The engineers in electromagnetic waves

I thought it was David that triggered them? basically old hologram images that somehow recorded what happened.

My theory is that returning Engineer DNA - in the form of humans - is what wakes the ship and its contents. It's even possible that that was the original plan; when the Engineers "progeny" is able to find the Engineer's point of origin (hence the star map/invitation), then their planet is ready to be re-colonised by the Engineers. The Engineers create a terrible biological weapon, a species whose life cycle they control (what becomes the Xeno), to purge planets of all life that could threaten them (e.g. Us). But it gets out, grows out of their control and destroys them. Does the changing mural in the ampule room not suggest that the Xeno was always meant to be the end result? Or have the walls of the room merely recorded events, as the ship is obviously able to do? The only reason they're denying this is a prequel is so they can take the story in a new direction and kick-start a new franchise. They want their cake and they want to eat it. Two of the clunkiest, unintentionally laugh-inducing lines (in a pretty clunky, laugh-inducing script) refer to the Engineers running away from something. Ooooh! What could that be? For me, this film answers the question of the blown out chest on the derelict on LV-426: the Engineers were transporting their weapon, it got out, it killed them all. Maybe it destroyed their civilisation, but ultimately, it was of their own making.

David triggerd the hologram... so the dna thing is out of the window as he is a synthetic As for what they are running away from I assumed it was "aliens" as in the resultants of the black fluid rather than the more evolved aliens we see in the other films.... however this doesnt explain the mass of dead engineers all with their chests busted outwards as it seemed exposure to the fluid caused humans to mutate and go pyscho rather than to fully undergo the classic gestation of an alien lifeform like we see with shaw.... The film was entertaining but there are too many unanswered questions. As for people suggesting that the aliens are in control of the engineers I find that notion ridiculous, I always saw them as creatures of instinct not intellect for them to be in league with or using the engineers for their technology or whatever makes them to much like us... the idea of them being completely based on instinct and evolution is what makes the franchise... they are nothing like us.... they are ALIEN. I liked the whole engineers being our forefathers angle! Anyway Id love someone to share their thoughts with me

Oh just thought of another avenue they could potentially be not running away from anything but running to somewhere for treatment as we see that the head has been exposed to the black liquid therefore contact had been made with the substance perhaps they were running to be cured or to enter stasis to prevent further deformation

Surely the Engineers must have realised what they made, otherwise why the Xeno in the mural on the wall? We know that the Xeno develops differently, depending on what species is host - see the "dog" Xeno of Cubed, for example. If the black goo is the technology at the heart of all this gene-manipulation, couldn't it, too, affect different species differently?

P.s.: having seen the clip again on some chat show or other I know what Kyzo means, David may well have been the one to activate the ampules, but didn't the lights come up as they entered the room? I need to see it again. Two days ago I'd have added "unfortunately", but am over the disappointment now and am looking forward to giving the film a second chance!