The fundamental question; who's the space jockey (AC Plot Spoilers)

I am hoping David merely learns how to make the Xeno via the Engineer's cookbook.  I do in fact want to see addressed in future films, Sir Ridley's original prequel question, "Who is the big guy in the chair?".  I do also remember Sir Ridley asking this question in the run up to the release of Prometheus, too.

I dont think it is David.  Given the size of the Jockey, and the fact that the Xeno's dont generally combine with Androids.  

I think the door is still open for any number of possibilities. My reason for saying this, is that I have noticed how Ridley sells a movie from his interviews. Sometimes I have found this infuriating because with what he says for one movie, can change for the next movie. However in the case of the Spacejockey this could be a good thing ( fingers crossed). I think the direction of the franchise is creating a story that runs parallel to a series of events that’s put the Derelict onto LV426.  This could be what Ridley meant about coming in through the back door. We know David has managed to re create the Xeno, but what if the Derelict on LV426  was the result of something much earlier that gave us the perfected xeno. I think there is still plenty of room for manoeuvre yet.

Had to finally take the plunge and register for this forum, I was so disappointed in the way they took this whole thing with the Space Jockey. That was the most nightmarish, thought provoking sight to behold , a fossilized Alien creature in this chair, a hole ripped out through the rib cage. To me , it always was and will be some strange Aliens' fossilized skeleton, not a humanoid in a suit ( ???). I was flabbergasted when I first heard Prometheus was going the route with these Engineers. I always mused that this alien race was harvesting the eggs and either using them for military purposes or selling them for whatever purpose, or hundreds of other scenarios i'm sure could be thought up...and they got careless and one got hatched and destroyed crew, and the poor sap was able to get in the beacon transmitter chair and send the warning signal before the creature burst from it's chest.( I always thought of them as a benevolent race, as they put the warning signal out)  Now we have a convoluted mess that's getting even messier trying to match up with first Alien.( the only connection I can see that makes any sense with the androids perfecting the " organism" is Ash's admiration of it saying it's the perfect organism)  ) ....But then you wonder how the company knew about the creature to send the Nostromo crew for it in the first place, did they decipher the full warning message and the creature was mentioned in the message? 

I'm sure there's a million fans out there that could have written up stories a million times better than what we have now . Oh well , at least we have our imaginations.. and remember, we live as we dream, alone

The only way they can go forwards with this and leave them a Mystery would be to have Covenants Sequel go off to a far away different place than the LV-223/LV-426 System.

Then Show us the Eggs/Monsters in Alien Awakening are Evolution's that David played a hand in..

This will leave the Mystery of Alien a bit... but it would still not leave it a complete one, because the clues are their that showed us.. and this was the case prior to Alien Covenant.

*The Space Jockey is a Space Suit..... that contained Engineers or beings connected to them...

*The Eggs are connected to the Black Goo, they either both came from the same Source, or One Predates and comes from the other.

However as the movie is going to be called Alien Awakening, i think it has to touch more on either the Origin of the Alien... or the Evolution that leads to the exact ones that are on the Derelict.

At first Ridley hinted that Awakening would be set after Prometheus but prior to Alien Covenant...  but his latest comments now seem to suggest that the next movie is a Direct Sequel to Alien Covenant that will lead us to exactly why those Eggs got on the Derelict and who the Space Jockey was.

Which seems to be that its a event some up to 17 years prior to Alien, and likely the Colonists, David and LV-223 Play a Key Role to how this plays out.

The New Mystery that will be kept.. is now all those Questions in Prometheus regarding the Engineers, and where the Black Goo came from etc. But a movie going to LV-223 can give us those answers.. to a degree.

Changed the Title... so that those who have not seen AC and wish to not know what the Plot is... can not potentially be spoiled by this Post... even though you dont give much away.. the discussion touched upon David creating the Eggs... which while i think anyone who sees the Trailers should know...

It saves some who come on this post who have not seen the movie and then complain.. "oh man now i know what happens"

@BigDave of course, sorry. Do not want to give anything away :)

@NecronomIV

I totally understand your concerns and I think your question is most important as to where Ridley will take us next. When I saw this scene at the cinema I facepalmed so hard, I believe people around me heard it. The movie was doing so well right up untill then. 

It's going to be a b*tch to properly tie this in to Alien but who knows, only Ridley does ( I hope).

@poochies

Welcome! 

@ pooches     Hi there and welcome.

The only thing that can save us now is the “Reverse Evolution Klingon Theory”.

If Star Trek can have Klingons going from human to more alien looking characters, they why can’t the Alien franchise have Engineers that evolved from more alien characters into more human characters. If the Space Jockey in the Derelict was from an earlier part of the Engineers evolution we could arrive back at something more elephantine. The current Spacejockey space suits could then have been made to adapt to an older form of Space Jockey. OK I know this is some serious wishful thinking on my part, but why not? Ridley listened to the fans and got the old Xeno back out to play, how about the old Space Jockey?

