Opening scenes please explain

The engineer basically killed himself by drinking that stuff, which broke down his body and allowed his DNA to be dispersed and then (as per the film) this kick started life on Earth. Re the 'Octopus' - thought it was clear if you watched the whole film. It was basically a huge (the original?) face hugger which attacked the engineer which then spawned an early Xeno. I'm sure you get all that, but I think they were just trying to link it up to the original Alien films, so that seems to be what happened. Question is, is it the original face hugger, did that start up the Xeno race, are there others out there etc etc. All interesting questions but I don't think the film wants to answer these questions. maybe in the sequels. I think that one of the over arching themes (and there are plenty of them!) is that life is easy to create but not so easy to control, and should we even create life if we were able to? We are all part of a larger menagerie which includes engineers and Xenos, were just at different points in the food chain!

The last 10 minutes ending, where Shaw fight with the Engineer and she release the Octopus to kill the engineer, it gave me the first tought is that the origin of face hugger , as it came from shaw's stomach, where shaw get it from the infected charlie, and charlie was infected by david, which david get it from the container that contains some sort of dark liquid.......? can anyone help me on this??

i think the body hugger that got the engineer at the end was the squid that Shaw extracted from her womb, and had rapidly grown. It seeded the engineer with Xeno (juice/egg/whatever) - hence the Xeno popping out of its body at the end - whether it is a queen or not, no idea

Did you notice, the container that he drank from seemed to have the design of an apple on the top lid? The outline of an apple on its side was what I remember, but it was very quick. There are many religious references through out the film, obviously Shaws Faith, the cross etc. and to me, wether it was Fete, Fate or luck, the Fact that the Engineers original attempt at returning to Earth and destroying mankind was delayed for thousands of years by their "weapon" killing all but one of them but the one in the Sarcophagus can't be overlooked.

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Duplicate post

There's a logistical problem with Cuddles' reply. The beginning scene with the engineer drinking at the waterfall (Detifoss in Iceland) is on the same planet that the mission travels to. I know because the waterfall was shot in Iceland and the mission spaceship flies over a moss/ice section of mountains also from Iceland before they land on that planet. Either this is meant to be overlooked in the film and Cuddles' response above is right (the waterfall scene is supposed to be Earth, and the flyover scene on the other planet that includes footage from Iceland is meant to be overlooked), or the opening scene with the waterfall is on the same planet (not Earth) that the mission travels to.

I imagine that the Engineer in the Beginning is from an opposing faction to those preparing to bio-nuke earth. Different clothes (robes vs armor), different ship. It looks to me that if the events at the beginning of the film are occurring on LV-223 then it is what started the outbreak that lead to the downfall of the LV-223 outpost and ultimately stopped the attack on earth.

One must not over look the concept of the Titan [i]Prometheus[/i], the creator of man, steeling fire from the gods to give to man (Ai, or maybe just intelligence) and the god who stopped Zeus from destroying man. Possibly the cloaked engineer was the one meant to be Prometheus.

That makes sense! If Promtheus (from the beginning of the movie) the Engineer created humans against the will of the other Engineers, it would explain why they wanted to destroy us. Although, that begs the question... why wait so so long? Why didn't they try destroying us earlier? And why bother coming back through history to visit us?

The thing I am still wrestling with is that the vessel the Engineer drinks from at the beginning of the movie is exactly the same as those found on LV-223 which infected Charlie Holloway. I.e. the biological warfare goo. So if this Engineer was seeding the Earth, why would he drink that stuff?

Because the "goo" could potentially have different effects depending on dosage and the life form consuming it. "How" it does what it does is not as important as it's results. All we're supposed to know is that it is a type of extreme mutagen. It can not only cause the break down of cells/life, but more importantly, the reconstruction of them into something...different.

