Alien Covenant / Prometheus / Aliens / AvP / Discussion Thread

General Discussion
501

I really like that theory.

I do not, however, agree with the oversight of us being able to “create ourselves.”

They surely did not believe that they’d fertilize the earth with their remains… and out would sprout a finite number of infertile human beings, or even less likely, that the entirety of evolution would progress and would just stop dead with the first man.

Edit: Interesting theory a friend of mine found.

[details=Spoiler]To give some historical/mythological background that may shed some light, Ridley stated the SJ culture was based on Persian Myths. This would be Sumerian/Akkadian/Hindu. Ill just use Sumerian since its the oldest. This is all taken from the Atra Hasis.

Creators - "G"ods- Annunaki - Dragon Humanoids (Naga, Dragon Kings,)

Helpers - "g"ods - Igigi - Engineers. (Android like living beings…BIOmechanical humanoid. Key features- Pale skin and large black eyes. Also known as watchers, Grigori, and Archons) (in many summerian texts they are actually referred to as “Pilots”. Pretty much the Annunaki Air Force.)

When the Annunaki began terraforming the earth, they had the Igigi do the work for them. After a few thousand years the Igigi revolted and went on strike. The Annunaki then decided to create humans to do the work for them.

They sacrificed one of the rebel Igigi named Geshtu to use his blood and dna to make human beings, by mixing it with elements native to the earth.

Even though the humans were created and did the work, 1/3 of the Igigi still werent satisfied and sought revenge for Geshtu, so they rebelled again against the Annunaki Lords and began breeding/mixing with the human females creating Nephelim. This is what sparked the Prime Lord Enlil to flood the earth. Some humans were saved by Enki, the Lord responsible for the sacrifice of Geshtu and the creation of humans. Enlil and the rest of the annunaki decide to return home and let the humans develop on their own. Enki and his family stay behind. The Igigi are forced to leave earth as well. The remaining rebel Igigi are imprisoned on a planet on the way back to the homeworld and it is said as punishment and as a mark they are altered into a demonic appearance, no longer retaining the Angelic appearance.

Enki and his crew are probably the ones leaving the maps for humans to find, along with the ones helping humans advance throughout time.
The sacrfice engineer is Geshtu
The lone engineer is most likely Marduk or a servant/worshipper of Marduk.
The xeno is Mushussu, a creature Marduk fashioned and used as his pet.
The “Engineers” we see are trying to destroy Earth are of the Igigi rebels who view earth as their own. They have always despised humans because the Annunaki saw us as more in their likeness than them. ITs possible that the Igigi have long since destroyed or taken over the annunaki and the homeworld, and Earth was like going to claim the prize or spoils. They mustve used to the Xeno’s to win this war and through its perfection it has began to destroy and infect the Igigi who manufacture and transport it, creating more Mushussu.
The xeno in Alien is most likely an older pilot igigi birthed Mushussu egg crossed with human or a future Annunaki birthed one which would explain the size difference in hosts. It is mentioned in several lesser stories that Marduk created the Mushussu out of using the essence of the Gods’ (Annunaki) he killed as a symbol of his conquering and being able to control them… ie the mural.[/details]

502

:u: good read very informative:clapdos:
So we know what to expect in the sequel, Engineers Vs Aliens Vs Predator

edit: Anyone know where I can get research papers, apparently there a London professor called Richard Dumbrill wrote a paper on Cuneiform Script

For those interested in learning more of this ancient mythology

[media=youtube]vgJ7-R4Zpbk[/media]

PM me for links

503

I have to admit, I was initially underwhelmed during the movie because I thought they were going for a profound idea-driven science fiction movie… mainly because the idea of ancient aliens seeding the planets with their own genetic material has been done so much. That isn’t to say that I wouldn’t like to see a movie about that, but it’s not exactly high on my list of dream concepts.

That they used it as a springboard for a different kind of plot was a welcome development, even if they didn’t really shoot for the moon with it.

Flash fact: this very concept is one of the explanations propounded for why aliens in the DC Universe (e.g. Kryptonians and Earthlings) can be biologically compatible with and visually indistinguishable from one another.

504

Always wondered why all the aliens in Star Trek were humanoid.

505

I think the fact that humans are supposed to be the descendants of giant albino bodybuilders is kind of comical.

506

HAIRLESS giant albino bodybuilders.

Really, though, if the DNA is an exact match, they should be indistinguishable. But maybe their Instant DNA Readout Doohickey tm wasn’t precise enough.

Flash fact: there is only a 2% difference in the genetic material between human beings and apes.

507

Can’t wait to see this movie. Haven’t watched anything sci fi in a while.

508

[media=youtube]NxfJfv9tirU[/media]

509

^-- It’s pretty great. Doesn’t all make sense, but then the best movies (see: Usual Suspects) don’t really have to.

[details=Spoiler]So the South-most (?) ship was buried underground previous to some planned attack for no reason, except they had alien problems(?) and so ran into the weapons hold where one died. The weapons would activate based upon changed atmosphere(?) which kind of means that when that door was open previous to their panic, they would have activated and created mutant worms even back then. Huh?

And what about the other ships? We know this one ship has tons of dead killed by the X-Files black slime beings plus the pilots who were alive but cryo-chambered: what about the other ships?

In theory, a) sending back all they know about this progenitor race and b) destroying the other attack ships would be really good plans.[/details]

510

So in other words sex? That’s why the engineers aren’t hanging at all and their biological weapons all resemble penis monsters.

I think it makes sense, but I like the ‘they eventually changed their mind and wanted to wipe us out’ idea better.

Real talk: I think this movie establishes that the Engineers are the most advanced and powerful of all. Their concept of weapons is totally different. Being super-strong, their weapon is going to be something that turns your body against itself rather that a ‘primitive’ weapon like a gun.

