Ridley Scott Prometheus: NOT the Alien Prequel Details
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ghostryder
Legendary Member
You can check out more spoiler pics here:
Alien Prequel News: EXCLUSIVE: Prometheus finishes shooting at Pinewood
Alien Prequel News: EXCLUSIVE: Prometheus finishes shooting at Pinewood
Jedi2016
Sr Member
No, AH is something different. I read it the other day, so I'll put a synopsis in spoiler tags:
Alien Harvest is split into two segments, if you will. Part of it takes place on a human ship that's in pursuit of a space-jockey ship, apparently because the Company is paying big money for SJ relics and bioweapons.
The other half of the film takes place on a SJ world, where two humans are living and helping the SJs with their terraforming projects. It's never explained, but it's hinted that the humans were captured and enslaved (but generally treated well) by the SJs at some point previously. The aliens are introduced here as very small versions of the xenomorphs we know and love, used as part of the first stage of terraforming. Knowing what we do about them, their role is probably to destroy all existing animal life.
The two stories intercut back and forth throughout the script, and it's eventually revealed that the scenes on the SJ planet are being told in flashback, with one of the humans being responsible for planting the facehugger on board the SJ ship, and marking it so it can be tracked by the humans. This ship eventually runs into the human ship introduced at the beginning of the film, is hunted, chased, and eventually shot down over LV-426 at around the same time as the pilot dies of a slight case of chestburster. That single alien is responsible for every egg we see in the cargo hold later on.
The humans are unable to retrieve anything at the time, but the Company, now knowing where the crashed ship is, program an Android named Ash to go get a sample.
The problems with this story are numerous. For one, there's practically no time at all between the two films.. Alien would literally pick up right where this one left off, which leaves no time at all for a single (male) alien to lay thousands of eggs which become covered in centuries worth of dust, and for the SJ corpse to decompose and mummify like it does. That's one thing that was pretty clear in the original film, was that the derelict ship had been there for a looooong time (and I hope Ridley isn't going to change that).
There's zero character development of any kind, which is one of the telltale marks of an amateur writer. We never get to know any of these people at all, and we don't care about them in any way. There is no "lead" character, and after reading it, it's hard to even remember any of the character's names.
There's also some extremely forward homosexual overtones in the film, which seems incredibly unlike anything that Ridley would actually produce.
It's absolutely a fake, if for no other reason than all of the stills we've seen from SDCC, and the photos of the sets, bear no resemblance whatsoever to anything in the Alien Harvest script.
It's a shoddy script for a poor fanfilm, nothing more.
The other half of the film takes place on a SJ world, where two humans are living and helping the SJs with their terraforming projects. It's never explained, but it's hinted that the humans were captured and enslaved (but generally treated well) by the SJs at some point previously. The aliens are introduced here as very small versions of the xenomorphs we know and love, used as part of the first stage of terraforming. Knowing what we do about them, their role is probably to destroy all existing animal life.
The two stories intercut back and forth throughout the script, and it's eventually revealed that the scenes on the SJ planet are being told in flashback, with one of the humans being responsible for planting the facehugger on board the SJ ship, and marking it so it can be tracked by the humans. This ship eventually runs into the human ship introduced at the beginning of the film, is hunted, chased, and eventually shot down over LV-426 at around the same time as the pilot dies of a slight case of chestburster. That single alien is responsible for every egg we see in the cargo hold later on.
The humans are unable to retrieve anything at the time, but the Company, now knowing where the crashed ship is, program an Android named Ash to go get a sample.
The problems with this story are numerous. For one, there's practically no time at all between the two films.. Alien would literally pick up right where this one left off, which leaves no time at all for a single (male) alien to lay thousands of eggs which become covered in centuries worth of dust, and for the SJ corpse to decompose and mummify like it does. That's one thing that was pretty clear in the original film, was that the derelict ship had been there for a looooong time (and I hope Ridley isn't going to change that).
There's zero character development of any kind, which is one of the telltale marks of an amateur writer. We never get to know any of these people at all, and we don't care about them in any way. There is no "lead" character, and after reading it, it's hard to even remember any of the character's names.
