Paradise

It was my first time watching a fanedit actually and already was as good as an edit of those movies can be I think.
Considering how mediocre (and disappointing) they are, i's not a small task to make a good fusion.

Fantastic job, did not feel the almost 3hrs of runtime. Audio/Visual quality is top notch. Essential viewing in my opinion, and the only way to watch Prometheus and Covenant for me now. Original material can't be totally saved, but you still did a damn good job, can't go back to the theatrical cuts. Thanks.

I want to say that for 99% of the edit, I loved it. Then the ending came. In the theatrical cut of Covenant, David has the A.I. play Richard Wagner's Entry of the Gods into Valhalla. It's a significant piece for David as it is the piece Weyland has him play in the beginning. It's quiet though signifying that David is still the creation, but at the end of the film David becomes the creator and the full orchestra is playing. The edit replaces this with Carry That Weight, a good song, but it doesn't have any story importance. Everything else from the edit is brilliant. It adds and removes the perfect amount and it's just brilliantly edited by someone who respects the subtext of these films.

"It's christmas and I want to open my presents". That's how I felt about watching Paradise.
It's probably my favorite fanedit ever because of how skillfully it manages to make a really good movie out of two bad ones.
Nowadays it's once in a blue moon that we get to see a grandiose sci-fi tale, packed with appalling visuals of Ridley Scott's expertise, but not marred by ridiculous writing and superfluous gimmicks. And that's exactly what Paradise is. It's technically masterful - the edition is seamless and everything fits as if it was the original montage of the movie. I would say the overall highlights are the now unburdened beautiful setpieces and the brilliant design of space-faring vehicles and whatnot. But most definitely, a movie for David to call his own.

If I am to indulge in nitpicking though, there are some things I would have edited further to improve the narrative as per my personal enjoyment - if I were to master such arts:

Vickers - It feels like she doesn't belong anywhere anymore. Even though she acts like she owns the place, she has no agency at anything, her ultimate fate is left unknown (as opposed to the original version) and the synthetic ambiguity about her character is reduced with the removal of most of her lines. I don't know to what extent her absence would impact the editing, but I feel like she could be completely cut off, making the edit even tighter.

Both original movies introduce a disgusting freakshow roster of creatures (mostly Prometheus) that I am glad are mostly gone in Paradise (along with the gorier death scenes). However, I still have a gripe with Shaw's surgery and the Neomorph's spawnings. These scenes are very graphic and I would be completely fine with it if they were addressing the Xenomorph. Instead, I find them utterly distracting since they're just exploiting the parasitic horror for shock value (same thing for the snake creature that runs off of Millburn's corpse. What movie is this again?) I would ditch the whole Shaw cesary scene since it does absolutely no impact to her for the rest of the movie - it surprisingly doesn't affect her neither mentally nor physically (which is terribly unconvincing, no matter how many drug doses the movie shows her injecting herself). But I know that one would be tricky since it's followed directly by Weyland's reveal where Shaw appears half naked and visually debilitated, so it would make little sense without the previous events. As for Ledward's spawn, his back burst could lead directly to the newborn neomorph lunging for Karine and skipping the brief CGI sequence that shows the thing rising up from it's placenta - the same for Lope's husband one (whose infection is confusingly overlooked).

The engineered virulent pathogen is also something I never liked about the original versions. I understand how it fits into David's carrying on the Engineers' ploy, but it feels like a disservice to the classic Xenomorph biological glory and mystery. It also feels too mundane that the Engineers big plan was an old-fashioned terrorist-esque biological weapon. I love that David is the Xeno's father and that he created the "perfect organism", but it's an underlying tone inconsistency that the movies can't decide if they want to go with the contagion theme or the infection theme. That's to mention some really silly sequences that demonstrate the processes: Holloway seeing his eyes' worm thingy on the mirror, and Ledward's spore infection through his ear canals. They're both brief CGI sequences that take weight off the suspense. We already know they have been infected, yet the movies go the extra mile to graphically demonstrate it. It's uncalled for and in bad taste. Classic case of less is more. Also, Oram's Xeno mimicking David remains laughable. Personally, I would have gone further in editing out all of these.

If there's one scene I would not have cut is the cargo lift showdown from Covenant. It sure could do with some cuts of the most slapstick action and impossible physics, but it's a truly heart-pumping piece with both Daniels and the Xenomorph showing their full prowess and resilience - definitely Aliens inspired. I also understand the scene takes away a little of the suspense from the chase aboard the Covenant that follows, but I actually missed it from Paradise.

All in all though, these are issues I have with the original material. I just felt like this was the right place to share them, with fellow fans that actually edited out a better movie off of what we were given. I'm very thankful for Job's edit, and again, it just might be my favorite one - hence my passion in dissecting it thoroughly. Look upon his works, Paradise is definitely a proper Alien prequel.

Leave it to a mash-up of two decent but wildly divisive films to make Beatles songs terrifying. If something as impossible as that can be made possible, then the faneditor has to be doing something right. Much like Ripley, this manages to take two very flawed if not all that bad films and put them together into a single narrative that works surprisingly beautifully. Many of the elements that bog both films down are removed and the clever back-and-forth editing not only keeps this moving at a smooth pace but also further emphasizes the themes of creation and its relationship with the creator in a way that's incredibly engaging and meaningful. The addition of deleted scenes and marketing material, i.e. the Peter Weyland TED Talk, is much welcome. I'm shocked by how much I enjoyed this.

BRILLIANT Fan Edit!!! For both Alien lovers and movigoers Paradise should be considered as a good movie. The way JobWillins assembles Prometheus and Covenant in one single piece is extraordinary. The selection of the footage material is carefully chosen resulting in a great cinema exercise. David centric story is indeed the strongest aspect of this edit. Splitting the intro conversation between him and Weyland (Beginning scene from Covenant) in different parts and inserting them along the movie, the editor shows us David´s personality and motivations in a way that the official movies failed to. I won´t extend myself describing all unnecessary and stupid humour scenes which are deleted alongside the plot inconsistencies with Alien universe.

Audio and Sound editing are top-notch. In this regard, it is not possible to imagine a better quality for a fan edit. The only remark I appreciate is the addition of some tracks which in my opinion doesn´t fit with the tone of the movie (i.e. a couple of Beatles songs). This soundtrack editing either you love it or hate it.

I enjoyed so much this fan edit and it completely replaces the original movies. I didn´t grade higher because of the original available material which in some cases makes impossible to fix it. The editor has nothing to do with it. Giving the source material, Paradise is a jewel in Alien universe and from now on I will revisit it with the first and second entries of the saga.

Congratulations to JobWillins who is certainly a remarkable fan editor!

P.S. Please, watch the mix Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman edit "Man of Tomorrow" absolutely a must.