*Spoilers* for Prometheus

@myketuna: Lol, ya well there are overtones of maternity and the mother child dynamic throughout the Alien series. However I think that Prometheus has taken it to an entirely different level from the other films. It is just so much more intelligent and just better.

@myketuna: In response to the Predators thing (and someone tell me if I get into "blasphemous" territory here), but this movie kinda doesn't jive with what Alien vs. Predator added to the fiction. Now, I know what a lot of people are thinking, "Why are you even mentioning that movie?" But (so far as I know), that's part of the fiction, right?

Anyway, AvP was pretty clear about how it was the Predators that helped out early mankind with regards to pyramids, math, etc, but Prometheus makes it look like it's the Space Jockeys that did that stuff (beyond the obvious mankind creation stuff). Also, the Predators had a stockpile of xenomorphs on Earth (or at least that Queen), and that stuff doesn't seem to jive with Prometheus.

And cue someone telling me AvP isn't canon, or something along those lines. James Cameron thought it was "pretty good," just saying.

Really great answers @boj4ngles.

My interpretation of why David inserted the liquid into Holloway's drink is that he was programmed to carry out Weyland's mission: to find the engineers, answers about humanity's existence, and consequently the "cure" for mortality. Weyland believed (or hoped) that the engineers must have unlocked the secret to immortality because they had created humanity. I think that David probably thought the liquid in the capsules/canisters was possibly the key to rejuvenation and creation of life, and so he tested it on Holloway. David asks him if he is willing to sacrifice everything to know the truth, and Holloway says he is. "Great things come from small beginnings."

@MooseyMcMan: Ridley Scott refuses to recognize AvP. He finds it's existence offensive.

@TentPole: I know he created the series, but I gotta side with James Cameron on this one.

@MooseyMcMan: I side with Ridley because the AvP movies are shit.

@TentPole: They're not that bad.

@VierasTalo: @VierasTalo said:

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

Prometheus happens on a different planet than Alien. Hence, different ship altogether.

This.

It is confirmed.

Just saw it and enjoyed it but the plot is a mess

@dennisthemennis said:

Really great answers @boj4ngles.

My interpretation of why David inserted the liquid into Holloway's drink is that he was programmed to carry out Weyland's mission: to find the engineers, answers about humanity's existence, and consequently the "cure" for mortality. Weyland believed (or hoped) that the engineers must have unlocked the secret to immortality because they had created humanity. I think that David probably thought the liquid in the capsules/canisters was possibly the key to rejuvenation and creation of life, and so he tested it on Holloway. David asks him if he is willing to sacrifice everything to know the truth, and Holloway says he is. "Great things come from small beginnings."

What you suggest seems to make sense yet I feel reluctant to speculate very much on David's programming. We seem to know for certain that Weyland instructed David to find the engineers, because after David finds one, his first action (if I remember correctly) is to awaken Weyland. I strongly believe that David knew he was infecting Holloway with a potentially lethal element. That would mean that Weyland told David the lives of the crew were expendable. This I can accept coming from Weyland, but then how many crew members are expendable? Was David just going to keep on experimenting until there was no one left? And why the apparent ethical constraint that David must overcome before infection? Wouldn't Weyland's programming override ethical consideration? Your suggestion is certainly the logical one, but I feel like my instincts are telling me that someway, somehow, David was making completely independent decisions.

And here's another thing to consider. Did David realize that the ooze was a weapon (after the infection), but neglect to tell anyone including Weyland? Did he know that the engineer would have a hostile reaction to Weyland?

The film is a mess. First act is easily the best because it's when the film carries infinite promise, and just asking questions willy-nilly without providing answers is permissible. But it fails to execute well on anything it sets up, not just the actual questions it asks but the larger unspoken themes as well, and the way it periodically regresses to cheesy horror undermines the big picture stuff it's trying to do.

Seeing the movie was worth it just to see the sick space suits. How much do I have to pay to get one of the sexy helmets?

@Buckwatters said:

So I just finished watching Prometheus (midnight showing on the west coast), and one thing is bothering me, did Ridley Scott retcon "Alien?" The ending of Prometheus does not have the space jockey in the chair that the audience sees it sitting on in the beginning of Alien, but rather in another ship altogether. I'm wondering what you guys think of this? Am I over-analyzing the ending or did Scott mess up the ending to Prometheus?

...or, was that scene inserted by the studio? Sorry, that thought just popped into my head.

It is heavily implied that the planet in Prometheus is just one of many sites being used to create weapons of mass destruction. Biological weapons at that. The alien at the end of Prometheus looks very similar to the Xenomorph, but is is very clearly not a Xenomorph. It is a different experiment that backfired on the Space Jockeys. We could assume that the ship in Alien was on its way to deliver its deadly cargo to another planet when the Xenomorhps somehow got loose and killed all the Space Jockeys, causing the ship to crash land.

Two similar incidents, on two different worlds.

Movie was so amazing it cleaned that horrible Avengers trash from my soul.

How did the biologist and geologist get lost anyway? I'll accept the dumb horror convention of them separating from the group, because if I object to dumb horror conventions then this whole movie is shot, but they shouldn't have gotten lost. The geologist sent like a half dozen floating drones first to map the whole place out. Didn't they receive topographical data from said drones? And even if they didn't, Idris Elba had a full holomap back on the ship. Why didn't they contact him earlier and get directions from him?

