Destination: Threashold

Yea I saw I mispelled the thread title. If there is away to correct or even delete this thread I would be glad to repost with correct thread title.

It's almost like when you enter you destination into a sat nav, as soon as you enter the 'destinations threshold' - it will say you have reached your destination. No worries about the spelling mistake! We're all human after all ;) Whether it's a common term in space travel? I have no idea

I'm not aware of this term being used in space flight. It probably has more to do with the fact that whilst they are indeed close to their programmed destination, the [i]actual[/i] destination is somewhat uncertain, a threshold being "a place or point of entering or beginning". In other words, they are at the beginning of their destination. A flight computer knows nothing about quests for immortality, and it just states their arrival as a matter of fact.

The sequence in the film where the ship's computer voice announces this creates a mix of both foreboding and anticipation. The way the ship 'brakes' and rumbles sending the chrome balls on the pool table rolling is quite scary. Millions (billions?) of miles away from all you know and love......no going back now.......

I have actually never heard of the term "destination threshold" until I saw Prometheus. It is an interesting term that may be symbolic or just a straight forward navigation"lingo' term... I like the way ZetaReticuli explains this scene. Up to that point of the ships' journey there is this calm over the ship and her crew (humans are obviously sleeping peacefully), then at the point of destination the rumbles. This is an interesting discussion Indy John, thank you for bringing this to our attention...

In the film, BLADE RUNNER (also directed by Ridley Scott), when Deckard and Gaff are about to land their spinner, a voiceover can be heard saying: “Now on glide path. Mark course, over the landing threshold.” It would not surprise me if Ridley is fond of the term “threshold” in such scenes and specified that word to be included in the screenplay. The PROMETHEUS DVD extras show Scott being extremely particular about the wording and dialogue in the script. On another note, it is my understanding that in modern aviation, the phrase “Landing Threshold” indicates the beginning of that portion of a runway usable for landing. ~Neurion

Neurion, another good Blade Runner tie-in. I suspect the QUEST FOR IMMORTALITY will be furnished (if RIdley lives to make the film) by the Nexus Series 'more human than human' genetic worker bees. Alien Revisited would then see THE ENTIRE CREW OF THE NOSTROMO (like all off-world commando units) as Nexus, Magellan.

There has been mention of the ship's rumbling when it reaches the 'Destination THreshold scene. I would like to think that was unexpected by David,,and the audience. But why is there ship movement at all? The last time I flew to Las Vegas , after cruising for several hours,,the plane rumbled a bit when it was preparing fot landing in that city. It is a bit startling. When this happens light years away from home..beyond human development..or help..any shuddering would greatly raise my anxiety level. Was David just puzzled by this ship's movement..or did he experience a tinge of excitement?

The rumbling scene is designed to imply that the ship has begun breaking (reverse thrusters) in order to enter LV-223 space. David loses his balance, the lights flicker and the billiard balls roll to one side of the table despite inertial dampners and artificial gravity. And the ship announces "destination threshold" and David turns on the bridge lights and wakes the crew (other than Vickers who seems to have her own alarm clock).

OldGuy is right. The ship had probably been decelerating for weeks or months from near light-speed to orbital speed, with the crew and ship interior protected from the fierce forces involved by our old friend the "inertial dampener". In the transition to low-velocity travel, the inertial dampener is turned off and a slight mismatch in forces (technology is not perfect) causes the resultant small acceleration that is perceived within the ship. That's my theory, anyway.

"..the ship had probably been decelerating for weeks or months from near light-speed to orbital speed.." WE are seeing the last leg of the Prometheus journey,,so there needs to be a transision from the fastest speess to something more in line with the orbital speed,,and finally something slower to landing speed. In practical terms your comments on slowing down over a period of time,,before the 'Destination Threshold' is inderstandable. When the rumbling does occur then David would actively prepare the crew for thr mission. It would be curious if David needed more time to do something..learn more of the language...or even study the moon more extensively..he might have left Prometheus in orbit a few days..to better gather info.for use later on. There was a suggestion on one thread that David actually landed and checked out the surface before waking up the crew,,but that seems a bit fat fetched. Since Vickers was awake when David went to assist the crew waking up..she was already up and doing her workout. She might have been alerted separate from David's activation of the sleeping ship.

During a recent viewing of the 'Destination Threashold ' scene there was much chatter after the consoles were displayed. It seemed to me the chatter was similar to what one would hear from an Air Traffic Controller when approaching a destination. In a previous scene a message was sent but there was no reply recieved which indicated to me that Prometheus was alone as far as communication with the ourside world. It is possible that the chatter was from on board systems that would provide an audio update to how various ship systems were functioning. I was curious if site members that have been in the aviation/space industry could recognize any of the chatter at this point at the story,. To me it sounded like English and seems to be in tune with other aircraft/control tower in the area,. If it is just on board info it just seemed out of place since everyone was in statis.

yeh like that idea zz

The radio chatter that you mention (when David is opening the ship's shield) is just deep space chatter that the ship is picking up from a long way off. It's quite distorted. As best as I can tell, the words are something like "Number four port... When it energised... er... it took.. er... both outer [subs?]..." Just your day-to-day stuff that you'd hear if you did a radio sweep. ...unless, of course, it's coming from the Yutani ship that's following, a few light-months behind...

Its just a Sci-Fi movie space ship thing. It has no deep meaning and/or metaphor its just a saying from the computer to say "your here" nothing more.

I think everythig we see or hear in the movie has been selected to be presented to the audience. How important it is seems to be in the eye of the viewer unless RS says it is so for a reason. We may not have learned all of the RS storytelling skills as yet. My problem is I get lost in the details and forget to look at the overall picture(no pun intended). Perhaps I am the only one with this problem.

It's easy to conceive of several layers of reasons for some detail or another. "Destination [b]threshold[/b]" is, in-universe for Prometheus, nothing more than saying 'you've reached your destination'. Why the film's creators chose that particular phrasing as opposed to others, well, of course, all kinds of possibilities here. Maybe RS did intend to make a BR connection, or maybe associate with various concepts in mythology and so on. I for one don't pay too much attention to details this subtle. If somebody wants to make a connection to Threshold Guardians or whatever other concepts in narrative theories, they better hit me over the face with their loudness. Oh yeah, the breaking. Have to comment on that because I'm turning into a wannabe space-geek. No way a realistic deceleration would look like that on a conceivable spaceship. Assuming thrusting engines, you need either a very long time, or a VERY sharp braking, the kind that would squish passengers flat. A tiny bump that knocks billiard balls across the table, nope no way. BUT, BUT. The Prometheus is superluminal. So, Magic. Anything goes. For all I know, the ship was actually inside a bubble of hyperspace, and when the bubble goes poof the ship appears as having a conveniently low, orbital velocity.

The minimal acceleration, as indicated by the rolling balls, is a residual effect. The 'inertial dampener' would shield the ship and its interior from extreme g-forces. But it's not perfect, so it's not a perfectly smooth transition when the dampener is turned off.

Lol, Magic. Indeed, who can say how those things would work. It's nice that they are fairly precise. Wouldn't want a 1% error when doing 10000G.