the Novel of Alien Covenant clears 99% of the plot holes that plagued the movie:
No helmets in an alien world
We find out why they run around the planet without helmets; Walter leaves the ship first to test the air and water, revealing that it's free from pathogens and pollutants "right down past the molecular level." Ledward actually remembers this when he sees the spores for the first time, reasoning that they cannot be dangerous because Walt gave them the all clear. Also the spores shoot the eggs into his ear through some kind of proboscis, they do not just zip into his ear as in the film.
David later tells the crew that because the virus is inert until it senses life, it is impossible to detect even with the most advanced scanning equipment.
Xeno eggs weren't created by David
David shows Oram a petrified facehugger's egg, which he reveals he euthanised because it was too aggressive. Oram looks inside this egg, at David's urging, and is comforted to find that the hugger inside is, as promised, quite dead. Tantalisingly, he mentions that this was left behind by the Engineers, saying it is a "supreme example of their skill." His attempts to create the alien, seemingly, are trying to emulate this one left by the Engineers. He also confirms that the aliens take on characteristics of their host species, a la the Dog Alien from Alien 3, which is a nice little detail.
David shows Oram his own attempts at creating the eggs. Before descending into the egg chamber, he gives Oram some kind of smelly unguent to smear underneath his nose which he says will keep him safe from the hugger's attentions, and even leans over one of the open ovoids to prove that doing so is safe.
About the Enginners
The flashback with Shaw and David nuking Engineers is entirely absent. Also, there is nothing to suggest this is anyting other than the Engineer homeworld - the characters refer to it as such multiple times.
About David
Daniels stabs David through the eye with the nail, not the chin - we discover David shares Walter's healing capabilities here, as his damaged eye knits itself back together. This whole switch is not nearly as telegraphed as it was in the film - no mention of David reaching for the knife, for example.
Unlike the film, David does not reveal himself to the crew, posing as Walter to the very end - Daniels goes under believing that all is right with world, little suspecting she is about to become a petri dish for the universe's most deranged synthetic. David then opens a secure line with Weyland Yutani HQ back on earth and slips his embryos into storage - these are simply hidden on the ship
David Shop
The biggest change is the scene with David and Oram in his little shop of horrors. It is filled with all manner of fascinating and gruesome sights, including a dissected Engineer's corpse, tiny preserved neomorph specimens that hatched out of insects, and, most notably, corpses (or at least models) of something that sounds suspiciously like the classic Giger alien.
The sequence of events up until the attack in the wheatfield are more or less exactly as they are in the film - however, we do find out that Hallet, despite warnings from Lope not to, investigates the ovoid because he doesn't want the science types to take all the credit for its discovery. In fact, the book takes much greater pains than the film to justify the crew's actions, often talking about safeguards and correct operating procedure.
>As the survivors escape the necropolis, the surviving neomorph joins the party and does battle with the xeno.
No helmets in an alien world
We find out why they run around the planet without helmets; Walter leaves the ship first to test the air and water, revealing that it's free from pathogens and pollutants "right down past the molecular level." Ledward actually remembers this when he sees the spores for the first time, reasoning that they cannot be dangerous because Walt gave them the all clear. Also the spores shoot the eggs into his ear through some kind of proboscis, they do not just zip into his ear as in the film.
David later tells the crew that because the virus is inert until it senses life, it is impossible to detect even with the most advanced scanning equipment.
Xeno eggs weren't created by David
David shows Oram a petrified facehugger's egg, which he reveals he euthanised because it was too aggressive. Oram looks inside this egg, at David's urging, and is comforted to find that the hugger inside is, as promised, quite dead. Tantalisingly, he mentions that this was left behind by the Engineers, saying it is a "supreme example of their skill." His attempts to create the alien, seemingly, are trying to emulate this one left by the Engineers. He also confirms that the aliens take on characteristics of their host species, a la the Dog Alien from Alien 3, which is a nice little detail.
David shows Oram his own attempts at creating the eggs. Before descending into the egg chamber, he gives Oram some kind of smelly unguent to smear underneath his nose which he says will keep him safe from the hugger's attentions, and even leans over one of the open ovoids to prove that doing so is safe.
About the Enginners
The flashback with Shaw and David nuking Engineers is entirely absent. Also, there is nothing to suggest this is anyting other than the Engineer homeworld - the characters refer to it as such multiple times.
About David
Daniels stabs David through the eye with the nail, not the chin - we discover David shares Walter's healing capabilities here, as his damaged eye knits itself back together. This whole switch is not nearly as telegraphed as it was in the film - no mention of David reaching for the knife, for example.
Unlike the film, David does not reveal himself to the crew, posing as Walter to the very end - Daniels goes under believing that all is right with world, little suspecting she is about to become a petri dish for the universe's most deranged synthetic. David then opens a secure line with Weyland Yutani HQ back on earth and slips his embryos into storage - these are simply hidden on the ship
David Shop
The biggest change is the scene with David and Oram in his little shop of horrors. It is filled with all manner of fascinating and gruesome sights, including a dissected Engineer's corpse, tiny preserved neomorph specimens that hatched out of insects, and, most notably, corpses (or at least models) of something that sounds suspiciously like the classic Giger alien.
The sequence of events up until the attack in the wheatfield are more or less exactly as they are in the film - however, we do find out that Hallet, despite warnings from Lope not to, investigates the ovoid because he doesn't want the science types to take all the credit for its discovery. In fact, the book takes much greater pains than the film to justify the crew's actions, often talking about safeguards and correct operating procedure.
>As the survivors escape the necropolis, the surviving neomorph joins the party and does battle with the xeno.
