The Problem with Synthetics : In Two Parts

Bad Movies Made Less Bad Presents:
An "android-centric" edit of Prometheus and Covenant, told in two parts.
Focused on the origins of the Xenomorph without ruining the surprises of the original Alien movie.

Major Changes:

• Show, don't tell principles effect.
• Smaller more focused storylines with less main character focus to highlight the philosophical questions presented in the films, and cutting screen time and interest for characters that make glaringly bad decisions.
• David is undoubtedly now the source of the xenomorphs (we reveal only the baby trilobite from the Prometheus episode, and only seeing more once David begins tinkering, and his monologue in his lab is adjusted to support this.)
• No chestburster scenes or terrible Xenomorph confrontations. (Trying to honor the original Alien movies.)
• Prometheus does not land on LV-223. (Remove all mention of the planet name.)
• Better connect it to the Juggernaut in Alien. (A juggernaut closes in on the Covenant in the final shots.)
• Remove or minimize stupidity of crew decisions to be less obvious and maddening. (As much as footage an narratives allow of course.)

Editing Intent:

"Paradise" by Job Willins is easily one of my favorite franchise-saving fanedit of all time. It highlights what is great about the prequels, and ditches everything else. I watched it endlessly.

Over time, I wondered - what would a chronological edit look like? And after having gotten the blessing of jobwillins himself, I began to experiment. The initial simple chronological re-edit lost all the magic and tension that made Paradise great.

But I kept playing with different ways to try to keep the "David-centric" story, and settled on this two-episode format. This is an admittedly inferior re-imagining of Paradise, but still a fun and different way to focus on the deeper questions raised in these films, each about 70 minutes.

And while I was editing these anyways, I wanted to address continuity issues mentioned so often in these prequels and make this truly an Alien Prequel story.

Cut List:

• A heavily trimmed Weyland Ted Talk opens Episode one.

• David's awakening from Covenant used for David's intro, dialogue adjusted.

• All Prometheus footage before the ship in space are removed, we begin with David.

• David does now look into dreams.

• Scenes of Crew awakening from cryosleep are removed.

• Weyland's presentation trimmed.

• Holloway's presentation trimmed and graphics for LV-223 are removed.

• Prometheus ship planet landing sequence trimmed for better logic.

• Crew interactions in the dome trimmed for to remove focus on anyone but the doctors and David.

• Xenomorph mural reference removed.

• Paradise scene of Shaw debreifing the room with Country Roads cover used.

• Vickers confrontation with David in hallway removed.

• Shaw "DNA" discovery trimmed for less information.

• David's tainting of Holloway's drink adjusted for speed.

• Scenes of crew left in dome removed.

• Discussion of Shaw's physical issues removed.

• Vickers and Janek scene trimmed to only highlight Vicker's questionable status as a human,

• David's "VR Simulation" scene trimmed.

• Fifeilds return removed.

• Vickers confrontation with Weyland removed.

• Vickers dies before she can escape the Prometheus.

• Shaw is killed by the falling Juggernaut.

• End of Episode 1.

• Episode 2 begins with Extra footage of Walter's "birth."

• Paradise intro of Walter with Beatles music used.

• Daniels mementos scene removed.

• Bridge discussion scene dialogue trimmed

• Oram's religious overtones dialed down as much as possible

• Covenant repair scenes trimmed for pacing

• Transmission discussion scene trimmed for logic

• Lander flying to planet rescored with Prometheus soundtrack of similar scenes

• Recon team scenes trimmed for pacing.

• Ledward scenes of him getting infected removed.

• "The Crossing" trimmed and rescored, used during David's introduction.

• Oram looking into a pod removed, and Oram's chestburster scene removed.

• David's genocide scene trimmed and moved to after Walter finds Shaw's body.

• Xenomorph confrontation on both the Lander and the main Covenant ship removed.