Sequence of events Prometheous and Alien

Eggs or something
MemberOvomorphAugust 16, 20123738 Views48 RepliesI'm pretty sure I have read and interview that the derelict on LV-426 is to be considered older than 2000 years which agrees with the "fossil-like" SJ, the Nostromo crew encounter. This means that the ship would have crash- landed on LV-426 well before the Engineers in Prometheus were preparing to go to earth before something went wrong (hologram scene etc ...). How the company finds out about the warning beacon on LV-426 is a mistery.
Happy to be wrong on this as I would prefer a direct link of course and the SJ crash on LV-426 to be a future event.
Discuss....
August 16, 2012
"DISCUSS"
yes sir!!!
1 - the Derelict is pretty old
2 - most prob there will be no conection to the ALIEN derelict in the future Sequel(s).
[b]Ask nothing from no one. Demand nothing from no one. Expect nothing from no one.[/b]
August 16, 2012
[i]How the company finds out about the warning beacon on LV-426 is a mistery.[/i]
Not much of a mystery. In the novelization of [i]Alien[/i], Ripley guessed that either a Company probe or an off-course ship might have picked up the signal. Granted, that explanation isn't definite, but it still works.
August 16, 2012
Hercules - thanks for this.
I still think that the source of the signal would have needed investigating first by the Company to justify the content of the "Special Order" for Ash to "Bring back life form, crew expendable" etc ... I agree a signal can be picked up but how would have they known the details of what the Nostromo was going to find there? Maybe I'm missing something, but would you not agree that the derilict had to be previously visited (by other humans or androids maybe) before the Nostromo Crew arrival?
August 16, 2012
Just seen this on the Weyland Industries website:
Discovery of Acheron LV-426
Weyland astronomers discover multiple moons and a ringed planet just outside the Zeta 2 Reticula System, which are possibly able to support life. Weyland expects to travel there within the century.
May 14, 2039
The above would indicatwe that the Comapny did travel there before sending the Nostromo to the lions den!
August 16, 2012
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@ Snorkelbottom...
That was an excellent read from your link - you should pitch to write the script for P-2!
August 16, 2012
@Eggs or something: The [i]Nostromo[/i]'s visit was the investigating. Going back to the novelization, either Ripley or Ash surmised that for the Company to save money, they would just simply reroute the next ship passing through that stellar neighborhood instead of sending out an expensive survey ship.
Plus, Ash pointed out that knowingly transporting a dangerous organism to a populated world, especially Earth, is illegal. By the [i]Nostromo[/i] crew "accidentally" finding the alien, there would be lesser penalties volleyed at the Company. Sending out a well-equipped expedition would be a bit obvious. Also, if at the planet the crew of the [i]Nostromo[/i] should find nothing, the Company didn't waste any resources.
The Company had no idea how dangerous this lifeform was per the derelict's transmission. The [i]Nostromo[/i]'s investigation was purely out of the Company's curiosity. Again, they had no idea what they were getting into.
August 16, 2012
@ Hercules:
I agree on the point of using the Nostromo to investigate, it makes sense to economise. But the detail in the special order and the description of the Alien in Ash's final words proves the Company knew more than just mere curiousity. How, is my question really ...
August 16, 2012
@Eggs or something: "Bring back lifeform; all other priorities rescinded; crew expendable" still doesn't mean that the Company knew what it was.
By assuming that the Company knew what it was based on that, it's like that guy on the History Channel with the funky hair that says, "I'm not saying it was aliens, but it was aliens!", or someone saying, "We don't know what it was, so it must be [fill in the blank]!"
August 16, 2012
Question: If "The Company" (i.e., Weyland Industries or Weyland-Yutani Corp) knew about the xeno and therefore "sent" the Nostromo to retrieve it (which clearly seems to be the case), then how/why does The Company appear to know NOTHING about the Derelict/Eggs, etc. when Ripley awakens in Aliens?
"We've had terraformers on LV-426 for years and they never said anything about any aliens..." -- Van Leuwen, Aliens, 1986
August 16, 2012
@ Hercules: Interesting take but I'm not convinced. If you listen to interviews with the origianl script writers (O'Bannon) they discussed at length on ways / ideas of how to get the Alien on the ship and came up with the "impregnating a crew member" idea to disguise the transport of the alien itself (inside Kane).
So the same theory applies to the assumption the Company would have to make to ensure return of the life form to earth. If they were not aware of the detail on how the Xeno's attacked other organisms it would have been difficult for them to ensure the return of the organism on the Nostromo.
August 16, 2012
@Red Wolf: If you should send out an order as nefarious as Special Order 937 which results in the disappearance of a ship and it's crew, would you leave a paper trail leading back to you? Of course not. If a ship goes missing, naturally there would be an investigation and finger pointing. You wouldn't want to be the target of either.
57 years go by, and those who had participated in SO 937 would have either quit the Company, got fired, retired, died, or something else. Some would suspect that the Company still knew after all those years, which should make you wonder why they never went back to investigate the signal. Mind you, Burke only ordered this because he was going on Ripley's info gleaned from her hearing.
