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*mini-UPDATE* - Engineer biology explained: nipples, genitals, bowels and wrinkl

iapetus

MemberOvomorphJune 16, 201213549 Views33 Replies
Hello folks, here are a few elements I gathered regarding the Engineers biology, from either behind-the-scenes shots, film elements or screenshots and interviews of sfx artists and crew. First of, contrarily to what I have frequently read across the board, the engineers do have nipples. They are tiny and not quite noticeable, but present nevertheless. See the (pre-)production shots below. It is particularly obvious on the cgi-match of the actor in the breakdown-shot of the 'genesis scene', and even more on the chest prosthetics in the behind-the-scene shots. A second step is to acknowledge that they have genitals. This is reliably supported by the pre-prod design studies for the engineers, in which the engineer features noticeable nipples and male genitals ; we can reliably assume this was preserved in the final design for the film as the Sacrificial Engineer appears wearing a loincloths tied around his waist which would make no sense if not to hide his genitals. And you don't hide your genitals more than you hide your ear unless said genitals are... gendered, which brings us to the next step... As a consequence from their having nipples and genitals, and given their DNA (see film) and physiological (see below) similarity to humans, it is relatively straightforward to assume the Engineers are gendered, and thus that female Engineers shall exist. As aforementioned, an element we can safely deduce from Arthur Max's interview (and, in a lesser way Conor O'Sullivan's – see material below) is that their physiology and metabolism are relatively similar, or at least comparable, to those of humans. They do need being fed during artificial sleep and their organic functions seem to be monitored in ways relatively similar to ours too. This and the scene in which David8 gets close to the engineer sarcophagus to listen to what appears to be a heartbeat seem to support that their internal organs' anatomy and function are also quite similar to ours. From there and on, we can probably assume their reproduction and life cycle to be potentially similar to ours, involving coitus, fertilization, gestation and delivery. This would mean only a couple tweaks and tricks differ, that are hinted at in the film (strength, life expectancy) but maybe also a few others we have yet not heard of (sensorial capabilities? interaction/symbiosis with biomechanoid tech? ...etc). Inferences in this paragraph are drifting one step further away from available material and shall thus be taken with a grain of salt, until additional elements infirm/confirm that. Another reliable assumption, however, is Engineers do appear to age. This is supported by the presence of an Elder Engineer (called so by the film's crew/initial credits) in shots from the introduction “Genesis scene” that were cut from the theatrical release (and could eventually be reintegrated in a DVD/BR “Director's cut”?). This is also indirectly supported by the fact engineers use sarcophagi to slow their metabolism for long period of cryostasis, which also would make no sense for a non-aging/eternal creature (so much for ole' Weyland's hopes anyway, uh?). These are the few reliable conclusions I have come to, from elements gathered so far. Please, do contribute in the comments and I will edit this post to append new elements (with due credits given) so we can have an extensive view of what we know about Engineer biology. *EDIT* One thing that make those nipples poorly noticeable in the film is the almost translucent and extremely pal, alabaster-like aspect of the Engineers' skin wanted by Ridley Scott (see Conor O'Sullivan's interview). It means there is a strong influence of light scattering in the several layers of 'skin' (either practical/virtual). This is achieved in practical-effects by the different layers the prosthetics are made off (including a semi-translucent top-most silicone layer), and in cgi through complex volumetric scattering effects for which Weta specifically explained how they had to further develop the tools they used on Avatar ([url=http://www.fxguide.com/featured/prometheus-rebuilding-hallowed-vfx-space/]**read here**[/url]). This massive scattering, coupled to the very pale matching-tone colour of their skin and the extremely unsaturated, crude and diffuse light (clouds, waterfall) of the intro scene explains the limited contrast on the engineer in these shots, outside of steep topological reliefs marked by a harsher contrast. (see how different/more contrasted the sacrificial engineer looks in a dimmer, warmer and more direct interior lighting in pic #8, and how easier it is to spot his nipple). ******************************** Sources/Credits: - quotes are from my translation of French magazine “L'Écran Fantastique” (much more inside, suggest to read it!) - PDF can be downloaded in [url=http://www.prometheus-movie.com/community/forums/topic/5835]**that thread here**[/url] - images are courtesy of [url=http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150887057811376.419643.551306375&type=3]Conor O'Sullivan[/url] (Prosthetics Supervisor on [i]Prometheus[/i]) ; [url=http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.403920239646688.88409.304949236210456&type=3]Creatures Inc. Ltd[/url] ; [url=http://www.fxguide.com/featured/prometheus-rebuilding-hallowed-vfx-space/]fxguide.com[/url] and [url=http://thenexusnews.com/prometheus-2-in-development/852676/]thenexusnews.com[/url] ******************************** [b]Arthur Max (Production Designer):[/b] [i][b]Can you tell us how you simulate the functioning of the many technologies on the sets of the ships, with accessories featuring moving parts, lightings, screens and various artefacts?