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You could be right.   But you also have to consider maybe a deacon cry being heard when David activates the ships hologram log.   

I will say, your theory is possible! Maybe not for ALIEN's Jockey, but certainly for the outbreak on LV-223. One Engineer accidentally spills one of the urns containing black goo, it gets into the dirt of that room, like we saw in Prometheus. 

I guess a few things I'm thinking about are:

- It takes a while for the worms to transform into Hammerpedes, do the Engineers leave for lunch and come back to find them fully grown? Which then leads to their chase?

- Or, would an Engineer not notice one of the worms in the room and attempt to kill it or contain it?

It's certainly possible and like you said, Chestbursters don't burst from the leg or head. So, this could very well be the cause of Hammerpedes getting loose. Nice topic!

You've got this all wrong actually, no matter how many times you've watched the movie. Because the key to the Hammerpedes riddle does not lie in the movie itself, but in the extras, alternate and deleted scenes from the BluRay. You should watch those to get a better grip on Prometheus.

In one of those scenes, Millburn is seen discovering some regular earthworm-like creatures in the tunnels and he is really emotional from the revelation because it's the most complex form of life ever found during the exploration of space (he mentions that only bacteria-size life was ever discovered up to that point). Then he pulls out some sort of can and contains them, as he is clearly collecting specimens to take back for further study and analysis.

Now, back to the Hammerpedes scene, the Hammerpedes were just these regular worms which were apparently everywhere and common in the dome-structure("that is a goddam ship!"), and they got mutated by the black oil which spilled from the vases.

So, the scene for which everyone bashes Millburn and the bad writing for the biologist who is trying to pet the hammerpedes actually makes total sense, because he was trying to catch them, he was trying to collect more biological specimens and samples("come here, baby!"). These worms were the native fauna of the planetoid and they have nothing to do with the engineer holocaust, those wounds you see in the "pile of bodies scene" are just your regular chestburster wounds.

@storm33

I really wish they had kept that scene of Milburn finding and collecting the worm. It's a great scene and yes, it makes the hammerpede scene make much more sense. It was a bad decision to take it out.

I don't really remember noticing any hammerpede holes in any of the dead engineers, but even if they were, the hammerpede just went into Milburn's mouth. It didn't rip him any new holes... lol

Well the Hammerpedes like Shaws Baby and the Deacon where all supple Plot Devices to show the Engineers are connected to Xenomorph DNA via experiments they carry out on LV-223 there by taking the Emphasis off the Xeno and onto the Engineers and Experiments with just enough clues to connect the Xeno DNA

As for the Theory, yes it could work... can we assume those Worms where brought in from outside the Cave/Temple Mound?

The "our first alien" scene would suggest they have already gotten in and grown inside the Cave prior to the Prometheus Crew and opening the Big Head Room Door.

But yes if these Worms could have been there all along then there would be the potential for a disaster.... but i still dont think the Engineers would be as stupid to let a Outbreak happen there must have been Failsafes...and so the result is not something that would easily happen.

But was a accident, or sabotage?

The whole scene is not explained well regarding the Engineers both Hologram and Dead ones.

But they all seemed to want to be urgently trying to get into the Big Head/Urn Room.... Why? its been discussed before because it seems to be some kind of Sterile Environment where the Black Goo does not seem to be able to operate, maybe a bit like if you freeze a bacteria or food then the process of growing bacteria/rot is halted.

Shaw compares the Engineer outbreak to what she saw in Africa.... (Ebola) we see the Head they recovered had showed signs of changing and then exploded.

The Dead Engineer Bodies seem Empty Shells, no Skeletons remain. Only the Head which was in the Sterile Ampoule Room.

So the theory i had and have is they was infected like Holloway, and going through a slower process than the Sacrificial Engineer.

We see the Sacrificial Scene is a Violent Chemical Reaction we see some sort of similar one when we place a Minto Mint into a Coke Bottle, it causes the Gas inside the Coke to Expand and Explode out.... if you quickly put the Top on then the Reaction would get very Volatile inside.

