A Queen Engineer?

tjvanhawk
MemberOvomorphAugust 22, 20123495 Views60 RepliesWe all know that xenomorphs have queens, but I'm curious where they got this trait from. Considering that xenomorphs acquire the attributes of their hosts through some sort of DNA transfer and that engineers have definitely been the unfortunate hosts of xenomorphs, wouldn't it be interesting if xenomorph queens came from engineer queens originally?
This theory is consistent with some of H.R. Giger's art depicting goddess-like or queen-like feminine forms. It is also consistent with our only seeing male engineers so far which, to me at least, look very clone-like. These would be the "worker ants." The hive would be back on the home planet, along with the queen or queens!
Finally, if there are engineer queens, they would have a royal jelly that can activate queen DNA. Of course, this trait would also have been passed on to the xenomorphs. In fact, this may explain the two types of black jellies seen so far, one "good" the other "bad."
I'm curious what others have to say about this. I think it is a very nice theory consistent with what we know so far, but I'm not sure it jives well with the elder engineer that was cut from the final movie. On the other hand, such an elder could be another type of worker ant. In nature, after all, worker ants in a single colony vary considerably in size and form (now that I think about it, this could explain the large size of the space jockey seen in the original Alien movie).
August 22, 2012
They might not call it a king yet until it reproduces and serves/protects to spread the message/genetics of the first King... The king might also have a name that associates it with being a regent instead of just being called the king alien. Even tho that's what it'll be
August 22, 2012
I wasn't directly comparing the Engineers to a bug. I was comparing them to the elements of the goo, the xeno genetics which were always originally, partially based on a type of insect. As well as being a mixture of other weird traits from creatures we already know about and probably characteristics from others that we don't. The overall purpose of the goo is much like what happens to civilizations and cultures over time, as new leaders go by. And it's much like the egg morphing when you think about it.
Look at the trilobite and the Deacon they have some aquatic like traits that we might see in our ancestral oceans... Hence the name Trilobite. They're basing everything off of a lot of things. Sometimes combining things in new ways.
In this case I'm only saying the female/male dominance is like a Preying Mantis, because most people know how that works, and might be able to see it applying to all the decapitated/detached heads thematically..
I really think it's more about male patriarchy that continues to exist to this day. Although things are changing.
With the Aliens and Engineers it could be the females that become empowered and take charge, tying it even more into what's going on in the Alien series and actually building on the female empowerment themes ppl say are hidden below the surface in Alien.
The King is too chaotic and even though he is almost undying in the hybrid goo-alien's case, this chaotic nature it it's weakness, and why control of the hive has to be given to the Queen for her turn on the throne.
August 22, 2012
@Mala'kak. I love your enthusiasm. But i really don't see the Engineers having an Insects biology, in terms of reproduction? When they share the same DNA has Humans.
Basing Aliens on Insects as been played out, time and time again throughout Sci Fi history. It's time for Fresh Ideas and i think that is what Ridley is trying to achieve with Prometheus as he did with Alien.
The poster was good though!
August 22, 2012
@leech: All the facepalming is basically from members who have seen hundreds of posts with tons of random theories (like mine) and are basically just sick of them. I can understand, but still glad some are still willing to kick a few more theories around ...
Probably the strongest point against the Engineer Queen is the fact that they share our DNA, so how could they possibly reproduce so differently? Agreed, but then how does one explain the massive height difference, black eyes... The simple explanation is that the engineer DNA isn't exactly the same as ours (how could it be, anyways, considering all the variation in human DNA, who are they comparing to?). When Shaw says it's a match, she probably just meant that there are long stretches of DNA sequence that are human and that couldn't possibly happen by chance.
August 22, 2012
@Mala'kak: I like the beheading thing (which would tie into leech's head theory nicely), though I don't know how far we can take the bug analogy out. We haven't seen a king of any species period, so no reason to believe one exists. Queens on the other hand... ;)
August 22, 2012
I for one have nothing against theories. Everyone is entitled to theirs, and that includes the nurturing and feeding of said thread throughout it's life. Yes some of the members have seen or heard or speculated about a theory and have grown tiresome of repeated attempts to bring said theory to life, with a logic, and hope into a agreeable environment within the forum. I have been witness to many of said theories and wish each of them the best of luck in their struggle to survive the sometimes harsh environment of the forum threads, but one must realize that life on the Internet is one fought with danger and speculation at it's center of existence. Long live the Spice... "The Spice must flow," and all Internet life forms should be allowed to mature to sizable status before submitting to the knives of the critics for it's very meat and skin and bones.
