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AvP Galaxy Exclusive – More Early John Logan Scripts for Alien: Covenant!

Last year we were able to share with you all the only draft of Alien: Covenant’s script so far to be released online. Alien vs. Predator Galaxy is now able to exclusively share another complete draft of Alien: Covenant and a copy of a prologue from another draft that would eventually become The Crossing viral.

Both scripts pre-date the draft we previously shared, with the complete script (titled Paradise Lost) being dated the 19th of August 2015 and the prologue script (titled Paradise) being even earlier, dated August the 6th.

Some notable differences in the Paradise Lost draft include that Daniels is known as Griffin, Oram is missing his religious motivation and the crew come across a graveyard of suited Engineers in close proximity to the crashed Juggernaut and that Karine is also infected by the Neomorph virus.

Make sure you check out both scripts and let us know what you think of them below!

In addition to this look at more of the earlier incarnations of Alien: Covenant, you can also check out scripts for the rest of the Alien and Predator films, including 2 of Jon Spaihts scripts for Prometheus, in our Downloads section. Head on over and give them a read!

Keep a close eye on Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest on Alien and Predator! You can follow us on FacebookTwitter and Instagram to get the latest on your social media walls. You can also join in with fellow Alien and Predator fans on our forums!



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  1. shawsbaby
    It's just disappointing that, with so many talented writers, they seemed to--much as with Prometheus--fall back on some really basic, skimming the surface plot elements. I think it's the direct product of too many cooks in the kitchen (and Scott being unclear about what he thinks and wants), and what we got with A:C was entertaining and had some effective bits, but ultimately diluted what could have been a fascinating narrative and undermined the entire film that came before it.

    I'm sure at some point there were treatments and pitches to divide David and Shaw in space with another crew, either with the Covenant colony or a team looking for evidence of what happened to the Prometheus, and they were vetoed because the film might feel choppy or something. But isn't that what a great director is for? The flashback sequence in A:C was fun to look at, but it still looked sloppy and shoehorned. And leaving it out would have been even worse. Making the Shaw/David story a real part of the fabric of the film would have solved this.

    If they agree to make one final film, I do hope they allow ONE writer to really figure out how to make the pieces fit together in a way that makes a bit more sense of what's been put out there and advances us forward toward the original film's timeline (or beyond).
  2. NetworkATTH
    Quote from: ChrisPachi on Mar 22, 2018, 12:50:18 PM
    Why is the Shaw/David stuff so shit though?
    Probably because it was from an earlier treatment and they were just shooting the shit how to handle it. Eventually they made the right call not to show it.

    You would be surprised how many early drafts of movies you might like are pretty shitty. It's just kind of going with the flow, and improving upon it later. It's about throwing ideas out there even if they read horrible. That's where further drafting begins.
  3. NetworkATTH
    Quote from: ChrisPachi on Mar 22, 2018, 12:35:25 PM
    Quote from: SM on Mar 19, 2018, 10:24:00 PMBecause, of course, every word of a script draft has to be profound poetry.

    Nope, just not so awful.

    Rough drafts that come right after a treatment tend to be awful. There's some gems, I actually like some of this (not all of it) more than what we got in terms of tension. Like the Alien shooting its tongue out at "Griffin's" visor, only not to break it, trying to rip into the suit. And shoots its tongue out again, and again, as the visor begins to buckle before she shoots the airlock open. There are a lot of good ideas in this script that I would have loved to see, but a lot I wouldn't have. But, this is from 2015. Three years prior.

    I know it's awful, but not for the reasons you and I might agree on. The writing crew working out, what can we do with the Alien that we've never done before, was fairly interesting. Like an Alien pinning someone in an armored space suit down but being unable to get in, as they're pinned to the ground. That would have been great to see.

    There's a number of things I'd love to  have seen, and I'm perplexed why they didn't include it.
  4. NetworkATTH
    Quote from: SM on Mar 19, 2018, 10:24:00 PM
    Quote from: ChrisPachi on Mar 19, 2018, 11:35:54 AM
    QuoteA long, snaking, tendril-like CABLE extends from the SHIP, reaching out, tethering to DAVID'S BROKEN BODY, ATTACHING.

    Hello!

    QuoteHe gently reaches out .. She doesn't flinch. He touches her cheek. She looks at him.

    SHAW
    Are you going to kill me now?

    DAVID
    Why would I do that, Elizabeth?

    He smiles, his face utterly readable.

    Oh FFS, who hires these people?

    Because, of course, every word of a script draft has to be profound poetry.

    To be fair this was a very very rough draft, just hitting off story beats. Still, I wish some of the imagery was in here. Dead Engineers in their Suits surrounding the Derelict in the hundreds is far more foreboding, right before it all goes to shit. Kareen being a victim of the spores as well as Ledward. And especially at the end, one of the beasts trying desperately to rip your space/ice suit open, and shooting its  tongue at your visor multiple times. But not getting through after twice. I know in most movies it would have shot right through, but the idea you're pinned to the ground by this thing, and it's shooting its jaws right into your face, cracking the visor harder each time, that's a f**king terrifying image. Reminds me of the first Jurassic Park, when the Tyrannosaurus blast through the sunroof.

    There's a lot of imagery in here I think should have stayed, while the rest of the script remained mostly the same.


    Another scene needed (that weren't in either script I read) I think, is Orrem and David bickering about God in the temple. Something along the lines of

    Orrem: "These things, the city, they look just like us. What is going on, how can this be possible"
    David: "They are your Gods"
    Orrem: "That's not possible, God created man in his own image"
    David: "So did they."
  5. SM
    Quote from: ChrisPachi on Mar 19, 2018, 11:35:54 AM
    QuoteA long, snaking, tendril-like CABLE extends from the SHIP, reaching out, tethering to DAVID'S BROKEN BODY, ATTACHING.

    Hello!

    QuoteHe gently reaches out .. She doesn't flinch. He touches her cheek. She looks at him.

