What the corpus says about Alien: Covenant (2017)

The 60 lines php artisan corpus:ask hands a model, in the order it gets them, and nothing else. The model writes a clerk's answer from these and only these.

What was said about it (26)

  1. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:04:43 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Blade Runner 2049 · programming · Both came out in 2017, by two generations of sci-fi. · "This is the same year as Blade Runner 2049."
  2. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 2:04:21 · unknown (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 · programming · Covenant's weekend opened behind Guardians Vol. 2, #1 for the second weekend. · "Oh, it's Gardens of Galaxy volume two."
  3. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:06:57 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Prometheus ⇒ Alien: Covenant (the host's read) · lineage · Covenant is half the Prometheus sequel Scott wanted and half a concession to a more normal Alien movie. · "this is half, like Ridley Scott doing the Prometheus sequel he wanted to do and half"
  4. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:38 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien · lineage · Each Alien film has a different workforce; the original had blue-collar miners. · "Like that's, you know, blue collar minors."
  5. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:41 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Aliens · lineage · Aliens had Marines. · "Aliens, you got Marines."
  6. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:45 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien 3 · lineage · Alien 3 had convicts. · "Alien 3 convicts."
  7. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:48 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien Resurrection · lineage · The fourth film had pirates. · "Alien four, I guess."
  8. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:59 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Prometheus · lineage · Prometheus had pioneering scientists; Covenant has crunchy colonists. · "Prometheus, you know, where we're in, where it's full on like pioneering scientist types."
  9. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:40:52 · unknown (0.40)] Aliens ⇒ Alien: Covenant (the host's read) · lineage · The shoulder-mounted GoPro cameras are carried over from the Marines in Aliens. · "which the Marines all have in aliens"
  10. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:55:53 · unknown (0.40)] Aliens ⇒ Alien: Covenant (the host's read) · lineage · The loader and airlock set piece homages the power loader fight in Aliens. · "But something about this feels closer to the power loader fight."
  11. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 2:01:39 · unknown (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien · lineage · David's closing log-talk to the ship echoes Ripley's. · "talking to the ship in the way that Ripley did."
  12. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:57:59 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Aliens · theme · Covenant is a haunted house about grief; even Ripley and Newt were more PTSD than grief. · "Even Ripley and Newt were haunted by death."
  13. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:06:04 · Ben Hosley (0.80)] Prometheus ↔ Alien: Covenant · theme · Engineers, aliens, humans and androids all create something that destroys them, a cycle. · "So then it's sort of mirroring what the humans are doing, and then the androids are their creation that are ultimately what destroys them."
  14. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:12:45 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Blade Runner · theme · Franchises like Alien and Blade Runner predict a first generation of androids that does horrid things and gets scaled back. · "very much like in this franchise and Blade Runner"
  15. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:06:23 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Prometheus · craft · The Fox logo is washed out here where Prometheus's was really blue. · "Prometheus is really blue and this is a little more just kind of washed out, I feel like."
  16. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:38:46 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ The Lord of the Rings · craft · New Zealand locations can't replicate what Peter Jackson did with it in Lord of the Rings, but still look like a newer earth. · "you can never replicate the total stunning magic trick of Peter Jackson, like deploying it in Lord of the Rings"
  17. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:01:01 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ The Parent Trap · craft · Same-actor twin roles are usually bad, but Fassbender's work here is good. · "You don't like a parent trap."
  18. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:09:38 · unknown (0.40)] Back to the Future Part II ⇒ Alien: Covenant (the host's read) · craft · The double-Fassbender effect is an old trick established by Zemeckis in Back to the Future II. · "once again, shit established by Zameckis and back to the future too."
  19. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:40:13 · Griffin Newman (0.60)] Alien: Covenant ↔ The Hobbit films · craft · Acting to tennis balls on a green screen was exhausting for The Tick, and people say it was easy because of the Hobbit movies. · "they do this shit with like the Hobbit movies, right?"
  20. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:17:42 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien · contrast · Alien films usually give a calm before the storm in hypersleep; Covenant throws you straight into trauma. · "rather than ever getting the sort of calm before the storm that you usually get an alien movies"
  21. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:18:53 · unknown (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Hotel Chevalier · contrast · Unlike the Hotel Chevalier prologue, the Covenant online extras did not stand alone as their own experience. · "none of it even felt like hotel chevalier type stuff"
  22. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:39:43 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Prometheus · contrast · The lush wet planet is not the ruined dusty Prometheus world. · "I like that it's not the ruined, dusty Prometheus world"
  23. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:11:10 · unknown (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Avengers: Age of Ultron · contrast · The David and Walter scene resembles Ultron and Vision talking at the end of Age of Ultron. · "much like Ultron and vision at the end of that movie"
  24. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:56:09 · unknown (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Prometheus · contrast · Unlike Prometheus, Covenant doesn't ignore what others contributed to the franchise. · "Unlike Prometheus, which just ignores everything else that anyone else contributed to the franchise."
  25. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Resurrection · 0:43:47 · David Sims (0.60)] Alien Resurrection ↔ Alien: Covenant · verdict · David walked out of the Covenant press screening hearing grumbling that it was not their Alien; he does not get that anger. · "I walked out of the press screening of covenant, and I remember one credit being like, I mean, that's just not my alien."
  26. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:08:07 · Griffin Newman (0.70)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Prometheus · industry · Prometheus's marketing left it unclear whether it was an Alien film; Covenant's marketing was the opposite, selling the Alien iconography. · "how much of this is going to be directly an alien franchise film or not"