August 16, 2012
Red Wolf - Good point - maybe there was someone in the Company prior to the Nostromo mission that had a specific agenda which others (the leadership) did not know about as it was an illegal order.
August 16, 2012
[i]Interesting take but I'm not convinced. If you listen to interviews with the origianl script writers (O'Bannon) they discussed at length on ways / ideas of how to get the Alien on the ship and came up with the "impregnating a crew member" idea to disguise the transport of the alien itself (inside Kane).[/i]
But in that context, it had nothing to do with what the Company knew. It had to do with making the story work. If anything, O'Bannon hated the idea of what he calls "The Russian Spy" (Ash hiding his true purpose).
[i]So the same theory applies to the assumption the Company would have to make to ensure return of the life form to earth. If they were not aware of the detail on how the Xeno's attacked other organisms it would have been difficult for them to ensure the return of the organism on the Nostromo.[/i]
Which begs the question, without any speculation from us, how does the Company know what was on LV-426?
@Snorklebottom: The Company just came across LV-426 because it was rich in methane; perfect for terraforming. In the novelization of [i]Alien[/i], Dallas, under the impression that the transmission was a distress call, switched it off so no one else would set down there. In the director's cut of [i]Aliens[/i], JC wanted to hint that the lava floe that damaged the nacelle of the derelict knocked the signal offline.
August 16, 2012
if timeline accurate, and LV-426 croissant older than LV-223 five croissants, does this mean EGGS came before BLACK GOO?
Does indeed point towards BACK ENGINEERING by the engineers of the original derelict spacejockey, which Scott's film STILL hasn't answered or shown.
2013 sci-fi horror novels 'Custodian' and 'Tandem' available from Amazon, B&N, iTunes etc...
August 16, 2012
Ok boys, let's just sloooooooooooow this down a bit...
FACT: The Company knew there was a "specimen" of some kind on the planet emitting the signal (can't recall if SO 937 mentions LV-426 by name; the signal, btw, has never been totally translated/deciphered to my knowledge/memory; for all we know it says that a ship full of xeno eggs is there and just one of 'em -- when fully grown -- can wipe out a good-sized crew in under 24 hours).
FACT: Ash's orders were to bring it back for bio-weapons division (which INFERS at least one member of bio-weapons division said "Hell yes!" when asked if it would be interested in studying the alien possible mentioned in the above beacon warning) -- crew expendible.
FACT: Events in Alien occur as we've seen.
FACT: Ripley's story makes several high-level Company personnel look at her as if she's a psycho sci-fi writer (with a pen name of Lindy Loff), again INFERRING they collectively know nothing of what she's talking about; said story -- and said story alone -- inspires Burke to send terraformers out looking for derelict. Further, if The Company knew the derelict/alien were on LV-426 -- just not EXACTLY where -- then THEY would've sent a few teams of terraformers out to look for it.
Now, as a member of management for a nearly 1,000-member "company" myself, I can assure you that (in the real world) it's far-fetched fantasy that NO ONE still working at or for The Company knows anything about SO 937, the xeno, the Nostromo, etc.
I simply CANNOT achieve THAT amount of suspension of disbelief.
Switching gears, yes Free Planet: eggs preceeded goo (at least in the films). Which leads me to believe that xenos have been around "forever," just like sharks on Earth. Now, if Germany had learned how to "manufacture" shark goo so it erradicated civilizations/populations it did not like, we might all be speaking German today.
August 17, 2012
@Red Wolf...
First Fact: You must realize that although the signal may say that the specimen in question is deadly to the senders of the transmission, we would have no idea how deadly the specimen is to humans.
Second Fact: According to a zillion year old transmission, there was a dangerous organism. The Company would still not know if such a creature was still around after all these years or if it were even viable.
Third Fact: No indication that the Company had prior knowledge of there being a viable specimen.
Fourth Fact: Backs up what I was saying.
Final Point: Have you asked around the offices to see if there were any controversial dealings made by your company, past or present?
August 17, 2012
Herc:
Why would SO 937 direct Ash to bring a specimen home for the bio-weapons division -- expending the entire crew if necessary -- if it was "unsure" of whether it was "deadly towards humans"?
Several writers -- intelligent writers -- on this site will/would say that the SJ/Jugg may have only been on LV-426 for a MAXIMUM of 200-2200 years. While I don't typically quibble over facts/figures that may be approximate to begin with, 2200 is a FAR CRY from a "zillion."
Your response to the 3rd fact is exactly what's puzzling me: how in the hell does NO ONE from The Company know about the "specimen" on LV-426!? While it's true that Ripley had floated in space for 57 years, Van Leuwen says that terraformers have been there "for years," which cuts down the 57-year figure.
And while it's possible (if not likely) that only a few had knowledge of a project where a crew was deemed expendible, it is UNLIKELY that those in the know simply said, "Well, since we haven't heard from ANYONE on the Nostromo... I guess that's that."