    SHAW
    Are you going to kill me now?

    DAVID
    Why would I do that, Elizabeth?

    He smiles, his face utterly readable.

    Oh FFS, who hires these people?

    Because, of course, every word of a script draft has to be profound poetry.
  6. Denton Smalls
    Thanks again, Hicks!

    Regarding the early story versions from Paglen/Green/Harper, did your contacts by chance speak about some of the things that got revealed in unused concept art like elongated Engineer heads, parasitic worms bursting out of infected Engineers, more exotic versions of goo-altered plant life, and all the Giger-esque portrayals of David growing things with the goo?

    Do you think those drafts will ever see the light of day?
  7. ChrisPachi
    QuoteA long, snaking, tendril-like CABLE extends from the SHIP, reaching out, tethering to DAVID'S BROKEN BODY, ATTACHING.

    Hello!

    QuoteHe gently reaches out .. She doesn't flinch. He touches her cheek. She looks at him.

    SHAW
    Are you going to kill me now?

    DAVID
    Why would I do that, Elizabeth?

    He smiles, his face utterly readable.

    Oh FFS, who hires these people?
  8. Keyes
    Thank you for the scripts Hicks! I've only read the Prologue so far, and it was fascinating to read what I presume was originally shot for Shaw going by past interviews.

    I presume the footage is being held back for possible inclusion as a flashback for the next film.
  9. Gabe
    This is fascinating, I just read the prologue and it was dark!
    Gonna check out the script in a bit.

    I really want to see the 2014 and earlier scripts where there was a lot of change with the original ideas!

    Keep it up guys!
  10. SM
    Finally finished reading this. The only scene that would've been nice to see was Griffin and the facehugger. The escape from the planet was better in the film. The climax wasn't bad, but ultimately still better in the film. Ultimately I think the issue with the last half hour or so is the pace. It stops once they get back to the ship, then needs to start up again when there's no time to do so.
  11. Baron Von Marlon
    Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Mar 15, 2018, 01:13:55 PM
    From what I've been able to learn it actually isn't as drastic a difference as we all expect. I think I've mentioned it in the past but I've managed to talk to someone who was on the film pre-dating John Logan and Dante Harper and they said the narrative was pretty much the same. The only major difference was that Shaw survived to meet up with the crew and that David had some strange pet creatures.

    The narritive might been the same but a different version might have been better.
    And like you said, Shaw surviving and meeting up with the crew is a major difference. I think it implies she had at least some dialogue.
    Perhaps it would've made the transition between Prometheus and Covenant better.
    David pet creatures were supposed to hunt and kill people. Could've been in place of the neomorphs.
    But I'm thinking they might take the victims alive so David could experiment on them.
    Time will tell...
  12. Corporal Hicks
    From what I've been able to learn it actually isn't as drastic a difference as we all expect. I think I've mentioned it in the past but I've managed to talk to someone who was on the film pre-dating John Logan and Dante Harper and they said the narrative was pretty much the same. The only major difference was that Shaw survived to meet up with the crew and that David had some strange pet creatures.
  13. NetworkATTH
    Quote from: Baron Von Marlon on Mar 10, 2018, 05:49:55 AM
    I thought it's designed to look similar to religious places of importance, like Vatican City or Mekka.
    Those often have a big square near an important building or object. The round main building in Covenant is very similar to stupas (old buddhist temples).
    And those people in the last picture remind me of people looking up at the Pope when he's delivering a message.

    The way the city is designed is almost 1:1 how the set of the climax of this script's Colosseum/Stadium. It could be both. The only time Scott seems to allow the albino blue man group joy is when they're practicing some Alien form of Catholic Communion anyways. Sports as a religious practice has existed before. My point was just that it's oddly just designed the way the climax of this script (on Planet 4) ends. It could be anything from an aesthetic choice, to a choice to simplify locations, to a choice about the relations the Engineers feel towards, whatever it is they're doing, maybe they see the war truck coming back as a good omen. Could be all of these things, one of these things, or it could be none of these things.

    But this city is designed exactly like the Colosseum Lope and "Grif" in near the end of this script


    Quote from: KiramidHead on Mar 10, 2018, 05:53:44 AM
    That Engineer with the hat still gets me. :laugh:
    More evidence this city is designed as their best attempt to recreate Earth's Citi Field
  14. Baron Von Marlon
    I thought it's designed to look similar to religious places of importance, like Vatican City or Mekka.
    Those often have a big square near an important building or object. The round main building in Covenant is very similar to stupas (old buddhist temples).
    And those people in the last picture remind me of people looking up at the Pope when he's delivering a message.
  15. NetworkATTH
    Something I noticed, in this script, and obviously scripts prior to it, the Engineer's city was, just that, a city. With buildings. There's no great big hole in the middle.

    However in the last act of this script, they're in a part of a city that's a sporting arena. And almost all of the Engineers are located at this area when the bomb is dropped. So while waiting for Tennesse, you get a good glimpse at all the petrified Engineers, in the Colosseum trying to run, in and outside of it. In the center of the arena are Giger-esque objects of unknown purpose.  The script takes a pause to consider, what they were doing here. The script basically asks whoever was reading it, to try and figure out for themselves why they're all in an arena when they died. It's just a set piece, the Engineers were playing some weird Roman or Meso-American sport. The rest was organized like a city, basically.

    Subsequently when the script changed, and so did the overall plan and design for the city it seems.

    see here
    https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/008/562/378/large/tamas-gyerman-01.jpg?1513588035
    https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/007/251/175/large/neptune-mentor-nmentor-ali-004.jpg?1504780152
    https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/007/251/179/large/neptune-mentor-nmentor-ali-003.jpg?1504780159


    Buildings are built around a giant open space. As if, it was an arena.