About the genetic match. It’s a real possibility that they were from a different environment, had better food, could control their genes, and do other things to keep themselves from devolving into smaller, weaker creatures. Or in other words, humans = engineers after thousands of years in Earth’s environment.

511

I read that as meaning androids, like David.

512

I interpreted the bold as the ability to create things and not as the ability to reproduce because of that fire statement. Otherwise, he would have just typed reproduce instead of “create ourselves”. The word ourselves wasn’t necessary in that sentence, but poster probably didn’t realize how ambiguous his statement sounds because of it.

513

Wont lie, when i first read the concept to the movie the first thought that popped into my head was “Halo?” it being the most recent piece of sci fi i had indulged in where an alien race created humanity.

514

Nice thread, guys, there’s a lot of great material to think about here in terms of what it all meant.

Some of my favorite dumb parts of the film:

[details=Spoiler]-The geologist who guides the crew around based on feedback from his magical laser-mapping hover-bots which no one has ever seen before, but who gets lost trying to egress from the structure instead of consulting said hover-bots or calling for assistance from the ship where the fancy 3D map they made is.

-David, the super-advanced android, apparently needs to press a button on his forehead to disconnect his Skype call with Weyland Jr. I could understand if he was trolling her, something along the lines of “I’m covering your eyes by covering my eyes”, but he is clearly reaching up somewhere above his brow, and he’s not wearing his helmet at that point.

-Once the frightened geologist and the other guy fail to reappear, no one knows what’s happened to them, despite the fancy audio/video-recording, location-tracking, health monitoring spacesuits they were wearing, which are likely still in operation despite their occupants being deceased.

-After the Engineer ship crash-lands (and goes bowling for women), David’s body and head seem to have moved off of the middle dais of the bridge, but they appear to be roughly the same distance apart as before and his head is lying on the same side. Possible? Sure. Likely? …

-Shaw proceeds to take off her helmet in the destroyed ship even though (presumably) the production of breathable atmosphere has ceased and the hull has been ruptured by the giant collision/explosion/crash. Then, instead of exiting the craft at ground level where her exhausted post-op ass most definitely would have come in, she decides to leave via a door a hundred or more feet off the ground, just for kicks. While doing so, she apologizes to emotionless David for safely stowing his head in her luggage, because obviously she’s now dealt with the whole you-infected-my-lover-with-a-virulent-genetic-toxin-and-set-into-motion-his-grisly-death-and-caused-me-to-have-an-alien-bioweapon-baby-which-tried-to-eat-me-when-I-just-minutes-ago-scooped-it-out-of-my-splayed-open-abdomen-while-i-watched.[/details]

So yeah. If I had to choose two adjectives to describe Prometheus, one would be “pretty.” But the other would be probably be “balls.”

515

Pretty balls?

That description seems rather gay.

516

The two biggest purely logical problems in this movie, from my view:

  1. A woman who literally just had a cesarian section sits up under her own power.

Then proceeds to walk, then proceeds to run, then proceeds to do all kinds of action hero shit. While occasionally wincing or crying out to remind us that she just had a cesarian section.

  1. This is more of a collective of tiny problems, but you’d figure that people with basic astronaut training would know better than to whip their helmets right off in an alien aerobic environment, let alone without opening the helmets a crack and taking a few cautionary sniffs first. Or realize that they may have been infected with something but not tell anybody else, despite all of them living together in a closed-ass sterile spaceship environment. Or have everybody asleep on the shift at the same time with nobody on watch, let alone at a time when not everybody is aboard the ship. Et cetera.

This is the kind of sloppiness that decent sci-fi usually prides itself on avoiding.

517

Cuz she knew she still had shit to do. Momma Bear is a gangsta bitch.

Nah but seriously I was wincing throughout that whole bit. Whole movie was nuts, if a bit inconsistent

518

The issues with the C-section are kind of… meh.

Especially considering the fact that they’re basically complaints about not having everything spelled out.

I mean… there’s spray on topical anesthetic for major surgeries, futuristic syringes of pain killers which can be self-administered almost liberally with a quick stab, and a pod which does any conceivable surgery without any information about the subject or the particular procedure beyond “abdominal, surgery, extraction” (or whatever the fuck she says while frantically pressing buttons), but yet no one wants to make the leap that not only can the Medpod (or the “pain killers”) provide a quick fix for any ailment, but also could make the procedure less debilitating for a quicker recovery. There’s a bit more to complain about than that.

Also I’m fairly certain it was never revealed to anyone else that David, in fact, was the cause of Charlie’s infection.

519

Loving this thread.
Ok. I have NOT seen the film, but after reading wikpedia, it is apparent that the planetoid Prometheus lands on, is not the same that Ripley and the Crew of the Nostromo land on. Yet there is a downed engineer vessel on both planetoids. Hopefully if there is a sequel it will address how the ship that Kane, Dallas and Lambert explore crashed?
Also, are the Engineers’ bio-weapons only infection based? We see the Large Head and the “urns” which look very similar to the eggs in the Engineer ship on LV-426. Did they only engineer bio-weapons that would hatch and infect other beings?
If there are more than one species of the bio-weapons, could we see others in future films? We’ve only seen the"Xenomorph/Giger" Aliens, the black fluid and the Eel/Snake-like creatures.
Are the Giger Aliens the ultimate result of the Engineers’ work?
Prometheus is the ship’s name, but they find these bio-weapons and obviously Weyland-Yutani Corp wants to procure and use these weapons. Akin to Prometheus giving fire to humans.

520

When the MedPod was revealed to be Male-only, I believe my exact words were “Are you fucking serious?!”