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A way to incorporate what you are thinking of Ruhaniya would be if the vastly superior technology were part of the Alien installation. Exterior virtual imaging, as well as dazzling internal diagnostics.

Hey Ghost to build on what you are saying. The Nostomo is simply a utilitarian vehicle nothing mroe nothing less. No Bells, No Whistles. Just get there get the payload and come back so all the ammenities go out the window. Example NASA used 486 Computers in the Shuttle for more than 10 years after they were obsolete because again the shuttle is a utilitarian vehicle nothing more nothing less. So they Nostromo could have been thirtyish years old using thirtish year old technology at the time of its commisioning. Unlike the Prometheus being a cutting edge science vessel with all the new computer gizmos and toys at its operators disposal. So I could see the displays being old and antiquiated after prometheus.

I've always wondered about the "tech" available from one time period to another as well- with almost ALL SciFi films. Star Trek, Star Wars, and several others that jumped on the "prequel" bandwagon did the same things. Episodes 1-3 had significantly higher tech than 4-6 for Star Wars, and the same was true for the Star Trek reboot. Even though the obvious reason is nothing more than it is what was imagined [i]at the time each film/ episode was made[/i], it has still always bothered me too. Why not at least try to keep the tech "canon" continuous? I guess it's all for the WOW factor on the special effects. Of course all of the fanboys have an acceptable reason for it like ST having an altered time line or SW simply being that the Universe fell back from civilization as a result of the Empire, but it's just an excuse. Even though Alien had space travel and Cryo-hybernation in it, those are at least plausible and perhaps even possible technologies. I think such things add to the wonder of a good SciFi movie. Transporters, Warp drive, and cloaks are nice to dream about, but not much for reality. The more real a SciFi-horror film is, in every aspect, the better it is to me.

[quote]The more real a SciFi-horror film is, in every aspect, the better it is to me. [/quote] Let me clarify that: The more realistic (perhaps only slightly out-of reach) the tech is, the more it relates to something we're used to seeing. It makes for a more believable story, I guess. After reading over my comment, I realized how silly it sounded. Oops!

Hows this for an appetite wetter. A Ridley remake of Aliens or Better yet not a remake of Alien but an alternative Alien Perspective or even an Ash view type movie. There are always two sides to every story, Ash seemed to be missing ALOT throughout the later part of the movie maybe there was some Alien/Ash interaction that no one was aware of and then with the Jockey's in the mix a third side and then it goes on. Just an idea.

I'm loving the debate and discussions on this page. Since first finding out about this upcoming prequel I've had little sleep! I just hope that Scott doesn't slather Prometheus in CGI. The best part about the original 'Alien' is how tangible the experience was made for the audience. The set designs have that 'authentic' feel, the look & movements of our beloved "guest" are so visceral and life-like...(I personally would have loved it if Scott kept the scene in where Lambert turns around and sees the 'Alien' sitting in the corner...then scurries across the floor to her and sloooowly gets up....how CREEEEPY was [i]that?!?!)[/i] Please God (and Ridley Scott), make Prometheus the way it should be intended....as a TRUE PREQUEL to the best science fiction/horror film ever. Amen

Rick I admit that saying millions of years could be an exaggeration but I would settle for say 10,000 years. I don't think that the humidity in the ship is caused by liquid water. LV-426 is cold because of it's distance from it's star. I think the humidity is caused by liquid ammonia which has a boiling point of about -35C. The composition of the ship could be totally alien so it's not worth speculating on the corrosion. As for the egg chamber I think it is part of the derelict ship but is subterranean due to shifts in the planetoids surface. I think that transmitting a signal from the ship for 10,000 years is possible. It's just a case of the power supply- could be nuclear fusion.

Having digested so much information regarding this franchise over the years it saddens me that I can't recall where I heard or read that Lambert was supposed to have hidden herself in a locker and died from fright rather than being directly mauled by the xenomorph. Ripley was supposed to have found her after discovering Parker's body, or rather what was left of it.

Fusion reactors require the maintainance of extremely narrow parameters in order to fuction. To continuously produce power it has to be fed reactant which must be compressed to the point where the plasma implodes, accomplished either by ion beam confinement, lasers or a parallel current zeta pinch. For a fusion reactor to operate in steady state, as magnetic fusion energy schemes usually entail, the fusion plasma must be maintained at a constant temperature. Thermal energy must therefore be added to it (either directly by the fusion products or by recirculating some of the electricity generated by the reactor) at the same rate the plasma loses energy. While this isn't an arguement, I'm merely questioning the integrity of any automation system to keep the reactor that powered the beacon running for even 10,000 years in as hostile an environment as LV-426 with the hull breached as well as any damage to the ships eps system. Obviously the derelict is composed of extruded resins of some kind as it's internal structure resembled nothing so much as bone and muscle tissue. If the ship itself were bio mechanical then perhaps it can generate radio waves as part of it's metabolic activities. This technology in and of itself would be worth infinitely more than the Xenomorph and it's various applications.

