Prometheus Review Thread (Spoilers)

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by drummerboy_2002

Why would the alien in its chest need to have been a queen? It always seemed to me that the Space Jockey was transporting the eggs. Since the timeline isn't clear, the resulting alien could have died eons before the events of Alien.

uhh because the dude then stumbled upon tons of eggs. And from all the other alien movies the queen lays the eggs. Now it could have been a transport ship

[Solok]

I have also read in the books that in the right circumstances, such as a drone being alone, or a queen dying before infusing an egg with royal jelly, a drone can change into a queen. Therefore, in ALIEN it might have been in the starting stages of this transformation. This would make sense, in case a nest was ever wiped out, a single drone can ensure the survival of it's nest. I believe it was all hormonal. As long as a queen lived, she released hormones which prevented the transformation. Without her, the nest would need to compensate for the loss, thus allowing an existing drone to become a queen.

Or, it might have been a transport ship.

[drummerboy_2002]

Originally Posted by supersix4

uhh because the dude then stumbled upon tons of eggs.

In what appeared to me to be some sort of stasis cargo hold. Hence why the eggs started waking up when he broke the seal. I could be wrong, though.

[TheWildWhelk]

Originally Posted by drummerboy_2002

In what appeared to me to be some sort of stasis cargo hold. Hence why the eggs started waking up when he broke the seal. I could be wrong, though.

That i a rather good thought you know and works rather well. The Space Jockey ship may have been on LV426 for some considerable period of time before the Nostromo was deviated to discover it.

[Member-115369]

Originally Posted by SonOfTorah

That i a rather good thought you know and works rather well. The Space Jockey ship may have been on LV426 for some considerable period of time before the Nostromo was deviated to discover it.

Almost definitely was given they talked about how the remains were "fossilized" when they found the jockey in Alien.

[raygendreau]

“The origin of the jockey creature was not explored in the film, but Scott later theorized that it might have been the ship's pilot, and that the ship might have been a weapons carrier capable of dropping Alien eggs onto a planet so that the Aliens could use the local life forms as hosts. In early versions of the script the eggs were to be located in a separate pyramid structure which would be found later by the Nostromo crew and would contain statues and hieroglyphs depicting the Alien reproductive cycle, offering a contrast of the human, Alien, and space jockey cultures. Cobb, Foss, and Giger each created concept artwork for these sequences, but they were eventually discarded due to budgetary concerns and the need to trim the length of the film. Instead the egg chamber was set inside the derelict ship and was filmed on the same set as the space jockey scene; the entire disc piece supporting the jockey and its chair were removed and the set was redressed to create the egg chamber.” (Wikipedia)

I suspect Scott will maintain the “eggs as weapons, derelict as weapons transport” concept in Prometheus. The “queen as egg layer” concept originated with Cameron in Aliens. In Alien, eggs were created from indigenous life forms. The 2003 version shows Skerritt’s character being transformed into an egg before being flamed by Ripley. This seems to support the use of the xenomorphs in the terraforming process. i.e. the Engineers/Space Jockeys find a planet with indigenous life. The xenomorphs are introduced. When the indigenous life has been irradicated by the xenomorphs, the process stops, since there are no more hosts to create eggs.

While there is a wealth of film based information about the life cycle of the egg/facehugger/xenomorph, there is no information about the lifespan of the adult xenomorph. I would surmise that their lifespan is finite.
In egg form, they appear to be persistent under the proper conditions, such as those found in the cargo hold of the derelict found on LV-426 (Archeron) . You could make a case that most of the eggs found in the hold were not viable and may have been fossilized. Only those under the blue haze in hot and humid conditions, as described by Kane, seemed to be alive. This seems to lend credence to the derelict having been there for a very long time. Perhaps it indicates a gradual loss of power, to the point that only a small group of eggs could be protected by a weak force field. The remaining power was used to generate the warning beacon that caused the Nostromo crew to drop out of stasis.

