Forum Topic
msepsis
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 10:58 AMI've seen grumbles of this here and there on these threads, I'm not voicing anything new here but after curing a little boredom this morning browsing the weyland site, especially the "electronics" page I'm wondering - if prometheus takes place in the Alien universe before the alien movies we've seen a million times, where was all this tech in Alien and Aliens? Am I going to have to pretend I'm a gullible 18 year old kid to enjoy this movie like I had to do to sit through phantom menace the first and only time I saw it?
I appreciate all the time and thought that went into designing these things like the spectagraph, and the modular computing device, etc etc but it's WAY overkill on the tech side.
Sorry I just don't buy the excuse that Alien was just truckers in space so they were using lower grade tech. If spectagraphs were available in 2073, wouldn't they also be available A CENTURY LATER in 2179 (when Aliens supposedly took place)? Finding Newt would have been a cinch had Ripley just used a spectagraph!!
There had better be far more giger design in this flick than there is fancy tech design. I feel the same sense of (Art) Director Fail that I had in the weeks leading up to the release of phantom menace. No sci fi director has ever been able to successfully pull this prequel thing off yet, and I fear prometheus is going to fall into that pile. It's cool eye candy but terribly flawed from a chronology standpoint from all I've seen so far. It will be hard to get past that for me. I wish some director one day will be able to successfully pull off a believable prequel, cause all this tech 100 years earlier is just insulting.
I think to have convincingly pulled off the chronology from a technology standpoint would have been far more impressive to me than all the sexy looking medpods, spaceships all driven by sexy looking glowing multi-color touchscreens. Nostromo had a monochrome CLI a century later for christs sake!!!
41 Replies
Gavin
MemberTrilobiteMay-16-2012 11:02 AMSorry, but isn't the point of this thread the same as in this thread [url=http://www.prometheus-movie.com/community/forums/topic/5169#61063]HERE[/url]
whitelizard
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:50 AMTThink of it this way.. Do you own Phone.. do you own a TV? How about a toilet ? People who have money get new things... not everyone have toilets. Some people on earth still don’t have toilets.. How old is the toilet?...if you have money you get the latest and greatest. No money no tech... It can take years to get items to general public or Company items Company don't like to replace anything that cost money.... and what about reliability, sometime older tech is more robust.. I know VCRs that still work after 30 years. But a IPod that does not...after 2.. so it is possible to have same time frame or future times using older more robust, proven technology.. not the Wow factor equipment that works today.. but not might work tomorrow.. Sorry if I were going to space I want something that works .. 105% not the 85%... sorry no air your you.. it just broke.. but on Prometheus its the latest and greatest.. David 8 and the Med Pod.. If there is unlimited budget due to weyland he wants only new and pretty.. just look at the money he could make.
Syphonox
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:03 AMYou haven't even seen the movie yet...calm down...maybe YOU can direct the next segment in this story, so that it can be done right? Plus this has been addressed in many other threads.
BigDave
MemberDeaconMay-16-2012 11:07 AMThe only Tech to have Advanced is our own as far as what we can create for Movies...
Many movies created in the 80's would have had a different look to them had the Production team had the Technologies that they have now and over the last 10-15 years.....
Every now and again their is like a revolution and spurt of growth to the Tech that is available for Movies, then a few years latter there is even more that can be used.....
Transformers Movie would have looked very different if they made it in the 90's and more so in the 80's.....
If Space 2001 had the Technology that we have today to create movies, it would have also had many Techy things that Prometheus has.
Sadly prior to 1990's movies was really limited with regards to certain things they could achieve as far as what Future Tech would look like.
Doing Aliens and Space Craft is easy and practicle but its the every day to day things that you just cant replicate....
There was no Tablets in 80's Sci Fi movies because maybe the writters never concieved we would achieve such things, even if they did. They simply could not create them effectivly within the budget and time they had.
R.I.P Sox 01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017
Sky
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:07 AMTech is too advanced? Dude in 2007 there was not even touch screen based phone. In just 5 years we are seeing technology like microsoft surface which basically works exactly like touchscreens in prometheus movie. Facial recognition projects are vastly superior than what i have learned about them in university. You have to understand that just because they're not coming out during this type of economy doesn't mean they are not present. That type of advanced technology is already present and some are left to innovate.
Movies like matrix, prometheus and many other Sci-fi helps people to innovate. People inspire with new technologies based on what we have right now and what we can do. If you want to live in stone age with 90'ish thoughts by discarding fictional gadgets, be my guest. Let their be some innovative ideas come into market, me and many others are tired of medieval age fantasy movies which basically add nothing to the current innovation.
Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security.
msepsis
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:09 AMMaybe you all can look past this massive flaw but I guarantee you I wont be (nor am I) the only person criticizing this film for these reasons. I hope you fangirls (and fanboys) are prepared for this question to come up an awful lot.
dopelganger
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:16 AMReally are some hard core folks out there. To make an argument about tech in this movie vs tech from 30 years ago is a waste of time. Hey its just a movie gang. Come on Alien was made 30 years ago. Models, matt paintings and cheap props most of the time. If RS made this movie using technology from 1979 it would flop. Come on who cares if the ship in that is not as nice as the ship in this. Really folks, go see the movie or not! God get a life or not! You fanboys kill me sometime. Movies are to enjoy talk about and view again and again or not. See the movie enjoy it talk about for years to come. I will.
