Question about the Engineer suits

[shawsbaby]

Maybe this has been discussed/debated before (feel free to redirect me and close this thread!), but I'm wondering what people's thoughts are on the engineer suit and helmets and the two forms we saw in Prometheus. In the hologram flashback, we see the engineers all suited up fleeing the outbreak. The corpses the crew find are all wearing the full suits, of course, and they remove the helmet from the reanimated head. Around the Juggernaut we encounter either engineer statues or empty suits (unclear).

That said, when we see the final Engineer about to take off, the suit and helmet are attached to the seat of the ship and begin to wrap/form around him.

So are there two type of suits? Is it an inconsistency? Just something we shouldn't think/worry too much about? ;-)

[whiterabbit]

I think they are the same type of suit but the one that "grows" out of the chair just doesn't look right. It got the job done but it looked phony.

[oduodu]

I think its the same but its just quicker as you don't have to bother getting into a suit first and then get into the chair.  It also looks cooler I suppose.

[whiterabbit]

Well the ones on the outside could have been "fossilized" before hand; where as the one in the chair was protected inside the holding bay and presumably the engineer control/sleep deck was also atmospherically controlled. Although we never seen how the suits on the outside are put on. They could open up down the middle like a sarcophagus and enveloped the wearer like it does in the seat.

[oduodu]

Yes but remember the engineer already had half  a suit on - it was only the top half that closed around him. Well I'll check to make sure .

I guess they stand with their back to the suit and then it opens up and they back into it and wait until it closes around them . Ïs that on the juggernaut or just outside  it ? Just outside I believe. So if engineers are supposed to put those suits on before entering them where does the  suits go when they get into their hyper sleep chambers? Or was it intended for the engineers to put those suits on before going into the temple ?

[whiterabbit]

The last engineer isn't wearing his suit. What he had on was more like engineer underwear if I had to fathom a guess. The decapitated engineer on the other hand was wearing the suit. I'm just assuming that the suits in the hallway work the same as the one in the seat.

[oduodu]

I think you assume coRrectly . I still think there are many hidden energy fields like the ones only David could see that actuated mechanisms. Perhaps some kind of hand gesture and the suite would basically itself walk to you and wrap itself around you would look cool  I think.

Maybe suits and engineers are paired. I think you are correct. I have never actually looked at what happens to Lowe half of the engineer when he gets into the chair .

[whiterabbit]

Oh I definitely agree that David can see things that human's can't and that it's not just merely pushing buttons.

Considering how the suit in the chair applied itself to the engineer I don't think it matters. One size fits all.

[7Xenos]

The SJ's pilot suits may be similar to, but somewhat different from, their hazmat suits for when they are handling black goo vases. Apparently neither are 100% fool proof. A chest burster has no problem bursting thru them.

[Neirum]

They were not exactly hazmat suits, they are thermal suits. As long as the rooms with the black goo stay at sub-zero temps, there will be no outbreak. All of their tech is bio-mechanical, so a breech would mean everything would react to it. So they have to keep everything super super cold and carefully "terraform" sectors they want to affect with the goo by thermal regulation and moisture content in the air. The suits are there to make sure the Engineers retain heat and moisture in the Head Room with the murals. When David just willie nilly opens the door, the Refrigerators don't kick on properly or they just needed to close the doors quick, and the vases start to react to the hot room temperature air from the hallways outside. That's why the Engineers were running to the Head Room, it was Refrigerated and could freeze the black goo outbreak in the hallways getting on their suits and melting into the bone armor like in the pile of Engineers against that other door. Anyhow, the black goo starts to "melt" (like the container at the top of the waterfall in the starting scenes of the film) and then gets all over everywhere and the ceiling murals change to indicate the facility's "Snapple top has popped" and it's been contaminated by some weirdo from the Interstate... so watch out! Yeah.... I think the suits are for temperature regulation, look how thick they are with so much bone and what not. Just my two cents.

[Infected]

I think they are the same type of suit but the one that "grows" out of the chair just doesn't look right. It got the job done but it looked phony.

You got that right wabbit, it looked off as hell.

[lv_226]

I quite liked it—I think that it added some mystery to the Engineers.

[SpeedyMaxx]

I recall that the original Spaihts draft (which I do not think is perfect or ideal, for the record) made it extremely explicit that the suits fused with the user when they wore it, bio-mechanically. It was not simply something to put on; it was invasive. So that covered how it looked in the original film. I don't think the final film makes this totally clear, but I also think we should've seen more of the Engineer in the full suit. And I think the money shot of the suit connecting in the chair does look ropey.

