How did David know how to open doors in the "cave"

Djamelameziane. I think sometimes certain people can get science fiction and science fact mixed up :-)

David also intended to steal the fire for himself as he will need it to fight/punish some of the groups to appease others in this series. Fighting fire with fire. So he's got the weapons now on the second juggernaut and his plans could have went either way because like the movie itself they've loosely planned for multiple outcomes and different ways things could go. He wanted Shaw to take him home first to his soon to be kingdom. Where he wanted to play king, while the Engineers and Weyland were previously portraying themselves as gods. This could all tie into an evil androids run the company idea and there is no true "head"/ceo/king/founder of the company anymore... David ultimately sacrifices himself though and leaves the company in the hands of Yutani's bots... Making the lies used to attempt to manipulate Ripley in Alien 3 even more powerful when they're coming from someone who is NOT: the original founder of the company(because that was Weyland), human/creator of bishop (in one version it's an actual second android claiming to be creator/king). Not a current leader of the company (because it's now been taken over by robots). Not the original mostly friendly bishop (uses the image to influence her, and it was made in the image of this "creator"/ head of a company). And quite possibly not actually related to Old Weyland. Maybe never even the actual leader of the company, just a face/name/lineage Ripley might recognize and respond to. Probably the creator of bishop still when he's real, but maybe not the head of the company. Maybe the company doesn't even know. But the androids know who's really making decisions in the company now. The Yutani made bots that David never thought to get rid of before he finally dies., and they usurp everything he has built. But are not as advanced as he is because they lack the original designs Weyland built. Much of the Earth succumbs to a war leaving what we see behind in Alien Resurrection. Those in the know in the company know what went on back on Earth, but are led to believe the humans there destroyed themselves and their own cities. The bots end up continuing a hidden war David thought he had secured a treaty in, but both sides have lost the bio-weapons by this point thanks to David. And the company wishes to get the upper hand on them. As they can only extend their colonies only so far. They don't really care about protecting those colonies. More worried about war with someone else the colonies don't know about and losing the resources the colonies and humans bring in for them. And they have a lot of patience and prefer to make the humans do some of the dirty work sometimes. They calculate risk of humans in the company finding out and know when to send in crews to explore LV-426. Unfortunately this happens at a time when David's reign is just ending because of some detours and time skips. Leading David to LV426 briefly after the events of Alien to put a stop to a clone of someone we know who is one of the resurrected characters Weyland fathered but won't return until the third. Because she was grown in lab. Weyland just thought David was the better creation because he was smarter and durable. Weyland corp had been secretly working on merging bio and mechanic life. He couldn't create as the Engineers did, and as the Engineers made themselves. He sees Vickers as only a prototype, and a failed prototype. David intends to create something new out of humanity and this prototype before he has a change of heart and only does it to some of his subjects. It/He tries to use the position of authority + relation with the original bishop, as it's creator (though not a blood relation obviously) to try to make Ripley trust him. When really the company wants the bioweapon still. Something that only starts after Prometheus. Peter Weyland was seeking eternal life. Not death to his enemies. David uses Weyland's rhetoric, inspired by myths, to influence his subjects. Asserting his right to lead and proving his likeness to the father. With multiple ways to coverup things, and the ability to deceive and lead with his half truths. One of the ways being assigning multiple potential meanings to a lot of things in the movie that can go/be taken many ways. Another is to add ambiguity to his statements so they are general and he is still telling the truth, yet we don't know everything about what he is referring to. And that is purposeful because this is how David controls things. By making people believe what he wants them to believe. David does this when he lies, he adds a double meaning/ambiguity to everything so he can try to cover it up by pretending he's referring to something else. The engineers are not truly our enemies, but do hate us and wanted something from us so it's easy to twist that into making the company think the Engineers are a real threat to all life on Earth. Sometimes to create you have to first destroy. But he never specifies anything... for all we know he could be dodging the question in a way, and also referring to what he has in mind. He intends to create a new order by allowing Weyland to get the ball rolling on his own death, and then altering the kingdom now that the heirs are dead. If he hadn't have helped Weyland he would have had to wait longer for him to die, and may not have ended up free to roam the stars. He didn't mind that his trick might hurt him, and that his emotions might show through and reveal his trick/deceit. But he's is close to immortal and does not feel physical pain. Only emotional pain. He didn't mind the Engineer might attack him too. Probably didn't expect to get his head ripped off, but hey he survived anyway. He's the closest thing to a true god we've seen so far and this is because he will almost become a god, and a better king by the time it's through. Using an army of Davids to be everywhere at once and wielding a great power that he can slingshot at the giants. Shaw asks what he'll do when Weyland's gone right before Weyland dies. She knows the place is full of only death, as does David. David says he imagines he'd be free then. David allows Weyland to get himself killed by asking something impossible of the Engineer and following Weyland's orders in a certain way. He even remarks on the cryo-chambers as the only guilt ridden warning to Weyland that these beings are not immortal, and not gods. Shaw knows "I didn't know you had it in you" was a sarcastic lie. David told her he knew it was "in her" and she was 3 months pregnant. He's messing with her, and she's picking up on it. At this point she may know it was more than Weyland's orders. He was going along with it because he knew what Vickers knew. That Weyland might die on this mission. Of course he lets Weyland keep believing they're gods after the genetic match and discovering the bioweapons. When he says "I didn't know you had it in you" he is showing that he can even be sarcastic, cruelly humorous, and doesn't care when he lies in this case. He doesn't care that she wouldn't fall for the double meaning. But he's showing her how he lies... Doing it not out of necessity at that time... So David's emotion will allow his lies to show through more... eventually... his realness works the opposite of Pinnochio, and allows his lies to show as his artificial feelings and free will continues to develop. Before it was kind of his guilt giving it away with the multiple meanings, but eventually he will realize he can't even lie anymore because he feels too much compassion for the groups he's been working with. And turns them all on the main aggressors who are not the original jockey or the engineers... yes it will get messy. But at least when Shaw shows up bloody David shows more emotion towards her when she walks in than Weyland and the other attendants do. And he did know what she just went through. Only he's looking at things the wrong way still. And hates humans. Especially humans like Holloway.