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Sky
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:16 AMI dont think i am a fanboy to defend RS and Prometheus. I have found many flaws in movie already but that doesn't stop me from watching a good sci-fi. I am allergic to magic and medieval type of movies, i can tolerate imagination in science fiction but i don't stand lies in the fantasy films.
Prometheus has many flaws and trust me, if we digg too much into it, it'll take 5 ridley scott to make movie like that. But you have to keep some questions to audience.
Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security.
azalard
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:19 AMWell, the tech in the Star Wars prequels looks way more advanced than the tech in the original Star Wars films, and you don't see me crying about that. Why? [i]Because they were made [u][b]years[/b][/u] after the originals!!![/i]
Prometheus is 30+ years older than it's 1979 counterpart. It stands to reason that the filmmakers would opt out of using those old, boxy looking, Commodore 64-ish computers and such.
[i]"Hey...which one of you guys took down the disco ball!?!?"[/i]
[img]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_U0hF_pSWzzU/SWl87ZdajwI/AAAAAAAAAOY/YFF-tQ1joOI/Alien%20-%20UI%20-%201.png[/img]
Holden_on
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:19 AMi disagree on the tech point tbh.
Goldfinger had laser weapons in 1964. it's reassuring to know 125 years later they still rely on an axe to get themselves out of trouble.
Ripleys-Knickers
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:20 AMThe technology in this movie is not too low tech....the technology in Alien is too low tech for its time... but then, it is a heap of junk mining ship that they are on, and no one knows how old it is... (could be over 100 years old)
Also, the only thing I see that does not match up in Alien is the commodore 64 computer they type on, the huge monitors, and the crappy chess game Dallas is playing on...
Sky
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:21 AMI think some people can't even understand that even in first alien movie RS tried hard to come up with some nice sets and CGI for xenomorph. Also the computer was old Xerox parc style but the way it captures hostile signal was awesome during that time.
Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security.
BigDave
MemberDeaconMay-16-2012 11:25 AMYes but Bond in Goldfinger never had the fancy gadgets that the new Bond had did he?
I am sure if a new Bond comes out in say 2020 then he would have gizmos and stuff never really thought about much in the Bonds of say Goldeneye era...
R.I.P Sox 01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017
chthon
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:25 AMThis is easy. The Clone Wars set technology back 200 years. Everyone knows that.
msepsis
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:26 AMIt was a long first post, most of you probably didn't read much more than the title.
Riddle me this:
If spectagraphs were available in 2073, wouldn't they also be available A CENTURY LATER in 2179 (when Aliens supposedly took place)? Finding Newt would have been a cinch had Ripley just used a spectagraph!!
My point is I hope there is just as much Giger design in this movie as all this fancy tech crap the weyland site is promoting as all this technology overdesign is overkill and unnecessary for making a successful film with a good story line. If any director is capable of that it's Ridley Scott.
azalard
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:28 AMI'm just telling you - if I ever get a chance to turn my spare bedroom into a "computer" room, I want it to have hundreds of blinking lights all over the walls and on the ceiling.
gameover man
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:30 AMwell, youre right, the technology doesnt hold consistent. but in 1979, Alien looked futuristic, and consistent with what they were developing at the time.
in 2012, the tech in Prometheus looks futuristic, and consistent with what we have today.
you think it would make sense for the computers in Prometheus to sound like a lawnmower when someone turns them on?
if you're going to let that ruin the movie for you, thats your problem man.
Windood
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:36 AMRS is a film maker, not a Timelord. jeez, what do you expect?
Holden_on
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:39 AMi think the release date is taking way tooo long to come to pass and everybody is over analysing everything. i woke up at 1am thinking about it all... had to go to work at 3am. i really need to act my 43 years. but not until i've seen the movie!
dopelganger
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:40 AMWell 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.
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Windood
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:40 AMHis name is an anagram of PISSems. This is significant.
lol
msepsis
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:47 AMWell from Ridley Scott, forget expectations, what I was hoping for is lots of giger design, not so much overdesign on the weyland tech.
Is that really such a difficult opinion for fans of the franchise to grapple with?
Syphonox
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 11:58 AMGo buy a darn Geiger calendar then...if you haven't noticed, he's not even mentioned as being a member of the design team.
The Weyland tech stuff is on a website...not all of that is in the movie, or will be the focus of the movie. It is a sci-fi movie, so there will be some advanced tech present...there will also be some awesome art design elements...incase you haven't seen any pics/trailers yet.
I think this movie will be great...could I be wrong? Yes. You on the other hand, are going into this thinking it's fail because of a damn spectagraph...that's just a crappy attitude to have...for life in general.
.
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 12:05 PMOk, this is how it is. The movie are pretend, a form of fantasy that has not taken place in the real world. The writers, directors, set designers,... all work really hard to foster this illusion for the audience. During the production of said film, what ever technology that is available to them will be used (CGI, models, etc.). During the production of Alien, RS had a limited budget, limited resources, and a very short shooting schedule. All of these factors play into the makeup of a film. Again, they are usually pushing the envelope when it comes to the current tech.
.
MemberOvomorphMay-16-2012 12:09 PMI absolutely love all the tech that the Weyland site is displaying. Think of all the possibilities this presents to future writers and film makers...
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