Motivation For David's Actions

Hey RSFJ, The scene where David spikes Charlie's drink happens after the 'try harder' scene (with Vickers). So my guess is that, he probably wanted to test it, just in case it turned out to be what Weyland was looking for, an immortality potion or something... About the foetus, I have no idea. Perhaps, he wanted to keep the foetus alive and study it later? Also, the scene where Shaw falls to her knees in the room while Weyland's seated in a wheelchair bothered me, because noone (David?) seemed to give a shit about the foetus which she'd just removed. I don't understand this. Perhaps it is believed that traditionally a foetus dies once removed? But then again like David mentioned this wasn't a traditional foetus.... Can anyone clear this up for me? D:

@Caffeinated Anonymous Just simply a pothole, man. A pothole. Nothing more. [img]http://www.cornwall.ca/en/municipalworks/recources/pothole.jpg[/img]

David was under direct orders from Weyland. There were two objectives: ( 1 ) arrange a meeting with a/the "creator" for some more life for Weyland -and- ( 2 ) secure a specimen for the Weyland Industries Bio-Weapon Division He chose Charlie because Charlie and Elizabeth were a couple. A couple that was presumably knocking boots periodically (especially when they are celebrating). He could have chose to infect Janek, but he didn't know that Janek would serve up the brat to Vickers (ponder for a moment what that trilobite would have been able to do: dance, play basketball j/k). Best to stick with the known couple. Nothing personal. All business and all prompted by Weyland's response to not getting anyone directly infected in the temple - "Try Harder!" David needed to put Elizabeth under so as to get her into a cryopod and have her frozen for the trip back home (ala. Burke w/ Newt & Ripley). The operating table is only programmed for males because it is in Weyland's life-boat craft and the table is for his use exclusively. This is the only one on the ship.

@RSFJ, I think at some point, David starts to hate the humans. Note how antagonistic Holloway was towards David. I think David is on this journey to: 1) Do as Weyland asks him to 2) But to also find the origins of humans Because in this way, if humans were "engineered" just as he was, it wouldn't matter if he did not have a soul (as he was reminded numerous times throughout the story). Humans and androids are essentially the same. Also, I can't be sure but perhaps the operating table was designed only for males because it was only meant for Weyland if anything happened to him? After David's conversation in his amber colored helmet, he and Vickers have a conversation where they both seem to acknowledge that Weyland knows what's going on with the mission.

I also did not understand why the operating table was made for a male, but the owner, Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) was female. Why would she an operating table that even she could not use.

[i]I also did not understand why the operating table was made for a male, but the owner, Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) was female. Why would she an operating table that even she could not use.[/i] Please read above....

The operating table was calibrated for a male because it wasn't for her but for the old guy.

[i]About the foetus, I have no idea. Perhaps, he wanted to keep the foetus alive and study it later?.[/i] David was ordered by Weyland to put Shaw in cryosleep to keep the specimen in stasis for the trip back home after Weyland had rec'd his "1-Up". [i]Also, the scene where Shaw falls to her knees in the room while Weyland's seated in a wheelchair bothered me, because noone (David?) seemed to give a shit about the foetus which she'd just removed.[/i] All but Weyland came right to her. David gave her his lab-coat. Only David and Weyland knew that she'd gotten rid of the foetus. Everyone else was left in the dark.

Those theories certainly do make sense; Charlie got infected and David wanted Elizabeth to keep the fetus alive for extra insurance, or so Weyland could create his own biological weapons. Personally, I like the biological weapons angle, because as it was mentioned before, it ties in so nicely with the rest of the Alien mythology. It also shows how utterly greedy and ruthless Weyland is; he is on death's door, but is still consumed with turning a profit. Finally, it shows that Weyland had some knowledge of the Engineers that Elizabeth and Charlie didn't have, he knew they had weapons. This is something that can be expanded upon in an interesting way (between David and Elizabeth) in the probable sequal. @ Caffeinated Anonymous: I thought that David and Weyland didn't attack Elizabeth when they saw her because they already knew what she did, and thought it was too late. I assumed that they knew of the operation through the ship's internal sensors/surveillance, and figured that since the alien was decomtaminated, it must be dead. It's interesting to note how caring David was towards Elizabeth in this scene - he helped her sit down and wrapped her in a towel. Unlike some of the posters here, I don't think he hated humanity, or that he was growing evil. I believe that he was innately good, as seen by how he spoke to the crew, even while they were insulting him. The only times he was angry in tone or actions, was when he was following Weyland's orders. @ LV-001: I think the other posters here are correct. At first, I thought, "Why would the operating table be for males only, if it belongs to Meredith?", but it must actually belong to Weyland. It makes sense, considering what poor health he was in. Meredith was covering for him, and knew that he was alive and on board the Prometheus, given her "try harder" conversation with David. It also explains why she was so quick to tell Elizabeth not to touch the table earlier on in the film. She wasn't just being her mean self, she didn't want Elizabeth to stumble upon the truth.