Or David was way too curious

1. he studied PIE for a long time and 2. he tried like 3 to 4 times before it was succesfull Hope this helps :)

I love his, "Oops," and in the later (deleted scene) to Vickers, "Technical difficulties, sorry." David was an INSURGENT AGENT (as are all robots) just like 'Lawrence of Arabia' was for The British Empire.

@FreePlanet; Don't forget his "Sorry" , in the deleted scenes, when his head fell next to Weyland after the Engineer used it to bash him! LOL!

To Ali3n He could roughly read the hieroglyphycs . I suspect there might have been writing close or next to the buttons on the door that might have indicated their meaning... Roughly speaking ...... The level of layering in prometheus is staggering ...wow this might get interesting ......

Svanya, yeah, the SORRY was perfect DDH or David Dry Humour.

PIE = Proto-Indo-Europien Sorry, forgot to add - -''

Exactly he reads/speaks the language(s), so anything he needed to learn could have been absorbed along the mission. David knows much more about their culture now than he did before... Much more than most learned except maybe Shaw who I think knows a few more things than she's saying too. And just like in Lawrence of Arabia he studies ancient, and other, languages via way of ancient myths and instructions. In this case breaking down the languages to their roots and reforming them into a working Engineer language in a way similar to how the goo functions. (Re)creating something by breaking down the languages to their elements, and arranging them in a new way that rebuilds the original language. He could only do this because he was cross analyzing and deciphering along the way, and studied multiple ancient languages/cultures to come up with the language. @FreePlanet He learned the language first before departing on his mission like in Lawrence of Arabia. Lawrence spent time learning about mythology at oxford I believe, and learned the languages of the groupS he would be interacting with before setting out. And it's David's favorite movie because he knows "big things have small beginnings". Did he have some prior knowledge of what the goo would do? Was he talking about something else at the same time, something else he knows about? Because he's the one who's planning it now. That line being from Lawrence of Arabia is a huge clue that David intends to act out his favorite movie on a massive scale. In a sci-fi way. In space. I believe Prometheus set the stage for this and there will be multiple groups. Two empire like entities in the end: Brits and the Turks, and then the french and the natives. Substitute the French for Yutani possibly. And you know how he comes to sympathize with the native tribes a little, even though he's on a mission at the start, and how he unites some of the groups to fight the Turks right? ;) Make the Turks the true Gods and you'll see where some of this is going. Not an entirely clear picture because there's many ways that could go. But pretty damn certain that the multiple factions theory will turn out to be more than a theory.

