Early draft of, "The Crossing" reveals more about David and Shaw

"David drops the act once they arrive at Planet 4. He snaps Shaw's neck and bombards the Engineer city."

I expected something like this because turning on Dr. Shaw in an instant seemed to be the most reasonable action from David. 

One of the things I liked about the Dr. Shaw character was her ability to convince herself of things (regarding the Engineers, not her faith) and somehow with the best tools, success was guaranteed and she was correct in all her assumptions. It was then realistic to me because I could relate to that mistake. A lot.

So, the loneliness angle and David taking advantage of it seemed the perfect prelude to turning on Dr. Shaw in an instant.

Thank you cuponator3000. Nice topic.

I really like the little details that were in the draft but I prefer David having a warped love turned deadly for Shaw than him just turning on her like that. And him killing her because of rejection, in my opinion, and not being able to cope with the feeling seems better to me. I also didn't mind the mystery of her death. 

Thanks, Ingenerio! I basically agree that this script featured a pretty fitting send off for Shaw. 

Then again, I see Leeta's angle. It's a little more horrifying and harder to handle that we don't know what happened. It was presumably a drawn out death too. I could imagine this leaked scirpt ending with the bombing, but instead of Shaw dying it could have ended on her waking up (or something) and seeing the tail end of David's work. The last two shots could be Shaw's shocked, horrified face and then either David's tear or some cynical snear. 

Overall, I agree and prefer the mystery to Dr. Shaw's fate with the shock of walking up on her in David's lab Leeta as it was shown in the film. I also like the "warped love" from a synthetic that was designed to project emotions that has gone mad.

The altar to Shaw in Advent is great.

Dr. Shaw was not cured of the infection that bore the trilobite pulled out of her in the MedPod.

So, whatever changed her to produce the octopus demon that took the Engineer would continue to change her body.

This could be seen with the obvious changes to her head in Alien: Covenant in addition to the the changes to Dr. Shaw made by David himself.  

I wished to see more of the interaction between Elizabeth and David in how they left LV-223 and certainly wanted to read about it in Alien: Covenant Origins but this too added to the mystery. 

I'm convinced that David was just playing along and had Dr. Shaw work with him in the navigation above to placate her.

Whatever he told her would have been a lie in regards to her navigation participation and he knew he needed an organic host so I guess he kept her alive and altered the Engineer sleep chamber to house Shaw before her health collapsed. And protect her from the mutagen bombing.

The Engineer that Peter Weyland met on LV-223 survived the "incident" long ago that killed many Engineers while the lone Engineer was asleep in the hypersleep chamber.

I can only assume Dr. Shaw was protected during the bombing while in the hypersleep chamber. Hopefully the Engineer robe David made into a sleeping bag for her is really padded because I can imagine David's juggernaut landing on Planet 4 was turbulent.

@Ingeniero

"Dr. Shaw was not cured of the infection that bore the trilobite pulled out of her in the MedPod. So, whatever changed her to produce the octopus demon that took the Engineer would continue to change her body."

How do you know this? What we know is that Shaw repaired David after sometime, at least month after Prometheus, we know this because of the longer hair in the Crossing and in the leaked prologue it is stated the date is 8th of April (which curios as Easter falls on the 4th in 2094, thank the Goo that David is not also Jesus). Yet, anyone depicted as being infected dies/is transformed within a day/two... I haven't seen Advent to notice other sign of infections on the body of Shaw, but there should have been if we look at Holloway and Fifield, or the Engineers. I don't know what was on her head, but it might be the results of David's experiments. 

But the most for me the most fascinating thing in the prologue is the display of engineer tech. Running water, air, fruits growing on strange whines, a very nice contrast to the "primitiveness" of the Covenant.

Yet more talk about dead characters...

ignorantGuy, Dr. Shaw was barren, unable to have children.

Then she has a child/trilobite born in a day. Body changes. My assumptions above were based on these changes not being confined to a single day of horror from the mutagen infection from Dr. Holloway. 