@Antony ( a.k.a.: abordoli ) "dance and play basketball.." Really? That's all the black folks are good for? So I guess "certain folks" are only good for raping and pillaging other people and their land. J/K :)

Awesome movie, great discussion..for the most part. In my humble opinion, I believe that David was working for someone else. Either within Weyland corp or the Yutani corp that Weyland himself didn't know about. Everyone else is right on spot about the operating pod being calibrated only for Weyland. And lastly..is it me or did it seem as if David had a crush on the good Doctor? He was peeking in on her dreams and appeared jealous of her boyfriend. Perhaps his "model" was more human then anyone realized. Remember they had to keep "tweaking" them because of personality issues, until they fine tuned it with "Bishop's" model. And on a side note, everyone were "jerks" on the ship, lol! Everyone had something smart and rude to say except the Doctor. lol!

Clarification: I believe David was working for Mr. Weyland as far as getting him to the Engineers and getting eternal youth. But I also believe David was working someone else, higher up or competition at Yutani Corp as far as bringing back an live specimen.

David was receiving orders from Weyland--->"Try Harder!" he said...

At one point in the movie David tells Dr. Shaw, "Doesn't everyone want their parents dead?" My belief is that, for David, Mr. Weyland and the crew were his parents and at a certain point he decided to kill them. He does behave a bit like a teenager passively rebelling - doing what is asked of him most of the time, while ignoring or undermining the crew at others. One early example takes place after he activates the holo-recording and the group is in front of the sealed door. When Dr. Holloway says, "tell me you can read that," instead of giving a translation, he attempts to open the door indicating that: a) He doesn't have to do exactly what the say. b) His ideas are better than theirs. I do not believe he was trying to kill Dr. Shaw initially. He seemed to pay more attention to her from the start by looking in on her dreams and taking special care of her when she awoke from cryo. I think when he tried to put her back into cryo he was trying to do what was best for her. I also thought that, at the end, when he said he was afraid she had been killed that he was being genuine. But I had not considered some of the other things I have read in this thread. Bio-weapons didn't get any mention by Weyland or the crew in this movie so, and no one even guesses at that other than the captain, so I don't think David was trying to preserve one. David could read the glyphs, and he had the goo in his lab so he could have analyzed it and gained some inkling of its function. He also looks at the goo and says, "big things have small beginnings," indicating that he at least understands that it can accelerate growth. There are 3 possible motives for David poisoning Dr. Holloway: 1) He wanted to kill the crew to gain his freedom 2) He wanted to test the goo to "try harder." 3) He wanted to kill Dr. Holloway to remove him as competition for Dr. Shaw. Now that I've listed them, they don't really seem mutually exclusive. He could have been doing all three.

@ anthony: i may have missed it, but where in the film is it shown that one of weyland's (david's) objectives is to secure a specimen for weyland industries bio weapons div?

@ aliceayers - I think when David was told by Weyland to "try harder" David took upon himself to poison someone with a sample and see if he could get quicker results for Weyland. All of this is assumption but it seems to be the only logical reason - except if there was another sub plot. Speaking of sub-plot I feel David was on this mission in the eyes of Weyland working to help Weyland with his quest for immortality. But,,,, I think that David was also under the control of someone we have not met yet in the corporation. So David was working on several levels so I would like to add to @ kc2015 theory about David and his Motives: 1) He wanted to kill the crew to gain his freedom 2) He wanted to test the goo to "try harder." 3) He wanted to kill Dr. Holloway to remove him as competition for Dr. Shaw. Plus: 4) He was under orders or programming for another person or persons within Weyland to secure a sample or to find and secure organisms and the crew was expendable (just like Alien). David was juggling orders from all sides some of which were conflicting with his programming. Looking at this it all makes sense to me. Weyland is dying so why not send him on this fool hearted journey to find eternal life or whatever. Hey convince his daughter to go along to make sure that David follows his programming but in reality she is successor to her father so if something happens to her that is great. Who is in succession to her in the corporation? Greed equals power and money and that combination means someone is calling the shots. Get rid of the old man, his daughter and now you take over and David returns with some amazing technology and you’re in charge of it. One last thing do not forget that Weylend is a company that builds weapons and weapon technology. Remember Alien? All crew were expendable.

The answer to this really is quite simple... The substance inside the vials was intended for Earth, had it been deployed it would have unknowingly been consumed by the human race who will have gone about their daily lives as usual. The best example of daily life they had was in the couple that was on board, Shaw and Holloway, thus David recreated the conditions of the this substance being deployed by infecting Holloway and waiting for the inevitable to happen between the two to ascertain the end result. Much in the same way that Ash allowed the Facehugger to remain on Kane and studied it.