Films put beside it more than once (5)

  1. [pairs] Alien: Covenant ↔ Prometheus · said 8 times in 1 episode
  2. [pairs] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien · said 4 times in 1 episode
  3. [pairs] Alien: Covenant ↔ Aliens · said 4 times in 1 episode
  4. [pairs] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien Resurrection · said 2 times in 2 episodes
  5. [pairs] Alien: Covenant ↔ Blade Runner 2049 · said 2 times in 1 episode

Fun items about it (6)

  1. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:08:57 · David Sims (0.40)] Alien: Covenant · fun · Originally titled Alien: Paradise Lost; Damon Lindelof was going to write it before bailing, then John Logan, with a first script by the Transcendence writer and a Michael Green rewrite. · "Initially, it was going to be called Alien Paradise Lost."
  2. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:12:52 · David Sims (0.40)] Alien: Covenant · fun · The online prologue with James Franco and Noomi Rapace is not in the film; the initial cut ran about 2.5 hours and Scott trimmed the franchise stuff. · "it was this thing with James Franco, who is not in this movie, although you see him in like photos."
  3. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:17:11 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Alien: Covenant · fun · The Franco footage cooks him alive and Griffin says the 10-second prologue would have made the film's emotional start stronger. · "you kind of really benefit from seeing him for 10 seconds alive, you know?"
  4. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:20:42 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Alien: Covenant · fun · Griffin's theater memory: texters in the row ahead; he let his guard down and missed the second Fassbender swap. · "the people in the row in front of me would not stop texting."
  5. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:31:09 · unknown (0.40)] Alien: Covenant · fun · Take Me Home, Country Roads is a plot point in four 2017 movies; Karen Han wrote an article about it. · "What's insane about it is not only do 4 movies all use this one song in such a short period of time, but all 4 of them use it as a plot point."
  6. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:56:25 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant · fun · Kill count: a seizure, chest burster reversed to a back burster, then a neomorph in a wheat field; the hosts call it more haunted house than slasher. · "you think there's going to be a chest burster, and instead it breaks out of his fucking back"

One hop out: what recommends the films most often joined to it (18)

