WHERE TO GO NEXT?

Yeah, I also think the prequels are dead. That timeline just doesn't support enough xeno versus marines action.

 "i FEAR that the Prequels will NOT be Classed as Canon in 10 Years Time."

Yup. I think they will just be ignored. besides It was RS's idea to explore the backstory..... and i can guarantee you the majority of the fanbase just wanted an ALIENS type movie. IF we were shown some xenomorph action in 'Prometheus'....I don't think we'd be having this conversation. David and Shaw fleeing the xeno infestation on LV-223 would have led to many prequels (IMHO ).

Shaw "David we need off this moon!!"

David,  shooting another xeno "perhaps we locate another functioning spacecraft? There is another tomb not far from here"

Shaw "God I hate tombs!"

Shaw and David make for a tomb....

Indeed...

In Hindsight then YES the First Prequel did-not have enough ALIENY like Action, it was also NOT a Spoon Fed Literal Prequel.

With Prometheus we got to see the Engineers and ONE of them did some KILLING of our Human Characters..... but as FAR as anything more ALIEN.... well we had the Following.

1) Hammerpedes: We saw TWO of them and ONE had Attacked Milburn, but there was NOT a lot to this.... all we could Conclude is their was a Slight Similarity with a Face Hugger and we saw ACID BLOOD.

2) Zombie Fifield: We saw Fifield become Infected with the Black Goo and become some kind of Toxic Avenger Mutant Zombie.  And it was FIFIELD who had done MOST of the KILLING.... he also did-not have much of a Connection to the Xenomorph.

3) Dr Shaws Trilobite:  With Dr Shaw infected via Holloway we got to see her become Pregnant with a None-Human Fetus..... the Trilobite was some kind of Hybrid of a Face Hugger/Human.  We could see its Connection to the Face Hugger by HOW it had Infected the Engineer.

4) The Deacon:  The result of Dr Shaws Child (The Trilobite) Infecting the Engineer to Result in a Chest Burster Organism.... the Deacon.  We could make some Connection with the Xenomorph but again it was NOT too Close to the Xenomorph.

So from these Alien Monsters.... there was NO Real Pay Off with the Hammerpede, and while we saw ONE with the Trilobite we Never got to see NOTHING of the Deacon, it would have been like ALIEN just Ending after Kanes Chest Buster Scene.

There was NO kind of Action Scene apart from the Fifield Attack.

About the ONLY thing that Fans took as some Connection to ALIEN was the Mural as MANY had seen this as the Xenomorph (but it was a Deacon).

The Alien Engineers Draft had more Action and more ALIENS.... we Encountered and saw a Hammerpede (more like Centipede than a Snake) and we saw Three Kinds of Face Hugger, we saw FOUR Kinds of Xenomorph like Organisms (inc TWO that we see Chest Burst),  Fifield was more a Xeno/Human Hybrid with ACID BLOOD and so there was MORE Action and ALIENS.

What Prometheus had Needed was a Balance.....

I had Re-wrote Parts of Prometheus and some of the Changes Came to the Monsters.

1) Fifield had Mutated into something we could see more of a Xenomorph Connection too and had some Acid Blood. (Just as in Alien Engineers). And he also does-not KILL as many People.

2) The Hammerpede that Jumps from the Mouth of Milburn would go to try and Attack Ford but Janek would manager to Prise it away and then it gets Shot.... we see Acid Blood but then as we ZOOM in we see inside of it are TINY like Eggs.

3) Upon the Return to the Outpost with Mr Weyland and Company we have TWO more Security Personnel they Stay in the Big Head Room, and they Notice that Milburns Body begins to Move... they go Closer and we see Milburn then Chest Burst some Hybrid Organism (I envisioned like the Unused Prometheus Variant and so CLOSE to the Neomorph).

This goes to Attack on of the Security the Other in a Panic Shoots at it but it Hits the Security Guy being Attacked.  The other Panics and Flees Off.

We then CUT to the Engineer Scene..... when David Talks to him and gets his Head Ripped Off.....

4) As we see Dr Shaw running away and then where she gets to the Outside she Catches up with the Security Guard and they Hear a Screech...... as the Security Guard Turns around we see the Milburn Chest Buster it is Larger Now.. he Fires a Few Shots at it... they Miss...... he Turns to Dr Shaw and Tells her to RUN...  she Jumps the Opening Hanger Door to then be able to RUN ALONG the Surface (She is Joined by Vickers as per Prometheus).

The Security Guard then attempts to Jump and he Barely Catches the Platform/Door of the Hanger.... but the Milburn Burster then Jumps and Climbs over the Guard, it looks Down to him and we see a Inner Mouth Appear and it Punctures the Guards Head, he then Falls into the Abyss of the Hanger.

