MovieChat Forums > Alien: Covenant (2017) Discussion > It's weird that the engineers look so di...

It's weird that the engineers look so different

posted 7 years ago by Myy2free2 (97)
9 replies | jump to latest

Was it a budget thing, cuz don't really look like the engineers from Prometheus at all. Kind of a shallow criticism, but it did take me out of the story for a sec

[–] CraigJamesReview (1459) 7 years ago

did they? they were on screen for so short a time I barely even noticed. disappointing when I expected this second movie to mostly be about them.

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[–] Volley (3368) 7 years ago

I dunno, they looked similar to Prometheus engineers...

[–] MikeCable (1662) 7 years ago

Maybe only the big strong ones like in P are the space-faring ones, and they were wearing space ship suits? We may have seen whole varying families in local relaxed fashion in AC.

[–] tinycatpenis (132) 7 years ago

They do look different. Some of them were old, fat, short and had the appearance of monks or something. people will point out that in a deleted scene from prometheus, you see old and possibly out of shape engineers partaking in some creation ritual on an unknown planet with the black goo. One distinction though, is that they all had that eerily alien face with black eyes and very pronounced features. The engineers in covenant look like guys in robes with white powder on their face.

What I liked about the original engineers was that they were 'godlike' in appearance, like they had enhanced strength and physical features. I believe the design of them was based on the David sculpture. And even when you see that engineer towards the beginning of prometheus, he looks like the one that *spoilers* rips Davids head off later in the movie. I do not understand why Ridley Scott changed them, it couldn't have been because of budget because he was only going to show them for a few seconds anyway...

[–] Myy2free2 (97) 7 years ago

Yeah that's what it was! They didn't have the cgi creepiness and alien god like features. They were just regular men with white makeup put on them. The more I think about it, the more it bothers me

[–] tinycatpenis (132) 7 years ago

I might be thinking about it too much but there's this one exchange in prometheus:

"David: I was designed like this because you are more comfortable interacting with your own kind. If I didn't wear a suit, it would defeat the purpose.

Charlie Holloway: They're making you guys pretty close, huh?

David: Not too close, I hope."

Basically David's way of saying 'fuck you' after being insulted multiple times in the film. Charlie clearly knew what David was trying to say but he did it polite enough that he could get away with it.

So Ridley Scott was clearly passionate about prometheus and received some pretty harsh criticism for it. Then after the Neil Blomkamp stuff went down in flames, the studio probably pressured him into going in a more alien centric direction with the next 2 movies. (I think he was only going to make one sequel to prometheus originally). So I think maybe the engineer scene in covenant was Ridley Scott begrudgingly acknowledging the shift in focus of the franchise, while subtly saying 'Fuck you' to everyone who criticized him.

Because I can't for the life of me seeing this DECISION as budgetary. And just like David and Charlie, the intent is out in plain sight but you can't really call him out for it.

This is just a theory and I'm a bit stoned

[–] Rekastor (33) 7 years ago

I begin to wonder if i was the only one who notice these Covenant engineers are completely different from Prometheus engineers. i was really disappointed how Covenant engineers were portrayed in the movie, looking so ordinary..

Here is the video about Covenant vs Prometheus engineers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lcd0DBAzHZs

[–] keybored (2654) 7 years ago

Not everybody on earth looks the same as each other, so as the Engineers seeded earth, there would also have to have been some form of variety amongst them.

[–] tinycatpenis (132) 7 years ago

I don't think that's what bothers people about the scene. The fact that they look like human beings in brown robes takes away some of the mystique that made prometheus interesting. They reminded me of what the original monks from alien 3 might have looked like on that wooden ark planet thingy