You may be correct. Shaw was infected, cured like no other in the franchise, and then infected again by David on Planet 4. 

Yet more talk about characters in the future, yet to be born....nice.

Where is April 8th in the Crossing?

I see what you're referencing now regarding April 8 in the Logan script now ignorantGuy. I thought I had missed that in the Crossing.

Interesting:

"Deep-Space Colony Ship USCSS COVENANT CREW: 14, +1 SYNTHETIC
PASSENGERS: 3600
MISSION: Terraform and Populate DESTINATION: Origae-6

DATE: 2103, 239 light-years from Earth"

"In a darkened PASSSENGER CRYO-STASIS HOLD, a kiosk beeps, awakens. NAMES SPILL OUT on a screen crusted in ice. Dim green light flickers out over 3600 CRYO-PODS, under a thun blanket of snow .. The pods sweep up along the huge curbed wall, defying gravity..."

There are obvious items that were changed for the Crossing but it is interesting to see the thinking before the re-write. It is as if they took small details of the Logan Crossing draft and worked them both into the Crossing and Alien: Covenant. 

@Ingeniero

Sorry for not being clear regarding the April date... I don't think we can be sure about anything about lore as it might be changed if a third movie is made. However, the trilobite could have been only mutated sperm which is not infectious, for example...

And to be an @-hole, why is Logan not credited as a writer for the Crossing when lines are clearly taken from there?

No sweat ignorantGuy...I was responding to the topic synopsis and didn't remember April 8 in the Crossing. I really thought I forgot it.

I wasn't trying to be a technical @-hole either when you cited the script and April 8. I love it when the script and background information leaks out and we can discuss them and tie meaning to the concepts as kernel ideas that eventually became fruit in the film and promotional material.

We are singing in harmony regarding Logan not credited as a writer. His work made it's way into Alien: Covenant in a few ways. And, you're correct to question my interpretation above as far as "How do you know this?" regarding Dr. Shaw's anatomy.

That above is my interpretation of how they handled Dr. Shaw opposed to the original leaked script in the topic. 

So they grew some grapes, they made and drank wine, then they got drunk, had sex (yes I know, but David has a big and strong... tongue) - who knows, perhaps they got married as well... And at the end of the journey David snaps her neck. Awesome... We see this in every movie. :/

Featured this, very interesting post. 

Bit Tired now... so i will do some in-depth analysis of this Prologue, but i think its Great with what we got and NOT this Bag of Incoherent and inconsistent errors..

Looking at this Draft for the Crossing, and then looking at the Flaws of Alien Covenant... a Pattern has emerged and i have GRAVE CONCERNS if John Logans Penned Alien Covenant 2 happens.

And we have people who are displeased with Lindeloff lol....  at least his draft is Coherent some what... Spaights is very coherent but very Robotic.

We have been given here just Lazy Plot Devices to Explain Certain things....   Fruit on the Juggernaught? Water that Dr Shaw drinks from and Baths... i mean do the Engineers have like a Built in Spa on these ships LOL

This may seem like a Drinking Mans Rant ;) Guilty.. but i will give a more detailed break down tomorrow or tuesday.

But this draft if we had this word for word/scene for scene would just basically make DAVID just a CRAZY Robot...  it also implies Dr Shaw had Fallen for David and it basically does not add up to the clues in Alien Covenant.

PS  FTL Travel and yet a Head Still Floats near by...  Just not well thought out at all... basically lets anything become a McGuffin.

PS Ridley Scott Drop us a Email ;) i will write you something, as i dread to think what Logans concocted for the sequel...   Looking at this Draft and how AC is set up... it would paint a picture that David would just Turn all those Colonists into Eggs/Experiments.

But i think a lot had been changed after this Prologue, and i think the elements that made it to the Crossing Viral fitted well.  Half of the stuff not included seemed  a mess... thats just my Opinion though.

I will say this Crossing throws some interesting clues though, i wonder how much of this matches the plans for AC as far as Planet 4?

