Week In Geek: New Alien Covenant Trailer, Carrie Fisher’s Last Book, and Watchmen/DC Crossover On the Horizon?

It’s funny, I only took one week off from The Week In Geek while I worked on the Best of 2016 list, which is now complete. Thankfully. For awhile there I wasn’t so sure. I had a looooooong work week last week and the fact that I was able to write at all was a victory. With all that aside though it feels like forever since I last spent a Monday with you guys. You know, like a Monday Monday. Where we come here and talk about the geekiest things in the week (a Week In Geek if you will). It’s usually a great way to jump start our week of posts which means last Monday felt a little unnatural. I missed our typical Monday spot he said with a puppy dog frown on his face. You know the look. It’s irresistible and slightly charming. You know it is! Isn’t it? I may have to re-think my whole life…

Any way Geeklings, welcome to 2017, how is everyone doing? 2016 was a bit of a ride, huh? I mean, it was a tremendous year for pop culture but also pretty brutal in more ways then one (they fucking took Bowie, Prince, and Fisher!). While the world tries to piece itself back together after the “bender” 2016 was, we have gathered here on this Monday to celebrate what we love most. The best things in pop culture for the week. 2016 is behind us and let’s kick in the door of twenty seventeen with the first Week In Geek of the year.

1. Alien Covenant trailer– Christmas day brought us quite the little bundle of terror in the form of Ridley Scott’s Prometheus sequel/Alien prequel trailer, Alien Covenant. I want to tell you that I discovered the trailer when I woke up Christmas morning, but I’d be lying. I was up wrapping presents and watching Die Hard (that’s right!) when I discovered it a little after midnight on Faceyspace. I paused Die Hard to watch it a couple of times. If you remember, a few weeks ago I posted on this very column the first teaser poster to the film (you can see that post… here) and my excitement levels were high. Now after that trailer excitement levels have been blown out the god damn air lock! I knew there was going to be a Prometheus sequel but I figured it would fall more in line with that story thread while continuing to have the DNA of the Alien movies. I was okay with that but not over the moon. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Prometheus a lot (especially since it brought Ridley Scott back to science fiction) but I guess I was hoping for an Alien movie. A return to form if you will. Well, it looks like there is no question about the sequel being an Alien movie. None at all in fact.

Already this film has a different feel to it then Prometheus, which seemed kind of hopeful and optimistic and ended with a “man, we done miss read this whole situation” (how about that for a review?). It seems intense and slightly claustrophobic (which is surprising since it looks to have a pretty large landscape. Perhaps it’s the way it was shot.). We have face huggers, familiar space ships, a crew out of their depth, running, exploding spines, and Michael Fassbender reprising his role as David the android (I assume), and just a glimpse, a terrifying glimpse, of a xenomorph. Enough to get me to make that “eeeeeeeeee” like excitement noise while watching. My only question is where is Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and will we still be dealing with the Engineers? Other then that I couldn’t be more excited for this film. It’s about time we get the Alien movie we deserve. Anything to erase thoughts of Resurrection from my mind… why did she have to have sex with it?! WTF was that?!!?! Sorry, sorry. Here’s the trailer to purge that from your memory bank.

2. The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher– Well 2016 just refused to leave us without kicking us in the proverbial sac one last time. The passing of Carrie Fisher really hit home as she was one of the first famous people so closely associated with my childhood to move on. As I’ve gotten older I appreciate and recognize the uniqueness of Princess Leia. She was a female character filmed in the late 70’s who wasn’t the damsel in distress but a badass leader who could hold her own with the male leads. Leia was strong, independent, brave, in control, and a breath of fresh air much like Fisher herself. Fisher was known best for her role as Princess Leia but was also naturally funny, witty, smart, flawed, and did great things for mental illness awareness. Her voice shall be greatly missed. What better way to say good-bye, while getting to learn more about her experience filming the first Star Wars movie, then her last book, The Princess Disarist. The book recounts some of her journal entries written during the filming of the movie as well as insight from an older/more experienced woman. I’m about 15% through and loving every moment of it.

3. Geoff Johns to write Watchmen/DC Crossover?- If you guys recall just last week I wrote about how fantastically amazing DC Rebirth #1 was (if you missed it you can find that column here, but I know you guys read it because you’re such good little Geeklings). Seriously though. It was my favorite single comic book issue of the year hence it’s place on the Best of 2016. If you didn’t avoid the spoilers section of the column (that’s my bad. For those of you still avoiding you might just want to stop reading this whole section here) then you saw that Rebirth opened the doors to a possible Watchmen/DC Universe crossover with Dr. Manhattan playing the villain role (insert jaw dropping emoji here) .Well, on New Years Day Geoff Johns posted this Tweet teasing his return to comics (Rebirth was supposed to be his swan song) and providing answers to just how Dr. Manhattan and the rest of the Watchmen fit into this new DC landscape. Since Rebirth started back in May this story line has been slow burning it’s way forward (most recent progress in the latest issue of Titans) so I am all types of pumped to learn that there will be some payoff coming in 2017. There is some huge potential here and Johns has a history of delivering on event comics (see Rebirth and Flashpoint as just two examples) and if anyone is going to do this story then it should be the guy who started it.

4. NFL Playoffs- It has been four years since I’ve had a rooting interest in the NFL playoffs but this years sees the return of my New York Football Giants to the post season, and I am all types of excited. The defense is peaking at the right time (defense wins championships), the running game could be coming together (Maybe? A little bit?), and Eli has proven that he has been worth every penny when it comes to clutch post season play. I don’t want to get ahead of myself as Green Bay is a tough opponent, but I’m just excited to see my team playing some extra football. There are a lot of teams to keep your eyes on (looking at you Kansas City… sorry Oakland) and a lot of fun and stress to be had. I know that I don’t spend a lot of time here talking about sports, but it’s a huge part of my life especially when it comes down to Giants football. It’ll be nothing but stress and excitement levels rising as we get closer to Sunday. One of my favorite feelings in the world.

There you have it Geeklings. I know we only did four spots but it’s a longer column then usual so I thought I’d let you off the hook (plus I couldn’t think of a solid fifth item). Here’s to 2017 kicking all types of ass and the expansion of I Am Geek. Be sure to tell your friends and spread the word. Let’s keep building this thing. Be sure to subscribe and keep your eyes open for more content. If you want to discuss anything from the Week In Geek you can find me on Twitter @iamgeek32 . Hit me up, love talking with you Geeklings.