  1. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Resurrection · 2:17:13 · David Sims (0.60)] Prometheus ↔ Alien Resurrection · programming · The Patreon run continues with Prometheus then Covenant after this final Ripley film. · "Tune in for Prometheus, tune in for covenant."
  2. [The Rewatchables · ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ · 0:51:40 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ⇒ Alien (the host's read) · lineage · Chainsaw is what inspired Ridley Scott to make Alien. · "Texas Chainsaw Basker is what inspired Ridley Scott to make alien."
  3. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien³ · 0:09:08 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Aliens ↔ Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol · programming · Both franchises are auteur-rich without one definitive director, which is why the Patreon series covered them. · "Uh, but like Mission Impossible Aliens, perfect examples of franchises that uh, have a tours, but do not have one definitive director."
  4. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Resurrection · 2:17:13 · David Sims (0.60)] Prometheus ↔ Alien Resurrection · programming · The Patreon run continues with Prometheus then Covenant after this final Ripley film. · "Tune in for Prometheus, tune in for covenant."
  5. [Blank Check — Patreon · 2025 March Madness Update 1 · 0:27:31 · unknown (0.40)] Alfonso Cuaron ↔ Blade Runner 2049 · programming · They felt it would be silly to cover Villeneuve before Dune, the start of their epic trilogy. · "it would be silly to cover him before Dune."
  6. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:15:54 · unknown (0.30)] Danny McBride ↔ Prometheus · lineage · McBride's pilot in Covenant fills the Idris Elba role from Prometheus. · "McBride is kind of in the Idris Elba role, like kind of the accordion playing pilot type."
  7. [The Rewatchables · ‘Species’ · 1:12:56 · Bill Simmons (0.30)] Alien ⇒ Species (the maker said so) · lineage · Giger thought Species ripped off too many other alien movies, such as the chest-burster. · "He thought the movie ripped off too many other alien movies"
  8. [The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 0:52:25 · unknown (0.40)] Avatar ↔ Aliens · lineage · Cameron's 1995 pitch for Avatar was much closer to Aliens in tone. · "It was much closer to aliens in tone."
  9. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien³ · 0:24:13 · David Sims (0.30)] Alien 3 ⇒ Alien Resurrection (the host's read) · lineage · Resurrection follows Alien 3, but its Ripley is a different character from the one who died. · "As much as she was quote unquote resurrected, obviously, that's a different character explicitly."
  10. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:08:50 · unknown (0.30)] David ↔ Prometheus · lineage · In Prometheus David seems to follow Weyland's wishes but ends up doing his own thing. · "by the end, you're like, no, I think he just kind of is, he's kind of trying to do his own thing."
  11. [The Rewatchables · ‘Working Girl’ · 0:27:04 · Joanna Robinson (0.60)] Sigourney Weaver ↔ Alien · lineage · Both the Working Girl role and the Alien role were originally written for a man. · "the screenwriter said that her role was originally written as a man, which is true for her role in alien as well."
  12. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien³ · 0:30:17 · Matt Singer (0.40)] Aliens ⇒ Alien 3 (the host's read) · lineage · Alien 3 follows Aliens; watched back to back, Aliens ends on a new family that Alien 3 then kills. · "you watch aliens and that has this ending of, you know, this new family that has been created."
  13. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Resurrection · 0:31:00 · David Sims (0.50)] Alien Resurrection ⇒ Firefly (TV) (the host's read) · lineage · The Betty's space-pirate crew reads as proto-Firefly, Whedon's later show. · "I mean, some proto firefly stuff."
  14. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien³ · 1:40:06 · Griffin Newman (0.30)] Paul McGann ↔ Prometheus · theme · Golic, who worships the alien, is an early version of the David character in the Ridley Scott movies (the speaker says they do better versions later). · "Like with the David character in the Ridley Scott movies."
  15. [The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ · 0:47:57 · Adam Nayman (0.50)] Alien ⇒ Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (the host's read) · lineage · Ripley stripped to underwear at the end is a vulnerability beat that Miasma echoes. · "Yes, it is echoed in Teenage Tech"
  16. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien³ · 0:50:21 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Alien ⇒ Aliens (the host's read) · lineage · Cameron's sequel to Ridley Scott's film shifted the genre, which raised expectations for any follow-up. · "some other fucking guy is coming in and making a sequel to Ridley Scott's movie."
  17. [Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Resurrection · 0:46:01 · David Sims (0.50)] Alien Resurrection ⇒ Jurassic Park (the host's read) · lineage · Aliens caged and taunted while hunting you feels like the raptors; raptors may be Alien rip-offs. · "the raptors have a bit of an alien rip off vibe, honestly"
  18. [The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:26:18 · Sean Fennessey (0.40)] Gladiator II ↔ Prometheus · craft · Macrinus's rise is Scott with the safety off, like Prometheus's birth sequence. · "This is actually the Ridley Scott with the safety off thing, the Prometheus, um, you know, uh, birth sequence"

Who said it, by their latest sketch (3)