There's also some extremely forward homosexual overtones in the film, which seems incredibly unlike anything that Ridley would actually produce.
It's absolutely a fake, if for no other reason than all of the stills we've seen from SDCC, and the photos of the sets, bear no resemblance whatsoever to anything in the Alien Harvest script.
It's a shoddy script for a poor fanfilm, nothing more.
Not sure you need to spoiler-tag a fan script that has nothing to do with the film. 
There's been some good analysis of tags within the PDF which proved pretty adequately that it was nothing to to with Spaight, even before the recent confirmation by the man himself.
BTW it seems certain that Ridley IS going to change that
element as he's confirmed Prometheus takes place in 2085, thirty years prior to A L I E N. It has nothing to do with the AH script, however, that particular element is in the mix.
Really hope you are right re the SJs. I would like their motives and behaviour to be completely, utterly incomprehensible.
There's been some good analysis of tags within the PDF which proved pretty adequately that it was nothing to to with Spaight, even before the recent confirmation by the man himself.
BTW it seems certain that Ridley IS going to change that
Derelict landing date
Really hope you are right re the SJs. I would like their motives and behaviour to be completely, utterly incomprehensible.
I guess changing the year of the derelict crash landing on LV-426 does have some logic to it. The non-sos signal probably would have been picked up much earlier if the ship had been there for thousands of years, and the ship still having power after 30 years can work since the batteries on those tiny lights used to search for the face hugger from the original still worked after 25 years!
And didn't Ridley already confirm from a recent screening of the first movie that the Space Jockey skeleton was in fact a suit? Ooo. They better not humanize the look of the Space Jockeys, that's all I'm asking.
Still, I will miss my younger days when I imagined the derelict being stuck on LV-426 for thousands, if not MILLIONS of years and just now being discovered. But if I had a choice, I'd settle with Prometheus as canon than Alien3.
And didn't Ridley already confirm from a recent screening of the first movie that the Space Jockey skeleton was in fact a suit? Ooo. They better not humanize the look of the Space Jockeys, that's all I'm asking.
Still, I will miss my younger days when I imagined the derelict being stuck on LV-426 for thousands, if not MILLIONS of years and just now being discovered. But if I had a choice, I'd settle with Prometheus as canon than Alien3.
Carson Dyle
Sr Member
Wow, did Scott actually go on the record with that one?
Carson Dyle
Sr Member
Interesting.
I'd gotten that confirmed from another source, but I'm surprised to hear that Scott himself decided to tip his hand.
My initial impression was that, bio-mech or not, the Space Jockey "suit" thing would prove somewhat controversial amongst hardcore A L I E N fans. Then again, maybe it's not as big a leap of faith as I thought.
At any rate... yes Guy, the S.J. suits are bio-mech, and apparently we'll be seeing a lot of them.
I'd gotten that confirmed from another source, but I'm surprised to hear that Scott himself decided to tip his hand.
My initial impression was that, bio-mech or not, the Space Jockey "suit" thing would prove somewhat controversial amongst hardcore A L I E N fans. Then again, maybe it's not as big a leap of faith as I thought.
At any rate... yes Guy, the S.J. suits are bio-mech, and apparently we'll be seeing a lot of them.
Carson Dyle
Sr Member
Really hope you are right re the SJs. I would like their motives and behaviour to be completely, utterly incomprehensible.
You're going to get your wish. With regard to S.J. motives, the story apparently raises far more questions than it answers.
Who knows if Scott will ever provide any definitive conclusions re: the nature and origins of the S.J.'s. To the extent he does ultimately provide those types of answers, my hunch is we're going to have to wait a sequel or two before he reveals them.
Colin Droidmilk
Sr Member
The SJ is a suit? God, how boring. And done before, in Independence Day.
I have no idea what it is for. A way to redesign the SJs as bipeds without dealing with the difficulties of the sheer biomechanoid weirdness of the original, maybe? That thing's nose is attached to his chest, and his hands and arms are welded to his torso to boot. He basically can't move a muscle.