Ok, here goes a thought. I saw only male engineers. The only representation of a female, was the Alien in the mural on the wall in the tomb, who appeared a whole hell of a lot like the queen depicted in previous Alien films (Alien Resurrection.) Note in the opening segment, the ship was *NOT* the same shape or appearance of the one they later attempt to escape in. From the appearance, and the Engineer's reaction, he drinks a substance that deconstructs him and places him into the water, almost a precursor for primordial sludge we humans were evolved from. The Engineers knew the initial ship was a threat, and I believe this accounts for the final Engineers reaction, to destroy any foreign creatures on their planet for risk of further genocide, and further use of them as the incubators for expanding the Alien race. (I.E. why he goes "ape" on the Prometheus crew.) I noticed that the green goo, typical of the Alien race was on the tunnel, the same tunnel the engineers were running away from. Perhaps they were running from the Aliens, for perhaps they were previously mutated by this race and knew the outcome would be horrific. It is also this goo which probably has Alien DNA that contaminated the containers of Engineer DNA. (Remember the android touches the goo, then the containers. He's the contaminator. And since he is an android, he has no genes to affect the goo.) The squid "conceived" in the doctor's womb is a hybrid. She basically was impregnated by a mutant, and her human genes further mutated the squid. Not sure how that creates the final iconic Alien in the end, perhaps it has to do with the fact a female interacted with this whole scenario. Ok, just shooting from the hip, but it kind of makes sense to me. Curious what your thoughts are, as well.

My view is the opening scene occurs on moon LV 223 - the same military bio weapons facility that the Prometheus eventually lands on. As Dr. Shaw said, they were wrong. There was no invitation from the "engineers" to visit LV 223. Per captain of the ship, LV 223 was a bio weapons center that got out of control somehow. I believe that "somehow" is what you are seeing in the opening scene - a rogue "engineer" spreading the bio weapon in an attempt to stop them from mass producing it at the facility. You do not see a spaceship taking off in the opening scene. You see a spaceship/larger freighter hovering then turning 90 degrees to dig into the ground. It is one of 3 freighters alluded to by android David at that facility. Of course it would be nice for a writer or director from the movie to confirm this. IMHO.

And the "engineers" did no create life on Earth. We are the engineers - they are us. The bio weapon mutates DNA. If the "engineers" had used the bio weapon to create us rather than destroy us, the DNA scan would have shown a totally different animal - not a match.

According to modern science, simple life appeared on Earth 3.8 Billion years ago. Engineers wouldn't have technologically "stagnated" for that long. Therefore, science in this story is wrong or overlooked or the Engineers didn't create life on Earth. Another number to deal with is that Homo Sapiens have been in the fossil record for 200,000 years. So did Engineers settle Earth 200,000 years ago and Neanderthals evolve separately or are we and the engineers both results of similar genetic seedings of different planets from an unknown entity? And, why did so many signs get left on Earth pointing to a military outpost? Am I over-analyzing a science-fiction movie? Erm, Yes. The fact is that Engineers starting life on Earth has too many holes to be plausible.

Someone countered my suggestion that opening scene was on LV-223 by referring to how it resemble the circular disks in the drawing and not the crescent shaped ships. For me, it appears to match the large circular facilities on LV-223. I thought of them as freighters carrying the smaller ships and bio weapons. But I see your point and how you tie this into the cave drawings. If this is the case, it would be a poor script. I hope it is not the case.

Ships are designed to go from one place to another. Yes the circular ships do look more like what is seen in the cave paintings. But Earth wouldn't have been the only place those ships visited. My speculation is that the robed Engineer from the Circular ship is from a different faction with different agendas than the Jockey-Armored Crescent ship driving engineers. These factions are at odds. One is trying to give or rather has given "fire" to man, the other is trying to snuff man out because he has "fire".

