Science Officers

It seemed to me that Hollway was incharge of the expedition(as much as Vickers would allow) because how he handled the briefing. Shaw certainly seemed to convinced Weyland of the need for the trip but i am not convinced he was sold on Shaw as the Leader. Batchpool You make a distinction between the person in Charge of the Expedition and the Chief Science Officer. Why can't one person be both? If I had to choose a Science Officer i would select David, though I don't think his mind was managing all the science that Fifield and Millburn uncovered.

I had thought that was Holloway's position on the mission? I guess David was the ship's science officer?

More crew members would definatly need a Science Officer and Mission controller. With such a small crew and from what we can tell all of science people(I forget what Charlie calls thm when they land and need to get ready for an excursion) are need on the trip to the domes. You would think that Vickers would somehow be the overall mission leader because she has the power but not in this storyline. Who is the final decision maker? Xenos of course!

@ Indy John I don’t see any problem with dual roles, and like yourself I would choose David as Science Officer. I find that there are many parallels when comparing Davids’ actions to those of Ash from Alien. When it comes to doing something that would put someones life in danger they both had to establish accountability before proceeding. Ash was always following company orders when it came to achieving the goal of obtaining a xeno, Also Science Division always had the final word regarding xeno’s. David has always been under the direction of Peter Weyland. Maybe it could be argued that the real official Science Officer onboard the Prometheus was Peter Weyland himself , as well being the boss. I think the role of David fits in well with defining the future events and actions taken by Ash, particularly before the advent of behavioural inhibitors. This makes me think about Davids’ programming in the future because it makes me wonder if his ultimate goal is to continue and complete Peter Weylands’ aims in Paradise. Is this one of the reasons why Scott has said re attaching Davids head might be a very dangerous move in the future. Regarding accountability, when Vickers says she is there to see that people do their jobs, then maybe Indy John is more than correct by stating that someone can be both Mission Leader and Science Officer, that being ultimately Peter Weyland. This can be seen to make Vickers words look redundant.

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David is listed the science officer. *( Ash and Bishop were both the science officers in "Alien" and "Aliens", seems to be a title the writers give to the Androids in the alien universe). [url=http://weyland-ycorporation.wikia.com/wiki/David]Weyland-corporation-David8[/url], [url=http://prometheus.wikia.com/wiki/David_8]Prometheus Wiki -David8[/url] For those wondering, [url=http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0302190/bio]Doctor Ford[/url] is listed as the medical officer on board Prometheus.

Ford, in my opinion was Science Officer. She was the one that gave details to Prometheus on 223, as well as prepped of the Head for inspection, not to mention was the doctor, which most likely kept her in Medical Officer mode. Who knows...

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"..Ford, in my opinion was Science Officer.." Ford had the ability to be in many scenes throughout the movie. Always dutifully working on a science or a medical situation. In fact Janek called out to her when Millburn was found. I didn't think she had a strong leadership quality that I thought be needed for Science Officer...but really the crew needed a scientific evaluation/analysis not a Management skilled person. In that sense the crew used her ina Science Officer role though seemingly without the title. She at least acted like a Science Officer.

I don't think there was a Chief Science officer aboard the Prometheus. David, Shaw and Holloway were all science officers but David was synthetic so I get the feeling that Weyland intended Shaw to lead the group in all things related to the expedition - but he also had a hidden adjenda that David was responsible for undertaking that was the true purpose that he financed the ship and expedition in the first place.

yeah everything about that mission was irregular (ish) because it was privately funded weylands a bit like an evil version of richard branson lol

For a Science Expedition just how much scientifc exploring/testing/researching was actually done? It seems to me what ever was learned about the moon/Engineers/Domes/Surface/ history did not came about because of a scientific investigation.

I think the science expedition was partially a front to serve the real purpose of Weyland's lucifer-like intention to violate the natural order of things by not yielding to his rightful death. "A Kind has his reign and then he dies. It is the natural order of things" His own daughter Vickers stated it best, and btw I do believe she was his biological daughter unlike her synthetic sibling David 8.

@indy well they did survey stuff and take dna samples although even my scientific curiosity wouldnt have sat easy with what shaw and ford did to the head that was downright unethical imo id have protested sharply i mean you find the head of a sentient humanoid that died painfully and you stick a neurostimulator in and wake it up! inured diseased and body-less its a bit sick! @nostromo001 i dont know if its evil to want immortality but its egotistical to think your life is more important than others which weyland certainly did and was well prepped to do evil to attain immortality as for vickers im not sure maybe shes a an advanced prototype on david8 that is fully emotional everyone thinks shes a bitch but the more i watch the film the more i see her as an unhappy lonely defensive woman, i mean imagine the upbringing and at what point in her life did David come along? imagine having him around!

Well, as I mentioned in my previous post David is listed as the science officer. There seems to be no "chief" or "head" science officer so i'm thinking it's a token title they give the androids on missions. [url=http://weyland-ycorporation.wikia.com/wiki/David]Weyland-corporation-David8[/url], [url=http://prometheus.wikia.com/wiki/David_8]Prometheus Wiki -David8[/url]

Svanya And since other robots have been in the science end of the movies(Alien/Aliens) that this is the safest position for the Weyland Corp. to use functioning robots. I mention this because would you want a Robot in the any other position? I mean a robotic Pilot/Medicine/Security just doesn't sound safe to me. The other star ship positions require a judgement of human mind not of a analytical heartless android. Still you would think a couple more robots assigned to the Science Division would have provided more information for Janek and others to base decisions on. (plus be a back-up to David if he lost his mind) Mapping other Domes, discover other engineers/signs of life maybe sending a drone into the mountais just to see waht is on the other side.