    I'm just shooting the shit at this point, but the details match so much that Ridley may have just decided "let's make the whole city sort of designed like a Colosseum. This script mentions "bizarre Giger like objects" near the center. Gus's what's in the center in the movie, the few Juggernauts in the in the middle, underneath an opening, and the mother juggernaut floating. The script changes the Mother Jugggernaut's location from the atmosphere in this script and in concept art

    see here:
    https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/006/128/259/large/steve-burg-mothership-sb-shot-01-20160919-005-resize.jpg?1496239535

    to here:
    https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/005/938/363/large/wayne-haag-mother-jugger-lowpov-2k.jpg?1494857811

    The middle. Exactly where the script says the "giger like objects" in the Colosseum they ran into in the finale were.

    That's really odd, and the similarities are undeniable. You go from what a city looks like, to the plans of the set described in a scene in the finale in a gladiatorial-esque Colosseum. That might imply a lot. It might not, but I have a feeling there was a reason the layout of the city quickly changed between August (the month of this draft) and November ( the month of the last draft we have). It feels like a Ridley made decision, one can only speculate as to why that may be. The Engineers weren't congregating to meet David in this draft either, they were minding their own business, which was mostly to watch some sort of game the majority got petrified in.

    So, in conclusion via design of the city and the design of this script's finale

    You chance the design of the city into one with a vast open space surrounded by, rows if you will., that's check You have specific placement of Giger objects, check. An audience congregating to said arena waving and having a good time when they get bombed, check. The finale taking place in an open public space...check.

    When David arrives, they really do act like its a sporting event of unknown play or purpose. They changed the structure of the city to look like the Colosseum

    https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/007/251/177/large/neptune-mentor-nmentor-ali-002.jpg?1504780156

    I think people can fill in the dots from here.
  16. SM
    QuotePublicity shots should be illegal, is fake publicity.

    Are we going to make it a crime to read too much into every single piece of information that comes out about a film?  Someone go round up a large chunk of Youtube and lock them up.
  17. Whiskeybrewer
    Quote from: D88M on Mar 09, 2018, 01:14:07 PM
    We really needed the "Paradise/Crossing" footage in the movie to link Prometheus and Covenant together, the movie itself needed it.

    Quote from: NetworkATTH on Mar 09, 2018, 03:04:22 AM
    Quote from: SM on Mar 08, 2018, 10:50:58 PM
    QuoteAt no point in any promotional material, or in the film, does the Covenant catch fire. And yet they filmed it for a promotion, and made the set up, and never used it.

    If you're referring to the above picture are you sure it's not just a light?


    It could be a publicity shot, I mean they lead a lot of misleading publicity material about what the film might be about, which I could see why, they didn't want people to figure things out but.

    Publicity shots should be illegal, is fake publicity. There has been a trend for years now of putting A LOT of stuff in the trailers (Suicide Squad, Justice League, Rogue One to name just a few) that is nowhere to be found in the movies, or downright sell a different movie with a trailer totally different in tone to what they actually made (Age of Ultron and Iron Man 3 come to mind), is just wrong.

    Well all that stuff from those trailers you mention are actually from the first cuts,before they all had reshoots
  18. D88M
    We really needed the "Paradise/Crossing" footage in the movie to link Prometheus and Covenant together, the movie itself needed it.

    Quote from: NetworkATTH on Mar 09, 2018, 03:04:22 AM
    Quote from: SM on Mar 08, 2018, 10:50:58 PM
    QuoteAt no point in any promotional material, or in the film, does the Covenant catch fire. And yet they filmed it for a promotion, and made the set up, and never used it.

    If you're referring to the above picture are you sure it's not just a light?


    It could be a publicity shot, I mean they lead a lot of misleading publicity material about what the film might be about, which I could see why, they didn't want people to figure things out but.

    Publicity shots should be illegal, is fake publicity. There has been a trend for years now of putting A LOT of stuff in the trailers (Suicide Squad, Justice League, Rogue One to name just a few) that is nowhere to be found in the movies, or downright sell a different movie with a trailer totally different in tone to what they actually made (Age of Ultron and Iron Man 3 come to mind), is just wrong.
  19. NetworkATTH
    Quote from: SM on Mar 09, 2018, 05:43:01 AM
    I would've preferred a bit more explanation - some of which comes later in his 'lab' with Oram.

    The actual scene of the bombing doesn't have any explaining and the imagery is so quickly cut that we don't know whether the Engineers are vomiting or birthing monsters.
    I suppose. The development of A to B to C, even with the scene, was rather sparse. I still hold the less shown would have been better, because it leaves it even more up to your imagination what god awful shit David did to get to this point. Like he was running Japan's Unit 731 on the Engineers and had one right there splayed. Maybe more time observing his lab. David and Shirō Ishii have a lot in common in being hellbent biological weapon testers, on living subjects and dead, prisoners of war. You didn't need to see how the nest was built in Aliens, yet the implication of all these bodies everywhere is probably enough to feed your mind with all sorts of images.

    Though,

    I think the greatest sin this movie made was creating a fantastic premise. Colony ship made up of couples, lands on World From Hell, Your Wife and Your Husband are Toast

    And yet aside from Daniels...Oram just gets up and gets used to it. Most of these characters get up and get used to it. That's something jarring that's in both scripts. I know it's a crisis situation and everything, but it didn't feel like they tried hard enough exploring the character's dynamics with that then Daniels. I mean it's a brilliant concept for an Alien film, but I didn't see it fully utilized.

    There's something the two scripts, and the movie suffer from. It should have been more like James Cameron's Abyss, where Ed Harris goes f**k it mask off and starts screaming at his wife to fight to live after she stopped responding.
  20. SM
    I would've preferred a bit more explanation - some of which comes later in his 'lab' with Oram.

    The actual scene of the bombing doesn't have any explaining and the imagery is so quickly cut that we don't know whether the Engineers are vomiting or birthing monsters.
  21. NetworkATTH
    Quote from: SM on Mar 09, 2018, 03:55:49 AM
    QuoteI agree with Fox, but they should have stepped in sooner and said "No, we can't spend that much on this set, it doesn't make much narrative sense,  is somewhat gratuitous, and does not connect to the protagonists at all". You can establish this by showing, not telling through flashback, of David's actions. Show the ramifications, we don't need to see the way it happened.

