HELP ME MAKE SENSE OF PROMETHEUS!!!!(SPOILERS)

1) 3 laws of robotics? huh? Who put them in place? when? Look at Alienuniverse and timeline. 2) David is showing signs of a soul emerging...his facial expression belie his words on some occasions (he is clearly upset with Holloway). 3) He infects Holloway only after Holloway answers his ethical questioning. First Holloway provokes him with "we made you because we could"....then Holloway solves Davids moral conundrum with anything and anybody". Only then does David spike his drink. The basic reason behind it is to test the goo on orders from Weyland to see if it has beneficial effects on health. 4) David indeed shows signs of malice fed by a growing resentment towards his maker...this is a key part of the movie and one of the creepiest part. The opposite of a plothole 5) The goo is a bioformer. It can obviously work in different ways. It can spike life on planets as 'galloping DNA' and it can be used as weaponry (depending on design i guess). The temple-moon seems to be a military base. 6) The 'reptile' came from the goo working on the worms we see in the dirt. 7) We dont know why the engineers wanted to destroy us. Possibly we were a threat or the development of monotheism was an insult (the engineers have a highly unhealthy view on their own status - ref BIGhead), or simply they wanted to shape life on earth differently. We are at this point meant to be clueless. 8) The existance of the engineers does not go against evolution....it goes against the theory of the origin of life. Bioforming planets does not rule out natural selection, migration, mutation and genetic drift in any way. 9) Like the facehugger the protofacehugger (octopus) is designed by the engineers to rape other species and impregnate them to create the xenomorphs. Tentacles around an orifice with a penis waiting innside is a great design for such rapes. 10) prometheus is meant to be vague...in fact the 'sowing' of life at the beginning of movie is a great metaphor for the sowing of ideas in Prometheus. 11) Prometheus is not part of the Alien saga....read what Ridley Scott has said about the movie the past couple of years.

Sup '...Hudson' (gonna paraphrase) 1. [b]David[/b] Where were these three codes of robotics mentioned? I seem to have missed them. '[i]I considered the fact that perhaps it would be to see if charlie became immortal testing it out before applying the method to peter weyland but even this defies the laws[/i]' You've answered your own question pretty much. Weyland tells David 'Try harder'. David approaches Holloway who tells him unequivocally that he would do 'anything and everything' to get the answers. David, on hearing this, takes his cue from Holloway and infects the drink. David takes his cue from humans all throughout this film. He's not malicious, as much as impressionable? 2. [b]The Black Goo[/b] No one knows what it is really. It clearly alters the DNA, structure and size of a biological entity. But how? And to what end? We're all a little unsure. I wont repeat what hundreds of posts have already speculated on this (i advise you to go fishing here) but i will re-quote this... '[i]...but even this does not make sense as the film at the begininng states that if the engineers are real then evolution cannot be[/i]' Not necessarily. They only said that engineers seeded earth. Evolution could still be a natural part of that seeding. In fact we see life being created and changing drastically during the film itself? For example: having a belief in God and believing in evolution aren't incompatible. God could have created the evolutionary process? 3. [b]The Alien Creature[/b] Anything I say would be pure speculation. It's clearly meant to be a proto-alien, an early form, but i'm still not sure why it had to be put in there. It seems to have confused more people than satiated. Sorry for not being more help but we're all a little confused and frazzled from over a week of talking [i]endlessly[/i] about this stuff!

thanks for replying and answering and i am aware that ridley has said it is not part of the alien saga but hes asking for trouble deliberatedly bringing in creatures that resemble alien without properly explaining how things have come about. Respect your view though its very intresting

I totally agree with you bud. I did not understand why the Engineer drank the black nasty stuff, even though they made it as a biological weapon. Hmm. I felt the opening of the movie was way too short and the end was way too dragged out. And 100% spot on with David. If David was void of emotions, then I could only assume he poisoned the drink just to test if it'll have the same effects on humans. He seemed extremely malicious towards Dr Shaw throughout the movie.