On a related topic, there are caves involved in this thing. Actual rock ones, but with tunnels with similar shapes to SJ ship design. I'm going to cry if we get anything like the horrible "figure-8" Derelict from Alien Harvest. That script tries to explain the shape of the Derelict. Idiotic fanfic-level mistake, IMO, both in concept and execution. It even tries to pander to the fan misconceptions that the Derelict's cockpit is underground and that the egg chamber is a kind of "cave".
We know exactly where the cockpit is. It's right there on the model, at the top of the central arm of the ship. The egg chamber is in the middle of the central arm of the ship, as the matte painting goes out of its way to make obvious (it includes the "elbow" joints at the ends of that main arm).
"But how did the Nostromo crew reach the top of the ship?" is the standard objection. "They just go in and then they're in the cockpit".
My god - they're right - I mean, cinema would have to somehow devise some means of conveying compressed time, perhaps through some sort of selective editing process. Which of course is quite inconceivable.
On a related topic, there are caves involved in this thing. Actual rock ones, but with tunnels with similar shapes to SJ ship design. I'm going to cry if we get anything like the horrible "figure-8" Derelict from Alien Harvest. That script tries to explain the shape of the Derelict. Idiotic fanfic-level mistake, IMO, both in concept and execution. It even tries to pander to the fan misconceptions that the Derelict's cockpit is underground and that the egg chamber is a kind of "cave".
We know exactly where the cockpit is. It's right there on the model, at the top of the central arm of the ship. The egg chamber is in the middle of the central arm of the ship, as the matte painting goes out of its way to make obvious (it includes the "elbow" joints at the ends of that main arm).
"But how did the Nostromo crew reach the top of the ship?" is the standard objection. "They just go in and then they're in the cockpit".
My god - they're right - I mean, cinema would have to somehow devise some means of conveying compressed time, perhaps through some sort of selective editing process. Which of course is quite inconceivable.
The title "Prometheus" probably reffers to the "Space Jockey". If Prometheus was a titan (none human) who brought fire to mankind, it seems very likely that the Space Jockey will represent the creature who tries to bring biomechtechnology to mankind and is punished for it. Why? Well Prometheus in human mythology is chained to a rock and his liver is eatten by Eagles. The Space Jockey is "fossilized" to a device that transmits a warning in human space AND his rib cage is burst outwards,presumably by an alien. The parrallels are very,very neat and it wouldn't be passed Mr Scott to serve a few curveballs to fuel the rumour mill by saying its just the name of the ship.It still could be and so the title has a clever double meaning.
Also the planetoid in the original "Alien" appears to be partially terraformed. Why? It may be a mistake but Ash, when he studies the geology describes it as "Primordial" with "Rock,Lava base.Deep coal.Well below the line." And coal can only come from trees. Personally I believe thats just a mistake in the writing, but it's interesting that when describing the derelict, Ridley wanted it to look like it had "grown" out of the landscape and had Giger design both as a result, implying the ship had a definite purpose in being there.
The photos of the sets seem to suggest they carry this theme "backward" into the "prequel" and I'm pleased by that. I think that this could possibly make it one of the most unique and haunting looking films of next year, given how visually stylized Ridley Scott has always been. He is ,after all, both old school and keen but clever with his use of CGI to expand his visuals in his films (as in Gladiator),and I can only only dream of what he could pull off with this one. Alien and Bladerunner are classics of sci fi and remain pretty untouchable even to this day.
Its also interesting when listening to them talk about the making Alien (in the disk set )and that so many people talk about how interesting it would be to make a prequel and Ridley openly states he would "only do this if the story is good". This implies a long time in development which hopefully means they have got it right.
Also alot of the set designs again look like they are still Ron Cobb influenced, whcih again is very heartening. I supect the ships maybe too. The "Magellan" is an interesting name for the "other" ship (if it is another), as in reality the Magellanic Clouds are two neighbouring galaxies and Ferdiand Magellan was spanish seafaring explorer, which suggests that the ship is also similarly typed.
