The Big Head

Yes, imagine those explorers coming across that monument and having no curiosity about it whatsoever. LOST!

Hmm. Yes, you would think that wouldn't you - especially when the Head had been so prominently featured: it's a fairly obvious and natural conclusion - check threads for "Big Head" and you will find you are far from alone. Now, imagine just how incredibly and hysterically funny it would be to watch the film and find the Head plays not one significantly active part in events, nor is it even mentioned, beyond, "remarkably human", or words to that effect and apart from that, completely shunned... [It is not reasonable that Mt. Rushmore would be the [i]only[/i] surviving artefact? Which scientist said this? It sounds very wide of the mark].

There's a joke in the cinematography when the chamber is first opened. Shaw (who is supposedly in charge of the expedition) is being all meek in asking David not to open doors when they don't know what's on the other side. She's kneeling next to a headless Space Jockey. Door opens, center of the shot is the big scary stone head... Shaw is of course looking at the fallen head of the Space Jockey, just in front of her and says "there's the head". I think it was meant to be clever.

Fifield and Milburn start to talk about the head èbut are interrupted by the hammerpedes "what is this thing? Do you think its their god"...something like that.

Yes - dialogue was not the movie's strong point!!

@ allinnamberclad and takka_takka_takka it's on youtube -Life after Humans- they have several different scenarios

I can't remember which channel did the documentary National Geographic/Science Channel/Discovery Channel but it's very entertaining. They even have one were humans leave planet Earth to terraform other worlds and they check back every one hundred thousand years to see what's happening

"..I think it was meant to be clever..." Well this gives a diffewrent perspective to that scene intentional..or not. But it demonstrates the power the Big Head Statue has at first sight by humans so it seems reasonable that the Big Head Statue was significant in the Engineers' lives,,planning..building..even worshiping.. The facial structure still reminds me of the Easter Island statues,..especially the sunken eyes..

I know they intended to create a set piece with the same visual impact on screen as the Space Jockey in the original Alien. I guess the Head was what they came up with. I agree, the missed opportunity to have the characters discuss or even analyze it a bit was a real shame. Ultimately that Head ended up being more of a marketing tool for the posters, book covers, CD & DVD jackets, etc, than an important element of the storyline.

I'm glad they didn't do too much wittering on about the meaning of the head in the film. At least that saves me from reading posts on here complaining about the tedious wittering on about the meaning of the head!

Hahaha! Touché @zzplural, touché.

Thinking about the topic.. Was there any mention in the movie.. about the material ,aking up the Big Head? A clue as to it's origin might be if the material was native to that particular moon..and constructed on site . Constructed elsewhere and transported millions of miles could show the influence from outsiders(or unknown entities.).

On a recent viewing of the scenes with Fifield/Millburn stumbling arounf the Big Head it struck me that the eyes on the stature were closed. as in sleeping.. as in being in statis. waiting. It has been suggested that all this Big Heat talk is a sort of waste of time and it may be but still a tremendous amout of time and effort was put into the creation of not only the sculpured head but the surrounding room with the urns and all. I mentioned the eyes because they seemed so peaceful as if waitin for a awakening from an entity ready to tap into the real potential for then Domes. Could this be the openning for the Deacon to bridge the gap between the goo and the true potential of Universal domination? Naw , i was just sort of day dreaming

Ridley Scott has managed to put into place the relics that we have in our world to the one outside it. The Sphinx head or the Easter Island heads are kinds similar to the head here.

Perhaps in tribute to the original Sacrificial Engineer?

that would seem most likely

Everytime I see the Big Head. read areference to this room and recall the various scenes shown to us involving the the urns/Green Stone, murals, worms, ect I am thinking that it must be something definative that RS wanted us to understand. Other scenes are sort to figured out by site members: orrey, Juggernaut, even the crew and motivations.(not completely in David's case) It is like the Elephant in the room that is sort of ignored or just accepted. It would be hard to believe that RS would go thorough all this work, attention to detail and massive minutes in and around the Big Head Room that that the viewing humans can't grasp the meaning and implication of this area of the Dome. It's not that there is not a theory about what each iotem in the scenes mean but there is no unifying thinking that pulls the story all together and prepares us for the next adventure. Surely there must be a mind in the group that can make some sense of it all. With the Big head displayed on the movie Posters it must be a massive clue to all that we see, enjoy and talk about. If a casual movie goer asks me about the significance of the Big Head in the Poster and in the Big Head room I am not sure i could answer that without bringing up all the theories that have been mentioned. The more I would discuss some of the thinking here the more I expect to see a glazed look in their eyes and sort of back away. That in it's self would scare off potential movie fans. Perhaps it woukld be better to list what the Big Head/Room is not and see what is left in the theory line.

I have been giving the Big Head and the room some thought. * From the opennijg ashots of the Sacrificial Engineer a noticeable head was displayed. *Big Head Room Notice only one head display( Murals are a different topic) *Hammerpede with the mesmerizibng head(Isn't she pretty) *Vickers tightly pulled back hair showing a determined/ no nonsense look *Weyland Noticable Old Age Look *Last Engineer's almost billiard ball look to his head There are other examples. But they all lead the view to the final display the head that sears in our mind and would bring the strongest person in the world to their knees: The Deacon. Before all of the heads were of unique visual quality. But the Deacon shows the functionality of the 'head' and make no mistake about it the functional head and funtional second Jaw will first freeze any potential victim and then allow to take over anybody or soul with the horrendous and beautiful 2nd jaw. Maybe this is the real 'Jaws' in our lifetime. Now with the next installment how will the Deacon move up the food chain and meet up with David/Shaw?. We will finally see the use of the mind inside the head in action. If we can believe that David is evolving into something different than a robot, more than a boy why can't we accept that a parasite xeno with acid blood and tremendous survivior instincts also has a mind break through that will merge the physical attributes we see or suspect in the Deacon with the rational of thinking being. That is one S.O.B. or just plain B****. In any case it will be a formaible foe for our surviving crew.

Could it be something very simple? We the audience, as well as the exploration team, see the head before we see what is under the SJ helmet. I think it was just foreshadowing. The SJ, which looks like it may be an elephant-like being, is actually "remarkably human". The big head was just foreshadowing about the civilization that created the room, the urns etc. But because of marketing, trailers, internet etc... not much comes as a surprise in the movie-going experience. Imagine upon your first viewing of the movie that you didn't know what the engineers looked like or that the SJ and Engineers were one in the same. It would be like finding out Vader was Luke's father back in 81. That must have so cool. (I was only 4, so I don't remember if I even cared).

I am a bit older but can relate to what you are suggesting. Luke's father revelation wasa surprise and shock. There were fans all along that said they said they knew all about the Luke/ Vader connection. I dsidn't believe them then..or now. Picking on the marketing point you mention For all of the marketing tools/print/ viideo where the Big head is the 'Face of the Franchise' so to speak we really don't know much about it other than it is the Big head in The big head Room. From that angle it seems like much ado about little.. That doesn't sit well for me because there is too much screen time, too many charactor questions about what the is the Big Head. not to be of some major importance to our story. I would just be happy if somehow, someway we discover the name of the Big Head...any name. Big Head sounds like a generic tag given to a children movie like Big Bird. Surly fans of this site or RS could at least have a 'Name the Big Head' contest.