Why Does Prometheus Reuse Images from Alien?

[ThomasT]

We have tickets for Tuesday afternoon at the local IMAX. I'll post my impression(s), any lingering (for me) questions/confusions, and any answers/resolutions (imo) following my viewing and discussion of the film with my fellow viewers.

 

[QuarkCharmer]

I saw it this afternoon. Then I came home and watched Alien Resurrection (arguably the worst of the films, excluding that wretched Aliens v. Predators thing). My impression? Meh

The visual effects of the Prometheus craft were great, but basically everything taking place off the ship was boring. The plot has too many holes, especially when compared to the lore of the original films, but, even overlooking that, the plot by itself makes little sense.

Summary:

Spoiler

People follow star-map from cave paintings to meet god-race, only to find out they were planning on sending a virus/alien back to Earth for some reason.

I just don't get it. It didn't feel like anyone in the film would have had the motivation to do any of the things they did. They just acted randomly through the whole film.

There also wasn't nearly enough of that spaceship ambient "engines idling" sound that I love so much.

 

[ThomasT]

I saw it this afternoon. Then I came home and watched Alien Resurrection (arguably the worst of the films, excluding that wretched Aliens v. Predators thing). My impression? Meh

I thought Alien Resurrection was cool (I liked it better than Aliens and Alien III), though imo Dan Hedaya was miscast and Freeman's and Dourif's characterizations a bit ... overdone. I thought AvP was more realistic/believable, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Of course the best were the original Alien and Predator films, because of their originality.

I just don't get it. It didn't feel like anyone in the film would have had the motivation to do any of the things they did. They just acted randomly through the whole film.

Ok. I'm curious to see what my impression/reaction will be.

There also wasn't nearly enough of that spaceship ambient "engines idling" sound that I love so much.

This seems like an extremely personal thing, the exploration of which is, imo, beyond the scope of the OP.

 

[Curious3141]

Just came back from an afternoon 3d-screening. Absolutely no one else in the theatre.

Impression: absolute crap.

My most cringe-worthy moment was when Holloway said: "One small step for mankind" without apparent irony. Oh god...

I had not read this thread or any others on the internet to keep myself "unspoilered". I'd gone on the strength of a 74% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Guess what - I'm not trusting *that* website anymore.

 

[bugatti79]

After watching that film, I cannot help but think in my wild imagination that Craig Venter will be the founding Father of the future 'Engineers' whom created new life and spread it across the Universe...so that in many light years time a 'Prometheus' will come back to Earth to look for their creators (Craig and his Engineers in California.)
Indeed we could be the first intelligent species in the Universe considering that the Universe is very young and considering the estimated lifespan of same :-)...lol

(Of course the issue of who created Craig/Engineers/us still remains but that issue wasn't resolved in the film either :-))

 

[BobG]

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

For that matter, why would biologists open up their spacesuits and expose themselves to an alien biosphere just because the air was breathable. I would say the guy deserved to be burnt, but everyone followed his example.

Basically, the crew didn't exhibit enough intelligence to be on that type of expedition - or else the old man was attracted to the ideas of dysfunctional crackpots, which pretty much ensured the scientists he brought along would do dumb things.

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.

The medical cabinet was for the old man. In fact, the whole expedition was designed for the old man, in spite of his daughter running the show.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

For that matter, why would biologists open up their spacesuits and expose themselves to an alien biosphere just because the air was breathable. I would say the guy deserved to be burnt, but everyone followed his example.

Basically, the crew didn't exhibit enough intelligence to be on that type of expedition - or else the old man was attracted to the ideas of dysfunctional crackpots, which pretty much ensured the scientists he brought along would do dumb things.

And as if a biologist would use the term "darwinism" rather than "evolution" and limit their protest to a mere token sentance.

 

[ThomasT]

We saw it yesterday afternoon (there were maybe 50 people in the 300 seat theater). The sensory experience of the IMAX 3D was cool. The movie, visually and auditorally (that is, the music and sound effects, not the dialogue), was cool -- and that was the level on which I enjoyed it. I'd give it about a 5 on a ten point scale.

One of the things that sticks in my mind is, as others have mentioned, everybody being so quick to take their helmets off.

Ironically it's often the contrivances that filmmakers use to gain a wide audience that ensure that their films won't have as wide an audience as they might have had they not used the contrivances.

They did a great job marketing this though. I wonder if they'll break even on their investment.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

One of the things that sticks in my mind is, as others have mentioned, everybody being so quick to take their helmets off.

This is a common thing in films, I guess because film makers (proably correctly) that an audience will relate less to characters hidden behind masks. Though having said that the helmets in prometheus were large glass bubbles so...

