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Well the artist to work with the original dune, which would have been a masterpiece, was giger as well. 

If it was a ship, they wouldn't need a ship.

Don't think it was a ship. It would have been cool to see if there was anything really going on in their, but S.M. made a good point haha

Interesting. Perhaps the Pyramids (there were more than one) could well have been flown in as a complete unit, no build required. The smaller ships could have been used as shuttles and or recon etc etc. I hadn't thought of this and I suppose it's possible.

I have always thought that the egg chamber below the Derelict in A1 & A's was actually a Pyramid, perhaps partially buried, perhaps crash landed into by the Derelict.

Good aim.

you got me thinking what if the ship is actually grown instead of built?

It looks both like Ripley's space helmet at the end of Alien and Shaw and Co's helmets in Prometheus. They each have that mechanism nodule upon the top of the head... more-so with the Prometheus crews space helmets...

Yes you cant rule out them being Ships, and a Ship within a Ship can happen as far as Mothership.

But nope i think the whole purpose was these Complexes are more like Outpost a Scientific/Military Outpost with Hangers.

As far as the Derelict crash....  well the whole Egg Silo size has caused a bit of conflict but we have to remember the idea was separate Egg Silo at concept stage for Alien and HR Giger had designs the Matt Paintings to had represented this as a back ground.

So this is why some can use the theory or a Egg Silo being on LV-426 that the Derelict gets its cargo from or drops its cargo off too... this may have been the idea but we can only go by what the Actual movie showed us.

And the route they are going is as if the Egg Chamber is on the ship....

Ridley had explained the Derelict crash and cargo too, he has and still implies the Cargo was on the Ship it had a Cargo Hold... (he has teased at latter point that Eggs may no longer had been present at the start) but thats only a ambiguous tease and in no way sugests the Cargo was never Eggs to start with.

But the ship did not crash.... not technically and so seems Ridley is hinting a a potential attempt of a landing in which the Chest Bursting happened during this process, or the start of it did at this sequence and so it was more a crash landing.

Crashed or landed (which would still work) I love the idea that the egg chamber on LV426 is directly connected to the engineer complex on LV223. It would also add weight to the goings on 2000 years ago and what happened to the surviving Engineer after whatever happened on LV223. I love the idea that something went wrong and the Engineers had thought (or their masters) that they were in control, and ultimately no one can be. It got out, got away and the very thing that had been somehow predicted (the mural) and or feared actually occurred. For me the real story is whether or not it was by accident or an act of sabotage, possibly by the last remaining Engineer who was in cryo in Prometheus.

Someone on another forum had a cool idea that the figure in the carvings was the titular Prometheus who visited Earth at various points, assisting mankind. The other Engineers got wind of this and cracked the shits so made plans to wipe out humanity.  'Prometheus' sabotaged their plans by unleashing the accelerant. (Doesn't explain how an Engineer kept visiting in the two preceeding millennia, but there you go. Maybe Prometheus escaped the death on LV-223 and kept visiting Earth.)

You could also speculate that Prometheus loosed a facehugger on the Derelict that launched from LV-223 on a similar mission. The Pilot, realizing what was about to happen immediately set down on LV-426, to avoid the Aliens getting loose somewhere they shouldn't.

I have always considered them to be buildings that the engineers used for a purpose, I have never considered them to be ships although it is an interesting idea.

Well i take it we are to be talking about LV-223 and not the Egg Silo in Alien... in which case indeed the purpose was a Outpost a place they conducted experiments maybe to create, maybe to destroy?

I looked at this place being maybe a Greenhouse where the Engineers would experiment and nurture and evolve life and when they was pleased with the results they would seed them onto near by Worlds.

Earth would be one of many Gardeners these Genetic Gardeners tended to.

At some point they created something they should not have... what reason or purpose is unknown as it could be many a reason.. but it has to do something with a Rebellion in the Hierarchy which includes mankind... the movie was trying to tease it was Mankind who had upset these Gods (Engineers) and so they decided to wipe us out.

But it seems as the idea evolved, these Engineers are not Gods and are themselves a sub race to a higher race and power who may have rebelled themselves or maybe even stolen tools of creation and created forbiden life themselves.

Its hard to grasp really which way this all goes, and thats what the Prometheus sequel was going to attempt to answer... but i still hope Alien Covenant touches upon this Agenda... which i can explain in detail if needed

As far as the design of these Temple Mounds, internally they are a bit like Ant/Termite nests.

@BigDave

You're right! Both the ant piles and the temples have slanted tunnels! Maybe to drain out the Black Goo? 

@S.M

Prometheus as an actual being? Very interesting!!!

@BigDave; Yes it does. And the interior water channel design also reminds me of an hornets nest.

Fuckin' insects!

They aint Bees Hudson...... lol

I just want to add, maybe somebody already did dunno... Ive seen a lot of ppl complaining about the point when David informs Shaw that 'there are more ships' or something along those lines, like it was lame, sort of deus ex machina moment, but the truth is this was clear from the very beginning of the movie, when the ship was landing u could see, with ur eyes, a bunch of 'pyramids' like the one they went to, lined up, all the way to the horizon, the only problem i have with this, is, how come the crew didnt notice, it was there, i saw it

here it is straight from the movie when prometheus is landing, who doesn't see that? they are all looking at it? it should have been obs from the beginning, and after seeing that , the question 'could this be naturally occurring?' is just a stupid question, loook, look! those are freaking buildings

@loop So agree with you. I have been bothered in my rewatches of Prom at how uninformed and seemingly stupid that crew is. To your point their dialogue and actions all seem to indicate that they didn't know there was more than one temple/ship, even though it was VERY clear from the very first shot! who wouldn't think they would all have a ship within them once the ship itself was discovered? Doh!

another one, come on, hey stringer bell, ur a pilot u should have perception like a beast, telling me u didnt notice that?

yeah starlogger, dont forget they were all watching through the window in excitement, and didnt notice those were obs not natural... geez... i like prometheus though, this just seems obvious to everybody, sure in a stretch, that pattern of complex, kind of symetrical structures could be natural i guess, but whats the chance of that, inductive logic got them there, where is it when u need it?

i hope AC does better, although at this point i feel like im gonna be pulling ridley scott out of my ass by the end

(insinuating he's doing his best to please the fans with AC, thanks ridley, i want a cupcake after i illegally download AC)

I've thought along similar lines @loop, but my main issue was that after exploring just one of these silos, they make the giant leap that the Engineers are all dead. David states to shaw that there are other ships. I think it's unlikely he would have confirmed this prior to making that statement, but rather assumed it based on what he believed each silo was.

Either way, it's a bit like breaking in to a bank with 5 vaults, opening the first one and finding out it's empty, then not bothering to open the other 4 vaults cause 'there's no money here'

The line 'God does not build in straight lines' is Holloway's observation that there is architecture on the ground. He's the first to see it.

By the time the Prometheus is landing, it's been established there's architecture. It's why they're landing. 

By the time they discover there's a ship, they are well into exploring the first dome. There's no reason to believe they thought there was only one, they just never got any farther.

I think this shot captures the moment

If that was another hangar the PUPs would've likely picked up the access tunnel.

Maybe, did each of the 5 Temples have a Hanger / Ship, the possibilities are endless....

It's more likely each temple is connected to a single ship.

Those scouting and landing long shots are some of my favorite in Prometheus. Just a spooky beauty and the sense of scale was tremendous in the theatre.

The landing itself was a little awkward, but the following long shot of the ship winding down in a swirl dust has a painterly aspect of dread to it.