Adam Savage Meets Alien: Covenant's Xenomorph Animatronic

[Corporal Hicks]

There is just no stopping Adam Savage and his team over at Tested when it comes to Alien: Covenant! To help promote today’s American Blu-ray and DVD release of Alien: Covenant, Tested has released a new featurette focused around the practical Alien used during the filming of Alien: Covenant.

“On the set of Alien: Covenant, Adam gets up close with the animatronic Xenomorph head that’s worn by the film’s creature puppeteer. Seeing this head animate and lunge, we learn how the animatronic operators work with the performer to breathe life into this 9-foot tall creature.”

This latest behind-the-scene featurette shows us some pretty cool footage of Andrew Crawford in the Alien puppeteering rig constructed by the good folk from Creature Inc Ltd and Odd Studio.

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[Rafael]

If they put all those "Tested" videos together, it would make a great behind-the-scenes for the Blu-ray release.

[John Doe]

I like she said this creature It is more organic, less mechanical. Maybe if there is another one we will see the original.

[Jonesy1974]

I really think that's the plan. The Alien in Covenant is just Davids first attempt.

[Morgoth]

Why do people think this looks better than the CGI is beyond me

[Evanus]

Yeah, this looks pretty rough to be honest. But animatronics can look much, much better than this.

[Burn the Floor]

Rad animatronic. Would've been cool to see in the movie.

[Xenomorphine]

This was the pupeteering rig Conor O'Sullivan mentioned in our exclusive video they didn't have the time to finish. This was clearly the test footage. You can tell because it has the thinner limbs.

[CrespiChickenStrips]

Get a bit of a Pumpkinhead vibe from those bug eyes vs. the human skull in the big chap.

[OmegaZilla]

Get a bit of a Pumpkinhead vibe from those bug eyes vs. the human skull in the big chap.

bug eyes?

[Elmazalman]

Seeing the COVENANT video only makes me want to revisit the original behind-the-scenes footage.

[Johnny Handsome]

I had no problem with the CGI in the movie, it was good, but seeing all those great animatronics and suits really makes my heart bleed they didnt include them, i can't recall a single practical Alien in the movie, and that's a shame.

And to be honest, i think the "we made the suits just for reference" statement from Ridley is pure bullshit, you don't spend a huge chunk of money for those really good and complex suits and animatronics with the intention to erase it all over with CGI, i think Ridley pulled a "thing" here, where they wanted to go practical and decided during post production to make everything CG instead.

Unlike most people on here i actually like CGI in movies, i really do, but it would have been ten times more creepy if there was a guy slowly walking around on the dust filled spaceship instead of the hyperactive AvP-version we got instead.

The design is awesome, this is the closest to the original big-chap design by far.

[Scorpio]

You can't achieve the same kind of shots with practical, as you have to hide the fact it's just a man in a suit.  May have worked back in the 80s but in 2017 it's cheesy.  Particularly for a big budget movie.  Like the shot with the Neomorph slowly approaching David - would not have worked with just a guy in a suit.  Besides, if you listen to the commentary, Ridley Scott says they kept the practical shots that worked better than the CG shots.

[Highland]

You can't achieve the same kind of shots with practical, as you have to hide the fact it's just a man in a suit.  May have worked back in the 80s but in 2017 it's cheesy.  Particularly for a big budget movie.  Like the shot with the Neomorph slowly approaching David - would not have worked with just a guy in a suit.  Besides, if you listen to the commentary, Ridley Scott says they kept the practical shots that worked better than the CG shots.

I agree with your point about it not working with the same kind of shots, but I disagree with the point that it would be cheesy. Alien, Aliens and Alien 3 have shots that are more powerful than the current CGI beastie. Shots that not only look better , but are still scary to this day.

[Jonesy1974]

You can't achieve the same kind of shots with practical, as you have to hide the fact it's just a man in a suit.  May have worked back in the 80s but in 2017 it's cheesy.  Particularly for a big budget movie.  Like the shot with the Neomorph slowly approaching David - would not have worked with just a guy in a suit.  Besides, if you listen to the commentary, Ridley Scott says they kept the practical shots that worked better than the CG shots.

I agree with your point about it not working with the same kind of shots, but I disagree with the point that it would be cheesy. Alien, Aliens and Alien 3 have shots that are more powerful than the current CGI beastie. Shots that not only look better , but are still scary to this day.

I dunno, that one shot of the Alien entering the loading bay was up with best I reckon.