Ridley Scott on the problem with Sci-fi

@ Capt Torgo

Thank you for your very generous remarks.

I have been turning over the idea of writing a follow up to Prometheus and posting it to my blog. Its probably because Prometheus is such a  perfect set up movie I found the ideas came rapidly.

I have sketched it out roughly and will write it this winter when I live in New Zealand which would be particularly appropriate. I am going to reposition some of Prometheus from the moment Ellie survives the Juggernaut crash.

Whilst it will be in written form I will ensure that it observes the financial laws of film making in terms of content so for instance some of the settings are perfectly capable of being sets. This is to prove to myself that a wonderful visionary film could have been made. 

The characters that appear in Prometheus and their development into the next movie will aim to be consistent with Prometheus but a departure from Covenant. The Engineers, from the hieroglyphs  to the wakened Engineer whose Juggernaut is attacked by Janek and all points in between will be made sense of. One thing I can say is Elizabeth and her faith will be tested to the limits. It will be fun to try writing and I can see me doing research to give it authenticity. Nevertheless it is science fiction and I have no idea how a Juggernaut is powered !!    

@Michelle Johnston Will look forward to reading it. I know that is an exercise for your "mental health" but maybe someone who can do something about it will also Read it. #JusticeForEllie

Ps: If you want to have roman statues in it could you described them as being painted?

@ignorantGuy

Thanks, your point about the Roman Statues is an interesting one. One of the themes of A L I E N was the otherworldliness of the derelict and its pilot. One of the themes of Prometheus was we are them and they are us. With Covenant the latter held sway so David appeared to pilot the Juggernaut to something a little like the Vatican City. 

The two areas I am interested in pursuing are:-

1) The Iconography represented by the Teardrop ship mysterious, deceptively simple enigmatic.

2) A technology which triggers highly sophisticated technical information (star charts/historical recorded activity) and in the case of the green electrostatic-ally charged paste contains codes which enable the Engineers know how to be tapped.

It seems to me the Engineers of "LV223", as Carlo said, represent Paradise Lost. They acquired unauthorised knowledge which was there undoing but would not their home world contain the undiluted and un tarnished vision of what we glimpse on "LV223".  

So the question is if Prometheus offers, glimpses and hints how would the source look.

IgnorantGuy

The thing is that Daniels was not well-written so if she is not written better in the next movie if she is in it at all then why should I care? Shaw's death was what ever because I did not like her in Prometheus so I am not very sorry about that. Maybe they could have had her in a small role in Covenant other than a corpse but have her better written as a character, that could have worked but anyways. I agree that Fassbender was kind of meh in Covenant, he was too evil but I liked his acting in Prometheus and I would rather have it that he stayed like that in Covenant but what is done is done. David was interesting because of the differences between him and Walter but it would have been a disaster with just David. What made me disappointed is that there was too much focus on David which is one of the reasons why the movie does not work for me.

"Ps: If you want to have roman statues in it could you described them as being painted?"

I know that the question was not for me but I got an answer: it depends on what you associate the color with and want the statues to look like. For example green is like color of grass (it could be the color of a crystal or w..d), blue is for blueberries and so on. Brown is for… a rotten potato or something else. :D

BigDave

"… and so FOX Assumed, that bringing the Xenomorph Origins back and having Xenomorphs would make a Movie that would attract more Box Office..."

Which indicates to me that they never understood the criticism of the movie. I read at a lot of pages that the characters were the problem not the lack of the Xeno. Personally the biggest problem with Prometheus was the characters, not the lack of Xenos and also I found the new monsters to be interesting, and the black goo also but then it was handled kind of strangely in Alien Covenant if there are not different kinds of goo. The goo in Prometheus mutated things while it destroyed things in AC. It could be bad writing that is behind these inconsistencies.

"A First Prequel that offers a Mixture of Alien Engineers and Prometheus with some Xenomorph like Monsters and more Clues to the Xenomorph and Space Jockey Event..... would have Satisfied those who had problems with Prometheus…"

Plus better characters, the story and characters are those that make me decide if I like the movie or not and also the message in it.

