Fifield and Milburn: My Explanation

To be fair, it was not established in Alien whether Kane had an approach or avoidance temperament. For all we know, Kane may have been like Holloway and had an approach and sensation seeking temperament.

Then why did the rest of the crew manage to successfully leave the structure three times (twice under duress) without any problem?

That whole sequence reminded me of an old Abbott and Costello sketch. They were a couple of bumbling clowns; the whole scene was lacking tension. The filmmakers totally screwed up the tone of the scenes with Milburn and Fifield. Shame.

They weren't as freaked out. When F & M retreated they were in a state of semi-panic and disorientation from the general weirdness they'd witnessed. That's *why" they left (or tried to leave), if you'll recall. Also, they probably weren't paying as much attention on the way in as Shaw and Holloway, seeing as how they had less psychologically invested in the mission (and not to mention the others had David with them when they left). As for return visits, by that time the structure would have been mapped out and studied more thoroughly by all involved.

@ McFilmStar: Agreed.

@dtrisml That's it dude, keep clutching onto them disintegrating straws you are desperately holding onto....

(Although I would add that the tradition goes at least as far back as Shakespeare)

The scene reminds me of Spinal Tap when they can't find their way to the stage.

Fifield and Milburn entire scene was some kind of comedy skit??? I didnt give a shit when they died, they where stupid and unlikeable... Great character development there by Lindelturd!

Hate to keep comparing Prometheus and Alien - but Fifield and Milburn - their deaths to say.... Bretts. or Dallas or Parker and Lambert Yep Scott HAS lost it....

Irritation, certainly. Desperation? well maybe I should keep my mouth shut and let people keep complaining about how they don't understand what is plainly obvious to me without comment. If my faith is flagging in anything, it is in the general comprehensive abilities of a startlingly large number of people who've seen this film. If you think my explanation is feeble, perhaps you'd care to point out the flaws, "High Priest"?

I dunno, something about the scene just feels "off". How come the biologist shows absolutely no fear of the space cobra if he had an avoidance temperament that made him want to leave in the first place? (If you are afraid of novelty you usually do not approach strange snake-like animals which humans have a natural predisposition to fear from an evolutionary perspective)

The mechanism for separating Fifield and Millburn from the rest of the party was ridiculous. And that's before they got lost wandering around like a couple of comedy bafoons!

Yeah, the crew members do not act like "real" thinking human beings with a past history and experience (like training in their fields, common sense, consistent personality traits) in many situations which makes many of the situations feel forced and unnatural.

@ high priest I would compare their deaths to Kenny from Southpark. They were just a meaningful

I immediately went "uuurrggh" as soon as Fifield did that big rant at Shaw, wasnt he hired for one of Earths greatest ever missions - wasnt there a selection process for the most capable human beings on EArth to complete a difficult inter steller task??? Then Fifield says "im in it for the money" OR "I just love rocks" IS that flaw enough for you dtrisml? Thats just plain bad screenwriting dude... In fact its beyond flaw - Its just SHIT!

OH MY GOD! THEY KILLED MILBURN! YOU BASTARDS!!!!! lol And I agree about Fifield, he talks about how his thing is rocks in a cave that is made by extra-terrestrials. TAKE SOME SAMPLES YOU DOLT!

I find the whole "you don't understand it" argument very patronising. The bottom line is that character development was threadbare. One minute milburn and fifield are panicking about a potential life form the probe is picking up and decide to go in the opposite direction, the next minute milburn is trying to touch a snake-like life form that is hissing at him. And all this after they witness several dead bodies. Surely the fight or flight response would kick in, not the "coochy coo" response.

"I immediately went "uuurrggh" as soon as Fifield did that big rant at Shaw." Absolutely cringeworthy. That's what I was talking about earlier when I spoke of the mechanism for their separation from everyone else. Seeing as Fifield was a geologist why not just have him stop to actually look at some smegging rocks?!!

@ Corporalhiccups exactly! If it was already established that they have an avoidance disposition instead of an approach disposition (like Holloway), it makes no sense that Milburn would not be panicking when the cobra appeared. Especially since the amygdala always takes the "better safe than sorry approach" and suppresses the prefrontal cortex in situations such as those. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal pathway would be firing like crazy in a situation in which an individual encountered a strange animal that looks like an oversized cobra in a structure full of giant murdered aliens.

Sadly, if people weren't all too often bewildering self-caricatures in reality, that element might indeed seem unrealistic. Understanding people's motivations in real life is not always easy. Why someone, for instance, would spend all day hanging around the message board for a film they claim to despise, commenting over and over again about how much they despise it. That's one reality "plot hole" that completely throws me...

[b]They weren't as freaked out. When F & M retreated they were in a state of semi-panic and disorientation from the general weirdness they'd witnessed. [/b] So how did Millfield go from this state of affairs to alien, cobra-worm petting in the ampule room?!

dtrisml: "Understanding people's motivations in real life is not always easy. Why someone, for instance, would spend all day hanging around the message board for a film they claim to despise, commenting over and over again about how much they despise it. That's one reality "plot hole" that completely throws me..." Great and logical point.

@ dtrisml: I find posting on the message board to be therapeutic. After initially seeing the film I felt like I should be in a community centre sitting in a circle, saying "Hi my name's Bob and I've seen Prometheus". It makes me feel better to know others share my views. @drakequation: loving the psychology. A very logical argument.

@ dtrisml weeding out why someone hangs around a forum is much more complicated of a task than predicting how people will behave in situations when they are presented with frightening stimuli. The fear response to unknown animals in anxious people ESPECIALLY when they resemble snakes or certain insects is almost always the flight-or-fight response. In my undergrad behavioral-neuroscience of motivation course we covered fear responses and it is not one of those things were you find the kind of variation in behavior you are proposing. If one individual has an avoidance temperament it is consistent and almost never changes to a sensation-seeking temperament on its own (and in a short time frame after a fear based response to novelty).

Umm, time to cool down + Milburn's stupid and insecure drive to prove his proficiency as a biologist by acting like he's familiar with something he's not (nobody here is arguing that these characters are smart...)

Umm, time to cool down + Milburn's stupid and insecure drive to prove his proficiency as a biologist by acting like he's familiar with something he's not (nobody here is arguing that these characters are smart...)

[b]Why someone, for instance, would spend all day hanging around the message board for a film they claim to despise, commenting over and over again about how much they despise it. That's one reality "plot hole" that completely throws me...[/b] I think this just shows the depth of feeling people have about this movie. We're deeply disappointed with the way it turned out and by an amazing coincidence most people's concerns are centred around the same areas.

@ dtrisml like I said before, the amygdala would have initiated a sympathetic nervous system response that would trump any response that had to do with boosting ones ego image ESPECIALLY in a person with an avoidance temperament. In terms of brain circuitry, people who fear novelty are much more afraid of threats to their survival than threats to their social standing. Furthermore, the "wanting to impress" motive is based on cognitions while the flight-or-fight response is hormonal and more primitive and would override the desire to take risks to increase social standing (in an already anxiety prone person).

I agree with you @dtrisml... People should find better things to do than complaining about the movie on threads posted for totally other reasons. And let me remind people that similar actions to that of Milburn and Fifield can be found in Alien too... Remember when Kane finds the egg in the direlect and he decides to take a look at what is inside? How careless was that? When that egg opened I would probably have backed up against the wall and waited for the others. But I guess we wouldn't have great horror movies if our heroes ran away every time something exciting happened.