    And sacrifice one of the most striking scenes in the film?  I think you've distorted the 'Show, don't tell' rule there, too.  They DO show.  The alternative is David telling Walter what happened.

    I think the Alternative is not overplaying your hand, and letting the horror sink in that everything is dead because of David. Leave the genocide to your own imagination, horror is better not shown. Though I agree it was striking. But it seemed a bit, I don't know, it would have been more effective in my own opinion if David didn't over explain and just simply said "I killed them all, nothing more nothing less". The fact is that there should have been more striking visuals with the concepts they were working with. I also think the Necropolis is an even more striking visual, they just cut most of the travel through it out.
  22. Baron Von Marlon
    Quote from: SM on Mar 08, 2018, 11:57:24 PM
    I'm 70 pages into the new draft and I've not encountered anything yet that I've thought 'I really wish they didn't cut this'.  David's musings about the Engineers and their relationship with humans and synthetics was interesting but not really vital.

    Not even David's gallery? I think that would've been beautiful. With the wind blowing and all.
    Now it's mashed together with his lab.
    And the orrery. I loved the orrery in Prometheus. So a different one would've been nice.
  23. SM
    QuoteIt could be a publicity shot, I mean they lead a lot of misleading publicity material about what the film might be about, which I could see why, they didn't want people to figure things out but.

    It was a publicity shot.  There's no context other than it appears it was part of the final sequence of Danny and T tracking the Alien.

    QuoteSure that's movie making, but this late in production?  They should have planned everything out step by step, beat by beat.

    Ridley recast Spacey in All the Money in the World 6 weeks from release.

    Is there evidence Fox and Scott built sets they didn't use, or films reels of stuff they didn't use?  They DO plan stuff out, but things change as you go along.  There's very little to suggest there were wholesale changes made during production.  The August 19 draft is very similar to the final film (extra shenanigans on the Covenant with planetary force fields aside), as is the October draft, and they started shooting in April 2016 in NZ.

    QuoteI agree with Fox, but they should have stepped in sooner and said "No, we can't spend that much on this set, it doesn't make much narrative sense,  is somewhat gratuitous, and does not connect to the protagonists at all". You can establish this by showing, not telling through flashback, of David's actions. Show the ramifications, we don't need to see the way it happened.

    And sacrifice one of the most striking scenes in the film?  I think you've distorted the 'Show, don't tell' rule there, too.  They DO show.  The alternative is David telling Walter what happened.
  24. NetworkATTH
    Quote from: SM on Mar 08, 2018, 10:50:58 PM
    QuoteAt no point in any promotional material, or in the film, does the Covenant catch fire. And yet they filmed it for a promotion, and made the set up, and never used it.

    If you're referring to the above picture are you sure it's not just a light?

    It could be a publicity shot, I mean they lead a lot of misleading publicity material about what the film might be about, which I could see why, they didn't want people to figure things out but.

    In this script, we have confirmation from Hicks they filmed, via the script the roof of the Juggernaut's Pilot Chair Observatory filters in all sorts of star light. Like an ambient blue light.

    That...looks about as close to that description than any. Maybe the publicity shot was motivated? Really I'm not sure. A lot of this makes some sense, and some of it makes no sense.

    I'm definitely leaning towards it's a publicity shot of the introduction we never got that was cleansed however.

    QuoteThat's just how it looks like to me. I know I keep harping on this but if they really built a shower set for two scenes, one that establishes there even being a shower, and they omitted that from filming, so it just looks like they wanted a random shower scene. That's not only a waste of production, but a bit of an insult to the audience you'd get rid of one but keep the other that suddenly appears and doesn't quite make much sense. I'm not being a prude, I'm just considering that, how many sets did they build that they wanted to shoot longer on. But didn't.

    QuoteThis argument seems a little silly.  In Alien they shot one scene in the hypersleep vault.  In Aliens they shot the Derelict exterior with the tractor and cut the whole scene.  Ditto the abbatoir in Alien 3.  Ditto the gunpod intro for Resurrection.  It's not insulting the audience - it's just part of making a movie.

    That's not really my point. My point is they rushed into production by building sets meant for an earlier draft,  and then the cutting of the drafts between start getting screwy. See the introduction from this draft that was filmed, but ultimately cut from the next script and out of the movie. It seems like we're missing drafts between time. It feels like they kept adding in ideas and then taking them out, adding then taking them out. Sure that's movie making, but this late in production? They should have planned everything out step by step, beat by beat. There's room for change, but there was so much change on the cutting room floor amidst this seeming rush that they ended up cutting too much, or making unwise pacing decisions.

    Every Alien film needs not be a replication of its previous. It's why I adore Alien 3's Assembly Cut. However, I understand the flaws of that picture as well.

    To me, it seems less of a fault of the production and more of a fault of the heads at Fox trying their best to ship a sequel before the gains they could make from a sequel to Prometheus went out. Which is understandable. But it's clear that they didn't have enough time, and a lot of these scripts are VERY conceptual. More about ideas for scenes and how they may play out. Add to that the confusion of why they filmed a scene from an older draft...it just seems like they were rushed too hard and that effected a lot of the decisions made in the film.

    I like the film. I just think it should not have aimed to play as safe as it did. There's not a lot of memorable shots in Alien Covenant besides the blood bursters and the necropolis.

    QuoteIf Fox REALLY, REALLY, didn't want the introduction in there, they should have realized that before they spent the money on sets and digital effects that they had to cram in there some appropriate way.

    QuoteAgain, do you know "Fox REALLY, REALLY didn't want the introduction"?
    Yeah, they wanted it cut and fought for even the bombing to be excised from the film itself as a flash back. The placing makes...not a whole lot of sense. It went from introduction to recollection and flashback, to heavily cut down version of it. And it was probably a large chunk of money they spent on building the Juggernaut set practical that we just barely see aside from the remnants they released in "Prologue: The Crossing".