The expanding Gas Chemical Reaction would look for the easiest point of escape.... if the bottle had a pin prick in it in a few locations and then you Tapped those holes up quickly.... then put the Mint into the Cola... the reaction would happen and eventually the Coke would burst through those holes, making them bigger.

I think this is what happened to the Engineer Head the had recovered.... Imagine the Violent Reaction of the Sacrificial Scene but contained within a Pressured Suit

But this is but just one theory, and we have to remember the Engineers where based on Spaights draft as far as Prop.... and the idea was some was Chest Busted and some where attacked by the resulting Organisms and so we dont have no 100% explanation for the Scene...

Apart from the one Engineer who got decapitated who was trying to get into that room was infected with the Black Goo.

@Patient Leech

It's true, it was a well-done scene, I love the part where David says "our first alien!". I don't know why they cut it out, it lasted less than one minute and thus it wouldn't have affected the total running time of the movie, but it would have been a great addition for the  whole logic of the movie.

Its absence brings up all these questions about the origin of the Hammerpedes and puts Millburn in a bad light as a biologist (and also puts the writers in a bad light).

The scene was cut, like others, with the intention of making things "less on the nose", but I think Ridley had too many glasses of wine by that point and was cutting things and essentially "removing the nose" altogether. :-)

I agree, that scene should have been kept in along with the comments from Fifield that the storm outside was ruining his mapping device and therefore he could not figure out how to get back out.  Ever used your GPS while driving only to realize that once you reached your destination, that you have no idea how you actually got there and there's no chance you'd be able to retrace your steps?

@UFOANAUT

That does raise a great point! That would make a really interesting article: Screams of Deacon

"In fact, if you ignore the Hammerpede attack and assume Millburn and Fifield just got forever lost in the Alien ship, the film has the same ending!"

No, it could well mean Charlie gets sick on the ship and could possibly treated in the medpod, instead of being incinerated. If so, Shaw may not have been shown to be carrying the trilobite until it was too late. It could've gone in a number of different directions.

"As the expedition first enters the alien ship, you notice various engineer holograms fleeing into a room. This could be explained by rampaging Hammerpedes, for they are easily created from leaks of black fluid."

It could also be explained by them fleeing one of their infected brethren. And wouldn't the hammerpedes also appear on the hologram?

"But chestbursters don't come out of legs and heads!"

Nor do hammerpedes.

"In fact, they created similar holes/injuries in Millburn, drilling a cavity into his arm."

I broke his arm and used the tear in his suit to get into it. It didn't get into him via the broken arm.

"I really wish they had kept that scene of Milburn finding and collecting the worm. It's a great scene and yes, it makes the hammerpede scene make much more sense. It was a bad decision to take it out."

They had a shot of worms in the ampule room. Ergo hammerpedes come from those worms. The deleted scene wouldn't have really added anything.

"But you also have to consider maybe a deacon cry being heard when David activates the ships hologram log."

Hadn't noticed that. Dunno if it is a Deacon cry, but it's definitely interesting.

Just a theory S.M and storm33, just a theory.

@Patient Leech

There were holes if you examined closely!

There was a 'hole' in Millburn?  It went in his mouth then went out his mouth.

@S.M

There were holes in the Engineer suits! And obviously, the Hammerpede has more than enough power to rip holes in creatures!

Yeah, but hammerpedes go in the mouth and out the mouth. We have no evidence they go in or out anywhere else.

"And wouldn't the hammerpedes also appear on the hologram?"

We simply dont know what would or would not be picked up, all we know is it shows the Engineers we cant rule out anything else... and its likewise with the Scream... some had said about them being chased by a Deacon but would that not have shown up too?  Mind you the crew did chase/run off and end up at the room where the decapitated Engineers body lay... then the Hologram shut off.

The sound could be a Deacon or similar or it could be the sound of the recording starting up, its just one of the Ambiguous moments of the movie.