We then cut to Vickers and Dr Shaw running and the Juggernaught Falling from the SKY..... Vickers is then Sprung on by the Milburn Burster and it Attacks her and she is on her Back Trying to Fend it Off.... then she sees the Juggernaught and Screams.... the Juggernaught then CRUSHES both of them.

What THESE Changes had done is make more of a Connection to Fifield/Black Goo and Organisms related to the Deacon..... it gives a Pay Off to the Hammerpede making it a Face Hugger or Sorts.   The Milburn Chest Burster is in Part Responsible for the Death of THREE.

We get to see more ALIENY Action but its NOT a Overload... by looking at the Monsters we can make more of a Connection to ALIEN and the Xenomorph.

But ALAS.....

The Mistake they Made in Hindsight after Prometheus was as i had Mentioned, they should have GONE back to LV-223 with a more ALIENY Movie that could IN PART then Close the Door to ALIEN and then it allows a 3rd Prequel to then go to WHERE we have David and Dr Shaw go and they would NOT be Shackled Down to Connect to ALIEN.

"...Milburn Chest Burst "

That would have been awesome! And more like an Alien movie. A pity for sure.

 Seriously...Ridley had the keys to the kingdom once again! 

Could have a least established some egg morphing ideas. 

I do think that Eventually we would have seen Xenomorphs had Ridley Scott got to make any Sequels..... he made some INTERESTING Comments about the Xenomorph.

*He Felt that you had to Evolve the Xenomorph.

*He Felt you could look at other ways of Procreation.

*He said that we have NOT YET reached the Bio-Mechanical Fiend that we see in ALIEN.

I think RS would have Explored the Egg Morph.

Regarding the more ALIENY Elements i had added to a Edit (which i Lost) of Prometheus.... well i have said MISTAKE 2 was to NOT have a Sequel which goes to LV-223.

We have a BIT of a Problem Now.... and i think MISTAKE 3 would be to GO where David is going...  So YES i think IF they had to make a Sequel then it would be BEST to go to Planet 4......UNLESS..... we have David take the Covenant to LV-223.

Right now, I consider the prequels rather pointless. I watched Alien the other day and not for one second did I think the Space Jockey was an Engineer. I'd rather the Engineers are shown to be false prophets or something.....A parasitic race that steals and deceives.

So a return to Lv-223 is my final answer. 

The Space Jockey was a Enigma for Certain.............. there are a FEW things that make it Appear to NOT be a Engineer.... but we are Supposed to Accept that it WAS, but WHO KNOWS as to WHAT/WHO the Space Jockey would have been Revealed as had Ridley Scott got to Conclude the Prequels?

Wayne Haagg who had Worked on a LOT of the Engineers Aesthetic/Concepts for Alien Covenant had said that he FELT the Engineers Technology was something they had STOLEN or Reverse Engineered, it seemed that he FELT the Derelict etc was NOT something the Engineers had Created/Engineered.

With Prometheus out the way, we had RS say that he DID-NOT want to MEET GOD in the First Movie and he Indicated the Engineers we saw are NOT the TOP of the Creation Layer Cake................ even just Prior to Announcement of Alien Covenant we had RS mention that IF the Engineers are the Forerunners of Mankind, then WHO had MADE it so that Worlds could Support Life/Biology... he ASKED.... where is the Big Guy?

So it seemed that RS had Pondered that their is Someone/Something or some Race that is ABOVE the Engineers...... this is Something that maybe could have been Explored....

IF so then i think the Themes should still PLAY a Role.... and so a Revelation that the Engineers were a Sub-Created Species for some Specific Reason who had Rebelled and maybe even Overthrown their Creators could WORK.

So you could have Explored the Space Jockey as ANOTHER RACE

I like the SJ as a mutated / genetically altered Engineer. Their version of a super soldier. The Engineers are playing God with everything they touch..

BUT...Who are they fighting? Why would they need super soldiers...are they fighting the monstrosities they created.... or just each other...in a galaxy spanning faction war?

So I'm not sure another race is required. And without Giger I'm not confident on the art direction.

 I don't think the World building of Alien is complete enough to support multiple alien races. With Star Trek and Star Wars it's no problem...introduce a new one every novel, comic, movie. The Alien universe seems isolated..... we are alone....and I think this is better.

"All other life in the galaxy has died off and it's our turn" More cosmic horror angle then a bump in the road.

Well the major difference between the Alienverse/Predatorverse from Star Wars and Star Trek. 

Humanity barely explored a fraction of their galaxy while Star Wars and Star Trek the entire galaxy is pretty much colonized and explored compared to ALIEN.

