Alien Origins

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8.8 (7)
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Alien Origins
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2012
Original Running Time:
246
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
148
Time Cut:
98
Available in HD?
Brief Synopsis:
This edit brings together Prometheus and Alien: Covenant in one single movie of 148 minutes, that sticks as close as possible to the atmosphere of the very first Alien, whitout ruining its lore and mythology like the original movies did.
Intention:
I was unsatisfied by both Prometheus and Covenant because they featured many unneccesary characters who died a cheap death and because they over-explained the origin of the xenomorph. With this fanedit I attempted to make the tone of the movie much more serious and ominous, in line with that of the first Alien. To do so, I deleted all the scenes that were superflous or that showed too much of the xenomorph and the other creatures. Some of the novel creatures that were introduced in these two movies have been cut, in order to make the genesis of the xenomorph less confusing and, frankly ridicolous. Many other changes have been made, like for example tweaking the character of David in Prometheus, who is now less deranged and a much more logical and "grey" character.
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
Firstly I stiched together the 2 movies. Then I deleted all the scenes that didn't fit, in chronological order. I moved on to smoothing the transition between scenes that were not linked together originally. I rewatched the fanedit numerous times to make it sure that it flowed as smoothly as possible, and that it made sense narratively, notwithstanding the many deleted scenes.
Cuts and Additions:
No additions. An incomplete list of the cuts made:
-Deleted opening scene with the Engineers
-Deleted scene on Earth
-Deleted scene in which David spies on Shaw
-Tweaked breakfast scene and debriefing scene
-Deleted scene with Vickers
-Deleted and tweaked scenes inside the alien structure, especially those featuring the 2 scientists who die later on
-Deleted the scene in which the head of the Engineer explodes
-Tweaked scene in which Shaw records her thoughts
-Deleted the scene in which the corpse of one of the dead scientists comes back to life and goes on a rampage
-Deleted the scene between Idris Elba's character and Shaw
-Deleted scene between David and Shaw before they go out to meet the Engineer
-Deleted the fight with the Engineer
-Deleted the fire aboard the Covenant
-Deleted all references to the fire and the medical pods
-Tweaked many of the early scenes on the planet
-Deleted one of the proto-xenomorph in order to make the ensuing action sequences much easier to follow
-Revamped the whole section inside the dead city of the Engineers. Way to many scenes and changes to list. Most notably, deleted all the scenes that contradict what we know about the life cycle of the Xenomorph
-Deleted the "you do the fingering" scene
-Deleted fight against the Xeno aboard the Covenant
Cover art by fairfriend (DOWNLOAD HERE)
image

User reviews

7 reviews
 
43%
 
57%
5-7 stars
 
0%
3-5 stars
 
0%
1-3 stars
 
0%
Overall rating
 
8.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.2(7)
Audio Editing
 
9.4(7)
Visual Editing
 
9.6(7)
Narrative
 
7.9(7)
Enjoyment
 
7.9(7)
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Overall rating
 
8.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
7.0
Enjoyment
 
7.0
Interesting edit combining the two films. Definitely addresses a lot of issues with the stupidity of characters, and besides the lack of leading to the second film, the technical aspects of the edit were great.
Personally, the "grey"-ing effect of David kind of threw me off. I almost thought we was going to turn out to simply be a victim for the Covenant half, the way his darkness was mostly removed from Prometheus. So this angle didn't quite work for me. But it may be for some others!
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Overall rating
 
8.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
8.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
7.0
Enjoyment
 
7.0
I applaud the efforts of the editor. On a technical level everything was fine overall, however, the narrative choices cannot save this blending of both films. I do not fault the editor though. His choices of cut material is well planned out, but as pthers have said, there is no lead-in to the 2nd half of the film.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
No
Format Watched?
Digital
B
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Overall rating
 
8.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Audio Editing
 
8.0
Visual Editing
 
7.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Alien Origins
Streamlined…
More direct…
Less fluff and more stuff…
I can comfortably say that I’ve enjoyed this direct mashup of Prometheus & Alien Covenant in one solid story tells. The beginning of Prometheus has been altered but that okay in the grand scheme of things. These 2 stories really center around the actions of David The Android and his love/hate relations with his creator & human counterparts. And honestly that’s all THIS movie watcher desired to see. I’ve also enjoyed the peppered additions of OST scores from the original 1979 Alien film. Watch this cut of the films for additional insight as to why the character ASH is the way he was in the original Alien.

Here's the Breakdown of Rating Category
Audio/video quality : solid multi channel audio. resolution has small bits of video artifacts here and there but the average viewer won’t notice in wide shots. 9 stars
Visual Editing: I usually prefer a full screen viewing as opposed letterbox formats. Still 16:9 but for those that hate black bars this may bother some viewers. 7 stars
Audio Editing: Deep bass during action scene, clean highs for voice acting. Not bad transfer rate... 8 stars

Narrative: movie really shines with its primary focus of David’s intentions with the space jockeys and his love and respect for Doctor Elizabeth Shaw. He once said it himself “one needs to destroy to create the greater good”. This storytelling is a 9 in my book!
Enjoyment: This is easily a 10 but I’m also bias because I grew up with loving everything about this franchise. Viewing this through a fan favorite creation shows our respect for Alien and the message it stood to tell even in the 1970. Even in space... corporate greed kills you!

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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(Updated: August 09, 2020)
Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
So luckily i´ve been able to watch this merged edit of prometheus and covenant. I never liked both films. They were too long and pacing off the narration about the whole alien universe.
With this edit i actually felt enjoyment through out of its length. There was the right amount of cutting scenes for the two "independent" movies. Yes the transition from one movie to another is noticeable and probably could´ve been doen slightly better, but it works fine and feels adequate.
Due to the nature of these two films, i don´t think it is possible to preserve the mythology of the creature.

Audio Quality 8 --> due to the lack of other tracks. there is "only" a very good 5.1 stereo mix.
So good work there and thanky you for this edit.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
***SPOILERS***

It's amazing what the right small edits can do... though the first 20 mins or so of Prometheus are cut (and drops you right into the tone the editor wants), it's the small interpersonal cuts that really make the difference. And then additional and sometimes bold choices have been made to remove unexpected sections to make a totally new feel. It's clear FairFriend had a definite intention and almost completely delivered on it.

The Prometheus section is very strong, just the right amount of silly or extraneous plot/character moments removed. The extra drive and narrative momentum cannot be overstated. The removal of a large amount of the physical Engineer elements succeeds in making them the 'unknowable other', rendering them as more mysterious and arguably more terrifying.

The transition into Covenant is unavoidably jarring, but treated as an intermission point, it is successful. Though the 'coupling up' of the characters was treated with some weight in the original cut, being trimmed here really cuts to the plot and removes a little of the narrative 'mud'. You can't remove all of the characters' DUMBNESS, but this cut does what it can. This is changed from a slasher in space, replete with needless b-character arcs, to a direct, simple(ish) horror tale.

The only narrative downside is that both halves have the same basic first act, so its a matter of 'rinse and repeat'... but this aside, FairFriend has done wonders condensing these 2 ungainly monsters into one interesting and propulsive story, more in keeping with the other Scott xenomorphic endeavour.

**it's heartening to note that FairFriend's HD version of this is 21Gb, which retains a lot of the incredible A/V quality of the source material (especially Prometheus), which can often lost in HD fanedits at lower file sizes. Bravo, FairFriend.

*the A/V score is only dropped from 10 to 9 due to Stereo-only mix. The actual audio quality of what's present is top notch.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
I
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