Bio and geo guys actually hadn't been there before. They had left before the door opened.
I finally saw Promutheus tonight and thought it stunk.
There's a huge difference between an unknown life form when you're not quite sure where you are and one that looks small in an area you'd already been.
Even if they had been there before, I'm pretty sure the protocols for encountering alien lifeforms isn't "pet it". But, again, we don't know how often they encounter alien life in this setting. Maybe, as a biologist, you meet hitherto unknown alien critters on a daily bases, in which case I guess you can understand why he's being a bit lax about procedure. (not really :p)
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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On the two getting lost: People with maps get lost all the time.
Fifield is freaked out, pissed off, and his competency and manhood have just been questioned. As such, he doesn't stop to check his map, he yells at Shaw and storms off in a huff. He assumes he remembers the way out well enough to retrace his steps (after all, he only just passed that way), and doesn't realize he's taken a wrong turn somewhere until it's too late.
At that point the map is useless, either because the storm has hit, or because they've walked into a portion of the pyramid the pups haven't scanned yet (certainly he could get a distance and direction reading to the entrance, or at least to the nearest scanned area, but given the twisting, labyrinthine nature of the pyramid's passages, that isn't as helpful as you'd imagine).
Could the film have used an establishing shot/line to explain that? Maybe. I didn't feel it's absence was disruptive enough to matter, but others obviously disagree.
On Millburn's reaction to the snake: I imagine Millburn wanted to avoid the 'lifesign' because he thought it might be one of the 'engineers' (or perhaps whatever killed them). A super-intelligent being with an unfathomable agenda whose very existence calls into question everything he's ever believed about the origins of life? Yeah, I can see Millburn being terrified of that (doubly so for anything such a creature would be afraid of). A snake, on the other hand, is just a snake, even if it is a weird alien snake. Millburn knows snakes, he's dealt with snakes, and in an armored spacesuit he can handle anything a snake can throw at him. Hell, it doesn't even have a proper mouth.
I also suspect Millburn was showing off. Maybe it's just me, but I got the sense Millburn had a bit of a thing for Fifield (and was in fact trying to chat him up when they spoke aboard the ship). At the very least, he clearly wanted Fifield to like him, and when the snake shows up, he sees a chance to apply his expertise to earn Fifield's respect and trust.
Is it stupid? Absolutely, but I think it's understandably stupid.
I don't think it was a perfect movie, but I think it was a fun movie, and I think the good far outweighed the bad.
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There's a huge difference between an unknown life form when you're not quite sure where you are and one that looks small in an area you'd already been.Even if they had been there before, I'm pretty sure the protocols for encountering alien lifeforms isn't "pet it". But, again, we don't know how often they encounter alien life in this setting. Maybe, as a biologist, you meet hitherto unknown alien critters on a daily bases, in which case I guess you can understand why he's being a bit lax about procedure. (not really :p)
Maybe it was intended as a commentary on the future of institutional education? :)
So Millburn is scared of something that might have killed the engineers, but when he sees a lifeform which he doesn't know anything about. Which could have possibly be the thing that killed the engineers, he suddenly wants to kiss it.
Also, I love how the suit is now an "armored spacesuit". It is an environmental suit, but it is not designed for use in space. How do I know this, by the fact that there were actually red spacesuits in the ship that we see when Shaw is stumbling through. And nothing about it suggests it is armored in any way. "So I've basically a battletech exoskeleton, so this thing can't possibly harm me." LOL Yeah.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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The appearance of the fabric suggests some sort of weave-based armor to me. Your mileage may vary. Basically the next evolution of kevlar.
It's just good sense to armor a spacesuit that's intended for EVAs in rugged terrain. You don't want a sharp rock to compromise suit integrity.
It is not a space suit. You can see a red space suit behind her on the left.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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It is not a space suit. You can see a red space suit behind her on the left.
It's pressurized and has its own air supply and I believe it'd function fine in a vacuum, that makes it a spacesuit in my book. It's also more ruggedly built for use in planetary EVA. The other spacesuit may have some functions meant for use in zero-G that this model lacks, or perhaps magnetic boots.
But really, is quibbling about minor points like that really a good use of time for either one of us?
Well no gravity + no atmosphere + 3 Kelvin above absolute zero, yeah sure, the difference between a suit designed for use on a planet with an atmosphere and one that is used in actual space is an insignificant difference.
