Theory about David8

one thing we can assume is that RS knows more about the alien franchise than any of us could hope to. and that he'll deliver exactly what he intends to deliver in this story, as it exists in his mind, which is the only correct way for it to be. i would expect this android to be similar to ash in certain ways, and maybe even bishop (the scene with him riding a bike and hitting hook shots from outside shows his ability much like the knife trick, just in a more playful way), while having his own unique set of characteristics, flaws, etc. personally, i think we will see a raw example of what an android in his position would do, which is whatever would create the best outcome for the mission at that given point. protect the crew, or see to a higher priority, depending on the situation. i think it would be interesting to see him completely void of any personal motive, only driven by a singular goal, which may lead him to act differently under different circumstances. if weyland is on board or involved in the plot, and he programmed David personally, i'll probably be wrong. David will more than likely be a lap dog for him.

Possibly but would be a bit dumb to have the android go bad again imo, its already been done just cause it did in Alien doesn't mean it will now even though its earlier.

nay, David8's gonna be a martyr of sorts.

I agree with you David 1, he sounds more like a martyr to me. I don't think he could become a human or other kind of a pinocchio story version, but I'd be pretty much interesting if he developed some feelings or real emotions just to suffer horrible things psysically and psichologically.

Remember, Ash the android in Alien wasn't made by Weyland industries, he was from Hyperdine systems. Also, he only malfunctioned after Ripley pushed him up against the wall. The Bishop models had "behavioral inhibitors" installed so they could not, even if they wanted to, harm a human.

@Svanya...he didnt really "malfunction" though, did he. he was carrying out the orders to preserve the organism. Ripley knowing what the company was doing might increase their efforts to destroy it, so he tried to eliminate the threat. he could have been more efficient at it, but it is a movie. the villian always takes the longest route to killing the hero.

No, he did malfunction to a certain extent, he was most definitely damaged and bleeding white blood from his head after Ripley bashed him up against the wall (nice contrast to her red nosebleed). The pre-programing and orders from the evil company is a whole other story. Click for scene (and blood)-->[url=http://youtu.be/pSh1oYc9Ii4]Ash malfunctions[/url]

that scenes all interpretation though Svanya. the only thing that is clear is that Ash took a very strange route to trying to kill Ripley. ill buy into that being a personal motive, and therefor maybe a malfunction (assuming he would have training in killing another way), but as far as him acting to eliminate ripley, its a matter of opinion. peronally, i see it as his orders were to make sure the alien got back intact, and if he felt ripley put that mission at risk, he would need to eliminate her, and maybe didnt know how to go about it.

Within the Alien universe ASH's "Malfunction" was trying to kill Ripley, which was programmed into him to save the organism, hence also why he was a last minute replacement for the science officer on the ship. In Aliens Bishop trys to claim that earler models of Androids were always a bit "Touchy"

<---- I'm interpreting it as an Ash 'malfunction'

Ash probably was not specifically programmed to kill but more to preserve the alien by all other means, he did seem to have a fit when it did actually come to murder so he may have had conflicting orders

@Hi Big Pic so you just like to ignore the subtext of movies ? ok

I agree with David 1 and Ruth. This is just my current hypothesis, but... It seems that David (in his curiosity) awakens the Engineer (either intentionally or unintentionally) and is then is brutally "disabled" for lack of appropriate term yet in 21st century English. I don't know why he awakens the Engineer, but as a plot point I'm guessing it's to smash (literally) any hope that the Engineer might be benevolent. [u]I would like to think[/u] that David is trying to awaken the Engineer in the hopes that s/he can help with the terrible things (cobras, etc.) that are affecting the Prometheus' crew. Clearly, that's not the way it works out.

Computers generally don't go "crazy" unless you give them conflicting directives. That's what happened to HAL in 2001 - he was designed not to distort information but then was ordered to lie. It is very likely that ASH's base programming prohibited him from harming humans or allowing them to come to harm, but the special order conflicted with that programming, hence the odd behavior as he attempted to reconcile his orders with his programming.