For this post I figured I’d take the opportunity to try and ponder some of the big questions and themes of the Alien prequels. These are of course just my interpretations of them.

“You seek you’re creator, I am looking at mine.You will die, I will not”

The moment David asks this question it’s clear that he knows he’s superior than his creator. David will never grow old, he will never die. Born with the gifts his own creator so desperately seeks as we know this to be the motivation for Weyland funding the Prometheus mission years later. Why would Peter Weyland create a being with emotions? Davids emotions in my opinion seem to be his biggest fault or downfall.

“We made you because we could”

I believe this simple quote is the answer. It may seem overly simplistic but it works. It could also play into humanities reliance on technology seeing the creation is in fact a robot. Or synthetic being.

“The trick William Potter is not minding it hurts”

The purpose of life seems largely unexplained in both Prometheus and Alien Covenant. But it’s protagonists and antagonists seem to meet bad fates when in search of the answers. We learn that our Gods may simply be creators and when you play god it doesn’t fair well for the creator. And perhaps there’s no true meaning to life and only the meaning we give it.

“Doesn’t everybody want their parents dead?”

When Weyland dies on LV-223 his creation David is free from his life of servitude. But soon after being repaired by Elizabeth he destroys almost all life on Planet 4 . Ironically with the weapon made by humanity’s creators. David learns in Prometheus they are “mortal after all” so it’s easy to assume his motivations for doing so reflect his conversation with Weyland.

“Sometimes to create one must first destroy”

Prometheus stole fire from the Gods. Is the Prometheus in this story David ? I think so. By leaving lv-223 with the Juggernaut and its deadly cargo David has brought Hell with him to Planet 4. And by using the pathogen or “fire” David has begun the process creation. And free from his creator there’s nobody to stop him. Is David simply malfunctioning or has David’s feelings of superiority shown in his discussion with Weyland filled him with the desire to surpass his own creator’s accomplishments? Perhaps both, but David appears to be a reflection of his creato inheriting many of his personality traits. This idea plays beautifully later in the film when David meets his own reflection Walter . The scene is quite similar to the David / Peter scene at the films opening. The conversation begins over the use of a musical instrument. With Peter it isthe piano, with Walter, the flute. Walter is built with the inability to create unlike David but David quickly teaches Walter he can in fact be creative. I think this implies that even with elaborate protocols Weyland’s “synthetic humans” are bound to overcome their creators and take their place. They’re the next step or evolution.

“We are the Gods now”

Now that David’s created on Planet 4 he’s become like the other so called Gods within the story. David proclaims he’s found perfection, he created it. The perfect organism. But what exactly does that mean? I think if we take a look back to the original Alien Ash’s comments might help us understand that better. And how it fits into the themes being explored. “A survivor …..unclouded by conscience, remorse or delusions of reality”. Is the Xenomorph perfect because it’s incapable of repeating the mistakes of the other creators we see in the story? Does the Alien simply define its reality by killing and or procreating?

Time will tell if another film comes along to tie all these ideas together and certainly given the nature of Covenant’s cliffhanger ending another film is needed not only to finish the story but give David a proper arc for his characters narrative. Feel free to share your thoughts . And drop us a like or we’ll throw facehuggers at you!