bert saw "Prometheus"

[Infra-Man]

That one I actually buy. Not because there was something concrete which told them that, but it's a logical assumption.

Spoiler:

There's no real civilization here, just one singular outpost with a few dozen (hundred?) bodies, so it's pretty clear this isn't a major population center, but a research outpost, or a colony, or a military base, or something like that. It might not necessarily have been a weapons development center, but that it was place where dangerous research was performed, or where something scary was being contained, makes sense given what they know. We do the same thing; we test nukes out in the middle of desert, and build bio labs deep underground, etc. in the hpes that it won't effect the rest of the planet.

It's still an assumption, but at least that one's logical.

I still think it's a major logical leap given that...

Spoilers:

...they don't know the exact nature of the substance in the canisters or what it's actually used for (i.e., was that the goo that the Engineers use to create life in a weird way as the intro implies or is it just a death goo), they don't know the purpose for the Engineers being on the planet in the first place, they don't know much about the history of the planet itself, they don't know much about the Engineer's culture or values or their mission, etc. There are many other variables to consider. But when the third act comes around, they suddenly knew with certainty that the planet was a testing facility for weapons of mass destruction and that they were going to destroy Earth because it's the third act of the movie and it needs 'splosions.

It still feels like an inference made in the dark rather than a conclusion based on solid evidence.

[Keith P.]

I liked it, but like many, I felt the scientists were a bit dumb.

I'm not a biologist, but if some snaky looking thing rears up and extends a cobra hood, I'm not petting it.

[Major Comma]

I absolutely loved it, so there.

\
Me too!
It is a rollicking good times at the movies.

[The Xenos]

Well.. my entire post is littered with SPOILERS.. but a wall of black is just ugly.

Yeah. A friend of mine said the blue collar space works in Alien had more common sense than these educated scientists. Though I put forward that education in science =/= common sense. Believe me. That junior year paper that I peer reviewed that had wikipedia links despite the writing in the sciences professor saying not to is proof enough.

Never mind that scientists who let their ambition for fame or just lust for discovery overcome their common sense is not uncommon. History has tons of scientists and explorers tossing common sense aside. Well.. maybe there's even more of them out there... you just never hear from them again. Though even ones who successes do stupid stuff, like the guy who proved bacteria can cause stomach users who experimented on himself. That was in my Bio 101 class on what not to do.. but what some idiot scientists do anyway.

Plus there's the whole theme of playing with fire right in the title. There's a whole theme of playing with your dad's lighter and setting the house of fire. Hell, David being a child sitting in his father.. or grandfather's.. big over-sized chair drove it even more home. Loved that scene.

Oh and thank you to everyone who realizes this is not a direct prequel. Even after they pretty much said it's not the same planet or ship, or even group of alien engineers and their creatures; people still insist it is and start citing things as flaws. I saw someone complaining that the film was dumb and full of errors because the space jockey wasn't in the chair. Ugh.

It was a fine movie.
I really disliked the alien origin and the proto-xenomorph.
And the scientist where so dumb!
How could they get lost?A few answers or at least some clues would have been fun to.
the Cinema snob said the movie should have been titled "Dont touch that!"

(As geologists, shouldn't they know rule #1 if you're lost in a cave: stay where you are).

What do you expect from an Aussie (?) pothead.

Also, pretty sure these are not the same xenomorphs. Certain actually. Think of them as a related species, not even a direct precursor. Might even be a later model than the ones we see in Alien. Gotta check how old they dated that ship. The events happened later, but that space jokey ship they found might be older than this one.

They might not even be the same group of space jockeys. Just because Sox fans and Yankee fans* are both humans, doesn't mean they are all on the same team or working the same methods. The space jockeys maybe have had a whole other strain or species of xenomorphs on their ship that crashed. And it might have been an even older ship. Have to re-watch alien to check how old they date it. This one was only about 2000 years old, give or take. (And ties into some space Jesus stuff that (was maybe?) left out of the film. Don't ask.) Either way, it's likley a whole other species of xenomorphs than the ones the jockeys in the original made.

As bert said, it is not a direct prequel. They even said they want sequels of this. Think of it as a side story. It's a Nightwing story instead of a Tim Drake Robin story.

(* There is debate whether Yankee fans are human.)

And oh man, totally agreed on Guy Pearce! Why did they squander him like that? I mean, it was so silly.

Spoilers:

Could they not find an old actor? That age make-up was so awful. He looked like the dancing old man from Six Flags commercials, for heaven's sake!

Someone needs to make a gif of this!

I liked it, but like many, I felt the scientists were a bit dumb.

I'm not a biologist, but if some snaky looking thing rears up and extends a cobra hood, I'm not petting it.

There are idiots who keep cobras as pets and don't defang them or grow too attached.

