Phallic Jaw
MemberFacehuggerMay-28-2017 11:08 PMas above. Discuss.
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched Androids blow and finger each other's flutes.
No-one
MemberOvomorphMay-29-2017 4:08 AMIt's interesting observing the subtle differences between David and Walter, their varying opinions on creation and servitude which I feel the movie wasn't clear enough on. Michael Fassbender is an amazing actor and I definitely could see the difference between Walter and David, but I feel like the conversation and thoughts about Daniels were much clearer in the book than they were in the film.
And the clarity of Shaws' nightmare demise and the emotionally disfigured David. I was difficult to read but I thought it was much scarier than the images in the movie.
MonsterZero
MemberXenomorphMay-29-2017 7:25 AMIsn't the Alien : Covenant 2 novel out in September?! Really interested in reading that!
Phallic Jaw
MemberFacehuggerMay-29-2017 9:08 AMYes @MonsterZero, but it's not Alien Covenant TWO anymore, that's an mistake in Amazon's listing that they just haven't fixed. There was indeed originally going to be a Covenant 2 sequel novel, but it's now going to be a prequel titled Alien: Origins.
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched Androids blow and finger each other's flutes.
Michelle Johnston
MemberChestbursterMay-29-2017 11:40 AMI do not normally read novelisations but I found it an excellent companion to the book and Oram, Tee and Daniels really come forward. So many movements in the story make a good deal more sense the contextual logic from helmets to being chased by the neomorph. I thought the presentation of Shaw's shadow on the movie was much better not what it could have been but better.
I am curious as to the change of ending which suggests they have quite different plans for Katherine going forward than the way it was written.
cuponator3000
MemberChestbursterJun-01-2017 10:26 AMI really enjoyed the novelization! Especially spending more time with Oram and in David's domain. Oram felt a little...I guess under developed in the film, but the book helped give me some context to his character, so I am glad.
When Oram was facehugged, or leading up to it, the book made the decision not so stupid. Still not a great idea, but how wary he was and how David earned his trust of the egg with the petrified one before they went into the cave was great.
What was really interesting (and something we could not have really been explicitly shown on screen) was Walter learning to create the melody he did on the flute! As well as his possible feelings for Daniels. I think it was just David getting into his head, he had to consider what David said of course, but it was interesting to see him almost feeling things and having a slight existential crisis.
I second Michelle's thoughts on the ending of the novel. The film is very cut and dry as with her totally finding out that David is in charge before she goes to sleep, but the book is more of a complete cliffhanger in that regard. I am aure there is a reason story-wise that Scott went with that ending, but I am guessing that the scare factor was a big reason to end that way in the film
Not a map, an invitation
cmutt
MemberOvomorphJun-04-2017 11:11 AMAfter reading the novelization...
I firmly believe it is superior to the film version. The details and small changes make so much of a difference to the overall impact of the story... especially in regards to the Prometheus connection, and it really digs deeper and expands on the whole David plot.
I don't know if ADF had his novelization written prior to Ridley's final draft of the screenplay... but I have to imagine that ADF was in contact with RS, and that they probably had much discourse about the story beforehand.
If that was the case, I just can't understand why RS would go in some of the directions he did, or why he chose not to follow more closely to the novelization version of events.
IMHO, the film would be much better if it were exactly like the novelization.
Seph7
MemberFacehuggerJun-04-2017 1:09 PMI've read it and loved it. I'm not sure I would say one is better than the other, but the book definitely expands on some points I felt were a bit lacking in the film. However, I definitely think it was a great moment when Daniels realises, all too late, that Walter is in fact David.
I do love that the book explored Walter in greater detail. It gave him a uniqueness of his own, and a mildly tempered personality. I do think he is capable of snippets of emotion, but because of the 'failure' of David, they have been scaled back considerably. Let's face it, he can't just be a cold and unfeeling machine, or he wouldn't be able to at least understand his crew and offer some level of compassion.
cmutt
MemberOvomorphJun-05-2017 1:14 AMI completely disagree about the scene in the film where Daniels realizes he's actually David. That seemed like an unnecessary horror movie cliche... to me.
I think the book version is so much more profound and intriguing.
But even if Ridley adequately shifts the "later version" xenomorph origins over to David... there is a whole other world and history that is still, as of yet, unknown, unexplained, and unclear... that of the engineers.
I still think that Ridley needs to expand on and explain the engineers more... at some point.
Seph7
MemberFacehuggerJun-05-2017 5:52 AMI'm hoping for the same. They were my favourite part of Prometheus, and though we got a glimpse of their culture, it wasn't nearly enough...
Kethol
MemberChestbursterJun-05-2017 9:29 AMI thought the book was a great companion to the film and added a lot more depth.
There are some things I think ADF probably added that were not scripted in order to make things make more sense. The additional scientific details were probably all ADF.
Other things, like the extra conversation Oram had with David about religion just before he was chest bursted, were probably scripted, but ended up on the cutting room floor. Too bad, because that one scene sort of finalized that whole religious angle of his character, and never paid off in the movie.
I like the way the book ended better too.
Ridley always includes deleted scenes on the DVD/Blue Ray releases. It will be interesting to see how much of the extra material in the book was actually shot and ended up on the cutting room floor.
suwhited
MemberFacehuggerJun-05-2017 11:00 AMI am just about done with the novel and I can definitively say that it produces a much more coherent and engaging storyline that the movie. AC would have been a much better watch for the fans if it had stayed right along the storyline and given the extra detail. Very good read.
cryofodder
MemberOvomorphJun-05-2017 5:43 PMAfter reading the book, I keep thinking a few more minutes runtime of the movie would have made it alot more successful. Even "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" was 2 hrs. 33 mins. The novel definitely filled in a few holes.
cmutt
MemberOvomorphJun-05-2017 9:14 PM"I'm hoping for the same. They were my favourite part of Prometheus, and though we got a glimpse of their culture, it wasn't nearly enough..."
I totally agree. The glimpses and bits of information that we do get from both Prometheus and AC are like appetizers. Ridley seems to give us just enough to intrigue us, and get us excited about their part of the story... and then he drops it, and goes another direction.
It's like, maybe HE doesn't even know what their back story is. Maybe he hasn't thought it all out yet, or maybe he just can't decide exactly what he wants to do with the engineers, or their history, or their role in the big picture.
But I have to believe that Ridley must have done some very serious hashing out with both Spaights and Lindelof on the engineers and their history... because Ridley's original plan for Prometheus was supposed to be ALL about the engineers, and how everything led up to Alien. So they must have discussed the engineers in serious depth.
To me, the engineers are the most important part of the prequels. They are the answer to the great mysteries that Alien presented in 1979.
katie5000
MemberOvomorphJun-07-2017 10:06 PMWell, somehow the novel managed to make the part where David throws himself at Daniels on the alien planet even MORE creepy than it was in the film.
I haven't yet decided if Daniels not knowing it's David at the end is scarier than her having the epiphany that it is right before she falls asleep. I did find the way he kept trying to "drop hints" during the last few events of the book kind of amusing, though.
One of those hints in particular was actually kind of intriguing: Outside the medbay, Daniels is talking with Walter and he tells her that it was a pity that she couldn't spend more time with David, as she might have been able to change him. Knowing how the movie ended, and knowing that the novel is an adaptation of such, this basically means that David is dropping Daniels a rather oblique hint about some of his feelings toward her. I now want to know why she made him feel that way, and whether that played some additional part in why he decided to "hijack" Walter to get on board the ship (you know, besides wanting access to 2000 more people to experiment on).
It seems like something a future book or movie might explore.