Why Does Prometheus Reuse Images from Alien?

[fonz]

Saw this film earlier this evening and I'm confused. There's a few things I can't get my head around, perhaps somebody could explain.

Also, don't read any further if you haven't seen the film.

Spoiler

What is that stuff the engineer drinks and why does he drink it? I get that it's to create life but it still doesn't make a lot of sense.

Where do all these different xenomorph's come from. The 'facehuggers' obviously come from the worms. That big tentacled thing comes from the offspring of humans and the alien comes from the engineer. In the original Alien the alien creature comes from a human, you see the confusion.

Also, what was it that attacked the engineers, where did it come from and where did it go?

 

[QuarkCharmer]

I thought this movie came out next week??

Man I need to get to the theater!

 

[gravenewworld]

Hollywood releases films abroad before the US.

 

[SHISHKABOB]

I am really looking forward to seeing this movie.

And am definitely not looking at those spoilers!

 

[ThomasT]

I am really looking forward to seeing this movie.

Me too!

And am definitely not looking at those spoilers!

I think you can view them without spoiling the movie for yourself. They're just questions about certain details, prior knowledge of which might actually contribute to your enjoyment of the movie.

If you've seen the trailers and read some of the commentary, then you're probably already aware of what will be revealed to you (in viewing it) as the movie's basic premise. Being aware of some details in advance sometimes enhances one's enjoyment of films like this (a large part of which, imo, is the cgi spectacle).

Apparently, the events in Prometheus are occurring long before the events in Alien. The planet that the human spacecraft Prometheus lands on is not the same planet that Nostromo landed on. The alien spacecraft in Prometheus isn't the same alien spacecraft in Alien. And the 'space jockey' in Prometheus (the apparent pilot of the alien spacecraft ) isn't the same 'space jockey' as in Alien.

But the 'space jockey' alien race, and their goal(s), is the key to the conflict in the plot of Prometheus.

 

[ME_student]

I am can't wait to see this movie! It's already out?

 

[alt]

It's been out in Australia for several days.

From the trailers, I was really looking forward to seeing it next weekend - that is, until I just saw it got 2 out of 5 stars from reviewers I consider reliable.

 

[dipole]

I've heard not good things about it.

 

[fonz]

Besides leaving a lot of questions unanswered it's actually a great film. Some of the dialogue is slightly weak but believe me it is definitely worth watching.

Actually I would consider it one of the better science fiction films I have seen in recent years.

 

[Insanity]

Rumor has it it is this film that potentially ruins 'At the Mountains of Madness' from coming to the screen, we shall see.

 

[ThomasT]

It's got an 8.1 at IMBD so far.

 

[ThomasT]

I watched a pirated Russian version. Fantastic visual spectacle. Lots of cool action. Can't wait to see it on the big screen. In English. It will be well worth 10 to 12 bucks imo. Bring your own snacks.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

I saw it last week, very good (even though most people can't act and the technobabble is a bit on the weird side). As to the questions:

Saw this film earlier this evening and I'm confused. There's a few things I can't get my head around, perhaps somebody could explain.

Also, don't read any further if you haven't seen the film.

What is that stuff the engineer drinks and why does he drink it? I get that it's to create life but it still doesn't make a lot of sense.

As far as I could make out it was something that was meant to break him up into a primordial soup. Why he had to commit suicide rather than just dump a bunch of chemicals and bacteria (or even just dump a dead body) is one of those plot devices meant to add drama and perhaps make these blue guys seem more badass.

What really confused me is exactly what he was trying to achieve vs what was actually achieved. It's implied that he is on a primordial Earth and that by dissolving himself into an ancient sea he created life on Earth. But then it doesn't make any sense that humans then just happened to evolve half a billion years later and that is what they wanted originally (this makes doubly less sense when they say that humans and these aliens have identical DNA when clearly they are very different and like the one biologist points out how the hell does that square with all the evidence, particularly genetic, for evolution on Earth?). It would have made far more sense and been a better plot piece IMO if they had taken the 2001: Space Odyssey approach and had one of these aliens approach a group of ancient primates and tinker with them.

