series of movies. This is basically Stargate with Xenomorphs.

[@joshuagraham2843]

and this is why raised by wolves are just recycled ideas from ridley scott movie

[@theguileraven7014]

I don’t think it needed to be separate. Just make the Xenos bio weapons meant for infiltrating ships and bunkers, that the Space Jockeys designed and, in an isolated incident, lost control of. The end. Short and simple connection that gives the excuse to include xenomorphs while primarily focusing on developing the Engineers. No crazy prototype variations, goop spores, or other nonsense.

[@GabyGeorge1996]

Hey, don’t bring Stargate into this. That movie was at least decent and if nothing else gave us two fantastic spin-off series (the less said about Universe the better)

[@maxmaven99]

As far as the Predalien goes, I believe the "dreadlocks" on a Predator are in fact fleshy, sensory extensions, not hair, so they would carry over. Also, the mandibles, while serving no purpose may carry over also, just like certain things carry over during evolution that aren't needed. Appendix, tailbones, the remnants of a third eyelid, etc.

[@johnwilliams655]

Good point. Might be a stretch but the mandibles could also hold a head in place for the central mouth strike leaving the arms free

[@johnwilliams655]

Good point. Might be a stretch but the mandibles could also hold a head in place for the central mouth strike leaving the arms free

[@ALJ9000]

We have a third eyelid?

[@maxmaven398]

Yeah, the remnants are the little pink globs in the corner of our eyes.

[@ALJ9000]

@@maxmaven398 Oh, so that’s what those are from

[@garethjohnstone8662]

In the shuttle, the alien was getting ready to become dormant. This was explained in some source material I stumbled on a few years ago. Essentially, they go into a sort of suspended animation and their senses are dulled. They have to 'wake up' as can be seen in the shuttle scene and in Aliens when they toast the chest burster. They don't immediately burst out of the walls, they begin to stir and wake up. So the alien in Alien wasn't doing nothing, it was essentially tucking itself into bed.

[@arachnophilia427]

there are several very old explanations, including that. two original pitches were that it was already dying by that point, and that it was getting ready to transition to the next phase. on the second idea, giger actually did several more designs for subsequent phases. an early script pitch had the aliens being an intelligent civilization just with a pretty violent teenage phase, and the one we saw was just feral with no adult guidance.

[@garethjohnstone8662]

@@arachnophilia427 Yeah, I have seen a few. The one I settled on was that it was going into hibernation as opposed to the transition phase because if all xenomorphs could morph into a queen there would be no need for the queen in the lifecycle. It makes more sense that a xenomorph can morph a host into an egg, as seen in Alien extended cut, in that situation. There would however be a need for an active drone/warrior once it senses hosts to capture as I doubt in a 'real' scenario, most people would be dumb enough to walk up to something that was quite obviously organic and egg shaped and stick their face over it, lol. So that's why I prefer the theory that the alien was going into stasis, especially taking into account the extended cut egg morph.

[@arachnophilia427]

@@garethjohnstone8662 not a queen, necessarily. just more life phases and body plans. there's a worm like design, and one with wings

[@garethjohnstone8662]

@@arachnophilia427 Yeah, seen those, too. Still prefer the stasis speculation, though 🙂

[@mitchellhorton9382]

@@arachnophilia427 Oh that would be super interesting if the Xenomorph in Alien was just like The Tarzan of their species, left alone as a child on a ship full of corpses

[@Freddie7191]

I remember watching AVP Requiem in theaters, and the only thing I have ever remembered about it to this day is that I couldn't see anything. 10/10 if you can't see it then it can't be bad.

[@theplatinumseries9537]

I remember that when I saw Requiem for the first time that when we see the Wolf Predator and the Predalien, and what we see of them, they were pretty cool. The overall movie was a mess, the characters suck, and as you said, we can't see a fuckin thing. Fun fact... or just fact: My parents are Tim and Kelly, and my brother's name is Ricky, and three of the characters in the movie have the same names.

[@bradfork6853]

@@theplatinumseries9537 If you think about it the setup of the ship crashing on Earth is pretty irritating and stupid as well. Like, seriously, the Predalien is able to effortlessly slaughter an entire crew of supposedly fully armed, mature, and combat-skilled Yautja, without getting so much as a minor wound? Greatest hunters in the universe my ass.

[@theplatinumseries9537]

@@bradfork6853 yeah, I thought about that too. If the thing were going against the Jungle and City Hunters, and the Lost Tribe, the Predalien would be dead in like 5 nanoseconds. The setting was annoying also, like how did they think setting it in the early to mid 2000s was a good idea, and it doesn't exactly work when it's taking place in a small town full of complete dumbasses.

[@shawklan27]

Hell even on disney plus I can't see shit cuz it's really that dark!

[@bradfork6853]

@@theplatinumseries9537 You'd think if just even a single Predator realized there was a loose Predalien in the ship wreaking havoc they would immediately activate the self-destruct. Hell, why did they even take back that corpse, knowing full well the high chances there are of impregnation in a Xenomorph hunt, and just leave it in a room undisturbed and unguarded? The AVP films really made the Predators look like morons.

[@porcu12345]

Worth noting, @ 8:30 it's not the acid blood that transforms Fifield. The blood eats through the dome and then he falls face first into the black goo. That's what changes him.

