Prometheus (Ridley Scott's Alien "Prequel" )

[TheDarkKnight]

41 pages in a few weeks or so. One thing Prometheus is good for is epic internet debates

 

[Mauro]

I watched it today. Pretty good overall.

 

[sinnedk]

movie ruined for all

 

[Joffrey]

Why does black guy and white chick make alien? Why so racist??

 

[TheDarkKnight]



movie ruined for all

I don't think Black goo 1 at the beginning is the same as Black goo 2 that is found on LV 223. One is to create life, the other is a biological weapon to destroy life on a planet - to erase a mistake.

 

[whiteslashasian]



I don't think Black goo 1 at the beginning is the same as Black goo 2 that is found on LV 223. One is to create life, the other is a biological weapon to destroy life on a planet - to erase a mistake.

It could be differently engineered goo, correct. There is also a theory that the black goo reacts to the intentions of those around it; the engineers or humans.

 

[Jr Mouse]



movie ruined for all

That final creature does not look like the duck monster we saw at the end of this film. Fail.

 

[Lionheart Biker]

Saw the movie yesterday. I think it was pretty good overall, thought I was left with some doubts. First thing I want to know, and excuse me if its too dumb, but why does the "engineer" at the beginning self-destructs (or kills himself) by drinking that? Is he supposed to be watching the spaceship with Dr. Shaw and david in it while he does it?

 

[ken]



I don't think Black goo 1 at the beginning is the same as Black goo 2 that is found on LV 223. One is to create life, the other is a biological weapon to destroy life on a planet - to erase a mistake.

No. It's the same black goo. Similarly to how the island in Lost turned out to be nothing but a really weird island, the black goo will turn out to be nothing but really weird black goo.

...which is a much better direction for a movie. There's no need to complicate things so much.

 

[Gradstudent78]



Saw the movie yesterday. I think it was pretty good overall, thought I was left with some doubts. First thing I want to know, and excuse me if its too dumb, but why does the "engineer" at the beginning self-destructs (or kills himself) by drinking that?  Is he supposed to be watching the spaceship with Dr. Shaw and david in it while he does it?

He is seeding a planet (possibly Earth) with life.

 

[Jr Mouse]



He is seeding a planet (possibly Earth) with life.

This is correct.

 

[imatlas]

He is seeding a planet (possibly Earth) with life.

This is correct.

Then why did he choose a planet that already had extensive plant life? I was immediately irked by that - he didn't seed a sterile planet, he introduced his genetic material into a pre-existing ecosystem (the red egg was already there, right?) It would have made more sense if the planet was similar to Earth's first billion years or so (the Hadean) - poisonous, violent, sterile.

 

[Jr Mouse]



Then why did he choose a planet that already had extensive plant life? I was immediately irked by that - he didn't seed a sterile planet, he introduced his genetic material into a pre-existing ecosystem (the red egg was already there, right?) It would have made more sense if the planet was similar to Earth's first billion years or so (the Hadean) - poisonous, violent, sterile.

I noticed that too and yes it also bothered me. Movie was far from perfect, but I think the overall idea is he seeded the planet with genetic material. I'm in agreement it would have been more powerful had the planet not been shown to already have life on it.

 

[imatlas]

It was just one example (among many) of the total lack of curiosity shown by the filmmakers in actual science. Many evolutionary biologists now believe that there was a stage in the development of life on earth during which "life" consisted of pure genetic material free-floating in a liquid medium - sometimes known as "RNA World". In essence, replication evolved first, then came life proper. In that context, dumping a bunch of alien DNA into the water would actually make sense - they could have done a sequence in which we see RNA merging with alien material to become DNA and starting to form the earliest protocells. That would have made more sense, and would have had more interesting implications (to me).

 

[TheDarkKnight]



It was just one example (among many) of the total lack of curiosity shown by the filmmakers in actual science. Many evolutionary biologists now believe that there was a stage in the development of life on earth during which "life" consisted of pure genetic material free-floating in a liquid medium - sometimes known as "RNA World". In essence, replication evolved first, then came life proper. In that context, dumping a bunch of alien DNA into the water would actually make sense - they could have done a sequence in which we see RNA merging with alien material to become DNA and starting to form the earliest protocells. That would have made more sense, and would have had more interesting implications (to me).

I'm no scientist and a quick read of wikipedia suggests life began in the oceans as per the common belief.

Therefore very well developed forests would clearly suggest there was a lot of simple life in the rivers and oceans of the planet at the beginning of Prometheus. The idea may well have been that the Engineer DNA usurped the existing life, and changed it to the direction the Engineers wanted.

I did think about when that scene was set in history if it was earth. It must have been very close to the beginning of the timeline of life to make any sense - because we have fossil records going back 2 billion years, so would see a sudden shift in evolution.

(of course as you mentioned it could be dumbed down science for Hollywood crap)