Where do all these different xenomorph's come from. The 'facehuggers' obviously come from the worms. That big tentacled thing comes from the offspring of humans and the alien comes from the engineer. In the original Alien the alien creature comes from a human, you see the confusion.

Perhaps I missed something but I didn't hear anyone refer to them as "xenomorphs". As has been said above this isn't really a direct prequel to alien, we're not even sure if this is the same planet as found at the start of Alien (largely it wouldn't make sense that it was because in Alien and Aliens the various companies on Earth no nothing about it).

As to what the aliens are and how they link to others one of the characters guesses that the planet is a military research centre for developing biological weapons. From that perspective there could be other planets where the more conventional aliens can be found or they could be on other parts of this planet.

Also, what was it that attacked the engineers, where did it come from and where did it go?

I thought it was a given that some of these experiments got out of hand and turned on the engineers. A stranger plot point is why the aliens in the ship went into stasis rather than leaving.

 

[arildno]

Is Sir Ridley Scott going senile?

Mod note: Threads merged. Ryan_m_b[/color]

How COULD he lend his name to the dreadful Prometheus movie??

I saw it tonight, and we were NOT amused.

 

[ThomasT]

How COULD he lend his name to the dreadful Prometheus movie??

I saw it tonight, and we were NOT amused.

Really? I thought it was great ... and I've only seen it dubbed in Russian, which I'm not fluent in.

 

[arildno]

Really? I thought it was great ... and I've only seen it dubbed in Russian, which I'm not fluent in.

Hmm..let's see, for STARTERS:
1. What was the relevance of the opening scene and the portentious drinking from a cup? No eplanation was given.

2. What was the relevance of Daddy Shaw dying from the Ebola virus?? OR Dr. Shaw's childhood memories in general?

3. Why did the android infect Dr. Holloway with some blood drop?

4. How, and on what basis, did the captain suddenly realize that everything was a military installation and factory for producing biological weapons?

5. How did a tiny tentacle creep, securely locked in a room without access to food suddenly grow into gargantuan proportions??

6. Why did a military installation "hide" a spaceship beneath a big mound shaped like a head?? Why not just as some unobstrusive boulder?

7. How did the geologist become imbued with superman powers after infection, while the biologist just died?? Why didn't Holloway develop superman powers?

8. Didn't Prometheus even have metal detectors to find out that the whole ground was a huge launching pad, or something??

 

[KiwiKid]

Hellooo? Spoiler alert!

 

[arildno]

Hellooo? Spoiler alert!

Indeed! Thus, you need not see this multiply used diaper of a movie.

 

[KiwiKid]

Indeed! Thus, you need not see this multiply used diaper of a movie.

I actually stopped reading after 'for starters' when my brain realized you were going to provide a list of details. Luckily, I can still watch the movie and (likely) enjoy it.

 

[arildno]

And,
9. How the heck can a self-medicated sedative used during vivesection&operation suddenly turn into an energizer of Dr. Shaw's body??

There she was, running happily about, only minutes after having sawed out a tentacle thing from her abdomen...

 

[DaveC426913]

Hellooo? Spoiler alert!

Uh. Yuh. Plus 1.

 

[gravenewworld]

That bad huh? I knew this was going to be a film obsessed w special fx and cgi w a thin plot. Just goes to show that no matter how much you spend, if your script stinks your movie will too.

 

[arildno]

Uh. Yuh. Plus 1.

And one more:

10. Why was the design so un-Alien??
In the four previous movies, with generally deteriorating quality, the directors at least kept the spooky elegance intact throughout in how structures looked like.

Not so in this film, where the sets was broken apart, each with its own mini-design, and no overall feel to them.

the only thing faintly reminiscent of the old Alien environment was the control room in the old spaceship.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Is this another Alien sequal?

 

[arildno]

Is this another Alien sequal?

