thoughts on cuddles

I agree Irish,,, when I first saw it I thought * a squid!* what!? there area more bizarre creatures on earth! only thing going for a squid.....if pushed.. highly intelligent.....and water based,,if that's applicable to next movie hints???

They probably had it in their minds "wouldn't it be clever to bring this thing around full circle and have a facehugger on steroids attack and kill the Engineer". Problem is, as most people have pointed out, the creature just wasn't as clever or original as they thought it would be. and IrishAndroid - I agree, the battle should've been much more epic. Another rushed scene

I think I might have read this in an article (or perhaps even on THIS site somwehere): someone said they wanted to make the trilobite (or giant facehugger) very prehistoric-looking, resembling a squid or one of the first creatures to live on this Earth. I know this has nothing to do with the Prometheus movie per say, but the Kenner line of Alien toys came out with a giant facehugger figure they called the "Queen Facehugger", the one who carries the Queen embryo. This said, I'm not saying the Deacon is a Queen and I'm not saying they based the trilobite on a toy; it's just interesting the links we make sometimes. Here are some images of the toy: [img]http://www.toyarchive.com/STAForSale/NEW2001+/Aliens/2PackQueenFace1a.jpg[/img] [img]http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080220044623/aliens/images/4/49/Queen_Facehugger.jpg[/img] They also had a concept for a Queen Facehugger in Alien 3 which wasn't used: [img]http://www.sideshowtoy.com/mas_assets/jpg/400024_press10-001.jpg[/img]

You see that Queen facehugger in the extended version of Alien 3, one of the prisoners holds it up and asks what it is when they are bringing the ox corpse in for slaughter...........

I did find it a bit generic and kinda dumb looking. It was all toothy and going "nom nom nom". It looked like a prop from a B-movie, made me facepalm...

Thanks, Svanya. Glad I wasn't the only one!!

Second. There were better designs for the Alien creatures that they didn't use.......... And I had people ask me "Why was it a squid, weren't those things more..... Alien than that?" I dunno if we can blame Lindelof for that though, he just screwed the story, not the creature designs, but they weren't very original at all I thought.

In my head, when i read the track list the first time and saw 'hammerpede' i had a very clear image pop into mind of a huge giger-style alien that looked like a centepede and moved really fast, but as soon as i saw the squid i also thought, "what a huge cop-out on creativity... anything would have been scarier than this!" what would you have rather seen for this design? even the original chestburster seemed so much more original.

I don't have a particular vision in my mind as to what the creature could have been.....but the squid? Just freaking silly. Can you imagine the creature designs they turned down? They were probably much better. In addition, the Engineer being taken down by said squid was anti-climactic to me. it could've or should've been a much bigger struggle, in my opinion. It's as if they were trying to rush to simply end the movie. Again, I would like to stress that i did like the movie but i feel it could've been a much stronger film.

Shaw's baby is like a mutated sperm and the adult Cuddles is a bad attempt at a giant facehugger ... and it looks silly ... I could not perceive anything of biomechanics and NO!!! HE IS NOT LIKE THE LOVECRAFT MONSTERS! they look more darker than that IMO ;p

It was weak.

I couldn't help but think MANGA when I saw it (and I HATE manga... apart from Ghost in the Shell!). It had been seen/done before and I wanted to see something NEW! I was very disappointed very much by it (although I have had a nightmare about it... it getting me annd not Mr.L pulling stringfs)

Again, I'm so glad to see that i'm not the only one who saw that scene as a weak point in the film. Maybe we should all collaborate and write the next screen play?!

The scene in itself wasn't weak, but the "monster" was, in my opinion. All those teeth and multiple mouths gnashing away didn't do much for me. OK, I can accept that for a creature to grow to a huge size in a short time it might need a lot of teeth, but... lots of little mouths? Nah. And why were they on display when it attacked the Engineer? Was it going to eat him or have sex with him? Where it did work was when it - in effect - raped the Engineer. The proboscis was kind of cool. And when the deed was done and it slumped into inactivity on top of the subdued Engineer, I though that was quite good.

When you love squids ... Now you know the end result ;)

TBH I think we did not see Cuddles well because of the video angle was bad.

the Squid.... The horror.... the horror... turned hilarious.

We need a giant facehugger, but we need it to be different......I know lets make a giant squid with teeth! I mean really, that's the best they could come up with? :-(

The Lone Gunwoman: Now you know. Whenever you feel like eating squid... watchout for it's teeth. Also it may have a weird tendency to hump you. And that is ok... if your japanese, I guess.

