Why don't the colonists wear spacesuits in Alien: Covenant?

Question

In the beginning of the Alien: Covenant movie, a group of colonists from the main ship make a landing on an unknown planet, which they found out accidentally after ship has been bombarded by an unknown wave from a star collapse and what bothers me, is that they don't wear any spacesuits, any protective gear, any air filter systems, just nothing.

Is that really the way future space expeditions gonna explore new possible planets presumed as possible habitable homes for humanity?

Every 5th grader knows, from the biology school lessons, that water, air, and even earth itself contains and gives life to a thousands of viruses, bacteria, and microorganisms.

You can breathe in bacteria, or virus, and be dead in a seconds.

Do film makers really suppose we will take it as realistic depiction of extraterrestrial expedition?

Reality check just screams out loud.

What do you think can be their motivation for such a decision?

Answer 1

In a comparative manner of speaking, when we look back at the expedition team in Prometheus, they removed their helmets as soon as they found the air to be breathable, without explicitly screening for pathogens.

Ford: Jesus. The sunlight is heating the water. Check out the humidity.

Charlie: Yeah, look at the CO2 levels. Outside it's completely toxic, and in here there's nothing. It's breathable.

Elizabeth: What are you doing? Charlie don't be an idiot.

Charlie: Hey don't be a skeptic. Right, there's something generating an atmosphere. David?

David: Dr. Holloway is correct.

Ford: Cleaner than Earth actually.

Charlie: They were terraforming here.

Elizabeth: Please don't do...

Charlie: I'm not wearing this thing anymore.

If this is how experts act like in the new Alien universe, a civilian team is naturally less prudent with safety.

However, Ford (the medic) did use the phrase "cleaner than Earth", and Charlie did check his instruments before removing his helmet. So giving them the benefit of doubt, we may assume their instruments screen for toxins and pathogens automatically, in addition to atmospheric composition.

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Fast-forward to Alien: Covenant.

Soon after they arrived at the planet:

Ricks: Tox level within tolerances.

Right after they have landed:

Mother: Confirming atmospheric composition. Oxygen 19.5%. Nitrogen 79.4%. Barometric pressure 15.4 Psi.

And... they opened the door.

That's pretty much it.

But in "Prologue: Last Supper" when the crew was toasting before cryo, Daniels mentioned that Covenant was the first ever large-scale colonization mission to come this far into our galaxy. This implied that there were likely to be smaller scale colonization missions previously, since a moment earlier Rosenthal said:

I heard about these crazy bugs just outside this colonial post. Apparently they look like cockroaches the size of a giant poodle.

So humanity have encountered alien life before. Thus it is safe to assume that they are aware of alien pathogens and there are protocols in place to deal with alien lifeforms. For instance, there is a Med Bay in the Lander and there are quarantine protocols to handle such infections... after they've been exposed, instead of prevention. After all, chances that alien pathogens being compatible with human physiology, are slim.

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Aside from in-universe explanations, removing helmets is an often-used artistic license just like doctors not wearing masks in films, to let the audience better see the face of the characters. Alien: Covenant is a survival horror movie, a science fiction, but not science documentary. Try not to pay too much attention to these things and enjoy the movie!

Answer 2

Suspension of disbelief.

Simply put, it is called suspension of disbelief, where one is expected

to suspend one's critical faculties and believe the unbelievable; sacrifice of realism and logic for the sake of enjoyment.

In-universe, you can claim that their equipment could scan for pathogens, bacteria, virus, but those need not be permanently present to be dangerous. They could get triggered (as they did in the film), they can have a life cycle (be nocturnal, for example), they can move around (carried by wind).

Logically, it is an insanely stupid idea to remove protective gear in unknown environments. However, if we could hardly see their expressions throughout the whole movie due to them having helmets, we wouldn't appreciate their acting so much. Also, the plot would have to be quite different as well (no early on-set attacks to drive the plot forward!).

Answer 3

Here is a simple answer:

Actors can have clear domed helmets to allow viewers to see their acting. Sharp objects can tear a space suit or the aliens can tear or use acid to penetrate a suit. No reason to make the protagonists into idiots just to get them infected.

Once one is infected they would have a quarantine procedure that they would have to follow and not be like hey we are in a hurry lets all get infected. Once again a good writer would come up with a plot device to have the infection overcome their quarantine.

Sadly most Hollywood pictures pay little attention to their writers and end up letting directors run mayhem with the plot just because they are focused on their visuals and not on a believable plot.

Answer 4

I disagree with people saying "if they had helmets on we couldn't see the actors faces". I recently re-watched "The Martian". In that movie they had helmets on at ALL times when outside of a habitat or vehicle. All they did was make it a big glass dome with lights inside to see the actors faces. In reality there was no helmet, it was added in during post-production so there were no reflections of green screens and camera crews.

Of course there is some suspension of disbelief. For me that is ignoring the fact that intergalactic space travel to an alien planet with black alien spores on it is happening 80 years from now.

A short dialogue about scanning the air and then agreeing it's safe to not wear a helmet would of been enough for me. To not even include that shows a disrespect for the audiences intelligence and lazy writing.

It's hard to ignore the big things if the little things aren't believable.