Non-Linear Narrative?

Mar 22, 2012

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Hey Everyone, Been coming to the site daily for months now and finally signed up. Thanks for all the great discussions so far... I don't remember there being much if any discussion about the possibility of prometheus taking on a radically non-linear narrative format, which would certainly be in line with lindelof's past work, i.e. the flash-backs, flash-forwards, and flash-sideways from lost. I can't site much evidence for this possibility, although I can't help but feel the shot of the humanoid by the waterfall feels somehow outside of the other footage we've seen. Anyway, some alternative sequencing could make for a 'fun ride' if done well...just a thought!

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genjitsu17
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genjitsu17March 22, 2012

Let's hope not. Lost kinda sputtered to an unsatisfying "end".

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db73
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db73March 22, 2012

[quote]Let's hope not. Lost kinda sputtered to an unsatisfying "end".[/quote] Agreed. Lost was amazing ...... But by the end it had completely lost it's way. The ending was so rubbish it was untrue. Very, very poor. lots of loose ends. It made little sense to me by the end. Actually I was really, really worried when I found out that Lindelof was involved. I think he is very overated.

genjitsu17
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genjitsu17March 22, 2012

Agreed.

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Frantz
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FrantzMarch 22, 2012

the only rumored flash back should be the one regarding a young elizabeth shaw with his father ( a preacher maybe played by Patrick Wilson )

genjitsu17
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genjitsu17March 22, 2012

You guys think her faith will pan out to something?

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Xenotron
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XenotronMarch 22, 2012

There will probably be some scenes that could take place years before the main story to establish certain aspects of characters. Hopefully, there won't be any cutting away to events that are not pertaining to the main story once it gets started. This movie seems like a rather small story with just a few characters instead of some epic spanning lots of characters and nations etc. All this is assuming the creators of the movie know what they're doing.

Its.UHS
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Its.UHSMarch 22, 2012

That non linear (flash backs, flash forwards and flash sideways) could have worked in a tv series, but it would certainly not work a 2 to 2.5 hours movie. Besides there is already so much in this movie (science, mythology, faith, technology, alien), i think that non linear story telling would be a deal breaker!

travesius
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travesiusMarch 22, 2012

realized like a week ago that the original alien was taken place in the year 2037 according to the computer in the mother room. from what ive heard, the newest "prometheus" film takes place in the year 2085-2090, confusing at first unless there is some kind of time paradox in the mix. which could explain alot

genjitsu17
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genjitsu17March 22, 2012

Will have to check that out. Always thought Alien was in 2079 or something.

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genjitsu17
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genjitsu17March 22, 2012

All i can find says ALIEN is in 2122.

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alteredstate.
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alteredstate.March 22, 2012

I agree lost was not good and i have little else to go on regarding lindelofs writing. I hope Jon Spaihts original script has the bones of this story to support the additional writing lindelof has supplied. Also ridley will enhance the writing with his imagination and the crews input as well.

astubbindeck
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astubbindeckMarch 22, 2012

I know people rag on the way Lost ended...but those of you who followed the series, if you can honestly say you didn't care about the characters, I'd say you were lying. And really, isn't that the point? We wanted to know the fates of the characters more than anything (at least I did). The mysteries of the island, the time-slips, Richard staying young, etc, were almost for side-show effect. Lost made us care about the characters...and to me, that's far more important than why a polar bear was in a desert somewhere. If Prometheus can make me care about the characters, the rest is just gravy.

alteredstate.
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alteredstate.March 22, 2012

I thought the writing team behind battlestar was better and i cant remember a scfi series that made me so excited for such a long time.

Mala'kak
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Mala'kakMarch 22, 2012

I think the narrative will be very non-linear, but that it's all for a purpose. In the AMC Q & A Ridley and Lindelof indicated that Guy Pearce will be in the movie in the 2080's-2090's, and that he'd indeed be a very old man by then... We know when they intend to launch and may see some of the activities of Weyland prior to the launch. Then we have the young Shaw flashback scenes at a date that shows no activity on the timeline... and when she gets older the archaeological discovery scenes on Earth as well that actually start the main story.

Non-Linear Narrative?

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