PROMETHEUS - Grade and Discuss

[davejames]

I'm still curious about the relief of the xenomorph on the wall myself. If they're just supposed to be another bio-weapon or black goo mutation, why are they the only ones that share the same Giger-esque ribbing and bio-mechanical look as the Engineers?

In the "Art of" book, Ridley talks about the mutations taking on the form of their hosts, but it was shown pretty clearly in the movie that the bio-mechanical detail was only part of a bio-suit, and the Engineers look much more human underneath. So I don't think the xenomorphs could have gotten it that way.

Maybe they were some kind of special creation the Engineers patterned after themselves or something. Or maybe they even come from the same home planet...

 

[RoJoHen]

Maybe the Xenomorphs aren't bio-engineered weapons at all. Maybe they're just an organism that the Engineers know about. Those big vases were just full of xenomorph sperm.

 

[137th Gebirg]

I'm still curious about the relief of the xenomorph on the wall myself. If they're just supposed to be another bio-weapon or black goo mutation, why are they the only ones that share the same Giger-esque ribbing and bio-mechanical look as the Engineers?

In the "Art of" book, Ridley talks about the mutations taking on the form of their hosts, but it was shown pretty clearly in the movie that the bio-mechanical detail was only part of a bio-suit, and the Engineers look much more human underneath. So I don't think the xenomorphs could have gotten it that way.

Maybe they were some kind of special creation the Engineers patterned after themselves or something. Or maybe they even come from the same home planet...

Was wondering that myself. It is possible that, in order to successfully sacrifice themselves for the creation of new life via the black goo, they had to purge some inner demon/all negative energy. Perhaps the mural of the proto-xenomorph is a warning to the Engineers, what could happen if any negative energy remained within them and attempted to use the black goo without being properly prepared. The facehugger/squid thing that came out of Shaw definitely had the same pointy-headed look to it that the proto-Alien had (matching the mural), so it could already be considered corrupt. The corrupt nature of humans had infected Holloway's "seed" and was further corrupted when gestating within Shaw. The squid further carried that corruption to the Engineer at the end who, himself, may have also been one of the corrupted "fallen angels" of that race that wanted to see our entire species extinguished. What we see emerge from his guts is the result of that collective corruption and negative energy, as predicted by the mural.

 

[Shurik]

It was just a matter of time:

Spoiler: prometheus memes

 

[137th Gebirg]

^^^ Love that guy! And the hair...OH the hair...

 

[Starkers]

Ok who is that guy?

 

[137th Gebirg]

He's one of the big proponents of the Ancient Alien theory. He's on the History Channel and on any other channel (TLC, Discovery) along with a bunch of other folks that has shows produced on the topic. Very much the mouthpiece of the overall movement - and the most polished. Just wish he would get that damn hair under control.

 

[RoJoHen]

"Ancient Aliens" guy. Basically, if we don't know where it came from, he thinks aliens did it.

 

[Saul]

Even Scott's out-of-movie attempts at making the film seem profound fail to be consistent with what was actually in the film. Take the Space Jesus idea, for example...

With that bit now nice and explained, let's get to the bigger question -- what did we do to make God/our creators angry? Well, if you theorized that it was because we crucified Jesus, you win! Confirming that at one point the script explicitly spelled this out, Scott says that was the direction they were taking with the story -- at least at first. "We definitely did, and then we thought it was a little too on the nose," he admits. "But if you look at it as an 'our children are misbehaving down there' scenario, there are moments where it looks like we’ve gone out of control, running around with armor and skirts, which of course would be the Roman Empire. And they were given a long run. A thousand years before their disintegration actually started to happen. And you can say, 'Let’s send down one more of our emissaries to see if he can stop it.' Guess what? They crucified him."

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayl...ust-ruin-the-mysteries-of-prometheus-20120614

Why would the Engineers be moved to destroy us because of our crucifixion of their emissary Jesus? Wasn't his sacrifice for the sins of man the whole point of Jesus' death? Isn't self-sacrifice to advance humanity's development the entire basis of the Engineer's philosophy as witnessed by the beginning of the film and their temple? So why be upset by the simple fulfillment of the most basic tenet of their belief system?

Don't get that either. I would have thought that they'd be pissed for another reason like people starting to believe in Jesus and worship him instead of them.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Even Scott's out-of-movie attempts at making the film seem profound fail to be consistent with what was actually in the film. Take the Space Jesus idea, for example...

With that bit now nice and explained, let's get to the bigger question -- what did we do to make God/our creators angry? Well, if you theorized that it was because we crucified Jesus, you win! Confirming that at one point the script explicitly spelled this out, Scott says that was the direction they were taking with the story -- at least at first. "We definitely did, and then we thought it was a little too on the nose," he admits. "But if you look at it as an 'our children are misbehaving down there' scenario, there are moments where it looks like we’ve gone out of control, running around with armor and skirts, which of course would be the Roman Empire. And they were given a long run. A thousand years before their disintegration actually started to happen. And you can say, 'Let’s send down one more of our emissaries to see if he can stop it.' Guess what? They crucified him."

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayl...ust-ruin-the-mysteries-of-prometheus-20120614

Why would the Engineers be moved to destroy us because of our crucifixion of their emissary Jesus? Wasn't his sacrifice for the sins of man the whole point of Jesus' death? Isn't self-sacrifice to advance humanity's development the entire basis of the Engineer's philosophy as witnessed by the beginning of the film and their temple? So why be upset by the simple fulfillment of the most basic tenet of their belief system?