I am not a Fan of Davids Head and Shoe floating in Space while at FTL, and yet remains close by... or the Convenience of the Ship having a Fruit Tree, a Water Feature, and then they do some Cooking too... 

Nope to me the Engineers Ships looked set up like something that Holds the Cargo, The Engineers and then they go into Cryo-sleep.. I think John Logans Crossing they have basically tried to think how do we explain how Dr Shaw Survived, and also get past how to answer the Question... How Does Dr Shaw manage to get into those Cryo-Sleep Pods without the Mask the Engineer had, and the way the Tubes connected to the Suit.

A Answer could be Dr Shaw was fused with a Suit?

But nope the other way around is have the Ship have A Garden, a Water Feature for Bathing/Drinking and Appliances to do some Cooking.

But what it also raised with interest is that Planet 4 is about 240 Light years from LV-223 which would put it in the 200-300 Light Year Distance from Earth.

It also means our Engineer Ships Travel about 200-400 Light Years per Year... a lot depends on what we draw from the Months Dr Shaw was on the Ship.... which could be 6-12 months.

Another FLAW.... the Defense Systems on Planet 4, would surely mean they had more detection methods than we actually saw in the Movie, yet David got through to Bomb them.

Another FLAW... If Davids Agenda was to Bomb the Engineers and Kill Dr Shaw, then why wait until we arrive at Planet 4, he could have killed her at any point...

The only logical explanation would be her wanted to see the look on her Face when she had arrived, and see her excitement at finally getting some answers... to then at that moment Kill her..

This depicts David as Totally Twisted and Ruthless... which if we go by this Mentality, does not spell well for the Covenant Crew and so a Covenant 2 will be David just creating Experiments and Xenomorphs from the Crew.... so no real Human interaction.

I just find it very unimaginative and incoherent kind of writing...

"And him killing her because of rejection"

Leeta

Indeed this is what i was drawn to, if anyone studied David from Prometheus, his reaction to how he was treated and referred to by Holloway and David, his fascination with Laurence of Arabia and stuff.    We could paint the Picture that David is very much like Pinocchio we can see that he appears to want to have more Human Interests (Laurence of Arabia) he feels he is Sentient, he must see he is Superior to Humans, yet was made to Serve.

And then if we see how Dr Shaw Reacted to him, in-spite of how David had been towards her (the Theatrical Ending to Prometheus) we can see then from the Crossing that we got, that David had noticed how KIND and different Dr Shaw was to him, how maybe he felt she treated him different to how other Humans had done.

The Nature Boy Lyrics from the Trailer Hold very True IMO

"Then we spoke of many things: Fools and kings" maybe links to Weyland.

"Then he said to me"

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn Is to love and be loved in return"

This paints a picture that Davids Emotional State was influenced by how he was treated, and so in Dr Shaw he felt treated better...  We can look at Davids comment to Daniels near the end of Alien Covenant...   in regards to "what kind of a world can we build" which David replies.. "if we are kind, it will be a kind world"

These paint a better picture for David and his Actions rather than being a MAD ROBOT...

So we see in the Crossing Dr Shaws Hair has grown by a amount that would take 10-12 Months, certainly at least 6-9 months, so it seems Dr Shaw had to spend many months interacting with David before she built up the Confidence to TRUST him, you can imagine the Many Months of Interactions between them before she puts him back together again (RS did say prior to AC, that she SLOWLY puts him back together again).

So they become FOND of Each Other...  David maybe feared being Alone and had Fallen for Dr Shaw, so he had no choice but to Bombard the Engineers (while Shaw was in Cryo-sleep).  Because here is NO-WAY he could risk Dr Shaw meeting these beings and merely being killed, or even that David would be killed too... he wants to Survive, he wants Dr Shaw to Survive.

And Hence the Bombardment..

I would assume David makes some excuse to why he had to do so, or why it happened, and David would then say the Atmosphere was Infected so that Dr Shaw is Confined to the Juggernaught, and this allows David to get up to all the stuff he had been doing.

