Prometheus - Part 7

[Teelie]

I did like the movie. It's not as good as Alien but still better than some of the more negative comments make it out to be.

This was not a direct tie-in to Alien, that much is obvious.

Spoiler

First, the Space Jockey was not in the chair, meaning it couldn't be the same one. Nor was this one fully suited up with the mask.
Second, the ship isn't impacted into the ground like the one from Alien. That one crashed as well but more likely from the chestburster popping out of the pilot's chest. The one we see in Prometheus also had lots of obvious human-based space ship debris around it.
Third, the pilot from Alien was petrified, like fossilization and definitely there longer than 30 years. We don't know the effects of the atmosphere on that planet and how it would effect fosslization but clearly a long time had past.
Fourth, the burster we saw was more of a proto-xenomorph and not a final or definite Xeno. It could of course advance further and become a queen or queen-like egg-layer but I don't get that impression. It's too dissimilar to what we see later.

It seems to me this is more likely something that happened at a similar outpost to Alien, possibly at the same time [blackout]2,000+ years ago[/blackout] as far as they could tell when it happened. More than likely they had a simultaneous or near simultaneous incident occur. Judging from the designation of the moon, probably in the same or a nearby system.

Spoiler

These Space Jockeys do seem to be quite over-confident in their ability to meddle with genetics and it came back to bite them in the ass with their own creation turning on them/getting loose. This could have been part of a broader overall plan of theirs that went too far in an unexpected direction to clear out their past "experiments."

Also, something related and seeing as this is 30 pages long (plus 7 threads) and I have no desire to re-read it all, did anyone else feel this could tie into The Thing? I don't believe it actually is meant to be but I watched The Thing prequel last night after seeing Prometheus and it occured to me how there's just enough similar premise there to make it work. It wouldn't take much to tie The Thing into this universe given what Prometheus shows and what we know now.

 

[DBryan]

Does anyone think there is an Asimov influence in Prometheus?

David resembles R. Daneel Olivaw.

The old man appearing in hologram form just like in Foundation.

Or is it coincidence?

 

[spider-neil]

Would I be correct in saying LV-426 isn't referred to by name in Alien?

 

[Eggyman]

Would I be correct in saying LV-426 isn't referred to by name in Alien?

I'm not sure, but it doesn't make a difference either way. If it is, then it is. If it isn't, then Ridley's used the same kinda thing Cameron did in Aliens so should have kept the same number if the planet is in fact the same one.

 

[Teelie]

There's a definite influence of Asimov. He's the influence for virtually all androids we see today. Later in Aliens the Three Laws are directly referenced. I'm also pretty sure it's been stated by Scott before that Asimov was an influence on him for the androids.

And LV-426 is not mentioned at all in Alien. It's not until Aliens we get that much, or the other informal name, Archeron (which I think only appears in the novelization).

 

[spider-neil]

I'm not sure, but it doesn't make a difference either way. If it is, then it is. If it isn't, then Ridley's used the same kinda thing Cameron did in Aliens so should have kept the same number if the planet is in fact the same one.

Definitely remember Ripley referring to the planet by name in the debriefing in Aliens but don't recall anyone naming the planet in Alien.

 

[TheVileOne]

Just kind of hard to believe they will make two sequels based on where this one went. I mean what happens in the next movie?

Can Shaw really survive in that Engineer ship even in their type of stasis pods? I mean can they make a compelling story of Shaw finding the Engineer planet and asking what's up? Wouldn't the Engineers basically vaporize her as soon she gets there or gets in front of them? Not sure how sequels will work going off of these threads.

 

[DoomsdayApex]

Just kind of hard to believe they will make two sequels based on where this one went. I mean what happens in the next movie?

Can Shaw really survive in that Engineer ship even in their type of stasis pods? I mean can they make a compelling story of Shaw finding the Engineer planet and asking what's up? Wouldn't the Engineers basically vaporize her as soon she gets there or gets in front of them? Not sure how sequels will work going off of these threads.

Really? Then you lack imagination. A few members in here already posted some fantastic ideas and angles in where Ridley could possibly take this trilogy.

 

[bullets]

They could go anywhere with the next film . It's wide open for a sequel .