[/b][/i] --- There are two parts of the Prometheus in which we integrated mechanisms and sophisticated accessories. The first is the mess hall where the crew meets after they come out of hibernation. We had to think of the technologies that should be assembled to maintain an hibernating person alive, and how they could practically work. We talked about that with both NASA specialists and members of the Royal College of Medicine. They told us about how the body could be preserved and the heartbeat slowed down and placed under a reactive monitoring-system. A person placed in hibernation must also be fed during the artificial sleep, which has particular consequences you will discover in the movie, when our heroes wake up. Similar phenomena occur when the creatures nicknamed “Space Jockeys” themselves come out of their hibernation-state. Like humans, they depend on systems that ensure proper organic functions, and are adapted to their particular morphology... [b]Conor O'Sullivan (Prosthetics Supervisor)[/b] [i][b]Can you tell us how you have found the right aspect to represent the Space Jockeys alive, on the basis of Giger's original design of the corpse?[/b][/i] --- It is Neville Page who was in charge of establishing the aspect of the engineers. In fact, what we call a “Space Jockey”, it is the appearance these beings have when they wear their spacesuits, and that they get in the seat of the control unit in order to pilot their ship.. It is this suit that we could see in the original film, and not their true appearance, because the suit closes around them like some sort of cocoon. [i][b]So, what we took for a skull in the original film is in fact a helmet?[/b][/i] --- Yes. And the rest is a spacesuit that opens to reveal the ideal body of a giant humanoid. The engineers are supposed to be slightly over 3m tall [translator's note: 9 feet 10 inches], and look like Michelangelo sculptures. [i][b]They are therefore very similar to humans?[/b][/i] --- They have the exact appearance of humans, except for their size. They have no hairs on their head or body, and look like a marble statue. Ridley wanted the aspect of their skin to be close to that of alabaster, that is a skin so pale that it is almost translucent, and that you can see the veins through it. During our first meeting, I told Ridley I was not sure we would be able to produce that exact aspect he desired. Ridley had only two technical options in mind to present them: either create the characters in CGI, or use actors wearing prosthetics. I think what tipped the scales in our favour is the fact we developed this new method of laying silicon prosthetics. Even if the entire make-up process for the naked engineer lasted eight hours, the final result was absolutely perfect. Ridley was delighted of the result and told us it largely exceeded his hopes. [i][b]The translucent prosthetics of the naked engineer were therefore made in silicon, while the opaque biomechanical suit was made in latex-foam?[/b][/i] --- Yes. The principal engineer of the film wears a biomechanical suit that we nicknamed the 'precious suit' [i][based on the art book, it appears the magazine reporter got it wrong and what O'Sullivan said must have been “Pressure Suit” - Thanks to The Engineering for pointing that out - note by iapetus][/i], that was made in latex-foam, on which we applied silicon elements. This suit was then covered in a layer of silicon, and then repainted. […] [img]http://cdn.fxguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Weta_eng1.jpg[/img] [img]http://cdn.fxguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Weta_4en.jpg[/img] [img]http://cdn.fxguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Weta_3en.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/znkdU.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/XUHSr.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/QC7FC.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/cLg3q.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/VDXJz.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/5tS8v.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/2fVyc.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/ZeOf1.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/W15dQ.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/FVS75.jpg[/img]
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Svanya
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I know they have nips, I am a woman TRUST me I have looked very closely at their bodies. I dunno why people keep saying these guys have no nipples.. Also what guy does have huge silver dollar nipples anyways??