I think on ONE-HAND David Made Advances to Dr Shaw, as he saw their Love as more than Platonic which may have freaked Dr Shaw out... and David may have seen this as Rejection and that Dr Shaw is no different to Humans...

And on the OTHER-HAND maybe she grew suspicious and wandered outside and discovered that actually the Environment was not as Infected as David let on...  i would also ASSUME she discovered some of what David was doing, and maybe he had a Proposal for her, that she also Rejected and then she tried to escape before David then Killed her.

THIS ^^^ is how i interpreted the Crossing with Alien Covenants Clues and David from Prometheus etc.   I feel this is interesting.

But the Crossing Draft in this Thread, actually gives us a Totally different and less interesting picture.

@BigDave

Well the script clearly contradicts you... Shaw falls for him, they cuddle/have sex and she even she asks him about his ambitions (of course he does not answer). In short, he is not treated like a toaster, yet in the movies script he lies to Walter that he will be treated only as that, which seem to be also a lie.

Also in that script, David wants to rule the galaxy, he was not afraid of humans (of primates), or of the Engineers (which he considers to be some freaks of nature). For that he would have use his Xeno "soldiers" (as opposed to him, the general) and the engineer fleet.

Judging from all of this for Logan only the Roman Empire and James Bond villains are important, not sci-fi, which is a minor genre (as opposed to James Bond).

Also if this scripts are from 2015 and the story was already established as an Alien movie, why even leak the Blomkamp Alien project. It was clear that nobody wanted 2 alien movies in such a short distance. 

Talking about Incoherent... i guess my ramblings were a bit like this, One Should not attempt to analyse stuff when very tired and not long back after a over 5 Liters beer/ale fest in a few hours lol

"Well the script clearly contradicts you"

I certainly have to agree, regarding the draft.  When i had interpreted Dr Shaw and David from Prometheus to Alien Covenant, the clues led me down a different path just as with what Leeta had said.   But any kind of theory has to be down to own personal interpretations as the movie and Crossing were both ambiguous to a degree.   HOWEVER.. this earlier draft for the Crossing paints a different picture for sure.  This draft if i can try and make sense of it in a way to Logically connect some elements seems to show that David has a Agenda from Day One and here merely played Dr Shaw at a game...  and it appears he had NO feelings towards her what so ever...

This version paints David as a even worse Psychopath than we thought, his twisted mind was playing with Dr Shaws feelings, he was waiting to see her BELIEVE she would finally get her answers and then waited until this moment to KILL her... thats one Evil SOB it would be like getting someone to fall for you, you take them to say Iceland Pamper them and take them to a Volcano and get on your knees.. they think you are about to Propose and then you shove them into the Volcano.

So now i have to to look at it with more Clarity, thats one pretty nasty David...  Which makes the Whole Shrine etc to Dr Shaw and comments he makes regarding her, now something that shows this Robot is clearly very Disturbed so i kind of like this aspect.

But a David like this would have serious intentions for the Covenant Crew, where his Agenda would be Paramount... however looking at this Psychopath, we could see him still set up a Colony and Fool the Colonist to thinking they found Paradise... only to then Reveal his Horrific Intentions.  I can kind of buy this take on David.

I just feel the alternative Crossing portrays Dr Shaw a bit odd, but i think my main gripe is the Vines with Fruit, and the Water Room..  but as i said before (and i may have been harsh) these are used as a Plot Device to explain how Dr Shaw could survive for months on that Ship while pondering Putting David together.  Because there is no way she could survive for months unless she went into Cryo-Sleep and we could see the Engineer was connected to the Cryo-Pod in a certain way.

I think maybe we can look at a reason for David being upset... i mean he offered Dr Shaw a way off that piece of ROCK that is LV-223 only for Dr Shaw to then not put him back together, despite David getting them off LV-223 in TWO Halves and showing Dr Shaw how to operate the Ship and in Return she sends his Head into Space.

