To save herself, she releases the alien onto the Engineer. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As punishment, Prometheus was chained to a rock and condemned to have his liver ripped out and eaten every day by an eagle. It is teaming with microorganisms that can evolve. Refusal to accept death is anathema to the Engineers. ;o). How to explain the discrepancies between the end of Prometheus and the beginning of Alien? Our Theory: The cave drawings are additional proof that the Engineers have been to our planet multiple times over the years. As the Space Jockey emerges from this cryo-stasis pod, Weyland (Guy Pearce) orders his android, David (Fassbender) to "tell him what I told you to tell him," to paraphrase the quote. David investigates the cylinder. If you look at the alternate beginning scene on the Blu-ray, you find that this was actually a sacrificial ceremony attended by multiple engineers. While many bemoan the scientists not acting like they expect (I feel like in a post-Covid world we can see how realistic this actually was, and that they are in fact human first), I do regret that an explanation in the script was cut from the movie, if only so the whiners would shut up and deal with the meat of the movie: the impeccable atmosphere, the poetry and themes, and the questions it asks. To answer all your Prometheus questions, I figure we would handle them one by one. This is the Destroyer who mirrors the Creator, I think - the avatar of supremely selfish life, devouring and destroying others purely to preserve itself. How to tell which packages are held back due to phased updates. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. (His liver magically grew back, in case you were wondering.). And they were given a long run. It only takes a minute to sign up. You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. Prometheus is the kind of movie you can start to like better the more you think and talk about it, and we've had a blast debating the many mysteries of the film, and trying to piece together just what those pesky Engineers were trying to tell us all along. But we went and screwed it all up, and the film hints at when, if not why: the Engineers at the base died two thousand years ago. But expose the potent black slimy stuff to the thoughts and emotions of flawed humanity, and 'the sleep of reason produces monsters'. The more I watch Prometheus (2012), the more I am confused with the beginning of the movie when an engineer is seen drinking that black liquid which turns out to be a chemical weapon to destroy all humans on earth. Shaw's comment when the urn chamber is entered - 'we've changed the atmosphere in the room' - is deceptively informative. As the opening scenes of Prometheus show us, the Engineers spread their DNA all over the galaxy, creating life on various planets. If it was Earth, this happened about a billion years ago; although this timeline might be off by a lot, since this explanation for life on Earth mixes intelligent design (DNA seeding) with evolution to get to what we have for life today. So we've brought the conversation to you, not just a rundown of all the questions we think still aren't answered, but our theories on how we might answer them. When the Engineer is awoken from his cryo-stasis, he embarks on an intense mission to board the nearest ship and take off. Scott himself likened this superior race to the dark angels in Miltons Paradise Lost and the symbolic etchings of William Blake. Once the Engineer breaks up into tiny pieces and falls into the river, you're shown a few extra seconds of footage that explains that the sacrifice was meant to boot up the human evolutionary journey. From the beginning, he is written as a world-weary ship captain who has kind of "seen it all," a cagey veteran who's around for guidance as much as he's around because he's good at piloting a craft. Can Anyone Predict Whos Going to Win Best Supporting Actress? I can't wait to hear what you think about this film as well. They crucified him. Can we entertain the fact that, like in all societies, some were "criminals"? Large portions of the movie were shot in Iceland, especially the exterior alien landscapes. They deliberately created life. The Engineer at the beginning was based off of the titan who's name was 'Prometheus'. The Engineer was on a lifeless planet (one of many). I think the scene was to give a bit more depth to the Engineers and Large portions of the movie were shot in Iceland, especially the exterior alien landscapes. But thePrometheuscrew suffer consequences for their pursuit. Presumably he was quite high in the Engineer social order as it Our Theory: What we are seeing in the beginning is the creation of Earth. In a scene that seems to mirror the events of. What happened to all the Aliens (Xenomorphs) that attacked the Engineers? How Tyrel Jackson Williams Brought TikTok Cringe to, Its sort of a newer version of the L.A. actor ride that Kyle is on the first two seasons, but its worse.. Intrigued by clues left in ancient . This is one of the wildest science fiction movies, with many twists and turns along the way. . Picking