Who is going to see 'Prometheus'?

[Ariana_FFD]

bye

[JSHAW]

This guy right here has been getting alot of hits on his blog about Prometheus. Twitter is blowing up about it and one of the writers, Damon Lindelof linked to the blogpost.

You might not want to read it until after seeing the movie.

http://cavalorn.livejournal.com/584135.html

[El Guapo]

I saw this on Friday. I liked it, but I feel like it needed one more round of editing. It was close to being a great movie, but wound up being just an enjoyable one.

A few things:

Spoiler:

The old guy / Charlize Theron stuff was weird. His motivation is odd - if he's going to die in a few days of life time, wouldn't it make sense to just freeze himself on Earth and wait for a cure / wait for the expedition to come back? Her motivation is even more odd - she evidently wants to take over the company; wouldn't being active on Earth for those 2 years of transit be more helpful for that? Plus the whole father / daughter thing seemed kind of tacked on. So:

- Make him younger (though still dying), and make them husband and wife. The scientists find some trace alien cells in one of their sites on Earth - too small to do anything significant, but seems to have some capacity to morph / change cells. This seems uniquely promising to whatever condition the husband has. Charlize Theron comes along then because she wants to be with her husband.

- The whole "creators wanted to destroy Earth, changed their minds apparently, but this one creator dude wants to do it so much that after waking up he's immediately homicidal and genocidal without asking any questions" thing is weird. So instead, make it so that one of the aliens can act as a parasite, taking over a host. Make this how aliens spread from world to world - infest a pilot who then is overwhelmingly compelled to take them someplace new. Make the creator dude infested before he fell in - explains the homicidal part. Or make it so that the old dude exposes him to the alien DNA to experiment on him first before trying to use the alien DNA to cure himself, leading to the creator becoming infested.

-Ending was way too long. Basically end it with the sacrifice of the Prometheus to stop the creator ship from heading towards Earth, except that (to avoid it being totally bleak) Dr. Shaw survives, but is stranded on the world in Charlize Theron's self-sustaining escape pod.

[Ariana_FFD]

bye

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Spoiler:

Perhaps all the ancient drawings were of the planet not because that's the engineer's homeworld, but because that's where our destruction will come from. Scenes depicting gods laying down devastation on humans are probably not completely uncommon to find. Of course, that doesn't jive well with the Jesus idea.

[hepcat]

Spoiler:

Honestly, if they'd wanted to tie this film together nicely with the theme that we'd failed as a race and needed to be exterminated for the greater good, the final shot should've been a monitor on the Engineer's ship playing a loop over and over again of Jersey Shore.

[JSHAW]

El Guapo, check this out...

Spoiler:

Ending was way too long. Basically end it with the sacrifice of the Prometheus to stop the creator ship from heading towards Earth, except that (to avoid it being totally bleak) Dr. Shaw survives, but is stranded on the world in Charlize Theron's self-sustaining escape pod.

You are aware that Dr. Shaw, with the help of David left from the planet in one of the other alien spacecraft's, heading to the Alien's homeworld? She would have been stranded had she not taken David up on his offer to help her power-up one of the spacecrafts still on the planet. As the viewer you see the ship take off and streak across the sky in the next to final shot of the movie. Hope you didn't miss that, did you?

[El Guapo]

El Guapo, check this out...

Spoiler:

Ending was way too long. Basically end it with the sacrifice of the Prometheus to stop the creator ship from heading towards Earth, except that (to avoid it being totally bleak) Dr. Shaw survives, but is stranded on the world in Charlize Theron's self-sustaining escape pod.

You are aware that Dr. Shaw, with the help of David left from the planet in one of the other alien spacecraft's, heading to the Alien's homeworld? She would have been stranded had she not taken David up on his offer to help her power-up one of the spacecrafts still on the planet. As the viewer you see the ship take off and streak across the sky in the next to final shot of the movie. Hope you didn't miss that, did you?

Spoiler:

Yes, I did watch the movie. I'm just saying that I think the movie would be better if it basically ended with the sacrifice of the Prometheus. All the stuff after that was a unnecessary and cumbersome - she runs from the falling ship, almost gets crushed by it, almost runs out of oxygen, manages to run a very long distance on 1.5 minutes of oxygen somehow, explores the ship, gets attacked by the engineer and alien, escapes them, now suddenly has more oxygen, talks to the android, finds the android... I think all of that took away from the drama of the Prometheus and the creator ship, which ought to have been the ending climax.

Plus I think more of a downer ending would have been better - having her leave the planet diminishes somewhat I think the sacrifice of the crew. I prefer a "it sucks, but none of us can leave this planet, due to the ramifications of allowing this danger to spread to other worlds."

Also - apparently neither Dr. Shaw nor Vickers is smart enough to run horizontally when a long vertical shape is threatening to fall on you.