    I agree with Fox, but they should have stepped in sooner and said "No, we can't spend that much on this set, it doesn't make much narrative sense,  is somewhat gratuitous, and does not connect to the protagonists at all". You can establish this by showing, not telling through flashback, of David's actions. Show the ramifications, we don't need to see the way it happened.

    Quote from: SM on Mar 08, 2018, 11:57:24 PM
    I'm 70 pages into the new draft and I've not encountered anything yet that I've thought 'I really wish they didn't cut this'.  David's musings about the Engineers and their relationship with humans and synthetics was interesting but not really vital.
    Don't get me wrong I think the final shooting script, in whatever form it was, was superior then this one.

    However there are definitely scenes that they omitted they should have kept.

    The introductory talking about the disaster remains mostly intact, however, the shower scene and extra padding would have been valuable to keep the audience attached to the characters. You can say the dialogue is corny, but the point is moot because a lot of the dialogue from this, seemingly rough-around-the-edges draft was improved later. Add to filming things from this version, but omitting it out later, it's just kind of a mess to be honest. It would have been a great way to introduce some of the side characters we barely see before things go to shit fairly quickly. It was needed time. The characters felt rushed through to the point the poor back burster bloke's entire personality is "I smoked and stepped on the spore"

    Another crucial example that would have been a great set piece, Engineer bodies in whatever "jockey suits", in the hundreds surrounding the port side of the crashed Juggernaut that have been ripped open, with these people having no clue what the f**k they are and getting frightened by it.

    That should have been in the film, there's no real reason why they would set down, see an alien space ship, and not freak out. I mean it was a mild reaction in Alien, but the depth was still there in the "Yes....I've never seen anything like it" by Ash. Here it just seems like "Welp, first time I've seen something like this, a person was in it, what a spoof and a goof, alright folks let's leave the set piece, that sure was weird". Now to be fair, you do get a milder version of that "Just what the hell happened here" reaction in the Necropolis, but even that was cut down. A lot of needed time with the characters was cut down, and that makes the audience lose the ability to sympathize with their deaths. You needed, on top of the derelict's reaction to the crew, thematically, them realizing the magnitude of just how much they f**ked up by seeing a hillside covered in black urns and "seemingly" alien bodies (suits) ripped to shreds from the inside out. Add that together with the Necropolis...the whole Paradise Lost angle becomes a lot more visually representative. And it gives the audience time to be in the character's shoes of suddenly being put in the worst imaginable situation.

    Next, they were floating around the idea of Karine getting a neomorph burster in her....which makes sense. One of the things that perplexed me the most is that for such an easy way to contaminate yourself, with these pods all over the place, that more people didn't get infected, when one guy just managed the mistake of stepping on one, nearly exactly where Karine was. It seems like they either wanted to elaborate on this later, or this is remnants from a previous draft. Admittedly, the infection is far more muddled in this draft, later they did refine it by adding pods. The fact there were only two Neomorphs (not three) while Karine was within the area to accidentally disrupt a spore, while she was probing the environment. That just kind of screwed with my suspension of disbelief. The fact is they spent so long designing the damn things, and we only get a real good scene of two in the final cut. Add two to the mix in the lander, you could understand why Faris blew up the ship easier. Trying to shoot both at the same time. ]Even more tense with the moth burster occurring not too long after. But this script still only mentions one, when Karine was also infected. I don't know.

    So with that in mind, the audience, with a refined idea to the draft, would have seen a hillside covered in dead engineers in their suits, with a crew freaking out about it. Suddenly, three people in the crew get violently ill. They realize, what have we done, a bit more than in the final. One is even carrying the other violently ill person into the lander, both puking blood. They both start hatching and there's nothing Faris can do. It follows as the film does, only she has to deal with two blood bursters, as hinted in the script. She f**ks up trying to shoot both and accidentally hits a gas tank (this makes more sense). One more blood burster erupts. They have three neomorphs now. With the characters realizing, shit any of us could get infected, where did they go. Enter David, they get into the Necropolis, and it's just charred black bodies everywhere they needed to focus on more to get an extra dose of gravity to the situation.

    Think of it this way. The whole, "Do you hear that, nothing. No birds, no animals, nothing" would have a lot more weight in the subsequent discovery of hundreds of Jockey bodies everywhere around the derelict with Urns surrounding them.

    That just seems like a better way to introduce things. They should have refined these ideas

    The introduction with David and Shaw, flash back or beginning, shouldn't have been filmed, in all honesty, and was a waste of man hours and money in my opinion. They could have spent it anywhere else. I'm not saying the pacing is rushed, but the production itself. How they handled it, how Noomi didn't want to talk about it. How it wasn't in the later draft we have, but in this earlier version they filmed. It smells fishy. There was a lot cut they should have left in, and a lot left in they should have left out. It seems just from the cutting process, that they made wild snips that were detrimental to the overall project. You need a nice equal balance to get the audience to understand the situation and the plot. Alien Covenant, for as much as I like it in many respects, did not do that.

    I don't like a majority of this draft, it is very rough. But off the top of my head, these additions should have survived the cut. Keeping things at a rapid pace might endanger the overall integrity of what the emotions the narrative wants to give the audience.

    I'll say that as an ardent defender of where Ridley is going with the series, I enjoy it. I think it's fascinating, if misguided in film and editing, way of making the setting closer to home as long as I'm watching the fan edits. I like the film, I do not hate it. I'm just saying, with this new information, my opinion is they should have kept some of the scenes and improved the dialogue like they did later, they should have refined it. These seem like nitpicks but, I don't know, it felt like with Covenant I got what they were going for, but they were missing crucial bits to hammer home the horror of the situation they're in. Let the audience accumulate to it. If they really wanted Aliens, they should have shown the consequences in all their brutality. Without it, you feel what they were trying to convey to the audience, but without more, it feels like they cut short
  25. SM
    I'm 70 pages into the new draft and I've not encountered anything yet that I've thought 'I really wish they didn't cut this'.  David's musings about the Engineers and their relationship with humans and synthetics was interesting but not really vital.
  26. Highland
    I think only the last act seems rushed, the pace of the movie is pretty much bang on both Alien and Aliens in terms of structure, if you run both Alien and Covenant together from the credits (exclude the David bit) the infection and burst is really close in timing.