it apart the plot like this just reminds me of how terrible this movie was. They do so with a flamethrower. Oh wait, that's not specific enough . It would be like having a lab-rat plead with a scientist to give him a longer lifespan. What a scene for minions of the moon to revel in! We seehumanity's relationship with the godsor in this movie, their creators. Because of this, we constantly search for meaning. Learn About the Opening Scene of Prometheus With the Film's Visual Effects Supervisor By Eliot Glazer No big deal, just the beginning of life as we know it. The engineers maybe our creators and it seems they wanted to come and wipe out their creation. As the movie begins, we're flying over a lush planet. This was a big no-no, as fire was supposed to be the exclusive property of the Gods. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? The cave drawings are discovered by doctors Shaw and Holloway in key locations around our planet. The central story of. The Engineer city looked totally different and was much more Giger-like in design. 9 9 Dad of four Frank, 54, was the owner of a cash-and-carry business who had no interest in making Watch the Trailer Here! specifically 'chosen' for the task. There are plenty of mysteries and questions concerning the plot and events of Prometheus, but one of the strangest concerns the casting of Guy Pearce as the ancient Peter Weyland. Still, had the movie included this flashback when David reflects at Shaw's grave, it would have been a much more satisfying resolution to the Prometheus story. He turned against Zues and gave us fire, which he was then thrown out of Olympus for. Things are just different in space, and especially if you consider that the shadows aren't memories exactly, but simply a glimpse into an earlier part of the timeline, these shadows seem like a fun spin on actual outer-space science. Our Theory: The casting of Guy Pearce was a move motivated by franchise building. The nefarious robot David ( Michael Fassbender) takes the viscous black substance he finds in these vases and slips a dose to Dr. Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green). That's a pattern we see replicated throughout the ancient world. Everyone on the same page? Whats Next for Convicted Sex Criminals Harvey Weinstein and R. Kelly? Prometheus, a giant titan, is credited with creating the human race from clay and stealing fire from the gods to give to humans. 4. A lone Engineer at the top of a waterfall goes through a strange ritual, drinking from a cup of black goo that causes his body to disintegrate into the building blocks of life. Prior to this, Weylands daughter, Vickers, questions his hubris, driving the point home: "A king has his reign, and then he dies. And I have also given my understanding of the whole film franchise (specifically the last two movies, Prometheus and Covenant). Back in the ship's lab, the Engineer's DNA is found to match human DNA. David says something to the Engineer in his native, alien language. There is some slightly different editing and the sequence showing the Engineer disintegrating is slightly longer. She reconnects him to his body, and David puts on his best human face once he's back together. Now, consider the opening sequence of Prometheus. It is theorized that even the first living things on Earth began as single-cell organisms that evolved and adapted with the environment to become more complex. Was that ever considered? Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Presumably through the black slime, which evidently models its behaviour on the user's mental state. The opening scene of Prometheus features an Engineer arriving on a lifeless world presumably primordial Earth, although Scott has said that isn't necessarily the case.The alien then ingests a black liquid which dissolves his body at the genetic level; his remains fall into a nearby stream, seeding the water with the building blocks of life. If you parallel that idea with other sacrificial elements in history which are clearly illustrated with the Mayans and the Incas he would live for one year as a prince, and at the end of that year, he would be taken and donated to the gods in hopes of improving what might happen next year, be it with crops or weather, etcetera.'. Film studio bosses have often been portrayed as champagne-drinking, cigar-chomping, larger-than-life characters who live, sleep and breathe movies. Academia.edu is a platform for academics to share research papers. He claimed for a long time the Alien definitely wouldn't appear - only to confirm it would before production began. The Engineer responds by decapitating David and then killing Weyland and his team, before reactivating his spacecraft. Of course, the two prequels have a bad habit of keeping key pieces of information mysterious in case Scott wants to explore them in a later movie, so it's possible Shaw and David's odyssey would have been explored in more detail later on. A humanoid alien walks up to a waterfall. In the opening scene, it broke the Engineer down and reformed him to evolve into us. A brilliant 20th century sociologist Marcello Truzzi (1935-2003) called himself a "constructive skeptic" of paranormal phenomena. A lot of these unanswered questions are frustrating, but for this one, we'll keep the mystery. Similar images have been found at many places where civilisations had begun. 