Prometheus
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- ukit20
Ancient Aliens: The Movie
- Horp0
We should put this into perspective. We felt let down by this film but really when you look at the entire Lien series... the first one was memorable (and good, really fucking good) because it did something original: it took the horror genre into space. The second movie was a rollicking good action movie and most people enjoyed it, but it wasn't an conic piece of cinema. The third movie, well I enjoyed it to be honest, but most thought it sucked. Alien 4 was utter cacka, and then there's the Alien vs Predator shite.
So really we're expressing our disappointment in the latest installment of a set of films that really only has one, aging, gem in it, and if we were to be really really REALLY honest about it... that first film wasn't exactly perfect either.
I thought Prometheus was utter shit and I was bitterly disappointed, but at this point now I think its merely a film that reflects the state of cinematic movie making now and it could probably not have been any other way... much the same as the original Alien was a film that perfectly reflected the state of cinematic movie making back then and would not have been any other way either.
- Alien, not Lien.Horp
- I disagree that it could "not have been any other way". I think this could have had a great story.monospaced
- TheMagicSheep0
http://io9.com/5960275/what-did-…
Yesterday Jon Spaihts' original Prometheus script popped up on the internet. And it included lots, and lots, and lots of differences with the version that we actually saw on screen, after Damon Lindelof had rewritten it. But what are the biggest changes, and does it make any more sense?
Find out for yourself. We've rounded up a list of the most monumental differences between Spaihts' script and the final product. Major spoilers ahead, if you haven't seen Prometheus...
First up, we don't have Damon Lindelof's actual script on hand, so we can't say 100% what Lindelof added and what Ridley Scott changed during filming. For example, we know from set photos that the original "Elder Engineer gathering" was shot, but didn't make the final cut. However there are still plenty of differences between the two films that obviously couldn't have been filmed at all — because they would have changed the entire plot of the movie. Here are the more obvious differences.Little Things
Real quick, let's run down a few minor changes we noticed right off the bat. For one, Prometheus was originally titled Alien: Engineers. Second, the ship was originally called the Magellan. The infamous black goo is a lot less goo-like, and transforms into a swarm of insects, often likened to scarabs. The Engineers didn't create humans, they merely infected us in our primitive years, and sped up our evolution (there's a scene of a primate lady getting bit by a black goo bug, thus injecting her with smartypants DNA). And also Shaw is called Watts (but we kept it to Shaw for this review).
Meeting Weyland
Weyland is NOT on board the Prometheus. The first time Shaw and Holloway meet the old man, he's on a Weyland Wheel space station trying to figure out the engineering difficulties that surround terraforming. This is an epic moment because it sets up Weyland's ruthlessness. He steals the scientists' notes and tells them he wants to be God. He comes across as a man willing to do whatever to get what he wants. And he also sets up the scientists bad decision making skills. Shaw and Holloway basically trade funds for the ship, crew, and time, as long as Weyland gets to keep all the technology they find. Which... there's no way THAT will come back and bite them in the ass.
David's Ritual
You meet David on Mars with Weyland. When the crew heads out into space David is also there greeting them and helping them out of hypersleep. However, David's Ritual, the very Lost-esque "Mamma Cass getting ready" moment, isn't in the draft. There's no basketball, Lawrence of Arabia , root dyeing — all the attempts David makes to be human are missing from the draft. In fact, all of the hypersleep moments are gone. You don't get to see Vickers doing her insane wake-up pushups, or Shaw throwing up — which was great character building detail. Point to Lindelof on this one.
Vickers
Vickers is NOT Weyland's daughter. She no longer has some super creepy agenda (well she keeps the terraforming thing a secret, but who cares — it's not like she's harboring her crypt keeper father on board). In Spaiths' version Vickers isn't trying to impress her father, she's pissed. She was ordered to follow the scientists on this mission, thus losing her place in line as CEO of Weyland. She doesn't believe in the alien theory and hates everything about this mission. Gone are the creepy rules about "first contact," replaced with one really bitter (slightly older) woman.
Holloway
Holloway is almost an entirely different character. He's no longer some sort of weird robot racist. Also when they finally get to investigate the Engineers lair, and find actual dead Engineers, he doesn't pout and turn into a giant drunk baby. While he's still a bit disappointed, Holloway seems pretty excited that they discovered alien life. Which is nice.
The Chestburster
The most jarring change has to be Holloway's death. Instead of being poisoned by David (for reasons) Holloway blacks out inside the Engineer building. He returns to the human ship, altered and terrified. Looking for solace he turns to his lady love, Shaw, and they start to make the beast with two backs. Clearly Holloway has been facehuggered — because soon enough, a terrible, horrible creature bursts through his chest (tentacles waving out of his throat). He dies instantly and the little bugger goes after Shaw. Which sets up the first ever early version of a Xenomorph, and establishes that this creature has smarts. Shaw escapes by hiding in the closet which, horrifyingly, the baby Xeno almost gets into by flattening itself and trying to crawl under the door. YIKES.
