LV-426?

[Mastes1]

The film is set on a similar planet to LV-426 which also just happenes to orbit a huge ringed gas giant - check

It's been pointed out numeorous times that the planets aren't similar in terms of weather and terrain, at all - CHECK!

No need to be a smartarse and one persons opinion doesn't make it right because its different to someone elses, none of us know for sure until the film is out.
As for the planet looking different, i also addressed that in another thread. I believe the space jockey was terraforming the planet in Prometheus which is why it had weather and a different looking terrain but i think the humans coming disrupted the terraforming because the jockey decides to go after Earth because of what the Prometheus crew do and over the next 30 years or so, the planet loses most of its atmosphere and the planet and the derelict are left to the harshness of space wqhich is why the terrain is different. Also we really don't see much of the terrain in ALIEN/ALIENS so its not correct to say they can't be the same because 'x' thing wasn't in ALIEN/AL8IENS.

[SM]

No need to be a smartarse and one persons opinion doesn't make it right because its different to someone elses, none of us know for sure until the film is out.

So don't blatantly post crap then.

[Mastes1]

No need to be a smartarse and one persons opinion doesn't make it right because its different to someone elses, none of us know for sure until the film is out.

So don't blatantly post crap then.

How the hell is it crap?, grow uip ffs.

[fiveways]

And the common counterpoint is "Who knows what happens to said planet in the last 11 minutes"

Besides the point.  From what we've seen it doesn't look anything like LV-426, and people are erroneously claiming it does.

Yeah see, I am not one of those people.  I agree the planet in the background sure makes it look like it is LV-426, or a sister moon.  And I am one of the people who have a open mind that some disaster might befall said planet in the last 11 minutes.

We have no idea what planet it is.  Both sides taking a firm stance on it are putting the cart before the horse.  Any opinion on this film is based on 2 minutes of footage, speculation, lots of fanboy desires, and vague "truths" from people who's job it is to keep as much secret as possible.  Even the crew has said if anything gets out the film is ruined.  So yeah, no one knows and with the limited information we have, we can at best guess.  Nothing more.

Prove to me it won't be LV-426?  You can't.  The terrain might be different but that can change very quickly over the course of the film.  Lots can happen in 11 minutes and "Alien" films are known for something large blowing up at the end of them [including LV-426 at the end of Aliens].  You also can't prove it is LV-426.  No one can till the movie hits theatre so everyone probably should stop talking such a strong opinion on the subject because no one but the crew of the movie really knows.

Me?  I don't care as long as the story is good.  I don't even care if it connects to alien more then it already has.  I just want a good scifi flick.  The level of pedantic this forum has reached is insane.

[SM]

Prove to me it won't be LV-426?  You can't.

I won't because I've said myself previously that something has to dramatically change between this film and Alien for it to be LV-426, but I've never ruled it out (no matter how unlikely it is).

The point is, it doesn't look anything like LV-426 now.  Ring gas giants are common.

[Ulfer]

I think we agree that if it is LV-426, something big happens between the end of Prometheus and Alien that would modify the planet. By the way, I presume that even if it is an altogether different planet, something big will happen nonetheless that would prevent another expedition or contact with the "temples" and spaceships (else the Company wouldn't have to do what it does in Alien to get specimens), something more than just mere caution.
I do still think that, on several levels, it's risky for it to be LV-426 (I'll take the example of Aliens : it helps the plot that the Derelict isn't found again just before the action begins, which is very convenient, but not very realistic ), but they could have found valid reasons for this choice...
Several weeks and we have our answers.
At least, if the fans have not killed themselves before the release, with the proficiency of xenomorphs, because of questions as silly as "is it LV-426 or not"  Don't get near the egg of pointless division, dear fans, it holds the facehugger of insanity. Instead, be as kind as space tapirs. 

[Mastes1]

I think we agree that if it is LV-426, something big happens between the end of Prometheus and Alien that would modify the planet. By the way, I presume that even if it is an altogether different planet, something big will happen nonetheless that would prevent another expedition or contact with the "temples" and spaceships (else the Company wouldn't have to do what it does in Alien to get specimens), something more than just mere caution.
I do still think that, on several levels, it's risky for it to be LV-426 (I'll take the example of Aliens : it helps the plot that the Derelict isn't found again just before the action begins, which is very convenient, but not very realistic ), but they could have found valid reasons for this choice...
Several weeks and we have our answers.

The derelict wasn't randomly found in ALIENS, the company told the LV-426 colony to go investigate the site, it explains all this in the 'Specail Edition'.

[OpenMaw]

The derelict wasn't randomly found in ALIENS, the company told the LV-426 colony to go investigate the site, it explains all this in the 'Specail Edition'.

More specifically, Burke told them to go look.

[Ulfer]

The derelict wasn't randomly found in ALIENS, the company told the LV-426 colony to go investigate the site, it explains all this in the 'Specail Edition'.