August 23, 2012
@ Necronom4
With the engineers it's the reverse and more about the change in management, than about the actual genetics taking over and a reproductive method change.
I'm saying the opposite happened to them, but the females need to come back into power. The males don't know that they need them to achieve a balance, or that there still could be a culture of them out there. Well the Engineers probably don't know, maybe the Elders do if things go a certain way. But I'll admit I'm not too sure they'll dive too deep into Engineer Queens. We might only meet a few the Elders kept around. The king stuff tho... and so from there I'm extrapolating a bit really expecting to see some engineer queens as a sort of mirror of what else is going on.
It's more like a thematic link to the idea of them eventually coming to rule over the females in the ancient past, the reverse of the alien king-queen idea, breaking away from them at one point and finding new ways to reproduce. Which were used on Earth before we were created and naturally reverted to two sexes because they had engineered themselves to contain both sexes before producing us.
Even our earliest cultures were mainly matriarchal in nature and some of the bigger ones almost reaching full civilization status were ruled by Queens originally. I'm a male and even I would say we've messed a few things up because of the nature of some of our past male leaders once everything switches to patriarchy and onwards. That's why one of my favorite bands/band names is Queens of the Stone Age. Certain groups that have risen to power did nothing but hold women back for so long. Now things have become more fair. But even in the last 100 years women were still held back.
That way it's the reverse of what I was describing with the aliens.
Female-leaning hermaphrodites were originally in power, as were the Elders for a time.
But it will be heavily implied that things would be better if the Elders and the more female leaning hermaphrodites were in charge. And so I'm thinking they may actually come back in charge.
Not that the reproductive cycle is actually like an insect's life-cycle, more tying into themes about patriarchy. Weyland's preference for a "son", even tho he had a daughter who wanted to take over the company. This "son" may also think/feel he has the right to lead as a superior species to humanity, and has been practicing to be a leader. Painting himself a certain way.
There may have once been a time for them when the females were in charge, and they're now all pretty much non-existent. Leaving the kings to do as they please for a while. It's been a long while though and divisions have happened, male sub-groups have become more warlike, and they weaponized the fire to overthrow the Elders and attempt to use us in their war against the kings and fathers.
To return to power the Elder Queens may need to settle their differences with the Elders. In order to help the Elders regain control of the Engineers who broke away from them and have been in a war with the Elders ever since. But the Engineers only have to be controlled and redirected. There's an even greater threat. Prometheus was just the small beginning to David's big plan and even bigger things.
David is acting like the title character in Lawrence of Arabia and quotes the movie many times. It's not only his fav movie. He's emulating it.
In the movie Lawrence sets out to learn all the ways and languages of the groups he'll be dealing with. David has a plan in mind much greater than what Weyland had planned. He learned much more than we're led to believe when he deconstructed, cross-analyzed and recombined the ancient languages. No doubt learning a few things from recombining all the myths and ancient writings into a working Engineer language.
David may just attempt to unite multiple minor groups against a bigger threat, like in Lawrence of Arabia. Much like in Lawrence of Arabia. Prometheus was all David's trick and he didn't mind that it hurt. He's found a way to not show his true feelings and to be able to tell only partial truths (he's unable to tell a complete lie like Pinnochio) , which makes him give away some of his true meaning behind double meanings.
David wants to rule... there's a reason he felt that his father should die, That the king should be knocked off the throne. It's too long to post right here. The gist is he's the closest thing to a prince, and Vickers is dead now. Feels slightly superior to humans.
However, David has feelings that are misguiding him, and will cause him to be semi-chaotic like Weyland. Inevitability he'll be replaced. Even with his mechanical immortality/endurance, he'll rust and die, be destroyed some way, or come to be replaced. Despite this he helps unite those groups against an even bigger enemy, an empire. After the head/king is reattached to the body of the company/kingdom and the kingdom undergoes changes under the new leadership. Starts to breakdown, but is recombined and changes shape. Morphing into the monstrous entity we know from the other films. As David helps reshape the crumbling Weyland kingdom into Weyland-Yutani Empire and becomes a king in his own right for a short time. Launching a hidden war only he knows of so far that will continue between the original movies, behind the scenes.
August 23, 2012
@ Mala'kak. You should write a Sci Fi Novel. I'm being serious...Some good idea's there!
One thing that struck me about the Engineer, at the Opening Scene was that he didn't have any Nipples (stop giggling). So they are not Mammals? Or is that the way they have evolved?
I personally believe that, they reproduce by Seeding new life, on other planets, through the disintegration of themselves! They are neither Male or Female. Or maybe they are both?
