Alien: Covenant [2017] (2 discs)

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• David asked Walter if he ever dreams. This is possibly a nod to Philip K. Dick's {Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?}, upon which the film Blade Runner was based.
• At one point, Daniels (Katherine Waterston) says, "I got you, you son of a bitch." Ellen Ripley uses these words at the end of Alien.
• The original treatment for this movie, as revealed by director Ridley Scott in 2012, when the film was still in development, was to be a more faithful sequel to Prometheus. Titled "Paradise Lost," it would have drifted even further from the [Alien] mythology, and focused almost exclusively on the backstory of the engineers, the origins of humanity, and how the engineers created humans and xenomorphs. The prequels would then conclude with a film that ties itself in to the original [Alien] movies. Ridley Scott pursued this idea because he felt that the [Alien] franchise lost its touch and was overdone and overexposed, and as such, wanted to try a different approach. However, due to the divided fan reactions of Prometheus, Scott abandoned this direction and took a different approach instead, specifically to reintroduce the [Alien] mythos much sooner, with the classic Xenomorph.
• This movie contains a scene where a toy bird drinking water (named, aptly, a "drinky-bird") is visible. In the opening scene of Alien, there is such a toy bird shown on board the Nostromo's bridge. When David is discussing the alien with the captain, he says it is "the perfect organism," just like Ash's head said in Alien.
• On November 27, 2015, Director Ridley Scott announced that this film would be the second (following Prometheus) in a new Alien trilogy, which will take place closer to, and lead up to, the original film. He has since suggested that there may even be a fourth prequel film.
• This was the first [Alien] film to be released after the death of H.R. Giger. Giger inadvertently designed the original Alien looks and environments in his "Necronomicon" book, which led to Ridley Scott hiring him as Art Director for the film (and franchise). Giger essentially gave birth to the entire [Alien] look that we all know.
• For the first time since Alien 3, an alien's point of view is shown. However, in this film, we see the alien's visual spectrum.
• Some of the scenes were filmed in Sydney, Australia, at Fox Studios. Ridley Scott gave Michael Fassbender time off between takes, in order for him to attend the X-Men: Apocalypse premiere, held in the same area.
• The music from Jerry Goldsmith's score for Alien was used extensively in the first act of this movie.
• Each [Alien] film features a different type of group interacting with the Xenomorphs, which were miners in Alien, the military in Aliens, prisoners in Alien 3, smugglers in Alien: Ressurection, archaeologists in Alien vs. Predator, a combination of normal suburban humans, police force, and military in Aliens vs Predator: Requiem, and research scientists in Prometheus. While the main characters in this film are scientists, they are also colonists.
• Guy Pearce's reprisal of his role as Peter Weyland in the opening prologue marked Pearce's first appearance in the franchise playing Weyland without old-age make-up. Pearce had been cast in Prometheus at forty-five years old, because an actor needed to play Peter Weyland both as an elderly man, and middle-aged, but ultimately the scenes featuring Weyland as a younger man were cut, and Pearce appeared in the film only under heavy old-age make-up.
• Walter breaks the pattern of the androids' names proceeding in alphabetical order (Ash, Bishop, Call, David). Both characters played by Michael Fassbender are named for Producers David Giler and Walter Hill.
• A couple of flashback sequences were filmed that gave Branson (James Franco) more screentime by fleshing out the relationship between him and Daniels (Katherine Waterston) but were ultimately cut from the final film.
• Rebecca Ferguson was considered for the role of Daniels.
• Katherine Waterston also appeared in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the beginning of a prequel series to the [Harry Potter] films. The [Harry Potter] film franchise also featured John Hurt, who appeared in Alien, and Timothy Spall, whose son Rafe Spall appeared in Prometheus. Fantastic Beasts also featured Samantha Morton, whose father-in-law is Alien cast member Ian Holm.
• Danny McBride said he was pleasantly surprised to be cast against type in a mostly straight role, since he figured as a comedian he would be cast as an obnoxious "a**hole" who would be killed early in the movie.
• The song David performs on the flute in front of Shaw's shrine is a callback to the theme music from Prometheus.
• In the beginning of the movie, Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) explains to David that he is unable to create life, since he is not human. This is David's motivation later in the movie: To create the perfect form of life, using the crew of the Covenant as hosts.