I know. What I want to say is that, before terraforming a planet, there would be reconnaissance missions, and topographical data collected, etc. Ourselves, we've mapped the Moon, Mars, and so on. Of course, I speak with a real-world point of view . I don't mind that the movie is that way , it's just a little point.
But these elements from Aliens can themselves point out several reasons why the planet in Prometheus is not the same as the one in Alien, but I may have noted that earlier in this topic or elsewhere.

By the way, LV-426 or not, it's quite an interesting planet ! Several "temples", hidden spaceship(s ?), the landscape that opens itself to let it/them go out (when I saw that first in the trailer, I found it a very very good idea)...
I can just hope that what will be revealed will please. At least, that it will be interesting. Up to now, I find it quite novel and refreshing compared with other SF movies.

[jeremy_ray]

i have a theory about this.

i think that, at the beginning of the movie, the "space jockeys" are a long extinct, ancient race of biological engineers. the ampules contain their genetic code, which is what infects the crew. note that the alien we see walking around noticably varies in size -- i think he's a former member of the prometheus crew.

It would be sad to only get dead SJ's again.

well, i think, either way the one on LV-426 is way, way older than this one. and that in this movie, it's really only that one ship they have to worry for the time being -- until the end, which might end on a cliffhanger of "but wait there's more!"

Who knows?  I can think of arguments for and against.

proportionally, uranus's rings look very much like saturn's. except that they're on sideways, because the planet's poles are roughly on the ecliptic, as opposed to roughly perpendicular to it.

They don't look as dense to me, but my argument all along has been from a creative angle.  I don't believe Ridley would use another ringed planet if it was a different planet, unless there's a really good story reason for it.

I have said this numerous times already on here but it doesn't make sense for this to NOT be LV-426 and the orig derelict.
The films set before ALIEN - check, The film is set on a similar planet to LV-426 which also just happenes to orbit a huge ringed gas giant - check, you have space jockeys in this - check, you have the space jockey ship in this - check, you have the space jockey ship CRASH in this - check!.
Its jusyt going to confuse way too many people who haven't been following this film as closely as we have if this isn't about the derelict and LV-426 etc.
The only way i could see this being about a different jockey/ship on a different planet is the sequel effect, obviously FOX will want a sequel if this does well and they wouldn't be able to really do that if this film leads right into ALIEN.
Apart from the sequel factor then i don't see what point it would be to do a film about a complete different space jockey who just happens to crash his ship onto a similar looking planet to LV-426 which just happens to be orbiting a ringed gas giant, come on now guys!.

I agree with you mate.  Looking at it from the creative point of view, they wouldn't have gone in this direction for no reason.  There's a tie between this world and LV-426.  It could be LV-426. it could be LV-425.   it could be their homeworld and LV-426 was a moon they were terraforming to be like their homeworld.  They picked it because LV-426 is around a ringed gas giant too.  Nothing tells us for sure yet.

I don't remember LV426 having that many Engineer's temples or ships ^^

Spoiler

[close]

But the bad guy's base always has to be blown up at the end of the movie - destroying that big of a base is gonna change the landscape. 

It's possible one of the crewmembers reprograms the base so it destroys itself by overgrowing, creating the bone landscape of ALIEN. 

Or maybe as it dies and decays, it becomes too weak to support the landscape above, which collapses down. 

Too many possibilities.

[OpenMaw]

Or, more likely, it's just not LV426 as we have been told.  Occam's Razor.

[arachnophilia]

I have said this numerous times already on here but it doesn't make sense for this to NOT be LV-426 and the orig derelict.

let's examine these again:

The films set before ALIEN - check,

but not necessarily before the ship in alien becomes derelict.

The film is set on a similar planet to LV-426 which also just happenes to orbit a huge ringed gas giant - check,

but, as pointed out numerous times, the planets is not similar at all. the atmosphere is way thinner, and it has older geological formations -- eroded mountains, plains, formations involving liquid water. LV-426 as a dense, cold atmosphere that probably rains methane like on titan in our own solar system, and is covered in new volcanic formations. it's a planetoid under constant geological stress, with no time to erode.

they both orbit a ringed gas giant, but i don't know how significant that is, considering literally half of the planets in our own solar system are ringed gas giants.

you have space jockeys in this - check, you have the space jockey ship in this - check,

obviously that's a connection. but i don't think it's very supported that it's the same ship with the same pilot. indeed this one crashes, when...

you have the space jockey ship CRASH in this - check!.

... the one in alien is simply derelict with no sign of a crash. in the original script, it was safely landed.

Its jusyt going to confuse way too many people who haven't been following this film as closely as we have if this isn't about the derelict and LV-426 etc.

it's a direct tie to another movie, and ridley scott has said a number of times stuff about how he doesn't want to do that, and how if this movie had a sequel, it wouldn't be alien.

assuming for a second that the one on LV-426 is a separate ship, it could have already been there for centuries, millenia

Yes. Favorite solution.

this was, in fact, the popular theory among fan prior to prometheus -- that the ship had been there for quite some time. now, we're trying to place the ship as a new arrival within a few years of alien (or if you read the fake "alien harvest" script, HOURS). it makes no sense -- the pilot is mummified and dessicated (they say "fossilized" but that's not right).

