661- The Drawings of Alien Covanent – A Film Buff Podcast Anaylsis

Welcome to the Film Buff Analysis: The Drawings of Alien: Covenant!

In this special deep-dive episode (#661), Peter A. DeLuca (AKAPAD) takes a fascinating look at Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant (2017) through the lens of its official art book. While many dismiss the film as a disappointing follow-up to Prometheus, AKAPAD celebrates its disturbing sci-fi ideas, visual mastery, and especially the haunting anatomical drawings created by the android David — revealing layers of horror, creation, and madness that go far beyond what appears on screen.

AKAPAD explores David’s Frankenstein-like laboratory, his experiments on Dr. Shaw, the genocidal use of the black goo, and how the art book serves as one of the best supplemental materials ever released for a movie. He also discusses the colony ship’s emotional stakes, the film’s striking cinematography, John Logan’s score, and its place in the broader Alien franchise — all while building excitement for Alien: Romulus.

Whether you love the Prometheus-era films or just appreciate incredible cinematic world-building, this episode highlights the value of art books and encourages a nuanced appreciation of “flawed” movies that still deliver unforgettable imagery and ideas.

Grab the art book (if you can), dim the lights, and dive into the grotesque genius of David’s designs. A must-listen for Alien fans, Ridley Scott enthusiasts, and anyone who enjoys going deeper into a film’s creative process.

[00:00:01]
Introduction to Alien: Covenant and Context

• The discussion centers on Alien: Covenant, a film within the Alien franchise, noted for its disturbing, science-fiction-heavy, and fantastic ideas.
• Alien: Covenant earned approximately $240 million at the box office.
• It is a sequel to Prometheus, which was considered a commercial and critical disappointment.
• The video creator expresses excitement about exploring the movie’s art book, which contains actual artwork featured in the film and reveals deeper layers of its narrative and themes.

[00:00:43]
Franchise Continuity and Visual Appreciation

• The creator is engaging extensively with the Alien franchise in anticipation of the release of Alien: Romulus, noting that the promotional material and imagery for Romulus look increasingly impressive.
• There is an appreciation for the visual storytelling in related films, including Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (AVPR), highlighting the cinematography and aesthetic appeal even in less critically acclaimed entries.

[00:01:22]
Community Interaction and Platform Expansion

• The channel’s host, Peter A. Dela, expresses gratitude for viewer engagement and acknowledges the challenge of responding to all comments.
• The show has expanded across multiple platforms including Amazon Music and YouTube Music, broadening its accessibility and audience.
• The host values shared ideas but recognizes that opinions on films can vary, emphasizing open-mindedness and respectful discourse.

[00:02:35]
Philosophy on Film Criticism and Quality

• The host criticizes the negativity often found online about movies, emphasizing that films should not be dismissed outright.
• He believes in appreciating the craftsmanship behind films regardless of differing opinions, stating “good means good” and that quality is an absolute baseline.
• Upcoming episodes will cover other Alien franchise films such as Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, with an open approach to critique.

[00:04:27]
Clarifications on Alien Franchise Media

• Some media labeled as “short films” in the Alien universe are actually longer-form content, including video games like Alien: Isolation and narrative extensions such as Alien: Specimen, Night Shift, and Harvest.
• This clarification helps better contextualize the franchise’s expanded universe and story continuity.

[00:05:16]
David’s Role and Narrative Development Between Prometheus and Alien: Covenant

• David is an android survivor introduced at the end of Prometheus.
• He escapes with Dr. Shaw, carrying a “beacon” that guides the storyline between the two films.
• The destination is a planet often regarded as the Engineers’ home world, although this is disputed within fan and critical circles.
• The story between Prometheus and Alien: Covenant is not strictly linear or direct but thematic and atmospheric, with Alien: Covenant standing as a distinct entry rather than a perfect sequel.
• The film blends themes and tropes from the Alien franchise while continuing ideas introduced in Prometheus.

[00:06:31]
David’s Actions and the Destruction of the Civilization

• After Dr. Shaw’s disappearance, David unleashes a biochemical weapon—referred to as “black alien goo”—which eradicates the local civilization on this planet.
• The civilization is described as “engineer-adjacent” but distinct from the original Engineers.
• This act parallels the backstory from Prometheus involving the Engineers’ planned retaliation against humanity, allegedly due to the crucifixion of a figure implied to be Jesus as a “test engineer.”
• David’s genocidal actions may be interpreted as following the original Engineers’ intentions or a twisted evolution of their plan.