 

[SuperSoldier985]

Spoiler

At first I was confused about the function of this black liquid, mainly because of the first scene where we see the engineer drinking it, but after considering things like the mural, the final scene and the 'hammerpedes' (snakes), I think the best explanation is that this oil is a seed that produces a Xenomorph when added to a lifeform.
Those hammerpedes had yellow acid for blood, just like every xeno we ever see, so they must be xenos themselves. The mural indicates that the engineers already knew that the oil would eventually produce humanoid xenos and face huggers, probably because they had already exposed it to humanoids in the past.
I don't believe Shaw's baby was a random mutation (that would most likely just kill the embryo, not turn it into a perfectly formed symmetrical squid baby). I believe the oil is supposed to sabotage the reproductive system in exactly the way it did with Holloway. It matches the later stages in the xeno's life cycle which also require hosts to reproduce. I think what happened to holloway and shaw happened to those worms from the vase room. Being worms they'd reproduce much faster, so they had already gone through the 'squid baby' phase and produced a chest burster (like at the end of the movie) by the time we see the hammerpedes. The process was slower with the humanoid victims, with the first chestburster not appearing until the end.
The zombie creating thing might just be a side effect used to help weaken the host population.
My thoughts are that this oil is a weapon you're meant to disperse across an entire atmosphere, infecting millions with a tiny amount. So all over the place you have creatures trying to reproduce but instead producing squid babies which populate the planet with xenos. While this is going on, you have the long term infected becoming zombies and attacking the survivors making it easier for the xenomorph population to grow. The End result is complete extinction of host species. But I did see some concept art that showed the Fifield zombie/mutant was originally going to look a bit more xeno like, almost like he was becoming one himself.

I think I'm liking this concept...

 

[SuperSoldier985]

Well, I'm glad you so precisely explained that for me.

What else do you need me to tell you?

 

[Asteroid-Man]

Ok that's it, Prometheus is [BLACKOUT]not a prequel[/BLACKOUT] to Alien.

Spoiler

It's a spinoff in an alternate timeline. The events of Prometheus and Alien are 100 years apart, and that's not enough time to fossilise a body. Not to mention the body wasn't left in the chair, nor was it even on the same planet. So lets say it happened on another planet in the same universe, it's got to be an alternate timeline because the Xenomorphs wouldn't have even been around.

Now there is a way to rectify this - if they introduce some sort of gas or something that can fossolise organic matter in a matter of 100 years at the beginning of the next part, and then at the end of said sequel to Prometheus, we see a Space Jockey in a ship get attacked by a facehugger, then it's fossolised, ok, I'll accept it as being apart of the same timeline. As it stands though, alternate timeline.

 

[Teelie]

Not necessarily. There are alternate ways to see this, like the fact that the original incident [blackout]took place at least 2000 years ago[/blackout] and could very well have just been one of many incidents. They [blackout]carbon-dated the head[/blackout] and it showed when this happened.

Spoiler

The stuff appears devious enough to get loose as it is. Making sense they'd only develop or ship this stuff on another solar body than their home planet or even their home system. That would give time for the spread of the Xenomorph population to other planets, however that occurs. It may also have been a different strain of the oil or mutated differently from contact with another Engineer. We also don't know just how long the petrification in Alien took. That's a totally alien planet, in an alien atmosphere with who knows what kind of effect on dead tissue.

Clearly it's related though as we have the prototype of this species with a primitive facehugger/embryo in the Hammerpedes which in turn grows into a literal bodyhugger before we get a primitive Xenomorph from the Engineer. This isn't the same one we saw in Alien but it is the same universe showing a similar incident.

Though Ridley Scott and Damon Lindelof both have indicated they'd diverge further from the Alien franchise to know for sure.

 

[TheOnlyOmega]

So, considering that Scott had an entire language made up for the engineers, would it be possible to translate the language? Futurama had an alien language in the background of some episodes that could be translated, that's where I thought of this. I'm sure some crazy good geeks can figure out the language. If it could be done, I'd assume theres a ton of information on those walls covered in symbols.