I also note that the strange species in the pics look rather like Cobbs first face hugger designs ,which are described as octopus like and I note the eggs are different too. This suggests that the aliens we are used are infact "customized" to fit humanity which also ties in with the "warning" message on the derelict. The beauty off this is that it could allow some brilliant beautifully unholy variations on the theme by Giger.
This still strongley reminds of a plot outlined years ago, which unfortunately for some described exactly where every originated from, including the Alien lifecycle. It was extremely good though and with the exception of the "huge head", which I really don't like at all, I am hoping, like hell, that this will literally be a "fantastic film". It has all the elements there and when he does get it right, Ridley Scott does jaw dropping cinema.
Also the planetoid in the original "Alien" appears to be partially terraformed. Why? It may be a mistake but Ash, when he studies the geology describes it as "Primordial" with "Rock,Lava base.Deep coal.Well below the line." And coal can only come from trees. Personally I believe thats just a mistake in the writing, but it's interesting that when describing the derelict, Ridley wanted it to look like it had "grown" out of the landscape and had Giger design both as a result, implying the ship had a definite purpose in being there.
The photos of the sets seem to suggest they carry this theme "backward" into the "prequel" and I'm pleased by that. I think that this could possibly make it one of the most unique and haunting looking films of next year, given how visually stylized Ridley Scott has always been. He is ,after all, both old school and keen but clever with his use of CGI to expand his visuals in his films (as in Gladiator),and I can only only dream of what he could pull off with this one. Alien and Bladerunner are classics of sci fi and remain pretty untouchable even to this day.
Its also interesting when listening to them talk about the making Alien (in the disk set )and that so many people talk about how interesting it would be to make a prequel and Ridley openly states he would "only do this if the story is good". This implies a long time in development which hopefully means they have got it right.
Also alot of the set designs again look like they are still Ron Cobb influenced, whcih again is very heartening. I supect the ships maybe too. The "Magellan" is an interesting name for the "other" ship (if it is another), as in reality the Magellanic Clouds are two neighbouring galaxies and Ferdiand Magellan was spanish seafaring explorer, which suggests that the ship is also similarly typed.
I also note that the strange species in the pics look rather like Cobbs first face hugger designs ,which are described as octopus like and I note the eggs are different too. This suggests that the aliens we are used are infact "customized" to fit humanity which also ties in with the "warning" message on the derelict. The beauty off this is that it could allow some brilliant beautifully unholy variations on the theme by Giger.
This still strongley reminds of a plot outlined years ago, which unfortunately for some described exactly where every originated from, including the Alien lifecycle. It was extremely good though and with the exception of the "huge head", which I really don't like at all, I am hoping, like hell, that this will literally be a "fantastic film". It has all the elements there and when he does get it right, Ridley Scott does jaw dropping cinema.
Jedi2016
Sr Member
The problem right now is that we know so little about the story and where Ridley is going with this. The speculation that's been done has so far been pretty far off-base.
But CT, you've got some of your facts mixed up. What Ash says on the ship is "deep cold", that's why they have to wear suits instead of just breathing masks.
And the design of the derelict as something "grown" was Ridley's idea to make Giger create something that didn't look like it was manufactured, which all the previous designs did, and they all ended up looking far too "human" in appearance instead of something truly alien. While Giger did create some designs for the planet's surface, none of it was actually used in the film.
As for the facehugger, the "octopus" design wasn't Cobb's.. it was O'Bannon's. He drew that picture himself during early pre-production, before either Ridley or Giger were brought on board. Bear in mind that O'Bannon himself also created the final facehugger design we see in the film, partially based on one of Giger's designs, so he obviously felt it worked better that way.
None of this backstory was being thought of during the creation of the original film. They did what worked and what looked good. While Ridley did have some thoughts about backstory, none of it was developed to any degree, and certainly none of it influenced the final film.