[00:10:17]
David’s Experiments on Dr. Shaw and Xenomorph Creation

• Dr. Shaw is captured and dissected by David for experimentation, presumably to understand and refine the xenomorph species.
• This is supported by the existence of detailed anatomical drawings and notes found in David’s workspace—akin to a Frankenstein laboratory.
• The released art book contains these haunting and intricate drawings, which add significant depth and context to the film’s story and David’s character as a scientist and creator.
• The art book is praised as a rare and valuable cinematic artifact that supplements the film’s narrative and visual storytelling, much more than typical movie tie-ins.

[00:12:32]
Plot Setup in Alien: Covenant and Colony Mission

• The film opens with a discussion among the colony ship’s crew about their situation: a disaster has delayed their journey, and they have not reached their intended destination.
• A beacon signals the presence of a nearby planet, which the crew initially misses during scans.
• Faced with dwindling resources and morale, the crew debates whether to divert to this planet, ultimately deciding to investigate it as a potential new home.
• Unknown to them, part of the planet includes David’s biological lab, where he conducts his horrific experiments.

[00:13:39]
Human Relationships and Emotional Stakes

• The colonists are paired in various intimate relationships (husbands and wives, same-sex couples, etc.), which adds emotional weight when characters start dying.
• This human element enhances the horror and tragedy, making the losses more impactful and the storytelling more engaging.

[00:14:15]
Film’s Conclusion and David’s Position

• By the end of the film, all colonists are killed except for David, who is left alone on the ship with 2,000 frozen colonists preserved for future experimentation.
• This sets a grim stage for the eventual connection to the original Alien film, suggesting David’s ongoing role in the evolution of the xenomorph and the fate of humanity.
• The film’s ambiguous ending leaves room for theory and interpretation but is tied closely to the franchise’s larger mythology.

[00:15:00]
Technical and Artistic Merits of Alien: Covenant

• The film features excellent music (attributed to composer John Logan) and cinematography by Dez Walski, noted for its use of light, color, and shadow to create atmosphere.
• The monochromatic tones of David’s home world and lab emphasize the eerie and clinical nature of his experiments.
• These artistic choices are integral to the mood and storytelling, enhancing the film’s unique place in the Alien franchise.

[00:16:24]
Value of the Alien: Covenant Art Book

• The art book released alongside the movie is considered one of the best supplemental materials ever produced for a film.
• It contains artwork and notes that deepen understanding of the plot, themes, and character motivations, especially David’s scientific madness.
• The host encourages viewers to seek out the book, priced around $18–30 including shipping, as it adds a remarkable dimension to the viewing experience.
• Viewing the drawings and artwork helps visualize the horrific and complex nature of David’s experiments far beyond what the film alone conveys.

[00:16:58]
Closing Remarks

• The host signs off, expressing appreciation for the community and anticipation for continuing discussions about the Alien franchise, especially as new entries like Alien: Romulus approach.
• The content emphasizes the importance of exploring films with nuance and the value of supplementary materials in enriching the narrative experience.

Summary Table: Key Data Points and Concepts

Key Insights

• Alien: Covenant functions both as a thematic continuation of Prometheus and a standalone Alien film with classic franchise tropes.
• David’s character is central as both creator and destroyer, embodying scientific hubris and madness.
• The art book supplements the film by revealing David’s experimental process and the broader mythology often only implied on screen.
• The emotional storytelling through colonist relationships adds depth and tragedy, elevating the horror elements.
• The film’s artistic design and cinematography play a critical role in establishing its unsettling atmosphere.
• The franchise’s expanded media, including mislabeled short films and video games, enrich the narrative but complicate continuity.

00:00:01
here we go AKA Powers we’re focused on a book an art book that came out from this movie this art book is from the actual art that’s featured in this movie and it’s one of the most disturbing most science fiction most fantastic ideas of the entire alien franchise what am I talking about we’re discussing alien Covenant today it made a sweet $240 million in the box office and from its predic sir Prometheus that was a big miss that was a big disappointment let’s go action what is up my AKA PWS welcome

00:00:43
back to the alien drip everyone we’re doing as much alien as we can leading into the release of alien romul list that movie I have to say the advertising and the imagery and what we’re seeing from Alien Romulus it’s looking better and better I I sometimes I just like things for the eyeballs and even with our previous movie Aliens verse Predator reum AKA avpr yes they did Market it that way uh there’s even some things things in Aliens vers played the rec real just the way it’s shot that I I just love looking

00:01:22
at I you know like there there’s just something to the visual nature of film that I I just fall in love with with movies uh solely for that reason a lot of times but welcome back to the channel I’m Peter a Dela welcome back to the RSS feed welcome back to the podcast cuz now we’re we’re kind of everywhere now and I am just struggling uh to respond to comments and and and what all of you are saying some of Team AKA pad the AKA pad Force the AKA pad Army that’s out there they forward things to me and sometimes

