Technology Alien / Prometheus

The Prometheus is the first FTL capable ship. It is also an A+ science vessel equipped with the latest technology. The Nostromo is just a space version of a dump truck. Compare your average dump truck with a 7 Series BMW...you might think the BMW is a spaceship... It is also possible that the Nostromo was built at the same time (see theory above as t owhy it seems outdated comapred to Prometheus), or before Prometheus was built. I don't know the timelines as well as some on here, but I beleive they were exploring and doing things in space before Prometheus was built, so Nostromo may have already been in use. I don't know...just some theories from myself...

This was explained in a far away post [on this very site i do beieve] Something along the lines of... Prometheus - Corporate Investors with "hidden" agenda = MONEY MONEY MONEY. Alien - Intergalactic Long Haulage Truckers working for the man - Space style big rig, porn in the rec room, 1 cat and 1 banjo [banjo maybe speculation] Aliens - Badass Marines of the Bad ass army - Guns, Armour, Rough and ready. Money to get the job done and no fancy required. Alien 3 - Almost Dissused Penal Colony. Dissrepair everywhere and skeleton crew to keep the essentials working. ALIUNZ REZUREKSHUN - special movie with special people and special ideas. a mix of alien,aliens and alien 3 without any sense of danger, urgency or logical thinking. Money thrown at it to make sure it doesnt hurt itself on to many hard objects. i will try and dig out the original response as im sure i might have a few details wrong...

it is also possible that RS wanted to use the latest film tech to create an appealing visual film. If he were to stick with the type of stuff used in Alien...this movie would be a flop. The only people who would see it are the members of this forum. So there is that to consider as well. Gotta keep up with the times.

Those are all fictional "movie" reasons. The REAL LIFE reason is because Alien was a product of it's time.

RickK...that's what I just said right above your post!! GEEEZ!!! I don't think it makes the other reasons wrong though...it's part of art and story telling. The artistic reasons can mesh with the real world reasons, and I beleive in this case they do.

I am not so sure Prometheus may be the First FTL ship.... I am sure Nostromo can travel faster than Light Speed.... if not then its trip to that system would be about 39 years or more thats if they flew directly to the system. It could be that Prometheus is newer and faster Tech and can Travel 20X the Speed of Light. Maybe its like this.... Nostromo.... [img]http://image.classictrucks.com/f/8163785/0702cl_08_z+1954_chevrolet_pickup+.jpg[/img] Prometheus.... [img]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--Kg3Q7Q2uGU/Tgq04kOyMMI/AAAAAAAABKA/9JuqCI1QNLc/s1600/new%2Bdodge%2Bdurango%2Bfront.jpg[/img] Just because its 2012 does not mean that no one drives around in a old 50's to 70's pick ups etc....

i like the explanations, but I think this is just a case of us having to accept the differences between making a film in 1970 and 2012. e.g. There is no plausible explanation for why they go back to CRT's in alien , they are less energy efficient, more resource expensive to produce but mostly you can put it down to level of repair as suggested above.. perhaps long voyages and isolated colonies lead to almost 'post apocalyptic' improvized repairs with local matierals.. a little like the difference between the Ak47 designed for use in 3rd world countries without advanced infrastructure and m16 designed for 1st world levels of maintainance.

I'm just so surprised that people are asking these questions, and its comes up so many times in these forums. The latest sci-fi movie 25 years from now will be light years in visual effects from Prometheus. I'm not one that likes to tinker with old movies because when it's done, most of the time, it's overdone and takes away from the movie. However one thing I wish is done with Alien is that they they modernize the computer output monitors in Alien and just a few of the space scene backgrounds (carefully). I say carefully because the space backgrounds in the beginning of Alien are superb, it's the scenes were the space background is pitch black with only stars (it gives an inconsistent backdrop). Overall, I feel that it's the computer screens in Alien with their 4bit and 8bit graphics that gives the movie it's dated look.

Yes Internally the ship with its CRTs are a Tech that indeed i doubt we would see in the Future.... But then in the 70's they could not even fake stuff like Flat Screens... you can be sure if Alien was made now then yes they would not have Flat Screens... Better Tech However.... naaa no chance LCD's Plasmas and LEDs are all rubbish really, the last 4 i have had are all disapointing and flawed and i am not talking cheap either... Latest TV is a SONY 3D 55" LED Top of the Range. But the new FED/SED Techs cant be made to be as Small as LCDs and Plasmas and they are not Bio Friendly and also use more Juice... So we are stuck with Flat Screen Tech for now.... OLED's are nice but we have expensive cost and Screen Rot!

with the military and quite possibly in science. Best is not always newest. New things are a sign of evolution and not practical application. Yes we live an age of LCD and Tablet Viewing Devices but in the real world there prctical applications only go so far. so to eleborate... If were buying in to the idea that "the company" are ruthless and power hungry with ideas of domination we have to believe that prior to the xenomorph encounters they were actually pretty good at what they did [ethics and morales aside here] so to outfit everything you own with all the latest tech [Touch Sensitive LCD's, Meda Pods, FTL Drives] is not only an economic waste but a finiacial one for the company. The whole why fix something that aint broke issue comes to mind and as burke elegantly puts it in aliens the atmospheric procssing plant has a significant dollar value attached to it...Knowledge of money and its failings...

We live in an age of wi-fi, DAB, HD, Blu-Ray and 3G, but does everyone out there use this new technology - hell no. People still have wired internet connections, Tuner Radios, Tube and even Black and White TV's, Video, and wheel dial landline phones. Why? usually because they claim that as impressive as the new gadgets are, the old appliances are more reliable. Therefore its really simple... Prometheus = Top of the range tech, no expense spared. Nostromo = Cheap, old and reliable tech, fit for purpose (delivery).