What will be interesting is to see if they'll be going back to some of the original ideas in the script that never made it on screen. In O'Bannon's original draft, the derelict was not the source of the eggs.. that ship had merely landed there just like the Nostromo did. The eggs were found in a pyramid-like structure a little ways off from where the ship was. And there was a clearly defined culture there.. it wasn't just an egg depository, there was writing and hieroglyphics on the walls (that one painting that Giger did of the alien life cycle was actually meant to be seen on-screen), which leads to the idea that the creature may actually have been intelligent to the point of having a society and culture of its own, and not just a wild animal (it actually acted much more intelligently, even to the point of using one of the crew as a shield against the flamethrower). Whether that influenced any of Ridley's direction or later script revisions is unknown, or whether they may try to revisit some of that in Prometheus, who knows?
One thing that has me excited about the project is Ridley's talk about how he didn't just want to make "another Alien movie", that he felt the series had become so diluted over the years, and how he wouldn't go near it unless there was a really good story that he could tell. The fact that he's doing this means he's found that story, which has me really pumped about the film.
I only hope that my anticipation doesn't become so great that the final film can't possibly meet my expectations.
But CT, you've got some of your facts mixed up. What Ash says on the ship is "deep cold", that's why they have to wear suits instead of just breathing masks.
And the design of the derelict as something "grown" was Ridley's idea to make Giger create something that didn't look like it was manufactured, which all the previous designs did, and they all ended up looking far too "human" in appearance instead of something truly alien. While Giger did create some designs for the planet's surface, none of it was actually used in the film.
As for the facehugger, the "octopus" design wasn't Cobb's.. it was O'Bannon's. He drew that picture himself during early pre-production, before either Ridley or Giger were brought on board. Bear in mind that O'Bannon himself also created the final facehugger design we see in the film, partially based on one of Giger's designs, so he obviously felt it worked better that way.
None of this backstory was being thought of during the creation of the original film. They did what worked and what looked good. While Ridley did have some thoughts about backstory, none of it was developed to any degree, and certainly none of it influenced the final film.
What will be interesting is to see if they'll be going back to some of the original ideas in the script that never made it on screen. In O'Bannon's original draft, the derelict was not the source of the eggs.. that ship had merely landed there just like the Nostromo did. The eggs were found in a pyramid-like structure a little ways off from where the ship was. And there was a clearly defined culture there.. it wasn't just an egg depository, there was writing and hieroglyphics on the walls (that one painting that Giger did of the alien life cycle was actually meant to be seen on-screen), which leads to the idea that the creature may actually have been intelligent to the point of having a society and culture of its own, and not just a wild animal (it actually acted much more intelligently, even to the point of using one of the crew as a shield against the flamethrower). Whether that influenced any of Ridley's direction or later script revisions is unknown, or whether they may try to revisit some of that in Prometheus, who knows?
One thing that has me excited about the project is Ridley's talk about how he didn't just want to make "another Alien movie", that he felt the series had become so diluted over the years, and how he wouldn't go near it unless there was a really good story that he could tell. The fact that he's doing this means he's found that story, which has me really pumped about the film.
I only hope that my anticipation doesn't become so great that the final film can't possibly meet my expectations.
Actually I don't think I'm wrong about much. In the published screenplay by Futura in 1979 it says "Deep Coal".It sounds like that in the film, though I'll admit cold sounds as logical but "deep?" and "Well below the line" suggests well below the limit of excavation. Remember the Nostromo is refinery ship processing mined minerals so that would be my interpretation.
The octopus design was drawn by Cobb and I quote from "The BOOK of the Alien" " In O'Bannons script,the temple had an oxygen atmosphere. Cobb drew an Octopuslike Face Huggger attacking a helmetless Kane," with the illustration drawn by Cobb below it. It looks uncannily like the "little creature" in the Prometheus production still pics. It was O'Bannon who originally wanted something much larger but it was Scott that required the smaller version with a more finger like appearance.
The biomechanical nature of the temple suggested by Giger , which was part of the original script, was supposed to have been something that was "grown" out of the rock of the planet,rather than the earth like pyramid structure drawn by Cobb.These were all designs submitted in the early concept phase. In preproduction Scott wanted to simplify the story and idea of the Alien (and its orignal life cycle ) to that of O'Bannons as budget restrictions and film length limited what he could do.That lead to the ship replacing the whole "temple" storyline, which was there in the original storyboards. At the time O'Bannon was quite upset by the changes being made to his script but had to role with it because of the budget .