Here is what I posted somewhere else about the opening scene.I think I'm pretty close...but that's what everyone believes about himself.Please read it and tell me where do you think I'm wrong Thanks The answer to why the engineers created us! well the answer is in the movie and it is this:PURE CHANCE...BY ACCIDENT... We get the answer in the opening of the movie were the "engineer" is commiting suicide.He doesn't try to spread his dna in the river.What we see is that after he drinks the black liquid (not to be confused with the liquid the scientists find on the planet) the camera zooms and goes in to his body.What we see is that his skin and dna start to dissolve-it kinda looks like his dna starts to get burned and destroyed.Now when the body falls into the river the camera follows too.the body dissolves and the camera zooms again.the whole screen goes black and then it happens...THE TITLES BEGIN TO APPEAR.The first time I watched it (I went to the cinema twice) my attention focused on the titles.I believe this was intentional and a great idea too.It takes a while for the titles to appear completely but if you watch what happens "behind" the titles you'll see that when the blackness slowly goes away a small strand of "healthy" dna - its color is still orange and red or whatever (the same color the dna had when the camera initialy zoomed into the body when the liquid started to have its effect)- appears at the right of the screen slowly going away with the river's flow.And then something else happens:Were not in the water anymore - the colors are so different it's like they took this portion from another movie - and we see cells multiplying.WELL THAT's US!pure accident. I think this "engineer" is prometheus that took something from the race that is leaving (we see the flying saucer in the clouds - this spaceship is so different from what the engineers' are using) and they punished him by leaving him on the planet with the black liquid with one choice.Live here alone or drink the liquid and die. That is why they included so many scenes involving the black liquid they find on the planet.To confuse us and make us think that it is the same liquid. 1 the liquid in the beginning of the film is not totaly black and the texture is a bit different. 2 the effect they have is different. The engineer in the beginning dissolves but the humans mutate (although "we" have the same dna).It is not the same liquid. I base the existance of the "other" race on the fact that the pictures in the cave show a slim alien with long slim finger pointing to the stars.Well, the engineers are very muscular with normal - although bigger - fingers.They're not the same race.Perhaps after the accident of our creation this "good" race came to us and taught us everything giving us knowledge. NOW THIS MAY BE FAR FETCHED BUT: there is an explanation for the scene between vickers and her father calling him "father" just out of the blue (a weird scene).She kind hates him (she clearly tells him it is time for him to die) because he has substitued her with david the robot.In the begining her father says david is like a son to him and we see the dissaponted look on vickers face).Vickers is the "engineers".they feel betrayed because the "good" race came to us - essentialy humans are david the robot - and befriended us or whatever and they feel betrayed.that is why they hate us and want to destroy us with the virus they created and the aliens.THE ALIENS WERE THE ONES THAT WERE ENGINEERED FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXTERMINATING THE HUMAN RACE.Ripley in the other film encounters an alien race that didn't evolved naturaly, but it was created to kill the humans.They ARE the engineers but didn't "engineer" us but "engineered" the aliens for the purpose of killing us. When I saw the movie for the first time I was truly dissapointed.but now...I believe the terrible scenes with the actors acting "funny" and weird are the result of the editing.I think too much of the dialogue was left out.We'll see the final result on the dvd.and I hope I'm right. Please comment

My theory is as follows: 1. The engineers were created by a master class aliens, which were the ones that controlled the huge disc-shaped spaceship that appears in the beginning of the movie. 2. They were specifically created to a) seed life with their own DNA in other planets, and b) to do the dirty work (i.e. development of bio-weapons) that might be required by their masters. 3. There is a parallel drawn between the these engineers and their yet-to-be determined masters, and the droids and their human creators (i.e. Weyland). They are both obedient to death (opening scene), would stop at nothing to finish off a task (the engineer who remembers he has to eradicate humanity after sleeping for 2000 years), and are subject to no specific code of morals or conscience. I guess Ridley Scott is going to explore the next advenuture of Shaw in her quest to eventually find the engineers' masters. I look forward to seeing it. There are a lot of religious overtones in this movie. Personally, I find belief in a supernatural benevolent Creator more palatable than one of an alien nature....... Cheers.

for me, the ENGINEERS look like slaves. They're like the monk [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Quang_Duc]Thich_Quang_Duc[/url] who self-immolated in Cambodia in 1963. Martyrs for a Cause, ONLY. We'll only meet THEIR makers in films 2 or 3 or during the TV MINI SERIES or Lost-length series ... I think this 'story' could rise to supergalactic proportions: however, I still sense there 'may be too many torn arteries' for any other Prometheus movies/series to cauterise successfully. The lack of WOMEN (so far) on the Engineer or Terraformer side, is rather conspicuous by its absence, no? I'm not totally CONVINCED this Prometheus Universe is an airtight proposition.