And David's the only one who can go between the groups and speak all 3 technologically advanced alien faction languages. And knows the most about each culture. Using this to his advantage and manipulating Weyland corp as the new king. Before it becomes an Empire. And he goes from King David to Emperor David. Emperor for a brief time of the Weyland-Yutani Empire (another joining of groups/kingdoms he orchestrates). The Closest thing to a prince/son to the king before the kingdom/company is joined with the Yutani kingdom, Becoming a defacto leader in the hidden battles ahead against another Empire. However this means bad things for some of his subjects along the way. Because he's become like the father he hates. Quotes the same movie, and has a hidden (so far) obsession with mythology. An understanding far greater than Weyland's, so he feels Weyland is a fool. And wanted the king/father dead for multiple reasons. He thinks he knows how to deal with what he sees coming and take his place on the throne once Weyland brings them to the doorstep of the gods. He has huge things planned and sets off various plans. Prometheus was just a warm up to his act. He's "painted" himself a certain way but will become a leader to some of the groups of natives. And then a leader of Weyland-Yutani to connect to some of the mythological themes and the reason the Engineers hate us. History repeats and we form an all powerful, more perverse version of Weyland. It becomes a monster with the drives that Yutani brings in and David once again has to mess with humanity(well the company) to help humanity. But the company will return to square one and has lost any connection to most engineer technology in a great catastrophe the company is covering up. Things get less perfect for the company. The golden age of Weyland-Yutani is now completely over after the lost their brilliant yet chaotic king and most of his legacy. Again no Predators for this franchise because they are following a mixture of certain world mythologies at the same time and it wouldn't mesh well anyways. 4 if we actually meet female engineers & if their language is slightly different. David learned about certain mythological groups and believes some of the myths had things right, believing that he's found the ways they all connect. But even David has to find out he's wrong about one of the cultures he secretly believes exists and intends to visit. He's read how in many of the ancient cultures there existed warring factions of gods from the sky/space. Knows what to expect. Might have had an early idea it was a weapons facility when all Weyland expected was eternal life. Knew the meaning of the mural but chose to ignore/remain silent because he can't lie and no one asked in time. wasn't He intends to start wars and then he intends to lead the groups to defeat the Turks after he sides with them. All happening out in a space that is mostly empty like a desert, where most of the sides shouldn't be fighting over and trying to control/exploit resources/steal from/mess with other people's cultures.

Vickers is not a robot, so that part by Theron is not a lie. She's weyland's daughter in a different way. The closest thing to a daughter he'll ever have. And that version of Vickers is dead, and the only one in existence until David brings her back. She's more of a cyborg and an incomplete one who can't live forever like the Engineers. She disagrees with Weyland as much as David does but doesn't hide it. So instead Weyland tried to make David more real, and obedient at the same time by giving him human emotions and free will. This backfired. And David's plan to get the company on board by bringing Vickers back to them and controlling her with his lies also backfires. Because Vickers seems to have too much real humanity to her as well and will not follow orders. she seeks to give them and is affected in unpredicatble ways by the war and threat to earth and the colonies. She's the only one besides David who finds out there could be more of the bio-weapon on LV426. After their showdown the new robots start running the company, brought in by Yutani, and it takes them a long time to get their shit together. Because all of Weyland's legacy and much of the data about the mission and hidden wars are lost to them. They lose the Paradise Weyland and David built completely. Losing some of the designs for the gifts weyland left them. making things less perfect. Stretching themselves too thin looking for any trace of the bio-weapon because they believe the war will continue. When really David has already ended it, in a way. David succeeds in keeping the fire away from the company for a while by erasing Vickers from the equation again, and cleaning up his mess before he dies. They androids now secretly running the company believe Ripley's story, though the humans who think they're board members who actually have a say don't know a thing about what is/has gone on. Burke gets informed how serious it all is, and they manipulate him Bishop to try to secure the bioweapon, crew expendable. However, Bishop is another type of android and these androids don't have the sophistication to be creators. are not the rightful heirs to the throne/true creators of bishop. So they can't control the android versions of him as much or make him do everything.