The Prometheus craft was not the first FTL space exploration vehicle. Heliades class vessels with FTL capability were released January 17, 2034. Prometheus is the newest FTL as was recognized on July 9, 2072, with its first mission set for the summer of 2073. It is larger, safer, while still maintaining FTL travel. This vessel was geared for more advanced exploration and reconnaissance. In particular it was modified for possible encounter with new or unknown lifeforms. The larger payload capacity makes it more efficient for possible harvesting of said life with incubation also being a possibility. As always to it can always salvage or mine newly encountered minerals or elements. Sorry for sounding so technical with this stuff. I am just really pumped to see this film.

Prometheus = Bugatti Veyron Nostromo = Ford Transit Van

Thanks to the people who clarified the whole FTL thing, like I said...I wasn't 100% certain on that, just thought that was what I heard/read somewhere. @pharmD: I'm with you! Can't wait! I actually appreciate the clarification.

Sorry didn't really answer the question though either. As czelaya mentioned, films look and tone always seem more modern the farther you are removed from an original. As so much speculation as this being a semi prequel to the original Alien, you are automatically going to draw comparisons. Ridley Scott and Damon Lindelof said they were going to hold nothing back in terms of delivering an intense story with the best visuals possible. After all, he and James Cameron have went back and forth over the years with the visual aspects ( James Cameron having the upper hand with Avatar). I hear this question often too and I always revert them to Star Wars episodes 1, 2, and 3. George Lucas knew his remakes would eventually have the technology base to project what he truly imagined. Back in the day you worked with what you had. Episodes 4,5, and 6, while good movies, look horrible in comparison to the modernized first episodes. Also Mr. Scott is trying to emphasize Weyland Corporations magnitude at this point. He is elaborating to Sir Weyland's belief of himself almost being a deity, while at the same time trying to maintain absolute control in an uncontrollable universe.

I just posted a very similar topic. "Tech FAR too advanced" Your wife's dead right. Forget the nostromo, Aliens was a weyland sponsored escapade, right? Where the hell were the spectographs? Finding Newt would have been a lot easier had Riply just used a damn Spectograph that was invented a CENTURY earlier. Phantom Menace all over again.

Well let’s look at The Thing. Done in the 80's great effects, Claymation was used great model details. We get a prequel last year and everyone said it sucked. Effects looked bad and story was poor. The movie was made that way with the intention as a tribute to the 80's version. I thought that it was just as good as the John Carpenters version. They were dead on with the creatures and tied the two movies in perfectly. Could RS make this movie with 79 tech? Sure he could. Will it be successful? Sure with RS fans. Most others would trash the movie and its effects based on today’s technology. I would see the movie either way because I am a Hugh RS fan. So we have a problem. People for some reason keep bringing up the tech and comparing the two movies. WRONG! Both movies are products of their time nothing else. Deal with it or not it is all up to you. As far as I am concerned, form monitors need to kill any more posts regarding movie tech - it is a useless discussion to have until the movie comes out.

@dopelganger: I agree with you! These movies are products of the current capabilities of the filming industry. Any movie in a series (especially a quasi prequel so to speak) will have tremendous differences in tech and there will be confusion to some who are not familiar with the original or the process of film evolution. On a different note, I think there could have been a change in the way Weyland Industries focused their company's efforts post Prometheus mission. I think RS is trying to show how this mission changed their directive to possibly seeking out new life as a means for even more power and influence of genetic and military capabilities. Weyland-Yutani is the operating company of the Nostromos in the Alien. There could have been a major shift in purpose for Sir Weyland. I think RS is using this movie as a forum to show how things changed from this one unique encounter via the vessel Prometheus.

The below theory of mine is so brilliant I had to repost it here: Knowing that RS is creating a movie for a tech-savvy 21st century audience aside, I see your wife's point about the tech difference. How can an Alien [i]prequel[/i] tech look [b]so[/b] far advanced compared to the [i]Alien[/i] tech that supposedly came [b]much[/b] later? How 'bout this synopsis? Since Prometheus was supposedly more at the beginning/middle of deep space exploration, so the ship tech/ suit tech was designed to cover every known possible contingent / danger about exploring deep space. By the time the Alien story came out, the space tech had relaxed a bit, and who cares about a motley crew of miners compared to the heroic band of explorers that maybe the whole Earth was keeping tabs on at the time? (Unless this was another private Company enterprise...) In the end, who knows of course until we see the film. When in doubt, I always do my fave quote from 'Blazing Saddles:' [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKRma7PDW10&feature=related]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKRma7PDW10&feature=related[/url]

Oh Good Lord! If Scott had gone all retro on us, there's be 10 times as many people bitching about how lame/old-timey the Prometheus looks, as there are now, bitching about how it looks too slick. You're never going to please everyone, so why even bother trying?

Thank you all for your comments - changes my point of view about certain details. Hell, im counting the days..... wait so many years for that movie!

what artyho posted on a similar thread: "I think they should have gone with a retro vibe, as well. Abacuses instead of computers. Slabs of black slate, instead of flatscreens. Everyone dressed in animal skins with unshaven faces, legs and armpits. They could have everyone stick their arms out of the port-holes and flap them to get the ship going faster. The hull could be made of roughly finished stone and logs tied together with thick, hemp ropes. They could name the ship: "The Shard" and the main character names could be Fred, Barney, Wilma and Betty. The Engineers could look just like the rock-monster from "Galaxy Quest." The movie could end with Fred chained to a rock, while a pterodactyl gnaws on his his tie." I would personally pay to see something like this. I just had to re-post this post of yours, artyoh. Brilliant, just brilliant.