Speculating on the composition of the ship would lead to some interesting conclusions. As the interior and exterior of the ship resembled nothing so much as bone, muscle and sinew that would suggest that the ship was grown rather than manufactured. If the ship were a quasibiological organism then it might generate it's own power as part of it's metabolism. Fusion reactors are extremely tempermental beasts. For a fusion reactor to operate in steady state, as magnetic fusion energy schemes usually entail, the fusion plasma must be maintained at a constant temperature. Thermal energy must therefore be added to it (either directly by the fusion products or by recirculating some of the electricity generated by the reactor) at the same rate the plasma loses energy. Regardless, if the ship did generate it's own energy for propulsion, life support, etc then this technology would vastly outweigh the worth of the Xenomorph. Ever consider that?

I'm somewhat late joining up here, so forgive me if this has already been discussed: Have you read the original "Alien Harvest" by Jon Spaights- which is still the "basis"per Damon Lindelof for what this film will be? I know some of it seems to fit with some of the leaked pictures- but was just wondering what your thoughts were on it. For those who haven't read it, here's the link. Warning (I guess?) this MAY be spoilerish... http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4083772/24549638-Alien-Harvest.pdf Again, forgive me if this has already been discussed

Ghost Solitare, I believe the Lambert locker scene was in the Alan Dean Foster novella of Alien. It also describes the Alien breaking into the ships food store by clawing through the metal walls and destroying their supplies,this happens directly before Dallas confronts the Alien in the Shafts. It knows Lambert is in the locker and watches her die of fright,as stated above,it could have easily got into the locker and killed her but instead relished in her fear....truly sinister behaviour.

how is this for a connection and the company knowing about the Alien and I hate going this route with the thinking but what if the company already knew about the "xenomorph" from AvP via Mr. Weyland and AvP:R with Mrs Yutani. Since they did deliver the Predator's Cannon to Mrs. Yutani and the statement being made that "its not for this world is it Mrs. Yutani." and then the Queen Sinking to the bottom at the edge of the island. In essence these are "Prequel" even though they blend the two franchises together. I'm not fond of this at all it takes too much away from the Alien but it was bound to happen.

Arrgy - Interesting theory on why Ash did not immediately freeze the Alien. That could definitely be it. I'm just not so sure it would have left Ash alone. Sure Ash is a synthetic, but how do we know the Alien can't cocoon Ash and turn his synthetic body into an egg like it tried to do with Dallas and Bret? How do we know it can't use Ash's body as a food source? I know that may all sound silly since ash is a robot, but for all we know the alien could potentially get by on ingesting/digesting almost any substance if it needed to. After all it is a " [i]perfect organism[/i]". Can the synthetic parts used to create Ash be enough to sustain the alien's life cycle or at least certain parts of it? Also, I'm not so sure the alien cares about threatening vs non-threatening life-forms. After all, how was Bret a threat? its not like he accidentally cornered the thing. It came down and pulled him up. Later on it seemed not to care too much about Ripley in the escape ship. Not until she annoyed it enough to get its attention. (Maybe at that point in the movie the alien was not interested in Ripley because it had just fed off Parker and Lambert...maybe its hostility is partially motivated on hunger?)

Theusprom wrote - "We already know that some of Prometheus is set millions of years in the past, so maybe that is where the Space Jockey on LV-426 will be wrote into the story.Either that, or god forbid, it has time travel in it." Didn't Ridley mention something ominous about the frightening effects of faster-than-light travel (i.e. time dilation?) as part of the horrific charge of the project when he was still working it up a year or so ago? Given the limited wiggle room between the new film's human time-frame and that of 'Alien', with all the latter's hard-to-reconcile loose ends over W-Y's knowledge of LV-426 (nicely catalogued by other contributors here) might the 'Prometheus' crew end up lost in VERY distant space-time?

Hey guys. I just popped the DVD in and took a look at the movie. Something came to mind. LV-426 looks more like a moon to a gas giant instead of an actual planet itself. Check out the back ground as the Nostromo approaches the planetoid.

