Everyone hit the nail on the head with
Prometheus, as it's so many things except a proper Alien prequel.
But I did like
@Xenomorphine 's sandbox analogy, and it's kind of been fun to read speculation about what the story was trying to say and where that was going to go.
The similarities between
Promeheus and Lovecraft's
ATMOM are like the ones between the Engineers' Dome and Giger's Harkonnen Castle. Superficially similar but ultimately different, and as biomechanical aesthetics are lacking in the dome, the Prometheus story lacks cosmic horror. The entities responsible for the origin of life on Earth in Lovecraft's work are not human and they are completely indifferent toward mankind.
But the movie seems like a
somewhat pretentious setup for a lot of ideas, ready to be explored in the future...or at very least that's what one might assume...especially after that
'Who made Them' from Shaw. Although I must admit that I didn't necessarily fantasize about the Space Jockeys as the creators of the Engineers, but rather some extradimensional intelligence like the one in the movie
Annihilation.
Even the marketing seemed to present some sort of specific philosophical subtext, because Weyland recites
Nietche's writings during the TED talk..
So yeah, Weyland is a narcissistic asshole, and as such he must feel himself to be the authentic
Übermensch (a philosophical idealism created by Nietzsche), and some fans of the prequels have seen in the Alien itself the David's very own Übermensch, once
Covenant was released.
On the other hand, the Engineer's sacrifice at the start certainly feels too ritualistic, but I liked that. The idea of a creator ceasing to exist as an entity to become the creation is like the God of
Pandeism. "Sometimes to create, one must first destroy"...also perhaps an analog to the religious archetype of
Dying-and-rising deity.
Speaking of which, we also have the religious subtext. I liked that
@Omegamorph brought it up, cos I don't know, it's so bizarre. I mean, apart from the fact that they considered that Jesus was an emissary of the Engineers (if not one of them), and the crucifixion of that religious figure as the reason why they wanted to kill us, pale in comparison to the Deacon / Trilobite as an analog of Jesus himself:
- 2000 years in the past, Mary becomes pregnant by otherwordly means since she was a virgin.
- 2000 years in the future, Elizabeth Shaw becomes pregnant by otherworldly means as she was sterile.
Years later, they continued with the religious allegories in Covenant, specifically the birth of Jesus in the painting of The Nativity by Piero della Francesca.
Not to mention that the character played by Michael Fassbender (not Walter) chose to call himself Michelangelo's David, which at the same time is an artistic representation of the biblical David who slew the giant.
...which it is kinda what the robot did in the sequel.
I also agree with
@Corporal Hicks about the Engineers. They're likeable, it's just not necessarily like the Space Jockeys.
I mean, look at these humanoids and tell me if the Engineers don't fit into the world of Alien. I laughed about turning Chutulhu into Vin Diesel (I think he was Omega
)... but the biomechanical pressure suits, the lifeless black eyes, the aesthetics of ancient greek art, etc. They are like androids of non-human origin. There is a kind of uncanny valley there for sure. I also like the idea of the Derelict corridors ergonomically designed to be circulated by pilot's assistants.
But back to how the movie was executed, yeah; Shaw and holloway were more like this...
Spoiler
...the interaction between the characters is somewhat awkward (the
"How are your lessons going, David?" among others
), the Prometheus ship is beautiful (agree there
@RidgeTop), black goo has grown on me thanks to Alex White, but in general I feel a mixture of love and frustration. Love because it's a sandbox that seemed to offer interesting potential, and frustration because once you read articles or watch the superb making-off by Charles de Lauzirika, one can get an idea of what the movie could have been, and while the lack of Giger stuff might be sad, at the same time one ends up fascinated by the work that other artists did in these prequels. Take for example the flashback in Covenant.
Plus,I like to interpret the idea of the David's Alien as the materialization of psychosexuality, unconscious and dreams as an analog to Giger himself. It is totally subjective of course, and not supported by the movie. Also, I know I'm getting off topic, so I am sorry.
Finally I want to say that I strongly disagree with Jon Spaihts about removing the Space Jockey abstraction. They definitely went too far with it. I like Engineers, but they didn't necessarily have to be
THAT JOCKEY. Oh and I hope no one posts pictures of the elephant man from the comics ever again. Please.
I've enjoyed the podcast guys, good job. I look forward to the next one.
Edit - Fifield is the most consistent character, since as a Geologist he loves rocks, unlike the mass effect-like archaeologist who don't want to contribute to the giant dead body arena. He turned Shaw at that point.
...oh and Weyland cannot create replicants, actually he is already an Engineer replicant.