Explain Alien Covenant to me!

[Morrus]

So we watched this again this weekend and it’s way better than I remember. It’s not the first two films, but it’s decent.

But quality aside…. I’m still confused!

Is the implication that David created the xenomorphs a few years before the first Alien film? He bioengineered them when alive on the dead Engineer planet? From earlier proto-Xenos created via the black goo?

And if so how did the Engineer ship in the first film have xenomorph eggs on it?

I’m sure I’m just missing something obvious but I just can’t get the xeno timeline right in my head.

 

[Epic Meepo]

My impression was that the weaponized black goo creates an entire family of parasitic organisms. David's experiments produced different parasites in that family until he rediscovered the Xenomorph species. Presumably, the Engineers had already independently discovered Xenomorphs by experimenting with black goo in the past, since Predators have been hunting Xenomorphs for thousands of years.

 

[pukunui]

I think it’s more that the xenos, being parasitic, take on elements of their host’s DNA. So the xeno in the original Alien film looked the way it did because its host was human.

Note that the xeno in Prometheus (the Deacon) looked different because it had an engineer as its host.

There are two different types of xenos in Covenant, both of which have human hosts. There are the ones from the spores on the planet and the one from the facehugger in David’s basement. The latter one looks much more like the original xeno, probably because it was created in the same way rather than via the spores. It probably also had DNA from Dr Shaw in it.

I don’t think the implication is that the eggs on the ancient engineer ship were created by David. However, I do think we are supposed to assume that Weyland-Yutani learned about the existence of the xenos from David.

If we ever get a sequel to Covenant, we might learn more. I’m guessing we won’t, though.

 

[Deset Gled]

Is the implication that David created the xenomorphs a few years before the first Alien film? He bioengineered them when alive on the dead Engineer planet? From earlier proto-Xenos created via the black goo?

And if so how did the Engineer ship in the first film have xenomorph eggs on it?

I’m sure I’m just missing something obvious but I just can’t get the xeno timeline right in my head.

My understanding is that we're still not 100% sure what was found on the original ship on LV-426 in Alien.

The Engineers created the base bio-tech that can lead to xenomorph-type creatures. We saw one form of this in Prometheus, and another form in Covenant. But neither are exactly like what we saw in Alien 1-3. With the cliffhanger that Covenant ended with, it could be that David goes on to make the eggs that we saw in Alien. But it could also be that the original ship was just a different crashed Engineer ship carrying slightly different eggs. Future movies may tell, or may not.

One interesting thing to note is that the original "space jockey" from Alien is much larger that the Engineers we saw in Prometheus. It's been left unclear if this is just a minor continuity issue, or something of meaning.

 

[pukunui]

My understanding is that we're still not 100% sure what was found on the original ship on LV-426 in Alien.

The Engineers created the base bio-tech that can lead to xenomorph-type creatures. We saw one form of this in Prometheus, and another form in Covenant. But neither are exactly like what we saw in Alien 1-3. With the cliffhanger that Covenant ended with, it could be that David goes on to make the eggs that we saw in Alien. But it could also be that the original ship was just a different crashed Engineer ship carrying slightly different eggs. Future movies may tell, or may not.

The crashed engineer ship in Alien feels too old. I mean, the engineer guy has been lying there dead for so long, he's fossilized and has fused with the ship's controls. My guess is he got infected by the black goo stuff at the base in Prometheus and fled on his ship. His ship probably crashed on LV-426 when the xeno burst from his chest. It then proceeded to lay eggs in the hold ~ or maybe those eggs were already there, and one hatched and got the engineer after the ship had taken off.

Either way, I think it's more likely that David simply tipped off Weyland-Yutani about the existence of the xenos and the engineers and such after he fled the engineers' homeworld, and then the company went looking for the engineer ships (hoping to find some xenos inside) and found the one on LV-426.

I do hope we get some sort of resolution to the Prometheus / Covenant storyline, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

EDIT: It seems like some people are saying that the space jockey isn't an engineer because of the size difference and the fact that it looks like the space jockey isn't wearing a suit. I'm seeing some arguments online that the space jockeys made the engineers, who made themselves tech that resembles their creators. Inside the engineer spaceship seen in Prometheus and Covenant (and the short film set in between), you can see glimpses of giant "statues" that look more like the space jockey than the engineers.

One interesting thing to note is that the original "space jockey" from Alien is much larger that the Engineers we saw in Prometheus. It's been left unclear if this is just a minor continuity issue, or something of meaning.

I thought that Prometheus resolved that by showing that the engineers wore big, bulky space suits with "elephant head" helmets.

 

[Deset Gled]

The crashed engineer ship in Alien feels too old. I mean, the engineer guy has been lying there dead for so long, he's fossilized and has fused with the ship's controls. My guess is he got infected by the black goo stuff at the base in Prometheus and fled on his ship. His ship probably crashed on LV-426 when the xeno burst from his chest. It then proceeded to lay eggs in the hold ~ or maybe those eggs were already there, and one hatched and got the engineer after the ship had taken off.

Who's to say how long it takes to look aged on an alien planet? And the mystery behind what happened to the jockey is best left a mystery.

That said, I'm resonably sure the eggs were packed into the space jockey ship on purpose. They were meticulously laid out and stored. And there was that weird sensor-type thing that went off when Kane disturbed them. That was tech, not xeno biology.

I thought that Prometheus resolved that by showing that the engineers wore big, bulky space suits with "elephant head" helmets.

The Engineer suits are very similar in design, but simply aren't big enough to be the space jockey when you compare screen shots. But, as I said, that could just be a continuity error.

 

[Nikosandros]

I do hope we get some sort of resolution to the Prometheus / Covenant storyline, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Heh... I didn't particularly like Prometheus and Covenant, but I was still quite disappointed that we never got the sequels, because I was still curious to see where the story would have gone!

 

[Morrus]

I feel like if the xenomorphs are that recent, it kinda diminishes them. Maybe that's just me.

I'm also not convinced they're an 'evolution' over prior Aliens--the whole egg/hug/burst/grow/coccoon/implant sequence seems quite inefficient compared to 'breathe in a spore, burst an Alien a couple of hours later'.

So.... the planet (LV-426?) in Alien and Aliens is the same planet as in Covenant, and is the Engineer's homeworld? And LV-223 is a nearby planet where they put an outpost?

I always got the impression there were Xenos all over the galaxy and had been for thousands of years, but they're actually only on one planet, and have been there for only 20 years? And were created by David?

Or am I totally mangling this up?

 

[Deset Gled]

So.... the planet (LV-426?) in Alien and Aliens is the same planet as in Covenant, and is the Engineer's homeworld? And LV-223 is a nearby planet where they put an outpost?

I always got the impression there were Xenos all over the galaxy and had been for thousands of years, but they're actually only on one planet, and have been there for only 20 years? And were created by David?

The planet in Alien is different from the one in Covenant, and also different from the one in Prometheus. None of them are the Engineer homeworld.

Engineer bio-tech has been around since before the dawn of life on earth. We don't know if xenomorphs have been around that whole time or not.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The Engineer suits are very similar in design, but simply aren't big enough to be the space jockey when you compare screen shots. But, as I said, that could just be a continuity error.

Maybe some engineers are bigger than others? Gender dimorphism? Continued growth throughout life?