Its arrogant to assume that all of the other alien species are all dead

I have to agree with you Xenotaris......

The Engineers Plot does indicate they have been to other GALAXIES and so you could EXPLORE them and NOT have to Conflict with ALIEN at all.

The Tricky Situation with Exploring the Space Jockey would be that WHEN and HOW you Explore as to WHO they ARE.... its then WHERE they are FROM.  We could have ASSUMED that the Space Jockey was VERY FAR from HOME.

WHERE are the REST of them?  And so you could have Wondered as too...

*Are they all Gone/Dead?  Died Out some MANY Thousands of Years Ago?

*Do they come from a FAR FAR away Place and they do Remain but they are like 10'000, 20'000, 30'000 LY away..... or in another Galaxy?

But with the Engineers Plot and Especially after Alien Covenant we see the Engineers had been Located like ON OUR DOORSTEP..... but this does-not mean that there are NO other Engineers and Worlds within our Galaxy, they just could be Very FAR Away.... maybe even in another Galaxy.

You could do a Spin Off and Visit some of these Places... and this does-not mean you CANT have Humans... as who is to say that Thousands of Years ago that the Earth is the ONLY such Place to have Humans or that we CAME from Earth?

"Their version of a super soldier"

Well this is WHAT i think the Prometheus Engineers are Compared to the Planet 4 Engineers.... they are like a Cross Between Universal Solider meets Blade Runner...... a Genetically Enhanced Version of their Species.

When looking at the OT its to Answer as to WHERE do you GO NEXT as far as IF we are to Continue after Alien Covenant.

The Engineers Plot becomes Problematic and Especially having Planet being Located so CLOSE (likely to be within 50LY)

IF they had Planet 4 as being MUCH FURTHER AWAY then we would NOT have to Worry as much about CONFLICTS with the Franchise.  In the IMAGE above i have Placed 6 Areas of where the Engineers are/where Located (One being CLOSE to Earth) and there are 22 Worlds the Engineers had Seeded/Evolved Life say Similar to us on.....

In this Example the CLOSEST other World the Engineers have Created Life on is 12'500LY from Earth, the NEXT CLOSEST such World of the Engineers is 25'000LY Away......

So the Galaxy is VAST and it could be that by the Time of ALIENS we Simply have NOT gone as FAR as say 12.5K or 25K Light Years....

The Problem with Planet 4 being so CLOSE is that WHEN the Engineers do Return and Discover as to WHAT has Happened.... do they Attempt to CONTACT other Engineer Outposts etc?    Because then we have to ASK that IF they have, then WHY by the Time-Line of ALIENS does it seem that Mankind have been FINE?

With a Prometheus set of Sequels that i had in MIND... then David and Dr Shaw would have gone to a FAR FAR AWAY place.... that they would have Reached there like WAY in the Future or at Very Least... in the AFTERMATH of what David does, by the Time any other Engineers would Investigate then the Time-Line would be like 2250-2350 or so etc....

But with Alien Covenant we have some Problems...

*Does the Group of Engineers who come to Planet 4 and Discover what has Happened, simply go to LOOK for the Culprits/Decide to take Revenge but FAIL to Contact any other Engineers out there in the Galaxy?

*Are the Returning Engineers the LAST of their Kind in our Galaxy?

Because you HAVE to WONDER about WHY it is that Humanity from Earth is STILL ALIVE by the Year 2180 etc....

ONE WAY this would NOT go and Cause a Conflict... would be IF it was that Ridley Scott was Planning to RETCON....... ALIENS...   This way the Engineers who Return and Events that LEAD to the Space Jockey on LV-426... would NOT be as BIG a Conflict.... because MORE of their Kind could Return say 25 Years after ALIEN.....

You have to ASSUME the Engineers have other Outposts in our Galaxy... and when some Engineers from these ARRIVE at Planet 4 they surely would CONTACT the other Engineers (from where they came) about Planet 4 and then maybe TELL them what they INTEND to DO...... so when these other Engineers say FAIL to here BACK from those who went to Planet 4 then SURELY they would SEND another Group of Engineers to Investigate?

UNLESS.... the Engineer Outpost/World is VERY FAR and Communication would take say 100 Years or More, and Travel would take 100 Years or More?

The Prometheus say can Travel Nearly 20LY per Year.... the Covenant likely is 40-50X the Speed of Light and the Nostromo is just Under 50X and surely the Engineers Ships are Faster....

But what if they are only like 100-200x the Speed of Light?