[@williamgregg6339]

I always thought the Alien was sleeping at the end of Alien. The first time I seen it I thought it was going to be a second Xenomorph and not the 1seen throughout the movie. And I absolutely loved the Queen in Aliens. My favorite Alien franchise moment by far.

[@blitz8425]

my biggest issue with alien covenant is how it complicates the shit out of the lore. In the original Alien, they find the ship with an engineer in the pilot seat, with a hole in its chest foreshadowing the fate Kane, and a full hold of eggs. The implication is that the ship crashed due to the pilot dying, so either the chest burster that came out of him was a queen and it laid all the eggs, or he managed to get impregnated from one of the eggs in the hold. Doesn't matter much either way. Prometheus doesn't contradict any of that right away, it just makes it a little more involved, but by the time we get done with covenant, somehow in the matter of a few decades the xenomorph type that David makes has to wind up on an engineer ship with a space jockey that eventually becomes impregnated and crash lands on LV-426. It's just such a needlessly complex setup that no one asked for and I find very underwhelming, frankly.

[@charg1nmalaz0r51]

exactly lol we didnt even need an origin story of the aliens. Part of the fun was the mystery. These buggers came out of nowhere and just kill and breed

[@KneelB4Bacon]

They just did NOT care about continuity or canon. The Predators can't fight the Aliens in AvP if "David created the Aliens" a couple of thousand years later in "Alien: Covenant."

[@dragerdet]

@@KneelB4Bacon avp is not canon

[@EbonyPope]

Making the engineer just a suit was also a huge misstep. It looked menacing completely alien to them. Now it's just big blue bodybuilder. The original design was excellent and as always Hollywood made it less interesting by destroying Giger's design. And as you pointed out: The fact it burst through his chest also implies it's his body. Not a suit. I'm so angry.

[@lordraven1991]

@@dragerdet According to Ridley, nothing is canon unless he made it. So Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien Resurrection are all non-canon as far as he is concerned, including any comics featuring the xenomorphs. Ego trip if ever there was one. After finding out this little fact, Prometheus just seems like a huge slap in the face, and I refuse to even watch Covenant because the whole timeline is FU(KED. The way things are going so far with ridiculous Ridley's new reboot films, there is no way to line up the story with the original Alien films setting. Unless David can somehow turn himself into a living engineer and get offed to then crash on the OG planet LV-426 after sending out a destress beacon warning everyone to stay away. But hang on, wasn't the original space jockey mummified, and didn't the crew say the ship was ancient, that would mean that the OG ship had crashed there HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of years ago. And we know from the first movie that the xenomorphs can survive the vacuum of space, so where is the xenomorph/ deacon from the space jockey? All in all, Ridley came back to Alien thinking he could just overwrite years of lore just because he's Ridley Scot, the man who directed the first film. "I was just waiting for the right time to make another Alien movie", actual words he said in an interview about Prometheus, 40 years is a hell of a long time to wait to get around to making a follow up movie. Especially when there have been 6 movies that feature the xenomorphs, either as main antagonist or as easter eggs.

[@tokidensetsu]

About the Predalien inheriting the "Dreadlocks", it's because (at least on the comics) they aren't simply "hair" they're sensory organs that allows for the Yautja to have his relexes and balance.

[@petesandwich3246]

What I hate about the prequels is it’s not the actual original intention of the Alien creature but a completely independent idea Ridley came up with decades later that he hamfisted into a film series he had SOME involvement with decades prior. Ridley’s biblical creation myth ideas don’t fit with Alien, they’re better on their own hence the show “raised by wolves” which pretty much is what Ridley wanted to make with Prometheus prior to shoving it into Alien and ruining everything with that franchise

[@jneilson7568]

Nailed it.

[@codyburgett7962]

As someone who watched alien vs predator requiem in theaters I definitely remember the film not seeming nearly as dark in theaters I think the color grading was made specifically for theaters and on standard tvs the video looks incredibly dark

[@Aeon2Flux]

It was Dark As F at my theatre where i worked. We had shoddy equipment though at that time.

[@bloodlinefilms]

Looked really good in my theater too. I was shocked when i bought the DVD and i watched an hour and a half of a black screen occasionally disturbed by vague shapes.

[@gamemacatron7512]

I honestly like some of the ideas for the prequels such as introducing new species of Xenomorphs but the biggest problem I have with them is that the technology looks too futuristic and not retro like the original, which doesn’t make sense since supposedly these movies take place almost a century apart What they should have done instead was have them be set in the future after the events of the original movies and have them focus on the new aliens like the Deacon and Neomorph while also having our characters explore the origins of the Aliens and Engineers, that I think would have been more interesting what do you think

[@faceless2302]

Funnily enough a lot of the rifles they have in Covenant are just like modern AR-15's and AUGs from what I remember. Didn't even try to really change them up to look like something else, so it fails to convey either something truly futuristic fitting with the prequel aesthetic or clunky and retro-futuristic like most of the the guns like in Aliens. I think this is kind of exemplary of a lot of the problems with the prequels, conflicting visions rattling against each other and delivering an overall kind of confused and unsatisfying package.

[@AleK0451]

@@faceless2302 if this movie had come out like 40 years ago the AUG would've looked futuristic on its own, it looked fucking cool in die hard but yeah it's pretty standard nowadays, i think they should've gone with a prototype for a new gun that looks futuristic rather than designed their own because damn some of the designs in these movies look bad

[@cicolasnage5684]

I always like to imagine that in alien they were space truckers and the corporation didn’t give a damn and gave them broke down ass old ship. It’s pretty common place especially in the oilfield: some newer plants have nice shiny equipment while older plants have to make do with old machinery that’s in constant repair.

