Paradise

"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.

The technical mastery of this edit is impressive, whether in terms of audio, video or narration processing. The idea to combine these two flawed movies is a very efficient way to get rid of their worst parts and focus on what works. The drawback is the pace that sometimes feels a little rushed (I had this feeling mainly in the first half). I guess it can be challenging for a newcomer to follow all the back and forth between timelines, but I only got slightly confused one time during the infection sequence.

I appreciated how cleverly the plots and themes intertwined, like the choice of the genocide punchline. Also, the alien in shower scene was really really cool. Like others, I wish the Wagner theme was kept in the final scene, but the mash-up of Beatles and David's monologue worked very well anyhow.

Probably the best fan edit I've ever seen. Only drawback is I always feel let down by the finale of Covenant, and that is supposed to be the "climax" of this edit. It feels stake-less to me, particularly because the edit is so focused on David and then he's barely part of the finale. However, the edit does do some creative audio and music work with the final moments of the film, as David is walking along the hibernation pods. That really helped to bring it all home. And then I would have liked to see more of the few David scenes that were not present in this edit, but that's probably personal preference. Overall, this is an edit that everyone should watch, you don't have to be a fan of Alien (in fact, that might be the best way to watch it, since so much of this would be new!) and you also don't have to be interested in fan edits, it's that professional and well-done.

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 saw Prometheus upon release and really felt it was a total miss. The acting was bad, it had a ton of bloat. Fassbender must have a strong back because he carried the film. Covenant hit certain sweet spots, but missed on a lot. This takes the best part of the films, the best character, and shifts focus to a clear story and you really see how both unfold together. I quite enjoyed it.

A few of the scene changes are pretty stiff and stick out a bit, but it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the film. I agree with a previous review regarding the song change during the ending. I think with a little more polish this could be the gold standard. I feel it could be a bit tighter in certain spots like the Weyland reveal that he is on the ship.

JobWillins did a fantastic job with this and it's quite the feat. A great ride and the only way I'd prefer to watch either film.