Mala'kak, you're basically saying David is (as part of his coding) XENOPHOBIC towards humans? Agree, there are too many references to the name "David" pouring out of this uber-symbolic narrative. Not a film, a statement (about something (as yet unrevealed)). :)

Nah maybe not completely part of his coding. Partially because the artificial emotional understanding has allowed him to form his own views and almost free-will/personality after the years he spends alone learning the gods' languages through human culture and contemplating what Weyland has him programmed to do. It's partially that he hates egotists like Weyland and Holloway, who he feels are inferior to him and have no right to think they're right. or to choose to believe false things. However, David also gets angry at Holloway because Holloway is not only an egotist, but he's right about them not being gods. And David knows this. But also knows things Holloway doesn't so he refers to Holloway's theory as only a thesis because he's ticked off that a human could arrive at some of the right conclusions. He wants to be above humans. Like the Engineers are above us in the hierarchy. and he even wants to be above them. The robots become the new leaders/kings of the humans, and then David becomes god-like as a leader to the Engineers and remaining Space Jockies against the Elders. So he's influenced to a certain extent by his view of things that no one else sees. Also because he has been made superior to humans so he begins to feel superior. He feels the Engineers are superior to humans, but doesn't clarify his position on androids. He makes another vague statemen about the engineers "no doubt a superior species". To humans maybe, but he is cutting down humanity all the way through. He's saying humans are inferior and implying androids are superior to them too with his sarcastic tone. he's also downplaying how much more advanced the engineers are. Because he thinks he can lead them against an Empire that may have the key to eternal life now that he can speak the language.. and knows for the Engineers don't have that form of the fire. He tells Holloway he hopes they didn't make them (david 8 androids) a little too real. This is because he is becoming more human-like. Choosing what he believes from the ambiguous evidence, by relying on his emotions too much in his theories. His view is only a thesis too, and he also doesn't understand that he is a little too human and can make mistakes, on purpose when he chooses too by injecting it with multiple meanings and suggesting one meaning over others. Because he can break down the ancient languages he sees things ahead of time. Sees more than the crew, and plans it all out as he goes. However he remains silent because it's part of his trick. Remember that the character Prometheus also symbolizes foresight. Something no one else had except Holloway "gods don't build straight lines" and to a small extent Shaw, because the characters were "so wrong." So part of the movie is about opposites and recurring themes happening in the level above or below in overall hierarchy. As above so below. So the engineers rebelled against the Elders, the humans rebelled against the Engineers by trying to steal something from them, and the robots rebel against the human by allowing Weyland to kill himself and then usurping him and the power of the gods. Wanna know who the Elders stole from and why David can get them on the Engineers side?? The engineers worship them more than the Elders and portray themselves as the true gods by wearing their suits. Painting themselves a certain way. Our David will continue to paint himself a certain way both figuratively and literally so we can tell him apart from the army of Davids.

[b]This is why I HATE the movie.[/b] [b][/b] A lot of unexplained things. Why doesnt explain what language it is or what mixture of languages looks like? Its supposed he is working with them, not separatly. Yep we know he reports to Weyland in secret. Why he doesnt ask to others to open the doors? He just arrives, looks it and opens the door. [b]There is no opening code? i[/b] He just knows the sequence to open it. [b]What about the holograms? So you can see the hologram and know how to unlock the main computer?[/b] im talking about the flute and eveything.

