Why seed the starmap?!

Ha Ha Ha, I was just about to post this thread.. lol. The thing is, maybe the star map is a warning. Or maybe the maps say, we need to attack this place to survive..

I think sadly the real reason is because it said so in the script!

Why did the urns start oozing black goo, the moment humans entered the complex? Does anyone think that was a simple coincidence? It seems to me more like they set a trap.

Simple really, if humans have the ability to travel to the location pointed out by the engineers, then they may have the ability to challenge the engineers' dominance in the universe. Think of it as a safety device, if their creations become too powerful then they just send them somewhere to trigger the human race's end.

good theory artyoh.

I agree with artyoh. Clearly a trap. The more important question is why? Either it was a fail safe strategy in case we got too advanced for our own good or they wanted us to come there for some other reason that has to do with bioweapons but not just to become hosts at the bio installation because weren't they planning on invading our planet with bioweapons anyway?

The trap idea is interesting because I got the impression, the way they edited it, that the storm was triggered by the chamber too.

Ya, it was a trap.. but did we get to see what the murals changed into? They left so quickly, I forgot what happened...

Folks I have news for you... the Star map is SIX stars not planets. It doesn't actually indicate LV -223. Remember the briefing? When Holloway and Shaw found a matching piece of sky (which I can tell you now ACTUALLY exists) , they were looking at a bunch of stars. So they tell you in the script how they arrived at LV 223. They picked the star they considered most like our Sun (which is tricky because at least three of them are quite like our Sun) having eliminated 5 of the six main stars (I would say - prematurely) they then looked for a habitable planet or moon in the solar system. (which I believe was shown to be Gleise 86) They found a decent size moon around a ringed gas giant, and the atmosphere was 21% oxygen and approx 70 % Nitrogen. As far as they were concerned... case closed. I would suggest that they picked the wrong star of those six. And they were lucky not to pick the bottom right star. For, ladies and gentlemen, the bottom right star in that system is Zeta 2 Reticuli... and around that star is a gas giant with a very small, rocky, dark moon... known to us a LV 426. (The Zeta Reticuli binary system actually exists, and was probably chosen as a reference in Alien, because it's part of the folklore of the Hill Alien Abduction case. ) Both Zeta 1 and Zeta 2 have similar characteristics to our sun, as does Gleise 86. LV 223 is not the Engineer home world, nor is LV 426... but perhaps a planet around Zeta 1 is their homeworld. It would make sense. They have their WMD plant in a neighboring solar system... maybe 6 - 8 light years away, and a ship in trouble leaving LV 223 (perhaps with a stowaway alien) could probably make it to LV 426 before the pilot bit the dust. I submit therefore, that the star map was not a trap, but the poor interpretation of it, led the Prometheus to a WMD facility. I would further argue that the slight difference in how the Engineer in scene 1 appears, and how the later Space Jockeys look (all identical, but more ripped, and always in those biomechanical suits, all points to some sort of caste system, and raised the possibility of competing factions in the overall species of Engineers. Perhaps the ones trying to kill the Prometheus crew (and all of Earth's life) are not the same group who seeded the map.

Hadley's Hope, Yes, I noticed the caste system in Shaws notes. Good point about it being various stars. [img]http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/5810/shawnotes008.jpg[/img]

What bothers me is that the constallation formed by the six stars shouldn´t maintain the same configuration across the time spam of the artifacts.

What bothers me is that the constallation formed by the six stars shouldn´t maintain the same configuration across the time spam of the artifacts. I was thinking that myself, but it depends how far apart they are and how fast they are moving, and how accurately they are sketched in each drawing. The two that are in binary orbit (Zeta 1 Reticuli and Zeta 2 Reticuli) have an orbit period of about 170,000 years. so over the course of 35,000 years they should have done 1/5 of a circuit.

I don't think it was a trap, more a response to a sudden change in the status quo of the atmosphere but it's open to interpretation. Also, if we're not going to suspend disbelief over the precession of the star system which seems perfectly fine to me, I think the notion that the Engineers may have been trying to maintain some continuity for the humans is plausible. Say, [i]this is what the star system should look like by the time you've evolved to a point where you can find it[/i], or some such, if the purpose is for humans to find that system that is.

The more I think about it I don't think the writers have it all organized or even know themselves. I thought it was a trap but that is too convenient an explanation. Truthfully I am not at all sure why they indicate that series of star systems other than expressing where they came from possibly for later humans, and that's about all we can really say about it. Shaw's assumption of an invitation was like the rest of the poor execution of the scientific method as practiced by the entire crew. But as someone else wrote, if they all followed the scientific method properly then there would not be much of a story because they would have been far more careful instead of stumbling into danger time and time again. When I first watched it I was outraged by the constant deviation from common sense and the scientific method by all the members of the crew who are almost all supposed to be doctorates, but if they behaved like scientists we would have no fun in the story. The titan Prometheus also broke the rules in Greek mythology so it makes sense that the crew of the ship named after him would do the same.

Nice to see this discussion continuing. I too was confused at why the Engineers would leave a map to a weapons dump on another planet. If it was deliberate (and we didn't read it incorrectly) then it seems the Engineers always meant for us to destroy ourselves or breed xenomorphs after a certain point of evolution. That seems to suggest we were simply a timed experiment, or perhaps the xenomorphs would be used to clean the planet for subsequent repopulating- although this is unlikely as the Black substance would destroy literally everything seeing the way it breaks down DNA, so why seed us in the first place? Still, as a deliberate way of destroying humanity, it seems the plan was very hap hazard. How would they know we hadn't left earth already thereby avoiding the weapon in the first place? If we are capable of smashing a ship into theirs and knocking it out the sky, wouldn't we also be capable of shooting down their ship before it reached orbit using missiles? Then there is the fact that the Engineer crew of that particular facility all died bar one. Was that deliberate? Did the weapon escape? Had the weapon not escaped, would they have come to earth anyway to destroy us? I would like more parts of the puzzle please ;)

I like what Hadley's Hope said about the misinterpretation of which star system the engineers meant us to visit. I also think that if they deliberately told us about LV223, it's plausible that they either: a) "Children, stay away from that place when you're developed enough to travel the stars" b) "come visit this place, it's where we want to use your bodies as vessels to create the perfect bio weapon. Errr, we mean it's a very cool place to hang out, ignore that first statement. Come visit." If b) is the correct statement, then yes, it was a trap, which explains why the urns started oozing when the Prometheus crew arrived. It could have been triggered a number of ways, most likely when they started opening doors and the changing the environment/atmosphere. Perhaps David knew this, and he started doing it on purpose. Now, if the star maps meant to tell us about their homeworld (around Zeta 1) and the crew incorrectly landed on the bio-weapon moon of LV223, then it is still easily explainable why the ooze started flowing when we got inside the "tomb," as explained in the paragraph above. I still think David had something to do with it, just as he triggered those recordings of the engineers running from something.

some very good theories here! but if it was a trap then why would the woken engineer ask why they was there in the first place??

THe leading of the humans to the Engineers' planet has some merit in the fact that the humans are followers. As such the Engineers want to keep the humans,,following a path because the Engineers feel humans are just a developmental entity..never a real threat. I agree that David is aware of this, His actions just sort of push the humans along..not really caring(except for Shaw) who survivies. Followers will never be leaders.. It sort of explains why David is opening as many doors he can find..as he would not be a desirable host for any Zeno's.. David must have been a bit surprised when his head was ripped off,,and used a weapon. That is why his back up(Shaw) was needed, She will survive as long as David can continue to lead her on....