@myketuna: In response to the Predators thing (and someone tell me if I get into "blasphemous" territory here), but this movie kinda doesn't jive with what Alien vs. Predator added to the fiction. Now, I know what a lot of people are thinking, "Why are you even mentioning that movie?" But (so far as I know), that's part of the fiction, right?

Anyway, AvP was pretty clear about how it was the Predators that helped out early mankind with regards to pyramids, math, etc, but Prometheus makes it look like it's the Space Jockeys that did that stuff (beyond the obvious mankind creation stuff). Also, the Predators had a stockpile of xenomorphs on Earth (or at least that Queen), and that stuff doesn't seem to jive with Prometheus.

And cue someone telling me AvP isn't canon, or something along those lines. James Cameron thought it was "pretty good," just saying.

@boj4ngles said:

@dennisthemennis said:

Really great answers @boj4ngles.

My interpretation of why David inserted the liquid into Holloway's drink is that he was programmed to carry out Weyland's mission: to find the engineers, answers about humanity's existence, and consequently the "cure" for mortality. Weyland believed (or hoped) that the engineers must have unlocked the secret to immortality because they had created humanity. I think that David probably thought the liquid in the capsules/canisters was possibly the key to rejuvenation and creation of life, and so he tested it on Holloway. David asks him if he is willing to sacrifice everything to know the truth, and Holloway says he is. "Great things come from small beginnings."

"Snip"

I agree with both of you. However him acting as an individual or by orders of Weyland. I think near the start when David is watching the movies and decides to quote them and more so...decides to bleach his hair. This throws the thoughts that...maybe ....maybe...just maybe. David has gone peculiar with his two years isolation. Not like a human, however which his learning and self improvement he had no humans to bounce off of. So he developed in the way he wanted and this may have changed him. When he talks to Space Jockey. He may have decided upon himself to doom the mission at that point and said "We are here to kill you. surrender and die quietly." he may have said "I am being held against my will. Kill the others!" and it all didn't go so well. Maybe he did simply say "We come in peace, we would like to get to know you."

Since David did seem to act very very interdependently not realy Weylands interests independent. I started to get a feeling of David wanting to preserve himself and interact with the Space Jockeys/Engineers as equals or betters. Instead of "stupid" humans that belittled him as a synthetic.

Infact. Maybe the Space Jockey realized David was a Synthetic and took offense.

@MooseyMcMan said:

@myketuna: In response to the Predators thing (and someone tell me if I get into "blasphemous" territory here), but this movie kinda doesn't jive with what Alien vs. Predator added to the fiction. Now, I know what a lot of people are thinking, "Why are you even mentioning that movie?" But (so far as I know), that's part of the fiction, right?

Anyway, AvP was pretty clear about how it was the Predators that helped out early mankind with regards to pyramids, math, etc, but Prometheus makes it look like it's the Space Jockeys that did that stuff (beyond the obvious mankind creation stuff). Also, the Predators had a stockpile of xenomorphs on Earth (or at least that Queen), and that stuff doesn't seem to jive with Prometheus.

And cue someone telling me AvP isn't canon, or something along those lines. James Cameron thought it was "pretty good," just saying.

OH GOD! You had to throw that spanner into it! I was forgetting AVP the movies. Those simply cannot work into it. Well it depends on how the Xenomorph is later explained.

Since the Space Jockeys/Engineers. Created human life at least. They didnt nurture them, so that opens up that the Predators (Initiate geek mode 3..2...1 AKA Yautja) could have nurtered humanity. I never ever liked that story.

If like someone said here. The Alien shown at the end was a something like the Alien we know, however it was just failed experiment. Its always been thought that the Alien took on properties of its hosts. Like the Predalien...which wasnt introduced in AVP Requiem instead AVP the video games, which are considered cannon. Maby it was was different Bio ooze and its another set of Bio ooze and circumstances that leads to the Alien we know. Maby this Black ooze will always create the things it created. While others would make different things?

However.....I am inclined to ignore AVP 1 and 2....however....I do consider the game Predator Concrete jungle canon...except that does actually bleed into the AVP story more.

Basics of Concrete jungle, Predator hunts on earth in LA 1930s fails and blows up his ship. Except not all his tech was destroyed. So he is extracted and exiled on a hostile planet. A 1930s gangster family got the tech and became kingpins untill LA 2030. When the same Predator comes back to set thing straight.

It tells of the two companies Weyland and Yutani coming together taking over the destroyed Borgia? Family company and getting all its secrets. Which Weyland had Xenomorphs cloned from the ones found in Antarctica in 2001 movie AVP. I suppose we should right off all things to do with AVP the movie.

Aside from now horribly wrong comics of aliens which had Space jockeys as a variety of things. One thing was giant elephant people.

AVP games hold truer to a more believable canon. The AVP games had people talk about them as legend and myths from what they discovered from ruins. Such as the info Space Jockeys were master Bio Engineers, they created the Xenomorph as a bio weapon.