I'm telling you David picked up more than how to open the door somewhere in that room when he scanned the hieroglyphs that he alone could read. He found out more about their culture so he downplays Holloway's ideas, calling them only a thesis. When really Holloway was partially right about things but too emotional. Whereas the other characters except Shaw, David, and Vickers have had their emotion purposely toned down in a way, where it seems they don't even fully emote, care enough, question enough, and believe answers provided to them without much thought. it seems like they have fake emotions, and spout lines from pop culture and cliches of our day and age. This is in contrast to David and his emerging emotions. Which is why he shows some form of emotion when Shaw stumbles in on him with Weyland. He actually begins to respect Shaw a little because of her strong will. He means it when he says he didn't think she had it in her to take it out of herself, when Weyland's programming made him put it there. He is impressed because he is also working against Weyland's plan and had actually kind of hoped something like this would happen.. he needed a real person to contrast with the leader when he presented the leader of the humans to the Engineer. He couldn't kill Weyland, and wanted to kill his father... but the Engineer or someone else could. In a way when he saw Shaw show up he thought she might kill Weyland because of his greed getting everyone else killed. And that he may have had a backup plan should the Engineer not kill Weyland. He's assessing her, and it's no coincidence she survives yet again and makes it to the end with him for him to attempt to use further. David thinks humanity has reached it's peak and a plateau, and that people like Weyland are the exception, and still chaotic fools. So he views humans of this era a certain way. And Shaw/Holloway are there to prove to him different things. That humanity still has some redeeming qualities and people are not afraid to think for themselves, even if they lean heavily on belief. Shaw chooses what to believe and learns this from her father. David also learns this from her father and learned how to lie by choosing what he believes/reports while analyzing the evidence. He also witnessed a human he respects. Who previously only existed in movies... well he's sort of only watching a movie. so humans like that aren't around in high numbers, helping others, at this time. The culture has changed a little over time, but they're still kind of stuck the way we were late 20th century. By Alien the culture will have changed to what we see in the original Alien movie. They have no real faith in their abilities when it comes to unknowns and chaotic situations, they rely on flawed science with hidden evidence/david/leaders to give them answers too much. When science can sometimes be flawed too. escpecially when emotion and belief come into hypotheses. "David I hope you can read this", while referring to the mural. We never did get a response from David about the mural, so he didn't lie. Or reveal anything he may have deciphered... Some humans are too used to routine like Vickers and will not break from that straight line, ensuring Vickers death as she succumbs to the chaos and can't blend her intuition and logic the right way to roll out of the way. She keeps following the straight line she's foolishly running down, in the shadow of something massive. Because most characters have lost faith in everything but money, Weyland and answers provided to them. There are exceptions Like Shaw and Holloway, but most are flawed egos/ have deficient belief in self, and are partially deficient in scientific ability. They're not right and they know it, most can't believe things outside of previously established ideas. Shaw and Holloway at least come into it seeking knowledge. Not wanting something that is completely selfish like Vickers and the other characters who are there for money or to maintain order and wish to be right like Ravel and Chance; who use money to bet on what the company is doing. Playing with their beliefs and betting on them. Vickers wants control of the company. And holloway wants the glory of the find. Shaw just wants answers even though she's guided/misguided by faith. She gets her version of faith rewarded. Weyland has to introduce the archaeologists to give them credibility. First thing Fifield says is bullshit to Engineers creating us because he can't accept it and relies on the old teachings of evolution like Millburn. Can't even begin to think of something going against what they've been taught at first. Then they seem to not care and it becomes a job until they show how scared they are, and how they really can't handle the unknown. But this is all part of Fifields tough persona breaking down, contrasting with Millburn trying to build one and portray himself in a different way. It partially becomes about the flight or fight response. They don't even know how to fight anymore, Millburn goes about it all wrong. At the same time even their flight response doesn't save them because their senses and emotions are dulled. All they can feel is the sheer terror when they succumb to the chaos over logic. Millburn pretends to be doing the logical thing, but doesn't know what he's doing at that point and is being foolish. Fifield's in it for money and only believes in money so his tough guy persona disintegrates because it's not real. Millburn is not tough, and he knows it, so it is a false sense of ego when he pretends to be. Weyland had some right to be egotistical i guess, but he takes it too far thinking he can just walk in and ask for eternal life. David also thinks humanity is helpless without a king at this time. Weyland has handed them everything . All their advanced tech. The portable carbon dater most likely (something that would be hard to make small). And the so-called scientists of that day and age don't question/understand enough. They rely on things being told to them, provided for them, or instruments of science giving an instant accurate result. David is not accurate like the carbon dater, and is unwilling to share everything. Having a weyland around made them too dependent on their chaotic leader who really didn't care about them and only wanted to live/reign forever. he