[@oneandonlysound3453]

@@cicolasnage5684 Yeah, to me this worked for Prometheus. Not sure how it would've going more forward unless they rode alien ships (and that is what should've been like the opening of covenant to me). The ship in it is basically a corporate elite ship, it's "air force one" while the ship in Alien1 (for anyone who reads this, no I am in no way mocking or disrespecting the visual effects, the story lends to it multiple times if you pay attention) is the car with 100,000 miles on it. And it broke down on that planet to find what it did. Made sense. Still does, unlike new star trek and others who didn't seem to get this. Nor do many Alien fans, apparently-not calling Prometheus perfect but it's not the same like what other prequel series have failed to ever address (for real, alt timelines, "off the books" are garbage reasons looking at you new star trek!).

[@hunterdeloney4711]

I like this idea

[@BeggarsNight]

Here’s the reason the egg-beam is there: They borrowed a new laser-light rig from The Who, who were filming a performance (which would end up in the doc The Kids Are Alright) in a studio next door in Shepperton, where Alien was also filming. If you watch the doc, you’ll see the same lights in a cutaway sequence during the buildup to the finale of the song “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. So there’s no particular reason, really. It was an off-the-cuff decision to make it look cool.

[@TheSpookyDuke]

Exactly. If you listen Ridley talking in Making of... interviews many times he'd use the effects that would look cool in a manner of what they could afford. That's another very important reason why all the classic originals were better than sequels or remakes (not only Alien movies, but most of them 70s and early 80s classics..) - the director and the production team had had their creative efforts stretched to the edge because of tight schedules and small budgets. And that's called art.

[@maraudershields283]

The prequels would have been so much better if they weren’t hyped as prequels. Imagine going into Prometheus thinking it was just a Scott sci-fi film that had similar tones to Alien, but new? Then by the end your aware it has some kind of connection, but you don’t know what. That and it’s equal probably would have been received far batter in my opinion.

[@kaggykarr]

I agree. Also, imagine if they marketed Alien Covenant as just a "Covenant" like a sequel to Prometheus, but kept the Alien in the third act a secret, how cool would that be?

[@williamgregg6339]

I was so excited for Prometheus because it was marketed as a prequel. And I liked the movie, but not as a Alien prequel if that makes sense. I think it would have been better if done like Marauder Shields said. I think my hype killed it going in with a certain expectation.

[@djbusx]

I remember they tried so hard! A lot of the early news coming out of this movie was saying just that - “This is not a prequel!” But as we got closer to the release, the tone changed (and the script y’all were saying), and every advert made sure you knew this is a full blown prequel now. Definitely remember reading interviews Scott saying don’t view this as a prequel but there are nice ester eggs in there for fans of Alien.

[@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan]

True, but I think the studio wanted to market them as Alien prequels because they thought they'd make more money that way.

[@shawnhilliard]

Realizing Prometheus was a prequel to Alien like how Split was revealed for Unbreakable would have been amazing!

[@icemav5740]

I think Scott completely misunderstood what people loved about Alien. He forgot that people loved that it was an actual fucking alien, not some creation. It was a perfectly evolved creature, not some androids weird fantasy

[@mr.goblin6039]

Everything about Prometheus and Alien: Covenant makes me so upset. The first one starts promising, expanding the universe of Alien, and then shits the bed because it’s obvious that they don’t really know what to do with the story when it comes to it’s connection it to Alien as a franchise. It really feels like Prometheus wanted to be it’s own thing and then Ridley Scott went “aw shit, this is an Alien prequel, right? Hold up. Let me throw some of that in.” I would’ve loved Prometheus if it was just a stand alone story with no connection to Alien or, as you said, a remake. Then they did Alien: Covenant and just shit all over the Alien franchise as a whole. Not only do they just throw away everything set up in Prometheus, but the way the Xenomorphs were created is LAME. So much of it makes no sense. I hope they just STOP with Alien. Let it rest, give it some time, and then come back to it when they have an actual good story to tell in that universe… Or just make something new. Prometheus was sort of going in that direction, until it wasn’t.

[@faceless2302]

Yeah Covenant was pretty frustrating with how it ditched everything setup from Prometheus and ended on a cliffhanger with no sequel in sight to tie things together. A prequel/reboot trilogy could've been good as it's own standalone thing if they hadn't dropped the ball so hard and just rolled with whatever the original intent of Prometheus was.

[@jneilson7568]

They'll never listen, but I hear you. Thay mess made AVP look seriously good in comparison - the first one anyway. Because it was made by someone who at least enjoyed the first movies. But they should keep Ridley away from the franchise...

[@MichaelVLang]

They are both horrible structurally unsound movies that seem to purposefully self destruct at every step. Wastes of time and materials.

[@mooseyman74]

The people in covenant make the worst decisions in movie history

[@PUARockstar]

@@faceless2302 they ditched it because studio wanted Alien film and aliens. Ridley wanted to do 4 films, and only 3rd would be a full alien film, 2nd was Prometheus 2.0 is his mind with like small alien cameo at the end maybe. But Prometheus was underwhelming box office wise, so studio pressured to throw aliens in earlier

[@ELABNER2]

0:53 THANK YOU!!!! I don't know why people often forget this. The creature even appears to have some sort of sadism or enjoys making its victims suffer

[@hueyh5637]

I’m pretty sure those dreads on the predators aren’t hair, I think when they are cut, it bleeds. I may have seen it in a comic too.