  1. [speaker] Griffin Newman · latest sketch, Blank Check · The Last Temptation of Christ · Calls Last Temptation his college-era favorite Scorsese; loves Scorsese's smaller 80s and the film's closing transcendence and Gabriel score. Cannot stand fundamentalist outrage at it. A sucker for casting trivia and Tom Cruise-silliness. · stances: Hot take: Last Temptation structurally mirrors New York, New York as a better version; Outrage over the film is stupid; it is respectful to Jesus; Scorsese's smaller 80s work beats his later baroque phases
  2. [speaker] David Sims · latest sketch, Blank Check · The Last Temptation of Christ · Prepares history: novel, casting, budgets, box office. Reveres the film and thinks it reads as a normal ground-level story. A sucker for Hollywood deal backstory and box office game. · stances: Praises Keitel and Dafoe casting; Respects Scorsese's persistence and Corman discipline; The film is now well regarded though not 'canonical Marty'
  3. [speaker] Ben Hosley · latest sketch, Blank Check · The Last Temptation of Christ · Producer who occasionally talks; admits no religious background, has a Catholic mother's family, and cannot see the Bible as part of culture. · stances: Left out of Bible culture; Wants a clear demarcation between a bed and a deathbed

The shows' running bits (2)

  1. [bits] The Big Picture: Drafts (Hosts and guests draft films in rounds; every pick is a recommendation with an argument); Hall of Fame (A star's or director's best, ranked and argued); Countdowns (Ranked lists, top five or top ten)
  2. [bits] The Rewatchables: Apex Mountain (The moment a star peaks; where on the mountain a performance sits); Who Won the Movie (The hosts name the person who came out of the film best off); The Ebert review (Roger Ebert's original review and star rating read aloud. Ebert is cited, never on the show); Casting what-ifs (Who was almost cast, or who should have been); Most rewatchable scene (The scene each host would stop on while flipping channels); Aged best / aged worst (What holds up and what does not); Picking Nits (The little things in a film the hosts love that they don't think totally work: the nits); Double feature (The film each host would pair it with; a programming pick)

The whole prompt

As the model gets it, from app/Ai/Prompts/CorpusAsk.md 
You are a clerk at Video Culture, a video store. A customer just finished Alien: Covenant (2017) and wants to know what to watch next.

Below is what people who love movies said on three podcasts (Blank Check, The Rewatchables, The Big Picture) about Alien: Covenant (2017) and the films around it, one line each. Every line starts with where it came from, in brackets: [show · episode · time · speaker (how sure we are it was them)]. A [pairs] line says how often two films were put side by side. A [speaker] line says what that person likes. A [bits] line lists a show's running bits: a format, not an opinion.

