Prometheus - Part 8

[DACrowe]

I don't know who sandy-462 of the IMDB boards is, but his nanotech explanation for the ooze, the Xenomorphs and everything else is very intricate and very compelling.



It is maybe a bit too neat. But the ooze appears to be capable of many things, so some sort of "elastic" explanation seems necessary at the moment.

No two people seem to exactly agree on what the ooze is, how the worms come in etc. I don't think anyone could argue that the explanation is obvious.

It's a neat theory, but I really don't think Lindelof and Scott were researching popular theories in science-fiction to find a catch-all technology that could explain the biological differences of not only their creatures but the creatures in all four of the previous original "Alien" films that gelled better with genetics.

In short, I think given this is a Hollywood movie written by the writer of Lost, the simpler answer is the more likely. The black goo is a biological substance meant to weaponize anything organic or biological it comes in touch with (human, worm, even other Engineers, etc.) and made to find the ability to reproduce itself when possible. Once it was in the insular womb of Shaw, it did create a way of reproducing itself in a more dangerous way (kind of like the nano theory), the engineers' "perfect organism,"....the xenomorph.

The only question I really have is if there is something specific that weaponizes the goo (like the small bit that David holds, puts in Holloway's drink, and looks similar to the "worm" in Holloway's eye later). Otherwise the goo is merely a bio substance that creates the proper environment for making life, such as when it is consumed as a non-weapon by the engineer at the beginning of the movie.

 

[THANOSRULES]

so many maybes and some folks are taking some big reaches on explanations for what the hell is going on.

Nannites suck..its almost as cliche to say "aw hell it was Nano0machines" as it is to say "Dues Ex Machina"..i think these writers are better than that explanation.

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

How much total do you guys think this movie will make? So far it's: $167,219,717 worldwide.

 

[Caekzor]

Hopefully enough for them to greenlight a sequel.

 

[Rowsdower!]

One thing that I'm not getting about this movie is the whole idea that

Spoiler

"the deacon" is the predecessor to the xenomorph. I could see why people would think that, but if so, why is the xenomorph part of the mural on the wall in the ship? Has anyone addressed this?

 

[TheOnlyOmega]

One thing that I'm not getting about this movie is the whole idea that

Spoiler

"the deacon" is the predecessor to the xenomorph. I could see why people would think that, but if so, why is the xenomorph part of the mural on the wall in the ship? Has anyone addressed this?

Spoiler

It could possibly be prophecy. For all we know, the Engineers created humans knowing that they would be needed in the breeding of a Xenomorph.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Yeah, that's a possibility I guess.

 

[matrix_ghost]

How much total do you guys think this movie will make? So far it's: $167,219,717 worldwide.

The budget is estimated at 130 million so in order for them to make a sequel , Prometheus must gross more then 260 million WW.

Also off topic.
But i'm hoping that Pacific Rim becomes a success. If that is the case , maybe Universal will decide to have another go at ATMOM.
But also promote the movie well.
No one can deny that Prometheus was marketed extremely well.

 

[dark_b]

do i remember right that all the dead engineers in their space suits had holes in their chest? what came out?

 

[spider-neil]

The budget is estimated at 130 million so in order for them to make a sequel , Prometheus must gross more then 260 million WW.

DVD/Blu ray sales are also a factor. Blade runner is getting a new movie and the original flopped but has had good VHS/DVD/Blu ray sales.

 

[dark_b]

 

[dark_b]

DVD/Blu ray sales are also a factor. Blade runner is getting a new movie and the original flopped but has had good VHS/DVD/Blu ray sales.

you think that the sequel is happening because after 20 years the studio maybe made a profit? t:

 

[Lord]

The budget is estimated at 130 million so in order for them to make a sequel , Prometheus must gross more then 260 million WW.

Also off topic.
But i'm hoping that Pacific Rim becomes a success. If that is the case , maybe Universal will decide to have another go at ATMOM.
But also promote the movie well.
No one can deny that Prometheus was marketed extremely well.

While Prometheus may have ruined any chance of an ATMOM movie, Pacific Rim may ruin any chance of a Godzilla or Evangelion movie

 

[spider-neil]

you think that the sequel is happening because after 20 years the studio maybe made a profit? t:

Either way I am happy, if there is a sequel I will watch it and if there isn't a sequel I got enough from Prometheus. I actually think Promotheus will do will on DVD/Blu ray.

1) It looks amazings and I think people will want to look at the visuals again

2) The people who avoided the movie because of WOM will be willing to give it chance on rental.

3) The people who watched it and were disappointed will want to see it again to confirm if they like it or not (I know I did when I saw Alien 3).

 

[TheVileOne]

While Prometheus may have ruined any chance of an ATMOM movie, Pacific Rim may ruin any chance of a Godzilla or Evangelion movie

You mean if Pacific Rim flops right .

Not like Evangelion was on the fast track or anything. Which is probably for the better.

 

[Mandalore464]

do i remember right that all the dead engineers in their space suits had holes in their chest? what came out?

Spoiler

When Millburn and Fifield come across the pile of dead bodies in the pyramid, they say that one of them has a hole in his chest.

I don't remember any other dead Engineer with his ribcage open.

 

[regwec]

So, is it true that the ending of this film kinda put the last nail on At the mountains of Madness coffin?
I haven't read the book,so I dont know why he said it, but I was looking forward to see what Del Toro would do with Lovecraft.