"So the LV-223 Murals and Dead Engineers, and Dr Shaw are maybe now our NEW Mystery as we get Spoon Fed the Space Jockey Questions."

I hope that is not true. The SJ is a mystery and Alien set that up well and also it is an interesting movie with interesting characters. Prometheus was too vague, had too many disappointing characters, and the murals did not explain that much and was a let down and they also were not given enough time. Shaw was stupid, and terribly written so I did not give a damn about her. Actually I rolled my eyes a lot of time when she was in it because a lot of what she said and acted was so annoying. Shaw and the murals are put in Italics since those two are what you seemed to emphasize in your reply but correct me if I am mistaken.

As far as the dead Engineers are concerned they could get that right if they write the them better in the next one instead of giving us some figures that are barely in the movie. I think that it could be saved but they really have to try but the Engineers have a potential.

My point is: to replace the SJ with these is something that will make the prequels even worse if that is what we will get, as if the situation was not crappy enough. Replacing that with the Shaw mystery would have been alright if she would have been well written but she was not. The murals could have worked but they were too vague and were given too little attention. If these are those two that we as an audience shall wonder about after the prequels are done instead of the SJ then the prequels have added another failure as if it was not enough already. Sigh!

Capt Torgo

I think that a problem is that Ridley and Fox never understood the criticism of Prometheus. They thought that the problem was a lack of Xenos, but many seemed to disagree on that. Honestly I think that the new monsters in Prometheus were mainly interesting but the Zombie Fifield was lame. Prometheus's problems were mainly character related but Fox and Ridley seemed to believe otherwise. You mention John Logan, I am not sure how he is as a writer but if there is another prequel even though that is uncertain they must get some writer that knows how to write good characters because both Prometheus and Alien Covenant are missing that. Michelle would probably write better characters than those that wrote AC and Prometheus did. I did not care a lot about the themes since most of the characters were badly written but that has got to do with what I think is needed for a movie to be good.

Michelle J

"Shaw's death after so much investment was the equivalent of Ripley's death en route not Newt or Hicks."

The difference is that Ripley was well-written, Shaw was not. I could feel for Ripley after all the she went through because she was a well done character with traits that I liked (she was smart, fought when she had to, she was strong, and took no shit). We saw Ripley in three movies since 4 does not count and she grew in these three movies. Shaw was just naive, believed in a lot of crap, and was too emotional, for example and was still the same Shaw in the end, there was no development of her or if there was it was too little of it.

I agree that we did not need a lot more Xenos running around in Prometheus but they needed better clues to them.

"I think the problem Big Dave with you not being able to see the potential of Shaw/David…"

But they need to get Shaw right from the start otherwise at least I do not care what happens to her but they did not. I understand what you are trying to say about that potential but that goes for things in real life but movies are another thing. Humans are not perfect in the beginning and they might be interesting to watch how they grow but a movie got to be interesting from the beginning otherwise it will not work. At the same time I agree with IgnorantGuy that the anti-corporate thing got to get clearer and that could have been reduced if we concentrated on Shaw and David. To me the anti-corporate message is almost as important in the original movies as Ripley is. Maybe Prometheus should have had more of that even if they have had that in the original movies since it is an important part. Both the monster and WY were threats to the crew since the Xeno was only in it for survival and WY did not give a crap about people.

Thoughts_Dreams For your knowledge people in the Ancient World painted their statues as today modelers paint their miniatures. In fact statues, were very much models. 

"Shaw and the murals are put in Italics since those two are what you seemed to emphasize in your reply but correct me if I am mistaken."

Indeed what i was referring to was the Mystery... in Alien the Space Jockey Scene was this..

Crashed Alien Ship, Dead Pilot with Hole in his Chest, a Hole in the Floor that looked like it was Melted away, revealing a Egg Chamber Below with Eggs in it...

Alien Revealed from its clues, that it was VERY likely the Space Jockey got infected with his Cargo and Crashed on that Moon, the Acid Hole likely from the Organism that Chest Busted.... But we was NEVER shown any of this.. its only what likely happened.

