We didn't expect them, to be so...non alien. (spoilers-inside)

To be honest it feels like a lack of creativity. Space jockeys are big blue guys, a couple of wormy snakes and an big octopus with teeth. Hardy creative really lol :-)

I don't disagree F.B. I thought the creature designs were very unimaginative. If the film had been, like alien, primarily a slasher that would have gone a long way towards killing it for me. As it is I can get past that shoddy design as the elements around it, for me, were fantastic. The Space Jockey's themselves i thought were well done. A decent idea executed well with just enough of their motivations revealed to be intersting while still retaining a sense of mystery...but they weren't frightening or dread inspiring as they weren't very alien.

ahab26, I believe you identified the key problem with the story. IMHOTEP SPACE SMURF. How atomically (and anatomically) disappointing. Having SJs turn out to be big blue guys was the daftest idea ever. Could not agree more, ahab26 The SJ needed to be just that - different. Not the Imhotep Space Smurf. It deflates - nay, disintegrates - all that key visceral terror you discussed so well - it truly was the defining characteristic that made Alien movies so special... What's next? Djoser Space Gargamel? LOL Glad to hear you othrwise loved the movie, though... keeps my hopes up that I may still like it too, as what you hated about it is exactly what's worrying me.

I for one really liked the Engineers. They aren't blue, but really, really white. Their resemblance to us humans actually makes them at odds with our expectations about aliens, so in the end - philosophically - they're just as strangers to us as xenos are. Perhaps showing scary monstrous aliens isn't the way to go nowadays. You can only go so far when trying to out-do the Xenomorph and that wasn't the intention in Prometheus. For me, the first trilogy was all about the scary "jump off your seat" sensations. Prometheus had to evolve from that. I actually felt like the "scary" scenes were a little forced on the story.

I wouldn't worry Wirrn I suspect you'll greatly enjoy it. I've been trying to keep away from this board [i've lurked here for months] only because so much of what I was reading was making me despair of the likelihood i'd love Prometheus. Some of the ''leaked'' scripts and titbits sounded so awful. I could just see Shaw collapsing at the end next to the wreck of the statue of Liberty screaming ''you damn dirty space jockeys it was Earth all along!'' or something similarly ghastly. As it was Prometheus avoids all the pratfalls I had anticipated and I am a rabid Alien fanboy and despise Lindelhof's outpurings. Lost in my opinion is a perfect example of poor script writing being sold as art to the gullible and pretentious. In my opinion the man didn't have a clue what to do with the plot and just made it up as he went along...and I think it showed. This isn't an alien prequel in the sense that it isn't a truly frightening film [for me]. That doesn't mean it it isn't great though it's just a very different genre. As for how it ties to aline you might be dissapointed. In some ways so am I. But only because answering the questions at all is bound to be dissapointing. Aien was always so great becauswhat you saw was so atrocious that what wasn't explained just played havoc with your imagination. No explanation can rival that. Don't fret Wirrn if you're anything like me you'll get alot out of Prometheus.

Daennikus that's exactly what i'm saying. I thought the Engineers were done well. A decent concept executed with style and mystery. I'm just trying to point out that what is dissapointing people [or at least from what i've seen alot of the detractors] is that their design essentially means Prometheus is an entirely different genre to Alien. It's not a terror fest it's, without wishing to sound pretentious, more cerebral...and in many ways that's where Alien needed to go.

Why has it failed? it never had the works of the master of horror! HR giger - They forgot about what the eye can see and what the mind shows us. life leads to death - out of death comes life - no matter how horrific it is . Thats why the SJ was the ship and the ship was the SJ. There was never a hologram to see in the Big room because it was all in the SJs Head - a Massive Brain - for a massive control - The Ship was a Living thing connected to the SJ and he could feel All of it. (The Alien Came from it as a thought) (an evil one).

I thought the Space Jockeys were creepy as hell! They totally stole the film for me. Man, that translucent skin and those black eyes... chilling.