Thanks Brightonrock the thing on David is actually a bit clearer now . . just gotta watch what ya say around robots i guess haha

I Believe the First Engineer was Prometheus, he gave life to a planet, I believe he wasn't supposed to. So his people wanted to destroy what he gave to that planet, i believe he was a rouge, he sacrificed himself, his DNA mixed with the stuff that was in that bowl, and sparked life....

ye Scott V like . . . everything about the movie was too vague . . like i wouldnt consider myself a stupid person as to miss all that detail others have described but I just do not see how some people are coming to these ideas . . some of which are very very intresting and plausible . .but are probally not right all because Ridley Scott or Damon Lindelof refused to be difinitive in what they were trying to say

ThoughtKing 05 that is also very very intresting and I would lovce to buy into that only for this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTwVoIapW-Y&list=FLZ3q0a-jPGc7Ra2Kjjlzr9A&index=1&feature=plpp_video 1min - onwards even the creators dont know why they picked prometheus or dont even give a proper reason

ThoughtKing 05 that is also very very intresting and I would lovce to buy into that only for this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTwVoIapW-Y&list=FLZ3q0a-jPGc7Ra2Kjjlzr9A&index=1&feature=plpp_video 1min - onwards even the creators dont know why they picked prometheus or dont even give a proper reason

No worries Hudson. Concerning... '[i]I just do not see how some people are coming to these ideas . . some of which are very very intresting and plausible . .but are probally not right all because Ridley Scott or Damon Lindelof refused to be difinitive in what they were trying to say[/i]' I think that's why so many people are unhappy. People are having to resort to wild speculation about most aspects of the film in order to settle it in their minds. Sci-Fi is meant to make you talk more about ideas, but the ideas are normally existential and not 'can someone please explain what was happening?!?!'. Depends on what you want from a film really!

Ye I understand that also but I still feel that it should not be soo vague. in my opinion a good writer should be able to appeal to a wide range of audiences and pending on that audience theyl recieve the basic message of the story and furthermore be captivated to understand the deeper subliminal messages behind the story. i realy feel that prometheus was just im going to give you special fx . . . a few creatures that resemble previous creatures . . .a transparent story line . . . and you tell me what the film was about that in my opinion is a lazy story teller

The only thing i got from the movie, we shouldn't listen to scientists, why the hell would they send us an invitation, when they can come to us and kill us

"David is a robot,one of the 3 codes of robotics is that they cannot hurt human beings in anyway." Ash was a robot, too, and look what happened there. "I repeat; all other priorities are rescinded." "I feel he (Ridley Scott) spent more time trying to dissociate Alien from the film when he should of been associating it." Bingo! You've hit the nail on the head! He said in an interview that his intention was that this movie would be the parent to two separate child storylines - the "Alien" story, and then another one that hopefully will continue onward. This is an attempt to start a completely different franchise, but one within the same universe. If you're dissapointed that not everything was explained thoroughly, I ask you one question: "Is Deckard a replicant or not?" That's a question from "Blade Runner" that was never adequately explained and is still debated 30 years or so later. That's just Ridley's style.

@darthmongo I'd say that question is more appropriate because the plot (story, whatever you want to call it) doesn't hinge on it being answered for the film to conclude/make sense. It;s like the sixth sense. The fact that ***SSSPPPOOOOILLLLEERRRRRRR!!!!!** Bruce Willis is dead is almost irrelevant to the film. The story works because of everything else around the 'dead-ness'. However...DECKARD IS DEFINITELY A REPLICANT! If the film-makers were trying to suggest otherwise then the unicorn scene wouldn't have been in there.

Just my thoughts... :)

@Hudson I agree, there should have been more explanation. I came out of the cinema (2nd viewing) and my friend said... '[i]we didn't learn anything? We know the space jockeys started earth, and that they make the aliens. But apart from that...nothing[/i]' So i understand everyone's frustrations.

Firstly . . . David . . [quote]David is a robot,one of the 3 codes of robotics is that they cannot hurt human beings in anyway. [/quote] The three laws are a creation of Asmov, and there is no indication that that is in effect in the aliens universe. [quote]Why does david even bother infecting charlie(shaws boyfriend). What is the reasoning?[/quote] Daddy wayland tells him to "Try harder" So he feeds the goo to Charlie to find out what happens. For all he knows it might covert Charlie in to a Engineer. Secondaly . . Black Goo [quote]If the black Goo is a biological weapon then why did the enginner at the very start of the film deliberatedly drink the black goo?. [/quote] Even though the capt. thinks of it as a biological weapon, it really more of a substance that brakes down DNA and creates new life with it if it is injested. The Enginner drank a lot of it, so it was sudden. Charlie had a drop so it was much slower. The eveidence does not show weapons, but that it was a industrial issue. a biological nuclear meltdown. [quote] And also if the goo had the effect on the enginner and Human and enginner DNA are supposedly Identical then why didnt the humans disintegrate and decompose like the enginner?[/quote] the Enginner drank a whole cup. Charlie had a little drop, the others who where infected did not ingest it. [code] Where did the reptile creatures in the tomb chamber come from?? [/code] It clearly shows that there is small worms on the floor that are then later covered in the goo of life. [code] or like David suggests in the film perhaps humans were becoming too far evolved and threatened to over power the enginners . . . [/code] We don't know but we are given hints for two reasons. [quote]Finally . . . Final Alien creature The creature arises as a result of the octopus creature overpowering the enginner. why does it resemble an octopus ? and was it a result of the maggots in the black Goo? [/quote] No, it traveled from drunk by Charlie -> semen from Charlie to Shaw - > Squidbaby -> facehugging - > final critter.