Draek-my theory is this. Anything that is flesh..animals or man the alien can sense. We know it has a heightened sense ability from Alien3 when it didn't kill Ripley because it could sense a queen. The alien therefore probably would not sense the same thing that it would need from Ash or Bishop or any other robot. Now, as to the Alien not immediately attacking Ash. I believe in the novel for Aliens there is a scene where Bishop is making his way down the tube to the terminal, the tube somehow gets broken and he has to enter a room, and of course in that room are a bunch of aliens that do not bother him. Bishop then crosses the room and reenters the tunnel. This is something that J.C. left out when he did the movie. And I totally agree with you about Brett and Ripley, the Alien had just left the chestburster stage and is now a full fledged adult, and I agree with you that he didn't attack Ripley because it was full and want to get some shut eye. That mean Ripley had to go and wake the poor critter.

[img]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8sv9gYsuLwc/S90YzfObSaI/AAAAAAAAALs/XkTBvdQwQv0/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-05-02+at+07.13.48.png[/img]

Watch the movie again. The Alien toys with it's prey, it approached Lambert slowly letting her fear paralyze her. It takes it's time killing it's victims. I think this film as any is open for interpretation. I myself never thought the xenomorph ate Parker or Lambert. There wasn't time, Ripley came tearing down that corridor from the bridge and found their bodies. It's just my interpretation but with the entire [i]Nostromo[/i] available for it to lurk in why did it immediately go in the [i]Narcissus[/i] afterwards? Though there isn't any evidence to support the conclusion that it knew it had to get off the Nostromo, that's the impression I've always had.

I for one certainly believe the Alien is not a natural lifeform and is infact created by these space jockies

If the xenomorph were engineered to be a Mayfly organism it would explain it's ability to grow from it's larval state into a fully mature warrior in a matter of hours. It's metabolism is geared towards reaching maturity at the expense of a prolonged gestation and lifespan. Rather like scrubbing bubbles with ferrocerramic teeth.

Consider that movie going audiences have changed. While the technology behind the movies has become more sophisticated, the same cannot be said for the majority of the audience. Movies are targetted, edited, and shown to test audiences now. An investment the size of the budget for Prometheus means that the studio expects to get a return on this investment exceeding their expenditures. As for the displays, Alien was essentially a haunted house film. It didn't rely on the Alien to generate the tension. The actors, sets, and soundtrack for the film did it so much better for the majority of the movie. The Nostromo's displays added to the sense of isolation. They were cold, factual, no frills sort of bare bones durability interfaces. They offered no solution to what was occurring aboard the ship despite Ripley's, attempt to get clarrification and assistance. The new film will take advantage of the very latest in set design, the general audience would accept nothing less. Ever sit behind someone that had to explain the plot to their companion? It's the worst, so the displays will have to be almost like self explanitory subtitles for the uninitiated. Case in point I couldn't agree with you more about maintaining continuity, however in this case I can overlook it because I've had these questions in my head for too many years and hope that Prometheus supplies me with answers as well as gives it's audience the breathless silence of space that fear induces.

Wait a minute, lets not go overboard here. A metal ship in a methane and ammonia atmosphere could not last "millions of years" no matter what the temperature. Ammonia is corrosive to all metals. Over time the ship would have been eaten away by the atmosphere. In fact a ship like that maybe would last 100 years in that atmosphere.

Hi arrgy I'm a chemist. It's ammonium that's corrosive and only mildly. And who said the derelict ship was made of metal. It could be galvanised or made of an organic material.

Hey Grik, Since you mentioned Galvanization, wouldn't Ammonia gas react with Magnalium? (Magnesium/Aluminum Alloy) used primarily in Aerospace and Aviation. Since we are talking The Space Jockeys, a strong yet light weight metal possibly combined with an organic process has to be achieved. Also the inside of the ship (egg chamber below) had high humidity since Cain said it was "like the god damned tropics in here". You mix, Methane, Ammonia, Water (from the water dripping upside down from under the blue force field where the eggs are at), Magensium/Aluminum Alloy a little heat and walla corrosive. The Ammonia (NH3+H2O) dissolves the Magnesium in the Alloy and the ship falls a part over a short time? Not to mention structural weight flexing and bending the alloys, creating imperfections in the material to allow more exposed Magnesium and then the hot/cold cycle even a minute one effects a metals thermal expansion characteristics such as aluminum. What about possible environmental gas pockets that didn't escape the ship during the crash?

So ammonia...ok, ammonium...not ok. I bow to your chemist skill. I still don't think that ship could last like that for millions of years.