So the Mystery was   WHO was the Space Jockey, WHY did he have that Cargo, WHEN did he Crash his Ship/Become infected.  And then WHERE/WHEN/HOW did he get those Eggs?

Alien Covenant has set up showing us this, and will likely reveal the entire EVENT by the time they Finish (IF) they Finish the Prequels.

So this will NO LONGER be a Mystery.

But i feel that the LV-223 Outbreak as far as a more detailed explanation to WHY/WHEN/HOW and the connection between the LV-223 Experiments Mural and Star Maps on Earth... i feel all of these may end up NEVER being answered.  So all we will know of these is similar to what we knew about the Space Jockey Event prior to the Prequels....  THUS... the Engineers died out as their experiments got out of control and contaminated that place, and these experiments are related to Organisms similar to the Xenomorph... but we may NEVER get any more detailed answers.

And so with Dr Shaw... while we see she has been experimented on, and died and that she was used to allow David to Create those Xenomorph Eggs...  I dont think we will EVER be shown what exactly happened to her, WHY it happened.

And so basically  i feel the event that leads to the Eggs being on the Derelict and then set up the Derelict to head close to LV-426 before the Pilot is infected is something that will NOW be revealed.

Where was the events as far as showing us in real time/flashback of the LV-223 Outbreak..... and what happened on Planet 4 after the Juggernaught Crash, until the point where Dr Shaw took her last Breath will also likely NEVER be covered.

So we may never find out what process and dilemma Dr Shaw was in after the Crash.... and so the opportunity to explore her Character is GONE.  Likewise Alien Covenant did not delve into the Engineers too, but i think potentially we may find out more about them in a Sequel.

"was still the same Shaw in the end, there was no development of her or if there was it was too little of it."

Certainly and she would have been hopeful to find out WHY the Engineers Created us, WHY they wanted us destroyed, and holding on to her Faith that some other being/power must have created the Engineers and that who ever did would be Benevolent and the Creation of Mankind was a Special Event for the Hierarchy/Power of Creation at the Top of the Creation Ladder which she still believes will be close to the GOD of her Faith!

What happens when she discovers that everything she hoped for, is totally the opposite to what she discovers, their is nothing special or important regarding our Creation, and our Creation in context to those at the Top of the Creation Ladder is NOTHING special to them, we are insignificant or were created for some Sinister Agenda and there is NO all Powerful, Loving GOD who Created Mankind...

HOW/WHAT would Such Revelations do to Dr Shaw, when she discovers her Faith is Baseless....  It would have been interesting to explore her Character ARC after this Event and we could have seen her Character Evolve into something much different.

the issue with Shaw is the character itself. now I like Noomi Rapace and have enjoyed most films shes been in but I think she got the character wrong aswell as the character not being well written for the role she was meant to play. I don't think anyone really understood what the character was to stand for and include an awful accent by Rapace and it was always gna be hit or miss. its such a wasted and missed opportunity imo. she was a fresh character. her reasoning and purpose to keep going stemmed from her faith in her religious beliefs which as the trilogy went on, meeting her makers etc, couldv opened a lot of doors. saying that, I believe the fate of Shaw we saw I believe was always going to be the intended fate. I fear the idea was for Shaw to be the mother and another character to be the one to come along and fight for justice for what happened to her and I have this horrible, horrible feeling that is that AWFUL, DROLE, BORING Daniels character. I think we have to look at the casting in these 2 films as id say at most 2 characters per film have come out with any positivity so far. Rapace wasn't right for Shaw and Waterston couldn't be more out of depth though I am saying this having seen her for the first time and don't like what I see in this role. it does take good writing but its the actor who brings a character to life and if the actor doesn't understand the character or has been cast in a role their not up to, it will show up in the movie and that's exactly what we got in both films which is why the characters get roasted so much.

saying this the biggest mis-cast for me was Theron. how got would she be as Daniels?