I think from the pure stance that...Paul W.S Anderson cant make a movie for shit and even make a lick of sense between them E.G Resident Evil. Id say ignore them. If it wasnt for Paul W.S Anderson and the first AVP. Id probably hold AVP:R in a higher regard, that one was better done still suffered by setting it modern day and such.

PS The film Predators...totally canon...dosnt effect Alien universe. However that stands up. Yautja are a nomadic hunter race. So two different factions ala Clan or species fits well.

@Akyho: I would argue that the inclusion of Lance Henriksen and that the acting of AvP:R is atrocious (instead of merely mediocre, as in AvP) makes AvP the better film, but whatever.

I knew people wouldn't react well to my bringing up those movies (though in all fairness, I only mentioned one of them), so I'll rescind my previous comments. I'll still consider them canon because (as a fan of ridiculousness), I like convolution, so yeah.

And I will also say that I enjoyed Predators a lot. I'd say more than Prometheus, but I don't want to go down the path of trying to argue Alien (or "Star Beast," as I've decided I want to refer to it after reading that was the working title when the script was being written) films versus Predator films.

Also, as soon as someone drops the "Yautja," I know I'm in over my head in terms of the fiction. All I know are the movies, and little tidbits I've read on Wikipedia.

@MooseyMcMan said:

@myketuna: In response to the Predators thing (and someone tell me if I get into "blasphemous" territory here), but this movie kinda doesn't jive with what Alien vs. Predator added to the fiction. Now, I know what a lot of people are thinking, "Why are you even mentioning that movie?" But (so far as I know), that's part of the fiction, right?

Anyway, AvP was pretty clear about how it was the Predators that helped out early mankind with regards to pyramids, math, etc, but Prometheus makes it look like it's the Space Jockeys that did that stuff (beyond the obvious mankind creation stuff). Also, the Predators had a stockpile of xenomorphs on Earth (or at least that Queen), and that stuff doesn't seem to jive with Prometheus.

And cue someone telling me AvP isn't canon, or something along those lines. James Cameron thought it was "pretty good," just saying.

I have a strong suspicion that Ridley Scott wasn't thinking about the AvP movies at all when he made this movie. I suspect that you know a lot more about them than he does. Therefore, any attempt on your part to inject that fiction in to you interpretation of Prometheus is probably going to cause more confusion than resolution. They seem like two completely separate artistic projects.

Besides, wasn't Peter Weyland a character in the first AvP movie who was later killed? That seems like a pretty blatant contradiction that would mean AvP and Prometheus cannot exist in the same universe.

@MooseyMcMan said:

@Akyho: I would argue that the inclusion of Lance Henriksen and that the acting of AvP:R is atrocious (instead of merely mediocre, as in AvP) makes AvP the better film, but whatever.

I knew people wouldn't react well to my bringing up those movies (though in all fairness, I only mentioned one of them), so I'll rescind my previous comments. I'll still consider them canon because (as a fan of ridiculousness), I like convolution, so yeah.

And I will also say that I enjoyed Predators a lot. I'd say more than Prometheus, but I don't want to go down the path of trying to argue Alien (or "Star Beast," as I've decided I want to refer to it after reading that was the working title when the script was being written) films versus Predator films.

Also, as soon as someone drops the "Yautja," I know I'm in over my head in terms of the fiction. All I know are the movies, and little tidbits I've read on Wikipedia.

Oh yes AvP:R's acting it terrible. However i enjoy it since I think of it as Alien versus Predator and the Predator is the main character while all badly acted humans are simply there to be splattered against the walls in a variety of ways. Ideally I would want an AVP movie with zero humans and follow the Predators view.. Which AVP:R almost is. Secondly I would want AVP in space with the Colonial marines if you must have humans...not some forest town.

I personally am a bigger Predator fan. It also helps that the standards and direction of the movies were kept up better than with Alien. Granted for decades there was only 2 films. However I am still vested in Alien mostly since Predators universe is now so combined.

flashing back...I am seeing a number of Parallels with AVP and Prometheus. Except I look back at AVP and find a badly written and acted horror movie. With Prometheus I look back and think a well done, greatly acted, great looking, decent(note decent) story, in a very good Sci Fi film.

@boj4ngles: No, it was Charles Bishop (get it, Bishop?) Weyland in AvP. He could very easily be the father or uncle of old-man-guy Pierce Weyland in Prometheus, but as you say, trying to compare the two probably wouldn't work well.

Edit: Or maybe grandfather, I dunno.

Edit II: @Akyho:

Yeah, I see where you're coming at with regards to AvP:R. I also agree with preferring the Predator movies, by which I mainly mean Predator, because I absolutely love that movie. Predator 2 is all right, just not the classic that Predator 1 is.

Edit III: Maybe it's worth mentioning that right now I'm watching a Syfy Channel (I hate that "new" name) Original "Movie" called "Jersey Shore Shark Attack," so that should give you guys a good idea about the kinds of things I watch. (No, I don't watch Jersey Shore the TV show.)

@MooseyMcMan said:

@boj4ngles: No, it was Charles Bishop (get it, Bishop?) Weyland in AvP. He could very easily be the father or Uncle of old-man-guy Pierce Weyland in Prometheus, but as you say, trying to compare the two probably wouldn't work well.