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I guess I'm in the minority; I loved the visuals. I didn't miss Ripley at all because, like Ripley, I was totally irritated by most everybody involved in the movie, most of the characters, and apparently the universe itsself. So I felt that Ripley's spirit truly suffused the film.
What a waste of Charlize Theron.
I loved David until the "like, I'm gonna do this,.....like,......totally random Mickey Finn, oka? because,.....I dunno.....I'm like,......eviliguess....." which made absolutely no effing sense whatsoever. Dude. You're a robot, oka? PLEASE, be smarter than me?
puts on smarmy Elizabeth Shaw voice...
"that's what I choose to believe..."
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It's just good sense to armor a spacesuit that's intended for EVAs in rugged terrain.
Given how everyone else acts, what makes you think the spacesuit design team had any 'good sense'? :)
Steve Irwin... Crocodile Hunter. Played with the deadliest snakes on the planet. Never got hurt. Played with Croc's never got badly hurt. Swam with a Sting Ray... DIED!!! he did a Stupid Mistake.
Scientists do stupid things ALL of the time FACT. it's risk taking. People in movies do it. You the audience says No don't do that because we know something bad will happen. People in RL think nothing bad will happen to them like Steve Irwin, but guess what, he died because he made a mistake, a stupid action 1 tiny mistake that he never made before. Even people that are always 100% consistent make a mistake that ends their life. It happens Every Day!!! Not just in a movie.
That is not even a valid comparison. Steve was not even handling an animal when he died. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Had Steve intentionally stepped on the Stingray that would be different. What you describe is very different from making a mistake in your field of expertise, that even someone with no experience in it would make. <--That(making very bad decisions that you should not make with not training at all) does not happen everyday, and as I said having one stupid scientist is one thing, but when you have a group of them, that stretches believability.
One dumb scientist is acceptable. When you get a couple, not so much, and not all of us are Darwin material, and I would also say that the top scientist in a field are also far from it. You might die trying to do someone else's job, but playing with the "snake".....
I enjoyed the movie, but I still think it had a couple of WTF moments.
You, as a viewer, known the snake-thing's some sort of uber-nasty creature that can probably burrow through deck plates. A scientist with an armored spacesuit and a solid helmet? Yeah, he'd probably risk approaching a wild specimen, and he was doing about the right things to accomplish that.
I was pleased the scientists didn't know they were in a horror movie.
When was said that the suit was armored?
It looked like a standard space suit to me. I would not expect it to punch through glass, but I would expect it to be able to bite and poison. Even his buddy seemed to think the playing with the snake was a bad idea IIRC.
I have the secret design documents of the film (don't ask me to show you because they're secret), and the suit was DEFINITELY armored.
Definitely.
Hold on, am I on a D&D forum?
No, you are on the Paizo forum. ;)
You have a quote or a certain point in the movie where someone says it was armored? I may have missed it, but it seems that nobody else can seem to recall the information either.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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So Millburn is scared of something that might have killed the engineers, but when he sees a lifeform which he doesn't know anything about. Which could have possibly be the thing that killed the engineers, he suddenly wants to kiss it.
Also, I love how the suit is now an "armored spacesuit". It is an environmental suit, but it is not designed for use in space. How do I know this, by the fact that there were actually red spacesuits in the ship that we see when Shaw is stumbling through. And nothing about it suggests it is armored in any way. "So I've basically a battletech exoskeleton, so this thing can't possibly harm me." LOL Yeah.
** spoiler omitted **
You're absolutely right, its not a spacesuit, it's an environmental suit. I'm not sure how that's at all relevant to my point, since I didn't even come close to claiming that Millburn messed with the snake because "he was confident he could survive in the cold vacuum of space", but you're right I wasn't being technically accurate :) I'll rephrase:
"A snake, on the other hand, is just a snake, even if it is a weird alien snake. Millburn knows snakes, he's dealt with snakes, and in an armored envirosuit he can handle anything a snake can throw at him."
As for being armored, let me be clear, I'm not talking about a combat-exoskeleton, and I'm not talking about it being able to stop bullets. It's obviously not Iron Man armor.
