Alien: Engineers - Leaked Jon Spaihts' draft

Started by antovolk, Nov 11, 2012, 01:28:31 PM

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Alien: Engineers - Leaked Jon Spaihts' draft (Read 58,136 times)

Prime113

Quote from: Deuterium on Nov 17, 2012, 10:11:08 AM
Jon Spaiht's is a mediocore script writer, in my humble opinion.  See my previous posts for explanation, and to get links to his other two published scripts...i.e. "Shadow 19", and "Passengers".   ::)

Why this man is all of a sudden the "golden child" of Hollwood, completely escapes me.

When it comes to Damon Lindelof...my feelings are even stronger in that sense.  Oh well.

Well, I mean, he must have done something right....right?

steviemac

steviemac

#121
Just to give a bit of background, i lived and breathed this forum for the best part of a year till i saw Prometheus. Im a massive film fan but genuinely had never been so looking forward to a film ever. i was continually showing clips to my missus, trying to explain the plot, the god type ikplications, etc. She couldnt give two f**ks, and we ended up in a few arguments because i was so into it. i then went to see it and obviously it was never going to meet the massive expectations i placed on it. However i expected more. I watched it at the cinema, and im not the best at taking a film in first time. But thats it, ive not seen it since.

As we speak i have paused it about 10 minutes into my second watch at it. And it confirms what i thought on first viewing. Its a very poor intro. Dont get me wrong, the Jon Spaihts script isnt perfect, theres no doubt you could write a thousand better versions. However, the thing he did and i think its the main thing thats wrong with the movie, is theres no build up. Theres no suspense, we dont know who has wot agenda. It makes it less of a film. We should know more about the work of Watts and Holloway. Their attempts at getting funding for their project. Weyland and his agenda. It would have set the tone brilliantly. Instead he filled it up with shite dream scenes for no reason.

Character development wasnt a priority in Alien / Aliens, but we live in a different time with different expectations. And loads of wee things like why the f**k did they use Guy Pearce as Weyland ??? He just looks like someone in old guy make-up. Why not use an actual old person ???

Biggest annoyance to me was Holloway though. The guys meant to be some world authority on archeology. Found evidence of possible aliens who are our gods. Believed it enough to ask for funding. Then when he got there was an absolute cock who hit the drink. Annoys the hell out me how unreal that is. I tried to complain about that a while back and some daftys tried to argue the case that Holloways character wasnt unrealistic. Bad bad bad.

So, here i go with the 2nd watch. I'll hopefully update with something worth saying


I would like a real discussion on this one. You can approach any actor in the world. Why do we have who we have for Holloway. And why is he being directed to react this way ??? His whole approach is so lame. I mean, youve worked youre whole life on something so important, finally got the funding, are the first humans to land on a (possible) alien world, and youre so f**kin ham. landed on the planet, janek says 6 hours left dont go out, he says "its christmas and i want my presents" then calls david 'boy', come with me. piss poor


Same point again i suppose, but to take in the size of what is supposed to be happening here, ie the first human expedition to an alien world and the extremely interesting side story of the shady Weyland Corporation that is funding it, we need more time to build the story up. We are on the alien world within 25 minutes of the start of the film and know virtually nothing about anybody, and subsequently couldnt care less about any of them.

Not that im saying it was a brilliant film or anytjing, but i always felt the film Contact dealt with the human aspect of what this sort of thing would mean. Its problem was it didnt deal with the actual alien contact well. However, you could see what it meant to people, different agenda, etc. The speed of Prometheus negates all that. Vickers is lost, Holloway is a douche, etc.

Highland

I think we don't really gel with the characters because they never really get anytime to gel with each other on screen.

Apart from David saving Shaw, there are no real scenes of the humans banding together. The only other one is the Janeck crash scene which feels a little too surreal the way it unfolds to be honest.

Valaquen

I'll say something for Spaihts' script, even with the rush in the third act and all the silliness, it's written better than Lindelof's, which seems pieced together by a high schooler. His script is ridiculous; I'm actually finding it hard to believe legitimate. Feels like a prank.

steviemac

Although i was getting distracted watching the ufc and some football, i think the worst thing i could say about Prometheus is that for weeks i had been trying to get the missus off to bed on a weekend night so i could get it watched. I finally managed that and i couldnt be bothered finishing it.

Even daft things like the music was annoying me, built no tension at all.

steviemac

Random comment no.1 of the night. how come when janek is zooming prometheus towards the juggernaught, and vickers is evacuating off in the lifepod, seconds later she is stood on the ground watching both ships collide in the sky, subsequently followed with her getting squashed in one of the most rediculous movie deaths of all time. "run to the side....run to the side....etc"

Virgil

Virgil

#126
Quote from: steviemac on Nov 25, 2012, 01:27:16 AM
Random comment no.1 of the night. how come when janek is zooming prometheus towards the juggernaught, and vickers is evacuating off in the lifepod, seconds later she is stood on the ground watching both ships collide in the sky, subsequently followed with her getting squashed in one of the most rediculous movie deaths of all time. "run to the side....run to the side....etc"

1) Because her escape pod lands before the Prometheus hits the Juggernaut.

