Why did the Engineer stay in stasis instead of taking off?

Started by TomBrad123, Oct 03, 2021, 01:21:44 PM

Author
Why did the Engineer stay in stasis instead of taking off? (Read 18,029 times)

TomBrad123

In Prometheus the Engineer is in stasis but was going to take off to Earth when the outbreak occurred.   Why did he stay in stasis for 2000 years?  What was he waiting for?

Also why were all the Engineers running in the holographic playback?  From a deacon?  But they all appeared to have exploded from within when piled against the door.  Would Holloway have also exploded?

RhubarbLeaves

Not sure about the running Engineers but I'm pretty sure the implication was that the Engineer was in stasis too long by accident. There was presumably an issue with the ship and since everyone else was dead nobody fixed it.

I've always thought Prometheus would be a little better if the outbreak was a bigger part of the plot and the characters manage to solve what happened.

Kradan

Quote from: RhubarbLeaves on Oct 03, 2021, 07:13:39 PM
I've always thought Prometheus would be a little better if the outbreak was a bigger part of the plot and the characters manage to solve what happened.

Spoiler
[close]

"haha, nope"


SiL

...I mean, it was in stasis. It can't wake up without outside help and everyone else was dead. It didn't really have a choice.

[cancerblack]

Quote from: SiL on Oct 03, 2021, 08:11:48 PM
...I mean, it was in stasis. It can't wake up without outside help and everyone else was dead. It didn't really have a choice.

That seems like a flawed method of stasis if all four crew were supposed to sleep while in transit. There'd have to be a timer that either wasn't set, failed to activate or was set for longer than 2k years.

SiL

My guess would be fail to activate, as we see them preparing for hypersleep. Or The engineers who were supposed to set it died before they could - but then why would you go to sleep before that was set?

BigDaddyJohn

Because it is a poor movie with poor writing  ;D

markweatherill

My theory is that he was very grumpy, so the others sent him into stasis and told him he'd darn well better be in a happier mood when he woke up.

The Necronoir

The Necronoir

#8
We see three other pods around the dais as well, all with conspicuous holes punched in them around the chest/upper body area. My theory is that all four crew attempted to enter stasis as a means to escape the outbreak, which was already taking place. Three of them must have been infected before going in though, and either "burst" or gave birth to something while in the pods, perhaps years or centuries afterward, due to the slowing down of their metabolisms. Our boy was just lucky enough not to have been infected before he went into stasis.

It would explain why he wasn't woken after a pre-set time as well, either as an automated safety mechanism, or deliberately. You couldn't be sure what you'd wake up to, so safer to remain dormant indefinitely and hope that someone came to investigate and revive you once the outbreak was contained. For whatever reason, it seems nobody came, and even then the prospect of dying unconscious in stasis after thousands of years would have to be preferable to the alternative.

As for what the engineers in the hologram were running from, while it's tempting to believe that it might be a creature or creatures of some sort, I think it's more likely to have just been a cloud of airborne pathogen, like we see in Covenant. It seems that exposure to higher concentrations results in explosive mutations that kill the target within moments (like the decapitated head), while smaller doses result in a more gradual change, even into semi-sustainable organisms (think Fifield and whatever metamorphosis Holloway was undergoing).

TomBrad123

Quote from: The Necronoir on Oct 04, 2021, 03:57:42 PM
We see three other pods around the dais as well, all with conspicuous holes punched in them around the chest/upper body area. My theory is that all four crew attempted to enter stasis as a means to escape the outbreak, which was already taking place. Three of them must have been infected before going in though, and either "burst" or gave birth to something while in the pods, perhaps years or centuries afterward, due to the slowing down of their metabolisms. Our boy was just lucky enough not to have been infected before he went into stasis.

It would explain why he wasn't woken after a pre-set time as well, either as an automated safety mechanism, or deliberately. You couldn't be sure what you'd wake up to, so safer to remain dormant indefinitely and hope that someone came to investigate and revive you once the outbreak was contained. For whatever reason, it seems nobody came, and even then the prospect of dying unconscious in stasis after thousands of years would have to be preferable to the alternative.

As for what the engineers in the hologram were running from, while it's tempting to believe that it might be a creature or creatures of some sort, I think it's more likely to have just been a cloud of airborne pathogen, like we see in Covenant. It seems that exposure to higher concentrations results in explosive mutations that kill the target within moments (like the decapitated head), while smaller doses result in a more gradual change, even into semi-sustainable organisms (think Fifield and whatever metamorphosis Holloway was undergoing).

Thanks, that interpretation makes sense.

Another thing, was the Engineer still alive when the Deacon burst out of him?  When I saw the film the first time I thought he was already dead, but on a recent rewatch, I think he might still have been alive (and realising that due to his failure the pathogen was going to be released on his home planet).

I think Prometheus was novelized in Japan.  It would be interesting to see a translation of the book.

David_4004

David_4004

#10
Quote from: SiL on Oct 03, 2021, 08:24:17 PM
My guess would be fail to activate, as we see them preparing for hypersleep. Or The engineers who were supposed to set it died before they could - but then why would you go to sleep before that was set?

I believe the cryostasis engineer had been killed before he set up the cryostasis duration for the other engineers. So, they slept indefinitely.


Stitch

Quote from: TomBrad123 on Oct 05, 2021, 07:50:23 PM
I think Prometheus was novelized in Japan.  It would be interesting to see a translation of the book.
Check out studio yutani, they've done a translation.

426Buddy

I like the title of the thread, written in the format of a joke lol :laugh:

Why did the engineer cross the road?

[cancerblack]

Quote from: 426Buddy on Oct 07, 2021, 06:42:34 PM
I like the title of the thread, written in the format of a joke lol :laugh:

Why did the engineer cross the road?

To get decapitated by a door.

Wweyland

He was very tired. I can relate to this because I often feel like sleeping for 2000 years.

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