The worst example of mask removing in a film that springs to my mind is the first Resident Evil film. In it a group of special forces types bust into a mansion that hides a train station leading to a secret underground research facility. The facility, station and mansion have all been flooded with gas at some point killing most people. Within seconds of busting through the mansion windows one of them waves a sensor around and declares the air contains only residual gas, they remove their gas masks and keep them off never bothering to worry that the sealed underground facilities could still contain gas nor that the severe case of zombies possibly would warrent protecting oneself from airborne contaminants my willing suspension of disbelief quickly collapsed

 

[ThomasT]

From what I'm reading, Prometheus is going to lose lots of money. I think that's fitting. Scott could have made a great movie. Instead he made a mediocre movie (albeit with some great special effects). Oh well.

 

[Curious3141]

in many light years time

Seriously? I know this is GD, but this is still a Physics forum, you know?

 

[nucl34rgg]

The movie had an awesome setting and amazing visual effects, but it was ruined by a genuinely stupid script imo. (I don't mean thematically. I mean some of the decisions made by the characters were laughably stupid, and they ruined the movie for me.)

 

[ThomasT]

The movie had an awesome setting and amazing visual effects, but it was ruined by a genuinely stupid script imo. (I don't mean thematically. I mean some of the decisions made by the characters were laughably stupid, and they ruined the movie for me.)

I agree. In fact, the more I think about this movie (I saw it in IMAX 3D and loved the visual and sound effects) the more I want to give it a lower rating than I previously did. It's currently down to a 4 out of 10, imho.

Just way too many silly, imo, contrivances written into the screenplay. Quite disappointing on that level.

 

[cepheid]

SPOILERS
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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.

Umm...you guys have seen the original Alien, have you not? If so, then why wouldn't it bother you just as much that the chest burster grew into an adult xenomorph in a matter of hours with no apparent source of nutrients? And if you did see it, and it did bother you at the time, why sound so surprised about more of the same?

Hmm..let's see, for STARTERS:
3. Why did the android infect Dr. Holloway with some blood drop?

Here's a kind of joke explanation that went through my mind:

David: "Hmm, I wonder if this black ooze coming out of these canisters might be a serum that will give Weyland the immortality he seeks? I will find out what it it does by testing it on one of the humans.

Holloway: "Gaaaaaarrrrrgggggh!"

David: "I guess not."

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

I assumed that he were merely speculating based on the information at hand, and the audience was not necessarily meant to assume that he was right, although the fact that they were heading to Earth with a cargo hold full of the stuff, ostensibly to erase their creation, sort of lends credence to his theory of biological weapons.

I think Ryan_m_b has addressed most of your other points. The plot of the movie was definitely its weakest part, but I thought the film had other merits.

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.

Yeah, regarding the aesthetic, I also read that they had to use brighter lighting to accommodate the 3D cameras, and then added the characteristic gloom and shadows in post production. The human's ship may not have been as dark and claustrophobic as in the original film, but I thought that the Engineers' facility certainly was very Giger-esque (makes sense considering that he worked on it and that they were trying to duplicate the same type of chambers where the original "space jockey" was seen).

You want to talk about plot flaws? If the Engineers' civilization is still around (as implied by Shaw going to seek them out at the end), then why didn't they get around to wiping out humanity as they apparently planned to? And if they forgot or just decided not to, then wouldn't it be a really BAD idea to remind them of their plan and draw their attention back to Earth and humanity again by going to seek them out on their homeworld? I read that one reviewer criticized the characters in this movie for not having common sense and not being pragmatic, and I agree 100%. What's more, what the hell is Shaw going to eat on her interstellar journey? It seems like, after beating the odds and expending so much effort to try and survive, her best move would have been to go back home so that her efforts weren't in vain.

 

[ThomasT]

Umm...you guys have seen the original Alien, have you not? If so, then why wouldn't it bother you just as much that the chest burster grew into an adult xenomorph in a matter of hours with no apparent source of nutrients?

Yeah, I saw it in a movie theatre in 1979. Made no sense. But just like Prometheus, a cool visual experience. My current opinion: Ridley Scott makes visually arresting yet idiotic scifi movies. He's definitely not the one who will make the definitive (wrt, realistic mise en scene, plot, dialogue, etc.) scifi movie.

Here's a kind of joke explanation that went through my mind:

David: "Hmm, I wonder if this black ooze coming out of these canisters might be a serum that will give Weyland the immortality he seeks? I will find out what it it does by testing it on one of the humans.

Holloway: "Gaaaaaarrrrrgggggh!"

David: "I guess not."

Actually, this action by David isn't nearly as silly as, eg., the guys in the alien structure making nice with the snakelike thing that emerged from the black ooze.

It's conceivable that he's been programmed to put Weyland's interests foremost. Holloway is just a biological experimental medium. Ie., you have an empirical question -- only one way to find the answer.

