Prometheus

Ridley Scott speaks[/url]

^^ good read..

we wanted Prometheus to open up the universe, so it’s not a prequel at all. It has two children, one of those children grows up to be Alien, and the other child is hopefully growing up in this other direction and, god willing, will grow up into an entirely different line of films.

Great,thanks for that link mikey.
Just got back from watching it (2D) with my son.
I think he got more out of it, from having watched Alien (and Aliens) last weekend,but we haven’t stopped talking about the details and where it could go. 🙂
That interview filled in a few gaps.
I like that idea of the trailers being separate from( but complimenting ) the film,hope it catches on.

@deluded +1 on that review.

i do question though just when the director and writer have to then put in the effort to explain lots of things that clearly should not need explaining when they are totally KEY to the story and the plot, The Goo for one, if it was such a major factor in everything that happened it should really have had a decent Scientist (of which there are many on the Ship, as it was after all a science vessel) take samples and tell us a few things they may ‘think’ it is.

…and of course no one asked all the relevant questions about how 2 people could get lost when one of them is the mapping engineer, and they have a biiiiiiiiig map of the place already on the Ship (and presumably in that day and age could see it in a HUD on their helmet screen) , and yadayadayada 1001 other problems with the film too.

how 2 people could get lost when one of them is the mapping engineer

To be fair tony,what super scientist would take their helmet off(after only a few hours)on a new planet,cause he thought the atmosphere was Ok?.
😆

how 2 people could get lost when one of them is the mapping engineer

hes a geologist (which he states just before he gets lost), it just so happens that he has four probes in his bag.

I’ve had a few beers, and when that happens I experience a certain clarity of mind.

Message to Ridley – PLEASE DON’T TOUCH BLADE RUNNER.

@deluded – he’s already started the Sequel! Like Alien, set in the same world as original BladeRunner but ‘said’ it would not include Deckar.
(up to now, he may be fibbing…)

@ roady_tony

The last interview I saw he said that Deckard was going to feature in some way, although, as you say, it’s not directly related to the first film.

saw it yesterday prepared to be massively disappointed but i have to say i really enjoyed it and the fact that it was tenuously linked to the Alien films made it all the better

deluded – Member

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

OT but I’m pleased to see Joe Abercrombie’s capable of writing something that doesn’t have a berserker northman in it- I was beginning to wonder.

Ok what was matey boy infected with when he came back and started smashing the crap out of the loading bay?

Ok what was matey boy infected with when he came back and started smashing the crap out of the loading bay?

Cat AIDs. It’s bad shit man.

– were the Engineers on their way back to Earth before “an accident” and what accident that was they were running from??

I assumed, as happened in the film, that something (worms) mixed with the goo and it wasn’t supposed to. My thinking is

Goo + humans = the plan

Goo + contaminated with something else = unplanned accident

When Charlie was spiked with the goo, he was clearly changing into something, quite possibly a space jockey. This is what I think the plan was.

Having the goo mix with other life forms and then forming what appears to be primitive face huggers, was the disaster that lead to the demise of the space jockeys on the planet.

Ok what was matey boy infected with when he came back and started smashing the crap out of the loading bay?

he was infected by one of the white worms, which i assume was still inside him.

Was it just me, or did David call Shaw “Lisbeth” just before they took Weyland out of the spaceship?

When Charlie was spiked with the goo, he was clearly changing into something, quite possibly a space jockey. This is what I think the plan was.

why did the space jockey want to kill the humans as soon as he woke up then?

Was it just me, or did David call Shaw “Lisbeth” just before they took Weyland out of the spaceship?

I thought that too, but I sometimes call my girlfriend that instead of Liz.

Yeah i thought it was a nod to fincher/ alien 3

When Charlie was spiked with the goo, he was clearly changing into something, quite possibly a space jockey. This is what I think the plan was.

I don’t think they were intending to turn humans in Engineers. One possibility is that they were using us as an experiment for bio weapons, although that doesn’t make complete sense either, given the distance they would have to travel to find the results.

One theory I’ve been toying with is that they created us to become their superior and carry on their legacy. When it didn’t work out like that, they saw fit to irradicate us. Hence the hostile reaction when they woke the SJ. The goo, IMO, was meant as the essence of evolution, a way to speed up and supersize the process.