I would certainly rule out being chased by Hammerpedes though, but we cant rule out that they have never seen the Worms infected before, they could or may not have... We dont have a time frame from when they started the experiments that led to the Goo going into those Urns to when the outbreak had occurred.

"There were holes in the Engineer suits"

Indeed there was and yes maybe the Hammerpedes could make such holes, we do not know enough about the Hammerpedes to rule out them being able to Chest Burst.... the one went into Milburns Mouth and out because it was the easiest way in and out.... it entered his Suit and not his Arm if i remember correct.

Other drafts had those injuries and holes caused by what they was leading towards being a Xeno Related Outbreak some are Chest Buster Holes others are Puncture Wounds from a Organism with great force.

But if we are only to consider what the movie has shown us then it leaves to me Two potential reasons.. but there could be more.

1) Some Deacon Related Organism killed them off.

2) They suffered a Chemical Breakdown and the resulting reaction had broken out of the suits due to the pressure.

But then its how did the bodies all end up pilled up that is another Question... i doubt the Deacon would do that, i doubt the Engineers would stick around after a Deacon outbreak to then pile them up and i doubt the Engineers would all stand around that Door while being assaulted by a Deacon.

There has to be another reason for why they desperately had to get to that Room...  And to have the Environment and maybe something else within that room able to prevent the spread and well slowdown or halt the rate of infection makes more sense.

As far as the Larger Worms, they did not look like Worms but more like Centipedes to be fair, and while the reason giving for the removal of the Scene was pacing and it having no real effect on the Plot...

Maybe if we was led and being shown that those Smaller Worms could have been brought in from outside and these when infected with the Goo would evolve into the Hammerpedes was what ultimately was the aim to show the effects of the Black Goo

Those Organisms encountered first, seem to show that those Organisms where definitely there before the Crew arrived and so where not brought in by the crew from outside... and they also that we would Question and see that if these are related to the other Worms, then maybe the Worms can Grow and Evolve without the Black Goo.

So its perfectly understandable why it was cut.

I think it's more likely that those holes you speak of are not exit wounds, but entry wounds - from the very inner jaw of our beloved star beasts. Millburn notices a chest wound and says that it appears as if exploded from the inside, but there are some other cracked skulls and wounded limbs there that don't look like being exploded from the inside. But they could also be signs of decay, since they were wearing their biotech suits, which might decompose in strange ways if not powered anymore or when attached to a dead wearer. The truth is that we don't really know anything about those fused biosuits, their functions and purpose.

@S.M.

Keeping the "Our First Alien" scene would not have been that much more relevant toward the origin of the Hammerpedes, but more relevant to explain why Millburn is trying to pet them, a scene which received a lot of bashing and which everyone seems to have misunderstood as signs of incompetence and bad writing, rather than that Millburn was really trying to capture and contain them for further analysis.

Possibly. I never had an issue with the scene. Millburn is just enthusiastic and Fifield becomes the voice of the audience.

Patient Leech:  ” I really wish they had kept that scene of Milburn finding and collecting the worm. It's a great scene and yes, it makes the hammerpede scene make much more sense. It was a bad decision to take it out.”

I totally agree, that would have made Fifield and Milburn look better as characters (to me at least) and it would have made total sense (they should also have explained why they didn’t have the map another things that made me annoyed at these characters). Keeping that one out was even worse than deleting the mutated Fifield scene and replace it with a Zombie.

I have never really understood the connection Hammerpedes - Deacon - Xeno. Can someone explain it to me? Sorry if this question seems dumb but then the Hammerpedes never really made sense to me except for the acid for blood thing.

@Thoughts_Dreams

This should help a little!

"Keeping that one out was even worse than deleting the mutated Fifield scene and replace it with a Zombie."

They were both mutated. One was digital; one was live action. Ridley preferred the live action one.

"I have never really understood the connection Hammerpedes - Deacon - Xeno. Can someone explain it to me?"

No connection has been established as yet.  Hammerpedes are neither here nor there. They're just indigenous worms mutated by accelerant.