You want to talk about plot flaws? If the Engineers' civilization is still around (as implied by Shaw going to seek them out at the end), then why didn't they get around to wiping out humanity as they apparently planned to?

Good point. One might conjecture that the being that the humans encountered, and the being in the beginning of the movie, were actually artificial life forms, ie., bioengineered robots, like David, but on a much more sophisticated level.

And if they forgot or just decided not to, then wouldn't it be a really BAD idea to remind them of their plan and draw their attention back to Earth and humanity again by going to seek them out on their homeworld?

Shaw going to the alien planet with the help of David's head makes as little sense as dozens of other things in the movie. But it is a precursor to a sequel, which probably won't happen if this one loses as much money as I think it will.

I read that one reviewer criticized the characters in this movie for not having common sense and not being pragmatic, and I agree 100%.

It's not EVEN that their behavior isn't commonsensical. They behave absolutely stupidly at times. Despite the great visuals and sound, the screenplay made this movie a less than satisfactory experience ... wrt my expectations.

What's more, what the hell is Shaw going to eat on her interstellar journey? It seems like, after beating the odds and expending so much effort to try and survive, her best move would have been to go back home so that her efforts weren't in vain.

Yes. That would have made sense. But the movie doesn't make sense. It's not just that there are unanswered questions that remain for the audience to speculate about. The problem is that the people who made the movie, although quite skilled in the craft of movie making, apparently aren't especially smart or knowledgeable otherwise. They're going to lose a LOT of money on this one -- essentially, I think, because the prevailing wisdom in movieland regarding realistic scifi films and their prospective audiences is a bit off the mark.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

They're going to lose a LOT of money on this one -- essentially, I think, because the prevailing wisdom in movieland regarding realistic scifi films and their prospective audiences is a bit off the mark.

According to Wikipedia the film has already made $30 million profit. Considering the long build up and dedicated marketing it's not surprising.

 

[ThomasT]

According to Wikipedia the film has already made $30 million profit. Considering the long build up and dedicated marketing it's not surprising.

My understanding is that the break even point for a big budget film is generally about two times the reported production cost. If that's the case with Prometheus, then it's still about $100 million in the red.

 

[Antiphon]

It all fit together nicely for me and made sense.

The black stuff is not a weapon it's a "life bullion". That's why it's all over Earth's cave paintings. When the Engineers came here millions of years after seeding primordial Earth (opening scene) they were explaining to us where we come from, hence the cave paintings.

The large human head in the room with the vials of seed indicate that that room's juice was meant to (or had) produced that particular being.

The alien is not alien-like but worm-like because the goo leaked and hit some worms (shown in movie). Apparently the goo takes whatever DNA it hits and aggressively rearranges it using some unknown parameters.

When the worm-alien ate the Engineer, it continued the process of absorbing and modifying genetic data. Hence the conversion from wormlike to head-like. Presumably in future prequals it will encounter insects. If you watch the TV show "Monster Bug Wars" you'll see the bases for the alien we all know and love.

The rest all made sense too but I have to go eat breakfast now :)

 

[Antiphon]

Done with breakfast.

As for the why the revived Engineer was hostile; there could be many explanations taken from our own experience. An advanced race has to have advanced politics and advanced revolutions.

Here are just the obvious ones that come to mind:

1) He's part of a terrorist organization bent on destroying the works of his own civilization. This fits with the holographic accident showing how they failed in their mission; they broke into this place to steal the goo so they could wipe the Earth out. But they screwed up, it got loose, and their mission failed. Not much different than a plot for flying jets into skyscrapers.

2) They've decided we've gone ugly as a species and time to press the reset button. Not likely they'd feel that way but fits in with all the other low-grade "man is bad" morality plays eminating from Hollywood.

This movie has its weaknesses but I think it will be treated more kindly over time, much like Bladerunner- a movie almost universally panned by critics and drawing a lot of "huh?"s from moviegoers.

 

[cepheid]

The alien is not alien-like but worm-like because the goo leaked and hit some worms (shown in movie). Apparently the goo takes whatever DNA it hits and aggressively rearranges it using some unknown parameters.

I'm not sure about the rest of your theories, but I think that this was a good catch, as was your catch about the Engineers seeding the oceans with the primordial soup (although Ryan_m_b pointed this out first)

 

[SHISHKABOB]

at the very beginning of the film, when they showed the weird white alien guy right off the bat, I got a bit of a sinking feeling.

I think the movie was too much on the side of just throwing things in our faces. And I also felt that some of the decisions made by the people (namely the captain and the two bridge guys deciding the fly into the other alien ship) were a bit confusing.

I give it a... C to B. I really wanted it to be an A+++. Oh well.

 

[Antiphon]

There are more layers to this onion.

