Problems with the landing

I keep seeing people complain about this movie and things like this, and I just don't understand the point. Do you really need to see everything that would happen in that situation to make it a good movie? They probably did a scan before they landed or hell, maybe it was blind luck, I really think that is not important. Why spend extra time on such a stupid idea. I think RS' logic is that people are smart enough to realize what is happening off camera and not waste your time as it is a long movie to begin with and had to make cuts as it is. Yes, it would make more sense if it was shown to erase all doubt, but is it nessesary? Not at all. Would it be boring? Most likely. I think the film did not live up to some people's expectations and the only way to deal with that is to pick it apart. Why spend so much time talking about how much you didn't like it, if....well you didn't like it haha. Doesn't make sense to me.

"..I though the landing was to fast and easy.." Getting back to the original question.. I thought the actual landing spectacular..after I saw the trailer saying the Prometheus has Landed..." There was mentioned at some point that the ship did spend hours checking out the moons surface before we see what was in the movie. A little of that would have gone a long way to build suspense. How was the Promwetheus drawn to the point of entry just past a mountain twice tall as Mt. Everest? * David had predetermined the pyramid's location he wanted to explore? *Holloway sort of spotted the 'straight lines' buildings but was the computer just reflecting what had already been selected? It was just a co-incidence that our ship landed at the perfect place filled with the right pyramid that was the key to finding the right Engineers that had an Earth connection and could be the gateway to Paradise? Of course..

We're given a number of shots of them flying and landscapes, and shown that they're looking for anything of interest. It's not like they dropped on the pyramids straight out of orbit.

If that was the case they probably would've flown straight to it.

Given the pilots "switched to manual" moments before touchdown, I assume Prometheus was on auto-pilot before that and the dome location already factored in.

Well, they did say "switch to manual" just before touchdown. You explain it to me.

Ravel steers the ship towards the pyramid before they engage the landing sequence - then Janek says switch to manual. Guess they want to handle the landing manually rather than have the computer do it.

Yes, but if they switch to manual just before landing, doesn't that mean they were on auto-pilot before that? Doesn't that mean their course was already set to arrive at the dome? Just wondering, I'm no pilot. And if Ravel is steering the ship, doesn't that mean it's already on manual?

As I said "they want to handle the landing manually".

Steering, as far as I know, is manual. And answer the question about auto-pilot.

Why do you think they're using an auto pilot? Ravel and Chance seem to be doing the flying under Janek's direction.

So they're flying manual. So why order them to switch to manual if they're already on manual. And switching to manual is switching from what? These are not very difficult questions.

And yet you've not been able to work it out yourself... I have given the answer already. [b]They want to handle the landing manually.[/b] Janek says "Engage landing sequence" THEN says "Switch to manual". This implies that the landing sequence is an automated process, but once it's engaged Janek wants to land the ship manually. It's like having cruise control on your car, then turning it off so you can climb a hill more efficiently.

I think you're right. Even the steering thing can be explained by that analogy in some ways. If your car's on cruise control and you grab the wheel you can still steer it. They might have to be able to instantly regain steering in case of auto pilot failing, or wanting to try to go manually at an asteroid field because the auto-pilot's twitching out or something. You'd need to be able to instantly regain control if you wanted to just in case. So he may have started steering before actually disengaging the auto-pilot. That's easy enough to see happening. Just wondering if anyone knows offhand, how does it all happen when they hit the juggernaut? does janek say "hand's up" because they set it in position & plotted a course for it to somehow automatically ram the juggernaut while their hands were off the controls? Not trying to hint at anything or solve anything. I'm simply unsure of what exactly happens in that scene right now. Ravel and Chance must aim it at the Juggernaut, and they call Janek a crap pilot, but do they all take their hands off at the last second and it's still on manual?

Ok. Good Automated process. Which for a plane would be auto-pilot, wouldn't it? I don't give a flying fig about the landing, I'm just asking whether the spaceship was running on some automated process (auto-pilot) prior to switching to manual. Which could mean the destination was already input before entering the atmosphere. I'm asking about that possibility.

[quote]Just wondering if anyone knows offhand, do they switch to manual before they hit the juggernaut? or does janek say "hand's up" because they only set it in position & plotted a course for it to somehow automatically ram the juggernaut while their hands were off the controls? [/quote] They manually fly the ship while the ion drive warms up. They're still on manual when it engages to aim the the ship at the Juggernaut. Once the computer says "impact imminent", Janek says "Hands off!" I assume this is so no one accidently knocks them off course with no time to correct.

Pretty much what I figured, they were just going fast enough to keep them going straight. If part of that was autopilot it prob would have steered away from the juggernaut.

[quote]Which could mean the destination was already input before entering the atmosphere. I'm asking about that possibility. [/quote] Based on the dialogue in the film, I would say not.

Most of the dialogue is just techno babble so it doesn't matter much.

Maybe try actually listening to it and you might get your answers. They're exploring - not homing in on a position pinpointed from orbit like the Nostromo was.