Giger also wanted a far more complicated surface and that is carried inpart into the design of the base that the scale model sits on. In the studio it was simplified but the knackers yard like shape of the landscape was kept.
The connection between the craft and the landscape was still partially translated into the design of the derelict. In the full scale set you can see in production photographs, there are "tubes and roots" from the base of the craft reaching down into the planetiod and there were no obvious engines to it because you are supposed to be unsure as to what it actually is. It is suggested that the cavern containing the eggs is actually subterranean anyway.Certainly the scale of it no way matches the size of the craft as it is.
Scott freely admitted he did not know what the alien was for at the time and there is no suggest to its ultimate purpose in either the finished script or the film, but there was a huge backstory already made about it by O'Bannon.
Again I quote from "Book of the Alien".
"There was a subplot concerning the planetoid thats not in the final script. It could be called "The Secret Life of the Aliens" It offers some clues about Alien Culture -if you could call it that-and none of he clues bode well for humans or any other race.
As in the fina version ,the Nostromo's search party finds the derelictship and the remains of the pilot. But thats all,except for an image scratched on the dashboard by the jockey as his last act. The searchers return to the ship, mystified.A short time later, the planetoids endless dust strom settles AND THE CREW SEE A MYSTERIOUS PYRAMID ON THE HORIZON.They scale it,find an openning at the top and a volunteer lowers himself down the hatch"
The rest concerns the egg chamber and the hieroglyphics of the alien lifecycle. But Scott realized at the time it would be too long and cost too much however much he would have loved to do it. Certainly the set designs suggest the storyline contains similar underground structures.
I have to say the Prometheus production photos suggest Ridley has returned to some of those ideas, and all this pissing about with "Its a prequel" no it isn't yes it is is simply misdirection (ala Micheal Bays Transformer 2) or they are playing down the expectation that you will not see the Alien as we know it, but certainly versions of.
Certainly a better mythology was being talked about it years later when people had some time to think about it. The bio weapon came about much later, and people were discussing a prequel to Alien decades ago. Like I said I remember a storyline kicking around pre the turn of the century and it did a superb job of explaining everything, nothing like whats being pushed currently.
Its fun to speculate though and thats half the fun. I have alot of faith in Ridley though to pull this off.
The octopus design was drawn by Cobb and I quote from "The BOOK of the Alien" " In O'Bannons script,the temple had an oxygen atmosphere. Cobb drew an Octopuslike Face Huggger attacking a helmetless Kane," with the illustration drawn by Cobb below it. It looks uncannily like the "little creature" in the Prometheus production still pics. It was O'Bannon who originally wanted something much larger but it was Scott that required the smaller version with a more finger like appearance.
The biomechanical nature of the temple suggested by Giger , which was part of the original script, was supposed to have been something that was "grown" out of the rock of the planet,rather than the earth like pyramid structure drawn by Cobb.These were all designs submitted in the early concept phase. In preproduction Scott wanted to simplify the story and idea of the Alien (and its orignal life cycle ) to that of O'Bannons as budget restrictions and film length limited what he could do.That lead to the ship replacing the whole "temple" storyline, which was there in the original storyboards. At the time O'Bannon was quite upset by the changes being made to his script but had to role with it because of the budget .
Giger also wanted a far more complicated surface and that is carried inpart into the design of the base that the scale model sits on. In the studio it was simplified but the knackers yard like shape of the landscape was kept.
The connection between the craft and the landscape was still partially translated into the design of the derelict. In the full scale set you can see in production photographs, there are "tubes and roots" from the base of the craft reaching down into the planetiod and there were no obvious engines to it because you are supposed to be unsure as to what it actually is. It is suggested that the cavern containing the eggs is actually subterranean anyway.Certainly the scale of it no way matches the size of the craft as it is.
Scott freely admitted he did not know what the alien was for at the time and there is no suggest to its ultimate purpose in either the finished script or the film, but there was a huge backstory already made about it by O'Bannon.
Again I quote from "Book of the Alien".