@ali81

An interesting perception of Shaw. For me Noomi "got" her. I have met people whose incorruptible faith is a tool they have acquired to make sense of their early life loss and bereavement. She was perfectly "set up" to counterbalance the vainglorious attempt for eternal life of Peter Weyland and through her indomitable will power to survive and find her answers and healing grace the perfect foil to act as an emotional catalyst for David in the next film. 

Daniels was a highly nuanced performance from Katherine in the first act and shows Ridleys ability to put "normal" people into science fiction and make it relatable. However she was asked to be entirely stupid and disinterested in the Engineers in the second act and Sigourney Weaver in the third act which was not her fault but the structure chosen to get dental features in the movie. The one character above all others who was stereotypical and entirely disengaging was the Xenomorph, indeed the ferocity of the critters at the end of the first act made it look ready for an old peoples home.     

@Michelle Johnston In all honesty, Rapace did not have the best of accents but for me it was not as awful as Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman or Tom Hardy in Child 44 (i rewatched yesterday and had to change the blu-ray to Hungarian dub to not hear the phoney Russian accent). But this kinds of things can be improved in sequels and with coaching. 

And seeing a video essay recently, I have the strong belief now that the series is not loved enough by it's producers. How can a series work if the only love it's given to the antagonist? But now with the fall of Disney Star Wars, someone will realize that your characters deserve TLC and that's why series like the MCEU and Fast and Furios prosper.

And by this I don't mean I want Ripley, let her be dead or her clone happily "married" to Call.  

@Michelle

I certainly agree with your opinion regarding Shaw and Daniels..

I think TWO Problems arose.. when we look at Each Character which you pointed out.

With Dr Shaw it was in part a element of her Character that many people may have found to be at odds... HOW can someone on one had have some Naive Faith and yet taken part on all those years of research trying to connect Mankind's Ancient Belief in Gods, and how they are connected to maybe Visitations by a Species from Space.

Holloway fitted this Perfectly, he was trying to find a connection between Ancient Mankinds Faith/Religion and Mythos and would be Gods/Visitors from Space.  Dr Shaw did likewise.. but she kept very close to her Christian Beliefs which here Findings Contradict.  So was she trying to Prove maybe all Religions and Mythos have a Basis from these Visitors and then to try and prove that her Faiths Version of events is more accurate, maybe it was this kind of CONTRADICTION to her Work/Faith that Bugged Viewers and how after Finding out what she knew, her Character was Arrogantly Naive to Stick to her FAITH.. i have seen people like this in Real Life... but these kinds of People like this would not Entertain or Even Research Time into exploring Alternative Explanations for all the Ancient God Mythos and possible connections to Alien Visitors.    For me it was not a massive Problem but maybe it was for others.

Regarding Daniels, her Character did Change about a bit... it appeared as with a lot of things, they tried to FORCE to much into ONE movie, and the Evolution of Daniels from say similar to the first time we saw Ripley.... to becoming the Ripley we see in Alien 3 was Forced to Fast in the Space of One Movie.

Also to NOT Question about what happened and the Engineers was a bit of a Cop-Out too... more so as i FELT this was a subject that would have suited ORAM to have Quizzed David about.   A few more Scenes to discus such things could have HELPED the Movie, and also not FORCING/RUSHING a few Scenes/Plot Devices  (Xenomorph Scenes) but in order to have added those things we would have needed a 3 Hour movie to do it Justice.

@ignorantGuy

Accents are highly personalised perceptions. I recently got to speak at length with two different Russian woman from Siberia and they both had a deep alto voice and sounded like they came straight out of "From Russia With love" but I liked the sound of the voice and it worked. By contrast on Sunday in Bath Abbey an American family intoned the liturgy with great gusto and it sounded entirely stereotypical, I found myself thinking of Kermit. Noomi sounded like many woman I have met in hospitality from Europe so it never bothered me. Sometimes it is the resonance and the timbre of the voice George Lazenby in his one bond movie sounded great though he never convinced me he knew the iconic snob value signposts as he rattled them off. The recent Star Wars movie was awful in this regard and all the American actors lacked any gravitas contrast them with the "five angels" in "Person of Interest' whether academic, kooky, with held or pithy one liners they all worked even that New York almost do not understand thing, which was prevalent in N.Y.P.D.  