What I'm talking about is the solid plating over the chest, shoulders, knees, thighs, and hands that's plainly evident on the suits. It may not stop bullets, but the gauntlets at least are more than likely bite-proof (at least to something the size of a snake). The blue-undersuit is also apparently fairly durable, since Shaw, Holloway, and David all go for a stroll in a hellacious looking rock-storm without being torn to shreds. At worst, Shaw gets a bruise on her knee :(
But I guess we need a line saying "hey, your enviro-suits are scratch-and-dent resistant!" or else we have to assume they're made of tissue paper, right? :P
And yes, Millburn can be afraid of what might have killed the engineers, but not of a space-snake, because the unknown and the unseen are always more frightening than what is apparent. "Whatever killed the engineers" is scary because Millburn doesn't know what it is. A snake-like creature is something Millburn can see, touch, and study, and therefore less terrifying.
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I'm still waiting for Weyland Corp to become a closed shop.
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What a waste of Charlize Theron.I loved David until the "like, I'm gonna do this,.....like,......totally random Mickey Finn, oka? because,.....I dunno.....I'm like,......eviliguess....." which made absolutely no effing sense whatsoever. Dude. You're a robot, oka? PLEASE, be smarter than me?
I thought Vickers became one of the more interesting characters in the film; she, moreso than Shaw, was Ripley at times.
As for David, that action had me thinking the whole film. It was a representation of his utter non-humanity. He is programmed to serve humans. Shaw wants to have children. Shaw wants to meet the engineers and understand them. David grants her this wish.
One of the complaints my wife had about the suits was after they were caught in the storm, there wasn't a single sign of a scratch on the domes. So maybe the suits were truly badass, or maybe the storm at that point wasn't super-dangerous except for the windspeed (you might get blow away, but not shredded at that point in the storm).
To me the suits look more like some basic protective gear (the equivalent of knee/elbow pads, work gloves and boots) along with some environmental gear (equivalent of thermal underwear) and breathing gear (equivalent of a scuba tank). And then some tech to monitor and operate the breathing equipment, equipment for life signs, and communication equipment. Nothing about them suggested to me that they were armored in anyway (or at least no more than how in PFRPG, you treat clothes as armor with an armor rating of +0). The thought that some unknown creature couldn't possibly rupture the cloth part seems strange to me.
I thought Vickers became one of the more interesting characters in the film; she, moreso than Shaw, was Ripley at times.
Well she had originally been cast for the Shaw character and then something came up and they thought she wouldn't be able to do the movie and then she was able to be they had already got someone else to play Shaw. I think if she had played Shaw, the part would have had a much different feel to it.
As for David, that action had me thinking the whole film.
Some people have characterized David as a kid who just goes around and can't stop himself from touching things.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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One of the complaints my wife had about the suits was after they were caught in the storm, there wasn't a single sign of a scratch on the domes. So maybe the suits were truly badass, or maybe the storm at that point wasn't super-dangerous except for the windspeed (you might get blow away, but not shredded at that point in the storm).
To me the suits look more like some basic protective gear (the equivalent of knee/elbow pads, work gloves and boots) along with some environmental gear (equivalent of thermal underwear) and breathing gear (equivalent of a scuba tank). And then some tech to monitor and operate the breathing equipment, equipment for life signs, and communication equipment. Nothing about them suggested to me that they were armored in anyway (or at least no more than how in PFRPG, you treat clothes as armor with an armor rating of +0). The thought that some unknown creature couldn't possibly rupture the cloth part seems strange to me.
But he's not reaching for the snake with the cloth part, he's reaching for it with his "work glove". It's built like a gauntlet, with solid material encasing the fingers, hand, and much of the forearm. It's not unreasonable to assume that it would provide some protection.
As a side note, there were actually two kinds of envirosuit in the film. The ones Fifield, Millburn, and the rest of the team are wearing during the initial exploration are the 'Advanced' model, which is filed under "Security" on the Weyland website. Here's what they have to say about them:
ADVANCED SE SUITS:
Used in exploration, reconnaissance and for tactical maneuverability in the field. Nano-reinforced composite helmet allows a 320° rotational field of vision with info display of vital stats, environmental conditions, communications systems and data analysis. Cadmium exoskeleton provides safety and stability over rough terrain. Iridium-coated, laser resistant light armor optional.
You can see the standard model later in the film (it's what Shaw changes into after her surgery, and I believe what Vickers hurriedly puts on when she's evacuating the ship), it's got a smaller chest plate and no protection for the elbows, knees, or thighs.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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Here is a larger picture of what Fifield and Millburn were wearing. You can see that while there are metal bits on the gloves, they are not "encased". There is plenty of fabric between the metal plates for something to sink in a pair of fangs.
