Alien Covenant Review: Androids’ dichotomy

Xenomorph half alien and half machine in Heroes Comic Con 2016

Having seen Alien Covenant (2017; Dir. Ridley Scott) it can be said that the story is not about Alien, Xenomorph. Rather, the story tells the different points of view about human and alien life by the two twin androids, David (new model created for Covenant) and Walter (from the crew in Prometheus, 2012; Dir. Ridley Scott). As if watching a crossover of Blade Runner (1982, Dir. Ridley Scott) and Alien, the movie shows the main classic ideas artificial intelligence develops when dealing with the human race.

On the one hand, Walter represents the evil android who becomes humanized developing an interest on arts (music, poetry like the poem “Ozymandias”; 1818, P. B. Shelly), human feelings (awareness of self-sacrifice due to loving a particular human being). On the other hand, David represents the good android whose purpose is to protect the crew and even though he can think for himself he remains a loyal servant of the human race regardless of Walter’s arguments. Walter reveals how he created many versions of the Xenomorph and even used the previous female crew member, known as Elisabeth Shaw, as part of his experiment. In a way, watching Walter experiment with the human crew in favor of the aliens was like seeing Pris Stratton, a replicant from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968, Philip K. Dick), removing spider legs only to see it react:

“I’ve never seen a spider,” Pris said. She cupped the medicine bottle in her palms, surveying the creature within. “All those legs. Why’s it need so many legs, J. R.?”

“That’s the way spiders are,” Isidore said, his heart pounding; he had difficulty breathing. “Eight legs.”

Rising to her feet, Pris said, “You know what I think, J. R.? I think it doesn’t need all those legs.”

“Eight?” Irmgard Baty said. “Why couldn’t it get by on four? Cut four off and see.” Impulsively opening her purse, she produced a pair of clean, sharp cuticle scissors, which she passed to Pris.

A weird terror struck at J. R. Isidore.

Carrying the medicine bottle into the kitchen, Pris seated herself at J. R. Isidore’s breakfast table. She removed the lid from the bottle and dumped the spider out. “It probably won’t be able to run as fast,” she said, “but there’s nothing for it to catch around here anyhow. It’ll die anyway.” She reached for the scissors.

“Please,” Isidore said.

Pris glanced up inquiringly. “Is it worth something?”

“Don’t mutilate it,” he said wheezingly. Imploringly.

With the scissors, Pris snipped off one of the spider’s legs.

[…]

Pris had now cut three legs from the spider, which crept about miserably on the kitchen table, seeking a way out, a path to freedom. It found none.”
― Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Goodreads)

The protagonist, Daniels Branson also suffers the same dichotomy. While in the movie Daniels plays the role of the widow, it can be seen her evolution and empathy towards the android David. In a way, her character seemed a mixture between Ellen Ripley from Alien and Portia Charney (Bicentennial Man, 1999; Dir. Chris Columbus). She keeps the crew together in the hostile environment but at the same time, since the tragic death of her husband Captain Jacob Branson, she relies more and more on David.

Finally, Walter gains control of Covenant and seeks to pursue his experiments of crossing aliens and humans once they arrive to the next planet. Alien Covenant could have offered a different kind of story than just a simple good versus evil android plot. Nonetheless, it was entertaining to see so many different kinds of Xenomorph and how androids remind the audiences once more of the dangers and benefits of artificial intelligence for the human race.