Yeah, I was talking with friends after watching Prometheus. Which alot of the above info I have said I said to them and they were already alot less involved in the Alien universe than alot of us here. We were talking about Guy Peirce who was Peter Weyland, we couldn't figure we he was in the movie,

I had thought they he was David, they said no that was Micheal Fasbender. I interjected saying about Weyland in AVP and Alien 3 the resemblance of Weyland to the android Bishop. My friend said "Who says anyone especially Ridley Scott acknowledges AVP." I then went "You are right. I dont even."

IMDB ofcourse showed He was Pete Weyland and all resemblance to David was just me thinking Bishop and Weyland.

I'm not very familiar with the Alien franchise; I've seen Alien, Aliens, and now Prometheus, but haven't spent much time contemplating the characters' ulterior intentions and nuances. However, here are a couple of my thoughts on Prometheus.

You have a species of unknown origin, the "Space Jockeys." These beings have a penchant for modifying organic lifeforms, and occasionally creating them; "engineering" them, if you will. They designed the Xenomorphs as a biological weapon, whether as defense against a so-far unknown threat, or as a "reset" mechanism, which I'll get into in a bit. In the control room aboard the alien vessel, David activates a map displaying several different planets, one of which is Earth. I believe these are planets the SJs have seeded with various engineered lifeforms.

On Earth, these SJ-designed creatures called human beings are thriving, and even creating their own life (David). Why? "Because [they] can." Creativity presses against the confines of the universe, and when there is no more space the existing must be destroyed to make way for more creativity. If the Xenomorphs are really a reset control, they are sent in the cargo bay of SJ ships to planets that have been "impregnated" with designed life to wipe out that life and start again. Or maybe the Xenomorphs were simply the replacement for humans. When the human experiment had run its course, Xs were to be planted in their stead. The Xs were in jars rather than eggs because they were loaded for transport, not birthed.

The fluid in said jars contained SJ DNA contaminated with X. As SJ DNA was identical to human, this would allow quick and easy assimilation with, and eventual destruction of the humans on Earth. David slipped some to Holloway to test the effects before allowing Weyland to be infected. When Holloway impregnated Shaw, the embryo was one of the mega-Facehuggers, whatever those are. The octopi-like head and tentacles of the C-sectioned creature are very similar to the thing that killed(?) the remaining SJ. Actually, I just read that a super-Facehugger was planned for Alien 3 but cut at the last minute. Guess what? That super-Facehugger was written as the origin of Alien Queens. I'm guessing that was retconned into Prometheus since a Queen does indeed burst from the SJ.

Why was the SJ ship waiting on the planet? Were they waiting for the proper moment to carry out their plans of resetting Earth? Some were in their cryo-pods, but the projections showed others running. Why? No Xs were loose in the ship apparently. In fact, all of the known Xs were in the room the SJs were running into when one of them doesn't entirely make it, and in other bays like it.

When the humans and the sole surviving SJ met, violence ensued, but the SJ still activated the ship's controls. What was supposed to be a gun in Alien was actually a control panel surrounded by a projected map, identical to the one Prometheus found. Did he assume that the humans would take offense to his mission of obliteration and try to stop him? Was he trying to continue his work by taking off toward Earth?

Like I said, I've not spent much time looking into this universe, but I find it fascinating.

The series explores the act of creation, the deification of creators, the disillusionment about the purpose of the created, and the possible futility of creativity in ways not often pursued by science fiction. I may not agree with many of the designers' conclusions, but it's really very compelling.

I just saw it and my advice is: wait for it on Betamax.

Its basically Alien fan fiction, don’t pay more than 2,50$ to watch that.

@Encephalon said:

How did the biologist and geologist get lost anyway? I'll accept the dumb horror convention of them separating from the group, because if I object to dumb horror conventions then this whole movie is shot, but they shouldn't have gotten lost. The geologist sent like a half dozen floating drones first to map the whole place out. Didn't they receive topographical data from said drones? And even if they didn't, Idris Elba had a full holomap back on the ship. Why didn't they contact him earlier and get directions from him?

The drones sent information to the ship, they didn't have access to the information personally. They got lost because they caught up in exploring before the Captain told them that there was a lifeform down there with them, and then they got scared as shit. They were also high.

@believer258 said:

@Akyho said:

THERE ARE NO ANSWERS RIGHT NOW. We can only have theories.

So I spent two hours watching a movie that asks many questions with few vague answers?

That means that Ridley Scott has failed as a moviemaker.

This is a bit on an aside, but I would not seek a profession in film criticism if this is how you view movies.

This movie was trash.

It was a reboot and tweak of the original movie with some other stuff thrown in. It was good entertainment. By some of the arguments in here you would think we were talking about some rich, deep, lore like LOTR or something. Thissums it all up nicely imo.

@mlarrabee said:

Snip

Why was the SJ ship waiting on the planet? Were they waiting for the proper moment to carry out their plans of resetting Earth? Some were in their cryo-pods, but the projections showed others running. Why? No Xs were loose in the ship apparently. In fact, all of the known Xs were in the room the SJs were running into when one of them doesn't entirely make it, and in other bays like it.