The hand as a whole isn't encased (that's called a mitten, :P) but the individual fingers, knuckles, top of the hand, and forearm are all well protected. The gaps between on the hand are made of a darker blue material, which is probably comparable to stout leather (like a work glove), also fairly bite-resistant.
My point all along has been that the gauntlet is durable-looking enough that I can see Millburn feeling confident in its ability to protect him. Nothing about the picture dissuades me from that opinion.
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This part of the discussion reminds me of what I hated the most about The Lost Word (JP2)...
For my part, I agree it was incredibly stupid. But you have to remember this guy was hand-picked by a lunatic with a god complex, and then travelled for years in stasis in the hopes of encountering ET lifeforms only to have those hopes dashed immediately, but then rekindled following intense panic.
Any chance we shall see a AVPVJ movie or novel? I would like to see how J would stack up against P.
"J"? Jason?
No, you are on the Paizo forum. ;)
You have a quote or a certain point in the movie where someone says it was armored? I may have missed it, but it seems that nobody else can seem to recall the information either.
Sorry, I missed my sarcasm check! I was being a sarcastoid; I don't think they ever say it's explicitly armored.
j is jockey or maybe they were engineers?
I enjoyed it.
I can see why a lot of people wouldn't though.
...I don't require a movie to answer every single question....
Me, neither. But I would prefer one that answered a question. Not even a particular question. Just any question at all.
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...I don't require a movie to answer every single question....Me, neither. But I would prefer one that answered a question. Not even a particular question. Just any question at all.
Also they don't have to give the answer, but I found that when the writers don't actually have an answer in mind, that stories tend to lose focus because the writer has no idea where things are going or even knows why things were what they were.
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My thoughts on the scientists and their overbold actions;
New lands are never conquered by those who feel safest remaining within a brisk walk of the safety of their home.
New foodstuffs are never discovered by people who, quite sensibly, aren't willing to put things they don't recognize into their mouths.
Wolves and *elephants* weren't domesticated by people who thought, 'You know, that animal looks like it could hurt me, I think I'll stay the hell away from it.'
Fire wasn't tamed by people who ran from it.
The scientists in Prometheus, quite often, acted exactly like explorers act, with what a sensible person would consider a breathtaking lack of right-and-proper fearfulness. Encountering something new, instead of reacting with pants-wetting terror, they are intrigued and curiously approach to learn more, which, in this case, turned out to be a bad idea, since every freaking thing they encountered was part of an adaptive bio-weapon engineered to grow ever deadlier with every encounter.
Most of the scientists have this sort of mentality, and it's telling that the non-scientists, such as Vickers, ever the voice of restraint, are the ones whose decision making process is ruled by caution, as her thought processes are governed by the more survival-oriented 'if I don't understand it, I fear it and will stay the heck away from it' mantra common to the incurious mind. Oh, she'll run her daddy's company just fine, but she strongly disapproves of 'risky' ventures, like blowing a trillion bucks on perhaps discovering the secrets of creation (and immortality!) itself. Had the ship returned to earth with the secrets of bio-engineering new species, perhaps terraforming entire worlds, the alien spaceship technology, etc. Weyland would be a zillion times richer than before, and it's exactly the sort of wild risk that only a wild-eyed idealist scientist, or a selfish old man staring into the unblinking eyes of his own imminent mortality, would make.
And even the seemingly thick scientists, like Shaw's boyfriend, have their moments. When he realizes that Shaw is refusing to go back on the ship without him, when he knows that he can never go back, he walks into the flamethrower, since he knows that the only way *she* will survive is if she is forced to give up on him.
I liked the movie. I like that it didn't bend over backwards to explain itself to the audience. Too many movies, IMO, are written like pablum, and even if you didn't 'get it' in the first five minutes (or from the darn previews!), you'll have it explained to you at least three times, and probably summed up at the end, just in case you fell asleep or something.
And I'm glad that, in the process of being both a story and a metaphor, it didn't veer into 'I'm too preciously pretentious arthouse-y to explain anything to you and am now going to juxtapose some surreal pictures into the scene, just to make you go 'what the hell?'' territory, which bugs me at the other end of the scale.
In other news, Charlize Theron has finally made me let go of my lingering crush on Michelle Pfeiffer. My heart is fickle.
In other news, Charlize Theron has finally made me let go of my lingering crush on Michelle Pfeiffer. My heart is fickle.
Ahhh between Prometheus and Snow White, I am now completely with you on choice of crush. Wow, what a woman.