David
David the android is much more villainous in this version of the script. And with Weyland not around to direct his eager-to-please android son, all of David's actions are strictly personal. When Shaw realizes David is completely out of control and threatens him, he attacks her like a robot menace, legs running faster than a human's. In order to silence Shaw (an order Weyland gave him before the mission, that he's taking great liberty with) the android lets a very early version of a facehugger infect Shaw (he holds her down while it attacks). Oh and the medi pod scene where Shaw cuts out her parasite is still very much in this version — but with a twist.
It's David who makes the decision to awaken the Engineers. During the two and a half years it took to reach the Engineers' outpost, David learned how to think in "trinary code." The language and logic process of the Engineers. Once mastered, the code delivered him from "slavery." Which means he doesn't have to take orders from Weyland or Vickers any more. Anxious to meet his liberators, David wakes the last sleeping Engineer up, and his head is immediately ripped off, much like in the original. It's really and truly android curiosity that kills the crew.
Terraforming > The Fountain of Youth
Weyland is not some scary tree-beard creature looking for the secret to eternal youth. Rather, he wants the secrets to terraforming. This is why he sends the crew there. And that's why Vickers is there. He is not on board the ship at all — but rather, a whole crew of hibernating military type folks are, whom Vickers awakens once she discovers the aliens' terraforming tech.
Full size
The EndThe final scene of Alien: Engineers isn't Shaw and David Lost In Space. Nope. Shaw is still stranded in Vickers' super sweet life boat, which hasn't been destroyed after it was ejected. Shaw is still hella pissed at David for sticking her with a facehugger, waking up the Engineer and everything else on the long list of terrible things that David did. However now she's stranded alone, in this fancy lifeboat. The conclusion fast forwards a few weeks ahead and shows Shaw living in the pod, scavenging the wreckage of their ship for supplies (Xenomoprh-like head spiked outside of her door) and playing chess with the voice of David. She's left David's noggin in the Engineer's ship, but still talks to him via their communication devices. He's trying to convince her to come get him, but she's not into it. Shaw believes someone will come, but David, being the delightful snarky little shit that he is says something to the tune of, "yes but who?" The last thing you see is the Engineer pyramid, sending off a giant light from the top of the building. The light heads through space to another planet. Where a ton of other pyramid buildings also light up. Uh oh!
Verdict
It's hard to say which one is better. The Spaiths' script much simpler. It hints at the big questions without getting lost in the answers. Also there's just heaps and heaps of character development that is lost in the final product. However David is still pretty flawed in this version. And the Lindelof routine really helped flesh him out quite a bit more. Lindelof is better at world building.
We can't say if we would have rather had a chestburster and a facehugger over the snake monster. But the idea of an early formed Xenomorph running around the ship terrorizing the crew is never a bad idea. Hell, it worked in all the other Alien movies. The saddest cut has to be losing the terraforming as a secret motivation for the expedition. Cutting out the vaguely written mysticism about living forever in favor of pure profits fits the Weyland we grew up with much better. Plus, the terraforming communities are a big part of this world. Both versions needed a lot more love, but we're leaning towards the Spaihts draft, purely for keeping so much new age mysticism and daddy issues out of the equation.
- What did Damon Lindelof add to Prometheus? The Biggest Differences from the Original Draft...TheMagicSheep
- Stugoo0
I stand corrected Alien was on LV-426, prometheus landed on LV-223.
- Exactly!inv
- haven't seen the movie yet (premieres august here) but the map they find is of a cluster of planets?ernexbcn
- or stars? if it's planets then they could have landed in anotherernexbcn
- << why read up so much before you see it? Totally ruins the experiencebiusness
- I got this from the fucking trailersernexbcn
- stugoo is a slow one...inteliboy
- But you're on here, probably checking out IMDB and forums too. No point, totally destroys the spectaclebiusness
- prophetone0
so we're all in agreement then. prometheus, best movie ever.
- if they do a prequel to prometheus i would see it because the engineers are interestingteh
- monospaced0
I'm still trying to put this in perspective. The other Alien movies had plots that made sense, mostly because they were simple. I'm not saying that complicated is bad, but these guys made it complex for no reason whatsoever. With they would have just given us some understanding. The story here indicated that they would at some point talk to the creator, and they spend all this time and energy to this end, and at the last minute they clamor for the opportunity and it's awesome and then ... they argue about what to ask, the cyborg stares at it like a moron, and then it punches them in the face and takes off. I'm sitting there going, ok, maybe they'll explain something, but then I realize the chick is off to find answers and the screen goes black. I'm left here saying, what the fuck?