So, my conclusion is that the xenomorph that caused the Space Jockey’s demise probably died a natural death and was simply undiscovered by the Nostromo crew. This conclusion is supported by the circumstances that led to the first facehugger impregnation of Newt’s father at the derelict as seen in the Aliens 1990 Special Edition (Ch 6). Remember, the Terraforming operation had gone on for "over 20 years" on LV-426 (37 years before Ripley was rescued from the Nostromo escape pod) without any sign of a xenomorph. Weyland-Yutani started the process by sending the colonists to investigate the derelict based on information they received from Ripley more than 57 years after Ripley’s encounter with the xenomorph in Alien.

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by raygendreau

So, my conclusion is that the xenomorph that caused the Space Jockey’s demise probably died a natural death and was simply undiscovered by the Nostromo crew.

Or he was walking around somewhere else on 426 lmao I doubt with that much free time he'd want to keep walking around the ship

Originally Posted by raygendreau

Remember, the Terraforming operation had gone on for many years on LV-426 without any sign of a xenomorph. Weyland-Yutani started the process by sending the colonists to investigate the derelict based on information they received from Ripley more than 57 years after Ripley’s encounter with the xenomorph in Alien.

Forgot about that (we also don't know how big lv-426 is), even if it was only as big as say Rhode Island the xeno still wouldn't know what the hell was going on if he was on the other side

[TheWildWhelk]

Originally Posted by supersix4

Forgot about that (we also don't know how big lv-426 is), even if it was only as big as say Rhode Island the xeno still wouldn't know what the hell was going on if he was on the other side

The actual continuity of Alien and Aliens is intruiging because i theorise that Weyland Yutani didn't know the existence of the Space Jockey ship and that is the reason they began teraforming on the planet. It was supposed to have came as a shock to the audience (as it did!) when they discover that a Colony had sprung up miles from an Alien infested derelict spacecraft.

Which then suggests that Weyland's knowledge of the 'Prometheus Incident' is minimal. Prometheus was sent out to meet the Elder Gods, encountered them and was never heard from again. Perhaps the Nostromo was deviated from it's course because Weyland thought that they had discovered the long-lost remains of the Prometheus. Any good?

[raygendreau]

Originally Posted by SonOfTorah

The actual continuity of Alien and Aliens is intruiging because i theorise that Weyland Yutani didn't know the existence of the Space Jockey ship and that is the reason they began teraforming on the planet. It was supposed to have came as a shock to the audience (as it did!) when they discover that a Colony had sprung up miles from an Alien infested derelict spacecraft.

Which then suggests that Weyland's knowledge of the 'Prometheus Incident' is minimal. Prometheus was sent out to meet the Elder Gods, encountered them and was never heard from again. Perhaps the Nostromo was deviated from it's course because Weyland thought that they had discovered the long-lost remains of the Prometheus. Any good?

I doubt that continuity with Aliens will be addressed in Prometheus. The consensus of posters on various forums is that the "discovery of mankind's origins on Earth" and the subsequent Prometheus expedition is kept secret by Weyland. That tends to boggle my mind, so I am very interested in how that is actually dealt with in Prometheus.

[raygendreau]

Idris Elba says all the right things about Prometheus in a new Huffington Post interview:

Have you ever been part of a production as secretive as "Prometheus"?
I can't tell you. [Laughs]

Good answer.
No, I have to be honest, this particular film -- Twentieth Century Fox and Ridley Scott have been very, very diligent about keeping a lid on it. But, I know exactly why -- because the film depends on that. It needs that. It needs you to not know.

See, if you told me, even though people think they want to know, they don't really want to know.
Because it's a shocker, isn't it? It's a shocker and the anticipation of a great filmmaker like Ridley Scott is part of the draw. Like, what is he going to do next? What's that about? And the more he cloaks it in, "There's something I can't tell you yet," it makes it more intriguing. And anyone that has that shortcut, "Well, I heard it was this," it's cheating.