Wat

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iapetus
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Svanya, you make me happy
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Spartacus
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tough job that guys got.
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shardy
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when i saw the awesome looking prologue scene. i was a bit irked that will ALL the fantastical concepts that the Engineers presented - that they have the need to wear cloth diapers....! i mean really?!? i was hoping that the male Engineers did in fact have all their parts, and seeing these new images makes me glad that they are in fact males, and not beautifully conceived eunuchs still, if you are going to seed the waters of Earth, and give up your very essence to create life, i would hope they wouldn't do so in an adult diaper but, what's done is done guess the penal-phobic audiences would have cringed at the site of an anatomically correct male Engineer ah well...
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sukkal
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They were probably praying for a PG-13 somehow. They NEVER could have gotten it with male dangly parts on camera, hence the loin cloth. FOX is in A.MER.RIH.KUH, after all... At least they made it out of biodegradable gauze and not lycra™. LOL.
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shambs
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So maybe the engineers are mammals? and secondly if they have genitals then there must be females in their race. Damn it! if we can be lucky enough to have a sequel then I hope that Lindelof is not behind the script; and I say this because I really want to know more about the Engineers, their culture, society, biology, etc.
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Custodian
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okay, that's sorted, thanks. :)
2013 sci-fi horror novels 'Custodian' and 'Tandem' available from Amazon, B&N, iTunes etc...
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Bruhathkayo
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Them having gender seems contrary to the nature of an advanced civilization. Sex is a very inefficient method of reproduction. I would have thought that if they originally came from a species of sexually reproducing organisms, they would have used their own genetic engineering methods to transcend such an inefficient process.
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Hadley's Hope
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Ah, hello? We know they have nipples because of pre-production shots released as part of viral marketing? Yeah, except they DON'T have nipples. Look at the images in the film. They do not match what is in those photos. It doesn't matter if they made nipples big enough to hang a wet towel on as part of any pre-production... the Space Jockeys in the film do NOT have nipples, show me an image of nipples IN the film, not nipples NOT in the film. Nipples NOT in the film are not evidence. I was arguing elsewhere that there were two lifeboats. Iw as sure of it, but we're not given many outside shots of the full ship, and I wasn't curious about it, until I noticed the whole thing with Vickers Quarters versus Weylands. I went and google it up, and sure enough there's a pre-production schematic with TWO lifeboats. But what did we see in the film? ONE big lifeboat. Presumably with two different sections for Weyland and Vickers, as they come and go by different doors. So I realised that pre-production stuff is not always what finally goes into the film. I am still amazed that there are people who will argue the following - Fifield was bored, he left because there was nothing for a geologist to do... (because that was his excuse.... take it at face value, not that he was freaking out at the giant headless corpse.) That Fifield was smoking tobacco (because when asked, he SAID he was smoking tobacco...) That the map pointed to LV 223 cos Holloway says so (even though the drawn giant in the painting appears to point to Zeta 1 Reticuli which is not where LV 223 is - Zeta 1 is a real star, and it's distance from Earth does not match the distance travelled by the ship, as stated in the film.) That it was an invitation because Shaw says so. Only two people contradict Shaw, and that's our boys Milburn and Fifield. First to die. If you look at images of the film, and there are no nipples, then nothing should convince you that there are nipples. If that point is not clear to you, then may you never serve on a jury if I'm the defendant. I'd probably get the chair for jaywalking. (Read that in a Groucho Marx voice... it's meant as a glib remark, nothing more)
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BigDave
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Yes but those are all pre production the final product appears to have nipples under the skin, very odd... Also the Engineers are Female..... i am sure of it..... why well look at the last picture.... thats a camel toe for sure ;)

R.I.P Sox  01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017

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Engineering
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Just wanted to point out that the production designer's name is Arthur Max not Max Arthur.
[IMG]http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q507/Engineering211/sig2.jpg[/IMG]
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iapetus
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@Engineering Thanks! Indeed, sorry about that, copy-pasted the quotes then wrote the rest from the top of my head and got confused! I edited the thread, it's correct now. [ Will do so for pressure suit threads too, will credit you for that, I checked and you were right, I' ll explain there too! thx too, good to have you around! ; ) ]
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Engineering
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No problem at all! I hope I didn't come across like a spell checker or something. I just really dig and respect Aurther Max and his work. I'm really glad you started this thread and worked so hard on it. I got really tired of the asexual theories as they were quite ridiculous. This certainly, thankfully put that baby to bed though. Thanks!
[IMG]http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q507/Engineering211/sig2.jpg[/IMG]
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Hadley's Hope
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[u]I'm really glad you started this thread and worked so hard on it. I got really tired of the asexual theories as they were quite ridiculous. [/u] Why were they ridiculous? [u]This certainly, thankfully put that baby to bed though.[/u] How so?
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kornbean
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@Hadley's Hope Can you link to the pre-production schematic of the Prometheus with the two lifeboats? I'd like to see it. Also, if we're judging the film solely by what's in it, then it's fair to argue that the star that the Prometheus travels to is Gliese 86 (considering the more comparable distance evinced in the film) and simply disregard Ridley Scott's claim in a trailer that it is Zeta 2 since this is not explicitly expressed in the film, though I personally don't feel like this is befitting.
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Engineering
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@...Hadley's Hope...I didn't read your post before and you have a point. But just keep on thinking they're asexual. You do that. D.N.A.
[IMG]http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q507/Engineering211/sig2.jpg[/IMG]
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Melodeath
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"Another reliable assumption, however, is Engineers do appear to age. This is supported by the presence of an Elder Engineer (called so by the film's crew/initial credits) in shots from the introduction “Genesis scene” that were cut from the theatrical release (and could eventually be reintegrated in a DVD/BR “Director's cut”?)" Just curious, how do you know that there are cut shots from the theatrical release that indicate an "elder engineer"?
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Not_my_intention
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@Melodeath [img]http://static.scribol.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/triad/traffix/13397364949a8446eb420c0d6c4622925b16bd8be3.jpg[/img] there you go lol
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kornbean
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@Melodeath Check out the Movie Stills and Artwork categories in this site's Media Gallery for the elder Engineers.
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Melodeath
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Thanks! I'm totally new to the site so I haven't checked any of that stuff out yet haha

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