[bb-15]

...In the hologram flashback, we see the engineers all suited up fleeing the outbreak. The corpses the crew find are all wearing the full suits, of course,...

That said, when we see the final Engineer about to take off, the suit and helmet are attached to the seat of the ship and begin to wrap/form around him.

So are there two type of suits? Is it an inconsistency? Just something we shouldn't think/worry too much about? ;-)

Imo if we look at the Space Jockeys as wearing suits, then I go back to past descriptions of the Space Jockeys.
It's a retcon of course but that is what the suit idea is. (Even though there is preproduction artwork for "Alien" by Giger which shows space suits.)

1. If the SJs are Engineers wearing suits, then the suit would come out of the area where it was stored. This is because the suit would look like it had "grown" out of a surface onto the SJ / Engineer.
For instance from "Alien".

Dallas: Alien life form. Looks like it's been dead a long time. Fossilized. Looks like it's growing out of the chair.
Bones are bent outward, like he exploded from inside.

Since the outer part of the Space Jockey is considered now by Ridley to be a suit, what Dallas is describing would be the suit being attached to the chair looking like it was "growing out of the chair".
- The suit "growing" out of the chair covering an Engineer happens in "Prometheus".
- Extending that idea (a film theory), if a suit was stored on a wall (as seen in "Prometheus"), the Engineer could back up to it and the suit would probably wrap around the Engineer.

2. Do Space Jockeys walk with a suit on? Yes. So, the suits would need to be able to detach.
- Non canon "Alien" fan art show SJs walking (with their "suit" on).

http://orig11.deviantart.net/bcda/f/2012/005/7/4/space_jockey_by_raoulincorporated-d4lfxkn.jpg

It also makes sense that the Space Jockey in the derelict would be able to walk around the ship (protected by the suit) when checking on the xenomorph cargo.
- I speculate that the SJ suits can detach from the chair or another surface that the suit "grew" out of.

PS. As for the awoken Engineer and his "underwear", I see that as as an extension of the organic / grown suit idea. Engineer clothing looks like it has grown on to the person. 

[Russ840]

...In the hologram flashback, we see the engineers all suited up fleeing the outbreak. The corpses the crew find are all wearing the full suits, of course,...

That said, when we see the final Engineer about to take off, the suit and helmet are attached to the seat of the ship and begin to wrap/form around him.

So are there two type of suits? Is it an inconsistency? Just something we shouldn't think/worry too much about? ;-)

Imo if we look at the Space Jockeys as wearing suits, then I go back to past descriptions of the Space Jockeys.
It's a retcon of course but that is what the suit idea is. (Even though there is preproduction artwork for "Alien" by Giger which shows space suits.)

1. If the SJs are Engineers wearing suits, then the suit would come out of the area where it was stored. This is because the suit would look like it had "grown" out of a surface onto the SJ / Engineer.
For instance from "Alien".

Dallas: Alien life form. Looks like it's been dead a long time. Fossilized. Looks like it's growing out of the chair.
Bones are bent outward, like he exploded from inside.

Since the outer part of the Space Jockey is considered now by Ridley to be a suit, what Dallas is describing would be the suit being attached to the chair looking like it was "growing out of the chair".
- The suit "growing" out of the chair covering an Engineer happens in "Prometheus".
- Extending that idea (a film theory), if a suit was stored on a wall (as seen in "Prometheus"), the Engineer could back up to it and the suit would probably wrap around the Engineer.

2. Do Space Jockeys walk with a suit on? Yes. So, the suits would need to be able to detach.
- Non canon "Alien" fan art show SJs walking (with their "suit" on).

http://orig11.deviantart.net/bcda/f/2012/005/7/4/space_jockey_by_raoulincorporated-d4lfxkn.jpg

It also makes sense that the Space Jockey in the derelict would be able to walk around the ship (protected by the suit) when checking on the xenomorph cargo.
- I speculate that the SJ suits can detach from the chair or another surface that the suit "grew" out of.

PS. As for the awoken Engineer and his "underwear", I see that as as an extension of the organic / grown suit idea. Engineer clothing looks like it has grown on to the person. 

I would say that all those suggestions you have there are fair and do a well enough job of fitting the retcon. The slight differences in design just need to be looked over or thought of a different brand of suit lol.