Don't get that either. I would have thought that they'd be pissed for another reason like people starting to believe in Jesus and worship him instead of them.

Based on my previous post - My take was that maybe the "mission" Jesus undertook was to teach the Romans the need for self-sacrifice, with the hopes that our species may have become an advanced-enough civilization to grasp the concept. To paraphrase one of the mantras in the movie - "Every king must die" - perhaps it was hoped that whoever was serving as Caesar during that time may have been compelled to die for the Greater Good of civilization. Methinks the Engineers heavily underestimated their creations' instinct for self-preservation - a potentially unique adaptation to our species during its development on a hostile Earth - an adaptation they didn't foresee.

 

[Starkers]

He's one of the big proponents of the Ancient Alien theory. He's on the History Channel and on any other channel (TLC, Discovery) along with a bunch of other folks that has shows produced on the topic. Very much the mouthpiece of the overall movement - and the most polished. Just wish he would get that damn hair under control.

Thank you, I figured it was something like that...does he actually look like a Centari intentionally then?

 

[Disruptor]

I'm still curious about the relief of the xenomorph on the wall myself. If they're just supposed to be another bio-weapon or black goo mutation, why are they the only ones that share the same Giger-esque ribbing and bio-mechanical look as the Engineers?

In the "Art of" book, Ridley talks about the mutations taking on the form of their hosts, but it was shown pretty clearly in the movie that the bio-mechanical detail was only part of a bio-suit, and the Engineers look much more human underneath. So I don't think the xenomorphs could have gotten it that way.

Maybe they were some kind of special creation the Engineers patterned after themselves or something. Or maybe they even come from the same home planet...

I was wondering that. Though, parts of the biosuit on the pilot himself seemed integrated with his skin. Also, why do the hives the xenos make resemble the Engineers' structures?

Maybe the xenos were a mere engineering tool...to create structures. "We pale giants are too lazy to build, let's make some worker ants. But what if they breed incontrollably? We'll engineer them so they require hosts to breed."

So the xenos are their David's, their artificial lifeforms.

Or not. The ALIENS don't seem designed for digging tunnels. Acid for blood is messy, too. They'd need a kill switch to make sure the aliens could be eradicated when their job was done.

And we don't know the end stage of Alien metamorphasis. We think we do. At some point the hive changes into something else, maybe the Newborn alien in Resurrection wasn't a hybrid, maybe it was the next step in the xeno "life cycle". hell, maybe it was the kill switch. It kills all the xenos.

 

[Warped9]

I just got home to find the book Prometheus: The Art Of The Film waiting for me from Amazon. This is a really nice book and I'm looking forward to reading it. Maybe I'll also get some clues regarding some of the thinking that went into the film.

I also picked up Aliens: Colonial Marines Technical Manual. Another nice book with lots of tech about the stuff we saw in the film as well as stuff we didn't get to see.

 

[137th Gebirg]

He's one of the big proponents of the Ancient Alien theory. He's on the History Channel and on any other channel (TLC, Discovery) along with a bunch of other folks that has shows produced on the topic. Very much the mouthpiece of the overall movement - and the most polished. Just wish he would get that damn hair under control.

Thank you, I figured it was something like that...does he actually look like a Centari intentionally then?

I'm thinking it's a Greek thing.

 

[Trekker4747]

If anyone's heard of it, Kevin Smith's new Blip TV series "Spoilers" covered this movie last week. In the show Smith has taken a group of people to see a movie and then he has a session where they discuss aspects of the movie, followed by Smith's own reactions and then usually a relevant interview. (For Prometheus it was David Lindeloff (sp?.) The show itself isn't too bad but Smith seems a bit... too... "hopped up" than how he usually is, like he's trying too hard to be an excited show host.

Decent enough show, though.

Spoilers with Kevin Smith

 

[doubleohfive]

I'm always wondering why we see all this, but the scriptwriters don't.

It's always easier to see what's wrong or not working in a piece of art when you're not the one who's created it. It's possible to just be too close to something to see its flaws.

There is also, of course, the attendant issues of deadlines and timeframes and production pressures to get a workable draft down by a certain date, and if it's not completely perfect, well, too bad, that's the deadline.

But there is a hundred people involved during pre-production and production.

Of course there are. But the majority of them are not in a position to tell the director of a film what works and what doesn't, let alone a director of Ridley Scott's calibre.

Expecting that some wardrobe assistant is going to kick down Ridley's door to tell him his script doesn't make any sense is ridiculous.

Likewise, studio execs have their say, sometimes for good and sometimes (usually) for ill. There's not much to be done about that either. It's just the nature of the business.

 

[137th Gebirg]

^^^ Probably one of the reasons the final cut was trimmed down by almost 30 minutes for theatrical release. I will honestly never understand this mentality.

 

[doubleohfive]

Why don't you understand it? The people paying for the film to be made have a say in how it gets made. I don't know that I necessarily like that particular aspect of it all, but it is what it is.

 

[137th Gebirg]

I have a hard time with stupidity, I guess. M'kay?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

To be fair a lot of films recently are bloated and could use a trim. Though they seem to trim the wrong films and of the wrong things.