Grik, a quandry has always lingered in my mind since seeing the film for the first time. Who activated the laser field over the eggs in the chamber. Was this the cargo hold of the ship or a cavern beneath the vessel. As you can see the chamber curves around in the distance resembling the horseshoe shape of the ship I tend to believe it's the former. Is the mist some kind of stasis technology keeping the eggs in a dormant state? Secondly, there is no way that ship could be transmitting a warning beacon after millions of years. Which means either the atmosphere on LV-426 accellerated the fossilization process without devouring the derelicts hull, or it's biochemistry contributed to the effect.

The entire core question to all the Alien films is...How did the company know of the existence of the Alien? What is very interesting is dialogue from the almost final Alien script, which is completely different from the final product: Revised Final 1978 Script RIPLEY What is Special Order 937. ASH You know I can't tell you that. RIPLEY Then there's not point in talking to you. Pull the plug. ASH Special Order 937 in essence asked me to direct the ship to the planet, investigate a life form, possibly hostile and bring it back for observation. With discretion, of course. RIPLEY Why. Why not tell us. ASH Would you have gone. PARKER It wasn't in the contract. ASH My very point. RIPLEY They wanted to investigate the Alien. No matter what happened to us. ASH That's unfair. Actually, you weren't mentioned in the order. LAMBERT Those bastards. And in an earlier script: [img]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oLPxM7_4Cf0/TLdTRngus3I/AAAAAAAABSQ/A3WZyt2bBW0/s400/picture014-6.jpg[/img] ASH See it from their point of view. They didn't know what the Alien is.

The earlier script above puts a completely different spin on the movie. It indicates the Nostromo crew was sent out as guinea pigs to test the Company's weapons. This would mean that the company is in control of the weapons to a certain degree. Which does not appear to be these case in he final script/film. Also, why would any company send a group of guinea pigs to what will most likely be their deaths when those pigs are sitting on a s__tload of company assets (i.e.: the Nostromo ship and its cargo)? Why not send a less valuable crew/ship under the guise of a "top-secret research mission"? The tones in the earlier script do not jive with those of the final script/film. The final script/film makes it seem as if the company knew there was a potential alien asset on LV-426. I think its safe to assume that any company's procedure for dealing with new alien life forms would probably dictate a measure of general caution. (Hence Ash's conversation with Ripley noted in the post above.) But I don't think the company new the exact hostile details of the xenomorph as seen in "ALIEN". If they did, why not just directly tell Ash: "[i]as soon as a specimen and/or infected host is on board, FREEZE IT/HIM/HER![/i]". Why risk loosing the cargo and more importantly, the specimen?

The earlier script above puts a completely different spin on the movie. It indicates the Nostromo crew was sent out as guinea pigs for the Corp's weapon. This would mean that the corp is in control of the weapons to a certain degree. Which does not appear to be these case int he final script/film. Also, why would any corp send a group of guinea pigs to what will most likely be their deaths when those pigs are sitting on a s__tload of company assets (i.e.: the Nostromo ship and its cargo)? Why not send a less valuable crew/ship under the guise of a "top-secret research mission"? The tones in the earlier script do not jive with those of the final script/film. The final script/film makes it seem as if the company knew there was a potential alien asset on LV-426. I think its safe to assume that any company's procedure for dealing with new alien life forms would probably dictate general caution. (Hence Ash's conversation with Ripley noted in the post above.) But I don't think the company new the exact hostile details of the xenomorph as seen in "ALIEN". If they did, why not just directly tell Ash: "[i]as soon as a specimen and/or infected host is on board, FREEZE IT/HIM/HER![/i]". Why risk loosing the cargo and more importantly, the specimen? Its not like they can just sit there and say : [i]Hey we know exactly what this thing can do so let's let it just run around the ship and kill the crew if it wants to. I'm sure the last surviving crew member will leave the ship intact and on an auto-pilot course for Earth before he/she is murdered[/i]." Just my opinion...

It could have been that other ships or even countries back on earth were picking up the same signal or it could have been relayed from a deep space satellite. Could have been that the Nostromo was the closest ship but, you know what that doesn't hunt either because they switched out science officers just before they set out so why not stop at LV-426 on the way to pick-up the payload instead of on the return trip? That causes for pause about the signal on the derelict. Does anyone know if the script says crew were also thrown together at the last minute as well? Why else would Ripley ask Dallas about Ash and if he's set out with him before. Maybe there's something behind the crew's DNA that the company may have wanted to see combined with the Alien DNA

Ok so with that said. How does the company know? Obviously the signal I am sure there was other carrier data piggybacked on the SOS/Warning we are talking the Jockey's a supposed Engineering Race, so that begs the question why didn't they stop before picking up the payload? An Ore Processing Refinery and a billion tons of ore is a huge payload to possibly lose.