It is an Alien prequel, or tries to be. It seek to prove darwinism wrong (we were spliced together by an alien master race, who later on decided to kill us off by creating monsters. The monsters turned on the masers).
A cross seems to be important, too

 

[zoobyshoe]

It is an Alien prequel, or tries to be. It seek to prove darwinism wrong (we were spliced together by an alien master race, who later on decided to kill us off by creating monsters. The monsters turned on the masers).
A cross seems to be important, too

Yeah, that sounds nice and pointless.

 

[arildno]

Furthermore, the movie was etremely boring. It had a very low gore content, but that could have been a great advantage if the portrayals of the interpersonal relationships had been absorbing.
they were not. The dialogue was stiff and bad, motivations and intrigues without any depths, sudden friendships sprung up for no reason, seemingly age old friendships were suddenly assumed, but had never been developed and then all of a sudden, without any developing sense of necessity, the remaining crew decided to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

The movie is a stinky old diaper.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

1. What was the relevance of the opening scene and the portentious drinking from a cup? No eplanation was given.

Agreed, though I stated my ideas above.

2. What was the relevance of Daddy Shaw dying from the Ebola virus?? OR Dr. Shaw's childhood memories in general?

As far as I could see it was an attempt to lay down some background for the character. You might want to also add to the list the fact that she couldn't get pregnant which is brought up once and never again.

3. Why did the android infect Dr. Holloway with some blood drop?

To see what would happen. David's behaviour in general seems to be towards studying the aliens and bringing them home (probably for profit).

4. How, and on what basis, did the captain suddenly realize that everything was a military installation and factory for producing biological weapons?

Well it was more of a hunch than anything and to be fair I thought that at one point before he said it.

5. How did a tiny tentacle creep, securely locked in a room without access to food suddenly grow into gargantuan proportions??

This annoyed me too. I consolled mysdself by assuming it ate the chair.

6. Why did a military installation "hide" a spaceship beneath a big mound shaped like a head?? Why not just as some unobstrusive boulder?

It wasn't hidden was it? I thought it was parked.

7. How did the geologist become imbued with superman powers after infection, while the biologist just died?? Why didn't Holloway develop superman powers?

Didn't the biologist got killed by the snake whereas the other two were infected by the black stuff? Holloway was burnt before he could fully change as well.

8. Didn't Prometheus even have metal detectors to find out that the whole ground was a huge launching pad, or something??

I was less impressed by their flying probes. Other than scanning the wall proportions they didn't seem to do anything. They didn't even have cameras.

9. How the heck can a self-medicated sedative used during vivesection&operation suddenly turn into an energizer of Dr. Shaw's body??

I didn't notice this.

There she was, running happily about, only minutes after having sawed out a tentacle thing from her abdomen...

The medical cabinet thing could have been done better (also I don't understand why it was just programmed for men if the person who owned it is a woman), it's meant to be used by one (presumably sick) person so you'd hope the machine could medicate by itself. It was sort of implied that the surgery was using quite advanced technology by sealing her tissue before stapling it but that's not really gone over.

As for her running about, I did wonder if people would find that less believable than the stereotypical male protagonist of most action films who regularly gets battered, bruised and shot but still manages to fight and survive will little more than a limp.

10. Why was the design so un-Alien??
In the four previous movies, with generally deteriorating quality, the directors at least kept the spooky elegance intact throughout in how structures looked like.

Not so in this film, where the sets was broken apart, each with its own mini-design, and no overall feel to them.

the only thing faintly reminiscent of the old Alien environment was the control room in the old spaceship.

I've read in multiple interviews that it wasn't meant to be alien, It's meant to be it's own thing loosely linked.

 

[ThomasT]

The movie starts tomorrow in Fort Lauderdale at the IMAX theater downtown. It's in 3D. We'll probably wait until this weekend or next week to see it ... to avoid the early crowds.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I've read in multiple interviews that it wasn't meant to be alien, It's meant to be it's own thing loosely linked.

That was their downfall. There is so much content in the Alien universe. I've read many of the spin off books and they would make fantastic movies. Alien was one of the best sci fi creatures of all time, why invent something else? Dang I was really looking forward to this. Hollywood is so trash.