[@Demigod_3scrub]

The egg morphing process is genuis.. I can imagine it's a painful and slow process to have your body slowly digested as you turn into an egg

[@thefox7172]

One of my biggest problems with Alien:Covenant was what makes the Xenomorph better than the Neomorph. The neomorph is lethal as soon as it bursts out of the host. The Xenomorph chestbuster is very weak and has to run.

[@whyhesoears]

exactly? like i understand its supposed to be some biological variant, but with the way it resembles an infant or a freshly molted bug, even having neo like neonate, i just kept thinking that the neomorph was supposed to be some kind of predecessor to the xenomorph.

[@zaprese]

You could compare it to Animals and humans. Animals can walk as soon as they are born in most cases but babies can’t even turn over. Yet we are the deadlier species

[@efugee]

Why are video games held to such a higher standard that blockbuster movies? Alien Isolation had like a fraction of the budget and delivered hours more content. The writing was flawless and wrapped up every thread. All the designs and sets were intriguing, and the horror was on point. Is it the producers fuckin it up or are just fly by night film studios staffed with like no nerds at all?

[@comixproviderftw_02]

I’ll admit, I do have a soft spot for the neomorpher. It’s familiar despite it being more streamlined, and it reminds me of the Rasklapanje and the Regeneradores from Resident Evil.

[@faceless2302]

I don't think the neomorph is a bad design, but it feels like they made it just for the sake of having a new monster. They already made the trilobite and deacon and did nothing with it, then they made the neomorphs and did nothing with them, then they just brought back an offbrand version of the xeno in the same movie because they had no idea where to go from there with the neomorphs. The franchise is suffering from a state of producers thinking "we have to give the audience new monsters 24/7 to keep their adhd brains invested" and then refusing to utilize the monsters in a meaningful way after some poor creature design team put effort into making something potentially cool. You could axe all of those monsters from the films and just replace them with the normal facehugger and xeno and nothing would've changed plotwise.

[@S13Logs]

predlocks (the hair) are actually sensory organs, and because xenos track by secondary senses like hearing, it would make sense for them to adapt that trait to become more skilled in the environment.

[@MasterCleife]

In Alien and Aliens, it's made explicitly clear that once a facehugger attaches to someone, you aint ever getting it off without killing the host, even with a fully equipped med bay. In Covenant, one of the colonists gets a facehugger on his face, his mate whips out his knife and it's job done with relatively minor burns to the host.

[@anathardayaldar]

I get it that the xenomorphs are Ridley Scott's baby. So its his right to say its his way or the highway. But my attraction to aliens is that they were an example of the unknowable universe. To say an android "improved" it means he knows it. And since humans made the android, they can know it too. The xenomorphs are going the way of the Borg, from lovecraftian horror to a joke.

[@yutyrannusfanboy5873]

They're not his babies lol, they're Giger's babies.

[@sutigin3467]

One of the greatest mysteries in film history is the space jockey. It was supposed to be a bio-mechanoid ship and a pilot fused together like a symbiotic oneness, making them an interstellar capable organism. The aliens would be their version of parasitic infestation. Like instead of carbon based life they are silicon based or something. This would truly be “alien”

[@robwalsh9843]

It's funny when you realize the connection that the Alien franchise has with Terminator, not in the least because the same people worked on them. In both cases, you get two amazing movies. The first one is more horror-oriented while the second one is more action-oriented. But then you get a slew of tired, unnecessary and bumbling sequels(or prequels that nobody wanted), and all of the mystery, terror and excitement has just been bled dry. Honestly, Alien: Isolation was the greatest Xenomorph-related media in recent years.

[@GabyGeorge1996]

And even Alien: Isolation went off the rails at the point where it was revealed that there was a shit ton of Xenomorph eggs on the space station rather than a single xenomorph

[@Justmonika6969]

@@GabyGeorge1996 I don't think it went off the rails. I mean, in the original Alien they were being cocooned.

[@tastycookiechip]

@@GabyGeorge1996 That was an amazing twist tho. The hive was one of the most cursed parts of the game i love it

[@Hmzytalks]

Terminator 2 was good at least

[@robwalsh9843]

@@Hmzytalks That's what I meant. Both Aliens and Terminator 2 delivered, while the sequels felt short.

[@EbonyPope]

Yes. Making the engineer just a suit was a huge misstep. It looked menacing completely alien to them. Now it's just big blue bodybuilder. The original design was excellent and as always Hollywood made it less interesting by destroying Giger's design.

[@trashbasset]

It has no mouth until the cgi says so, lmao that one is top tier joke. I noticed that too the first time I watched it in theaters, still no clue as to why not just make one type of alien instead of needlessly introducing two

[@faceless2302]

They could've done something interesting if they had just set up a conflict between the neomorphs and protomorphs or something. Maybe actually establish how the xeno is a perfect organism in comparison to all these other creatures that do basically the exact same thing the exact same way. Both the deacon and neomorph feel like they're trying to establish some sort of newer/badder monster, and a sort of alien hive war between true xenos and everything else like them would be actually something new and different that hasn't been seen on film.