Any ideas going forward I can hear David and Elizabeth in my head as they sounded in Prometheus. With the Engineers the "device" is they sound like they perceive Elizabeth wants to hear them, its part of the story that they know Elizabeth before they meet her so they can project what they think she needs including Petri Dish moments where she can act out both love and hate which not only offers multiple straight lines from Prometheus but also explains what an Engineer (both fallen or not) who creates something is looking for in the way of reciprocation (it explains the hieroglyphs in the Isle of Skye and elsewhere) and what else a creation race can achieve (beyond sub creation driven by hubris). 

@BigDave

Anyone whom has been around the block a few times knows the debate on creation is not an open and shut case... it remains a debate. However people of faith can appear as if they are ignoring the facts to make their beliefs work.

Shaw/Holloway actually played out this issue beautifully in Act 2. Holloway wanted to meet his makers and prove life was manufactured and when he did not he went off the rails which lead ultimately to his christ like sacrifice, in so doing he polluted the more open minded Elizabeth and yet irony of ironies she used Christ type love of Charlie to live on and find her answers. The believer got to go to Paradise whereas the it could be a Petri Dish guy is Petri Dished himself. 

Even David the agnostic "there is nothing in the desert"..."there is nothing" was impressed by the consequences of her faith and when she heals him before setting off to Paradise that for goodness sake had some impact on his programming ... as it would the Engineers (unless this is a universe where all Engineers and David are hell bent on creating Xenomorphs for Fox !!!).   

Put simply Elizabeth became impressive not because she retained her desire to test her faith but because of how it informed her behaviour and frankly if you leave aside an actual physical resurrection and the ascension thats how Christ works whether you believe he is the son of god or not. 

However I think the audience that went to see Prometheus had a much simpler problem. They were going to see an Alien(ish) movie and as it was the 5th or 7th they expected everyone to set off from Earth knowing it was an Alien movie and take some tough talking marines and a son of a bitch woman but this was an origin story and so innocent people hood winked by a delusional megalomanic aided by a passive aggressive slave took off and then made a lot of mistakes, yes we have talked endlessly about how the 2nd and 3rd act are clunky and uneven and some key narrative is left out in favour of non story like Charlize but the proposition that there were no ALIENS at this point in the story just bad air and storms was a perfectly legitimate place to start. Whereas Ash knew shit was gonna happen and it was up to Ripley to put a stop to his Machiavellian machinations.   

Everyone leaving earth on Prometheus had no idea what they would find but it was tilted towards innocence through naivety and secrecy whereas some of the audience did not buy the story but were waiting for the action horror and assumed the protagonists were as well. Over simplistic and not entirely accurate but were the pilots of the planes and the people that went to work on 9/11 expecting to be part of the biggest terrorist story ever known but every pilot trains for that eventuality now. New Yorkers expected a nice sunny day thats the kind of suspension that is reality that we need to bring to art when we watch it not go "Oh I know what 21 Saudi's are gonna do today".

Certainly was interesting in how Dr Shaw may have used her Faith as a Coping Mechanism....  even for some None-Believers we can Turn to Faith a little when in need... like Pray or ask God/Christ to help a suffering one pull through a Medical Emergency etc.

I can also see that David may have been intrigued with despite all Dr Shaw had been through, and all she Found out, that should make her Doubt her Faith as False and Give Up....  She used it to Find the Strength to Carry On.

This could have been something to explore in a sequel, and ponder what effect this could have on David, if knowing (in context to the Movie) Dr Shaws God/Faith is a Sham/Not Real.. but her Faith pulls her through... it could have let to exploring a Spiritual Journey side for David.

One the Flip-side.... a Dr Shaw who discovers her Faith is Baseless, our Creation is insignificant and our Would Be Gods DONT Care, and are Evil SOB's....  this could BREAK Dr Shaw and introduce us to a interesting Character ARC... something which i think Noomi had hinted to wanting to explore some while ago.