But a Problem we have is they can Travel to other Galaxies and well the Nearest Galaxy is 2.5M Light Years Away.... so the Nostromo would take say 50'000 Years........... i cant see the Engineers Spending like Thousands of Years to get to other Galaxies... maybe Hundreds?

So YES you will have some Questions/Conflicts with the Engineers and WHY they seemed to have NOT been back to Earth.....

Unless within our Galaxy....

*There are ONLY a Few Engineers left!

*The Returning Engineers are coming from another Galaxy!

*The other Engineers have NO IDEA about what has Happened to Planet 4 apart from a Group who Return and they some-how do-not Contact the others.............. or it would be Hundreds of Years before any of them would Pick Up any Message from Planet 4.

"all of the other alien species are all dead"

Introducing new races just takes us further away from the xenomorph and I don't think the fans want that.

I want Alien 5 to begin with humans encountering a really nasty alien race ( a long lived galaxy core dwelling one )....But fans/Disney/Fox are going to ask: "Where is the Xenomorph?!" and I'm in 100% agreement with RS that the 'beast is cooked'...But I still want future movies involving it.

"Planning to RETCON....... ALIENS."

That's why introducing egg morph in Prometheus ( or Covenant)  was his way to retcon. nullifying the queen somewhat.

*The other Engineers have NO IDEA about what has Happened to Planet 4 apart from a Group who Return and they some-how do-not Contact the others.............. or it would be Hundreds of Years before any of them would Pick Up any Message from Planet 4.

If the Engineers are galaxy spanning and there are trillions of them ( a guess ), losing a million citizens just isn't worth the energy or time to avenge them?

Whats wrong with the ALIEN verse having non-xenomorph aliens? I mean sapient non-human would be rare but the Engineers/Space Jockey and the Yautja/Predators are both sapient aliens that already exist within the franchise. So what's wrong with discovering primitive sapient lifeforms or even extra space faring ones?

By the sounds of it you just want to rinse and repeat what has already been to done to the franchise. Newer aliens mean newer forms for the xenomorphs can take but also even when not involving our favorite acid blood aliens, having a different alien species on screen would be an interesting theme to explore in the alien universe.

Up to this point, we only had the Yautja (non-canon they may or not be) humans have been trying to acquire their technology but fail.

Engineers, humans wanted to learn their secrets of immortality.

Xenomorphs, humans want them for bioweapons and usually fall victim to them.

Androids, Humans either love them or hate them.

A rival alien species on the level of humanity could introduce new stories to explore in the Alien series.

"Introducing new races just takes us further away from the xenomorph and I don't think the fans want that"

I think the CORE FAN BASE would Expect the Franchise to be about the Xenomorph, the SAD thing is that RS was Correct.... and Prometheus was to SET UP a Expansion into a SPIN OFF where you could have Endless Possibilities with Different Worlds/Races and New Horrors.

But with Prometheus it just NEVER did enough to CLOSE the DOOR to ALIEN so it can MOVE ON without being Shackled to the Xenomorph and LV-426.  This could have been Avoided if Prometheus had a BIT MORE for the Fans to Chew On, and LEFT things with at LEAST some Answers.

But with Alien Covenant its seems that its SET-UP to get us to LV-426 and so YES you would be Expecting the Xenomorph.... and i think to CONTINUE then YES you have to have it about the Xenomorph... maybe do 1-2 More Movies to CLOSE the DOOR to LV-426........  then you can Explore the Engineers other Races/Worlds and Horrors and NOT be about Xenomorphs and IF some Fans Cry and Moan.. they just GOT to Accept that maybe we are taking a SPIN OFF like Franchise Approach to TRY and do something NEW... because otherwise the ALIEN FRANCHISE will just become another Starship Troopers.

This is NOT to say you CANT have more Xenomorph Movies... i think we could do with TWO More Prequels to CLOSE the DOOR to ALIEN... maybe then they can make another TWO ALIEN Movies about the Xenomorph... but after that i think you cant get MORE Millage out of the Beast.... at LEAST as Far as Theatrically.

"By the sounds of it you just want to rinse and repeat what has already been to done to the franchise"

Sadly thats WHAT we are likely to be in FOR.... i can say for Myself and also i think that MonsterZero is also on the same PAGE as FAR as........ YES you can have more to the Franchise than Xenomorphs.... the Prequels had OPENED UP a Lot of Potential and its a SHAME to see that Wasted.

Ridley Scott had seemed to GIVE IN and have to ADMIT the Franchise has to be about the Xenomorph.... but he had said you have to EVOLVE IT and Explore other ways of Procreation... i think what he means is that your LIMITED if you are just having the Same Xenomorph that we have seen say in ALIENS, ALIEN R, AVP and AVPR over and over.....