The quote that Vickers says to Weyland: “A king has his reign, and then dies: It’s inevitable”, I think could be a reference to the Space Jockeys. Maybe the SJs as a species were dying out?

Or, as someone said earlier, that dude you see at the beginning was a rogue jockey and we were never meant to exist.

why did the space jockey want to kill the humans as soon as he woke up then?

personaly i doubt that he was turning into a spacejockey, more likey something new imo.
The space jockey seemed to think of humans as nothing – as said in my previous post – much like we treat cattle, a means to an end. He seemed more interested in David, the only non human, than Wayland or any of the others.

haveing had a few days to think about the film. The only real flaws i can come up with are these:

1. One of the open scenes shows the ship 3.29×10(to the power 14) miles away from earth iirc (please correct me if im wrong), or in simple terms 3.29 x a hundred trillion miles away aka approx 50 light years. Then they take about being in status for 2.5years – so unless Einstein is completely wrong, they were tavelling 20 times the speed of light with no mention of this……

2. Why wasnt there a containment protocol at the space jockeys ‘lab’ – even our most basic biological research labs have containment of one form or other, and for one that gets so easiliy contaminated (they only had to walk in the room to set things in motion) it would be mental to think that they wouldnt have such a thing for such a dangerous substance. In addition to that why on earth would the space jockeys in the hologram want toget into that room! and away from what ever it is they they were running from – surly they would run to the space ship, the only means of escape.

Anyway both of these points are irrelevent as with out these flaws there wouldnt be a film….

One possibility is that they were using us as an experiment for bio weapons, although that doesn’t make complete sense either, given the distance they would have to travel to find the results.

It makes perfect sense – you dont have to wait for evolution to do its thing, just turn up every 10k years and see how its doing – this only works with the distances envolved and speed at which you’d have to travel. time slows down the faster you go etc etc so by the time you get home you only have to wait for example, 1k years or so (easy with one of the sleep pods, in which a space jockey survives a 2.5k year sleep in the film with little or no effect). Then fly back (in 2.5years) and 10k years will have past.

I agree that it most likely was experimentation, I just don’t think it was for bio weapons. There are easier ways to test those.

The Space Jockeys are essentially creating lifeforms, planting them on a planet to see how they do, an then checking on the results. Hence the reference to them being “engineers”: They are engineering new biological forms.

why did the space jockey want to kill the humans as soon as he woke up then?

Perhaps he’s met humans before and knows what were like.

I watched it today, very impressive effects but poor script I thought.

David infecting the scientist made no sense unless it was to bring himself with every other alien robot that tried to destroy humankind by bringing alien spawn back to earth.

David was also way too smug to be a robot.

The geologist coming back, growing two foot and then being virtual immortal was just stupid.

The end section was very silly too. Either end by landing on shaw or don’t have an alien popping out of the space jockey, pointless.

Gods effects though and the 3d was food. Entertaining.

Sorry for the stupid iPhone dictionary spelling. Just thank god I’m not using my blackberry.

And what about the captain and Miranda?

Was that nooky or something else? Pointless (apart from getting me excited)

Guys it’s only a film 😉 I was entertained while overdosing on popcorn and malteasers..
Job done !!!

It’s a given that the more hype about a film, the more interview specials, the worse it is.

That is all.

Thinking further on this, I think it was overcomplicated by too many characters. What was the point of Charlize Theron’s character (aside from the obvious teenage nerdy self gratification material) ? And 2-3 of the minor characters could have been trimmed with no loss to the plot development. We didn’t even see them get killed.

All the Weyland stuff was totally unnecessary too. Would have been more effective as a broadcast image anyways.

And needed more spaceships, but thats a given.

I watched it yesterday its good. 3d was very immersive and the special effects were excellent.

But it had a few flaws. Why did they need a crew of 17? Alien managed just fine with 7?

Also there was no real focus on an alien (or aliens) there was lots of stuff that was trying to kill them, wierd goo with tentacles, mutated crew mates, wierd proto-facehugger and the engineers a more narrow focus on the “baddies” would have been better.

I did enjoy it, but it could have been better and its not the classic that Alien or Aliens are.

Why did they need a crew of 17? Alien managed just fine with 7?

The Nostromo in alien was a haulage craft, which didnt require much more than 7crew to get the cargo from A to B.
The crew of the Prometheus were on a specific sience mission, which required crew of the ship (7no) to get it from A to B, the sienece crew (say an other 7), a robot, and Charlie Theron. Oh and that leave’s one spare (maybe in a red uniform for cannon fodder)….