00:01:58
you know I I will have to respond indirectly but uh Ju Just so you know you know I I’m there I’m responding I’m taking in your comments I’m even taking in your suggestions but it’s it’s truly exciting cuz hitting Amazon music and Google or YouTube music it’s basically right like it’s it’s not it’s not Amazon podcast and YouTube podcast but those two networks alone uh they’ve just exploded everything that’s what she said said and I I know so many of you are uh we’re

00:02:35
we’re connected cuz we have the same uh you know we share a lot of the same thoughts now we’re not going to share all the same thoughts we’re not going to share all the same ideas when it comes to some of these films but what I try and do with the show is I try and find some of the some of the veins some of the cracks some of the the the points of view that I feel are overlooked out of the convenience or you know sometimes laziness there’s a lot to say about these films and nothing is to be

00:03:09
dismissed nothing is to be trashed there’s there’s stuff to admire no matter what you watch and I feel like a lot of the films nowadays are so admirable they’re so admirable they’re so wellmade and and thoughtful uh um I just feel like the internet kills the conversation around some some of these M movies and I do live in the world of black and white I do live in a world of absolutes uh you know like we’re friends or we’re not you screwed me over or you didn’t screw me over we’re in love or

00:03:46
we’re not I’m hungry or I’m not uh I do feel like there’s baselines as of quality and to me good good means good like good is good like you don’t need a a PhD for for that so like this is where I just so you guys understand where I’m coming from U moving forward cuz you know we got a couple movies coming uh including this one that I’m supposed to hate I’m supposed to dislike just I’m I’m saying the stage cuz yes we will discuss Alien 3 and yes we will discuss Alien

00:04:27
Resurrection we’re going to discuss it all and I do want to make a note so previously when we were discussing our alien franchise episode a couple episodes back I was making comments about these short films and here’s the crazy thing so a lot of these short films are not entirely short films some of them uh were like they’re just Mis listed on uh my source so some of them are like 4 out video games like isolation I thought alien isolation had a a short film attached to it and some some of the

00:05:16
other ones like alien specimen night shift or harvest alone uh these are uh continuations of the alien Saga in different forms of media for some reason they’re listed um on their short films so little little boo boo there David who’s David David’s our he’s one of our survivors he’s an Android Survivor from Prometheus at the end of Prometheus we are left with a head David’s a head at the end of Prometheus he escapes with Dr Shaw and there’s somewhat of a beacon you guys

00:05:56
you know you guys remember films that that have beacons at the end uh Shan Chi I’m I’m looking at you the Legend of the Five Rings so they follow a beacon so between the two movies we see what happens when they follow the beacon Shaw and David what happens when they get to the new alien planet the the home world of the engineers which is disputed right now by the way a lot of people feel like it’s not the home world of the engineers uh this is a little bit what I mean about the con discussion points of of these

00:06:31
films when we consider them does alien Covenant have to be this connective tissue perfect sequel to Prometheus it it does not I think alien Covenant is a fantastic alien movie cuz it has all the alien troopes right we and and we have we actually also have guys I’m all over the place I think Jesse smette is is Jesse smette in this movie I need to look that up I maybe he’s not starring no I okay maybe I thought one of well I’m not looking at the entire cast here but here we go uh Jesse Yeah Jesse

00:07:21
smette as Rex he’s the Navigator wow that’s amazing so I I was watching this I’m just saying to myself is this Jesse Smet I can’t believe it so we carry on a lot of ideas and themes from Prometheus and then we also have an alien movie and in no way does this connect to our next film Alien in 1979 it does not a lot of people want wanted to so that’s where like so much of this push back comes from between Prometheus and alien Covenant people want this sequel like they they want it this way they

00:08:08
they want they want it so bad and the movie comes out and it’s not what they want and then here we go right so getting to these drawings and this horrific nature so between the movies sha Dr Shaw getting back to where we are with the with the uh Dr Shaw rebuilds David uh through his direction right cuz I guess he he’s a head the head can still operate right and he gets rebuilt when they arrive to the source of the beacon Sha’s not there and David just unleashes uh this chemical weapon this

00:08:58
this this bar logical weapon that that we saw hints of in Prometheus and he takes out the entire CII civilization and we all know like uh we are to assume that they’re not Engineers they’re engineer adjacent but they also were targeted to be taken out so a lot of the backstory for Prometheus is that they were on your way back to Earth because uh I guess Jesus was a test engineer and Humanity um crucified him and the engineers were so angry by that they were going to come back to earth and

