Prometheus

As did a continuity error with David’s hair dye scenes I think I spotted.

mrs rex reckons hair dye on / hair dye off / hair dye on was meant to suggest the length of time David had spent studying the videos.

I know this may be hard to answer but looking at the trailers (I’ve not seen the film), the technology is way in advance of that seen in Alien, is that point explained at all or just brushed under the carpet?

ridley scott has been questioned on this in various interviews prior to the films release – his view was that as tech has already moved way past the point of the green screens and computer graphics of Alien it would make Prometheus seem like a step backwards, he backs this up by saying that if he had the tech to do head up displays and fancy comupter stuff to teh Nostromo in 1979 he would – he was just limited by time, tech, and budget.

I don’t mind pontificating over sh1t, forming theories and possibilities, but are there any/many glaring holes in the story/script?

which are?

I took that to be the engineers “seeding” the Earth with the original DNA – he basically used himself as the vessel. The ooze, combined with his DNA mutated into human DNA.

I beleive that this is exactly how Ridley Scott wanted to promote the space jockeys.
*Plot Spoiler*
The space jockeys were just about to return to earth (conviently)approx 2k years ago, with a hold filled to the brim with dna altering material, when the catastrophe happened in the space jockeys military installation wiping all but one of them out. It would suggest that they were waiting for us to ‘mature’ and then transform us into something else, possible for millitary perposes (aka Aliens or worse…). The way that the space jockey treated those that woke him would also suggest this – seeing humans more as cattle, and being (a little) more intereseted in David, the only non human.
Bareing in mind that humans evolved beyond monkeys 70k years ago, and the time it takes for space travel (the space jockeys still required sleep pods, so didnt have faster than light travel tech) the time frames arent all that unbeleaveable. I assume that Earth would be one project of many for them.

One part that I didn’t get was this…why did David deliberately contaminate Dr.Holloway?

I wondered too. Perhaps just as an experiment, but also maybe he had a thing (if robots at the time could…) for Noomi..?

I think Mr Wayland instructed him to do it – to see what would happen. At this point in the film remember they havent found any living space jockeys (Mr Waylands goal) so if they could come away with a DNA tech they could gain more value from the mission.
In the later ‘Alien’ films the Wayland corp is obsessed with genetic mutation/aliens etc, this helps tie the films together a bit more – the act of David infecting Dr.H also reaffirms that ‘robots are bad’ and leads into Alien quite nicely.

I don’t mind pontificating over sh1t, forming theories and possibilities, but are there any/many glaring holes in the story/script?

which are?
It was a question, not a statement.

I don’t think they are suggesting that robots are bad, per se, just that they are tools to be used. Hence why in Prometheus, Alien, and Aliens the robot starts off being used by “the corp” to do their bidding, but later on end up helping the hero – kinda like a sci-fi Smithers (Simpsons reference).

That is an interesting point monkeyboy, and I agree that the engineer reacted as he did because we were seen as nothing more than an annoyance, and experiment that went wrong.

Personally speaking I prefer to believe that their original intensions that lay behind creating us were based on somewhat loftier ideals than mere biological warefare experimentation (I don’t think the distances they had to travel to Earth would have been convenient enough for mere experimentation). I may be wrong; it wouldn’t be the first time 🙂

B.A.Nana – it would depend on your point of view – there are a couple small ones (as with many many films), but nothing major.

with the small ones its more of a case of questions unanswered than plot holes.

[/quote]It was a question, not a statement.

Sorry, I mis-read. I don’t thing there are any plot holes, it’s just that things are not fully explained. Personally, I prefer it when they don’t neatly wrap everything up at the end. Things are hinted at, rather than explained, leaving space for, as you can tell, alot of debate and independent thought, which is good.

Hence why in Prometheus, Alien, and Aliens the robot starts off being used by “the corp” to do their bidding, but later on end up helping the hero

agree – its the Wayland corps influence on robots that make them bad. But i think it gives Ash more credibility in Alien if the earlier robots were more suseptable to the wayland corp’s direction, as they get ‘older’ and more advanced (seperated from man) their own views come into play…

Prometheus – David is only bad when under the influence of Wayland
Alien – Ash, the Robot is bad from start right untill he gets his head lobbed off – although he is working under a seperate ajenda for Wayland during this time.
Aliens – Bishop is good…
Alien 3 – Bishop is good…
Alien Reserection – Winona Ryder’s character Annalee has become part of the resistance, giving robots more independance and free thinking

Whoah up boys way to many spoilers.

your 4 pages into to thread called Prometheus -of corse theres gonna be spoilers….. 🙄 😀

Edited after spoiling complaint

😀 – unfortunatly that was how it was billed prior to release….

I saw it yesterday and as a massive Alien geek I thought it was excellent. Visually stunning.

It tied into the existing storyline nicely and leaves the door open for more

I’m taking this thread as a discussion/spoiler zone.

Rexated – Your lady could be right on the hair dye thing

Wayland’s feet and the abilities of Shaw who is originally on a dig team but seems to be doctor/expert of everything still upsets me.

