Full conversation between Engineer and David

[Mustangjeff]

Sadly..  I doubt RS/DL really had any idea where they were going with this.

It's one thing to have an idea or plan, but purposely leave things ambiguous to see what ideas people come up with.  It's another thing to leave things ambiguous because you didn't bother to think things through.  Unfortunately Prometheus reeks of this.  Even in interviews it feels like they are making stuff up on the fly.

Sorry, back on topic.  In order to even understand the dynamics of this encounter, we need to know some information that we don't have.  We would need to know why they created us, and why they wanted to destroy us in order to have any idea about his reaction.

IMO his response could range from :

A) he had just awakened from a very long hypersleep (2K years), and was in the process of regaining his composure.  He was a groggy and a bit out of it making him initially vulnerable.  Once he bided his time and composed himself it was business as usual.  Time to make the donuts.. Or exterminate the humans..  It didn't matter what the humans said, he was going to do his mission.

B) he was actually interested in what the humans had to say, and was considering if he should carry out the mission.  Had the humans said something noble (We come in peace, we are your children and wish to learn from you) he might have reconsidered.  But instead it was typical human greed (me me me, what can you do for me, I want to live forever, etc)..

I really need to fill in the blanks, but here is the only scenario that makes sense to me.

1) The maps weren't an invitation.  They were a warning.
2) One group of Engineers created us (possibly in secret).  They visited, helped us, and told us to stay away from LV-223.
3) Friendly group caused the outbreak (sabotage) on LV-223 to save us.
4) Visited us later (CE 600ish) and continued with message to stay away.
5) Last Engineer on LV-223 was remaining member of extermination group.

[Deuterium]

Sadly..  I doubt RS/DL really had any idea where they were going with this.

It's one thing to have an idea or plan, but purposely leave things ambiguous to see what ideas people come up with.  It's another thing to leave things ambiguous because you didn't bother to think things through.  Unfortunately Prometheus reeks of this.  Even in interviews it feels like they are making stuff up on the fly.

Indeed.  I think a lot of us recognize these post-release "explanations" for what they are...desperate attempts to retroactively "fix" glaring plot holes and/or narrative problems.  It all amounts to a rather silly bit of hand-waving, on the part of the writer(s)/director.

[acrediblesource]

Sadly..  I doubt RS/DL really had any idea where they were going with this.

It's one thing to have an idea or plan, but purposely leave things ambiguous to see what ideas people come up with.  It's another thing to leave things ambiguous because you didn't bother to think things through.  Unfortunately Prometheus reeks of this.  Even in interviews it feels like they are making stuff up on the fly.

Indeed.  I think a lot of us recognize these post-release "explanations" for what they are...desperate attempts to retroactively "fix" glaring plot holes and/or narrative problems.  It all amounts to a rather silly bit of hand-waving, on the part of the writer(s)/director.

Why would this movie be better explaning everything? I think it would suffer from being rather pretentious to go into all those details when it didn't have to.

[CSRMILLER]

Unless the Engineer could somehow tell that David was an android, and was displeased more at the fact that he was artificial life (created by life that the Engineers created) than the fact that he was just some guy talking.

Remember the Ultramorphs(Deacons) and the Xenomorphs are decendents of the Engineers. These mutations are blind yet they have excellent sensory abilities of their surroundings. It's very possible the Engineer have the same trait and I was given the impression the Engineer knew David was an android. This is why he was so brutal towards it because it disgusted by it's existance?
One other thing the extras and the star map gave me the impression the Engineers were commiting mass genocide across the galaxy. The black goo weren't just for us but we were the next on their list before things went to pot.

[Nightmare Asylum]

Remember the Ultramorphs(Deacons) and the Xenomorphs are decendents of the Engineers.

Not proven.

These mutations are blind

Also not proven (Alien 3's POV shots even tell us otherwise, if they're meant to be taken literally).

[Deuterium]

Why would this movie be better explaning everything? I think it would suffer from being rather pretentious to go into all those details when it didn't have to.

Hi acrediblesource,

I think those of us dissapointed with Prometheus, are of the opinion that the numerous narrative gaps, problems, inconsistencies, and just plain illogical events and/or character choices and behavior....is indicative of a failure of imagination and coherent storytelling.  It is not a question of needing everything explained or spelled out.  Far from it.

There are wonderful examples in film and fiction in which a story can have multiple interpretations, sparking an active and healthy debate over deeper meanings.  This is particularly the case when the author employs skillful and nuanced metaphor and allegory.

