Rest in peace, H. R. Giger's Alien.

[Gruyères]

That's simply your impression of what the Jockey not matching the ultimate reality.  Yes it was originally conceived as a skeleton, but there's nothing definitive in the film so Riddles had the option to change it.

And that's why I made this very thread, to show my discomfort with it. And debate it with Alien fans

[SM]

I don't see much of an issue relating a Jockey to an Engineer.  The height discrepancy doesn't bother me.

[kwisatz]

The whole universe shrinking that is heavily going on with Prometheus/AC is bothering me a lot. Its pretty much what Lucas did. Luckily the SW universe is a lot more resistent to this than the Alien one, which is becoming more and more uninteresting to me. Talk about A L I E N lol.

Whats next, Ripleys mother? Maybe Daniels actually is and shell later become the queen from Aliens adding all that drama to the final battle. Cant wait.

[ChrisPachi]

Scott is fleshing out the universe, which is not the same as shrinking it. If anything, making the SJ a race of beings that seed life across the galaxy expands on what was at most just a dead who knows what in a weird spaceship from who knows where. If you are going to answer a mystery then you inevitably dissolve the mystery, so it is not that Scott is shrinking the universe it is that he is exploring it at all. Regardless of what the origins of the Alien are, as soon as you know it the mystique is gone. You can't win.

[Scorpio]

If you want mystery then just watch Alien and only Alien, ignore all films after it because Alien is O'Bannon's and Shushett's original concept.

Maybe Daniels actually is and shell later become the queen from Aliens adding all that drama to the final battle. Cant wait.

That would be a brilliant idea, actually.

[kwisatz]

The whole seeding life angle didnt lead anywhere though and is now abandoned completely with AC.

AC leaves us with a man made roboter and his bestiary vs humanity, if thats not melting down ALIEN i dont know what is. And its melting down on all levels actually, even designwise from weird as fk Alien to zombie Alien right out of Hershels barn (see OP).

Every interesting aspect of any mechanics outside the human realm can and will be explained with 'thats what the goo does'/'thats what David came up with'. Thats not exploring mystery, thats creating a devise to avoid exploring mystery. What lame screenwriting, for me at least.

The whole engineer bombing sequence is such a superb symbolic middle finger for all kinds of Alien nerds, it might actually only be rivaled by what Hideaki Anno did to the manga/anime scene.

[426Buddy]

www.bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3449929/stephen-kings-misery-predicted-modern-fandom/

[Richman678]

Trust me Giger's Alien is very scary. It just hasn't been utilized properly in a long time.

If Alien Isolation can make it scary...then the right director needs the chance to take a shot at the franchise. I say fox does what Marvel does, and have the new director shoot 5 to 10 minutes of rough footage to show off the direction they need to take.

[Gash]

Regarding Life, I can't remember much about it just a few months after seeing it. When it took it's cues from ALIEN it was okay - one of the better rip offs - but it wasn't very memorable and had no real themes worth pondering.

Covenant does a nice job of exploring David in greater detail, and of shifting the alien creatures away from insect heirachy B movie cliche it had drifted into, steering it into something much more menacing and Gigeresque in tone. Whether it's Hammerpedes or Neomorphs, these are creatures I could see coming from Giger's nightmares, perhaps via Hieronymus Bosch, but anyway far more connected to the tone of the horrors in ALIEN.

That along with the return of the Croissant ship, means that Scott's films are referencing Giger far more than any other director has, and David's workshop suggests to me that Scott is also playing with the idea that the Character of David in his new creative role is a meta interpretation of Giger himself to a certain degree - a man that designs beautiful horrors.

Very far from R.I.P. Giger, IMHO.

[Highland]

I guess the simplest answer whilst trying not to be disrespectful to Scott is that a lot of the elements that people found intriguing in the first movie simply were not his ideas. I think we got the right director but the wrong story ( with a dose of questionable pacing and editing thrown in both movies).

[tleilaxu]

@Paranoid Android: I have a foreboding sense that you're completely right.

@windebieste: How on earth (and LV426 for that matter) can you relate the Space Jockey to an engineer? The former being a tremendous biomechanical creature fused to a chair, with no signs of helmet or armor; the latter being an 8ft humanoid with advanced (yet mechanical) technology. Also, aren't you tired of being always the center? Humans this, humans that. Antropomorhpic figures this, antropomorphic figures that. I liked Alien since I was a kid because it was radically different, because the derelict looked like it was an alive spaceship, because its whole lifecycle was f'ed up compared to innumerable repeating patterns in science fiction.

The xenomorph has a human body plan. It's LITERALLY anthropomorphic. This "alien-ness" is entirely inside your own head. Also, declaring Giger's "world" dead because you didn't like a movie is pretty disrespectful to the artist himself.

[Nukiemorph]

There are so many things I love about the original Alien movies.  The mystery of the alien's origin is absolutely not one of them.

[Jonesy1974]

I dont like it either, Prometheus/AC looks pretty random to me, but thats what we have to deal with now. Its still miles better than most other scifi horror stuff, though.

You liked Covenant better than Life?

I thought that, while being an Alien clone, Life did a much better job than Covenant in all aspects. It even looked better, which surprised me because Covenant had almost twice the budget.

Life was just dull. The first time I saw it I got bored about half way through. The 2nd time I was bored after 10mins. It's also incredibly bland visually.

Nobody will even remember life let alone discuss it by the end of the year. Covenant will continue to be debated for years to come because it's interesting, bold and visually quite stunning at times.

Give me that anyday.

[newagescamartist]

Giger's ( cinematic ) Alien died the moment they made Aliens. If you want a trip down nostalgia lane just keep re-watching Alien over and over again. And Life wasn't that good. Covenant will be talked about for many years while Life will be long forgotten. It's pretty much been forgotten already.

[Alien³]

The alien creature should not exist and is still unpredictable in nature.

I see nothing wrong with how its been handled.

- Another lifetime Alien lover