I believe Weylands 's daughter is a robot. She never showed true anger or humor. When the captain's gut instinct was that she may be a robot he was right. And when she "challenged" him to meet her in her cabin that clinched it- a real person would have taken the question as an insult. An undercover robot that's fully functional would have done exactly what she did to maintain her cover. His real daughter is back home waiting to take over the company. If the mission hadn't gone south it's pretty clear to me she (the robot) was there to make sure the old man never came home.

 

[alba_ei]

Where all these holographic visions come from? They appear to magically pop up and vanish out of nowhere.

 

[aquitaine]

I just it yesterday, and I have to ask, was this supposed to be the direct prequel to Alien? I would hope not given several major continuity problems.

 

[ME_student]

Originally Posted by 04LTtacoma
It was a good movie, but it left me confused. There are so many unanswered questions.

This movie is suppose to be a prequel to the Alien movies?
It is not a prequel to Alien but they stories are related in the same scifi universe. A lot of people miss this and expect another Alien/Aliens.

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

The most popular theory is that the Engineer sacrificed himself (his DNA) to terraform a planet. It's suspected the planet was Earth. The movie was full of open endings and little explanations, which is part of the appeal. Some people want the movies to spell everything out and they get mad when they are incited to think.

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

IMO, the childhood memories were just character building. The reference to Ebola was a tie-in. Her Dad died of a virus and she (hinted by David) was going to die of a alien “virus.”

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

This was explained in an earlier post, and better explained HERE. Also, did you notice that David asked him a series of questions before he dipped the alien goo into his wine glass from his finger tip? I suspect that Holloway’s answers were going to sway David one way or another. OR, David’s own questions to him were his own: “How far would you be willing to go to find your answers? What would you be willing to do?” David was willing to go all the way and sacrifice one of his own members (Holloway) to find his answers.

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

Nobody knows for sure. The military installation and bio-weapon statement is just theory given by the pilot. A lot people think the explanation (even if the general assumption is wrong) was given just to solidify the story/plot.

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

An acid-based organism is allowed greater expansion based on gases, not muscle and skeletal tissue like humans (which can only grow based on consuming other matter, i.e. food). Just kidding, I don’t have an freaking clue.

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

Good question. This is why I think the planet may have been a burial ground for the alien virus, not a bio-weapon facility. Maybe the engineers there were wardens to ensure the "prisoner" alien goo didn't escape. This gives another theory as to why the Engineer flipped out when he was woken up.

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

I suspect Holloway, if allowed to die, would have ended up just like the geologist: alien zombie. Remember when they amplified the engineer head back on the ship? The “virus” just took over and *splat*

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

You would think so right?

I have tons of questions too, all subject to interpretation. I would also like to know what the deal was with the big head statue and the alien murals on the wall.
__________________Copy and pasted from another forum I am a member of.

 

[Antiphon]

Where all these holographic visions come from? They appear to magically pop up and vanish out of nowhere.

They would seem to be part of the facility's data system but clearly aged and in disrepair. The idea is you walk into a facility where there's been a catastrophic industrial accident. Rather that pour over computer logs and movies at a console, the facility simply shows you what happened and where in 3D. The quality is poor because the technology is very old and only marginally functional.

 

[Antiphon]

I just it yesterday, and I have to ask, was this supposed to be the direct prequel to Alien? I would hope not given several major continuity problems.

It's a distant prequal. It's like watching Star Wars Episode 1 after episode 6. You don't yet see the genesis of the Alien in the form we know it but it's going to happen, just like you didn't see the creation of Darth Vader as we knew him in episodes 3-6.

 

[SHISHKABOB]

There are more layers to this onion.

I believe Weylands 's daughter is a robot. She never showed true anger or humor. When the captain's gut instinct was that she may be a robot he was right. And when she "challenged" him to meet her in her cabin that clinched it- a real person would have taken the question as an insult. An undercover robot that's fully functional would have done exactly what she did to maintain her cover. His real daughter is back home waiting to take over the company. If the mission hadn't gone south it's pretty clear to me she (the robot) was there to make sure the old man never came home.

she showed true terror, though, right before she was crushed. IIRC Ash and Bishop from Alien and Aliens never showed terror either.

 

[nucl34rgg]

It's a distant prequal. It's like watching Star Wars Episode 1 after episode 6. You don't yet see the genesis of the Alien in the form we know it but it's going to happen, just like you didn't see the creation of Darth Vader as we knew him in episodes 3-6.

It's like Episode 1 in more ways than that! >D >D :D :D :D

 

[surajt88]

This is why I think the planet may have been a burial ground for the alien virus, not a bio -weapon facility.

This and the military installation hypothesis beg the question as to why its location was in various ancient star maps instead of the aliens' home planet.