Also there was no real focus on an alien

other than the space jockey’s….. i agree that the other ‘aliens’ were more of a side line, but this wasnt a traditional ‘Alien’ film which i think most people were expecting.

but it could have been better and its not the classic that Alien or Aliens are.

Nope, hopefuly its something beyond them – Alien, horror – Aliens, Action / Horror.
To me a good si-fi book doesnt need either of these things, it looks at the bigger picture, one that may not have been imagined before which takes in the scale of the universe and the time lines envolved – something that films rarely (sinse the 70’s) seem to do – rather focusing on the shock and awe aspect of aliens taking over the earth or worse translating human stories on to Alien worlds (aka Avatar).

If we are going to get snooty about Science Fiction (a battle I am well tooled up for) then I like Robert Heinlen’s definition from 1947 (and wikipedia)

“Let’s gather up the bits and pieces and define the Simon-pure science fiction story: 1. The conditions must be, in some respect, different from here-and-now, although the difference may lie only in an invention made in the course of the story. 2. The new conditions must be an essential part of the story. 3. The problem itself—the “plot”—must be a human problem. 4. The human problem must be one which is created by, or indispensably affected by, the new conditions. 5. And lastly, no established fact shall be violated, and, furthermore, when the story requires that a theory contrary to present accepted theory be used, the new theory should be rendered reasonably plausible and it must include and explain established facts as satisfactorily as the one the author saw fit to junk. It may be far-fetched, it may seem fantastic, but it must not be at variance with observed facts, i.e., if you are going to assume that the human race descended from Martians, then you’ve got to explain our apparent close relationship to terrestrial anthropoid apes as well.”

Seems to fit well here.

And I would add Findlay, 2012 “and must have great big MF spaceships”.

So an inconsistent narrative makes Prometheus flawed as Science Fiction, and as a film.

a little bit of Scotts viral marketing i missed prior to seeing the film.

If we are going to get snooty about Science Fiction

hense why i said

To me a good si-fi book

There were so many good sifi films made in the 60’s and 70’s, when space travel was an exciting thing to the general public, it just seems now that all sifi in the movies is filled with man killing monsters. This is why Prometheus works for me, its a large budget film, so requires the monsters to please the masses, Scott has kept enough of the narative for me to try to think around it a bit (the reason i like sifi).

The Nostromo in alien was a haulage craft, which didnt require much more than 7crew to get the cargo from A to B.
The crew of the Prometheus were on a specific sience mission, which required crew of the ship (7no) to get it from A to B, the sienece crew (say an other 7), a robot, and Charlie Theron. Oh and that leave’s one spare (maybe in a red uniform for cannon fodder)….

Fair do’s I can understand the reasoning. But instead of having a relatively few well drawn characters we have characters as plot devices instead.

What was the point of Shaw’s boyfriend other than as a device to impregnate her with the alien? He was given a heroic flaming death as it was convenient to kill him off at the point as the writers probably hadn’t figured out what he would mutate into and his job as a plot device was done at that point.

Like I said I did enjoy it but it has flaws, I’m sure the directors cut will sort them out though!

EDIT I do agree it got the broad sci-fi strokes right. I just wish it had been a bit more tightly scripted

There wont be a director cut unfortunatly – he’s going to put a few deleted scenes on the second disc of the DVD, but no directors cut 😥
Scott thinks that its as perfect as he could get it and the scenes he cut out wouldnt benefit the film, other than explain the casting of Guy Pearce with a deleted scene of David talking to a ‘dreaming’ young Mr Wayland in his sleep casket just prior to the ‘try harder’ scene with Charlie Theron.

And the shagging session with the captain. I’m pretty confident there was one of them and they cut it out. Political correctness I imagine. Powerful white female boss explointing a subordinate black employee who doesn’t want to do it. Doesn’t make for a good ethical standpoint.

I think the point of Shaw’s boyfriend was the same as the point of Charlize Theron, but for the ladies.

Powerful white female boss explointing a subordinate black employee who doesn’t want to do it. Doesn’t make for a good ethical standpoint.

I can see what you’re getting at, but I’m pretty sure that he did want to do it…

Just back from watching. Good film, well worth a view. The ending leaves it wide open for the sequel.

I’m going tomorrow