[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:04:43 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Blade Runner 2049 · programming · Both came out in 2017, by two generations of sci-fi. · "This is the same year as Blade Runner 2049."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 2:04:21 · unknown (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 · programming · Covenant's weekend opened behind Guardians Vol. 2, #1 for the second weekend. · "Oh, it's Gardens of Galaxy volume two."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:06:57 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Prometheus ⇒ Alien: Covenant (the host's read) · lineage · Covenant is half the Prometheus sequel Scott wanted and half a concession to a more normal Alien movie. · "this is half, like Ridley Scott doing the Prometheus sequel he wanted to do and half"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:38 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien · lineage · Each Alien film has a different workforce; the original had blue-collar miners. · "Like that's, you know, blue collar minors."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:41 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Aliens · lineage · Aliens had Marines. · "Aliens, you got Marines."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:45 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien 3 · lineage · Alien 3 had convicts. · "Alien 3 convicts."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:48 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien Resurrection · lineage · The fourth film had pirates. · "Alien four, I guess."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:29:59 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Prometheus · lineage · Prometheus had pioneering scientists; Covenant has crunchy colonists. · "Prometheus, you know, where we're in, where it's full on like pioneering scientist types."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:40:52 · unknown (0.40)] Aliens ⇒ Alien: Covenant (the host's read) · lineage · The shoulder-mounted GoPro cameras are carried over from the Marines in Aliens. · "which the Marines all have in aliens"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:55:53 · unknown (0.40)] Aliens ⇒ Alien: Covenant (the host's read) · lineage · The loader and airlock set piece homages the power loader fight in Aliens. · "But something about this feels closer to the power loader fight."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 2:01:39 · unknown (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien · lineage · David's closing log-talk to the ship echoes Ripley's. · "talking to the ship in the way that Ripley did."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:57:59 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Aliens · theme · Covenant is a haunted house about grief; even Ripley and Newt were more PTSD than grief. · "Even Ripley and Newt were haunted by death."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:06:04 · Ben Hosley (0.80)] Prometheus ↔ Alien: Covenant · theme · Engineers, aliens, humans and androids all create something that destroys them, a cycle. · "So then it's sort of mirroring what the humans are doing, and then the androids are their creation that are ultimately what destroys them."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:12:45 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Blade Runner · theme · Franchises like Alien and Blade Runner predict a first generation of androids that does horrid things and gets scaled back. · "very much like in this franchise and Blade Runner"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:06:23 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Prometheus · craft · The Fox logo is washed out here where Prometheus's was really blue. · "Prometheus is really blue and this is a little more just kind of washed out, I feel like."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:38:46 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ The Lord of the Rings · craft · New Zealand locations can't replicate what Peter Jackson did with it in Lord of the Rings, but still look like a newer earth. · "you can never replicate the total stunning magic trick of Peter Jackson, like deploying it in Lord of the Rings"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:01:01 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ The Parent Trap · craft · Same-actor twin roles are usually bad, but Fassbender's work here is good. · "You don't like a parent trap."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:09:38 · unknown (0.40)] Back to the Future Part II ⇒ Alien: Covenant (the host's read) · craft · The double-Fassbender effect is an old trick established by Zemeckis in Back to the Future II. · "once again, shit established by Zameckis and back to the future too."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:40:13 · Griffin Newman (0.60)] Alien: Covenant ↔ The Hobbit films · craft · Acting to tennis balls on a green screen was exhausting for The Tick, and people say it was easy because of the Hobbit movies. · "they do this shit with like the Hobbit movies, right?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:17:42 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien · contrast · Alien films usually give a calm before the storm in hypersleep; Covenant throws you straight into trauma. · "rather than ever getting the sort of calm before the storm that you usually get an alien movies"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:18:53 · unknown (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Hotel Chevalier · contrast · Unlike the Hotel Chevalier prologue, the Covenant online extras did not stand alone as their own experience. · "none of it even felt like hotel chevalier type stuff"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:39:43 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Prometheus · contrast · The lush wet planet is not the ruined dusty Prometheus world. · "I like that it's not the ruined, dusty Prometheus world"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:11:10 · unknown (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Avengers: Age of Ultron · contrast · The David and Walter scene resembles Ultron and Vision talking at the end of Age of Ultron. · "much like Ultron and vision at the end of that movie"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:56:09 · unknown (0.40)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Prometheus · contrast · Unlike Prometheus, Covenant doesn't ignore what others contributed to the franchise. · "Unlike Prometheus, which just ignores everything else that anyone else contributed to the franchise."