[@freaknr1]

Especially when the Neomorph seems to be superior to the Xeno/protomorph in every way. I don't know, but reproducing from airborne spores that can enter through pretty much any cavity seems way better than needing a big egg that hatches a crab that needs to put an embryo into someone's mouth. The Protomorph seems a bit harder to kill, but does that really make it the "perfect organism"?

[@mitchellhorton9382]

@@freaknr1 Neomorph seems to come online alot faster too

[@atomicpanzer9537]

The light beam over the eggs explained in alien vs predator 2 the pc game. In the primal hunt dlc, the fog is explained to be a stasis field that preserves eggs.

[@AndreAvezRaposa]

Covenant is so rushed and confusing that after many years, watching a clip, I realized that "spore dust" is indeed microscopical insects made by David, and in one fraim in the movie you can see the real form of the creature (kind of a fly/wasp like insect) in David's drawings.

[@boboboy8189]

Rather than rushed and confusing, they delete plenty of things. There's deleted scenes

[@davidcauley9400]

I'm calling it now: The mechanical aspects of the classic Giger ALIEN will be somehow inherited or integrated from David himself. Yes, I think they were genuinely heading in that very VERY dumb creative direction. You know it makes sense after watching the absurdities unfold in Prom and and Cov.

[@anthonysteible5475]

You do know David made his own version of the xenomorph right. The one he created was different via no second mouth. The neomorph in my opinion was a bio weapon created by the engineer using the black goo. Either way the xenomorph is older revealed by the mural on the ship featuring the xenomorph. I think they were trying to make a mass produced bio weapon using the xenomorph as a base.

[@davidcauley9400]

@@anthonysteible5475 yes he was making his own version, but not finished, hence the ending of Covenent: his experiments continued, heading towards the proposed 3rd film, with a whole colony to experiment on. In that 3rd film I have no doubt David becomes "one" with his creation somehow, thus lending the mechanical elements missing from the covenant morph.

[@Carolean_Vergil]

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. After all, Ridley Scott is the same guy who retconned Blade Runner by saying Deckard was "definitely a replicant".

[@davidcauley9400]

@@Carolean_Vergil absolutely. Ridley demonstrates a complete misundertsanding of what actually kept the film alive, even becoming a much analysed and discussed film in academia (I know, I wrote about it myself in school and university). Most of that came precisely from the 90s BR Directors Cut, and the fact it revealed this whole new possibility, and via ARTFUL AMBIGUITY, into the text. He really needs to stay away from the writers and plotting room imho. For my money the DC is still the better version than the Final Cut, maibky due to the FC doesnt handke the unicorn dream as well. I dont care about the other changes enough to prefer it, but the unicorn dream is THE most important moment, aside from Roy's farewell speech. Deckard will always MAYBE a replicant for me, and that's how it should remain.

[@lezionscorner4376]

I might be crazy but from what I remember of AVPR doesn't the Pred-Alien actually use the mandibles not too dissimilarly to a Facehugger, using it to hold the victim's head in place as it implants the alien embryos? It could be why they were brought in, allowing it to act both in the role of hunting as well as reproducing to build a new hive

[@Noperare]

Can we talk how technology works in the Alien universe? If take both Covenant and Ressurection as canon, Ressurection is 375 years into the future, yet somehow it is so far behind Covenant. What fuck up the Weyland yutani did to make space travel go full WH40K dark age?

[@JRKonungrinn]

Corporate cost-cutting measures?

[@CinematicDependency]

Very glad, you’re back doing what you love ❤️ Your content is excellent.

[@ADR69]

Yeah I've been on a Cordz bender lately. No regerts

[@kylereese4822]

The Alien takes some of the host`s DNA thus looks slightly different every time..... you`d know that if you watched the movies...

[@CinematicDependency]

@@kylereese4822 Thee Kyle Reese?!

[@ImmortalRimas]

To me at the end of Alien it looked like the Xenomorph was sleeping in the escape shuttle and Ripley startled it awake which would explain the lethal tongue sticking out as it made it look like it was yawning

[@mooseyman74]

It always makes me chuckle when she's got her back to it at the control panel and when she turns round it looks like it's going to tap her on the shoulder and say "oi, turn down the steam I'm trying to sleep"

[@eriknorem7670]

So when I first watched Prometheus back when it came out, I actually had no idea it was an Alien prequel until the very end when the Deacon popped out and I was like "WAIT WHAT!? This whole thing is just a rip off of Alien!" And my friend is like "No, dude, its a prequel. Did you not notice?" And I had to be like "I mean, sorta? The snake thing was kinda Alien-y, and the goo, I guess? But. What the heck? THAT was the prequel? That left me with more questions than anything." And it still does, and even more after Covenant.

[@theveteransergeant]

One of the greatest mysteries of the original Alien film, and one of its most lasting legacy images, is the Space Jockey, dead in its chair. What is this thing? Where did it come from? How long has it been dead? Fascinating. But, deep down, the audience didn't want that answer. The mystery is one of the greatest things about it. So the biggest problem with Prometheus is not just that it's kinda lame, with dumb, fairly uninteresting characters. It's that it ruins the mystery of Alien in the process. It answers the question "Who was the Space Jockey?" And the answer sucks. Some angry bluish guys. Oh, and it wasn't a skeleton, it was a skeleton shaped spacesuit. Prometheus makes Alien worse by its mere existence.