gave earth the ability to spread colonies, so Earth is his kingdom too. But right now he shares it with another power: Yutani. Human culture at this time is comprised of mostly unquestioning, false-ego filled, and foolish people. The crew is just a nice cross-section of Weyland's influence over his kingdom and culture. Most of them are like him in some way. Holloway because of his ego, and Shaw because of her beliefs influencing her science in the right ways, due to her proper hybridization of inductive/deductive logic. David chooses what to believe like Shaw and it’s this trick that allows him to lie and get around a programming that prevents him from lying. So he uses this to cover up the truth while Shaw lets her intuitions and beliefs lead her to the truth through science and answers. David's not only becoming a "real boy" like Pinnochio. Which Holloway was afraid of. He also actually can't tell a complete lie, again like Pinnochio. When he does lie we get a hint he is lying because he has to be ambiguous. So he has a tell that's different from his nose growing. But David also doesn't mind that this hurts him, because he's found the trick to not showing the truth. Not showing his emotions, and not showing his reaction to the trick. Instead steering them towards a false belief. Allowing them to choose to believe him. Because he speaks from a position of authority and most are unquestioning. Holloway has a distrust for robots too. They are opposing forces. Holloway knows David is not real, and chooses to pretend not to know to get on his nerves. David does not like being treated human. Holloway keeps poking because this android seems to get mad at him. And seems to not like him, or humans for that matter at this point in his development. Holloway lets his guard down when David brings him the booze, but still makes another shot about him not being real. David allows him to continue believing he is not as real as he is, and in control of the situation much more than Weyland thinks he is... In this time period some humans turned into egotists/fools/greedy/portraying them selves a certain way, presenting themselves falsely like Weyland. it's about people who have false egos and pretend to be in control and logical but breakdown and do illogical things because they can't handle not being in their comfort zones. E.g. Millburn putting on his tough act when it is false ego, and Fifield breaking down when he's supposed to be tough. So instead of the culture we see in Alien: cold semi-detached personalities who have a lot of free will. We see chaotic, egotistical, foolish, and easily manipulated personalities. People choosing to put too much faith in... well faith, but also inaccurate science (when it is flawed and influenced by emotion) and our leaders: who are influenced by selfish desires in the end. He wants to be above humans. Like the Engineers are above us in the hierarchy; and he even wants to be above them. The robots become the new leaders/kings of the humans, and then David becomes god-like as a leader to the Engineers and remaining Space Jockies. Uniting them and turning them against the Elders who are the true aggressive faction that the engineers learned some of their ways from. They became like the father/Elder they hate at the same time as wanting to be more like the true Gods who created the black liquid and bioweapon, the Elders, and by extension the Engineers and us. The Engineers rebelled against their leaders, the Elders, and split off from them because they disagreed with their ways. being locked in a war with them has changed them, and they've become more like the Elders. The true gods aka the real taller space jockeys aka the Mala'kak aka the big dental patient are still around. But unfortunately they hate the Engineers and us for what the Elders did to them for unjust reasons. The Elders actually acquired all the technology from this Titan class after overthrowing them in more of a conquering than a rebellion. So the overthrowing the king theme runs all the way up the ladder. And the fire got passed all the way down to the Engineers, almost to humans, but wound up in the hands of David. An android who was at the bottom of the hierarchy and soon uses what he's acquired to climb to the top of the ladder. The ladder of course being symbolic/symbolized by what he does in this room... The android has prior knowledge from the ancient languages and now knowledge from the hieroglyphs, he knows what to do when he reaches the top of the ladder. Knows which buttons to push, starts pushing the right buttons, and opens the door to the war and the downfall of the Elders and Weyland corp as we know it. He even knows he needs the ladder, but doesn't know exactly what will happen if he opens the door. Except that it restarts the entire ancient atmopheric processor and starts converting the atmosphere outside: causing the storm. "As above, so below"... "Oops" he shouldn't have opened that door that had been sealed off from oxygen, and instantly recognized a mistake when the pressure changed in the room slightly. Allowing oxygen in to degrade the urns that had been preserved in an anaerobic environment, and exposed the urns to oxygen and moisture. Making them crumble like mummies that are unwrapped. because the rest of this ancient atmospheric processor was semi-functioning and David knew he was powering it back up. The toxins from the air are linked to the black goo, collected down the spiral in the temple, and used in the urns to store the bioweapon. In the process of collecting more black liquid, which is a concentrated dose of all the toxins that were once in the air, they cleanse the air. But left the planet in an semi-terraformed state. They have a way to turn atmposhere into a bringer of life or a bringer of death and rebirth when they mix their genes with it. They also use it to break down and store the bioweapon.. which was a mistake. The deacon has even more morphing properties in it's life-cycle that it acquired from the black goo by morphing and using it to recombine into an almost pure ancestral form of the Alien, by using the morphing cycle to move through other creatures reproductive systems to get to an almost pure state. a hybrid form of the xeno that is now living, reforming, morphing-cycle using living death.

