While “Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof is the more famous of the two screenwriters credited with writing “Prometheus,” it was actually a fellow named Jon Spaihts (“The Darkest Hour”) who wrote the initial drafts, his name ultimately in “first position” in the writing credits.
Spaiht’s draft was titled “Alien: Engineers.” It’s online now. Spaihts confirms via twitter it’s legit.
Having given the script a quick read, I more than ever perceive Ridley Scott’s assertion -- that the project stopped being an “Alien” prequel when Lindelof came aboard -- as a preposterous bit of public relations.
There are differences, but in my view “Alien: Engineers” is not different enough from “Prometheus” to support that assertion. I never got how anyone could claim that the "Alien Vs. Predator" movies are "Alien" prequels but "Prometheus" is not.
Some comparisons and contrasts:
* The bulk of the movie takes place on LV-426 -- the same planet the Nostromo from "Alien" visited.
* Spaihts’ Engineers are described as 15 feet tall. It takes two humans to lift a massive Engineer head.
* Noomi Rapace’s role is named Jocelyn Watts instead of Elizabeth Shaw. Charlie Holloway is named Martin Holloway in this draft.
* David the android introduces Noomi and Holloway to the living Peter Weyland on a space station in Earth’s orbit. There is no holographic Weyland near the start of the movie.
* The name of the ship is Magellan, not Prometheus.
* The business with David shooting basketball on a bicycle is absent. Ditto David dying his hair and watching "Lawrence of Arabia."
* The scene where the crewmen greet the alien cobra like a lost puppy is absent.
* The big storm is in this draft, but no flamethrower.
* A chestburster kills Holloway in its escape from his torso.
* Halfway through the movie, we learn a Weyland security force has been hidden on the Magellen the whole time.
* Weyland himself is not inexplicably hidden aboard the Magellen.
* Noomi’s crucifix is not in this draft.
* If the Charlize Theron character randomly bones the Idris Elba character, I didn't notice that either.
* There’s a deadly, acid-filled giant centipede. And an “octopoid” facehugger different from the one with which we’re familiar. It turns out these Engineers carried at least seven kinds of weaponized species.
* Noomi becomes impregnated with an alien when an angry David places a facehugger on her. There’s still a big medical pod C-section scene.
* I didn’t notice anything about Holloway inspecting a tiny alien lodged in his eyeball.
* The alien craft still rolls toward Noomi on its edge.
* There's less of an Engineer rampage near the end.
* The movie ends with David and Noomi playing chess as beacons signal their masters. David and Noomi do not use an Engineer ship to escape the planet.
There’s a lot more. Find the whole "Alien: Engineers" script here.