Just saw it. It was all right, I suppose. It had big plot holes, weird random moments, and several WTF parts, but I still enjoyed it well enough. With that said, I have no desire to ever see it again.
(And no, I came in expecting no direct links with the Alien series. In fact, that probably added to my disappointment of the weird, total unnecessary scene at the very end. Why bother? It didn't add anything.)
And also, the
was stupendously, ludicrously, stupid. Wow, that was dumb.
And also, the
** spoiler omitted **
was stupendously, ludicrously, stupid. Wow, that was dumb.
God, I am so tired of that trope. Seems like it's in every movie ever made. Makes me want to pull my hair out.
God, I am so tired of that trope. Seems like it's in every movie ever made. Makes me want to pull my hair out.
And it's so good (*rolleyes*) it happened twice in this movie (storm, ship). I lost a few strands of hair myself.
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And it's so good (*rolleyes*) it happened twice in this movie (storm, ship). I lost a few strands of hair myself.
And with my hairline, those are a rare and precious commodity....
X-Files during run: "Of course we know where we're going. The whole series is building towards it. Keep watching. It will be great!"
X-Files after run: "Nah, we were just making it up as we went along."
Lost during run: "Of course we know where we're going. The whole series is building towards it. Keep watching. It will be great!"
Lost after run: "Nah, we were just making it up as we went along."
Battle Star Galactica during run: "Of course we know where we're going. The whole series is building towards it. Keep watching. It will be great!"
BSG after run: "Nah, we were just making it up as we went along."
Prometheus: "Of course we know where we're going. The whole series is building towards it. Keep watching. It will be great!"
Nope, not buying it. Get back to me when you actually have a story.
Knowing where you're going and having to adapt to changing circumstances is one thing. Pretending you know where you're going in order to get others to follow you is something else again.
Everyone, it's this way! Follow me!
*closes eyes and starts spinning around*
It is over here.
*stops spinning and grabs a random item*
Here it is!
A cork?
Cork? Ah ... Yeah, of course a cork! Isn't obvious, that was the plan the whole time. A cork! What you didn't see that coming? Well I'm sure if you go back and see the material again, you'll see how it had to be a cork.
"I believe it is a cork. Because, that is what I choose to believe."
People who are disappointed is bcz they were not able to connect the Promotheus events with Alien (1979) events movie.Sorry, but that's just not true. I was disappointed because it was a bad movie. Heck, it might have been better if it hadn't tried so hard to be a prequel.
1) opening scene shows human-look-like specie, called an "engineer", who sacrifices himself by drinking a black substance to create lifeform on EARTH!.
Above him is a spaceship leaving..and probably more engineers gonna be dropped at different places on earth to do the same thing.This is explained later on by archeologists that different civilizations on Earth that had nothing in common, have the same starmap drawing in their culture.
Conclusion : Human race was an experiment. We have been created by these "Engineers"
That's not a valid conclusion based on what the movie actually presents. We know one thing only: "Engineers" have been on Earth several times during our history, at sporadic intervals from (at least) 35,000 years ago to 2,000 years ago. Then, they apparently stopped visiting (or we just haven't uncovered evidence of later visits). We also know that Engineer DNA matches human DNA. If you were a scientist prone to draw unfounded conclusions, this should be a "We are the Engineers" kind of revelation. Not a "this confirms what I already concluded from cave paintings that had nothing to do with this: We were created by the Engineers."
I know Dr. Shaw draws the same conclusion as you, but since she haven't seen the intro to the movie, she bases this conclusion on exactly nothing. I don't know how anyone could look at that cave painting on the Isle of Skye and go "this is conclusive evidence that humanity was created by an alien species."
...2) Prometheus spaceship lands in 2094 on this moon planet which is NOT the same planet where Ripley lands. But in the same galaxy system.
Ripley event happens 30 years later. This moon
The alien was aggressive and grabbed the first human(luckily humanoid android) by him and ripped his head off. Tried to kill the rest of the crew in a fit of rage, and then when he got into the ship he clearly set his navigation course for earth still in a rage. What pilot are you talking about? The earth pilots sacrificed themselves by crashing into the alien's ship and the alien got killed by the overgrown fetus which impregnated the humanoid alien with the bastard traditional Alien everyone is so used to.
More will be explained in the sequel, and there is a 20 minute extended blu ray that helps explains more as well. Overall I loved this movie and thought it was great.