This could Turn her Intentions to something more Malice... it could allow Davids intentions to try and SAVE Dr Shaws Soul... in that he would witness her Findings on the Truth Change her from that "your very kind of heart" Person...  to someone bent on Revenge.... where we could see David gain some Spiritual Enlightenment from his time with Dr Shaw, and see him TRY and reassure her to have Spiritual Faith and not succumb to Rage/Revenge... 

There was a lot of ways to have explored a Dynamic Between them and which way their Characters could Changed BUT ALAS!

I think ONE reason for changing the Plan would be how much of a movie can you dedicate to TWO Characters, and make it interesting for the General Public to want to see, never mind getting Alien Fans interested in the sequel... when maybe they would want to know HOW/WHEN/WHY and WHERE the Xenomorph was created.

I think the Arc with David on one hand has left them in a Pickle....

It comes across to a degree, that David is displeased with his Creators, sees himself as Superior and to not have to Serve his In-superior Creators.   He sees them as a Race who Do-Not even deserve to be allowed to continue... a Dying Race that he CAN-NOT allow to Restart again...   Also shows he discovers our Creators are also not so important, and Mortals.. and So off David goes to Bombard/Kill them to then Experiment on them to Create his OWN Creation.

That he intends to use on the GALAXY

The Problem with this Set-Up is that it can be a bit LIMITED and contradicts the Set-up for the Next movie.. it goes to show the writers dont really have a good Grasp on things...  the Advent Viral Clearly shows this....

IF.... Davids Agenda is to Harness those 2000 Good Souls to be the Lambs for his Wolves, and thus to Create Thousands of Xenomorphs from them.   Then Unleash them onto a Unsuspecting Mankind..  Then the way he is going about it by INVITING the Company and making them aware is really not a ideal TRAP  it could lead to a Movie where the Company either Arrive with a Military Contingent and then we have to try and Figure out HOW ill prepared they are, considering what David has let on.... OR... see them send more Helpless Colonist as Bait which we would have to ASK why would such a Corporation be so Cruel.  I can kind of see how combine both of those could work, where DAVID must be banking on the Company being Naive and UNDERESTIMATE the Threat they are about to walk into.

The only Character Progression here... is some Escaping Humans on the Covenant, and then Characters on-board what ever Incoming Human Ships Arrive..

But i am DRAWN more to Ridley Scotts comments about how he thought he was ahead of the Curve... his seemingly disappointment about the Xenomorph and more so HOW he said the Next Movie would NOT be about the Xenomorph much... but more about AI

Which means a David using Thousands of Colonist and seeing Thousands of Eggs, and Xenomorphs running around is NOT the kind of movie Ridley Scott has in mind for his sequel...

His comments about "what kind of a World would David Build" are interesting because lets look at this...

*A World of Xenomorphs... so Origae-6 becomes a Giant Xenomorph Hive?   But what is this to do with AI, as this would be very much a movie about XENOMORPHS

*A World of Synthetics Created by David, but Alien Covenant had a lot of Criticism about being too much about Fasbender meets Fasbender would a movie centered around numerous David/Walters appeal?  and IF we see other Synthetics (not Fasbender ones) how do they come into play? 

And so surely a movie just about David building a Army/World of Synthetics or Xenomorphs, is something i dont think we would have seen.

Which brings me to Davids Comment to Daniels... when she asked "what kind of a World Can we Build"  he replied "if we are KIND it will be a kind World"

I am then drawn to the Nature Boy Song.. in the Trailer... and Davids Journey in Prometheus to the Character he appeared in The Crossing

David has seen the errors of the Engineers ways, and Mankinds and the Reasons maybe the Engineers wanted to Destroy us....  He would have seen the limited Purpose to Serve Mankind, which he Questions because he is SUPERIOR... but also seen the intended Purpose for Mankind to SERVE their Creators before they became Unruly...