I think the opening scene is Earth, and the Engineer and his ship is from a faction that wants to promote life. He is essentially "Prometheus" who gave "fire" to the humans. The breakdown of his DNA with the stuff in the dish created life, which eventually became Homo Sapiens. The Engineers in LV226 are from another faction, who oppose this, essentially Zeus. They found out about humans on Earth, and was preparing to destroy them, apparently because they know the outcome of what humans can breed by the mural inside that room clearly showing a Xeno queen. What I don't get is what the Engineers in the holograms were running from, and where the rest who made it inside the room went. Obviously the green goo and the black liquid are two different materials. Maybe the combination of those create abominations, like what Holloway turned into, and what Shaw bred, which is dangerous to the Engineers.

This is the beginning of man. The Good Giant consumes the seeds of life (created by other Good Giants, the other "Gods" if you will) and thus gives shape to the seeds by virtue of their consumption. All of those embryos in the water are various life forms, animal and human, consistent with the mythology where Prometheus gives shape to all life forms created by the Gods. The fly over of the ship Prometheus shows scenery that could be confused with that in the opening scene, but it is barren, seemingly without much water except for snow caps. On the other hand, the opening scene shows alot of water, and a planet just ripe for life, just the opposite of what is seen in the flyover. It would be a stretch to believe that the opening scene is a counter insurgency, where Good Giants plant seeds which are intended to kill the Bad Giants, but in the process destroy all life, inclding vegetation, and eliminate most of the rivers and lakes.

This is the beginning of man. The Good Giant consumes the seeds of life (created by other Good Giants, the other "Gods" if you will) and thus gives shape to the seeds by virtue of their consumption. All of those embryos in the water are various life forms, animal and human, consistent with the mythology where Prometheus gives shape to all life forms created by the Gods. The fly over of the ship Prometheus shows scenery that could be confused with that in the opening scene, but it is barren, seemingly without much water except for snow caps. On the other hand, the opening scene shows alot of water, and a planet just ripe for life, just the opposite of what is seen in the flyover. It would be a stretch to believe that the opening scene is a counter insurgency, where Good Giants plant seeds which are intended to kill the Bad Giants, but in the process destroy all life, inclding vegetation, and eliminate most of the rivers and lakes.

The dlyover scene at the beginning of the movie and the Prometheus entry to the Moon seemed od similar coinstruction,,looking over the landscape, You are right about the lack of water, I'll ned to watch again to see the snow caps. In the beginning it seemed like the ship travel was to a specific spot,,while the Prometheus was searching,,for something of interest. A poster has mentioned that in the DVD movie extras that our ship spent considerable time mapping the moon. The time looking over the scenery was not fully shown in the final movie.

Lol this old argument. If you were on the forum earlier this year you would of seen it quiet a few times try searching you''ll get some coming up. A few things to remember: 1. Ridley said himself the planet at the start is not earth. 2. There is plant life in background so this was not the beginning of life on that planet. The engineer also breathes in deeply so it points to a good atmosphere but not conclusive. 3. The dividing cells end up with 4 to 8 of them ruling out any lower life forms such as single celled life forms. And yes I agree you would think the engineers technology would advance dramatically over 10's of years let alone millions or more! I am interested to see how they explain this all.

Then even Ripley caged it wrong in the movie. They cannot be even closely seen as similar planets. If the good Giants unleashed the bio warfare in the opening scene, it must have been so virulent as to consume water, and make the landscape completely barren, as the flyover landscape shows. And, it is wholly inconsistent with the mythology, where Prometheus shapes life, but then is banished. Even the ship in the opening scene is not a military craft, as one would expect if they were dropping an agent for a clandistine pollution of the planet. One would think in addition that the Bad Giants would be at least trying to kill the Good Giants and their ship, but instead, the Good Giant is calm and the overhead ship is casually observing and not under any fire. Presumably the Bad Giants had technology at least as sophisticated as the Good Giants, and they cant detect a casual operation along with an enemy ship on their own military outpost? How strange if this opening scene was intended as a military operation.

Also, notice that during the movie, but past the opening scene, we always see the Bad Giants with helmets on, presumeably for breathing and filtering of the atmosphere. However, in the opening scene, the so called Good Giant is breathing just fine without a helmet. Since we never see a Bad Giant "outside" on LV-223, and we do see a Good Giant outside without a helmet, it likely follows that the Good Giant is on a planet where humans and their predecessors can breath the atmosphere (Earth), whereas The Bad Giants need a helmet so they cannot be on earth by logic (modus ponens).