"There was a subplot concerning the planetoid thats not in the final script. It could be called "The Secret Life of the Aliens" It offers some clues about Alien Culture -if you could call it that-and none of he clues bode well for humans or any other race.
As in the fina version ,the Nostromo's search party finds the derelictship and the remains of the pilot. But thats all,except for an image scratched on the dashboard by the jockey as his last act. The searchers return to the ship, mystified.A short time later, the planetoids endless dust strom settles AND THE CREW SEE A MYSTERIOUS PYRAMID ON THE HORIZON.They scale it,find an openning at the top and a volunteer lowers himself down the hatch"
The rest concerns the egg chamber and the hieroglyphics of the alien lifecycle. But Scott realized at the time it would be too long and cost too much however much he would have loved to do it. Certainly the set designs suggest the storyline contains similar underground structures.
I have to say the Prometheus production photos suggest Ridley has returned to some of those ideas, and all this pissing about with "Its a prequel" no it isn't yes it is is simply misdirection (ala Micheal Bays Transformer 2) or they are playing down the expectation that you will not see the Alien as we know it, but certainly versions of.
Certainly a better mythology was being talked about it years later when people had some time to think about it. The bio weapon came about much later, and people were discussing a prequel to Alien decades ago. Like I said I remember a storyline kicking around pre the turn of the century and it did a superb job of explaining everything, nothing like whats being pushed currently.
Its fun to speculate though and thats half the fun. I have alot of faith in Ridley though to pull this off.
Interesting ideas but I'm sceptical. The mission of the ship Prometheus presumably resembles that of the mythical Prometheus. If there is a Promethean character too, then I really doubt he or she will be non-human - that would sort of conflict with the myth.
I think we can rely on it having a double meaning.
That's a Mondegreen for deep cold, I think, as Jedi points out.
Giger - or someone - did speculate that the crashed ship had begun infecting or growing out into the landscape, IIRC.
The Derelict-shaped rocky tunnel? Weird, that. The entrance ain't exactly alien-looking.
I'm hoping so. Those small engines in the set debris field after teardown are making me think in terms of a shuttle, lifeboat or lander, though.
That's not actually correct. They did base the rocks on bones, and they are biomechanical, just not as ostentatiously so as the ship. They have ribbed pipes everywhere, that sort of thing. Watch it in Bluray on a big screen if you can, and look hard, you'll see it.
I've never heard that story before. Roger Dicken - working loosely from Giger's "eye hand" painting - is credited by most sources, including Scott and Giger.
Wasn't that actually about another alien culture, which used the creatures in their religious rituals? A sacrificial rite, to be specific. I don't think that was intended to indicate the creatures themselves were intelligent, it was third parties who built the pyramid.
Too late, I think!
Not unreasonable interpretations, I'll give you that. But they also say this asteroid is only a thousand metres across, so there are definitely some problems with the script's logic.
Deep cold, well below the *freezing* line, works for me. I still don't understand why so many people think this. I guess that matte painting looks bigger than it is meant to, to many people? The writer of Alien Harvest worked overtime to establish that interpretation: he had a figure-8-shaped derelict, which in crash-landing buries the forward "donut" and then blows off a section of hull from the rearward one, leaving only the familiar horseshoe shape aboveground. A horrible, stupid idea, IMO, but obviously he too thought the egg chamber was underground, simply because Ash lowers himself on a rope to get to it. But that writer also thinks the COCKPIT is underground, for what reason I'm at a loss to understand!
The cockpit is the dome on top of the central arm of the ship. That was built with a translucent plastic hemisphere, and it matches Giger's concept paintings of the Jocket set, which show a clear dome above the Jockey's chair/gun/telescope. So Ash lowers himself from near the top of the ship into the middle or lower part of the ship, is all. Regardless of the matte painting, the sets DO fit inside the ship at the established scale - in fact they're *under-scale*, and the room matches the shape of the belly of the craft and has the same "elbows" at the ends - IMO it was basically intended to be a big hollow in the lower forward quarter of the central arm of the ship, behind the entrance tunnel area.
I know it's a petty fanwank kind of thing, but I really hope Ridley re-establishes this in Prometheus.
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