Alien Origins

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8.9 (8)
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Overall rating
 
8.9
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.3(8)
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9.5(8)
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9.6(8)
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8.1(8)
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Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
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10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
I really enjoyed this one. The choices made in terms of what's been streamlined and cut out are very well-done, and the edit overall does a wonderful job of capturing the spirit of the original Alien. Nicely done.

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Yes
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Digital
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Overall rating
 
8.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
7.0
Enjoyment
 
5.0
*BEWARE. SPOILERS.*

I'm not a massive fan of either "Prometheus" or "Covenant". But here they are together running at 2 hours 28 minutes, it feels like a quick ride since you are watching 2 films back to back. Of course some things are gone. The fight scenes with the "giant squid" alien and the Engineer are gone and we assume the Engineer is therefore dead on collision. Of course this too means that the proto-xenomorph is gone, but that's fine as it's forgotten and never brought up again after "Prometheus".

"Covenant" felt really brief, but for me that was a positive as it's never been a favourite of mine, however, this edit has made me slightly appreciate it more. I generally thought that the fight/horror scenes inside David's "masturbation cave" were quickly sped up, which I think it needed for the suspense and pace. The whole xenomorph fight aboard the Covenant is gone and personally I'm quite glad it's gone as it never did feel right in "Covenant", as it's a different film and there was never any need to retread old ground.

So my conclusion is that I'm overall impressed. The visual cutting and audio work well together and I didn't notice any mess. I must be honest and say David is still pretty much the baddie in this. I don't feel him being a "grey" character. I know some of the darkness from Covenant is taken away (a good thing), but you still assume David is behind everything and probably wants to use the colony to breed his xenomorphs. I was actually hoping the editor may have added some twists and turns with "Covenant" as I'm still expecting the "Covenant - Happy Ending" with David truly dead and the xenomorph still stranded on the planet. But maybe that's for another editor to make? And maybe Ridley Scott still has another chapter for David? God help us.

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DVD
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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.

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Yes
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Digital
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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.

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Yes
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1 reviews
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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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