By all accounts he didn’t push Blomkamp out and was interested in producing the film. Rather, Fox didn’t want to fund two Alien movies at the same time and had more confidence in Scott.

Oh, I agree. The least successful parts of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant were when it leaned into imagery of the original Alien movies and tying into them. Where they were most successful was where they were more original (David, the black goo, the Engineers, even the neomorphs which were much more interesting than…

If I’m doing a period piece, I can’t just pull out a ballpoint pen to write a letter if they were using quills during the period I’m supposed to be in.

Where’s the strategic advantage of floating a thousand or so feet off the ground versus being up in orbit?

Well this sounds like hell. It also reminds me a ton of the post-mortem on Mass Effect Andromeda. Probably not a coincidence.

And I countered them 😉.

Hi. I’m in this thread too 😛. But no worries we don’t need to hash things over again.

Uh, yes they did. Not in TOS, but TNG era Romulans very clearly have forebrow ridges in a V-shape.

The original version of the Aliens’ biology in O’Bannon’s Star Beast script had that they were intelligent creatures who went through a juvenile “feral” period before becoming sentient beings who lived in peace and harmony with each other for centuries, eventually sacrificing themselves to continue the species.…

(I’ve always been a big fan of the aesthetic style of “The Cage” and “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” with its monochromatic bridge that looks a lot like the spaceship interiors in 2001. When the show got picked up for a full series, NBC demanded that the set be redecorated with more reds and blues, since sales of…

Sure we’re made from them but it seems that, culturally and psychologically, they’re pretty alien.

Are you really going to argue that it makes sense (absent retcons and out of universe explanations) that these two ships are supposed to be the same vessel? They don’t even have the same silhouette or proportions. If you’re going to “refit” the ship that much you might as well just build a new one.

It’s very, very rare for me. I think retcons are actually healthy for franchises and help them maintain continuity over decades as new writers enter the mix and old ones leave. For a retcon to really annoy me it has to be something that flatly contradicts or outright undermines the premise of the original material for…

It’s not as cool, but it does make sense a company might rebrand after what sixty years? What’s a little odder is Weyland Corp using the same slogan about 100 years earlier from Aliens in Prometheus.

I feel like the Engineers were pretty alien. They just look human (albeit giant hairless albino humans with black eyes and a slightly odd facial structure).

Yeah I’m of the opinion they really should never have addressed it and just accepted Roddenberry’s official explanation of “oh, they always looked like that.”

I know this is a popular idea but honestly I’ve been impressed so far with how well the writers did their research. So many little details in each episode are call backs to relatively obscure but time-appropriate lore, from the names of scientific prizes to battles between the Federation and the Klingons. Even the…

Not too surprising. Look what happened the last time he directed an entry in a science fiction franchise.

Honestly disappointed you guys didn’t make this joke :P

io9's original review by Charlie Jane Anders was very positive, but A) she doesn’t work here anymore (she got promoted to best-selling novelist!) and B) I have noticed that it’s slipped somewhat in recent years as people appraise the whole of the franchise.