In my opinion, the Engineer at the beginning (on Earth) drank the black goo and sacrificed himself to spark life. His broken down DNA in the water of our planet is what started "us". These theories on whether or not he was a "rogue" Engineer are very interesting. Also, people who don't like Prometheus are the people that don't like films that open questions and discussions. Scott specifically said that this is not a direct prequel to Alien. I think that the people who were disappointed with this film went into it with the notion that it WAS a direct prequel to Alien and they expected every question to be answered. People need to stop being impatient and immature and just wait for the answers. This whole "fan theories discussion" thing is awesome! That's what they want us to do! They want us to speculate and get us involved into this movie's universe and try to figure things out. I'm sure that by the end of however many sequels are made, we will have answers to our questions (at least the big questions).

Here ya go, helped me make sense of it because it comes from the book Thus Spoke Zathustra that they are now mass advertising on the 101112 website thing: The symbol of the Übermensch also alludes to Nietzsche's notions of "self-mastery", "self-cultivation", "self-direction", and "self-overcoming". Expounding these concepts, Zarathustra declares: "I teach you the overman. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him? "All beings so far have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great flood and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is the ape to man? A laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. And man shall be just that for the overman: a laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. You have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm. Once you were apes, and even now, too, man is more ape than any ape. "Whoever is the wisest among you is also a mere conflict and cross between plant and ghost. But do I bid you become ghosts or plants? "Behold, I teach you the overman! The overman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the overman shall be the meaning of the earth! I beseech you, my brothers, remain faithful to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of otherworldly hopes! Poison-mixers are they, whether they know it or not. Despisers of life are they, decaying and poisoned themselves, of whom the earth is weary: so let them go!" — Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Prologue, §3, trans. Walter Kaufmann

Here's a little more detailed explanation: Nietzsche injects myriad ideas into the book, but there are a few recurring themes. The overman (Übermensch), a self-mastered individual who has achieved his full power, is an almost omnipresent idea in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Man as a race is merely a bridge between animals and the overman. Nietzsche also makes a point that the overman is not an end result for a person, but more the journey toward self-mastery. The eternal recurrence, found elsewhere in Nietzsche's writing, is also mentioned. The eternal recurrence is the idea that all events that have happened will happen again, infinitely many times. Such a reality can serve as the litmus test for an overman. Faced with the knowledge that he would repeat every action that he has taken, an overman would be elated as he has no regrets and loves life. The will to power is the fundamental component of human nature. Everything we do is an expression of the will to power. The will to power is a psychological analysis of all human action and is accentuated by self-overcoming and self-enhancement. Contrasted with living for procreation, pleasure, or happiness, the will to power is the summary of all man's struggle against his surrounding environment as well as his reason for living in it. The book in several passages expresses loathing for sentiments of human pity, compassion, indulgence and mercy towards a victim, which are regarded as the greatest sin and most insidious danger.[6][7] Part of Nietzsche's reactionary thought is also that the creature he most sincerely loathes is the spirit of revolution, and its hatred for the anarchist and rebel.[8] Many criticisms of Christianity can be found in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, in particular Christian values of good and evil and its belief in an afterlife. Nietzsche sees the complacency of Christian values as fetters to the achievement of overman as well as on the human spirit.