They are grown in labs by their Android masters? Grown and made like Replicants..Thats my theory.
The poster was good though!
August 23, 2012
The only way I see there being a Queen Engineer is if there is a female Engineer that is in charge of the Engineers society, other than that I don't see there being a Queen Engineer akin to the Queen Xenomorph. I say this because as Shaw said "Their DNA pre-dates ours", and taking into account their appearance suggests, nah pretty much demands that female Engineers are akin to female humans just more evolved, with pale white skin, no body hair and muscular bodies (unless my "far out" theory of the females having been engineered into the Juggernauts has some credence).
Which brings me to you Necronom4, the Engineer at the start of Prometheus does in fact have nipples, they are just so small most people don't see them. Save the image below to you computer and zoom in, the nipple is faint and small but it is there...
[img]http://www.prometheus-movie.com/media/sacrificial_engineer_prometheus2.jpg[/img]
August 23, 2012
Well we know nothing about the Xeno Orgins.
Only that they have a Life Cycle
Egg=Face Hugger + Host = Embryo = Chest Buster = Xeno
Aliens introduced the concept of the Queen to lay the Eggs, maybe Queens are created by similar means to Bees or Ants.
Alien deleted scene showed Humans being turned into a Egg.....
But then i think it was Snorky who had a great idea... in another thread.
The Alien appeared to be turning one Human into a Egg and another just cocooned to be the host for the eventual Face Hugger that comes from the other Egg.
So that Cycle would Produce 1 Egg and 1 Host and thus another Xeno making 2.
But why kill the other crew? Sure if the other two was captured then it would make 2 Hosts and 2 Eggs and thus give us 3 Xenos... Or if they was Eggs then 4 Eggs and 5 Xenos only if the Ship came into contact with Hosts.
So why did the Xeno only take alive 2 people?
But this was canned from the movie and Aliens then gave us the Queen to procreate the species.
But as Snorky suggested.... what if the Host and Egg from Alien created from the captured 2 crew members was a special Egg containing a Royal Face Hugger that would then give us a Queen who could lay Egg after Egg after Egg.
R.I.P Sox 01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017
August 23, 2012
@Snorks. Yeah, i can just about make out a nipple, but it's not very visible, like ours. I think it's the Actors real nipple and the make-up department have tryed to cover it up, to make it look like he has none!
The poster was good though!
August 23, 2012
Ridley is not going to peeee all over the Queen Concept, i think he liked it.
But using his Alien Concept that was not used and combining it with Aliens Queen gives us a possible outcome that the Xeno can change a Host into a Egg that becomes a Queen Xeno Royal Face Hugger.
We know so little about the Xeno creation and Orgins and hopefully we shall get answers after Prometheus 3 has been finished. For Prometheus 2 should give us more answers about the Engineers.
I do like the idea however that maybe like some of Gigers work that the supreme race are a race that contain both Engineer and Xeno traits and thus like this.
[img]http://farm1.staticflickr.com/28/53952265_5e8badb5b9.jpg[/img]
R.I.P Sox 01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017
August 23, 2012
Yes,
Taking my idea, that Big Dave mentions, imagine if the scenario of Alien had played out in the Aliens favor and Ripley hadn't been so much of a pain in the arse...
[i]The Nostromo returns to earth, Weyland-Yutani eagerly awaiting their prize open the airlock doors and step inside to find the ship deadly quiet with no signs of life, but upon heading down to Deck C they find a Queen Alien (having been born from Dallas from the Royal Facehugger that had once been Brett) sitting there surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands of eggs which then hatch, hugging the hapless humans and spreading the infestation, possibly down onto Earth.[/i]
...if only Ripley hadn't had torched Brett and Dallas and blown up the Nostromo.
August 23, 2012
@Big Dave. Regarding the deleted scene in Alien. To me, it looked like Dallas was also being turned into an Egg. Don't forget that Brett was taken before Dallas so Brett would have been further gone than Dallas.
The poster was good though!
August 23, 2012
@ Necronom4,
Ah now you see them, but they are actually part of the suit that the actor wore as seen here...
[img]http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/tsminteractive.com/files/2012/06/prometheus-alien-sacrificial-engineer-daniel-james.jpg[/img]
This is the actor from that scene, Daniel James, wearing a latex/silicone body cast. His real nipples would not have been visible.
August 23, 2012
Oh, my mistake Buddy. I really should look at the Gallery! LOL
I still believe that they are grown in labs and made like Replicants though. Thanx 4 the picture.
The poster was good though!