I would also like to add the second last scene of the movie. Why did David suggest to Shaw another ship and remind her of the need to find the makers? David has an agenda - he too must find the source of this technology and what better way is to use Shaw knowing she is desperate to find the answer or answers. Shaw knows David can read and speak their language and could fly the ship. So we now have an interesting sequel waiting in the wings which will introduce us to more Engineers, their race and we find out more about who is behind David. This could get good. Great movie! More I think about it I want more.

There is a scene in which David is talking to Holloway and asks him (paraphrasing) "What would you be willing to do to find the answers you're looking for?" to which Holloway replies (paraphrasing) "Anything and everything." To me, this was one of the most important moments in the film, because Holloway just unthinkingly gave David permission to conduct whatever horrible experiments he could think of. Holloway in his zeal for knowledge forgets he's not talking to a man... he's talking a machine, and a highly amoral one at that. As far as David was concerned, everything he did after that point was justified by Holloway having given him "permission". He used Holloway as the test subject because Holloway had already said he was willing to do anything. I would have liked if there had been a callback to that scene in the movie ("Why did you do it?!" "Because he told me to"), but it is what it is.

@ Mr. White - nice! I almost forgot that and you are dead on. So it looks like we have a interesting story developing for a sequel here.

Thank-you everyone for your input, you've given me a lot to think about! I like the idea that David infected Charlie and wanted to preserve the alien fetus for extra insurance for Weyland's immortality, but I like the idea of him doing it to create biological weapons even more. It just makes a lot of sense that way, because as dopelganger mentioned, Weyland Industries is a weapons company. I also like that idea because it shows just how greedy and evil Weyland is. He is on death's door, but is still preoccupied with turning a profit. It can create some good plot points between Elizabeth and David, in what I hope is the inevitable sequal! @Mr.White: good point, I too completely forgot about that! Charlie basically unknowingly gave David his permission to infect him. A few of you have mentioned in this thread that David was slowly turning evil and/or starting to rebel. This is something that I disagree with. I believe that David was innately good, and was trying to better understand humanity (as shown in his fascination with Elizabeth and her dreams, and his appreciation for the film to the point that he even dyed his hair to match the main character). Even when the crew was insulting him for being a robot, he never really retaliated. The only times he delivered morally questionable words or actions, was when he was following Weyland's orders - something he really had no control over. He even went out of his way to comfort Elizabeth after her surgery. As goddessonne mentioned, David may have even started to develop feelings for Elizabeth. @kc2015: I don't believe that David wanted to kill the crew and Weyland. I think that line was delivered because Meredith, on some level, wanted her father out of the way. This colours David's view of a typical family, and when he delivers this line to Elizabeth and she disagrees, he sees what a better person is like. I also think that David acted the way he did in the Engineer ship (activating the holograms, opening the door) because he was again acting under the orders of Weyland. He was doing everything in his power to learn about the Engineers and what they could offer Weyland. I don't think it was a matter of him believing his ideas were better than the humans'. This also explains why Meredith ordered the doctors not to engage the Engineers; she wanted her father out of the way. It's interesting how towards the end of the film, when Weyland suits-up to meet the Engineers, Meredith's humanity comes to surface, and she warns her father that if he continues, he will die. @Caffeinated Anonymous: The way that I interpreted the scene when Elizabeth discovers Weyland, is that David and the others did not attack her, because they felt there was no need to. By that point, I assumed that they already knew she had the operation via the Prometheus's internal sensors/surveillance. They assumed the alien died because it went through the decontamination process (even on screen, after it was decontaminated, it stopped moving). Because it was already out of the way, there was no need to restrain Elizabeth, and David's more human programming kicked in. It makes perfect sense now why the operating table was only programmed for males, thank-you for the clarification everyone! The table belonged to Weyland, who had a good chance of needing it in his weakened state. This is further shown when Elizabeth first sees the table. Notice how quickly Meredith snapped at her, telling her not to touch it? She didn't want Elizabeth to learn that it was only for males, possibly leading her to find that Weyland was alive and on board.

"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible." T.E. Lawrence Consider that quote in reference to the stasis scene where David is alert and watching Shaw's dreams. David is a "dreamer of the day" and he isn't dreaming of electric sheep. He is much more than an automaton following directions. This film is so laden with Lawrence of Arabia and TE Lawrence references its safe bet that David's motivation lies within these old works.

Well the clues to this are in the Weyland files, as they state that some David models was having behavior problems.

Also in Aliens Bishop said that previous Androids where a bit twitchy...

This all points to that some of the David models, had started to get there own freewill and Agenda, which can potentially be dangerous and lead to a Terminator movie situation.

So they had redesigned them to have less free will, and to simply follow orders, which can even be to kill Humans... such as Ash as he was following orders to a degree.

The Bishop Models can not harm a Human and indeed are more closer to the aim the company had for servent Androids.  To serve and protect mankind.