TBH 'secure that shit' I think you just need to chill out and grow up a little. It's not an 'Alien' movie, get over it. Most of the answers to your questions and have been given already. TY to the guy who suggested the engineer who sacrificed himself at the start was 'Prometheus' I so buy that. But then 'secure that shit', you make a ridiculous comment supported by a clip from youtube which says it disproves what is obviously a totally plausible explanation and leaves me wondering if you watched the clip yourself. The film is clearly made to make you think and you don't like that. Maybe stick to comedies. I was hungry for answers when I left the theatre and everyone is entitled to an opinion, there are plenty of reasons not to love this film and I would accept you complaining for any of them with exception to the fact that you're lazy and want to be spoon fed simple narrative.

you guys are all stupid. And being the arch-nerd that I am, I'm tired of reading your stupid answers. An analysis of Prometheus- from beginning to end. ****SPOILERS**** 1. Why does the engineer in the beginning commit suicide to begin human life? The first thing to notice is how –ritualistic- his suicide was. Apart from the jedi robe and the goo being in a ceremonial container, later in the movie several things hint at the culture of the engineers- like the room with the giant human face monument and the murals reminiscent of those found in the Sistine Chapel, and the part where they awaken the surviving engineer himself, and he places a hand upon the head of the android David, before using it to kill his creator in turn. So this infers a society focusing on the transformation of death and rebirth, which is a very prominent concept in many western and eastern religions on earth. 2. Why is everyone on this expedition a complete dumbass? Weak writing; poor focus on the allocation of resources into making the movie; perhaps purposeful appeal to stupid audiences? I myself found it strange that a group of interstellar scientists are stupid enough to contaminate the interior of the alien craft by removing their helmets (the melting murals). And how the geologist and biologist become lost after their freak-out, when they are being monitored by the ship’s crew (complete with holographic display of their exact location) the entire time. They seem to be easily spooked by harmless holograms, but immediately wanna shove their faces into the first phallic alien they come upon, while knowing nothing about it. The captain of this expensive endeavor is a drunk, and is more pre-occupied with having sex than watching the two ass-hats who got lost in the ruin. Not to mention that the best thing to do when a circular spaceship is rolling after you is to run sideways. 3. Why do all the cave paintings / clues point to a star formation that turns out to be a military facility? This is a bit obscure, and could very well be the result of poor writing. However I have an idea. If you notice, there seems to be a lot of references to God in this movie. *hint hint* and how the engineers created us *hint hint* AND how these particular engineers seemed to be setting a course to earth precisely 2000 years ago. To apparently destroy it? What biblical event is proposed to have happened 2000 years ago? Well, Jesus being crucified by the Romans of course. I myself am not religious (im actually an atheist) and I’m not drawing this conclusion from any feverish visions. But it seems hilariously and obviously hinted that Jesus was an alien, an engineer emissary saying “we created you, worship us.” What’s a likely way to piss off any civilization? Crucify their emissary, thus they were preparing to destroy us. Perhaps this facility was simply assigned to monitor planet earth in case shit got fucked up, perhaps earth was part of the facility’s experiments involving the black goo (queue the beginning of the movie). But one thing is for sure, this place is fucked up. 4. Why did David contaminate Charlie? I honestly don’t know why everyone kept asking this. It’s more obvious than any other subtlety in the movie. If you notice, unless you are a complete asshole, David tries being courteous and nice to everyone for most of the film- and what he gets back are jibes and insults and references to how sub-human he is, and how GREAT –real- humans are. Well unless you think shit tastes like candy, I’d wager you’d get tired of it too. So David at a key moment in the film, decides to play god and put humanity in its place a little. He wasn’t instructed to do this, nor does he have some sort of superfluous agenda to the superficial plots in the film, he just got pissed off- and Charlie was being a colossal douche. What better candidate to see what the black goo does?! Besides this, he obviously is responsible for taking care of Weyland, and considering Weylands intentions, part of that job entails finding out what the fuck sort of aliens the engineers are, what the fuck does the black goo do, and what kind of shit are they all getting into? 5. The black goo, how does it work? Magnets! But no… all it appears to be is a high-tech mutagen, and there’s nothing saying that the goo in the ceremonial container in the beginning of the movie is the same as the stuff that appears to be weaponized in the alien bomber spaceship. Maybe there’s different goo that does different things? Maybe the goo reacts differently with engineers than it does with human beings, considering it turned the geologist into a hulking zombie mutant contortionist, and it turned the engineer in the beginning into a metaphorical tree of life. The weaponized goo seems to just mutate the fuck out of whatever organic thing it touches, which would be a fantastic weapon because of all the obvious chaos this would cause on a planetary scale. But how does it relate to the xenomorphs, and why all the absurd progression from goo to zombie to alien fetus to giant alien starfish to xenomorph? Well if you remember me illuminating some of the clues as to the culture of the engineers, you may find it beyond coincidental that they kept a lot of the goo containing vases in what is an obviously very ceremonial and perhaps religious chamber. ALSO if you were paying attention to the movie, one of the central murals in that chamber, is of a fucking giant alien queen. We are dealing with a civilization obsessed with the creation of life, death and resurrection- very much like the nature of the xenomorphs themselves. Perhaps the xenomorphs are some culmination between technology and idolatry. It’s not that xenomorphs require some dude to get contaminated and fuck a chic before he turns into a zombie to get the giant face-hugger to impregnate something else- because that’s not a very efficient way to get the desired result. Its more that no matter the origins and nature of contamination induced by the weapon (the goo), it all leads to one conclusion- as shown in the mural with all the mutating shit slowly becoming the alien queen in the center. But wait, what the fuck is the giant face-hugger? In the lore its actually called a “trilobite” and differs blatantly from the beloved facehuggers we all know from our youth. Also you will notice the weird non-traditional alien that pops out of the engineer. Well, if you remember every baby xenomorph from Christmas past, they were all tiny clumsy things. This one was man-sized when it was born, and fairly well developed (also very feminine in its movements). In the lore there are more than just queen aliens, there is also what’s called an Empress (I am not making this up, go play the games). The massive trilobite is like a buffed up version of the facehugger, and this “Empress” is like a buffed up version of a xenomorph queen. Savy? But there’s more to this, in the movie it is said at one point that the giant dome is actually hollow. But its soon revealed that the expedition isn’t spending time in some alien pyramid, they are in a ship- a ship which isn’t in the dome- it’s in some gigantic hangar beneath the flatland. So what the fuck is the purpose of the dome? If you think back to alien 2, the xenomorphs chose the huge powerplant for their hive- not the colonial compound. Why would engineers need a giant hollow dome on a planet they just happen to be creating a religious bio-superweapon that inevitably forms into xenomorph aliens that like building hives in grand open spaces? Hmmmm, maybe because… wait I think I said it already.