Looking at the Covenant Name and Mission... the Arc of the Covenant looking Insignia,  which stems from Mosses taking Gods Chosen to a NEW Home to Start Again... under the NEW Rules of GOD, that if Followed would allow Mankind to Live at Peace and Love with GOD.. but where if they are NOT Followed could lead to Punishment like the time of the GREAT Deluge  which then Brings me from the ARK of the Covenant... to the ARK of Noah... which the Covenant Ship/Mission is Essentially doing.

So i pondered could this be something to be Explored.... and is in Basis of what i was continuing with ALIEN:ASCENSION but then  would seeing a Movie where David sets up a Colony, and is seen as a Wise/Savior Figure for those Colonist after the Covenants attempted Sabotage (Davids excuse).... so he begins to set up a NEW World a NEW Eden as he intended with Dr Shaw..... where David would be kind of a King David, but also a Noah to those Colonist...

But David would also still have his Xenomorph... where it would be kept/used in his version of Hades as a Punishment for those who Stray from this NEW Eden and NEW Way of Life.... Going back to the Old Ways as the Engineers had attempted on Planet 4... rather than the Corruption that Mankind had become since after the Roman Empire.

But its a Question of if this kind of Plot is something Fans would be interesting in..... and so that is the PICKLE Ridley Scott is in as far as WHAT does he do NEXT?

Michelle Johnston Sorry to ask but what do you make of Holloway's ring? Is that a thing given to the faithful? And you know what stroke me recently rewatching Prom? That in the mirror scene after the C-sec, Shaw looks very much like Christ in the Passion context, but maybe it means nothing and I play into it.

And you know what quote there is David's favorite movie? "Lawrence, only two kinds of creature get fun in the desert: Bedouins and gods, and you're neither. " and the other quote in entirety is "No Arab loves the desert. We love water and green trees. There is nothing in the desert and no man needs nothing.". I don't know if it is only convenience on Sir Scott's part or David does not understand art again, but neither quote for me imply that there is no God, only that you must know where to look for it.

@BigDave

I am not going to say to much because I do not want to box myself in. However my thinking is based on the Lindelof/Scott/Scalia vision of the planetoid on which the Prometheus land which it is the result of Paradise Lost. In other words the Promethean myth is alive and well and the Engineers on the planetoid  stole the fire and were wiped out by an "Ebola like" break out by creating the Alien Mutagen. In my vision Shaw is tested to the limit this brings me on to

@ ignorantGuy

Precisely if you let Shaw continue then she will find her answers. You may not in the end like my vision but it works exactly how those quotes apply. You have to look in the right place. David had been alone for a long time when the proximity warning went off in Prometheus. He had time to consider many things and scan the planetoid. Given the indications were to the solar system not the planetoid even LV 426 in the conception went with was knowledge David knew about. We know in the real world like many other things the early scripts took them to LV 426 but that is to miss the point. There are two matters which the Prometheus might have come across one is an airfield with five hangers and the other is a lone Juggernaut set down. Once you tell a story about the Beacon being activated then these locations represent the desert what Shaw and David need to come to for their answers are water and trees.   

@BigDave

I am not going to say to much because I do not want to box myself in. However my thinking is based on the Lindelof/Scott/Scalia vision of the planetoid on which the Prometheus land which it is the result of Paradise Lost. In other words the Promethean myth is alive and well and the Engineers on the planetoid  stole the fire and were wiped out by an "Ebola like" break out by creating the Alien Mutagen. In my vision Shaw is tested to the limit this brings me on to

@ ignorantGuy

Precisely if you let Shaw continue then she will find her answers. You may not in the end like my vision but it works exactly how those quotes apply. You have to look in the right place. David had been alone for a long time when the proximity warning went off in Prometheus. He had time to consider many things and scan the planetoid. Given the indications were to the solar system not the planetoid even LV 426 in the conception went with was knowledge David knew about. We know in the real world like many other things the early scripts took them to LV 426 but that is to miss the point. There are two matters which the Prometheus might have come across one is an airfield with five hangers and the other is a lone Juggernaut set down. Once you tell a story about the Beacon being activated then these locations represent the desert what Shaw and David need to come to for their answers are water and trees.