The Space Jockey is the most epic scene I ever watched on cinema. I really can't fathom the mysterious behind it.

David is somehow become an iconic character in Alien franchise, I hope his involvement with the Space Jockey will play well. 

Nice to see we as fans basically share the same view and I hope Ridley and the storywriters are on this forum reading as well :) I do suppose they could just leave the whole derelict as an ancient mystery in that somehow, somewhere a long time ago somebody created the xeno similair as maybe David does. 

Next Alien movie ends with a proper xeno ripping the head off of both David and his protomorph, hehe (joke).

I always felt there were two options for Covenant in the early stages.

1) In retribution for their wrongs Paradise was destroyed by the creators and Shaw and David came upon it and the evolving creature. 

2) What is in the movie. Once it was clear to me that David would drive the prequels I opted for what we got about two months ago. 

Ridley has now begin answering questions. We have a number of simple steps.

1) David brought the Alien Mutagen with him. 

2) He was disappointed in his creators and the creators creators so he destroyed them. 

3) He then began, as Ridley indicated De Vinci like, designing his own creation which emerged out of the Alien Mutagen and Shaw's DNA.

The rest is simply the Covenant lands.

We now have a ship he is in control of with micro organisms and the movie is currently called Awakening and ADF's prequel book is called Origins. 

All we need is a Juggernaut and a Jockey to overcome David. Ridley has said this is a many layered story and now we see David as supremely powerful I suspect we will see in a very powerful and theatrical way an intervention from the next layer above the Engineers who will take the Eggs and quarantine them on LV426 in a move of self sacrifice producing a squaring of the circle begun in Prometheus. The film will leave some kind of message for W-Y who were remarkably not in Covenant in any important way and they will know of the Alien Life form and its potential.

There are other options Walter plus Juggernaut arrives to save the day.

David takes them all to the night mare of LV223 but then why not return to Paradise. I think David now sees his creations born thought his great love Elizabeth as his and so a "new kingdom makes sense".

What I am suggesting and I think is clear now, crystal clear, this is all about A. I. I cannot see David under going a redemption we all now loath him with a vengeance after his appalling treatment of Elizabeth twice. He needs to be sorted and that leaves the consequences of the mutagen ready for A. L. I. E. N. The great dramatic question is how do you get rid of the f...ing appalling god damn robot.   

I have a feeling that the explanation behind the space jockey/ derelict will be a 5 minute afterthought at the end of whatever film comes before Alien. Like others have mentioned, a trip from 223 to a crash landing at 426..

I'd like to be more positive but after watching AC I'm loosing faith!

@ Michelle Johnston

I really like your point about there being an intervening layer above the Engineers. This has the prospect of introducing something we have not seen yet, and possibly more intriguing.

@Necronom IV - YES!!  I want David properly destroyed by the baddest, most evil Engineer entity ever!!                      

@Necronom IV

No need to apologize ;)

@Batchpool

LOL Excellent

"The Space Jockey is the most epic scene I ever watched on cinema. I really can't fathom the mysterious behind it."

It sure was Jonesy... a truly Alien Enigma.... in Hindsight they should have left it a Mystery... as its the only Mystery to the Alien, as we have seen the Monster over cooked.... but Ridley wanted to put his Stamp on a Origins Story because if he did not... eventually when Ridley is no longer with us.. FOX could very well have explored the Origin to bring the Xeno back to our Screens and Milk it by giving it a new lease of Life.


@Michelle

Totally similar to how i see things, as discussed over the last few days, Ultimately i think the Space Jockey was a Scene of a Sacrificial Act and so its a case of how do they do this... I will give my Two Cents after.. which i covered last week.

"David takes them all to the night mare of LV223 but then why not return to Paradise."

This is something i mentioned in another Topic when someone said Walter can take the Juggernaught, i am going to assume the reason David is stranded is because the Ship is out of Action.

In Order for David to acquire another ship, i think the logical route is LV-223 where David will have a choice of ships and more Black Goo to play with and also more freedom to explore those Engineer Outposts for more Answers.

They have killed off the Engineers, and have not explained the Answers from Prometheus, well a Sequel set on LV-223 is where we can find some of these Answers.

The Multi-layered Approach certainly could be that we never got to find out what Shaw asked... "Who Created them"

Having another Alien Race be brought into the Franchise who cant allow Mankind or Crazy Androids to have the Horrific Bio-Weapon and Related Creations of LV-223 and this Alien Being tries to Prevent this...

Is something i would tackle, and i would go this route... for sure and i may start working on a Draft for it soon.

The Basis for My last point, would be to tie in some loose ends in the Franchise...

*LV-223 and why its not featured in the Franchise after Prometheus.

*The Size of the Space Jockey

*How the Goo seemed to act differently by Burning those beings on Paradise.

*Why did the Juggernaught Crash

*What became of that Scorpion Ship

*Why the Engineers on Paradise are smaller and different to those in Prometheus

I covered this idea in another post teh other day but here is a quick run down.

