Sombras on 11/6/2012 at 18:27
Quote Posted by Brethren
They're probably saving that explanation for the sequel, but yes, the planet on Prometheus was LV-223, not LV-426.
Man, you are really turning me on. :D
And (
http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/LV-223) THIS SITE gives weight to the notion that the Prometheus stumbled on just one of possibly
many sites where the Engineers were experimenting with bioweapons. Apparently, things went down the crapper in multiple places.
Pyrian on 11/6/2012 at 18:55
Quote Posted by Sombras
(And, what fucking BIOLOGIST sent to study alien species would talk to an unknown, potentially dangerous organism like it's a puppy?)
I know several biologists that would do precisely that. :p And the more creepy and bizarre the organism, the more they'll infantilize it.
Morte on 11/6/2012 at 19:37
Quote Posted by Sombras
Agreed. So, wait, did
Prometheus take place on a
different planet than LV-426??? Seems crazy that two different Engineer ships on two different planets would suffer similar fates.
It's one of the many moments when the movie can't help itself and provides unecessary and distracting callbacks to Alien. See also: David getting decapitated and becoming a talking head on the floor, and those terrible final shots.
Quote:
That makes sense about the suit refilling. See? Just another example of the plot jumping too much and the audience having to work overtime to fill in the gaps.
Actually, first thing she does when she gets on the lifeboat is grab a bunch of small white-ish tubes out of a compartment. I assumed that was the oxygen resupply.
Renault on 11/6/2012 at 20:07
The ironic thing is, because this movie was so messy and confusing, I actually want to shell out the dough and go see it again. Do you think this is what they had in mind all along? :laff:
SubJeff on 11/6/2012 at 22:23
Quote Posted by Sombras
Agreed. So, wait, did
Prometheus take place on a
different planet than LV-426??? Seems crazy that two different Engineer ships on two different planets would suffer similar fates.
Not this again.
It clearly states when they arrive that it is LV223. I've seen this error all over the place, and the supposed lack of continuity as a problem with the film when it's you people who didn't pay attention making a mistake. And I don't mean to be rude but anyone who misses this
wasn't paying attention.
Quote:
gives weight to the notion that the Prometheus stumbled on just one of possibly many sites where the Engineers were experimenting with bioweapons.
Isn't this the entire point? They have done this all over the place and Earth is the linked host planet for the LV223, which is why the Engineers from there keep visiting and making contact with humans throughout the ages.
They clearly have a biotech facility and a linked "human" (more one this later) planet. Why? Well it looks like they are making Alien eggs, and in order to do it they need the set up; pluripotential goo (which is why it turns into different stuff) and hosts (humans) to go through the (many) cycles and end up with Alien eggs. This is why the Engineer is heading to Earth - it's his mission and was abandoned 200 years ago. We were never meant to get this technologically advanced. The reason he is in cryo is that he was never woken up and can't very well do so while he is asleep. The other Engineers bungled the mission and got infected/impregnated. This likely happened in the other pyramids and they all came to this one to escape.
With regards to the "why?" - there could be a couple of reasons. 1. That's just the plan; get the numbers up, get the eggs, PROFIT. 2. The initial attack on Earth was supposed to be about 2000 years ago. Given the exposition about faith and creators is this a hint at our failure to recognise our place in the universe - that around the time of Christ it became clear to them that spiritually we had failed to recognise and follow the true "faith"? They left clues after all...
The ship on LV426 is carrying the final cargo but the pilot was obviously impregnated. For whatever reason he has continued on his delivery mission/been volunteered to go on it and succumbed to the Alien and crashed.
Other plot points.
David - on a mission from Weyland. Doesn't know what the goo will do an experiments on a crew member. How is this hard to get?
Shaw - doesn't know how she got infected, only that she has got rid of it. Why would she flip out, especially when doing that will stop her from getting to meet the Engineer and ask her questions.
The 100% DNA question. Not all DNA is expressed all the time. These guys are DNA engineers - they can likely manipulate it well enough to alter sizes. This why earlier I calle dus "humans". We are engineered from them, but that gives no guarantee that we'll be exactly like them, or indeed that all the other "human" planets are like them or us.
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do you guys get the impression that the Nostromo just happened to pick up the distress signal in the course of it's normal operations, or was the entire expedition intended from the start to get an "expendable" crew over there to check it out?
They were sent. Ash knew all along.
Renault on 11/6/2012 at 22:52
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
They were sent. Ash knew all along.
The more I think about it, I'm not buying it. Even 50+ years later with terraformers living on LV-426, "The Company" still doesn't know about the derelict ship until Burke sends some prospectors over there to check it out, based on info he gets from Ripley.
SubJeff on 11/6/2012 at 23:23
The Company definitely knows because Ash contacted them before he flipped out.
Neb on 11/6/2012 at 23:56
Didn't he just 'talk' to Mother?
From what I remember of the back story (which even if official and I haven't misremembered, shouldn't be taken too seriously) is that another ship picked up the signal, the company organised for Ash to take over as science officer on the Nostromo's return journey, and special directives were given to study any lifeforms at all costs. He had no direct contact with the company, and then nothing is heard from the crew until Ripley wakes up in Aliens.
Renault on 12/6/2012 at 01:07
Here' my take -
Every deep space ship has a "Mother" AI which is programmed to act on behalf of The Company.
Each ship also has a synthetic Ash type character who is essentially an agent of Mother's (and The Company).
The Nostromo was too far out in space to directly communicate with Earth, but Mother was already programmed to investigate any alien life forms for study & capture if they were encountered. She woke up the crew when the "distress" signal was received (she probably knew it was a warning, but lied about it).
Ash was physically responsible for making it happen and bringing it back to Earth. Crew Expendable.
So when the Nostromo detonated, pretty much any record of anything that happened in Alien was gone, except for the shuttle with Ripley, which was lost and drifting around space.
Volitions Advocate on 12/6/2012 at 03:01
I'll have to go back and watch Alien again, it's been awhile... but do we know for sure the original signal was a warning? Ripley suspects it might be a warning. there was no superancientspacefaringalien-to-english translator on the Nostromo. What if the signal was a deliberate trap? Or maybe it was a distress signal to the other Engineers. If the space jockey was compromised and their mission was important, and if the hypothesis here that the Alien was the final goal of the lifecycle created by the black goo, wouldn't it make sense that the the space jockey would have sent out a transmission detailing his mission failure so that the rest of the engineers would be able to recover the cargo? He wouldn't need to send a "stay away' warning because everybody else would know what was on his ship.
I don't think the signal was a warning. but Ash/WeylandYutani/Mother wouldn't have known it one way or another.