Alas, I don't think anyone would feel I am out of line in making the observation that Damon Lindelof is not such a writer.

A subtle and provacative film will find us leaving the theatre with a sense of wonder.  It motivates further thought and reflection, as well as engaging our intellect to search for possible answers to intentional ambiguities.   Such films often inspire multiple interpretations.  A few examples, off the top of my head, would be:

Stanley Kubrick's "Doctor Strangelove" and "2001:  A Space Odyssey".
Martin Scorcese's "Taxi Driver"
Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line" and "Tree of Life".
more recently, Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth"

In other words, there is a difference between walking out of a cinema in deep contemplation of "what did that mean?", versus walking out and thinking "that made absolutely no friggin' sense".   

[Xenomorphine]

The writer(s) present us with a being who (within the context of the story) belongs to the civilization responsible for creating the Human race.  Furthermore, they "created" humanity in their own image...quite literally.  That "image" implies that humanity was endowed (like their creators, the "engineers") with a compulsion to create things of their own...i.e., to be creators in their own right.

So, if the writer(s) had actually thought through the implications of this, they should have seen the GLARING logical inconsistency  of an "engineer" who could not accept the fact that humanity had created their own artificial life / android / A.I.

Pretty much! In an attempt to make some sort of statement about a clash of cultural norms, it appears the people behind the film just wound up making the Engineers seem like galactic-level hypocrites.

It woudn't have made any sense if he would've avoided the conversation. Once he started to talking with David 8 , he knew it that the only solution was to hear for awhile the crew..using David as his interpreter he would know why they were there. Both were hit by curiosity at the time. So...I think it sounded right the first impressions of the engineer.

But it had no way to understand English. It didn't even know what ancient English was, let alone modern. The only character able to communicate with it was David 8 and, so far as we know, there were no indications it could go by to comprehend the android's nature.

He probably didn't like Shaw being kicked. He decided that humans aren't that evolved,spiritually speaking and started to kill them

Since it proceeded to try and go after Shaw and kill her, this doesn't seem likely. Unless, again, it was to prove how hypocritical the Engineers are.

didn't Scott state in the commentary that the engineer felt offended that the lowly human would try and speak through an even lower android?

If this is so, we have yet to be given an explanation for how it knew David 8 was a synthetic. But even then, is that reason enough to respond with slaughter?

Remember the Ultramorphs(Deacons) and the Xenomorphs are decendents of the Engineers.

There is nothing in the film to suggest this.

It's very possible the Engineer have the same trait and I was given the impression the Engineer knew David was an android. This is why he was so brutal towards it because it disgusted by it's existance?

I've yet to understand why an incredibly advanced species, which must have gone through the stage of creating computers, would find robotics revolting.

This sort of thing is why I've said that I got the impression the survivor might have been psychotic. For all we know, it could have been a prison facility or he/she/it could have been a test subject who ended up behaving like Hannibal Lecter.

[Highland]

Stanley Kubrick's "Doctor Strangelove" and "2001:  A Space Odyssey".
Martin Scorcese's "Taxi Driver"
Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line" and "Tree of Life".
more recently, Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth"

In other words, there is a difference between walking out of a cinema in deep contemplation of "what did that mean?", versus walking out and thinking "that made absolutely no friggin' sense".   

There's also a third option of being completely bored shitless before you can reach that contemplation.

I'd put tree of life in my worst movie's of all time list in fact I can't because I couldn't get past the first half hour. Completely un watchable compared to something like Baraka which seemed the same to me but wildly better.

Thin Red Line is also border line. Only two out of those you mentioned I like are Taxi Driver and Pans Labyrinth.

[Kev Loaf]

DL is a hack. I hope he never writes again.

I love a bit of mystery BUT in this case Scott and Lindeloff hide their piss poor writing behind it.

[Primordial]

It seems non-verbal language of prometheus crew (body language, tone of voice : greedy Weyland, Ford's fear, Shaw's anger, threatening guy with a weapon... ) is part of explanation of Engineer's behaviour.
He didn't even wait an answer to his second question.

Not to forget that he was planning to destroy Earth so one must be very convincing in order to stop him.

[ChrisPachi]

Furthermore, they "created" humanity in their own image...quite literally.  That "image" implies that humanity was endowed (like their creators, the "engineers") with a compulsion to create things of their own...i.e., to be creators in their own right.