So, you're saying that you know something about "Prometheus" that's going to blow our minds when we find out?
Yes
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1279681.html

[benbess]

Great interview. Love it. I'm a big Ridley Scott fan, and I do want to go into this without spoilers and scream like I did back in 1979 with the first one!+++

[TheWildWhelk]

Originally Posted by raygendreau

So, you're saying that you know something about "Prometheus" that's going to blow our minds when we find out?
Yes
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1279681.html

A friend of mine at work today came up with an interesting concept, namely the idea that because Scott's films are seldom 'simple' that perhaps the whole Prometheus concept is actually a bait-and-switch. Basically Space Jockey steals Elder God Tech and gives it to humans and then incurs the wrath of the Elder Gods who then go after both Jockey and Human. That would be awesome!

[Decado]

Sounds like it won't be a particularly re-watchable film (for me, anyway). Films that rely heavily on a "surprise" factor don't tend to warrant repeat viewings. I'll probably just wait for his director's cut and go from there (not that I'd go see a PG-13 horror/sci-fi movie in theatres, anyway).

[alex18]

Don't hate me for this. I went to see Ghost Rider 2 and the trailer for this was there. They screen said to put on my 3D glasses and this looked awesome!!. I have seen the trailer in 2D many times except for tonight. I wished it was in 3D and I don't even like 3D that much.

[Shawn Elestren]

You'd think that an experienced Space Jockey, sitting in his chair, hurtling through space, surrounded by thousands of eggs, would know to keep his eyes on them things.

So how the hell did he screw up and end up impregnated by his own bio-weapon? Why did he let it gestate?

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by Decado

Sounds like it won't be a particularly re-watchable film (for me, anyway). Films that rely heavily on a "surprise" factor don't tend to warrant repeat viewings. I'll probably just wait for his director's cut and go from there (not that I'd go see a PG-13 horror/sci-fi movie in theatres, anyway).

I'd say how much that it actually relates to alien. If the shocker is it doesn't have crap to do with it, than I'd agree.

Based on that interview, I think its funny the guy thinks its the secretiveness and Scott that are making people so intrigued... Sorry guy, its that half billion dollar franchise that has people so nuts.

Originally Posted by Shawn Watson

You'd think that an experienced Space Jockey, sitting in his chair, hurtling through space, surrounded by thousands of eggs, would know to keep his eyes on them things.

So how the hell did he screw up and end up impregnated by his own bio-weapon? Why did he let it gestate?

Texting and flying is lethal

[raygendreau]

Does part of Prometheus take place on LV-426 (Archeron) or one of the other two planetoids/moons of the gas giant planet in the Zeta Reticuli star system?

In Alien, at 0:13:16, the Nostromo is seen approaching the source of the warning beacon. You can see a ringed gas planet with three planetoids/moons in orbit around it. LV-426 (Archeron) appears to be the larger/closer of the three.

Later, as the three Nostromo crew approach the derelict on LV-426 (0:24:56), the ringed planet and the other two planetoids/moons can be seen in the sky.

In the Prometheus trailer, at 00:32, the Prometheus is seen above a cloud shrouded planetoid/moon? Is that the gas giant on the left with the sun just beginning to rise? Granted there are no rings visible, but they may be out of the shot.

I just got back from watching the new Ghost Rider movie in 3D. The Prometheus trailer preceded the movie. It was in 3D. Looking good!

[wormraper]

I know I may get flamed here but this seems like a TOTAL deviation from the alien mythology that has been built up and seems like Scott is trying toooooooooo hard to make it seem like Alien Meets Blade Runner here. twisted terraforming procedures, time traveling aliens, egg weapons etc. It's like he's trying waaaay too hard to make it seem like some convoluted complex sci-fi story when it takes away from the simplicity and terror of the xenomorphs. I for one am going in very leary of Prometheus. (and don't forget that Ridley is VERY hit and miss, some great stuff and then some utter garbage... don't forget the POS Robin Hood he made last year)

[Jumpman]

It shouldn't be an Alien prequel in the first place.

The Alien mythology doesn't need a prequel.

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by Jumpman

It shouldn't be an Alien prequel in the first place.

The Alien mythology doesn't need a prequel.

I agree. my PERSONAL opinion is that they should have gone ahead with the Alien 5 script for a while ago where they go to the Xenomorph's homeworld. Get Ridley or someone else good onboard for that and I'll start to get excited