Original Derelict Signal

@donye_west Well, now I've learned something, thank you! We still can't know about how strong the signal was that Nostromo picked up, and where it was directed to. It's not a "must" IMHO that the Prometheus just had to be aware of it. Nevertheless we know that Weyland Industries knew about the signal in Alien and directed the Nostromo intentionally to find it and that goes well together with stating LV-426 on the Weyland website. I agree there seems to be a direct connection, if not neccessarily important to the movie, but it's there.

Hi there Molecular. You're right, it doesn't fit. Unless the events on Prometheus overlap the Derelict Signal [i.e if there is an intentional leave out of the Derelict Signal for purposes of story telling].

It doesn't take millions of years to fossilize something. Where was it stated in the movie that the ship was millions of years old?

Ridley Scott states this [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnAiIqWsyAo&feature=related]millions of years old[/url]

Xenotron@ it takes more than a few decades anyways. the youngest fossils on earth is around 10 000 years old. The oldest is about 4 billion years old... it could be any number in between.

Great post by the way molecular, no one knows for sure as yet the distance between the LV planets in question? Could LV426 be orbiting a sun/star that is only near us every 30 years or so i.e. haleys comet??????? Or could the derelicts warning signal be activated somehow once the juggernaught fires up??????? These are just two daft ideas,but i believe the last few minutes or so,of Prometheus will answer this question and give some continuity to the Nostromo landing Of course then we have the timetravel/wormhole debacle

I stated this before a few times... If you was in search of the orgins of mankind and given a link to a Star System but then you pick up a signal from a planet near by the one you are going to, you would be expected to check it our first. In doing so you would find the Derelict... thats if indeed it has already landed on LV426 by the Time Prometheus enters the Zeta Reticuli system. Supose some Aliens find a chart leading them to Earth but on the way they pick up a Signal from Mars, you would think they would go there first. So maybe they did not pick up the Signal but then you have to ask why? This is a MASSIVE HOLE in the Prometheus/Alien Plots. The other is a flip side, 30 years latter when you detect a Signal from LV426 surely you would detect a more habitable planet in LV223, if not in the Nostromo mission then surely by the time that we colonise LV426 surely we should have seen that LV223 has more potential or surely we would have come across LV223 and its ruins etc....

And regarding the Derelict Ridley implies maybe its Technology is Millions of years old. Now Electricity was invented around 1820 but most Electrical Items you have purchased would had been nearly 200 years after that. My latest TV is 1 year old, but Electricity has been around for over 190 years. My points is if the Derelict is Millions of years old in Technology thats does not mean its been on LV426 that long. How can even a ancient craft if Millions of years old transmit a Signal still after all those years and also if so, why has Prometheus not picked it up. I would suspect the Derelict to had been on LV426 hundreds of years if not thousands. So say 500 to 2000 years old. Or ago!

Ok, a couple of things here. Fossilization was Dallas' (a space-trucker, not a scientist) guess in Alien. I realize that Ridley may have stated that the Space Jockey was millions of years old, [i]but the movie Alien never says[/i] and that's really all that matters. I've seen a man's leg fossilized in a cowboy boot. Fossilization occurs when minerals replace the empty spaces in animals after they die; the animal decomposes leaving the rock formation in behind. It doesn't take even a thousand years; a few decades, sure, but not millions.

Maybe they do pick up the signal on Prometheus during the initial approach to their destination and log it for later investigation.

Hold on a second....NEVER does he say the derelict is a million years old....he just says that these beings have had technology for millions of years and were just catching up to it with our 21st century electronics (ie locating distress beacons)

Does everyone agree that this signal debate will have to be answered in Prometheus? Will it disappoint anyone if its left unresolved? I do agree with Bigdave it could be a major plothole

The 'Juggernaught' can still be millions of years if not tens of thousands of years old yet the SJ's 'exposure' to LV-426 could have sped-up the process and practically atomized of any skin, flesh or bio-logical matter. How do we not know that 'something/s' did not eat him alive or stripped him entirely of flesh to leave nothing but exposed bones to the atmosphere and intruding corrosive elements outside and around the 'Derilict'.

Why is it important....this is science fiction, it's made up....maybe he instantly calcified when he dies...who cares? Way too much over thinking going on here....

@JP "[i]Way too much over thinking going on here....[/i]" Welcome to the Prometheus forum.

Also both in the script and the nivel of Alien when Daalls, Lambert and Kane enter the 'Derilict' after heading some ways into the iterior of the hull prior to Kane heading up the 'hole in the floor' to discover the Sj there is a metal bar with two flashing lights on either side if I recall that is steadily moving back and fourth over and over. Clear signs of technology all around it and to them the technology looks clean as if it were only 'switched on yesterday' It's a shame this part was not filmed or used in the final film just as I said a minute or two before prior to kane crawling up and through that small shaft only to discover the 'LONG DEAD' Space Jockey/Pilot.

Ha ha Sigismundo, we do love to speculate. There will be even more of this once we've all seen Prometheus,thats when the fun will start

It's the magnitude of the idea that is most compelling of all! If it is going to be used in the stories plot line, the fact that thae remains of that Space Jockey has sat there in that position, languishing for time and eon alike, slowly becoming 'fossilized' 'into' that chair is one of the most compelling themes to me of this entire storyline. Because fundamentally, it raises the heckles of possibility that this sort of thing may have been going on in the wider galaxy for a very, very long time. Perhaps when we were still small rodent-sized monkeys still jumping about through the trees, entire civilizations were being exposed to the beginings of the Xeno threat that began its spread through the galaxy like the plague did through Europe.

Thank you all for replying, lots of insights and different perspectives. You don't find this very often on the Net, too much hostility going on half the time. I know, it's just a film and so forth and we should just wait to see it for closure (hopefully) but it's still very compelling and thought-provoking stuff. I like the idea of exploring a civilization millions if not billions of years old and what they are capable of- and that there are still things which can scare or give them pause at that late stage in their development.

Don't be surprised to see a direct link with LV426 towards the end of this film....don't be swayed by people telling you it landed millions of years ago.... Anyway my favourite part of that interview was Ridley talking about why the 3 Alien sequels didn't talk about this. Sorry AvP fanboys.....you don't even exist (shut the door on the way out)