SPOILER!

Lol

@ Xenophobia Yes, but don't you think that all this speculation is part of the fun? For me it builds up the tension.

it does resemble fifield, in the trailer where he is axing the poor fellow into the side of the vehicle, there is a large dark spot emerging on the side of his head, similar to the dark spot on the head above...so I can see that similarity but I think this well placed clue of the synapse reactivator device...or whatever its called....I think it will reactivate the head, maybe even causing it open from the sj look we all know and exposing the humanoid contents...I think it may be a 1,2,3...helment opens, pushes up humanoid face, explodes one last argument in favor of the fifield theory: if the sj has been dead a long time, would there be flesh remaining on the face? just a thought...cant wait to find out:)

Whats up with all the decapitated astronauts?

I been looking at this. I thought, "You know, that's a pretty nice rig they have - what with the sliding table and everything - who's to say they don't use it more than just the once?" I looked again at that enhanced shot, which has a LOT more detail than the trailer...I got to thinking about all these heads. Heads. Heads seem such a strong motif in this film - among many others, (I'm guessing now, that this film alone will sustain Film Studies course worldwide for decades). Big Head, here. Missing heads, there... This SJ, "Helmet", that looks like a skull - what if it's not a helmet? What if that's actually a skull? Or a head? Or what used to be a head? And all this stuff about "scale"....seems, to me, the angles in these shots are a little different... The fields of view are also little different, one being a crop of a wide angle the other being a mid shot - that would account for a little background distortion that was confusing me for a long time as I pondered this (the proportion of the lights etc)...I notice, also, the metal bars of the "tray" in front of each head are of a slightly different design or orientation...so: the, "scale", and the, "this", and the, "that"..... There's room for a doubt. I'm starting to think we're being quite [i]beautifully[/i] misdirected. Look at the second shot, again. Very hard. Yes: it might be the contents of that skull-looking SJ, "helmet". OR - it [i]might[/i] also be a human head, sitting inside of what's left of the chest-rig of a human suit. Stay with me. Let's say - just say - "it [i]might[/i] be a human head, sitting inside of what's left of the chest-rig of a human suit". If I say that, damned if I don't see two human eye-sockets. Blow me down, if I don't then see a quite distinctive human nose, starting high in the eyebrow-ridge - and a dark, bow-shaped shadow of unmistakably human-like lips and mouth? Human-like? Well, it could be a blue guy - but then, fact of the matter - if I start looking at it from the perspective of "it [i]might[/i] be a human head, sitting inside of what's left of the chest-rig of a human suit" - good gracious if I don't start to see the curve in the cartilidge of the left ear... Saints alive, if I don't immediately start to discern what would nicely correspond to the sides and back of the distinctive collar of that chest-rig, rising up around the back of the neck - just like the collars rise up in the back of the neck of the chest-rigs in the human spacesuits.... Fifield, Shmyfield....maybe it's Fifield, maybe it isn't - but you wouldn't have to work too hard to make me believe it's what's left of the dude who got his helmet melted onto his face. How and why his head would be detached - and in such an unorthodox manner - others may choose to answer, either here, or in their nightmares: my point is, it could actually be his head; or the head of a human being. There it is. No bigger surprise to anyone more than me, but, with the benefit of that enhanced pic, I'm getting @Shawluv:D's back on this.

"he alien artifact looks totally different so thanks for putting it up along side for everyone to see the differences" Well yeah, like I said, they take the mask off. They're both heads, on the same set, that appear to be of similar size compared to what they're sitting on. I'm not sure why positing that they're two unrelated heads is a more likely scenario than mine.

Not fifield....

Looking at the two comparisons I'm really starting to think that this could be the helmet of the Space Jockeys head that was collected previously. What gives me this assumption is that the top of the heads are very similar The color, structure, contrast, etc... The top of the head just looks exactualy the same. I believe they are attempting to resuscitate the head for a few minutes. They have somehow removed part of the helmet around the face. The area around the neck is what the crew members place the head on as part of the resuscitate technique. The steam is actually the residue that is used for the resuscitation process. For instance, for anesthesia on the medical bed comes in a steam form. If you read the med pods capabilities, it states that anesthesia in applied in a steam. I think that this is similar to when they try and resuscitate someone. Steam, spray, liquid air, whatever... is the method in which th3e anesthesia is applied. During this process, they attempt to resuscitate the head for a few minutes to get some answers.

If you look at the scene with SJ helmet you can see four persons standing there namely Vickers, David, Shaw and another person. If you then look at the scene with the exploding head you can see the very same four persons standing in almost the same position to one another... These two scenes are the very same one and since there is only one operation table in this room then the head must have been the one inside the helmet... I believe this was my proof number two on this subject.

If you're saying some of the proof is a beard and mustache appearing after you adjust the contrast then where'd the mohawk go?

I always thought the original Space Jockey in "Alien" had very sad eyes, so my immediate reaction to the contrasted picture is, that this is definitely an SJ without helmet. I don´t really see any of Fifields features in this face.

Just noticed that you can barely see on the picture where the helmet has been cut off to reveal the head... Look in the bottom behind the fog near the neck. You Can see a piece of the helmet.

IMO , This looks like a human head with a tatoo that's turning into an egg maybe FYI... Originally, in Alien the xeno was somehow able to mutate people into eggs. It's in the directors cut. Ripley finds the nest. Dallas is stuck to the wall ready to get face hugged and the other dude has half mutated into an egg.

ACID could be the answer to all the beard and mohawk thing. Alien Acid could also destroy tattoos on the skin.

its treebeard from lord of the rings lol. seriously, some of the speculation here is moronic,and thats being generous!!!

freaky