1 answer:-. I'd like to draw your attention to the use of motifs and callbacks in the film that not only enrich it, but offer possible hints as to what was going on in otherwise confusing scenes. This is a complex movie with many different readings. It's also possible he saw the black goo as the potential to create alien weapon creatures, which a company like Weyland could exploit-- though he might not have counted on that weapon attacking his crew so soon. "The movie opens with an alien 'Engineer' preparing to seed a primordial planet presumably Earth with life. There was a problem. * Engineers are creators of life and new species. Do I need a thermal expansion tank if I already have a pressure tank? NOTE: I did NOT write this post, I just found it on the web. Is the engineer at the beginning of the film one of those sent to be terminated, using the black goo? Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: As part of your account, youll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime. Bulk update symbol size units from mm to map units in rule-based symbology. We think he drinks the black goo to break down his own structure and spread life on Earth through his own DNA, but that doesn't really explain his surprise while he's disintegrating (and if the Engineers do have the same DNA as us, it's hard to say why the Engineers had to be broken down in order to create humanity). Once there, they deal with a lost civilization and a disease that seems to be growing something inside of them. Jason Statham and Aubrey Plaza do not seem like a match made in action-comedy-chemistry heaven, but it somehow works. Here's a handy guide to all the Prometheus Deleted Scenes. It is also interesting to note that in Prometheus,David, who is a creation of man, does everything to usurp the creator-creation status quo, going as far as to say Doesnt every child want their parents dead? This ties in with humans entering the space age, which eventually propels the events of 2089, which is essentially a quest to play God themselves. It's amazing how consistent Scott has been about the Engineers. This decision to challenge God for questions we're not supposed to have the answers to, and are punished for, is also part of the themes of the movie. She intends to get to the Engineers' actual homeworld and to talk to them about their origins and why they wanted to destroy them. Let's dive into all the theories about the movie. Dettifoss (Falling Waterfall) is an amazing waterfall. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, That's why it remained completely inert in David's presence, and why he needed a human proxy in order to use the stuff to create anything. David is severely damaged but still has an active head. Now that Meredith is gone, it is business as usual at Grey Sloan Memorial. This is an alternative opening which shows an Elder Engineer handing the Sacrifice Engineer the dark liquid. The symbolic connection between the titan Prometheus and the giant "engineer" is obvious. This isn't the end of Shaw's quest, though. I think that yes, he did know it would kill him. Additional artwork shows even the local animals and plant life had mutated according to David's design. _Why cast Guy Pearce as an ancient old man? Cinemablend is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. He previously suffered a brain aneurysm on February 18, and was ultimately taken off life support. Even in the end, waking up an Engineer leads them to want to fly to Earth to kill and destroy everyone. The most prevalent theme of the movie is based on Greek mythology. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. The servant related the circumstance to the son and daughter of the lady, as soon as they came down stairs, who desired her to conceal it from their mother, and . We're not truly "explaining" Prometheus, of course-- only Lindelof and Ridley Scott can do that, and they probably never will. This is presumably what happens with the black goo. When it was not, he also did the work to dispatch that person and to do more tests on Shaw to see if impregnation was the way. Again. In Ridley Scotts 2012 sci-fi mystery, Prometheus, why were the engineers heading to Earth? Oh, hey, there's the 'lifegiver with his abdomen torn open' motif again. The movie received good reviews for being an ambitious blockbuster asking interesting questions, some of the setpieces like Shaw's gruesome alien cesarean proved Scott still had a knack for horror, and Michael Fassbender was praised for his turn as android David. Before they left she explained, with evident amusement at having been caught at her housemaid's duties, that the workmen had been long about the house; that this morning, when the dirty windows might for the first time be cleaned, one of her servants had gone off to marry a carpenter, and the other to see the ceremony; and so the mistress .