Snip

You said everything I have said alot better than I did.

This part. I think is actualy a bigger thing no one has actually asked. What killed the Space Jockeys? They found a huge stack of bodies at a door as if they were running, locked out and then died. Was there a few burst chests? I cant remember. More so the holo recording of them first running away. The last one falls to its knees and fall face down for the door to cut its head off.

We have absolutely no idea what was going.

Also yes. Super-face hugger. I had forgotten about that. I dont know too much, However I do remember mention's of it in the past. Since then there has been a change of how a queen comes about. As Aliens are treated as hive creatures. Its taken that when the Queen dies the next best would mutate into a Queen. These ones are Praetorian. Larger and exclusively guardians of the queen. If the queen dies one will molt and become the new queen. Other fiction dictates that a specialized Praetorian Face hugger must be hatched and take a host in order to create a Praetorian and thusly a queen in the end.

However at the very start a super-face hugger could be possible.

Plus thinking back. The Xenomorph bursts out of the Space jockey. Almost fully formed, It has a diffrent mouth than we recognize. It opens up and then disjoints his inner mouth and protrudes to hint at what mouth we all know and fear. I was contemplating if the mouth was to become like the Queen's, You know how the mouth and head are independent from the giant crest.

However the proto-alien vastly diffrent so far that its hard to tell.

There is debates going on int he comments of that video (ofcourse) however people are mentioning the murals in the "altar" room with all the vases, Depicted Aliens exactly like this one. I need to find some sources and check as i can remember.

Edit: Here we go. the mural in the vase room. http://pixelapocalypse.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/prometheus_Alien.png

It basically looks like a Xenomorph....

@Meowshi: They weren't interested in exploring. They specifically said they were returning to the ship because they were scared. Then they proceeded to get lost despite ready access to a complete 3d map, when everyone else got out just fine, and even got out the second time with a sick Halloway in tow. Also neither group knew what was up with the other until after the storm hit, despite their ability to communicate instantly via radio. It's not sensible at all, it's just lazy writing, the same type of lazy writing that always shows up in horror films to deliver minor characters into the maw of death.

@Meowshi said:

@believer258 said:

@Akyho said:

THERE ARE NO ANSWERS RIGHT NOW. We can only have theories.

So I spent two hours watching a movie that asks many questions with few vague answers?

That means that Ridley Scott has failed as a moviemaker.

This is a bit on an aside, but I would not seek a profession in film criticism if this is how you view movies.

I don't plan to be a film critic, but the fact remains that Prometheus introduces a lot of things that it doesn't answer, or at least doesn't answer very well.

I think Ridley said that it wasn't intended to be the same planet as in Alien.

@believer258 said:

@Meowshi said:

@believer258 said:

@Akyho said:

THERE ARE NO ANSWERS RIGHT NOW. We can only have theories.

So I spent two hours watching a movie that asks many questions with few vague answers?

That means that Ridley Scott has failed as a moviemaker.

This is a bit on an aside, but I would not seek a profession in film criticism if this is how you view movies.

I don't plan to be a film critic, but the fact remains that Prometheus introduces a lot of things that it doesn't answer, or at least doesn't answer very well.

That is not a flaw.

@Akyho: I actually forgot entirely about that stack of bodies. I think I remember someone in the film commenting that some of the heads were burst open, which would imply that at least some of the SJs were infected.

I wonder if the ship landed there for some unknown reason and set up shop, as evidenced by the underground bunker with maintained atmosphere. But before the time came for their mission, an outbreak occurred. Somehow they managed to contain it, but not before losing most of the crew (the neatly piled bodies with telltale signs of Xenomorph infection). Since David activates the projection of SJs running, from high on a wall, it seems analogous to a security camera recording what took place during the outbreak. Perhaps that was even the initial incident. After the "successful" containment event, the remaining four(?) SJs return to the control room where they play with their holocomputer before heading to bed. Although I don't think we were ever shown the inside of the other three cryo-chambers.

Complete conjecture, I've no idea what I'm talking about.

@mlarrabee said:

@Akyho: I actually forgot entirely about that stack of bodies. I think I remember someone in the film commenting that some of the heads were burst open, which would imply that at least some of the SJs were infected.

I wonder if the ship landed there for some unknown reason and set up shop, as evidenced by the underground bunker with maintained atmosphere. But before the time came for their mission, an outbreak occurred. Somehow they managed to contain it, but not before losing most of the crew (the neatly piled bodies with telltale signs of Xenomorph infection). Since David activates the projection of SJs running, from high on a wall, it seems analogous to a security camera recording what took place during the outbreak. Perhaps that was even the initial incident. After the "successful" containment event, the remaining four(?) SJs return to the control room where they play with their holocomputer before heading to bed. Although I don't think we were ever shown the inside of the other three cryo-chambers.

Complete conjecture, I've no idea what I'm talking about.

The four Space Jockeys that run into the room are the ones that are in the cryo pods. Lucky the last dude was left behind or else they would have to fight for the last cryo pod....Some folks else were commented that saw the three cryo pods had chest's burst open. I cant recall. However your theory is the one we seem to be lead to.

@Alex said:

I think Ridley said that it wasn't intended to be the same planet as in Alien.