[@darkwoods1954]

I hate that the bizarre elephantine creature growing out of an interstellar vehicle is now just a bald guy in a space suit. The Alien is not some dark creature evolved from a hellish world in the darkest corners of space waiting for us to stumble upon it. Now it was created by an evil human robot. Or it was created by the same people who created humans? Either way it links and relates us all far too much. Shrinking the universe and making the alien less alien.

[@geordie170101]

13:40 bloody hell i can’t stop laughing! The way you said xenomorph was a sublime crescendo!

[@ddc2957]

“You know how it’s perfect? Let’s fuck that up.” Ridley Scott.

[@chriscze6153]

Commenting for the algorithm. Love you Cordz.

[@lukecosstick6417]

What gets me is if David created the Xenomorphs then what we’re the predators huntings in the temples from avp for hundreds of before they apparently even existed

[@thecryptobiologist68]

Considering the hospital scene, maybe the Yautja mandibles are meant to hold the victims head in place where it stuffs eggs down them?

[@thewickedwanderer]

Love your back doing videos man. And I can’t wait for movie nights video

[@Retrobution]

The Xenomorph, for me, is the ultimate movie monster and it kinda ruins them when you learn more about their lore, i like NOT knowing about them. only like finding stuff out like acid for blood, and the face huggers... terrifying stuff. The first two films covered just the right amount of content. Having them evolve into other things etc, its just stupid and takes away the things that make them terrifying. All of the best movie monsters or characters, even in horror movies, they are at their best when you know very little about them. Like jaws was scarier before you see him, the terminator in the first film was actually scary. Those cold dead t800 eyes stalking its target, its a chilling thought, and not even the police can help. in terminator 2 they evolved his character, but introduced an equally terrifying and mysterious villain as a trade off. With the xenomorph, imo the bar was totally raised to the top, so theres nothing better than the xenomorph. you cant top them, the queen is the logical next step, but she was defeated and then that is that...a satisfying end. the line of alien toys (which i LOVE btw) is a good example of other types that could be possible, but am glad they stayed with the toys only. The only way the xenomorph would get scarier is if they made them smaller, like spiders lol imagine house spiders with acid for blood and lay eggs in your throat.... But that idea of mankind getting the technology to explore space (or other beings), but then on these sparse planets you have these egg nests.. its creepy, and cold, and this is what i like about the xenomorph - its that whole idea of like under the ocean, its a cold dark dangerous place and everything has its eye on you and exploring space is the same, we arent meant to explore it and us interfering has made the xenomorph spread. The dangerous lifeforms under the ocean are doing their job, and best left alone, we arent supposed to be going down that deep, so the same rule applies to space. You just dont know whats out there. The xenomorph is like a cancer to all life in the universe, and when they were uncovered they latched onto that life and then they began to spread, so just a sequel film perhaps seeing the xenomorph spread and to try to trace back their origin to just blow them out of orbit would be fine. None of this prometheus crap.

[@AlbinGlasell]

Great stuff as always!

[@theangrypenguin3014]

Well I believe their tails have always had the blades since the comics and one of the most famous deaths scenes of alien involved one up the arse lol. But as for the dome heads and the rigged if u didn’t know, those with dome heads are called drones, the ones with the more aggressive look is called a warrior, drones tend to the hive and stay within the hive while warriors regularly gather food and are used in the expansion of the hive

[@fredleggett923]

Except that's contradicted in Aliens, since we see no "drones", despite their proximity to the eggs. You could say they were there, just never seen, but if that's the case, why were "warriors" protecting the hive? I'm not trying to rag on your explanation, as I've heard it before in expanded literature, but the long and the short of it is that Cameron didn't want any of Giger's design baggage, so he did his own take on the xenos and only added the queen so there'd be a final boss fight for the climax. Also, egg-morphing was never mentioned in Aliens, even though Ripley SUPPOSEDLY personally witnessed the event on the Nostromo, so why was she wondering where all the eggs were coming from? The more I dwell on Aliens, the less I like it from a narrative standpoint. It's a great action flick, but Cameron obviously wanted to do things his way without being weighed-down by pertinent things that happened in Alien.

[@theangrypenguin3014]

@@fredleggett923 well drones can still defend the hive they just do not leave the hive as a warrior is meant to do but they both are perfect killing machines drones just tend to be smaller. And yea I agree same with the predator series it’s strange because continuity is better if they’d just follow the comics

[@fredleggett923]

@@theangrypenguin3014 Hollyweird doesn't take comics seriously. They'll use them to siphon-off character IPs, but they won't use their narratives, at least not to an appreciable degree. And now with Prometheus and Covenant completely screwing things up, I fear the xenoverse is irrevocably compromised. I mean, there's no way in hell you're gonna convince me that David made the xenos. That's just Scott and his writers on a bad acid trip. Thank God Ridley has Raised by Wolves for his utterly insane playground so he can't tank any other IPs. Seriously, have you seen RbW? It is the most batshit Sci-Fi series ever produced. No apparent rhyme or reason to anything, crazy stuff just happens and the characters just shrug their shoulders like it's all old hat. Totally bizarre.

[@theangrypenguin3014]

@@fredleggett923 yea I took not of that, but I’m my opinion alien could’ve turned out slot worse just look at all the respect predators franchise is getting 🤤🧪🤣🤣🤣☠️

[@anthonysteible5475]

@@theangrypenguin3014 also the drones had a survival instinct and we're overall more intelligent, while the warrior was overall larger, sturdier and stronger but had no regard for their life and would throw themselves at the enemy. And a good functional hive would have more warriors to gather and defend the hive than drones, more like a bee hive than an ant nest.