And the common counterpoint is "Who knows what happens to said planet in the last 11 minutes"[I think it was 11 minutes the trailer editor said he didn't have to pick from for the trailer].  The reverse terraforming idea has been brought up.  A terrible planetary catastrophe, endless things.  These beings have the power of gods, imagine what other weapons they have beyond the obvious biological ones....

let me put it this way. approximately 65 million years ago, a six-mile-wide asteroid slammed into the earth, hitting about where the yucatan peninsula is today. before it even struck, shockwaves liquified everything within a few thousand miles. tsunamis and earthquakes crossed the globe. as the asteroid struck, it exploded with a force about a thousand times more than every nuclear weapon owned by the US and the soviet union at the height of the cold war. it rained fire and brimstone all over the world, and the surface of the planet burned. the crater kicked so much dust up into the atmosphere that the planet suffered nuclear winter for generations. something like 90% of all life on the face of the planet died.

and yet, our planet looks almost exactly identical to the way it did right before the extinction event. we're missing a few non-avian dinosaurs, but birds? reptiles? amphibians? insects? flowers? all the stuff you'd think would have disappeared because it was too fragile? most of that stuff is still around. out geology is unchanged, and our climate very similar. if you'd go back 65 million years and take some landscape photos, people would think you took them today.

now, if these "space jockeys" can do something to a planet in 11 minutes that makes the K-T event look insignificant... why the hell are they screwing around with wimpy little xenomorphs? these guys have weapons of planetary destruction. they literally have to move LV-426's orbit to make it change this drastically.

It would be sad to only get dead SJ's again.

i don't think so. i think it adds to their mysterious nature, which i actually don't want to see fully explained. explanations are so boring.

They don't look as dense to me, but my argument all along has been from a creative angle.  I don't believe Ridley would use another ringed planet if it was a different planet, unless there's a really good story reason for it.

well, i won't deny the creative angle. you never really know.

but as for story reasoning, maybe these guys like gas giants for some reason. gas giants tend to collect rings and lots of small moons, potentially good for close networks of outposts, mining, who knows. gas giants are also extremely common planets -- small, rocky planets like ours seem to be the exception. and scientifically, they're much harder to find. every extra-solar we know about today is a gas giant.

Or, more likely, it's just not LV426 as we have been told.  Occam's Razor.

it's funny, i had someone on reddit try and use ockham's razor to say it is.

[Face Jockey]

If the original Space Jockey experienced a chest-burster, it might seem that the original derelict Jockey must have put on the Jockey mask after being infected by a face-hugger. Unless face-huggers can operate through Jockey masks, unlike human space helmets which they seem to destroy in the hugging process.

[jeremy_ray]

they both orbit a ringed gas giant, but i don't know how significant that is, considering literally half of the planets in our own solar system are ringed gas giants.

Two, at best, have rings dense enough to be noted here, and I'm not sold on Uranus yet.

... the one in alien is simply derelict with no sign of a crash. in the original script, it was safely landed.

For all we know SJ ships regenerate like Borg ships. 

and yet, our planet looks almost exactly identical to the way it did right before the extinction event.

What about 50 years after the asteroid strike?

now, if these "space jockeys" can do something to a planet in 11 minutes that makes the K-T event look insignificant... why the hell are they screwing around with wimpy little xenomorphs? these guys have weapons of planetary destruction. they literally have to move LV-426's orbit to make it change this drastically.

The SJ's have a space ship.  They can replicate the K-T event.  Xenomorphs may be for use when they want a planet (mostly) intact, minus the major life forms.  Although I doubt the Xenomorphs could take over a well armed planet.  I don't really know what the xenomorphs are good for.  Maybe they aren't a weapon and they didn't kill the SJ race.   

but as for story reasoning, maybe these guys like gas giants for some reason. gas giants tend to collect rings and lots of small moons, potentially good for close networks of outposts, mining, who knows. gas giants are also extremely common planets -- small, rocky planets like ours seem to be the exception. and scientifically, they're much harder to find. every extra-solar we know about today is a gas giant.

I thought we'd been finding rocky planets for the last year.  They are harder to find but I wouldn't assume there are less of them.

As for the rest, I floated those ideas earlier so naturally I agree

[OpenMaw]

Wait wait, every extra-solar planet we know about is a gas giant? Since when? We've known of plenty of POTENTIAL hard surfaced planets out there. It's just pretty much impossible to verify because we don't have any probes that are out far enough (close enough to other solar systems, that'll be centuries from now.).

Really, it's pretty much cut and dry this is not LV-426. At this point it just feels like a lot of denial sweeping those who really really really really want it to be. I just hope those of you out there who do, aren't too disappointed when it's not.