MAN-MADE MONSTERS #31: Prometheus (2012) & Alien: Covenant (2017)

March 27, 2026·2 hr·10 clips

Ridley Scott returns to his Alien universe to explore the origins of the space jockey and the Promethean myth in two divisive prequels.

Prometheus is the clear anchor here. Mike places the double bill in a horror line that starts with Mary Shelley, moves through the modern Prometheus, and circles back to Ridley Scott's alien universe. The myth earns its keep. Creation is not just shiny franchise lore. It is a punishment machine where knowledge, power, and making life all come with a nasty bill. AI sits right in the middle. The conversation turns the Prometheus myth toward androids, asking why humans make synthetic people look like us and then treat them as lesser beings. That bit has a dry sting. If humans push their creations around to feel safer, what would our own makers make of us? Probably not much, which is the uncomfortable part. The theology gets personal. Gods, androids, and humans start reflecting each other, less like a clean chart and more like a messy chain of fear and cruelty. Then the crew wakes up. The episode shifts from mythic scale to broad character talk, with the host admitting that the Prometheus crew fits the Alien tradition of slightly undercooked ensembles. Elizabeth Shaw still gets a defense. Noomi Rapace comes off well, while Charlize Theron gets credit for giving weight to a character the conversation sees as thin on the page. Ripley hangs over both women. The read here is that Shaw and Theron's character split pieces of that legacy between them, which gives the prequel a smarter shape than its reputation suggests. Scott remains the dividing line. The cold open promises origins, space jockey lore, science, gods, and humanity, but the liveliest stretch comes when the films stop explaining monsters and start poking at why anyone creates life in the first place. The episode stays loose in the best sense. Big ideas wander through android helmets, hypersleep introductions, actor choices, and the very human habit of being cruel to whatever we do not quite understand.

As heard by us

A thoughtful double bill on the Promethean myth, machine life, and why these prequels still split audiences.

Mike Munster treats Prometheus and Alien Covenant as a thoughtful pair, and the connection he draws through the Promethean myth makes the prequels feel less like a franchise detour and more like one uneasy idea stretched across two films.

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Why you'd press play

Want a sharp double-bill on creation, artificial intelligence, and Ridley Scott's divisive Alien prequels?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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