What Did We Really Learn About the Space Jockey?

dsjohnson84 is right. They have shown everything in the trailers and promotional videos, what was the big secret then?

Eh, I just feel as though they are stretching this as thin as they can so that movie-goers will continue to be interested in a sequel (or sequels). What I'm intrigued by is that this race, supposedly so powerful at one point, almost omnipotent, seems to have fallen into decline. With all that advanced tech, why no communication between the Engineers still on LV-426 / LV-233 and those on the homeworld? No communication in 2000 years, really?? You'd think the homeworld Engineers would send a fact-finding mission or something. AND keep monitoring life on Earth and humans' continuing advancements there. Instead, the Last Engineer on LV-233 tries to fly off to Earth to destroy it (with or without orders...? (ancient orders)), and if he communicates anything to his homeworld, the movie doesn't seem to make that clear. (Though I haven't seen it yet, so I'm just working from the leaks & reviews.) I wonder if those who are speculating that the Engineer race split are right. Except I'm thinking more along the lines of Morlocks & Eloi in H.G. Wells' Time Machine, with one race evolved to be aggressive, the other passive, but BOTH races devolved.

@ dsjohnson84 From what I've read in the discussions here and on the Wiki it sounds like we don't learn anything that wasn't in the trailers or featurettes. The engineer culture, motives, history, society, and life cycle are still a great big question mark once all is said and done.

@Alien Drone, I was wondering that, too. And I've been wondering if WIkipedia is in error when it says that the Sacrificial Engineer makes his sacrifice during the Cambrian. Life was already up and running by then (stromatolites etc.).

The Engineers didn't create all life on Earth, if you notice the the scene at the waterfall and before as the camera movie up the river towards the waterfall, you can see there is already green plant life or vegetation on the left side. If the movie says they brought life to earth, then the film makers messed up, because we can plainly see it already there.

That's exactly what I've been thinking the whole time. We get NOTHING. This movie just needs a sequel so all those answers can be solved, but I don't see how if you look at the ending...

Other than retconning the Space Jockey as the creator of life on earth, it doesn't sound like much of anything.

Exactly we learned nothing. What's even worse is that we learned ALL about the Space Jockey FROM THE TRAILERS. The actual movie didn't reveal anything of importance outside of what we could ascertain from the trailers and promo-spots. Sooooooooooo weak.

Well I don't think he wanted to explore that particular jockey but rather their race and the role they play in the Alien universe. They are the creators and they have been doing it a VERY long time. Their technology is far beyond our understanding and attempting to meddle with it has dire consequences, a la Prometheus. That's probably about it from what I've read here. LOL

So we learn nothing about the Space Jockey and learn that his race is really advanced, dangerous, and seeded life on earth? That doesn't seem like an awful lot of fleshing out for the character or his race.

just read the plot on wikipedia, it's all there...the whole SHABAM

Ridley Scott: "Hey guys, I'm going to explore and expand the minor thing from my previous movie." Everybody: "Yeah! That's great! You're a genius and a master! Whatever you have MUST be good!" Ridley Scott: *smirks* "Come on in; let me show you around." Ridley Scott opens a door labelled "Prometheus" and invites everyone in. Everyone walks in wide-eyed, but their faces slowly drop. The whole room is nothing but darkness. Everybody: "...Ridley... Thi- this is great an' all, but..." Ridley Scott: "but what?" Everybody: "...We might be mistaken, but there's not... much... here. In fact, I don't see anything..." Ridley Scott: "That'll be $17."

"And if the entire goal of the film was to explore this one character how could things have veered off course so catastrophically?" One word: L I N D E L O F In space (the one between his ears) no one can hear anything.

We also learned that when combined with a certain substance or enzyme, the entire engineer body can accelerate evolution. We learned that they react VIOLENTLY to synthetic life. We learned that earth's number had come up before the Prometheus landed. We learn that Engineers are susceptible to their own bioweapons.

Xenotron... Funny stuff.

We did learn something. First of all, in the beginning it shows that the space-jockey created live on planet Earth. Later we learn that these engineers created biological weapons to erase humans (and other live?) from planet Earth. So the whole creation of life seem to be a form of terravorming. This makes a connection with terravorming which humans mastered in the later future of Alien-universe. So there must be a relation with the knowledge of terravorming of humans with the knowledge of the Space-jockeys. What I don't understand, is why they would destroy anything on planet Earth, and making the planet unuseful (because if the black "death" would reach earth it would destroy everything, making Earth a dangerous planet, also for Space-Jockeys). And the last Space-jockey on the planet from Prometheus makes it pretty clear that it was an important mission for the Space-jockey race. So why was erasing life on Earth important for the engineers?

The movie is not about "the life and death" of our beloved Space Jockeys , its about facing and searching answers and how everyone approach them in a different way ...it sound a bit more serious than " i want to know why the spacejockeys have no penises !!" right ? Movies are not about questions and answers regarding "fantasy" space races...for that read a book ...a movie is mainly a sensorial experience and a good narrative ..there are plenty of those things in Prometheus .

@ Xenotron I do think there is a relation with the story of Jesus and the death of the SJ's. So I don't think it is far off. The whole symbol of the cross that Noomi wears makes this connection extra clear.

and then Damon Lindelof jumps up, "NOW GET OUT YOUR WALLETS!"

Would people agree with Frantz about the "a good narrative" part?