00:09:40
wipe us all out with this black alien goo so we are to assume that something similar may have happened onen alien Covenant between the movies but it’s it’s cool they follow the beacon David just wipes them out and in in a way we are to assume that if the engineers were originally going to this planet right uh yeah like it was on your docket to wipe these people out so maybe David’s just following orders and to further that concept that David is following orders the reason why Sha’s

00:10:17
not seen in this flashback is because she has been experimented on and she’s been dissected and taken apart by David to to further understand and figure out how this xenomorph works and how to improve it or to strictly experiment to understand it we see this by drawings there’s drawings around his uh uh his work desk his studio if you will just like Dr Frankenstein just imagine Dr Frankenstein so they released this art book and it is is absolutely amazing it’s jaw-dropping there’s very

00:11:04
few artifacts from movies I feel like when they publish them they add just another dimension to what you see on on screen the uh Scott Lang biography right look out for the little guy uh comes to mind with uh Ant-Man and the was quantum Mania right like that they they they released they dropped that book it’s an actual book uh I believe in Lost there’s a science fiction novel reference in loss that that got published and it’s fun stuff but it doesn’t add it doesn’t add like this one

00:11:46
this this this bck and I’m going to do my very best to bring it to you on YouTube before alien Romulus drops okay so here we go right like we are all ignitions are go we have a psychopathic David or maybe in his mind he’s not Psychopathic he’s trying to figure this out and we have a colony and in the beginning of this movie I’d love the beginning of alien covering it so much there’s a sit down like Captain co- Captain discussion in this movie because they have a disaster they’re a colonist they’re going to

00:12:32
colonize they have a disaster everyone needs to wake up they didn’t re reach their destination but right as they’re coming through they get a beacon and this home world looks just just plet they missed it they scanned they missed it they go back and forth they’re like this doesn’t make a lot of sense how do we miss this planet but the readings look good and they don’t have maybe the willpower to reach their Des ation I think it would be another seven years but they don’t

00:13:02
have their willpower to reach their destination and they decide to take a chance and they go to this planet to colonize but there’s this table discussion where they’re having like the horror movie discussion like we can’t go yes we should we can’t go uh we don’t have it like it’s and then that they decide to go and then next thing we know part of the planet is also d David’s biological lab David’s studying everything on this planet and now he has test subjects and during this

00:13:39
conversation before they they make their entry we find out that there’s 2,000 colonist Frozen and the movie ends with David alone on the ship right cuz everyone’s taken out including tresse Smet he hey they they also got MC McBride Tennessee which I absolutely love so and the cool part of this movie is that because they’re a colony everyone’s paired with a lover so there’s husbands and wives and husbands and husbands and girlfriends and girlfriends right like all of this stuff

00:14:15
and it’s very science fiction yeah know so when one person dies and we know the relation of all of these people it’s gut-wrenching it’s painful and it’s such a good storytelling element so the movie ends but everyone taking out and David now has 2,000 2,000 specimen to experiment on to further these xenomorph ideas or to maybe fully understand it and we kind of want to say he’s maybe unsuccessful which is why soury Weaver’s crew is so important by the time we get to alien and and none of these things

00:15:00
are explicit none of them there like we can always always theor you know it’s always a theory but holy crap is it fun and entertaining and it’s just great to just sit down and watch some of it unfold uh Alien Covenant you are Shotwell you have great music John Logan who’s is one of my absolute favorite screen rers I I think he’s incredible with his work do W excuse me Dez walski he’s our cinematographer this movie uh the darkness the the sunset the daylight David’s lab uh the flashback the the

00:15:42
monochromatic fate of that Beacon of that home world it’s insane like it you you know the movements of this movie just by the color tone and that’s totally important so alien Covenant is one of the only films in history that is accentuated by supplemental material and it’s it’s horrific material um you know even like I could describe the drawings to you guys but I feel like you have to see it so just see it and Google it uh buy the book it’s maybe 30 bucks it’s worth it I think used it

00:16:24
might be down to 18 or 22 with three or four bucks shipping David drawingwings alien Covenant one of the best supplemental materials ever for a movie AK P here guys signing out love you!

PETER A DELUCA AKAPD

AKAPAD is a versatile thinker known across Philadelphia, Europe, and even in the vast Multiverse as The Electic One. By day, he excels as an IT Mastermind, assisting individuals, both big and small, with a wide range of simple and complex solutions. In contrast, he is also a talented illustrator, a passionate comic book enthusiast, a creative content creator, and an active live streamer. Additionally, his podcast, “AKAPAD The Film Buff Podcast,” boasts an impressive catalog of over 500 episodes available on nearly every major platform.