Alien: Earth (FX)

[morris_schaffer]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Is "cope + paste" a new saying or just a typo? If the latter then I've not seen such an apt slip of the fingers in quite some time

Legit typo, but it eludes me why it would be so apt.

[saxomaphone]

Also, I hope and pray that they acknowledge David in this series somehow. That Michael Fassbender makes a brief cameo, even in the form of a 'lost footage', just 2 mins explaining what the hell he's been up to.
Footage can be shot on green screen, just a day's worth of acting. I imagine Ridley to still have some pull with him.

[Show spoiler]I could see him easily having a role in that research ship carrying all those specimens

. I just need some type of closure. A bookend to his story. If not, what a wasted opportunity which would mark this series unredeemable to me. DEADASS

[nico87]

Originally Posted by saxomaphone

Also, I hope and pray that they acknowledge David in this series somehow. That Michael Fassbender makes a brief cameo, even in the form of a 'lost footage', just 2 mins explaining what the hell he's been up to.
Footage can be shot on green screen, just a day's worth of acting. I imagine Ridley to still have some pull with him.

[Show spoiler]I could see him easily having a role in that research ship carrying all those specimens

. I just need some type of closure. A bookend to his story. If not, what a wasted opportunity which would mark this series unredeemable to me. DEADASS

Sorry to say I think this is a terrible idea, I hope the series sticks to its own weird continuity.

It's better for Prometheus/Covenant to stay unresolved forever rather than being shoehorned into this bundle of crazy choices they're making in the series.

Hybrids and Cyborgs that will have to mysteriously vanish from the continuity,

[Show spoiler]that crazy overpowered stun-gun & sticky-thing-dispenser that discount-Yaphet-Kotto has.
And what about a search and rescue team that packs goddamn pulse rifles in a civilian area? (Edit: yes the Marines do that in Aliens too, but its different, Ripley told them about the creatures already)

Let Alien Earth be its own thing and stay far away from the movies.
The lore is basically reinvented at each new iteration anyway, no need to tie it all up.

[Cremildo]

Zero chance of David appearing here. Hawley's been quoted as saying he refused to engage with the prequel storyline for this series.

One can only hope Fede Álvarez will do it in his upcoming movies.

[saxomaphone]

Originally Posted by nico87

It's better for Prometheus/Covenant to stay unresolved forever rather than being shoehorned into this bundle of crazy choices they're making in the series.

Not shoehorned. 2 mins then the plot can move on. A literal throw away. Doesn't effect whatever the series has in store. Criminal if it doesnt happen. Sorry, I need it tied up. The OCD in me will not let it rest.

Originally Posted by nico87

Sorry to say I think this is a terrible idea, I hope the series sticks to its own weird continuity.

Let Alien Earth be its own thing and stay far away from the movies.

An alternate timeline is the terrible idea. How did that work out for Terminator: Dark Fate?

[nico87]

Originally Posted by saxomaphone

An alternate timeline is the terrible idea. How did that work out for Terminator: Dark Fate?

It's not strictly speaking alternate, it's just loose.
Kind of like how James Bond was before that godawful idea of linking the stories together for Craig with that "it was me from the beginning" moment with Blofeld in Spectre.

Alien works much better as an anthology IMO.

[JoeKryten]

Originally Posted by saxomaphone

And please dont besmirch the word of Paul W.S. Anderson, he's good at what he does, he's not trying to bore the audience like that other Paul Anderson. Fantasy popcorn action flicks are his jam, and he has a great sense of style.

Not a huge PTA fan (he lost me at Magnolia and only interested me since in Inherent Vice), but I've yet to find a more boring film to me than Soldier (although Event Horizon was a close second).

As such, I've not been interested in seeing any of Paul WS Anderson's other films but I've seen plenty of parts of the Resident Evil series via channel hopping but the only one that seemed to have any life (pun intended) to it for me was Extinction...which of course was directed by Russell Mulcahy.

[saxomaphone]

Originally Posted by JoeKryten

(although Event Horizon was a close second).

Excuse you

Originally Posted by nico87

It's not strictly speaking alternate, it's just loose.

The council has convened, it is not allowed.

[R0CK0X]

Originally Posted by morris_schaffer

I don't like the rock music over the end credits.

It's one of those weird, stylistic choices Disney also did with the Willow series and I didn't much care for it there either.

[Kylo_Ren]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

Zero chance of David appearing here. Hawley's been quoted as saying he refused to engage with the prequel storyline for this series.

One can only hope Fede Álvarez will do it in his upcoming movies.

Fingers crossed!