2) Perhaps it's to do with all the derby crashing at either side of her as to why Vickers is running straight on. But who cares when it's officially the most stupid thing to ever happen in the history of all of cinema EVER.


Apologists gotta apologise I suppose.

Spoiler
[close]

steviemac

Were you one of them kids that were slow in school Virgil ??? Theres a very small distance (when you take into consideration the speeds these ships were going at - ion drives anyone) between the ships, so to eject, land her smashed up rescue pod, get out then be chilled enough to look up and see a massive alien ship rolling towards her is just lame.

Im away to my bed Virgil. Let me know in the morning your thoughts on this matter, once you've finished talking nonsense.

Virgil

Virgil

#128
Quote from: steviemac on Nov 25, 2012, 02:20:54 AM
Were you one of them kids that were slow in school Virgil ??? Theres a very small distance (when you take into consideration the speeds these ships were going at - ion drives anyone) between the ships, so to eject, land her smashed up rescue pod, get out then be chilled enough to look up and see a massive alien ship rolling towards her is just lame.

Im away to my bed Virgil. Let me know in the morning your thoughts on this matter, once you've finished talking nonsense.

To treat this matter with the kind of attention your highly intellectual brain deserves, I'll go over this point by point.

* Janek ejects the lifeboat whilst Vickers struggles with her spacesuit. Twenty seconds to evacuate.
* At eight seconds Vickers is ejected from the escape pod.
* By the time the countdown reaches two seconds vickers has landed and is out of the escape pod. NOTE - The countdown does not equate to the time remaining before collision.
* At two seconds the remaining crew speed the Prometheus up for impact.

Perhaps you should start paying attention to the film before posting in future. Sweet dreams.


Also, as I feel you might retort with something along the lines of 'how could anyone land an escape pod from a ship in six seconds?!' I say: If these are the details that truly anger you and sap your enjoyment from a movie, stop watching them.

Valaquen

Quote from: steviemac on Nov 25, 2012, 02:20:54 AM
Were you one of them kids that were slow in school Virgil ??? Theres a very small distance (when you take into consideration the speeds these ships were going at - ion drives anyone) between the ships, so to eject, land her smashed up rescue pod, get out then be chilled enough to look up and see a massive alien ship rolling towards her is just lame.

Im away to my bed Virgil. Let me know in the morning your thoughts on this matter, once you've finished talking nonsense.
Do you mind not insulting other members?

ChrisPachi

Quote from: steviemac on Nov 25, 2012, 02:20:54 AMTheres a very small distance (when you take into consideration the speeds these ships were going at - ion drives anyone) between the ships, so to eject, land her smashed up rescue pod, get out then be chilled enough to look up and see a massive alien ship rolling towards her is just lame.

You see her eject and her pod flies over Shaw, it lands and you see her get out of it, before Janek fires the ion engines and smashes into the juggernaut. Aside from the tacked on camaraderie happening on the ship this scene is a bloody ripper I reckon.

steviemac

Quote from: Virgil on Nov 25, 2012, 03:01:12 AM
Quote from: steviemac on Nov 25, 2012, 02:20:54 AM
Were you one of them kids that were slow in school Virgil ??? Theres a very small distance (when you take into consideration the speeds these ships were going at - ion drives anyone) between the ships, so to eject, land her smashed up rescue pod, get out then be chilled enough to look up and see a massive alien ship rolling towards her is just lame.

Im away to my bed Virgil. Let me know in the morning your thoughts on this matter, once you've finished talking nonsense.

To treat this matter with the kind of attention your highly intellectual brain deserves, I'll go over this point by point.

* Janek ejects the lifeboat whilst Vickers struggles with her spacesuit. Twenty seconds to evacuate.
* At eight seconds Vickers is ejected from the escape pod.
* By the time the countdown reaches two seconds vickers has landed and is out of the escape pod. NOTE - The countdown does not equate to the time remaining before collision.
* At two seconds the remaining crew speed the Prometheus up for impact.

Perhaps you should start paying attention to the film before posting in future. Sweet dreams.


Also, as I feel you might retort with something along the lines of 'how could anyone land an escape pod from a ship in six seconds?!' I say: If these are the details that truly anger you and sap your enjoyment from a movie, stop watching them.

Cheers for backing up my point with your factual analysis. And whilst i appreciate that films have unrealistic things in them from time to time, why bother showing her getting out then getting squashed seconds later cos she can only run in straight lines. It would have been less rediculous if say the Juggernaught landed on her crashed escape pod. Then picky folk like me wouldnt have anything to moan about.

Dont get me wrong, i enjoyed the scene as well, but what was the point of her escaping to then be squashed pretty much straight away ???

Virgil

That's a fair point, and I for one agree that it was pointless having her survive the crash only to be squashed moments later.


steviemac

I do apologise for any random moments of late night moaning at folk, watching Prometheus however manages to make a normally calm man annoyed, ha ha. 

MrSpaceJockey

So don't watch it.

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