nah, I think you're all REACHING on this. wait, my preciouses, be patient - 10/11/12 is only months away now. :)

I had a different interpretation. At the beginning when the Engineer was left standing at the water fall which is clearly the falls in Africa on Earth. The Engineer left behind, drank the black goo and then fell over the falls into the water. This Engineer died when falling over the falls. And then the cut scene with DNA replicating was shown to create a new species. This implied that out of the Engineer who drank the black goo propagated a new species which is human. The Engineer's DNA was mixed with Earths fish/plants etc which created man's DNA. So we are part Engineer and part Human. A total new species created by the black goo out of the Engineer. In the same way, the Engineer created a new species out of the Octopus looking creature which sprang forth the Alien. My thoughts then is this: why did the Engineers leave the other Engineer on Earth and fly away in their space ship to leave this Engineer behind? Was he dooped into drinking the black goo thinking it was something else he was drinking? Did he want to create a new human species and knew this would be the price he would pay as his friends sailed away-death? Was this an Abraham moment when he would be the father of a new generation? If so, were the other Engineers who flew away watching the human's for ages during their evolution and found them to be too warrior like? Thus my conclusion or opinion: they decided to create a bio weapon which was an Alien to destroy man kind? Much in the same way God attempted to wipe out man for being evil doers in the Old Testament when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorah. And also when he sent a flood to destroy man again when Noah was on the Earth. The same thing is going on here. The Engineer wants to destroy his creation because it is too evil for him to even handle.

It seems to me we are giving humans too much credit for being a threat to Engineers. It inflated my ego that the human race could be seen as a serious threat to creatures who have been space travellng for millions of years(exaggerating a bit here). David and even Weyland seemed to be in awe of the Engineer's world. Clearly the Sactifical Engineer seemed to be doing what he wanted to do..oit made sense to him. It would be a cruel joke if he was tricked by others to drink the goo because it was good for him! If as you say he knew he was creating life would any posters here trade their life for that opportunity? Maybe if it involved a new Lamborghini.

There has to be more to it than that. If he simply wanted to create new life, he could have taken a blood sample and mixed it with the black goo. No, there's a spiritual element to this as well. I suspect that he was making a sacrifice to the God(s) in the same way that humans did for thousands of years. A modern human would not relish this prospect, but in ancient times, being chosen as a sacrifice could be an honour, with a year of lavish living before the anointed time.