You dont have to Diverge too FAR from the Xenomorph, the Neomorph was still Connected and YET it was Different.

But the Biggest thing the Prequels seemed to be about as FAR as our Engineers was Creation!  And its UNLIKELY that Humans are the ONLY other Species like themselves they had Created, and WHO is to say that others are Quite Human..... and then SURELY there are other Races/Species that the Engineers had Played NO PART in the Creation/Evolution of.

To get more MILLAGE out of the Franchise you have to look at what is in the Expanded Universe beyond the Eggs from LV-426, because well... too much of them and they COULD loose their Effect....  TAKE the Walking Dead... yes its about Zombies but if EVERY SEASON was about a Group of Do Gooders trying to Escape/Survive against Zombies it would have became Repetitive and STALE... in the Walking Dead we Learn the Zombies are NOT the Biggest Threat.

As Ripley said about the Xenomorph "I don't know which species is worse. You don't see them f**king each other over for a goddamn percentage"

And so in Terms of the Franchise.... then Humanity and our Greed is the Biggest Threat....  what if we Discover Words that are Rich for the Company but they have some Inhabitants?

Could we have a Galactic Version of what those from the EAST had done to the Natives of the Americas?

Ridley Scott had said the ALIEN Franchise SHOULD be like a Star Wars/Star Trek and i DONT think he meant as FAR as making the $$$$$ but in Terms of the Many Worlds/Races and Conflicts.... rather than being about the Greedy Company trying to get those EGGS and the Marines called in to CLEAN the S**T up etc.

"A rival alien species on the level of humanity could introduce new stories.."

Some would argue that they couldn't even get the Engineers stories right! Not sure if they could handle another race.

I'm all for introducing new races and never showing the xenomorph again, believe me!

"....the Neomorph was still Connected and YET it was Different."

Love the neomorph...If it had looked more vicious ( more xenomorph like ), I think the fans would have been more excited. Perhaps that was the point though?, they didn't want to take the edge off the xenomorph brand. 

I think the comics are going to show the direction.

      David and Ellen Ripley are sitting near each other. Ripley is waiting to board the Nostromo. 

David starting a conversation “Nice ship”

Ripley frowning “Is it?”

David “Your destination is Earth?”

Ripley a little creeped out “Common knowledge”

Ripley grabs her flight bag and turns to leave..

David “Bon Voyage”

Ripley quickening her pace “..uh..Thanks”

Ash walks by Ripley and sits near David.

David “Everything arranged?”

Ash “Yes yes, child's play to get assigned”, “May I ask, why not just give me the specimen?”

David “Theater my boy, theater”

Ash incredulously “This is theater?”

David “Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything”

I think it could be Interesting to see WHAT would Happen if we went to Another World that the Engineers had Created a Race on......

Imagine going back say 1000-2000 Years Ago on Earth and we Believe that we are UNIQUE and the ONLY other Visitors we have are our Human looking Engineer Creators................... then another Race from another World then Turns Up.... say they could look LESS HUMAN like i dont know a Klingon or Cardassian etc.

How would we React? how would this Effect how we view our Creators?  I doubt the Engineers would like to see their other Creations go OFF and Find other Worlds the Engineers had Created Life/Civilization on.

What does the COMPANY do when say it Discovers a Populated World who are say Primitive, and Especially if they are Living in Wooden Huts etc and so 6'000+ Years behind our Technology Level......

This Species are Scattered around the Planet in Small Numbers (Few Hundred) sometimes LESS but they are Scattered here and there....

If this World has Resources.... would the Company be Willing to TALK and TRY and agree some Deal with this Race.... we have some of their Resources in Exchange for some Knowledge/Technology?

Or would the Company just TAKE what they Want and STEAL their Lands?

If the Engineers come back to this World and then Discover someone has BEEN using Technology to Pillage the Resources, maybe also Slaying some of the Inhabitants or maybe IF the Company makes a Deal/Trade....  how would the Engineers React to seeing that ONE of their other Worlds they have Seeded a Race on, has all of SUDDEN got their Hands on some Technology that is NOT from the Engineers?

There has to be other Races..... but all we have in the Franchise are Humans, Engineers and the ARCTURIANS (who we have NOT seen but heard of).

Regarding ASH.... it would be Interesting to see HOW MUCH of David is in Ash?  I suspect that as of 2122 and Beyond that David is NOT DEAD.

First contact ideas where Earthlings are aware of aliens has yet to be explored and i think this is a path they might think about, or at least the comics?

One company ( W Y ) are not going to get to claim much...there will be thousands of Earth corps and governments who will want a piece of the action. and that's probably a story itself!