[Ariana_FFD]

bye

[Ariana_FFD]

I agree with El Guapo.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Spoiler:

BTW, what about the fact that in Alien, provided that the ship Nostromos found was the same one, and it was the same Space Jockey, he left the ship and died in the escape pod! Not in the chair. Oh and one last hole... if this was the same Planetoid and Space jockey, why did they not see the other huge structures that were there in Prometheus? After lasting millenium, a few centuries were not going to desecrate them entirely.

ending has so many inconsistencies, which is why the story bombed for me.

Spoiler:

They aren't the same planet.

[hepcat]

Spoiler:

Also - apparently neither Dr. Shaw nor Vickers is smart enough to run horizontally when a long vertical shape is threatening to fall on you.

She displayed the same level of intelligence that Wile E Coyote shows on the Road Runner in similar circumstances.

[JSHAW]

Ariana, you're assuming that the planet in Alien and in Prometheus are the same, they're not. That's why you're confused.

That's why plot points for you aren't lining up, because you have details wrong in your head, leading you to believe one thing
that's 100% incorrect.

Spoiler:

Alien space jockey and Prometheus space jockey's, they're ON different planets.

[Ariana_FFD]

bye

[Ariana_FFD]

bye

[hepcat]

Because the Nostromos aliens were more bio/mechanoid creatures.

~A~

They were? I guess I need to rewatch Alien again (I have the blu ray, thankfully) as I don't recall that as being mentioned in the film.

[Covenant72]

Spoiler:

Am I the only one who thought the black goo was NOT the same thing that infected what's his name scientist dude? When David cracked open the vase, there were 4 small minivases inside, and within one of those was a small dot sized almost mechanical looking thing (David was holding it on the end of his finger when he did the small things line). The black goo was just surrounding those and acted as some sort of perhaps emneotic fluid. Like some sort of manufactured DNA goes into the mini vases, then the black goo does an evolution acceleration on it or similar. This would also back up the entire idea that we were born of the engineers, as he consumed the black goo at the start.

[Covenant72]

Ariana, you're assuming that the planet in Alien and in Prometheus are the same, they're not. That's why you're confused.

That's why plot points for you aren't lining up, because you have details wrong in your head, leading you to believe one thing
that's 100% incorrect.

Spoiler:

Alien space jockey and Prometheus space jockey's, they're ON different planets.

Nope I am not, I said so at the very beginning of this thread it did not look right to be the same place.

~A~

Spoiler:

Then why would you point to the location of the engineer's death as a plot hole? Or that there were no other structures found in Alien?

[hepcat]

Spoiler:

Am I the only one who thought the black goo was NOT the same thing that infected what's his name scientist dude? When David cracked open the vase, there were 4 small minivases inside, and within one of those was a small dot sized almost mechanical looking thing (David was holding it on the end of his finger when he did the small things line). The black goo was just surrounding those and acted as some sort of perhaps emneotic fluid. Like some sort of manufactured DNA goes into the mini vases, then the black goo does an evolution acceleration on it or similar. This would also back up the entire idea that we were born of the engineers, as he consumed the black goo at the start.

hmmm...good point. I forgot about the actual stuff taken at the start of the film.

[Ariana_FFD]

bye

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Spoiler:

Am I the only one who thought the black goo was NOT the same thing that infected what's his name scientist dude? When David cracked open the vase, there were 4 small minivases inside, and within one of those was a small dot sized almost mechanical looking thing (David was holding it on the end of his finger when he did the small things line). The black goo was just surrounding those and acted as some sort of perhaps emneotic fluid. Like some sort of manufactured DNA goes into the mini vases, then the black goo does an evolution acceleration on it or similar. This would also back up the entire idea that we were born of the engineers, as he consumed the black goo at the start.

Spoiler:

It seemed like an egg or embryo to me.

[hepcat]

Spoiler:

Now while I had said this, are you being purposefully obtuse? I am going on the basis that this prequel's purpose was to explain Alien.

~A~

I think it's a mistake to assume that was the film's purpose. Scott seems to have gone out of his way from the very beginning to say it WASN'T supposed to be a film within the franchise, but just shared the same universe. That it did include nods to the Alien films was just an easter egg in my opinion.

[Covenant72]

Ariana, you're assuming that the planet in Alien and in Prometheus are the same, they're not. That's why you're confused.

That's why plot points for you aren't lining up, because you have details wrong in your head, leading you to believe one thing
that's 100% incorrect.

Spoiler:

Alien space jockey and Prometheus space jockey's, they're ON different planets.

Nope I am not, I said so at the very beginning of this thread it did not look right to be the same place.

~A~

Spoiler:

Then why would you point to the location of the engineer's death as a plot hole? Or that there were no other structures found in Alien?

