Interview With Alan Dean Foster & Alien: Covenant Novel Discussion - AvPGalaxy Podcast #51

Started by Corporal Hicks, Jun 27, 2017, 08:58:03 AM

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Interview With Alan Dean Foster & Alien: Covenant Novel Discussion - AvPGalaxy Podcast #51 (Read 16,011 times)

HuDaFuK

Solar sails would work for small ships but nothing that big. They also takes years (as in, decades) to actually build up any kind of useful speed.

Corporal Hicks

I think Alan may mean more in terms of intergalactic travel.

Bluray

Ah, my comment didn't go through before.

Just wanted to say- ADF's addition of Walter scanning the planet for pathogens corrects a major pet peeve of mine with the plot. If only we could petition Fox to get an actor to ADR 2 seconds of dialogue staying this into the Blu Ray release.

ADC

Great interview, I really enjoyed this podcast and I'm a fan of ADFs novelisations. His telling of Alien: Covenant did much to rescue the shortcomings of Ridley's film for me, too.
And good questions put to him from Aaron. Well done once again, fella.

XenoHunter99

XenoHunter99

#19
Top flight discussion and interview, Hicks. Kudos to Chevy as well. It was quite interesting to hear what ADF had to say. Very good! Cheers!  :)

I think, want it or not, there is a very strong possibility your premonition is coming true. Shaw is gone, turned into a lab experiment, but David developed the Alien. Ridley says so (at least 'til he changes his mind). And if you follow that logic, the best way to perfect the Xeno is to add a bit of android to the mix. Because as others have pointed out, right now, David 8 is the real Alien, the real "survivor unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality," Evidently, David 8's structural perfection is also only matched by his hostility. Imagine that!. And once he has his ship full of highly modified death spores, who else would he trust to deliver them? At least that's the way it's gone so far.  :P

Corporal Hicks

Corporal Hicks

#20
Quote from: Bluray on Jun 28, 2017, 07:54:26 PM
Just wanted to say- ADF's addition of Walter scanning the planet for pathogens corrects a major pet peeve of mine with the plot. If only we could petition Fox to get an actor to ADR 2 seconds of dialogue staying this into the Blu Ray release.

There's actually a brief moment in an earlier script I've seen where Walter does do a breakdown of the atmosphere (such and such percent oxygen, such and such nitrogen) but nothing to do with pathogens or anything. I wouldn't be opposed to something like what you're suggesting but I imagine it'd be a silly cost for something seemingly so small.

I'm glad everyone has been enjoying this one! Thanks for all the kind words and feedback.  :)

Space Trukkin

The whole business of pathogens bothered me in Covenant and Prometheus until I did some research. Whether alien micro-organisms would pose a threat to terrestrial life is still a topic of debate as they are hypothetical anyway. Assuming they do exist, many biologists don't believe they would cause us harm as they have evolved from a different tree of life. A greater concern that NASA has is the risk we pose in bringing bacteria from Earth to other planets - not necessarily because they believe that it could wipe out any life that exists there, but because the presence of terrestrial organisms could contaminate any research that is being conducted there and waste time and money. I don't believe a company like Weyland Yutani would give a damn about that and, if the threat of alien pathogens had been proven to be unfounded on the 100s of planets they had already visited, spacesuits would be seen as unnecessarily cumbersome if an atmosphere was deemed breathable. Also, W-Y just cares about $$$$ so why waste time in researching a planet properly?

Mr. Clemens

Great interview. But Hicks... you need to be louder! I had to ride the volume the whole way through, which is why I never listen to podcasts (I only made this exception because of ADF).

But again, great interview!  :)

Bluray

Space Trukken - it seems like every planet that had been colonized or will be colonized has been properly vetted prior to the colonists arrival, hence "no space suit needed" which I accept as internal logic for the film's plot. However, this was a new planet not in their logs. So at least for the internal logic of the plot (actual science side, since I agree it's all debatable) it would be nice to have Walter provide a line of dialogue to close off that plot hole. Heck, just strap a mic onto Michael Fassbender during one of his press events and have him say " no known pathogens detected." Then just ADR this dialogue into the scene when the crew debates going into the planet. Lol. I know I'm obsessing over this a bit, but this film goes up a full point for me if this were included.

SM

We can determine the atmosphere of a planet without landing on it now.  100 years in the future, while you're sitting in orbit over a planet with a live 3D representation of the weather systems - why couldn't you determine the atmospheric composition?

Highland

Highland

#25
I listened to this on my drive home. Good episode, I found it interesting the he kept mentioning "the third prequel" almost like it was a done deal. The black goo part too, sounded like he knew more.

The thing with the space suits ( and I never see anyone mention this) is that it would make for an incredibly frustrating time watching 20 minutes of people in suits ( for them to just inevitably remove them anyway). I think the simple answer is that Scott just wants clear dialog and character faces. He's making a movie after all not a space documentary. A few things do annoy me, but for the sake of the film, it is the right choice, even if it's a little daft.

SM

You see the actors frustrations with the helmets a couple of times in Furious Gods.

Highland

Highland

#27
Quote from: SM on Jul 02, 2017, 08:59:40 PM
You see the actors frustrations with the helmets a couple of times in Furious Gods.

I can't remember if I watched that one or not. It's understandable though, Alien was a little different with it's atmosphere conditions on LV426. There's just no need to having them prancing about in helmets from a movie making perspective if we are on Planets with Earth like atmosphere's. I think from memory there are a few lines in the background of the dropship sequence that address the dangers, it's just not a whole scene or an obvious moment.

tleilaxu

Having people go without space suits is totally f**king unnecessary. It's Alien, not hard sci-fi, and it's cumbersome and probably expensive and slightly dangerous too. Yes, they could've shown a short scene where somebody scans the atmosphere and says "looks safe to me", but honestly you could also just use your imagination for that.

SM

I'd argue that the 3D representation of the very atmosphere they're about to descend to, does precisely that.

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