It takes a while but everyone comes around and find's that out. This planet is LV-223. While Alien takes place on LV-426. Which as the ending shows, the events that lead into Alien are completely and utterly separate. Meaning we still dont know. We just know more about Space Jockeys and a bit more of the origin of the Xenomorphs. Other than that wait for the sequel.

If people believe the films pictures over people telling them. This picture shows the ship from alien in a different way than at the end of Prometheus. http://content6.flixster.com/editorial/10/24/60/10246080_gal.jpg

However considering the utterly divided response, we may not get one.

I never got into LOST, but I now feel like I've experienced it in microcosm.

@TentPole said:

@believer258 said:

@Meowshi said:

@believer258 said:

@Akyho said:

THERE ARE NO ANSWERS RIGHT NOW. We can only have theories.

So I spent two hours watching a movie that asks many questions with few vague answers?

That means that Ridley Scott has failed as a moviemaker.

This is a bit on an aside, but I would not seek a profession in film criticism if this is how you view movies.

I don't plan to be a film critic, but the fact remains that Prometheus introduces a lot of things that it doesn't answer, or at least doesn't answer very well.

That is not a flaw.

How is a plot that leaves a whole bunch of unanswered questions not a flaw?

Regardless of that, here's my quick amateur opinion of everything else: The pacing is badly off, the characters are mostly idiots (hey, alien-cobra thingy!), the plot has some random events (Space zombie?), some things don't make any sense, and the tone is inconsistent (did you want to be cheap horror or not?)

I'm not saying that the movie is completely bad - the acting is magnificent, the special effects are gorgeous, and some scenes are pretty interesting. But for me, its flaws strongly outweigh its pros.

@believer258 said:

@TentPole said:

@believer258 said:

@Meowshi said:

@believer258 said:

@Akyho said:

THERE ARE NO ANSWERS RIGHT NOW. We can only have theories.

So I spent two hours watching a movie that asks many questions with few vague answers?

That means that Ridley Scott has failed as a moviemaker.

This is a bit on an aside, but I would not seek a profession in film criticism if this is how you view movies.

I don't plan to be a film critic, but the fact remains that Prometheus introduces a lot of things that it doesn't answer, or at least doesn't answer very well.

That is not a flaw.

How is a plot that leaves a whole bunch of unanswered questions not a flaw?

Regardless of that, here's my quick amateur opinion of everything else: The pacing is badly off, the characters are mostly idiots, the plot has some random events (Space zombie?), some things don't make any sense, and the tone is inconsistent (did you want to be cheap horror or not?)

I'm not saying that the movie is completely bad - the acting is magnificent, the special effects are gorgeous, and some scenes are pretty interesting. But for me, its flaws strongly outweigh its pros.

Um...the first Alien movie left the same questions. The only facts were everybody except Ripley and the cat Jonesy are dead. Know nothing of the alien pilot and know nothing of the xenomorph. If anything Ridley Scott failed in 1979. Aliens failed again, except introduced hive and Queen. Alien 3 introduced the concept of it was more dog like since it was birthed from a dog. Alien Resurrection did nothing.

With that track record of even less questions being answered and Prometheus comes round and answer's a bunch. Except that just creates more questions. I think Ridley Scott is making up for 30 years ago. If having more questions than answered is a fault in film making. Then so many films are culprits.

@believer258 said:

@Meowshi said:

@believer258 said:

@Akyho said:

THERE ARE NO ANSWERS RIGHT NOW. We can only have theories.

So I spent two hours watching a movie that asks many questions with few vague answers?

That means that Ridley Scott has failed as a moviemaker.

This is a bit on an aside, but I would not seek a profession in film criticism if this is how you view movies.

I don't plan to be a film critic, but the fact remains that Prometheus introduces a lot of things that it doesn't answer, or at least doesn't answer very well.

This is what is known as a film "asking questions". it presents ideas and asks you to stretch yourself just as you ask questions for it to provide answers to.

A lot of the questions people are asking are meant to be answered by the viewer themselves. This is the nature of probing into the question of existence.

For instance, David's actions are clearly meant to be vague and whether he is acting on his programming as a robot or under his own accord as a sentient being is, to some degree, the core of the film. The movie goes to great lengths to set up the parallel between the Creator, be it God or The Engineers, and man is similar to the relationship between man and our machines. Therefore, Holloway's entire character existed to ask questions as a created being, but also to show contempt for his own creations. That duality is in place for you to ask questions about your place in the universe and the life you create. Either biologically or technologically.

In short, every single character in the film exist for you to ask questions about your own life. If you're not doing that, and instead looking for answers about the minutia of alens lore, you missed the point.

@JazGalaxy said:

@believer258 said:

@Meowshi said:

@believer258 said:

@Akyho said:

THERE ARE NO ANSWERS RIGHT NOW. We can only have theories.

So I spent two hours watching a movie that asks many questions with few vague answers?

That means that Ridley Scott has failed as a moviemaker.

This is a bit on an aside, but I would not seek a profession in film criticism if this is how you view movies.

I don't plan to be a film critic, but the fact remains that Prometheus introduces a lot of things that it doesn't answer, or at least doesn't answer very well.