And then there's these guys. http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/0...ian-tradition/

It's a Damon Lindelof script so I'll assume it's a disinterest in competent storytelling.
A question:

Spoilers:

If our DNA is a 100% match with the Engineers how come we're not 9 foot tall albinos?

Same reason we got 7 foot tall asians and 3 feet tall pygmies..

I actually replied to that question on another site with a pic of Peter Dinklage pasted next to a pic of Yao Ming.

As for Lindelof on scripting duties, I joked that the end of the movie was going to have the ship crash land on the island from lost and helps create a magic light and smoke monster. Now my friend is a huge Alien / Scott fan and a mild / mildly disappointed Lost fan. He ven had the poster on his door, right. (Or was it 2001 and Alien was inside? Huh.) I also got him a huge Blade Runner poster.

Anyway.. He jokingly replied he would forgive any stupidity in the film if Lindelof had the balls to pull that out of his butt.

You didn't miss anything; like many films involving aliens, characters automatically ascribe them a greater role than they should based on the evidence they have at that point.

I guess it was a... leap of faith. Maybe it is a bit of Lindelof with his man of science and of faith schitck again from L O S T.

[Infra-Man]

Yeah. A friend of mine said the blue collar space works in Alien had more common sense than these educated scientists. Though I put forward that education in science =/= common sense. Believe me. That junior year paper that I peer reviewed that had wikipedia links despite the writing in the sciences professor saying not to is proof enough.

I think my main issue with the blithering stupidity of the characters was that it was just lazy writing. You could have had these characters experience the same perils and meet the same ends without making them as mindless as the dispensable teens in an 80s slasher movie.

[JBK405]

Hey, does anybody know what David said? That one sentence (Before the head thing happened)? I'm sure it can't be translated, but have the writers/actors/directors come forward to explain what it meant?

[Thequeerjock]

It's a Damon Lindelof script so I'll assume it's a disinterest in competent storytelling.

A question:

Spoilers:

If our DNA is a 100% match with the Engineers how come we're not 9 foot tall albinos?

That threw me as well. The "We come from the same source!" plot twist is such an overused cliche in sci-fi narratives and yet I never see them give the similarities in our DNA as that high.

Still, I liked the film well enough. I just couldn't get over how stupid the protagonists were.

[Cassandra]

I personally couldn't get over the stupidly of the characters or their frequently changing (or non-existent) motivations. By the end of the movie I honestly didn't care about anyone, at all. If I were to review the movie in one word it would be, 'blah.'

Also,

Spoilers:

was I the only one who had no idea what ship Elizabeth was stepping onto after the rest of her crew had kamikaze'd into the big alien ship? I thought their own ship at least would have been totally destroyed in the impact and subsequent fall back to Earth but the area you see is pretty much in-tact. I was also confused about the big tentacle-alien that ate up the Engineer at the end, I had no idea where it came from until someone pointed out to me that it was her alien baby coming to her rescue.

[The Funketeer]

I personally couldn't get over the stupidly of the characters or their frequently changing (or non-existent) motivations. By the end of the movie I honestly didn't care about anyone, at all. If I were to review the movie in one word it would be, 'blah.'

Also,

Spoilers:

was I the only one who had no idea what ship Elizabeth was stepping onto after the rest of her crew had kamikaze'd into the big alien ship? I thought their own ship at least would have been totally destroyed in the impact and subsequent fall back to Earth but the area you see is pretty much in-tact. I was also confused about the big tentacle-alien that ate up the Engineer at the end, I had no idea where it came from until someone pointed out to me that it was her alien baby coming to her rescue.

Spoilers:

They established early in the movie that Charlize Theron's character had her own private life "life raft" that could separate from the ship and keep her going for a couple years. That's where Elizabeth went after the ship crashed. Also, they never really explain how but in the first Alien, the small alien that popped out of the guy's chest grew pretty big pretty fast without (as far as we know) consuming anything.

[Cassandra]

Thanks for clearing all that up for me, I was damn confused.

Spoilers:

I think I was mostly confused about the alien at the end, not because of it's size but by the fact that I thought it was dead.

One other thing I was griping to my husband about last night

Spoilers:

was the fact that after Elizabeth gave herself an emergency c-section, she stapled herself up and was able to continue jumping and running all over the place, occasionally hugging her abdomen and groaning. I understand that she had some numbing agent sprayed on the area before the procedure but she had her abdomen cut open. That area of the body is full of muscles, and if you cut through them (even if you staple yourself back together) those muscles are no longer in tact and cannot keep functioning as normal until you are fully healed. Elizabeth should not have been able to even stand up straight let alone run for her life from aliens and falling space craft. If they had done some cool stuff like in Starship Troopers where you had a machine to literally sew your muscles and sinew back together I could have suspended my disbelief, but a few randomly places staples are not gonna cut it. In fact, given all the movement she exhibited after the procedure she'd be lucky if the staples didn't tear up her insides and make the injury much worse.