[@elskeletor3566]

AVP were supposed to be done in space but Fox executive forced them to make it on earth and of course the budget for these two films was bad so ideas that were in the script had to be removed from the film. It explains why Requiem was dark in some areas of the film. If most people had watched the commentary on that movie you would understand the frustration of the directors not being able to make the film they wanted.

[@paulpradeau134]

Really interseting dude keep it UP ! :)

[@Skullspidey]

I'm already subscribed, here is a comment and the like button was clicked. Take that algorithm! Great video as always, looking forward to the next

[@TheRedneckPreppy]

Wasn't the Preadalien introduced in one of the PC games years before the movies? My memory is hazy so I could be out to lunch.

[@spacebassist]

I think you remembered right. It would've been AvP2 primal hunt

[@freaknr1]

I think the PC-game might have taken it from the comics, but I'm not shure.

[@twystedtee]

Great vid! 👍

[@alexabeeee]

Your last line killed me 😂

[@vacmidvalley770]

Another great vid

[@StatusClick]

To be fair to Fede Álvarez, he didn't Direct the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie that just came out, he did the story and produced it.

[@Joecbg100]

True, that's like blaming Tim Burton for Batman Forever going in a different direction.

[@RustyShackleford420]

David making the xenomoprhs also means they wouldn't have existed early enough for the AVP movies to have happened or for the predator to have a xenomorph skull in the second film.

[@shadowleon659]

Alien Covenant was basically the Highlander The Source of the Alien franchise. Prometheus was crap.

[@CinematicDependency]

Prometheus introduced a new idea/concept to the alien. Covenant just crapped the bed, entirely

[@MrParkourDJ]

ive had a similar thought about the series along the lines of your just make it a remake point. why not just make these things sequels? id have way more interest in continuing to watch these movies if they didnt have to worry about lining up with the original. why not have the engineers trying to mess with the xenomorph dna which makes all these alien look alikes? could be a much easiler explainer as to why we've never seen deacons or protomorphs before. with these being prequels we all know where this is going to end up, and it probably wont be a satisfying connection anyways. really feels like a missed opportunity also i never comment, but want to help out with that algorithm. cheers mate

[@93siguy]

You’ve been spot on with all your opinions on the alien and predator franchise

[@theticksquad8218]

I guess the idea with the prequel aliens being less "alien" is that they are all "prototypes" where all of these aliens eventually evolve (artificial by the way these prequel versions are) into the OG aliens. Also I really like covenant, its pretty baller, especially with the "Xenomorph" attacking the ship near the end,

[@171QA]

Great video.

[@matthewcb1970]

I have never left a cinema so disappointed as I was after I saw Prometheus. Never seen Covenant, no desire to.

[@DIRTIE1]

i love how in the alien 1 shuttle scene after killing almost all the crew he alien just takes a quick nap

[@dynamosaurusimperious2718]

This video was really good

[@swishersweet3756]

I always felt that there is no 'standard' or default alien form. A major reason the facehugger delivers an egg/embryo into a host is so that it can absorb or recreate any necessary physical traits that it would need to survive best in whatever environment it's 'born' into. In the case of humans it's major trait was probably being bipedal with arms, but with improvements such as extra and doubled fingers. The skull visible within the dome was just evidence it only used the basic design as a pattern to adapt it's better/larger head design, the nose and eye portion wasn't adapted since it apparently has a better way of 'seeing/smelling' than just eyes or a nose (but it's really just a cool design of H.R.Giger's). Alien 3 did honor that view with the chest burster coming from a four legged creature and taking it's basic design. A new xenomorph will always have similar traits to it's host but with alien augmentation.

[@gambit5667]

The dreadlocks arent actually hair if i remember correctly, since it bleeds when cut, im pretty sure it functions more like a tail and is to help balance

[@artblack01]

Egg Morphing: Based on many of the other scripts that included this, they weren't turning into eggs, they were being stored for food.

[@Concreteowl]

My take on David is he didn’t create the alien he attempted to recreate the original creature from the black goo. The black goo is a product made from alien eggs.

[@RhysClark97]

I struggle to think of a prequel that isnt made worse by being a prequel and not just its own movie.

[@arachnophilia427]

indiana jones and the temple of doom. an arguable example is godfather part 2, which is partially prequel. maybe also "red dragon", which is a prequel to "silence of the lambs" in film, but came first as a book.

[@kyleashley9294]

I wish we could have seen Neil Blomkamp's movie before it got pulled for these awful prequels.

[@DavidThomas-gd1xg]

The prequels became less Alien because they weren't Alien yet for about another 20 years in the Alien timeline

[@THNAidan]

The David impersonation at 13:38 killed me

[@mooseyman74]

The problem with my two favourite films (Aliens and T2) is that they leave nowhere for a sequel to go, except for in directions no body wants.

[@Clown_the_Clown]

Could you cover Prey? The Predator design in that is horrendous!

