Prometheus *PLOT SPOILERS* discussion - Page 16

Originally Posted by GoCaboNow 

Oviously, it is not a financially good thing, for the movie, that you have to read Nitszsche, view the movie multiple times and watch the deleted and alternate scenes to make real sense of it...

Originally Posted by GoCaboNow 

Most questions are answered in the deleted/alternate scenes and by multiple viewings. The movie is filled with dialogue that means something but is easily forgotten as you move on to the next scene. If this were a typical thriller movie it would be seen in a better light but since it is a scifi most folks have gotten used to just sitting back and letting the explosions tell the tale. Oviously, it is not a financially good thing, for the movie, that you have to read Nitszsche, view the movie multiple times and watch the deleted and alternate scenes to make real sense of it...

Originally Posted by cinema13 

ACtually most of the questions asked of the Engineer can be answered even without viewing the deleted scene...IF one just pays attention to all the scenes that came before and extrapolates: "Why did you make us?" It was a failed experiment. "Why do you hate us?" Your history answers that. "Why do you do this?" Because we can. "Why destroy us?" To correct a mistake (and maybe make another one?).

Originally Posted by kezug 

Wow...I have to say, i really enjoyed this movie for what it was...a Sci-Fi movie.
I do have a question, in the beginning when the guy drinks the concoction in the special cup, he then deteriorates rapidly and dies off into the ocean where we morphs into something else....was this supposed to represent the newly genetically species that we now know as Humans? (this was on Earth, right)?

Originally Posted by archiguy 

Not exactly. The earth was depicted as rocky and barren at that time (one presumes roughly 3 1/2 - 4 billion years ago). It represented the beginning of life, writ large. Humans were just the eventual evolutionary bi-product.

Originally Posted by bcruiser 

This was brought up earlier in this or the other Prometheus thread. It doesn't necessarily have to be earth, according to commentary by Ridley Scott. It could've been one of their (Engineers) seeded planets in recent time or ancient time.

Originally Posted by oink 

I choose to believe it was earth.

Maybe so, but it is interesting that humans and the Engineers are both bi-pedal creatures of advanced intelligence.

Originally Posted by bcruiser 

What about the time line, (relatively) recent time or ancient time? Because that can sway the other part of your post. v
They may have seeded all lifeforms on chosen planets or just humanoids.

Actually, this discussion touches on one of the plot's weaknesses. Whether the opening scene took place on earth or another similar planet, the assumption is that the Engineers visited earth some 3.5 billion years ago more or less (I just needed my 7th grade science class for that factoid) and seeded the planet with self-replicating DNA that started the whole of earthly organic life percolating and evolving. And since they had advanced genetic engineering as well as space travel already, they sure didn't evolve or develop very far from that point in all that time. They still looked exactly the same and probably had the exact same type of space travel. In 3.5 billion years! One can thus conclude that the Engineers were really slow learners.

Originally Posted by archiguy 

Actually, this discussion touches on one of the plot's weaknesses. Whether the opening scene took place on earth or another similar planet, the assumption is that the Engineers visited earth some 3.5 billion years ago more or less (I just needed my 7th grade science class for that factoid) and seeded the planet with self-replicating DNA that started the whole of earthly organic life percolating and evolving. And since they had advanced genetic engineering as well as space travel already, they sure didn't evolve or develop very far from that point in all that time. They still looked exactly the same and probably had the exact same type of space travel. In 3.5 billion years! One can thus conclude that the Engineers were really slow learners.

Originally Posted by archiguy 

They still looked exactly the same and probably had the exact same type of space travel. In 3.5 billion years! One can thus conclude that the Engineers were really slow learners.

Originally Posted by oink 

On one hand, for us humans very little of our DNA is unique to our species.
IIRC, our closest relative, the chimp, has > 95% our genes.
In addition, we primates are but a branch of the mammalian family, meaning we are connected to all mammals at some point.

When you take all of that into account, you could make the argument the "sacrificed" Engineer was the basis for all terrestrial life as we know it.
And life on earth has been around for ~ 3.5 billion years (Wikipedia).
OTOH, if the Engineer "seeding" gave rise to only humans, it creates a quandary of trying to explain the fossil and DNA evidence/record of human evolution.

Originally Posted by bcruiser 

The beginning scene shows how engineer's DNA combines with local condition. That could be interpreted as answer to such similarity.
Seeing how fast the black goo reacts and transforms the biological being that comes in contact with, something tells me that it doesn't need 3.5 billion years to make or transform something. From there, we can speculate that the branching off events of species may have been triggered by external influence.

Originally Posted by sb1 

Horribly inaccurate.
Engineer at beginning of film: Robe and loin cloth.
Engineer at end: Tactical space garb.

Originally Posted by sb1 

Horribly inaccurate.
Engineer at beginning of film: Robe and loin cloth.
Engineer at end: Tactical space garb.

Originally Posted by GoCaboNow 

We don't say loin cloth near enough anymore...

Originally Posted by oink 

Nor codpiece....

Originally Posted by oink 

The movie doesn't really spell out the details of the process.

Originally Posted by Mr. Hanky 

I invoke the Ancient Aliens explanation...the Engineers need not have to have been a sole contributor to human life. They simply jump-started it with the natural influence of their own likeness (more precisely, their essence, which in turn is a roadmap to all native life in their homeworld). How are we to know that the planet in the beginning was totally lifeless? Maybe there was very simple life (in the water, for instance). We (and all life) are a product of that native life as well as what the Engineers contributed. We are a hybrid ecosystem, rather than simply a hybrid species. It is possible that contribution allowed us to leapfrog various evolutionary steps or perhaps experience rapid evolutionary progress in spurts. The Engineer dna supplies those "answers" to breech bottlenecks that would normally have taken an extra million(s) of years for native life to finally come up with an answer.

Originally Posted by bcruiser 

Right. There are many more like that in this movie. We can speculate that the cells shown right after DNA reformation may not necessarily be cells of mammal. It can be interpreted as cells of DNA carrying bacteria or something like it that once it reaches the existing local life form (if going with added seeds theory instead of created seeds) via drinking water, it triggers a mutation. I'm basing this on variations the black goo caused based on which being it reaches, earthworm to snake that has Weyland logo head, Dr. Holloway - Dr. Shaw to "squid", Fifield to big headed killer, "squid" - engineer to Xenomorph like creature.