What if Paradise is as in the Bible, its a Place where Humanoid Creation was created.. maybe even the Sacrificial Scene?  Its the Cradle of Civilization.  This place is not the Place of the Gods, or their lower Cast Engineers (Angels) and as in the Bible and Paradise Lost this Place (Paradise) is Guarded by a Caste of Angels (Engineers) who Watch over the Garden of Eden.

Like the Movie Aeon Flux, we have a Ship overhead with a Being/Beings who are the Keepers/Watchers and they watch over Creation on this World... but all Humanoid Creation is kept within just the confines of ONE City like in Aeon Flux.

This is so the Watchers, can watch over them and monitor them and make sure they are acting in accordance with the Laws and Agenda of the Watchers.

We can bring the Norse Paradise into this as far as Valhalla and also Heaven Loosely into this, in that Paradise is a place that Humanoid Creations are allowed to Dwell but only those who have turned out to have kept to their Covenant with the Creators,  and Mankind is not part of that because we Failed the Test, we proved to be a disappointment...

So David Turns up, and as some kind of Safety Protocol he has to Dock with the Watchers Ship/Dock first before he can Dock into the Hanger... But this is when David unleashes Hell.

The Watchers on that Ship then realize and in a attempt to prevent this they release some kind of Energy Weapon to prevent it and stop the Black Goo Infection by Burning those Infected... Cleanse them with Fire...

This event also causes David's Juggernaught to Crash.

The Watchers then realize they could not prevent the Total Destruction as some of the Black Goo would be Airborne and Spread... (thus no Wild-Life) and as they have just One City on Paradise to Watch Over (Garden of Eden) they realize all of those Creations are going to be gone.

Maybe they realize this Ship came from LV-223, and so the Watchers then leave in their Scorpion Ship to go to some other place.

We have to remember the Engineers Star Maps have other Galaxies and so these Ancient Beings can Travel Far beyond our Galaxy.... LV-223 was a mere 39LY from Earth... the nearest Galaxy is over 2.5 Million LY away... so distances of Millions of Light Years is not beyond these beings Reach and so what are the Chances they can travel to Galaxies and only Populated Earth and LV-223 and Paradise/Planet 4?

So can we assume they came from our Galaxy?

So these Watchers leave... then we have Covenant and David takes the ship and Colonists to LV-223 to conduct his experiments.

Latter one of the Watchers Ships Return to LV-223 and they decide to interfere.... and Stop David... they discover the Humans and Witness in some of their Actions a Noble and Sacrificial Nature that changes the Watchers views on us... they decide to Stop David...

Take his Ship and Experiments because they as Creators become a bit intrigued... they  decide to Nuke or similar LV-223 so that this Place can not be Harnessed by Mankind.   But the Watcher/Space Jockey gets infected... the Blast destroys all Engineer Outposts and Technology on LV-223 Rendering it Null..

But the event Tears a Temporary Tear in Space/Time that sends the Derelict through and back Hundreds if not Thousands of Years...  The Watcher/Space Jockey then sets off a SOS to Warn his Fellow Race about the Cargo etc... and he crash lands and gets Chest Busted as he is Quarantine the Ship on LV-426.

ALIEN Movie connected.... Loose Ends tied up... David still created the Xenomorph.

Here is a bit of theorycrafting based on my personal wish list, but I highly doubt sequels will take this path. 

Walter is still alive has been stranded on Paradise for a year or two.  He's been alone with nothing but the wind and the dead.  He hears something.. new..  He go outside the citadel and looks into the sky to see an incoming Juggernaut.  The Juggernaut pauses for a period of time and finally starts it's decent.  The ship lands and Five Engineers appear in full environmental suits. Walter slowly approaches, but even from a distance he can tell they are agitated.  As Walter gets closer he can hear the stress in their vocal cadence.  They notice him and move to intercept.  Walter knows their language from written records left on the planet.  He greets them in their own tongue.

We get a bit of subtext.  Walter explains that he was marooned by the being who killed the planet when he attempted to stop him.  Walter tells the Engineers he knows where David went, and he must be stopped.

We see the Engineers escort Walter into the ship and display the star map.  Walter walks over to a planet and points at it.  The Engineers quickly prepare to leave in order to stop David and exact revenge.

By reintroducing the Engineers it solves a few issues. 

1) It puts a Juggernaut (derelict) in close proximity to David since they are going after him.

2) It gives the opportunity for the being in ALIEN to still be an Engineer.  David is killed, but the Engineer survivor(s) get infected with facehuggers.  It also gives the opportunity for the Xeno's to obtain their biomechanical traits from the Engineers instead of an android.

3) An amazing Engineer VS Xeno battle could be done.

4) The possibility of Walter being responsible for the ALIEN warning beacon.

This in my mind would also explain why the inhabitants of Paradise were so eager to greet the incoming Juggernaut.  They had been expecting the return of one.