Alien: Engineers - Leaked Jon Spaihts' draft

[Vance19]

I found it hard to believe that Fifield was the only one to encounter the scarabs, also like in Prometheus there was no explanation as to what happened to the creatures that killed all the engineers.

And jockeys were 15 foot tall, twice the size of that depicted in the movie. The chair didn't raise up out of ground in this draft, but they used a fair chunk of CGI budget to do so in Prometheus.

I wonder if Spaihts planned for a sequel that would explain the lack of Pyramids and Magellan wreckage in the first 2 films.

[whiterabbit]

Humans should have been left out of the alien prequel. I wanted to see the space jockey's story.

[LarsVader]

Humans should have been left of the alien prequel. I wanted to see the space jockey's story.

But... they're us. They're everything.

Spoiler

[close]

[Vance19]

Humans should have been left of the alien prequel. I wanted to see the space jockey's story.

I wanted to see more 'dumbass colonists'.

[ChrisPachi]

I wonder if Spaihts planned for a sequel that would explain the lack of Pyramids and Magellan wreckage in the first 2 films.

The script couldn't of stayed on LV-426, too many inconsistencies. Maybe not so much for Alien, as the Nostromo hones in on the derelict and doesn't really survey the entire planetoid, but definitely a big problem for Aliens. You would of thought that Weyand Yutani would of noticed something like that.

[Vance19]

Maybe Jon had an idea that the 'atmosphere processors' Weyand Yutani manufactures originate from alien tech that was recovered on the same planetoid, maybe the colony was built over the pyramid site.. but if that was the case they would have found specimens or xeno DNA.

Going by the timeline it makes sense because the ESCA Atmosphere Processors were invented or co-funded around the same time the colony was built, after the events in Alien.

[SpeedyMaxx]

I expect some of the stuff in here will likely be recycled for the sequel.  Everyone involved has said they had enough for at least two movies.

[locusta]

Humans should have been left of the alien prequel. I wanted to see the space jockey's story.

I wanted to see more 'dumbass colonists'.

A Queen...a hive...and a bunch of idiots.....aaaand a few who have to play hero!   Story = perfect!

Wait, was done already. No reason to touch the franchise again!

[Disendor]

I want the Lindelof draft. It's frickin' one-hundred and sixty-two pages! Imagine...

[EGM1966]

Interesting read.  Amazing how just like every film in the franchise since Aliens the issue has been the lack of a clear script and goal.

While it has some good ideas and is clearly developed as a true prequel the script has just as many issues as the final film IMHO - just different ones.

The final script, while trying to solve these merely introduces new issues of its own even while improving some areas - characterization of David for example.

I love the franchise, but I really wish they wouldn't make any films at all if they can't sort out the basics of structure, goals and plot to the level of Alien & Aliens.  Every other film has been a mess of various degrees with Alien 3 the closest to having some coherency.

[Xenoscream]

Well I for one thought that script was horrible.

Honestly was that the best Alien prequel anyone could come up with? What a load of rubbish really, I'm glad they changed it, but I can't help they would have been better off scrapping the whole thing and starting again.

Yes there were cool moments, the med pod scene I particularly liked, being fixed up after a chest burst, nasty... good job there was a gun next to the pod to dispose of the Xeno. Yep that sucked.

The whole ending with the ultramorph (honestly, you called it an ULTRAMORPH!) being a giant pussy... well I guess it's comparable with cuddles for crapness.

It makes a lot more sense why Ridley did what he did now, I just wish he had actually taken the time to make an excellent film rather than a decent one (at best).

I sincerely hope they can do something good with P2, I mean the engineers have 2000 years of evolution on top of what we saw in the film, they can practically do whatever they want.

[SuicideDoors]

I want the Lindelof draft. It's frickin' one-hundred and sixty-two pages! Imagine...

No thanks.

[T Dog]

Ok so I just finished it.
Overall I think it's stronger than the film but it has some problems that were in the finished film such as:
The whole Fifield/Milburn getting lost thing.
The constant jumping around from character to character seems unfocused.
Characters being killed for the sake of being killed who you couldn't care less about.

On one hand it is just another ALIEN movie but on the other hand I'd rather just have another ALIEN movie with new xeno varieties than a half assed one pretending to be something else which is what I felt we got.

I like the start and end of this script.
I think it's really awesome from the Med Pod on. Watts/Shaw is a bad ass. The writing is much stronger with her helping Janek ram the ship and then having to escape. Much more intense and edge of your seat.

[Disendor]

Having read the screenplay now, it's obvious that Spaihts was responsible for a lot of things. I'm surprised Lindelof received credit. Really.

[Deuterium]

Has anyone read Spaiht's other two "scripts" that are available via the interwebs.  I am not a fan.  As I have posted (numerous times) before, his "Shadow 19" is skating very close to out-right plagiarism of Algis Budry's "Rogue Moon".  His other script, "Passengers", takes place on a interstellar generation ship in which something has gone terribly wrong (which has been done to death in the Sci-Fi genre).  It also reads like a soap opera, and has an absolutely ludicrous ending.

I am sure Mr. Spaihts is a nice guy...but I am not convinced he is a talented writer, from the afore-mentioned two scripts.  And no, I have not read his Alien:  Engineers script.  I would have to be a masochist to put myself through any more Prometheus related trauma.