I don't understand this myself. ATMOM is similar in that the protagonists find a deserted "alien" city, deduce that those "aliens" had something to do with our creation, and then discover that the city isn't that deserted after all. Thematically, it has something in common with Prometheus, but the exposition (and where it takes the themes) is completely different. One of the most interesting things about Prometheus, for me, is that it comes up with the idea of humans who are still completely alien. They make us from them. In ATMOM, the Old Ones are about as different to us as a physical organism could be, and they make us by mistake or as a joke (which is foreshadowed by folk lore in the story). The climax of ATMOM is that the Old One's deadly servants, the Shuggoth, are still found to exist deep in a dark sea shore underneath the Antarctic. The climax of Prometheus sees our protagonist try to follow our creators home, to find out more.

Some similar themes, but very different stories. It would have been interesting to have both films side by side to compare.

"The Cult of Cthulhu" is probably more cinematic, anyway.

In short, I think given this is a Hollywood movie written by the writer of Lost, the simpler answer is the more likely. The black goo is a biological substance meant to weaponize anything organic or biological it comes in touch with (human, worm, even other Engineers, etc.) and made to find the ability to reproduce itself when possible. Once it was in the insular womb of Shaw, it did create a way of reproducing itself in a more dangerous way (kind of like the nano theory), the engineers' "perfect organism,"....the xenomorph.

I know what you mean, but I feel compelled to treat what is on screen on its own terms, rather than just shrug my shoulders and call it lazy writing.

I think the ooze has to be something very close to nano tech, even if it isn't quite that. The reason is that it is capable of so many different functions, and seems to have a basic "design" behind it (which the Engineers know about- see Xenomorph friezes), but to be able to apply that is numerous different ways.

The ooze has to be capable of overwriting DNA, and of forming new lifeforms. It also seems to be "programmable" to do something a bit different to the "creator" engineer- it tears him apart down to the DNA level, in preparation for new life to arise (not on the standard Xeno-model, but as the beginnings of animal life on Earth).

It also explains things like why the Xenos (and the supersquid) can grow quickly without eating- they can break down and reassemble anything at the atomic level.

Anyway, nano tech or something similar is that most satisfactory theory I have yet seen.

 

[dark_b]

i think del Toro was afraid that Prometheus would get phenomenal reviews and make a lot money (compared to action sumemr blockbusters). then if he would do the movie it would look bad for him.

but now that the reciews are in the middle and the movie is having normal BO drops things changed. so i think there is a big chance that in 5 years del Toro could direct the movie.

 

[regwec]

Maybe.

I'd like your opinions on the fact that the Engineers are clearly very different beings to the Space Jockey.

The Jockey is about 14'-16', with proportionally very long arms, and it is fairly clearly an organic creature with its skeleton being what the astronauts find.

The Engineers are human, about 8'-9' tall, with ordinary human proportions, albeit with very developed musculature. They wear suits and helmets that make them resemble Space Jockeys.

Either this is a massive and careless retcon, or I think that the Engineers have appropriated Jockey technology, and wear armour in imitation of them. Perhaps the Jockeys invented the ooze, and made the Engineers with it, and the Engineers used it to make us. Or the Engineers could be natural beings whom the Jockeys used as slaves, until they rebelled. The Xenos were probably made deliberately (hence the friezes), by one side or other.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I think that during the making of Alien, the designers didn't really think about who they were as compared to how they were seen as in this film. So they just created this seemingly skeletal creature. Then with this film, the designers made some modifications when they sat down and designed them. There are some differences, but I don't think they were meant to come off as completely different beings.

 

[chamber-music]

I don't know why Prometheus would stop a ATMOM movie getting made even if it is similar.

Hollywood puts out similar and knock off moives all the time. Hell alot of Hollywood summer tentpole movies are sequels and remakes these days anyway.

The real reason the studio didn't bak ATMOM was because Universal chairman Adam Fogelson and co-chair Donna Langley despite liking the movie didn't have the guts to greenlight it.

Atleast Fox was willing to gamble with Ridley and Prometheus making a R-rated semi prequel, semi spin off from the Alien franchise.

If anything if Prometheus was a box office smash hit I think it would of made Universal more willing to give the ok to make ATMOM. Del Toro's movie was in 3D, cost $150 million and had Tom Cruise starring in it.

If Universal are willing to put up cash for stuff like The Wolf Man which also cost $150 million to make and I think has far less appeal than a well made H.P. Lovecraft movie by a talented director starring an A-list leading man.$150 millionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wolfman_(2010_film)#cite_note-mojo-0

 

[Doctor Jones]

Yeah, after seeing Prometheus I just want to see Mountains even more. Because I really liked that screenplay.

 

[regwec]

I think that during the making of Alien, the designers didn't really think about who they were as compared to how they were seen as in this film. So they just created this seemingly skeletal creature. Then with this film, the designers made some modifications when they sat down and designed them. There are some differences, but I don't think they were meant to come off as completely different beings.

I'm not so sure. The fact that the Engineers' helmets are so obviously cranial, with a zygomatic ridge, seems to indicate that it is intended to represent a living thing. I don't find that problematic, because we have much attested history of warriors dressing as wild beasts on our own planet (Aztec jaguar warriors, Roman velites). Add to that the fact that the Engineers' skin stretched over their "armour", and you have an obvious case of bioengineering to look like something else. It's just a thought, but I like the notion of the Engineers appropriating the Jockey's culture, because that allows for the Jockey in "Alien" to remain the giant organic being it so obviously was meant to be.

 

[Eggyman]

In the holograms and looking at the drifts of bodies, you can see they are wearing the space suits, yet you will notice the suit pictured above from Prometheus has the suit as part of the chair, and the jockeys will sit into it and the helmet will come down. So there seems to be two different suits. Just something I noticed.

 

[regwec]

You're right, but the Jockey from "Alien" is also entirely physiologically different to the Engineers.

I just really hope that Ridley and co thought all this stuff out, rather than just hoping that no one would remember "Alien" that well.