    It's not until David pulls Oram aside then it just accelerates at lung bursting choppy pace without actually being exciting. 
  27. SM
    QuoteAt no point in any promotional material, or in the film, does the Covenant catch fire. And yet they filmed it for a promotion, and made the set up, and never used it.

    If you're referring to the above picture are you sure it's not just a light?

    QuoteThat's just how it looks like to me. I know I keep harping on this but if they really built a shower set for two scenes, one that establishes there even being a shower, and they omitted that from filming, so it just looks like they wanted a random shower scene. That's not only a waste of production, but a bit of an insult to the audience you'd get rid of one but keep the other that suddenly appears and doesn't quite make much sense. I'm not being a prude, I'm just considering that, how many sets did they build that they wanted to shoot longer on. But didn't.

    This argument seems a little silly.  In Alien they shot one scene in the hypersleep vault.  In Aliens they shot the Derelict exterior with the tractor and cut the whole scene.  Ditto the abbatoir in Alien 3.  Ditto the gunpod intro for Resurrection.  It's not insulting the audience - it's just part of making a movie.

    QuoteIf Fox REALLY, REALLY, didn't want the introduction in there, they should have realized that before they spent the money on sets and digital effects that they had to cram in there some appropriate way.

    Again, do you know "Fox REALLY, REALLY didn't want the introduction"?
  28. 0321recon
    Quote from: NetworkATTH on Mar 08, 2018, 07:58:57 PM
    It's so bizarre how different the older draft is, but has details that aren't in the later draft...that explain the reasoning for building sets and shooting footage (maybe not that far?) and then in a rush to the finish don't know what to do with what was left over from the previous draft you built sets for and spent money on.

    The introduction must have cost quite a lot at least. Now we don't get to see it. The shower set was built not only for Ricks and Upworth, but for a communal shower scene after the solar burst as well. Whether or not they filmed it, I don't know. They went so cut crazy that they cut shots from promotional material that never even appeared in the movie. At no point in any promotional material, or in the film, does the Covenant catch fire. And yet they filmed it for a promotion, and made the set up, and never used it.

    They seemingly shot from a hybrid version of various drafts mushed together with ideas from the crew thrown in, so it's impossible at this point to tell what was shot and what wasn't aside from the full Introduction with Noomi Rapace. And I remember, after a point she refused to talk about it.

    So it just seems like they slipped on a banana peel and rushed the movie together before it was fully ready to go on digital and celluloid, and the result is, a competent, if not confused film from a confused production.

    That's just how it looks like to me. I know I keep harping on this but if they really built a shower set for two scenes, one that establishes there even being a shower, and they omitted that from filming, so it just looks like they wanted a random shower scene. That's not only a waste of production, but a bit of an insult to the audience you'd get rid of one but keep the other that suddenly appears and doesn't quite make much sense. I'm not being a prude, I'm just considering that, how many sets did they build that they wanted to shoot longer on. But didn't.

    The editing of this movie from the bottom up is just kind of a mess.  I don't hate the film, but I will criticize it for what it did wrong.

    And in my opinion? This all seems like they jumped the gun and started production before they were fully ready to make sense of the script's ideas and fully flesh them out, and might have even made drafts while filming began. Who knows what was tossed out, what was replaced, what was deleted vs what was omitted. I could be wrong. But that's just what it looks like if you piece everything together, one draft having things filmed but deleted vs a later draft having those deleted scenes entirely omitted. That's the tell tale sign of, a blunder of some kind of magnitude.

    I know I'm repeating myself, but I'm just thinking out loud putting the pieces together.

    Oh well.

    https://media.giphy.com/media/YuIUcPfIv67GU/giphy.gif


    If Fox REALLY, REALLY, didn't want the introduction in there, they should have realized that before they spent the money on sets and digital effects that they had to cram in there some appropriate way.

    And in a way, as nauseating as it sounds, I see Fox's reasoning for not wanting the introduction. The whole idea does not advance the plot of the characters and you could show David being evil without a flashback sequence awkwardly lacerated from the beginning in later. It seems like they, this is just me speculating I have no idea, but Fox rushed the production forward because they needed the Prometheus sequel soon while people still cared, but they needed more time to flesh things out. The result, is Fox's fault in this scenario (as happens to be the case most of the time), and they realized once it was coming together someone had to tell the Elder Engineer himself, Rupert Murdoch "oh f**k m8 what have we done"


    Trying to piece this all together is like trying to build a man out of dirt.

    It does have that whiff of Alien3 all over again. Especially with using ideas such as the backburster and pores which were originally from the Gibson script. Many have joked that Alien 3 had so many unused scripts that any films after it have been cannibalized from them. I feel this was the case with Covenant.
  29. NetworkATTH
    It's so bizarre how different the older draft is, but has details that aren't in the later draft...that explain the reasoning for building sets and shooting footage (maybe not that far?) and then in a rush to the finish don't know what to do with what was left over from the previous draft you built sets for and spent money on.

    The introduction must have cost quite a lot at least. Now we don't get to see it. The shower set was built not only for Ricks and Upworth, but for a communal shower scene after the solar burst as well. Whether or not they filmed it, I don't know. They went so cut crazy that they cut shots from promotional material that never even appeared in the movie. At no point in any promotional material, or in the film, does the Covenant catch fire. And yet they filmed it for a promotion, and made the set up, and never used it.