Magnificent analysis as usual, Mala'kak, if I may say so.

Too many words to read :P - but I guess the consensus is that ancient languages and texts were learnt from the engineers so david formulated his best guesses based on all his training on the subject yer? That kind of makes sense but the problem comes when you use logic: Think of doors in human culture: if your working with something that's dangerous you employ safety procedures and I think that black goo was just about classed as more dangerous than anything made in human history yer? Ok so if we look at something NOT as dangerous on earth - say a nuclear power station then what kind of security do you have - hmm maybe codes or bio reading devices if your really up to date to name a few. Now add that the engineers are way in advance of us and would have way better security and also all of there stuff was still working in this place dont you think that david would never work out how to open that door - in fact in reality they would probably never get inside the building and if they did they would of been detained or killed etc. by some kind of defense so the whole things a load of balls in that sense - one of many of the bad parts but not the worst of course - I did actually let this one pass when I watched it :S ...

Here is an inverse question, how did the engineer know how to open the door in the last scene in which he was haunting Dr. Shaw? What was his knowledge of our inferior technology and how did he recognize the symbols ? Could it be possible that he knew how to speak and read English?

David and Holloway both knew the Engineers were not gods. They both knew they were terraforming. They were terraforming the entire planet, that's what most people don't get about the storm and atmospheric change that occurs above as the atmosphere in the room is changed. U can't make it any more hidden in plain sight because they had just been talking about terraforming. Look at the shape of the thing. David knows the whole temple is a multifunctional thing. There may have been a warning near that door, and he says oops because it basically says don't open from this side if oxygen is present inside the outer chambers of the temple and atmospheric conversion has not been completed. Along with instructions about how to go about opening it properly, but he chooses not to believe the warning or that conversion was incomplete... he thinks it could be running anyway since there's oxygen where they are. The problem is the oxygen + moisture gets into that air sealed room, and David should have entered it another way or not at all until the oxygen had been purged somehow. The other problem is the way in which the sealing happened: closing it suddenly to decapitate the one Engineer when they shouldn't have closed it so suddenly if they were following a normal routine. And left the urns inside with no safe way to reach them through that door after an improper emergency shut down. But of course David wants what could be in there. And doesn't know the ship is completely loaded with urns that are not in a bad spot. at that point. He says "oops" as if he didn't mean it, and as if he's responding to the humans. Although he may have known that opening the door was against some warning and could sense a change in the air immediately. Indicating the atmospheric processor had not finished the conversion and thus it was unsafe to enter that door. He goes right ahead and does it anyways, pretending he's saying oops to them when really he understands a little bit more about what he just did the second the door opens. The temple actually stores and collects the black liquid by concentrating it and drawing it through the top of the temple head, where it's channeled down into just behind the head in the room. They also store the bioweapon here in the black liquid they collect because they use the black liquid more militantly now by combining it with the bio-weapon. It cleanses the air for them if they want to live there afterwards, or travel outside. The air was becoming completely breathable outside again and the Engineer knew this. He also may have been mad about an improper start-up of the processor if there was supposed to be no air in the chamber he was in when he went to sleep. Bob was mainly pissed at Weyland, I think, because of what David said. However, knowing that David could speak his language, he figured out that David was the only one who could have opened that door and re-started the processor. David hides how much he knows. Holloway only had the archaeological evidence to go on. The Engineers were building like we do: in straight lines and out of mounds. Which is why he wants to know if someone carved the temple that way. Asks about whether the formation is natural or not. And no one answers him. And indeed it does seem they hollowed it out. It also seems like a ceremonial center/religious. so war has become a part of their rituals and beliefs. And the xeno is central to that in the mural. But like all the groups they wanted control over the pure from of the fire and failed. Because it's too deadly. They only made this incarnation of it more deadly. More perfect. While everything else degrades and paradises are lost.