Spoiler:

Now while I had said this, are you being purposefully obtuse? I am going on the basis that this prequel's purpose was to explain Alien. If this were so the movie should have moved in that direction with that place in mind. What direction actually this movie serves, is only directing you to vaguely explaining of the engineers as being the Space Jockey's, and not the story behind Alien or that particular space Jockey. So under that premise, instead of being called a prequel, this should have been listed as an original movie, leaving any reference to the Alien movie (*especially in advertising context) out of it entirely. In fact to myself it looked like the alien birthing at the end actually came as an after thought to try to (*very poorly) tie the two together. That is my opinion on it.

~A~

Spoiler:

Purposefully obtuse? I'm quoting your words. You complained about plot holes related to the end of the movie not lining up with the events at the start of Alien (I can go ahead and paste in your entire previous post if you need a reminder). It is pointed out to you that the reason is because they take place on completely different planets. You then say you already knew that. How is it that I'm being obtuse exactly?

As for the whole prequel thing, it was stated multiple times by the creators of the movie that it is NOT a prequel in the normal sense. It exists in the same universe, and contains some of the same characters/themes, but that's it. You would either need another movie between Prometheus and Alien to bridge the gap, or consider this to be a parallel event and not related at all. My first thought was that the tentacle thing that grew out of the vase was just another bio weapon designed by the engineers, and the xenomorphs were being developed somewhere else. The similarity in look (giant face hugger!!) could back up either this or an evolution explanation.

I'm going to guess that lots of people were confused by the end because they went in with the false assumption that we were on the same planet as Alien/Aliens, the art direction really supports that idea, and the brief view of the conputer screens howing we are actually somewhere else is easy to miss especially if you aren't a big enough fan to remember the name of the planet in the original.

[Mr Bismarck]

Spoiler:

Ridley has said it is not a direct prequel. Last week he said that you'd need another two films to get to the point where you understood the presence of the Space Jockey on LV-426.

I saw it today. I liked it, but the ending was weak. I would have been happier with Shaw stranded on the planet, sending out a distress signal stating that she was the last survivor.. blah blah... she is stranded, but do not attempt a rescue or to land here. She should finish by saying she was all alone and then snap off the recording and turn to talk to David('s head). They could even have a nice trite finish with Shaw's oxygen expiring and her asking David if he thought death hurt.

"The trick is to not mind that it hurts."

[Combustible Lemur]

Spoiler:

Ridley has said it is not a direct prequel. Last week he said that you'd need another two films to get to the point where you understood the presence of the Space Jockey on LV-426.

I saw it today. I liked it, but the ending was weak. I would have been happier with Shaw stranded on the planet, sending out a distress signal stating that she was the last survivor.. blah blah... she is stranded, but do not attempt a rescue or to land here. She should finish by saying she was all alone and then snap off the recording and turn to talk to David('s head). They could even have a nice trite finish with Shaw's oxygen expiring and her asking David if he thought death hurt.

"The trick is to not mind that it hurts."

Yuck, the ending was fine. I hate contriving darker endings as much as I hate stupid movie scientists.

[Zekester]

While I enjoyed it, it did reinforce my opinion that Ridley Scott as a director is, in my opinion, overrated...at least in light of his last few decades of work.

Good thing you included the last part in this statement, and not referring to his work as a whole.

Because as far as i'm concerned, the original 'Alien' is as close to movie perfection as it gets.

.

[Holman]

Spoiler:

Ridley has said it is not a direct prequel. Last week he said that you'd need another two films to get to the point where you understood the presence of the Space Jockey on LV-426.

What a disturbingly George Lucasian for him to say.

[Mr Bismarck]

Spoiler:

Ridley has said it is not a direct prequel. Last week he said that you'd need another two films to get to the point where you understood the presence of the Space Jockey on LV-426.

What a disturbingly George Lucasian for him to say.

Look out for JarJar Yutani in the next one.

[killbot737]

Spoiler:

In the tomb they had the mural with the silhouette of the queen alien on the wall behind the giant head, that was odd. Maybe that was their god of death or something?

I also have one more gripe: the "creature gains mass for no reason" movie trope. Shaw's space baby was not very big when she "killed" it, but when it attacked the engineer it was HUGE!

[Combustible Lemur]

Spoiler:

In the tomb they had the mural with the silhouette of the queen alien on the wall behind the giant head, that was odd. Maybe that was their god of death or something?

I also have one more gripe: the "creature gains mass for no reason" movie trope. Shaw's space baby was not very big when she "killed" it, but when it attacked the engineer it was HUGE!

I agree.

Spoiler:

My biggest thematic dissapointment was the alien Jesus thing. I don't have a problem with an alien Jesus but horror movies just don't hold conspiracies well. It would have been much simpler to say the engineers were conducting genetic expiraments and left the trail to their military facility as a failsafe for when their experiments turned space faring. Done. Its not like we wouldn't meet any et's with our military.