So i can see why the Fruit Tree and Water Room were needed, but i just think they could have given us a different way of doing it, because when we saw the Juggernaught in Prometheus and Alien Covenant... having a Garden Room and Water Room just did not seem so fitting for a Ship that we had to assume was Advanced and could Travel very fast and far and that Cryo-sleep was used by the Engineers.  So no need for the Garden/Water Rooms... but they was a necessary plot device to allow Dr Shaw to survive.

The Floating David Head... is something i am not a fan of, but what i try and do is come up with Logical ways to explain something a bit illogical... and so for Davids Head... i assume maybe the Juggernaught is Protected inside some kind of Bubble, and they use this to allow them to FTL Travel and so anything outside the ship but within this Bubble would travel at the same speed as the Juggernaught.

I think some of the draft was well done, other parts i was not a fan off and they kind of did not fit with what the Alien Covenant Movie but more so the Actual Crossing Viral showed..... maybe i was a bit harsh and jumped the Gun to point out this inconsistency.

We Do-Not really know what state the Covenant Draft was at the time of this Crossing one, so changes to the movie and Crossing drafts could have been made after....

The whole Bombardment Scene appears to be slightly different too, as in the Crossing Video we see the Engineers start to Flock towards the Hanger when they realize a Engineer Ship is returning.

Also we have things in AC and the Crossing that have to indicate to us that Dr Shaw Salvaged the Wreckage of the Prometheus and Life-Boat for a number of items we see used in the Crossing and in Alien Covenant.  So this implies there was a number of changes in the Crossing from this earlier draft.

I kind of think the version that we got could have been longer, but i certainly would not have had a number of elements from this earlier draft but thats just individual opinions.

Looking at AC and the Crossing we got, i am draw to David misunderstanding Dr Shaws Treatment of him as more than Friendly, and David falls for her... gets rejected and as a Android with Emotions and while not Human, i feel some Emotions David would really struggle with.... and rejection could be one of those.

I may have been a bit harsh on Logan... i think he has done some good stories in the past but maybe Sci-Fi is not his best subject, when i look at the Crossing in this Topic and Alien Covenant there are things that had been done, that i personally dont think was done well... but thats just my TWO CENTS and there are even things in Lindeloffs and Spaights drafts for Prometheus/Alien Engineers that i find a Flawed too.

A part of my rant was having a laugh to... i was not being to serious, but then mixed with some parts i was venting some disappointment at some odd things... it could come across as totally bashing Logan ;)

I have had some time to rest and also sober up (mind you i was only  Tipsy but shows you dont look at stuff as well as when you have had NO drinks lol)   And so i can come back with more clear prospective on this draft

Just Re-Read the draft and noticed a few things..

Firstly where i wondered if David felt upset at doing his part of the bargain only for Dr Shaw to Eject him into space... its clear that her reasons for this are because of the way he began to behave and how he was attempting to Re-attach himself... so i missed that.

Other things for me as far as the writing seem a bit flawed, in terms to how Dr Shaw would act and speak compared to what we was shown in Prometheus... but then every writer can have a different take on a Character.

There are a number of Spelling Mistakes... which i find ODD and also some other discrepancies... which makes me wonder is this just that Logan has not paid attention to detail?

One element being

TEN YEARS LATER

Deep-Space Colony Ship USCSS COVENANT

CREW: 14, +1 SYNTHETIC

PASSENGERS: 3600

MISSION: Terraform and Populate

DESTINATION: Origae-6

DATE: 2103, 239 light-years from Earth

Yet Dr Shaw mentions it being April 8th (she thinks) so we have to assume April 2104 (2094*), she latter mentions he became unstable TWO Months ago.  (so about February 2104 2094*).  And then Months pass.

So we are looking at what?  June-September 2104? 2094*

Yet the last part mentions 10 years latter, when in fact 10 years later than 2103 (2093*) would be before they even arrived on LV-223 in Prometheus...  Maybe this is just a hindsight.

I do WONDER has this been confirmed as a legit draft? or could it be a Fan Made one?

@BigDave

That's 8th of April 2094 however... and the events of Covenant are a little bit less then 10 years after.