So we think that they never came back to earth because god dropped by and and booked his son in for a bit of babysitting 2k years ago. That will be why Shaw puts her cross back on. Good, glad we reached the root of it early 😆

saw it yesterday,

i think people need to remember about Davids constant mentioning Human and him as a ROBOT – that might shed some light on their attitude towards us – face it, look at the attitude towards David from us Humans , and we created David, so we end up doing and saying anything to ‘him’ that we like and treat him like an object. The Engineers did the same to us when they awoke, they created us from 1 of them + the goo, and realising that we had managed to get there and wake them up was more of a ‘look at all these GeneticModed things around!’

i think the whole ‘reason behind why they created us’ was missed out on purpose, David clearly asking the question at the end, so to better promote a sequel – and in the end , leaving it open to us to decide, after all if we think there is a GOD out there , why did he create us is one of the biggest questions of all.

I’m still undecided/unclear about various other points, like :
– were the Engineers on their way back to Earth before “an accident” and what accident that was they were running from??
– why did the Engineers leave markers on earth in civilisations to take us to a place with this ‘goo of aliens’,
-if its the same place thats found in ALIEN and ALIENS why is there no wreckage of the other ship, the lifepods, the body of Weyland and others
– if its the same place as ALIEN and ALIENS, why was it so different in terms of Canisters of Goo and BIG HUMAN FACE, when in ALIEN/S it was Eggs and no HUMAN FACE.
– the chest busted jockey was in fact not in his seat, unlike how it was found in ALIEN
– the ALIEN at the end of the movie, was that a ‘new’ ALIEN as a mate of ENGINEERS DNA and the SNAKEY GOO THING – ? it could not be in my mind, because on the wall of the big HUMAN FACE was the outline of the mother Alien, and 1 Alien egg in green underneath it….

it suggests to me Ridley has other ideas that are not yet explained, and perhaps can only be in a sequel.

EDIT: the point about the goo being put into the guy by David seems to be that it was an experiment issued by Wayland, although i get that, its not a great way to perform an experiment in reality as you have no control over anything! plus was the ‘baby alien’ a by product of this or did David/Waylan actually know that could take place? if not, it was a bit of a reach to think the entire race if ALIEN was created by that 1.4 mins of shaggin?

edit: and for a final huge big plot hole….

the SJ’s are running around their own site with big helmets on (they found one with it on at the start of the movie) and yet when woken up from his sleep, he didnt have one, ah yes you say, because he’s in a chamber that has air and doesnt need it right….but he then leaves that with no helmet walks across the planet with no breathable air to the escape pod to try and kill the last remaining survivor (why he does that i dont know) with NO HELMET ON…. hmmmm (and then get alien’d)

Saw it last night in 2D, thought it was pretty enough and a watchable film.

SheeZ! My head hurts! No-one just go to the flicks to be entertained anymore???

-if its the same place thats found in ALIEN and ALIENS why is there no wreckage of the other ship, the lifepods, the body of Weyland and others
– if its the same place as ALIEN and ALIENS, why was it so different in terms of Canisters of Goo and BIG HUMAN FACE, when in ALIEN/S it was Eggs and no HUMAN FACE.
– the chest busted jockey was in fact not in his seat, unlike how it was found in ALIEN
– the ALIEN at the end of the movie, was that a ‘new’ ALIEN as a mate of ENGINEERS DNA and the SNAKEY GOO THING – ? it could not be in my mind, because on the wall of the big HUMAN FACE was the outline of the mother Alien, and 1 Alien egg in green underneath it….

for all of the 1st three point – its not – In Prometheus its a different planet (infact a moon) and a completely different scenario. The wife and others we went with though the same – untill i pointed out this. The space jockey ship found in alien was found purely by chance (although we assume that Wayland corp was activly seeking singnals as well), and i suspect was a diffenet class, being an egg carrier.

as for you last point – some of the aliens in the other films have different biology’s….. eg, the alien in Alien 3 was a dog mix (ran around on all fours, ripley mentions that this one is ‘new and different’ at some point in the film). Then there’s also predator / alien mix.

What about the first scene – how did that tie in?

Oh and I’m not a big fan of the bandage for underwear look- much preferred sigourneys briefs 😀

What about the first scene – how did that tie in?

the 1st scene shows the space jockeys ‘seeding’ a already well mature earth – Ridley Scott, has a hang up about the ‘birth of man’, ie the unexplained explosion of mankind approx 70,000 years ago, where we broke away from the rest of the animals in teh foodchain. In this scene he sujests that man was created by the space jockey’s seeding the waters of earth with there DNA to create mankind. For what perpose is unknown, but to me its sujested in the film that we are created for Biological experimentatiion and war fare (possible vessals to create ‘aliens’). remember that the space jockeys must have revisited earth every 10k years or so – so that the cave paintings and carvings could be created – right up to the point of the ‘accident’ approx 2k years ago.

hmmm so different planets, kinda makes me wonder if at the end of Prometh., when the David and Shaw head out , do they actually make it, or are THEY the ones we find crashed at the beginning of Alien, and perhaps thats because there is that ‘new’ Alien on board that we see born out of the SJ? or perhaps, the ‘new’ Alien causes a lot of SJ in there ships to depart the Prometh. planet and one crashes on LV426 for Alien to find.

it does open up a whole new plotline to tie in Prometh. and Alien together now if they are on 2 different planets.

hey, what about the timeline now then? was Prometh set well before Alien?
it still also doesnt explain the holographic images of the SJ’s running away and one getting its head chopped off, which, incidentally, was dated at 2000 years ago (any significance in that!?)