Hang about there, I think you are jumbling up the motivations of a traditional Judeo-Christian god with what this film presents pretty clearly as false gods. I don't see any flaw in the logic that a more advanced race of beings could create a race of other beings in their own physical image without implying any of the theological dichotomies that you raise. How the writers could somehow mix this up with a Christian/scientist main character is beyond me, but there is no reason to expect that what they created should be consistent with a non-corporeal, outside-the-universe and infallible 'God'.

It's pretty straight forward to my mind - the false god removes the head of the alpha human's creation and beats him to death with it and then proceeds to stomp his own creations because "how dare he!" and "I am a capital arsehole". He's Zeus without the facial hair.

[timiteh]

I've yet to understand why an incredibly advanced species, which must have gone through the stage of creating computers, would find robotics revolting.

Well there is close to nothing that show that they are an incredibly advanced species besides perhaps in biotechnology.
Though the fact that they have been unable to avoid an outbreak make me wonder if they are even efficient in this field.
From a lot of so called advanced races showed in many Science Fiction story they are one of the less advanced and impressive creatures technology and behaviour wise.
I think that this is another showing of the lack of imagination of the writers.

This sort of thing is why I've said that I got the impression the survivor might have been psychotic. For all we know, it could have been a prison facility or he/she/it could have been a test subject who ended up behaving like Hannibal Lecter.

In fact he does not exactly behave as Hannibal Lecter, besides perhaps when Lecter is in a rare killing spree mode, as Hannibal is one of the most sophisticated and smart killer ever seen in a movie.The engineer behave more likely like Jason, a barbarian killer without any form of sophistication.

[Highland]

snip

Behaviour has nothing to do with intelligence.

Lots of movies have shown that alien races can act barbaric but yet are more than capable of intelligence beyond humans. John Carpenters "The Thing" springs to mind.

Even the very creatures that represent this site - Aliens and Predators - could be put forward as superior species, particularly the Predator.

It's just sci-fi being sci-fi.

[Deuterium]

Furthermore, they "created" humanity in their own image...quite literally.  That "image" implies that humanity was endowed (like their creators, the "engineers") with a compulsion to create things of their own...i.e., to be creators in their own right.

Hang about there, I think you are jumbling up the motivations of a traditional Judeo-Christian god with what this film presents pretty clearly as false gods. I don't see any flaw in the logic that a more advanced race of beings could create a race of other beings in their own physical image without implying any of the theological dichotomies that you raise. How the writers could somehow mix this up with a Christian/scientist main character is beyond me, but there is no reason to expect that what they created should be consistent with a non-corporeal, outside-the-universe and infallible 'God'.

Hi Chris, point taken.  However, I think the argument still holds up, on purely scientific grounds.  Since the film establishes the fact that we share basically an identical genome as the "Engineers", the genes that express for the mind's development of creativity, critical reasoning, problem solving, etc...are also shared.  In other words, the "Engineers" would have to "build-in" some kind of hypothetical creativity limiter, if they wished to prevent Humanity from creating robots and artificial intelligence.  Of course, in so doing, we probably would still be banging rocks and sticks together, instead of flying around in FTL spacecraft.  Hence, no point in leaving those "invitations".  So, at the end of the day...

It Still Makes no Darn Sense!!!      

[Predaker]

Furthermore, they "created" humanity in their own image...quite literally.  That "image" implies that humanity was endowed (like their creators, the "engineers") with a compulsion to create things of their own...i.e., to be creators in their own right.

Hang about there, I think you are jumbling up the motivations of a traditional Judeo-Christian god with what this film presents pretty clearly as false gods. I don't see any flaw in the logic that a more advanced race of beings could create a race of other beings in their own physical image without implying any of the theological dichotomies that you raise. How the writers could somehow mix this up with a Christian/scientist main character is beyond me, but there is no reason to expect that what they created should be consistent with a non-corporeal, outside-the-universe and infallible 'God'.

Hi Chris, point taken.  However, I think the argument still holds up, on purely scientific grounds.  Since the film establishes the fact that we share basically an identical genome as the "Engineers", the genes that express for the mind's development of creativity, critical reasoning, problem solving, etc...are also shared.  In other words, the "Engineers" would have to "build-in" some kind of hypothetical creativity limiter, if they wished to prevent Humanity from creating robots and artificial intelligence.  Of course, in so doing, we probably would still be banging rocks and sticks together, instead of flying around in FTL spacecraft.  Hence, no point in leaving those "invitations".  So, at the end of the day...

It Still Makes no Darn Sense!!!    

Agreed. There is nothing to salvage for the sake of clarity, and I believe this is one reason why Ridley is not doing an extended director's cut. The theatrical cut is his director's cut.