Millburn's Folly

One can only suggest that Milburn was hypnotized by the hammerpede. Maybe it gives off some kind of waves that effect the brain, or its movement is hypnotic, leading Milburn to lose his sense of danger.

I think Milburn had good intentions as a person, but he was always naïve at heart. Look at how quick he was to make friends with Fifield at the beginning; other people would have gotten the hint at first glance that Fifield wasn't the friendly type, but Milburn sat down and tried to make nice anyway. On top of that, he's kind of like the late Steve Irwin in the sense that his innate sense of wonder and curiosity outweighed his sense of caution. Everyone knows how many times Irwin approached dangerous and aggressive creatures, knowing full well what they could do, and tried to handle them anyway (unfortunately, that eventually led to his demise as well). At the end of the day, I've settled into the conclusion that Miburn was probably a smart biologist, but too trusting for his own good.

In regards to the fundamental relationship between the Neomorph and the Hammerpede, I think you're spot on. If the black goo weaponizes living things down to the genetic level, whoever or whatever it affects would take on similar properties (white, translucent skin, regenerative capabilities, pure aggression, etc). I also noticed that the Hammerpede and Neomorph have mouths similar to anuses; I don't know if that was intentional or not, but there are already vaginal and penile attributes galore in the Alien universe, so it wouldn't be too far-fetched if that were true.

DG, that is a great comparison in "a sense of wonder" that drove Millburn compared to the late (and very great) Steve Irwin.

Thank you also for the analysis. The black goo really brings out the worst in an organism. It seems to take away the need for nutrition other than a need to devour humans.

Indeed Milburn the Steve Irwin of the Alien Franchise ;)

To be fair though, there have a been a number of discussions on how to attempt to address a good reason for the Space Cobra Petting, being pretty excited, being hand selected by Vickers... 

And well Yog thats not one i have heard before..  but that is interesting if the Organism has some kind of Hypnotic ability that causes a Host to Acquiesce to the Organism.  Certainly would be a useful Trait to have for the Purpose of Procreative Life Cycle of a Face Hugger type event... if the Hammerpedes Procreate similar.

The Prometheus Re-write i was working on, had Milburn discover smaller worms like in the "Our First Alien" Deleted Scene, when they enter the room he discovers some small worms and goes to study them and put them into a container for Study when they get to the Ship and then he notices a Larger one like the "Our First Alien" Deleted Scene and is all excited, despite Fifields Hesitation,   Milburn rushes over to capture it and Fifield says dont touch it... Milburn mentions they have their Suits that would protect them and he grabs the Larger Worm (Similar to the Deleted Scene size) and as its covered in Black Goo its slippy and it grows a bit in his hand and so he drops it, he then goes to get it again and Fifield is saying leave it... so he takes his eyes off where he is facing and slips over some of the Goo and Lands on all Fours..

This is when he then notices the Two Hammerpedes, and he comments on here must me Mommy... the Hammerpede Aproaches and Stands up to Fifield and Hisses and Milburn warns Fifield to not make any sudden movements, Fifield moves and the Hammerpede Turns towards him and so Milburn wistles at the Hammerpede and Waves his hand to get its attention.  They both stair at each other  (Milburn and Hammerpede) about 4-5 feet away...  the Hammerpede then unfolds its raised/flared parts of its head...  Milburn senses as with Cobras this is a sign its relaxed.

Then we have the dialog where Milburn is talking to it from the movie.... then Fifield gets Milburns Attention and as Milburn takes his Eyes off the Hammerpede it Darts towards him and as a Reaction Milburn puts out his hand and grabs it...

The Hammerpede then seems to calm down.... Milburn is very intrigued but then... BAM the Hammerpede Tightens around his Arm and the rest of the Scene is the same as the Movie.

Its little changes like this i was making to make better explanation to such scenes... that would have made much more sense.. 

Well at the time of Prometheus i assumed the Acid Blood was a Trait passed on from the Xeno-Strain Black Goo Pathogen... and the Regeneration was simply the Black Goo taking the useful traits of a Organism and Evolving them while Replacing other Traits with Xeno-Strain Traits.

But indeed the idea in Logans Draft was that the Xenomorph had Regenerative Ability and Ridley Scott had suggested the Dead Xenomorph in Alien Covenant would Regenerate itself.

There is a deleted scene on the Covenant DVD that I think makes sense of Milburn's behavior in this scene. He finds one of the little worms things swimming in the room they take their helmets off in. He holds one and is so excited about finding the first off world life form ever that he is almost peeing his pants. When he sees the hammerpede he is acting the same way. I think he is maybe trying to show off a bit to Fifield too?

It might be the case that those suits being worn by the crew, are quite protective, made of tough material, and Milburn thought he would be safe from any possible bites or anything. He thought it would be fun to show off and pet the Hammerpede, but he had no idea of the savage, arm snapping attack it would unleash on him.

Yes Yog Sothoth. I'm sure the misplaced confidence in the suits was because they had never encountered anything that would make its way through the suit so quickly. And the corporate description above makes me want to hold something exotic out in space.

But it just looked like a big snake. I guess that suit is snake proof, so Milburn thought "What the hell..let's go in for the stroke" with a side helping of hypnotism from the creatures odd movements. He has no idea that a snake could snap his arm in 2, get into his helmet and orally fuck him. Poor dude.

Yes Yog Sothoth. Millburn's salad days were over once he stepped off the Prometheus.

Originally, a big centipede thing was gonna burst out of him as well. Probably similar to the trilobite that came from Shaw via Holloway.

Yog Sothoth, that is very interesting to see the horror schedule. I do agree with the changes that made their way into Prometheus.

The Engineer sequence is so great with the Trilobite overpowering him.

yea ingeneiro, too many arms for him to handle lol the only thing that got me about the trilobite was the size but I guess, with the idea of it impregnating an engineer, it had to be of a believable size for people to accept it could overpower him

Our First Alien images moved to new topic.

Yes ali81. The Engineer is so mad that the humans crashed him that he takes one last look at Dr. Shaw while fighting the Trilobite...so great.