This is what is known as a film "asking questions". it presents ideas and asks you to stretch yourself just as you ask questions for it to provide answers to.

A lot of the questions people are asking are meant to be answered by the viewer themselves. This is the nature of probing into the question of existence.

For instance, David's actions are clearly meant to be vague and whether he is acting on his programming as a robot or under his own accord as a sentient being is, to some degree, the core of the film. The movie goes to great lengths to set up the parallel between the Creator, be it God or The Engineers, and man is similar to the relationship between man and our machines. Therefore, Holloway's entire character existed to ask questions as a created being, but also to show contempt for his own creations. That duality is in place for you to ask questions about your place in the universe and the life you create. Either biologically or technologically.

In short, every single character in the film exist for you to ask questions about your own life. If you're not doing that, and instead looking for answers about the minutia of alens lore, you missed the point.

Amen

@believer258 said:

@Meowshi said:

@believer258 said:

@Akyho said:

THERE ARE NO ANSWERS RIGHT NOW. We can only have theories.

So I spent two hours watching a movie that asks many questions with few vague answers?

That means that Ridley Scott has failed as a moviemaker.

This is a bit on an aside, but I would not seek a profession in film criticism if this is how you view movies.

I don't plan to be a film critic, but the fact remains that Prometheus introduces a lot of things that it doesn't answer, or at least doesn't answer very well.

This is what is known as a film "asking questions". it presents ideas and asks you to stretch yourself just as you ask questions for it to provide answers to.

A lot of the questions people are asking are meant to be answered by the viewer themselves. This is the nature of probing into the question of existence.

For instance, David's actions are clearly meant to be vague and whether he is acting on his programming as a robot or under his own accord as a sentient being is, to some degree, the core of the film. The movie goes to great lengths to set up the parallel between the Creator, be it God or The Engineers, and man is similar to the relationship between man and our machines. Therefore, Holloway's entire character existed to ask questions as a created being, but also to show contempt for his own creations. That duality is in place for you to ask questions about your place in the universe and the life you create. Either biologically or technologically.

In short, every single character in the film exist for you to ask questions about your own life. If you're not doing that, and instead looking for answers about the minutia of alens lore, you missed the point.

Or the film didn't get me to ask questions about my own life, cause it, you know, failed. I didn't know general deflections have taken the place of smart ambiguity. P. clumsily deals with questions of creation and origin, and while it admittedly attempts to pose some questions, it can never quite muster the will to do so, and ends up being little more than empty spectacle which creates the feeling the filmmakers couldn't commit to a thesis. In place of visceral spirit, I was left feeling unfulfilled. The film doesn't try to answer any of it's "questions," and has a hard enough time posing them. Instead it gussies itself up with pretentious and holey ideas about inquiry. It certainly checks off a lot of boxes in regards to its horror-sci-fi-tentpole-like schtick, but even these failed to transubstantiate into a meaningful whole. I mean, if you are going to kill someone off, fine, but let it be meaningful. Instead the death of others feels unmotivated and fraudulent, and there is no grip on things. I don't require mind boggling insights into the world, but the madness of the characters is replaced by the madness of the writers, and their finite conceptions leave a slimy residue about the whole thing.

Which isn't to say its not a purdy flick that kept me chomping on the popped corn, but posturing fanboys make it sound like some kind of revelatory ontological treatise . Hey man, what if like, robots and aliens and shit?

@FengShuiGod said:

Or the film didn't get me to ask questions about my own life, cause it, you know, failed. I didn't know general deflections have taken the place of smart ambiguity. P. clumsily deals with questions of creation and origin, and while it admittedly attempts to pose some questions, it can never quite muster the will to do so, and ends up being little more than empty spectacle which creates the feeling the filmmakers couldn't commit to a thesis. In place of visceral spirit, I was left feeling unfulfilled. The film doesn't try to answer any of it's "questions," and has a hard enough time posing them. Instead it gussies itself up with pretentious and holey ideas about inquiry. It certainly checks off a lot of boxes in regards to its horror-sci-fi-tentpole-like schtick, but even these failed to transubstantiate into a meaningful whole. I mean, if you are going to kill someone off, fine, but let it be meaningful. Instead the death of others feels unmotivated and fraudulent, and there is no grip on things. I don't require mind boggling insights into the world, but the madness of the characters is replaced by the madness of the writers, and their finite conceptions leave a slimy residue about the whole thing.

Which isn't to say its not a purdy flick that kept me chomping on the popped corn, but posturing fanboys make it sound like some kind of revelatory ontological treatise . Hey man, what if like, robots and aliens and shit?

I think I and a few other people have explained pretty well how there is a lot more going on than "like, robots and aliens and shit". In fact, now that I'm re-reading what you just posted, I don't even know why I'm responding. You didn't make any specific criticisms, it reads like a whole load of B.S. It sounds like you were struggling with the film and couldn't get over some intellectual hurdle. Shit, now I'm getting petty again. Well so what. Stick to Transformers buddy. That way you'll always have Optimus Prime to explain in very clear terms what the message of the movie is.