Trilobite - No... [img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5MYzcaIPEhc/TbW91mrOPRI/AAAAAAAAAM8/BTXPv1cn7UQ/s1600/trilobite.jpg[/img] Ammonite, sans shell? - More like it [img]http://hoopermuseum.earthsci.carleton.ca/saleem/Images/Ammonites.jpg[/img] Belemnites? - BINGO! [img]http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-rsHnx5rk5Us/TqnvaWjVNRI/AAAAAAAAApo/AWh_RmZ3Jfs/cephalapods.gif[/img] It belongs to the CEPHALOPODS - clear as day THis was such a cock-up in terms of the naming conventions for me - anyone who read a book about prehistoric creatures aged 10 would notice AND if you really want a naming segway check out the [url=http://tolweb.org/Promachoteuthis_sulcus/19531/2007.05.30]Promachoteuthis Sulcus[/url]. Not only does the name sound similar - look at it! [img]http://tolweb.org/tolarchive/19531/20070530/tree/ToLimages/PromachoSpC.jpg[/img] [img]http://tolweb.org/tolarchive/19531/20070530/tree/ToLimages/promachSpCVent.jpg[/img] [img]http://tolweb.org/tolarchive/19531/20070530/tree/ToLimages/PromachSpCOral.jpg[/img]

Well, apparently the designers need Paleontology classes, can anyone send the curriculum of Iapetus to the FOX?

I even objected to the name Hammerpede before the movie came out. No way was it the cobra, I said, because anything "pede" equals legs. Sure enough, they screwed it up. And being a Geology major, calling that thing a Trilobite deeply offended me ;)

yes, for sure wasn't a Trilobite. Used to work with fossils when I was younger, and I seem no likeness what so ever. As for cuddles, I personally thought it was disgusting and wouldn't want to be "hugged" by it for sure! LOL

Please, I pray that nobody will hire these designers to Jurassic park 4 XDD!

I wasnt impressed at all by either Cuddles or the Deacon. Both too far removed from the already known creatures. Giger has thousands of designs which could have been adapted to at least keep the family resemblence. Hated the squidy fleshy arms, the mouth, the teeth but most of all the size. Why? They reduced the size of the SJs, yet increased the size of a hugger and burster.... Doesnt make sence to me. Having said that loved almost all of the rest of the film.

off topic...Freeze!, you've probably been asked a millions times, but who is that in your avatar? she creeps me out...in a good way. (sorry, I shoulda PM'd you)

I adore your avatar more JIM.... and I'm never off topic! Not me?! LOL It's from the original Solaris

Ha!...thanks. Only seen Soderbergh's (::ZZzzzzz:: ) 9/10 the original is always the best. Putting it on my list

Also, what the hell happened to it's body? It completely vanished from the adult - of which made no sense either at it was a considerable amount of it's mass taken up by it

The one thing that annoyed me most about cuddles v engineer, was that cuddles won. Personally I don't think the engineer was trying hard enough, it looks a lot like he actually sacrificed himself. I also think they used a tenticled freak because in the old days a bunch of tenticle bursting out of a doorway was really freaky. These days it is just 'Oh look at that a squid flopping around'. If it had of shot the engineer with acidic ink I would have believed it more. As for the reduction in size, I think this is because this version of the engineer isn't the true form. Therefore they are smaller.

I was expecting Captain Nemo to take the beast Squid to task and have calamari for dinner...

I liked the Trilobite. It probably got its name long before a design was finalized. Tentacles are classic, creepy, and consistent to the retro aesthetic. I've always wanted to see them done well, and they were! I love the Xeno but I'd like to see a whole managerie of new things, all hideous, hostile and hungry, so for me, Ridley came through. The way it took the Engineer was awesome, though I agree there should have been more. The Deacon at the end was there to finalize the cycle and seal the connection, and I liked it, too. I know this makes me a dork. Oh well!

Can anyone comment on the fact that Cuddles was so big? Was it so big because it "had to" be able to overcome the Engineer? In other words, was there something in the life-cycle or in the nature of the black goo that made it so this was an "Engineer Face Hugger" instead of a "Human Face Hugger"??? It seemed particularly well-adapted to overcome the massive strength of the Engineer. Almost overkill for impregnating a mere human; normal sized face huggers seem to be sufficient for that. Also, could Cuddles have impregnated Shaw?

The reason i think is simple.... Ridley wanted to use some concepts that was in the Original Star Beast Script that then evolved into Alien. Star Beast had a temple, its Eggs was described as Leathery Urns that had two layers to them and contained Octopus like Organism that then Evolved into a Worm Like Organism and then the finished product was a Octopus like Organism with 6 limbs. I think Ridley used some of those ideas, and the concept work for Star Beast showed Mural in the Temple that looked like Shaws Baby Grown up. [img]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8sv9gYsuLwc/TAopt7TwxqI/AAAAAAAAAOM/G6PtJ_zD_iU/s1600/07cobb.jpg[/img]