Just seen it and really enjoyed it. Going off on a different tangent how hot is Charlize Theron 😀

Thought the Alien bit at the end wasn’t needed and I am sure there will be a directors cut where Ridley fleshes out some of the other characters.

still also doesnt explain the holographic images of the SJ’s running away and one getting its head chopped off, which, incidentally, was dated at 2000 years ago (any significance in that!?)

Only in that the last images of ‘giant men’ were found by the drs just before 2k years ago.

Thought the Alien bit at the end wasn’t needed

Ah yes but with out it, wed have gone for an entire ‘alien’ film without seeing a traditional alien….

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT & ALSO SOURCE CODE SPOILER

Stop reading this if you don’t want the ending spoilt…

I really hoped the movie credits were going to roll when the ship crashed onto Shaw… abit like when they should’ve ended source code but tacked on a happy ending..

See, this is what makes a good film: Something that is open to interpretation; something that prompts debate and thought. Something that we are too short of these days.

I definitely think there is strong religious commentary in this film, defined by the cross around Shaw’s neck. Surely the point is that you shouldn’t follow something too blindly in case you don’t like what you will find.

Yes, the execution may not have been perfect, but the ideology and the theories that lie within go way beyond the movie itself, which ultimately makes it successful.

One part that I didn’t get was this…why did David deliberately contaminate Dr.Holloway?

Personally I think he acted alone in this, he put some on his finger and read/analysed that it was synthetic and prob knew it was to alter/destroy dna, he knew he was superior to his creators,yet treated as an inferior product, also stated later in the film that he wished his parents dead, so i think he knew he was doing by spiking that drink

Agree completely Mikey.

Iron Sky……..very B movie watchable.

Well I enjoyed it. Amazed that some people find it confusing. But then to the majority of people sci fi is a Transformers movie. Mr J Cameron should be forced to watch Prometheus repeatedly before being allowed to make another Sci Fi epic. If you really think Ridley has kept saying it’s not an Alien film just so he can surprise you by it being one, listen.

IT IS NOT AN “ALIEN” FILM, if you go expecting one you will be disappointed.

swampi – Member

One part that I didn’t get was this…why did David deliberately contaminate Dr.Holloway?

Personally I think he acted alone in this, he put some on his finger and read/analysed that it was synthetic and prob knew it was to alter/destroy dna, he knew he was superior to his creators,yet treated as an inferior product, also stated later in the film that he wished his parents dead, so i think he knew he was doing by spiking that drink

Did Theron not ask Fassbender what he had been saying to Weyland and he said he wouldnt tell. “try harder” and next scene(ish) is him infecting the Dr. Seems as though it was under insruction.

Dont know about anyone else but the last 10 mins (or less) felt incredibly rushed.

PrinceJohn – Member

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT & ALSO SOURCE CODE SPOILER

I really hoped the movie credits were going to roll when the ship crashed onto Shaw…

+1

I really enjoyed it last night ! Was my first 3D film so that was fun.

Never spotted Mike from neighbours. (oh yeah – spoiler alert !!)

It was Weyland who used to live on Ramsay St.

Does anybody else think Charlize Theron was really a robot ?? All the sci fi nerdy boys love that idea, female robots that have sex. David did call Weyland “dad”.

Still, not my favorite Alien film, but def in the top 3.

And, they really missed a chance to recycle a classic line. They really should have taken off and nuked it from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure…

Agree with roady_tony on the helmets. Definitely some discontinuity there. Also, stapling wounds is already outdated so why are they still doing it in 2093 unless purely for the “ugh” effect?

Also, how did the tentacle thing grow so big in a sealed room with no food?

Overall, good but not great. 2D would have been fine.

I was somewhat underwhelmed by the film TBH. It asks more questions than it answers.

Fantasy writer Joe Abercrombie’s analysis sums it up for me –

http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2012/06/04/prometheus/

saw it yesterday in 3D

excellent movie, very enjoyable

But if you take out all the talky bits there were some well cool space ships.

Agree with roady_tony on the helmets. Definitely some discontinuity there

Real-life fighter pilots use helmets, despite being able to breath our planet’s atmosphere. Perhaps the helmets provide other functions, rather than for being life-support.

Also, how did the tentacle thing grow so big in a sealed room with no food?

Think back to the first Alien film: After the embryo bursts out of the stomach it scampers off and mysteriously grows by itself. It is only after it has grown up that it starts picking off the crew (unless I am fogetting a scene or two).

Either it is a plot hole in the original film, or they are capable of cocooning themselves away and feeding off energy reserves until they reach maturity.

Using staples still apears to be the most common form of closing an incision following a cesarean section.