- I think they just rewrote the script so many times they forgot they had to make it make senseukit2
- Clearly.monospaced
- monospaced0
I haven't read this whole thread, but is the black goo just like, what, alien sperma, the spark of alien life and destruction? Does it simultaneously kill us? Why does that one guy drink it in the beginning and why does the cyborg poison that dude with it? How come everyone touched it when they said, don't touch it? You don't do that shit without a good reason, at least something the audience can sort of understand. Give us something to grasp here.
- cannonball19780
^ I hate that this has purposeless graphics. What the fuck are the triangles and the horizon lines for?
- for coolnesssublocked
- +1inv
- Might ask if this is a communication intercepted by the Yutani Corporation.Akagiyama
- homage to prate, josh david, and the other year 2000 web designers.jfletcher
- Josh Davis... damn, can't edit it :/jfletcher
- not even close to Prate's work in TRON. maybe fakepilot74LEO
- computers use lines and triangles to optically map surfaces. This is their interpretation of it.lambsy
- ukit20
Prometheus, it's a metaphor for modern capitalism. The advertising is great, the product is shit
- mg330
I think the Imax screening might be the first time i choose to do acid.
- literally LOL'd on that, Be careful, you might freak the fuck out.albums
- *Waits and watches* This should be interesting.Morning_star
- sounds like a good ideascarabin
- just make sure you're plateauing before you go in and it'll be amazingscarabin
- A-max, the new 3Dmoldero
- sounds like a great way to freak out & go to jail hahasublocked
- i'm not sure "freak outs" actually exist, i haven't seen or ever heard of onescarabin
- monospaced0
Charlize Theron: We're not here to talk to the creators, we're not stupid little archaeologist hippy scum. You've got to be idiots to think we'd find our 'makers' or that you'd talk to them. We have a top secret agenda that's way more important and we brought you along because we can make fun that you believe this.
Scientists: So, fine, we believe. What's your agenda then?
Charlize Theron: We want to talk to them.
- brandelec0
nice to see stringer bell in that role.
*** spoilers ***
why didn't the probes detect lifeforms in the 'face' chamber?
- those worms in the foot print?Ramanisky2
- yes. and the snake in the goobrandelec
- I think the worms turned into the snake thing...but I don't know why the probes didn't pick it upsmrz
- too small a life-form perhaps or maybe because these life-form grow so rapidly when the probes went through those worms were microscopic .. dammit I don't knowRamanisky2
- microscopic .. dammit I don't knowRamanisky2
- ya not sure either... may be they weren't around until they showed up cos those probes were way ahead of thembrandelec
- Better yet, how did the geologist get lost when he was the one that led them in?aaux
- i bought that he got lost cos he got completely spooked once they reached the chamber. after that he lost his bad ass points... even when the snake showed up, he was freaking outbrandelec
- 74LEO0
so what other movies have used black tar?
- CygnusZero40
Im going to see it tonight. Not really expecting much outside of some cool sci-fi visuals. My only real question is how good the story is. I thought of all of Ridley's movies Gladiator had the best story, but Im not expecting anything on that level.
- animatedgif0
Genuinely the only bits about this film that really bothered me were the zombie and I don't think it needed an actual Alien alien at the end.
Totally felt like executive meddling,
"Oh its a bit slow at this point can we get a monster in here?"
"Isn't this meant to be an Alien film? where's my alien?"
- scarabin0
first time i ran into the concept of the black goo was this book, by the author of "snow crash". the goo is made up of millions of microscopic nano machines.
- monospaced0
Ok. We woke him up! Ask him what kind of underwear he wears! No, retard, ask him what kind of batteries his ship uses. Dude, you're idiots, ask him about the... hey, he's looking at us funny. Oh fuck, he killed Kenny! We didn't even find out what kind of $5 sub he likes.
We should have thought about this. We had, like, YEARS of light travel to go over it. Next time.
- I think the robot knew something. You idiots didn't ask him? I thought you asked him. That's why I didn't ask.monospaced
- Shut the fuck up. I asked him and he just made the jerk off hand movement and walked away. That robot's an asshole.monospaced
- Yeah, I heard he watches our dreams. Anyway. Let's get high in our space suits. Bro.monospaced
- youngdesigner0
So I just read this released on June 8 in the U.S....but June 1 overseas.
Why do studios release films earlier in some places than others? It only seems to encourage piracy/bootlegging.
- inv0
And what about therons character (vikers)? Just because she is the most famous person in the cast does she need to have an important role? If someone else played her role you wouldnt care. She had to be there, but wasnt any more important than the captain or whatever (and not given more screentime either)
- I couldn't give a fuck who the actor was, my question is, what was the purpose of the character?Horp
- She was the expedition leader...there had to be someone...inv
- Do you still play with action figures?Horp
- I think the where playing with the artifial child / real child relationship but that really didn't came out ->tank02
- because they where giving johnny rotten, the geology guy to much screentime...tank02