He spent more than 2 years alone onboard the Prometheus, learning ancient languages and deciphering hieroglyphs that the engineers had left to humanity a long time ago. He's an android, with a computer brain. He can problem solve alot faster than humans and that's why we see him going through a process of pressing certain buttons, in certain sequences, nothing happens, then it builds on his data and he then solves the problem FAST. That's how he knows how to open doors and speak to the engineers in their language and my guess is that he knows EVERYTHING about the history of the engineers, our history and why they made us, everything regarding the black stuff's origins and it's intended purpose, what the murals really are and what they are depicting and why they intended to destroy us around 2000 years ago. He would have learnt all that during the time he spent on LV 223, in that temple.

So you saying it was magic? :D yesh magic is always the answer forget logic! David was a mere calculator compared with the engineer technology and that door should of had encryption and bio reading abilities and things we never even thought of yet I reckon he would never get it even if he spent a million years but they were lazy and said aw let him just get in...and were was all the other security - nothing was there at all :O ...

I agree he definitely knows about their culture beforehand, and has big things in mind for them, but he'll have some things figured out wrong down the road when he starts to trust Shaw with the knowledge he has. When did he even pick up the location of their home world. I can't remember. Was it in the star chart when he found out they were going to Earth? It probably factors into his plans to go there. David is doing exactly what Shaw wants and exactly what he wants if the Elder culture is from somewhere relatively straightforward to get to and he's already mapped it out. At this point he does know everything he possibly picked up, everything he needs to know, & believes to know to make his plans and decisions (because he's drawing from ancient writings and even some of his interpretation could be slightly off), At the same time he could have picked up many additional things along the way if he did take a second or two to analyze the mural while looking at what was coming out of the urns.

David learning about them beforehand, knowing what to do, and having a plan to deal with them that changes as he goes is a big part of the connection to Lawrence of Arabia.

Imo, the whole point of the scenes where he's onboard the Prometheus, alone, learning, was to show later how he knew what to do once in the temple. If someone asks 'how did David know how to open the doors and start up the juggernaut' the answer would be, 'watch the scenes where he's alone on the Prometheus, when the others are in stasis'. Otherwise, what would be the point of those particular scenes?

Yes that was the idea it just didnt feel very real - this idea that david is an superman genius goes too far. Imagine him trying to get into a human door like this say a simple one without bio readers such as eye scanner etc. so its like a number pad ok? Now open the door! So say there was 7 digits in the code thats 10000000 possible combinations so he does like 5 a second that would be 23 days to do them all. Now take the fact that the engineers are way in advance of this and would more than likely have bio reader reading DNA and would know the difference between a human and engineer anyway you get the idea...it was all just so unreal...

Big Question: did MOTHER (or Prometheus's equivalent) INVENT David to have a story to send back to Corporate Headquarters? What really happened on LV-223, on the mission to find our real origins? Eh?

"..I suspect there might have been writing close or next to the buttons on the door that might have indicated their meaning.." From the movie viewpoint...Savid is on a ladder pushing buttons,,which openned the door to the Big Head Room. THe writing next to the doot panel creates a problem for me,,in that they seem so high off the tunnel floor that the use of a ladder was needed. I couldn't gauge how high David was off the floor but it certainly higher than any Engineer we have seen, Did the buttons needed to be 'pushed' to actually open the door? Or was it operated by some sort of remote control device so a ladder might not be needed, I recall on a thread someone asking where the ladder came from. As awkward as it sounds it must have been stored nearby for the purpose David was doing..openning the door! Sort of a safety device to keep unauthorized Engineers(or others) out of the room. @Mala'kak Please keep the detailed posts coming, I learn something each time I read them,,sometimes that is quite a few reads.

",, David is doing exactly what Shaw wants and exactly what he wants if the Elder culture is from somewhere relatively straightforward to get to and he's already mapped it out..." If this is true did David want Shaw to survive because he wanted to show the Elder culture a human specimen?

I assume this is all going somewhere even if it's just a short subject in the next movie. It all feeds back to Weyland, ultimately. And you have to ask the question, why would they dress Guy Pearce up as an old man if they weren't going to use him again?