@FengShuiGod said:

Or the film didn't get me to ask questions about my own life, cause it, you know, failed. I didn't know general deflections have taken the place of smart ambiguity. P. clumsily deals with questions of creation and origin, and while it admittedly attempts to pose some questions, it can never quite muster the will to do so, and ends up being little more than empty spectacle which creates the feeling the filmmakers couldn't commit to a thesis. In place of visceral spirit, I was left feeling unfulfilled. The film doesn't try to answer any of it's "questions," and has a hard enough time posing them. Instead it gussies itself up with pretentious and holey ideas about inquiry. It certainly checks off a lot of boxes in regards to its horror-sci-fi-tentpole-like schtick, but even these failed to transubstantiate into a meaningful whole. I mean, if you are going to kill someone off, fine, but let it be meaningful. Instead the death of others feels unmotivated and fraudulent, and there is no grip on things. I don't require mind boggling insights into the world, but the madness of the characters is replaced by the madness of the writers, and their finite conceptions leave a slimy residue about the whole thing.

Which isn't to say its not a purdy flick that kept me chomping on the popped corn, but posturing fanboys make it sound like some kind of revelatory ontological treatise . Hey man, what if like, robots and aliens and shit?

Well, that's your opinion, but personally I feel differently.

Take Vickers character for instance. People have already complained about not getting her, and complaining about her doing pushups upon reawakening. That wasn't just for show or to give her something to do. her character, we find out, is the daughter of old man Weyland. The Daughter. Not the son. The son, we find out, is the Android David who is "the closest thing Weyland could get to a son". As such, Vickers spends the film behaving as manly as possible and showing nothing but contempt for David. This is because she wants to inherit the company and legacy from her father. Her father does not want to give his legacy over to his daughter. He is seeking after immortality, which people frequently say is found through passing down one's legacy to their heirs. Yet, David can't carry on Weyland's legacy due to his lack of a soul. But what IS a soul? How does one create it? For all the bio-engineering going on in the film, how come no one has found the ability to create a soul? What is the nature of your own soul? Do you believe you even have one?

Dr. Shaw believes in God because she "chooses to" and because her father did. And yet, God does nothing to prevent her loved ones coming to harm. So does she believe in God because she believes he exists, or because the need to believe in God helps her to deal with her reality?

The Engineers are "advanced" human beings, but their dwelling places are the HR Geiger inspired stylings that lack any sort of empathy or beauty. These are the things generally created by humans as an act of the soul. Do these Engineers have souls? They are human, but gigantic, which harkens back to the Nephalim of the Bible. A human-like beings in Genesis that no one really knows much about.

The engineers "created" humanity, but then sought to destroy it. This is very similar to the way God chose to destroy the world in the Flood after he saw that mankind was evil.

Whether the engineers are God, or are Nephilim created by God, is largely irelevant. The points exist in the film to make one consider "If we are created beings, are we loved? Or are we abandoned? And if we're abandoned, why? And if and when we meet God, will be embrace us? Or attempt to destroy us again?"

Halloway's character existed as a potential answer to that question. He wanted to meet humankinds creators, but not to find out from a historical perspective why humans were made. This is why he abandons the mission and starts drinking immediately after finding out the Engineers were dead. His character wants to encounter the creators as equals. This is a far stretch from worshipping God like Dr. Shaw does.

The scene where Shaw is impregnated exists to examine the concept of creation and legacy from the biological sense. Shaw, first, is said not to be able to create life. This poses questions about our purpose in life as machines. If our purpose is to procreate, and we can't do that, what does that make us? Are we broken machines without a purpose at that point? She then gets pregnant, but her baby is an evil creation which she attempts to destroy. This action, as well, is related to the central parallel between the creator/created. Just as God wiped out man in the bible because it was evil, so did she attempt to kill her baby because it was "evil".

Long story short (too late), some stuff exists in the movie not to make sense in the surface level horror movie aspect, but rather to ask questions and answer questions on the meta-level of a film about the nature of exist and the plight of mankind. Yes it would be easier to say "david is a robot and he can't do anything he's not programmed to do", but that would do absolutely nothing for the meta-context of the film.

I thought the movies pacing was very off, characters decided to either completely ignore very important happenings in the movie or simply act retarded. You don't get to be some of the best geologists/biologists in the world by getting instantly lost in a place you just mapped out and trying to pet newly discovered species. Shaw's whole being barren thing is also very poorly executed. I feel like they knew what they wanted the end results to be but they couldn't really he arsed to write interesting journeys to said end results.

I'll add that I loved Elba's character, but I always love Elba he the shit.

@FengShuiGod said:

I was left feeling unfulfilled.

The film doesn't try to answer any of it's "questions,"

This right here tells me that the movie went right over your head. It doesn't answer the questions because it isn't about the questions. It is not about the meaning or origin of life. It is a film about mankind's drive to find answers to those questions which by their very nature can't be answered.

You should watch A Serious Man. You would love it. In both films the lack of answers is the whole point.

I never got into LOST, but I now feel like I've experienced it in microcosm.

All I know that after seeing the movie I felt like playing Dead Space.

@TooSweet said:

All I know that after seeing the movie I felt like playing Dead Space.

I hope yo are wrong, or dead space is one flat video game.

http://cavalorn.livejournal.com/584135.html

There's some other views.