    They seemingly shot from a hybrid version of various drafts mushed together with ideas from the crew thrown in, so it's impossible at this point to tell what was shot and what wasn't aside from the full Introduction with Noomi Rapace. And I remember, after a point she refused to talk about it.

    So it just seems like they slipped on a banana peel and rushed the movie together before it was fully ready to go on digital and celluloid, and the result is, a competent, if not confused film from a confused production.

    That's just how it looks like to me. I know I keep harping on this but if they really built a shower set for two scenes, one that establishes there even being a shower, and they omitted that from filming, so it just looks like they wanted a random shower scene. That's not only a waste of production, but a bit of an insult to the audience you'd get rid of one but keep the other that suddenly appears and doesn't quite make much sense. I'm not being a prude, I'm just considering that, how many sets did they build that they wanted to shoot longer on. But didn't.

    The editing of this movie from the bottom up is just kind of a mess.  I don't hate the film, but I will criticize it for what it did wrong.

    And in my opinion? This all seems like they jumped the gun and started production before they were fully ready to make sense of the script's ideas and fully flesh them out, and might have even made drafts while filming began. Who knows what was tossed out, what was replaced, what was deleted vs what was omitted. I could be wrong. But that's just what it looks like if you piece everything together, one draft having things filmed but deleted vs a later draft having those deleted scenes entirely omitted. That's the tell tale sign of, a blunder of some kind of magnitude.

    I know I'm repeating myself, but I'm just thinking out loud putting the pieces together.

    Oh well.

    https://media.giphy.com/media/YuIUcPfIv67GU/giphy.gif


    If Fox REALLY, REALLY, didn't want the introduction in there, they should have realized that before they spent the money on sets and digital effects that they had to cram in there some appropriate way.

    And in a way, as nauseating as it sounds, I see Fox's reasoning for not wanting the introduction. The whole idea does not advance the plot of the characters and you could show David being evil without a flashback sequence awkwardly lacerated from the beginning in later. It seems like they, this is just me speculating I have no idea, but Fox rushed the production forward because they needed the Prometheus sequel soon while people still cared, but they needed more time to flesh things out. The result, is Fox's fault in this scenario (as happens to be the case most of the time), and they realized once it was coming together someone had to tell the Elder Engineer himself, Rupert Murdoch "oh f**k m8 what have we done"


    Trying to piece this all together is like trying to build a man out of dirt.
  30. 0321recon
    Quote from: Crazy Shrimp on Mar 08, 2018, 05:23:30 PM
    Quote from: NetworkATTH on Mar 08, 2018, 04:05:46 PM
    Also, a couple of things I've noticed. There was a production photo of David walking down the hall of the Derelict, with bright light (as described in this script) lighting it up behind him. It couldn't be Walter just alone, and it doesn't make sense for the light to be natural, there's several shots like that...but this is clearly David.

    https://www.avpgalaxy.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/df-19516.jpg
    https://www.avpgalaxy.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/C0NIx9JUkAAWLpb.jpg

    And the prologue, or introduction, isn't in the later draft. Confirming my suspicions since reading this, that this might be a production shot of an extended introduction.

    I mean this is basically the same ambient light described in this script, and if Hicks is right about them shooting a bit more of it from this material (while it somehow isn't in the later draft we have?), then, I think these two shots may be from filming it.

    Yup, I wonder how much never released material from the Crossing Prologue could be out there. Also, the sadly discarded Engineer's graveyard would have been great. Ok, maybe not as great as the original Space Jockey scene, but definitely worth watching and better than what we actually got in Covenant. It seemed to suggest a battle, with Engineers trying to kill David to avenge their murdered civilization, and maybe David's Juggernaut was shot down and crashed.

    If I remember right someone talked about they had planned to shoot the dreadnaught being shot down or both the scorpionaught and dreadnaught crashing into each other after the deployment.

    I wonder if it everything was actually shot and rendered with cgi though cut out at the behest of Fox.

    Let's remember during the test screenings they had a version of the crossing then cut out for YouTube. Then, we heard of a version of the film without the bombing and Ridley pushed Fox to put it back.

    Would like to know who decided to cut what out since Scott had to push Fox to reinsert the bombing segment of the crossing.


  31. Immortan Jonesy
    Quote from: NetworkATTH on Mar 08, 2018, 04:05:46 PM
    Also, a couple of things I've noticed. There was a production photo of David walking down the hall of the Derelict, with bright light (as described in this script) lighting it up behind him. It couldn't be Walter just alone, and it doesn't make sense for the light to be natural, there's several shots like that...but this is clearly David.

    https://www.avpgalaxy.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/df-19516.jpg
    https://www.avpgalaxy.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/C0NIx9JUkAAWLpb.jpg

    And the prologue, or introduction, isn't in the later draft. Confirming my suspicions since reading this, that this might be a production shot of an extended introduction.

    I mean this is basically the same ambient light described in this script, and if Hicks is right about them shooting a bit more of it from this material (while it somehow isn't in the later draft we have?), then, I think these two shots may be from filming it.

    Yup, I wonder how much never released material from the Crossing Prologue could be out there. Also, the sadly discarded Engineer's graveyard would have been great. Ok, maybe not as great as the original Space Jockey scene, but definitely worth watching and better than what we actually got in Covenant. It seemed to suggest a battle, with Engineers trying to kill David to avenge their murdered civilization, and maybe David's Juggernaut was shot down and crashed.
  32. NetworkATTH
    Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Mar 08, 2018, 04:44:27 PM
    That was from a viral. I think it was supposed to be the Muthur viral. Can't recall if it shows up in it or not though.

    One thing I'm just interested alone is that they planned for more use for the shower set, but either deleted the footage or omitted it entirely from the script to only belong to that one scene with ricks and upworth. The "T&A". They may have been over constructing sets for versions of scripts while shoving them in the corner in the final. Or maybe they did film it. Honestly, it just seems very rushed.


    Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Mar 08, 2018, 04:44:27 PM
    That was from a viral. I think it was supposed to be the Muthur viral. Can't recall if it shows up in it or not though.
    By the way, besides knowing that they did indeed film more of the prologue, or bridge, whatever it was meant to be in the final film. Do you know anything else they might have shot? If you don't mind me asking
  33. NetworkATTH
    There's also some build up for maybe, vaguely a justification as to WHY THERE'S A SHOWER SCENE

    In this script, there's a communal shower in the crew quarters. They wash up right after the big tragedy, and don't exchange much words. Thus, explaining the showers.

    If I remember correctly, that was not in the later draft. But there's still a shower scene. So did they add that back in at a later draft and that's just a deleted scene they filmed? Or did they not film it? Did they plan to film it, but ended up not? Also, if they didn't plan on filming that scene that explained the random shower, did they really just waste money building a shower set for no other purpose than to have two people murdered?

    This is confusing because it isn't in the later draft. I won't say they didn't add it back into the script, that happens all the time. Apparently they shot bits of this script's introduction with Shaw and David, according to Hicks at least. While the later draft left out those details. Like this shower. That means they were writing as they were shooting somewhat, which is always a bad, terrible, sloppy idea.

    So...I guess where I'm going with this is, there might be more deleted scenes than we otherwise would have suspected because of how things definitely seemed rushed on this movie, which is a bummer, but since it was announced I always felt that in my gut. There might have been more time to be with the characters. And hopefully they didn't just waste that shower set for one scene



    Also, a couple of things I've noticed. There was a production photo of David walking down the hall of the Derelict, with bright light (as described in this script) lighting it up behind him. It couldn't be Walter just alone, and it doesn't make sense for the light to be natural, there's several shots like that...but this is clearly David.

    https://www.avpgalaxy.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/df-19516.jpg
    https://www.avpgalaxy.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/C0NIx9JUkAAWLpb.jpg

    And the prologue, or introduction, isn't in the later draft. Confirming my suspicions since reading this, that this might be a production shot of an extended introduction.

    I mean this is basically the same ambient light described in this script, and if Hicks is right about them shooting a bit more of it from this material (while it somehow isn't in the later draft we have?), then, I think these two shots may be from filming it.


    And while we're on the topic, remember this picture? The first of the few leaked about this movie during filming?

    When exactly did this take place, and when was the Covenant ever on fire?

    https://www.avpgalaxy.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10003/13254756_10154114346906605_4170609496769477936_o.jpg
  34. sleepyone
    Quote from: NetworkATTH on Mar 07, 2018, 08:50:27 PM
    That's an image they should have kept. There's a lack of surprise that broke my suspension of disbelief in the movie that they weren't scared shitless a bio mechanical space ship was just there. It still somewhat remains in the ship, but the shock of seeing such a macabre tapestry of bodies trying to get to the Engineer ship before all of them met their gruesome off screen fate we can only speculate on.

    That needed to remain. Why the hell did they omit that from the shooting script? It's a hell of an image that gives depth to the impact of what happened that the audience is there with the characters. Freaked the f**k out about a giant alien ship with one end of the hill surrounded by almost a battlefield of hundreds of dead engineers in various states of decomposition or worse. Also black urns surrounding them. It's a really sudden shocking shot that would have been appropriate instead of "huh, guess there's an alien space ship. ain't that something."

    This is more Alien in its ominousness and implication that isn't in David's Art like in the final.

    There's bad ideas in this script, and also, really rich imagery that implies the depth of what the f**k they got themselves into that's appropriately met with fright and unnerve.

    In fact there are "Hundreds and Thousands" of these corpses in Engineer suits. Various states of decay. Surrounding the backside and hills around the ship. Apparently not to pleased this Juggernaut deployed its payload. Why they omitted that, I have no idea. It certainly gives scale to the atrocity.

    Quote
    The entire Expedition Team is gathered. All are shocked.

    SERGEANT LOPE
    Looks like they had a war of some kind.

    WALTER
    It seems they lost that war.

    WALTER crouches near one body, seeing the BONES are damaged
    in OTHER WAYS. PITTED, IRREGULAR HOLES. EATEN AWAY in places. Broken in others. Ripped apart.

    And the many SHATTERED BLACK URNS spilled out in the scree below.

    It's a graveyard.

    GRIFFIN
    (to Oram)
    Sir, your Chief Terraformist
    officially recommends we evacuate this planet immediately.

    Griffin is Daniels in this script. I cannot believe they cut this out.

    The final is superior, no doubt. But they needed to keep this scene early on to establish they had seriously f**ked up beyond their worst nightmares coming here.

    The film needed this image badly, instead of just casually reacting to a f**king alien spaceship. They should be freaked, if not by the ship, but the ocean of bodies. I mean I just can't believe they omitted that. The film needed that so badly at that point. A sudden realization "Well, we f**ked up." beyond the blood bursters. Those just being the icing on the cake of a gigantic "Oops"

    I think you got it right. I don't particularly like the idea of the engineer corpses right next to the ship, BUT, the film would have been entirely different if it would have went for freaking the characters and the audience as the overall mood for everything. Unease, where the f did we end up, let's get out, this is so alien and scary, that type of mood. They could have even done with the final script untouched, I guess it was a directorial error
  35. Still Collating...
    Quote from: NetworkATTH on Mar 08, 2018, 02:21:13 AM
    We need a sitcom in the Alien universe about a bougie family who owns a David 8 before the recall, who cannot stop saying creepy shit like "I like it when you cry", "Oh is that a teddy bear, why do you adore something with nothing to give to you, but not me?" "I don't understand why you two are fighting, clearly you need a divorce, you hate each other, sometimes to create one must first destroy" *david proceeds to draw himself f**king this guy's wife*

    Call it Everyone hates David

    Lol  :laugh: A part of me really wants this.
  36. Alien fan
    Thanks AvPGalaxy! Now we need those 2013-2014 drafts by Jack Paglen or Michael Green to get full picture of what has happened to this project.
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