[Ariana_FFD]

bye

[El Guapo]

I think we can probably skip the spoiler tags at this point, no? Or maybe set up a separate spoiler thread.

[Combustible Lemur]

I think we can probably skip the spoiler tags at this point, no? Or maybe set up a separate spoiler thread.

Please?

[TiLT]

I think the fact that so many different points of view demonstrates that the movie was not concise. Plus the heated quality of the comments and the 'arm-chair' directing shows no one person really can agree with another. killbot737 pointed out something I will look for on tuesday. So here's to a busy week of opinions and rebuttals.

~A~

Except you are criticizing the movie for being something it was never meant to be. It's NOT a prequel to Alien, and any perceived faults you see based on that presumption are faults of your own. Here's a series of events to put it in perspective:

Ridley Scott: Prometheus is not a prequel to Alien.
Ariana_FFD: This movie makes no sense as a prequel to Alien!
Ridley Scott: Exactly.

[Grundbegriff]

I think we can probably skip the spoiler tags at this point, no? Or maybe set up a separate spoiler thread.

Except Kasey Chang. He still has to use spoiler tags for the 5-days-out movie. But nobody else does.

[Ariana_FFD]

bye

[nasai]

Bots can form strong opinions!!

[TiLT]

Gee seems I am not the only one who is saying this, or actually confused about what to say... but as you are entitled to your opinion, as I am to mine, stuff it. There is a lot of speculation about this movie, You are not necessarily the last word on this, nor am I. I voiced how I perceived the movie, garnered by different things I read, and watched on tv where Mr. Scott does refer to this being a prequel. Then he as you pointed out now doesn't. Maybe he isn't even quite sure, who knows. But as for what I believe, or say, it is my opinion. Who died and made you Engineer?

You do realize that every single link you just posted, with the exception of the one where a reviewer says that the movie is a prequel (I don't care what he thinks. I'm talking about what Ridley Scott thinks), points out that this movie is not a prequel to Alien? I should thank you for doing the fact-finding for me. You just saved me a lot of time.

[Covenant72]

It is also a DIFFERENT PLANET!!!!!! Which means you can't expect things to end there at the point that Alien picks up (giant space jockey with chest wound and ship full of eggs); that makes no logical sense whatsoever. That was my entire argument yesterday and I don't understand why you continue to ignore it.

To pick up on your comment about how divisive and thought provoking this movie is though; I completely agree... to me that actually is a hallmark of a good movie (many will disagree). It's certainly not conceise as you stated, but I don't believe that clarity is always needed to make a good movie. I actualy quite enjoy when a movie hides things and appears to be riddled with plot holes on first glance, but upon further thought and discussion is in fact not.

[pr0ner]

"Except you are criticizing the movie for being something it was never meant to be. It's NOT a prequel to Alien, and any perceived faults you see based on that presumption are faults of your own. Here's a series of events to put it in perspective:

Ridley Scott: Prometheus is not a prequel to Alien.
Ariana_FFD: This movie makes no sense as a prequel to Alien!
Ridley Scott: Exactly."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_(film)

"The film began development in the early 2000s as a fifth entry in the Alien franchise, with both Scott and director James Cameron developing ideas for a film that would serve as a prequel to Scott's 1979 science fiction horror film Alien. By 2003, the project was sidelined by the development of Alien vs. Predator, and remained dormant until 2009 when Scott again showed interest. A script by Spaihts acted as a prequel to the events of the Alien films, but Scott opted for a different direction to avoid repeating cues from those films. In late 2010, he brought Lindelof onto the project to rewrite Spaihts' script, and together they developed a separate story that precedes the story of Alien but is not directly connected to that franchise. According to Scott, though the film shares "strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak", and takes place in the same universe, Prometheus explores its own mythology and ideas."

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/802 ... -franchise

"Prometheus, the Ridley Scott movie that was a prequel to Alien [i]until it wasn't[/i], "

http://screenrant.com/prometheus-alien- ... nk-176223/

"Ridley Scott’s “return to the Alien universe” in Prometheus has been the subject of unimaginable speculation ever since the film was revealed to tell a related story – as opposed to serving as an outright prequel. "

Gee seems I am not the only one who is saying this, or actually confused about what to say... but as you are entitled to your opinion, as I am to mine, stuff it. There is a lot of speculation about this movie, You are not necessarily the last word on this, nor am I. I voiced how I perceived the movie, garnered by different things I read, and watched on tv where Mr. Scott does refer to this being a prequel. Then he as you pointed out now doesn't. Maybe he isn't even quite sure, who knows. But as for what I believe, or say, it is my opinion. Who died and made you Engineer?

~A~

Except for that Slate article (where you don't actually quote anything from it), I've gone ahead and emphasized the portions that blow up your "IT'S A PREQUEL" premise from each of those articles. Sorry, but your opinion's wrong.