 

[DoomsdayApex]

SPOILERS

These pieces of concept art confirm that Ridley Scott and 20th Century Fox cut out 20-30 minutes worth of material (which probably much confirms a Director's Cut) from Prometheus.

http://www.prometheusforum.net/discussion/1646

 

[Kane52630]

SPOILERS

These pieces of concept art confirm that Ridley Scott and 20th Century Fox cut out 20-30 minutes worth of material (which probably much confirms a Director's Cut) from Prometheus.

http://www.prometheusforum.net/discussion/1646

Wow.

 

[Team Andino]

Ok that's it, Prometheus is [BLACKOUT]not a prequel[/BLACKOUT] to Alien.

Spoiler

It's a spinoff in an alternate timeline. The events of Prometheus and Alien are 100 years apart, and that's not enough time to fossilise a body. Not to mention the body wasn't left in the chair, nor was it even on the same planet. So lets say it happened on another planet in the same universe, it's got to be an alternate timeline because the Xenomorphs wouldn't have even been around.

Now there is a way to rectify this - if they introduce some sort of gas or something that can fossolise organic matter in a matter of 100 years at the beginning of the next part, and then at the end of said sequel to Prometheus, we see a Space Jockey in a ship get attacked by a facehugger, then it's fossolised, ok, I'll accept it as being apart of the same timeline. As it stands though, alternate timeline.

Spoiler

The ship from Alien has already crashed and fossilized, remember the hologram of the Space Jockies running was 2,000 years before Prometheus, besides they never even went to the planet from Alien they went to it's moon if I remember correctly. There's a lot left to learn and know but it's not as messed up as you think it is.

 

[Wolfwood]

As Elba's character speculates

Spoiler

The place was some kind of military base where they worked on WMDs, it's very likely there were other bases on other planets working on similar projects. And seeing as how **** went bad for them, it probably went bad elsewhere.

 

[roach]

Ok that's it, Prometheus is [BLACKOUT]not a prequel[/BLACKOUT] to Alien.

Spoiler

It's a spinoff in an alternate timeline. The events of Prometheus and Alien are 100 years apart, and that's not enough time to fossilise a body. Not to mention the body wasn't left in the chair, nor was it even on the same planet. So lets say it happened on another planet in the same universe, it's got to be an alternate timeline because the Xenomorphs wouldn't have even been around.

Now there is a way to rectify this - if they introduce some sort of gas or something that can fossolise organic matter in a matter of 100 years at the beginning of the next part, and then at the end of said sequel to Prometheus, we see a Space Jockey in a ship get attacked by a facehugger, then it's fossolised, ok, I'll accept it as being apart of the same timeline. As it stands though, alternate timeline.

the planet they went to in Prometheus is not the same planet from Alien

 

[Marvolo]

I'm sorry but are people really this thick? Its not that complicated! Scott has already said that they are planning two more films and that the third film will bring it full circle with Alien and that could change. This trilogy may never show what happened on the Alien planet. I'm fine with that. We can infer something went wrong. The purpose of the Prometheus trilogy seems to be exploring the engineers and the rise of the xenomorph. That's far more interesting than a narrow story about one ship and one planet from Alien. This film isn't a direct prequel but neither is it an alternate universe/timeline. This wasnt the same ship or planet. You got two more films to go. Lots can happen.

Come on people do pay attention when you watch a film.

 

[elsewhere]

SPOILERS

These pieces of concept art confirm that Ridley Scott and 20th Century Fox cut out 20-30 minutes worth of material (which probably much confirms a Director's Cut) from Prometheus.

http://www.prometheusforum.net/discussion/1646

That's interesting. I still don't think a Director's Cut will improve the film by much, but I'm willing to give it a go.

 

[SuperSoldier985]

That's interesting. I still don't think a Director's Cut will improve the film by much, but I'm willing to give it a go.

Based on what?

Most director's cuts I've seen have done a really good job.

 

[elsewhere]

Based on what?

Most director's cuts I've seen have done a really good job.

Based on how terrible Prometheus already is.

 

[Lord]

Based on how terrible Prometheus already is.

If you don't like how the film was already then you probably won't like the Director's cut either.

 

[Liam_H]

Never say never, Kingdom of Heaven went from forgettable to near masterpiece for some.