[@caseycbenn]

The Engineer lore that came from comic books made them seem far more ancient and mysterious. They didn't even seem to have human like faces. The comic books took the Giger artwork, something that truly feels like it could be from many millenia ago with advanced technology, and extended the ideas a bit. Once we get to Prometheus the engineers become quite humanlike and yet it doesn't make the story any larger. It makes it smaller and less complex. Ridley gets so caught up in the visual that I don't think he could really tell you a great story. He was lucky that the Alien script was already a solid 3 act tale that works quite clearly as the pieces unfold. With Prometheus there was so much potential to tell a truly interesting story. Even the black goo was a pretty decent idea as a catalyst for evolutionary work and bioengineering. Though the Engineers end up being these strange space knuckle draggers by the end and seem too clumsy to really be anything truly mentally advanced as the tech they command. By Covenant the story becomes even smaller. Exploring the David story was a good idea but ends up creating something that is basically the humanoid version of HAL in 2001. Rogue AI that has no real true motive and is just left mysterious as a way to compensate for what should be good writing. Plus an Alien that now has really a huma origin story which is boring and paper thin. I will always look at Giger's engineer artwork and many of the other Alien artworks he made for the film and just wish that a truly inspired tale could have been formed out of that. Sadly, we got popcorn throw away Covenant and, though Prometheus still has some cool merit to its reveals, it never truly adds up to something that gives the audience a real epiphany about existence or the universe.

[@wonkawilly5573]

The one and only Professor Cordz. I'll be in the front row!

[@JakanoryJones]

"Shut up, movie go fast now." Is one of your best lines.

[@lindamarquet1688]

I think the dreadlocks on a predator actual biological apenedes like your fingers or teeth. In one of the comics a predator gets shot with a shotgun or something and it misses his face but takes off some dreadlocks and then the dreads start having blood leaking out of them, versus humans if that happened we would just have a bald spot, you know if you're lucky not getting hit in the head by a bullet. I think thats why the Predalien has dreadlocks.

[@timsimpson6019]

Prometheus was turned into a alien prequel last second

[@mgkiryuu]

Fun couple of videos on these series. I like the movies, but I am not like a diehard fan. I actually never noticed there was that many differences between the suits in the flicks lol! While I like videos on big budget movie reviews and hot takes, I think your stuff on these ripoff and crappy horror movies are the best :) If I could make a suggestion on maybe a trilogy of films to check out like that, check out Bruce Wemple's Bigfoot/Wendigo trilogy films. Monstrous, The Retreat, and Dawn of the Beast. The first flick is a bigfoot movie, the 2nd is a Wendigo flick, and the 3rd uses the suits from both the first two flicks and ends up having Bigfoot facing off against a bunch of Wendigos ;) Low budget for sure, but they are not that bad of flicks honestly.

[@kuitaranheatmorus9932]

Epic video

[@mostlyvillains]

nailed it (again).

[@Clay3613]

I'll say it again, Ridley is like George Lucas...had their biggest movie largely based on the works of other great creators. Completely forgets to make a good return to said movie decades later after their original masterpiece and just want to stroke their ego.

[@arachnophilia427]

yeah "alien" was never his baby. it was o'bannon, giger, and the team collected for "dune".

[@mitchellhorton9382]

Ridley Scott is not a writer so why did he write these movies The writers on both Alien and Bladerunner have said they didn't think Ridley really understood the narrative because of choices he made (remember all the fights about the ending to Bladerunner)

[@96rincon]

You are the reason that Star Wars is ran by Disney and is the shxt show it is now. Damn prequel haters.

[@somedudewithakeyboard5388]

The "Dreadlocks" on the Predators and Predalien aren't actually hair, they're sensory organs to help with the fact that(as seen in Predator 1) the Yautja are basically blind. I could be remembering incorrectly though

[@dalamusulom6660]

Look, the fact that the prequels have more advanced tech than Alien despite supposedly taking place years and years before the latter really kinda says it all about how much they cared.

[@calebshoemaker]

Prometheus is genius and your analysis of everything wrong with Covenant is spot on

[@markusrohde2483]

Prometheus is absolutely bullshit.

[@maticc117]

Alien isolation is more alien than all the shit that riddle scott had made with the prequels

[@999jay999]

Maybe the Alien Mandibles are like the claws used by such things as crabs etc...

[@og_fnafboy101]

New intro, nice

[@JurassicRod]

It's funny how similar Prometheus and Alien Vs Predator are considering the shit Ridley gave AvP.

[@lowlowseesee]

the alien is so scary just sittin in there lookin like part of the ship. like a snake in the kitchen type vibes that all humans are programmed to jump from

[@seanscudder5428]

Dat head bag lol

[@magnuskallas]

When I saw Alien as a kid and the space beast did that weird yawn in the end, without knowing better I thought it had some connection with the cat, kind of burring or something.

[@shawnhilliard]

As someone who binged the ENTIRE franchise before watching the newest installment, Netflix Chainsaw Massacre is one of the best in the franchise. Anyone who thinks otherwise is blinded by nostalgia or hasn't rewatched them recently.

[@MrChupacabra555]

Thanks!

[@cordzfx]

No, thank YOU!!! Cheers mate!

[@edwardmorrissette5817]

Prometheus and alien covenant really pissed me off cause they had minimal connection to the giger alien. Giger had so many interesting ideas for the creature like the alien 3 xeno would have expressed its feelings through music. Shit that's so strange and eerie that you can never get by over explaining in a dogshit prequel series

[@mullaoslo]

I always assumed the alien at the end of the first movie was sleeping.. His mouth going in and out was just random movement in his sleep