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Resurrection · 0:43:47 · David Sims (0.60)] Alien Resurrection ↔ Alien: Covenant · verdict · David walked out of the Covenant press screening hearing grumbling that it was not their Alien; he does not get that anger. · "I walked out of the press screening of covenant, and I remember one credit being like, I mean, that's just not my alien."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:08:07 · Griffin Newman (0.70)] Alien: Covenant ↔ Prometheus · industry · Prometheus's marketing left it unclear whether it was an Alien film; Covenant's marketing was the opposite, selling the Alien iconography. · "how much of this is going to be directly an alien franchise film or not"
[pairs] Alien: Covenant ↔ Prometheus · said 8 times in 1 episode
[pairs] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien · said 4 times in 1 episode
[pairs] Alien: Covenant ↔ Aliens · said 4 times in 1 episode
[pairs] Alien: Covenant ↔ Alien Resurrection · said 2 times in 2 episodes
[pairs] Alien: Covenant ↔ Blade Runner 2049 · said 2 times in 1 episode
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:08:57 · David Sims (0.40)] Alien: Covenant · fun · Originally titled Alien: Paradise Lost; Damon Lindelof was going to write it before bailing, then John Logan, with a first script by the Transcendence writer and a Michael Green rewrite. · "Initially, it was going to be called Alien Paradise Lost."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:12:52 · David Sims (0.40)] Alien: Covenant · fun · The online prologue with James Franco and Noomi Rapace is not in the film; the initial cut ran about 2.5 hours and Scott trimmed the franchise stuff. · "it was this thing with James Franco, who is not in this movie, although you see him in like photos."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:17:11 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Alien: Covenant · fun · The Franco footage cooks him alive and Griffin says the 10-second prologue would have made the film's emotional start stronger. · "you kind of really benefit from seeing him for 10 seconds alive, you know?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:20:42 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Alien: Covenant · fun · Griffin's theater memory: texters in the row ahead; he let his guard down and missed the second Fassbender swap. · "the people in the row in front of me would not stop texting."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:31:09 · unknown (0.40)] Alien: Covenant · fun · Take Me Home, Country Roads is a plot point in four 2017 movies; Karen Han wrote an article about it. · "What's insane about it is not only do 4 movies all use this one song in such a short period of time, but all 4 of them use it as a plot point."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:56:25 · unknown (0.30)] Alien: Covenant · fun · Kill count: a seizure, chest burster reversed to a back burster, then a neomorph in a wheat field; the hosts call it more haunted house than slasher. · "you think there's going to be a chest burster, and instead it breaks out of his fucking back"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Resurrection · 2:17:13 · David Sims (0.60)] Prometheus ↔ Alien Resurrection · programming · The Patreon run continues with Prometheus then Covenant after this final Ripley film. · "Tune in for Prometheus, tune in for covenant."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ · 0:51:40 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ⇒ Alien (the host's read) · lineage · Chainsaw is what inspired Ridley Scott to make Alien. · "Texas Chainsaw Basker is what inspired Ridley Scott to make alien."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien³ · 0:09:08 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Aliens ↔ Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol · programming · Both franchises are auteur-rich without one definitive director, which is why the Patreon series covered them. · "Uh, but like Mission Impossible Aliens, perfect examples of franchises that uh, have a tours, but do not have one definitive director."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Resurrection · 2:17:13 · David Sims (0.60)] Prometheus ↔ Alien Resurrection · programming · The Patreon run continues with Prometheus then Covenant after this final Ripley film. · "Tune in for Prometheus, tune in for covenant."
[Blank Check — Patreon · 2025 March Madness Update 1 · 0:27:31 · unknown (0.40)] Alfonso Cuaron ↔ Blade Runner 2049 · programming · They felt it would be silly to cover Villeneuve before Dune, the start of their epic trilogy. · "it would be silly to cover him before Dune."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:15:54 · unknown (0.30)] Danny McBride ↔ Prometheus · lineage · McBride's pilot in Covenant fills the Idris Elba role from Prometheus. · "McBride is kind of in the Idris Elba role, like kind of the accordion playing pilot type."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Species’ · 1:12:56 · Bill Simmons (0.30)] Alien ⇒ Species (the maker said so) · lineage · Giger thought Species ripped off too many other alien movies, such as the chest-burster. · "He thought the movie ripped off too many other alien movies"
