I'd agree, but I wouldn't put past the chance there could still be something good, people who might have some fidelity to the original sources... like, say, ST:Into Darkness or Rogue One .

Tell us one redeeming quality about Covenant. 

Thanks, Richard!  I haven't seen Covenant, and agree that Prometheus was EXCELLENT!

My nephew had never seen any of the Alien franchise movies, so we went to see Prometheus on the big screen (iMax), and when we got home, I dialed up the first "Alien" movie.  Watching them in that sequence, and in rapid order, was fantastic!  

Covenant was a big disappointment, oddly Scott was basically remaking the very first film but falling into the traps he had well avoided back then. What's clear is that you can build suspense so much better by showing less of the creature and maybe going for a later reveal. In Covenant the CGI creatures (x 2 sorry hope not a spoiler) is just so dull at times. Also the cast of the original film was so much better barring maybe Michael Fassbinder who is okay but still nowhere near as good as he was in Prometheus. I can only assume that Scott gave into the studio. Reminds me a little of the second Jurassic Park film which was way off the mark and nowhere near as good as the original. They did manage to resurrect that franchise though but Spielberg had to take his hands off the project for it to happen. Similarly I would hope that someone like Danny Boyle might be persuaded to do another one and that Scott should stand back now (?).

A good story creates a good atmosphere, also the characters & dialogue should drive the story forward. The story is the most important thing, it does not matter to me how good the movie looks. 

The original Alien (1979) is beloved to this day because of the memorable characters, great script first of all. 

The two recent movies have none of that IMO. 

Its basically become a template movie that been borrowed and copied many times. I love it but the general look was very important, Scott didn't have spaceships flying about and zapping each other, that kind of sci fi I find very tiresome. Instead he took his lead from Kubrick and went for the vast emptiness and isolation of space. He was also a talented artist and story boarded the whole thing. It wouldn't have got made and financed otherwise. Things came together very nicely on Alien. Prometheus was a decent reboot and captured the mood and atmosphere with some decent character actors to keep it fun. Covenant was just a film anyone could have made and resorted to a lot of CGI. Its not terrible, just pointless and not adding anything at all. Its really a place mat for the next film. Scott was always keen to take the story to the home planet and show the general weirdness of it. Its a real shame that film will never be made. Someone who also had an active interest in the Alien franchise was the very talented Joss Whedon of Buffy fame. He wrote the original screenplay for Alien 4 but apparently it got butchered somewhat and he then disassociated himself from the whole project. Whedon has had something of a chequered history with the film industry it seems. Serenity was great though!

Is it OK if I say that I'm going to sleep now?

these "sequels" and "pre-quals" really bore me. I wonder if we ever will see one for Moby Dick ... now that would be talent for some AI pulp fiction!

Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett.

Alien succeeded because its slow-burn approach, excellent cast and cinematography, and unconventional female protagonist were novel in that exact combination for the time, all while being horror more than SF.

So what did I say you think is wrong?! 

 Nothing! I just added two more cents to the lot.

oh, ok... my bad