[Deadend45]

Originally Posted by saxomaphone

Not shoehorned. 2 mins then the plot can move on. A literal throw away. Doesn't effect whatever the series has its store. Criminal if it doesnt happen. Sorry, I need it tied up. The OCD in me will not let it rest.

You are correct we need David's embryo from 2001 resolved!

[EvaDK]

Originally Posted by Deadend45

You are correct we need David's embryo from 2001 resolved!

I don't.

They completely messed up the Xenomorph by inserting David, an android with daddy-issues, into its creation. The original from 1979 is probably the finest film ever made on the subject of Lovecraftian cosmic horror and the Xenomorph required no explanation for that horror to work perfectly.

Neither did the Space Jockey/Engineers need to be explained. Their motive for carrying thousands of eggs - or black goo - in those ships, should remain a mystery to terrify us.

[Kylo_Ren]

Why do folks keep saying that David "created" the xenomorph?

I think the mural in Prometheus made it abundantly clear that these creatures or ones with that type of genetic background already existed way before David got his hands on that black goo.

Either the Engineers created the xeno and the mutagen that creates it OR they derived that mutagen from these already existing creatures and used their DNA to create this bioweapon.

When David was experimenting with the black goo mutagen, he was just a cook tinkering with an already established recipe.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Indeed. David did not create the Alien, he recreated it.

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

One can only hope Fede Álvarez will do it in his upcoming movies.

Our best hope.

[the13thman]

Originally Posted by JoeKryten

Not a huge PTA fan (he lost me at Magnolia and only interested me since in Inherent Vice), but I've yet to find a more boring film to me than Soldier (although Event Horizon was a close second).

As such, I've not been interested in seeing any of Paul WS Anderson's other films but I've seen plenty of parts of the Resident Evil series via channel hopping but the only one that seemed to have any life (pun intended) to it for me was Extinction...which of course was directed by Russell Mulcahy.

I'm not a huge PTA fan either but Inherent Vice is easily the most boring film out of all those you mention, I couldn't believe how well it was reviewed given how dull and uneventful it is.

As for Alien Earth, there's so much that's nonsensical about some of the worldbuilding that I can't treat it as anything other than slop to vegetate in front of. I hate the premise of hybrids, transferring a mind from a human into a machine had its own movie already and that explored the issues better than this has so far. I hate the overpowered cyborg, it also raises the question of why synths don't have hands that can turn into tools. I hate the ethically-suspect rich kid character, it's such an overused character type now that you may as well write "idiot with a lack of foresight" on his forehead. I hate the locals playing dress-up even after a spaceship has crashed into/near their building. I hate the Alien stumbling around Ghostface-style behind plot armoured characters. The hybrid with magical hacking powers and a body that can jump off a cliff with no adverse consequences, I roll my eyes so hard at this garbage. It's almost like the show is made for children who can't see how silly so much of it is. It also suffers from STD syndrome in that it's a prequel full of tech than shouldn't exist in that timeline. The stun gun and spray gun sure would have been useful equipment to have on the Nostromo.

Having said that, I love the look of the thing, I love Timothy Olyphant and I love aliens of all kinds. There are some good ideas here, just poorly executed.

[starmike]

The next two episodes are going to be crucial in moving any kind of narrative outside the ship and getting the audience invested.

[Jeyl]

Originally Posted by LeftHandedGuitarist

Indeed. David did not create the Alien, he recreated it.

Ah. I see now. The entire point of the Prometheus movies was to create an allegory of AI being fed other people's work and spewing out bad imitations.

[Stanis]

PTAnderson, one of the best directors working in our lifetimes, catching shade in the effing Alien Earth thread is amusing, wtc.

This drops on tuesdays, yah? So another tonight

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by Kylo_Ren

Why do folks keep saying that David "created" the xenomorph?

Because they didn't understand Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

I also find it funny that some people complain they didn't "need" explanations about the origins of the xeno and the Space Jockey because it ruins their mystery. Ok... But showing some cyborg subduing and capturing a ridiculously lethal xeno without breaking a sweat doesn't?

The prequels only deepen the cosmic horrors of the franchise. God forbid the filmmakers wished to do something new with a stagnating series that had gone off the deep end with all the cloning stuff and the non-canonical crossovers. Ridley Scott had intended to explore who the Space Jockey was since the first movie came out, and even then he had floated the notion that the xenos could be biological weapons (read J.W. Rinzler's making-of book if you don't believe me, folks; being informed doesn't hurt.). The only reason it didn't happen decades sooner is that Fox chose not to engage him for Alien 2.