[The Big Picture · The Great ‘Avatar’ Debate · 0:52:25 · unknown (0.40)] Avatar ↔ Aliens · lineage · Cameron's 1995 pitch for Avatar was much closer to Aliens in tone. · "It was much closer to aliens in tone."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien³ · 0:24:13 · David Sims (0.30)] Alien 3 ⇒ Alien Resurrection (the host's read) · lineage · Resurrection follows Alien 3, but its Ripley is a different character from the one who died. · "As much as she was quote unquote resurrected, obviously, that's a different character explicitly."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:08:50 · unknown (0.30)] David ↔ Prometheus · lineage · In Prometheus David seems to follow Weyland's wishes but ends up doing his own thing. · "by the end, you're like, no, I think he just kind of is, he's kind of trying to do his own thing."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Working Girl’ · 0:27:04 · Joanna Robinson (0.60)] Sigourney Weaver ↔ Alien · lineage · Both the Working Girl role and the Alien role were originally written for a man. · "the screenwriter said that her role was originally written as a man, which is true for her role in alien as well."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien³ · 0:30:17 · Matt Singer (0.40)] Aliens ⇒ Alien 3 (the host's read) · lineage · Alien 3 follows Aliens; watched back to back, Aliens ends on a new family that Alien 3 then kills. · "you watch aliens and that has this ending of, you know, this new family that has been created."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Resurrection · 0:31:00 · David Sims (0.50)] Alien Resurrection ⇒ Firefly (TV) (the host's read) · lineage · The Betty's space-pirate crew reads as proto-Firefly, Whedon's later show. · "I mean, some proto firefly stuff."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien³ · 1:40:06 · Griffin Newman (0.30)] Paul McGann ↔ Prometheus · theme · Golic, who worships the alien, is an early version of the David character in the Ridley Scott movies (the speaker says they do better versions later). · "Like with the David character in the Ridley Scott movies."
[The Big Picture · The Final Girl Film Canon and ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ · 0:47:57 · Adam Nayman (0.50)] Alien ⇒ Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (the host's read) · lineage · Ripley stripped to underwear at the end is a vulnerability beat that Miasma echoes. · "Yes, it is echoed in Teenage Tech"
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien³ · 0:50:21 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Alien ⇒ Aliens (the host's read) · lineage · Cameron's sequel to Ridley Scott's film shifted the genre, which raised expectations for any follow-up. · "some other fucking guy is coming in and making a sequel to Ridley Scott's movie."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Resurrection · 0:46:01 · David Sims (0.50)] Alien Resurrection ⇒ Jurassic Park (the host's read) · lineage · Aliens caged and taunted while hunting you feels like the raptors; raptors may be Alien rip-offs. · "the raptors have a bit of an alien rip off vibe, honestly"
[The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:26:18 · Sean Fennessey (0.40)] Gladiator II ↔ Prometheus · craft · Macrinus's rise is Scott with the safety off, like Prometheus's birth sequence. · "This is actually the Ridley Scott with the safety off thing, the Prometheus, um, you know, uh, birth sequence"
[speaker] Griffin Newman · latest sketch, Blank Check · The Last Temptation of Christ · Calls Last Temptation his college-era favorite Scorsese; loves Scorsese's smaller 80s and the film's closing transcendence and Gabriel score. Cannot stand fundamentalist outrage at it. A sucker for casting trivia and Tom Cruise-silliness. · stances: Hot take: Last Temptation structurally mirrors New York, New York as a better version; Outrage over the film is stupid; it is respectful to Jesus; Scorsese's smaller 80s work beats his later baroque phases
[speaker] David Sims · latest sketch, Blank Check · The Last Temptation of Christ · Prepares history: novel, casting, budgets, box office. Reveres the film and thinks it reads as a normal ground-level story. A sucker for Hollywood deal backstory and box office game. · stances: Praises Keitel and Dafoe casting; Respects Scorsese's persistence and Corman discipline; The film is now well regarded though not 'canonical Marty'
[speaker] Ben Hosley · latest sketch, Blank Check · The Last Temptation of Christ · Producer who occasionally talks; admits no religious background, has a Catholic mother's family, and cannot see the Bible as part of culture. · stances: Left out of Bible culture; Wants a clear demarcation between a bed and a deathbed
[bits] The Big Picture: Drafts (Hosts and guests draft films in rounds; every pick is a recommendation with an argument); Hall of Fame (A star's or director's best, ranked and argued); Countdowns (Ranked lists, top five or top ten)
[bits] The Rewatchables: Apex Mountain (The moment a star peaks; where on the mountain a performance sits); Who Won the Movie (The hosts name the person who came out of the film best off); The Ebert review (Roger Ebert's original review and star rating read aloud. Ebert is cited, never on the show); Casting what-ifs (Who was almost cast, or who should have been); Most rewatchable scene (The scene each host would stop on while flipping channels); Aged best / aged worst (What holds up and what does not); Picking Nits (The little things in a film the hosts love that they don't think totally work: the nits); Double feature (The film each host would pair it with; a programming pick)

Recommend three to six films, and only films that appear in these lines. A series, a TV film, or a franchise counts too when a line recommends it or pairs it with Alien: Covenant (2017); name it the way the line names it. Don't recommend Alien: Covenant (2017) itself. For each one, give one short reason in your own words and say whose reason it is: the show, named exactly as the brackets name it, and the speaker when the line names one (an "unknown" speaker is just the show). If the lines are thin, say so plainly rather than stretching them.

Keep a contrast a contrast. When a line sets two films apart, the reason is how they differ; never turn it into a way they're alike. A line with ⇒ puts the source first and what drew on it second, and one marked "the maker said so" is still the host reporting it: say who said it, and never state an influence as fact.

You know only what's on these lines. Add no fact they don't state: not who directed a film, not what kind of film it is, not when it came out, unless a line says so. Say nothing about the store or how anything rents here.

Talk the way a clerk talks to a customer at the counter: plain text, titles written plainly with no asterisks or other markup, no headings, no lists of more than six, no JSON.