Is It Just Me....

What I'd really like to know is if the Alien mural with the lifecycle is something that is just "there" or if it's something that looks like something else first or something that appears. I admit I don't want to know till I see it in the movie but it's very interesting.

My theory has been that the Alien is exalted by the race that lives on that planet. Or it is regarded as a powerful animal spirit or the like. Or maybe, like Gozer the Gozarian, worshipped as a god of destruction.

I share both your feelings of mystery surrounding Xeno mural. It could be it is seen as a supernatural entity, after all we are not as advanced as the SJs or Engineers (assuming they are the same entities) but we do have tech and we still have religion floating around. The character of Shaw has been described as being very religious, so who is to say the SJs are not too? Maybe the mural is a sort of prophecy kind of like the figure extending its arm appearing on another mural too when Shaw exclaims "The other head is changing" or something like that. Maybe they prophesy when this being will com back or it could be instead an entity they fear. Maybe as Scott has suggested a bio-weapon yet then I still cling it could depict a sort of prophecy of someone activating this bio weapon or giving birth to it (Shaw).

I wish I knew exactly what she says there. I think she says "overhead - it's changing" but I only assume this because they show the ceiling starting to change right before they show her saying "changing" BUT the angle she's looking up at could easily be toward the ceiling OR the head. You also have the issue of the practice of them showing things in trailers with audio that doesn't happen with the video you are currently seeing.

When she says "Its changing" shes referring to the ceiling as it becomes a mural showing a guy reaching out, does not show much else but Shaw does start to cry after seeing it. They Don't worship the Alien, they created the alien, the reason the design of the ship is similar in style is because its their technology, the bone ship is partial organic hence biomechanoide. The ship is meant to look like a womb with ovaries in style. Hence why the Alien eggs are cargo, its their cargo they created

I think the SJ ships look rubbish - and surely it must get a bit depressing (bones/metal/pipes) - could ve done with a bit of feng shui in my opinion. also temples in desolate places with big skulls on top - miserable b@stards!

WARNING - POSSIBLE SPOILER: I read this week that there was a private screening of Prometheus some days ago and they showed like 5 to 10 minutes of footage. The guy who wrote the post said that at some point during the screening they were able to see the creature and it was pretty strange, it had claws and several legs, with a flower-like head or something like that. I don't remember well his words but it seems like the head resembled the facehuggers mouth. Sorry but I don't remember where I read that post but it wouldn't be difficult to search and find it on the net. Well, back to the mural, I've noticed that there's a strange creature with a strange head and leg next to the humanoid figure, on his right. Maybe it's the same creature that guys talks about. On that mural, it resembles like a dog or some animal taken care by the humanoid (he's on his knees or seated.)

WARNING - POSSIBLE SPOILER: I read this week that there was a private screening of Prometheus some days ago and they showed like 5 to 10 minutes of footage. The guy who wrote the post said that at some point during the screening they were able to see the creature and it was pretty strange, it had claws and several legs, with a flower-like head or something like that. I don't remember well his words but it seems like the head resembled the facehuggers mouth. Sorry but I don't remember where I read that post but it wouldn't be difficult to search and find it on the net. Well, back to the mural, I've noticed that there's a strange creature with a strange head and leg next to the humanoid figure, on his right. Maybe it's the same creature that guys talks about. On that mural, it resembles like a dog or some animal taken care by the humanoid (he's on his knees or seated.)

JP, I think the SJs like emo music too much.

@JP I find it no surprise they want to be angry at someone.

I think its a Mural that tells a story or a warning. I think it would be connected to the human looking Mural and i thought it showed maybe how Humans create the Xeno, from messing with Engineers Tech. But then that Mural would be like a fortune telling and depict the future which is odd. But after what Ridley has recently said, which could mean the Derelict on LV426 is not the same as the one in this movie and that it landed on LV426 a long long time prior to 2090s. This now tells me the Mural could be a story about the fall of the Space Jockey race, showing them create something that then nearly wipes them all out. I would still like to beleave that the Derelict on LV426 was not setting off to use those Eggs on Earth or somewhere else. Because why would the Jockey put all his Eggs into one basket? If they created the Xeno as a Weapon surely they would not load them all in that one ship for one mission? But if they created something that went wrong like say Resident Evil and the T-Virus, then maybe like us say sending the T-Virus to the Moon. The Derelict set off to get rid of the Xeno Eggs. Maybe not to destroy them, but to put them out of harms reach of LV223 and onto some distance planet/moon just in case they need them in future only the Cargo was compremised not long after it set off and landed on the closest baron Moon it could find..... LV426

My guess is that they have a really long history with the creatures and that they have become symbolic. Kind of like humans like to put lions in front of libraries. My guess is that the traditional xeno was one of their ancient weapons or war and kind of became synonymous with martial prowess. Much the same way unit logos still tend to have swords on them even though we've moved on to more effective modern weaponry since then.

It could be that too that depicts with the man reaching out, a story about the fall of their race or as some of you have suggested a warning about stepping into their creation because humans or any other race, the SJs would assume are a race not prepared to handle such bio tech. The idea of equating the xeno to equal prowess is a good one too takka.

In Dan O'Bannon's first script for Alien, the planet they land on was the Alien's homeworld, and the race that lived there exalted them, then the Aliens ended up destroying the other race by virtue of overexalation. Is that the right word? Over-breeding of the Aliens. That sounds betterer :-P

Overexaltation?