And that's the core question to ALL the Alien films...how did the company know what was on LV-426? They knew there was a speciem there. But if you look at it from the company point of view... Only long haul ships are going to travel those routes between M117 and Earth. As Parker says "this isn't a rescue ship" so the company knew that the Nostromo and her crew would be perfect for bringing the Alien back undetected. None of the crew have any combat experience, there really are no weapons, etc. It wouldn't make sense to divert Nostromo and her crew on the way out to M117 (or whatever that planet is) because you want to bring the creature back to Earth. Also, think about it...you really don't need a crew going out. You do need a crew coming back to protect the cargo in case something happens to the ship. You can let mother auto pilot the ship out, and it is possible that the entire crew were coming back to Earth after being out there for years and this was their first trip together. The one thing that bothered me was about having weapons. Dallas says before leaving the ship "break out the weapons" Then later they don't seem to have any except a cattle prod and a flame thrower.

Draekus- to answer your question about freezing the alien. The answer is simple. The alien would not look at Ash as threat or food, most likely the Alien would just ignore Ash and as long as Ash wasn't making any hostile move towards the Alien he could spend the rest of the trip home studying it. How it develops, how it hunts, its defenses, etc. Ash would then stay out of stasis for the rest of the trip home and study the Alien, and he most likely would find some way to either trap it after the crew died, or just keep it away from him. Ash could even download all the data he collected into mother he could deactivate himself, and mother could then divert the ship away from Earth to a place where the company would meet the ship and get the Alien. The most logical thing for Ash to do (if the company really wanted the Alien that badly), once he knew that the Alien was on board, would be to kill the crew himself immediately, but the company probably wanted Ash to study it.

First the title, symbollic. Prometheus stole fire from the gods. Just from the leaked photo's, you see the intent focus on something contained in that cylinder. The chamber with the Urns, a correlation to the egg chamber on the crashed vessel on LV-426. The principle difference being the Urns are constructs while the Eggs are biological containers. It's a Pandora's box event in the making. Though I'm not exactly sure how the material in the cylinder interacts with living tissue that's undoubtedly going to occur. If the installation and the urns belong to the Space Jockey's species it would be like leaving a loaded gun on the table for a baby to play with, Intentional? As for how it ends, in this genre, and observing the track record of the films as a series I'd say not favorably.

Quote: "Anything that came after Alien should be forgotten! The introduction of the Queen took the very essence of the alien away. Aliens for me ruined a truly unique creation by turning it into a giant ant. The original concept was that the alien could self reproduce. What is happening to Dallas and Brett at the end of alien is truly terrifying. I believe they will stick to the idea that the aliens were created by the space jockys for military/clean ups. I believe they will also show how ruthless these space jockys are." I can't agree more. (I think i mentioned the same in another thread.) Which is the reason I believe Ridley and Fox chose to promote PROMETHEUS as a non-prequel movie that just happens to take place in the ALIEN universe. Think about it... Based on the few images we've seen (both official and backstage) this is clearly a prequel. It may not actually feature [i]THE[/i] Xenomorph but it will feature, in one way or another, the SpaceJockey. Scott has also said it will take place in the same universe as ALIEN and involve some form of alien DNA. Regardless if it does or doesn't link directly to the beginning of the first ALIEN, how is this not a prequel? Fox and/or Scott probably took the "[i]its-not-really-a-prequel[/i]" stance because Scott wants to give his own take on his mysterious alien lifeform concept and not have to take into account the concepts created by Cameron and FOX. FOX is marketing this film as a non-prequel to avoid pissing-off fans who only remember Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien Res. Believe it or not, (at least in my experience), there are not many people who like ALIEN over Aliens. This goes for both regular movie goers and sci-fi fans. Usually fans of the franchise realize "ALIEN" is the better film, but they enjoy "Aliens" more because its an action film (i.e.: marines with guns vs big bugs). If these fans go to see a movie that's labeled/marketed as a "PREQUEL TO Aliens", only to discover that the mythos of "[i]the alien queen and marines in space[/i]" has been scrapped...they'll be dissapointed no matter how good Prometheus is. (I on the other hand will be joyed :) ) Again, this is my opinion and I speak of my experience only.

Draekus,you have hit the nail on the head! Its a clever marketing ploy by fox to label Prometheus as a stand alone film. Lets face it...the alien queen bullshit has been done to death, lets get back to the real story!

I have to say I agree with Neurion's take on the company's intent/knowledge prior to the Nostromo's arrival on LV-426. But We'll see what happens... Quote: "[i]I believe Ridley Scott is the only man who could have Directed this film, Mr.Cameron, you stick to Terminators please![/i]" Completely agree.

Hello, hello fellow fans.

Well, maybe one