The black goo - A Life on Earth UPGRADE??!!

[180924609]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/digital/fact-vs-fiction/prometheus-unbound-write-damon-lindelof-on-the-non-prequel-alien-prequel-9514210

Prometheus Unbound: Writer Damon Lindelof on the Non-Prequel Alien Prequel

Q: In Prometheus, there's an Alien evolution of sorts, but how it works isn't explained in the movie. Was there an internal logic to how it worked?

A: It's not arbitrary. [But] the movie has to speak for itself. I will say that the theory that is formed by Shaw by the end of the movie—that the black goo is some sort of weapon and it is headed towards earth and if it gets there the result is going to be terrible—[is] based on the information that she has in the movie, but that's not necessarily the correct deduction for her to make. The audience is privy to pieces of the story that Shaw is not. I hope that the movie is one of those films that [is rewarding on] subsequent viewings as opposed to more confusing and more frustrating.

Lindelof said this BS back in June. But it is worth noting that:

- Fifield wasnt killed by the black goo.

- The worms werent killed by the black goo.

- Holloway wasnt killed by the black goo.


Was the proposed black goo 'bombing raid' by the Engineers some kind of artificial 'evolution jump' for the existing DNA of Earth, whilst keeping all such life ALIVE during the process??!!

Was it meant to be 'an experiment with a positive outcome' using all life on Earth as lab rats? After all, in the hypothetical (and laughable) Universe of Prometheus, Life on Earth is merely a one-of-countless-many worlds, created by the Engineers and is nothing special, right?

Is this how the Engineers do UPGRADES??!! I guess the recent pain with Apple's iOS 6 upgrade is nothing compared to the Engineer's LifeOS 2.0!!

Was Janek's weapon assumption incorrect? This also makes the Starmap reveal less of a problem if LV223 is indeed NOT a weapons facility but an actual laboratory for all things life related. The engineered chemicals contained therein are benign but still dangerous and beyond the comprehension of mere Earthlings, and are clearly also dangerous to the Engineers themselves in the event of a catastrophe!

----

The problem with this conjecture (and it is a classic problem with all of Lindelof's writing) is that we, the audience, already saw at the very start of the movie a strange liquid substance tearing an Engineer's body apart, rendering him DEAD. So that goo was either more concentrated or a totally different concoction to the stuff we see in the urns on LV223??


Either way, of course, its not like anybody on Planet Earth is going to be really pleased that this kind of shit is suddenly imposed on them!

[Deuterium]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/digital/fact-vs-fiction/prometheus-unbound-write-damon-lindelof-on-the-non-prequel-alien-prequel-9514210

Prometheus Unbound: Writer Damon Lindelof on the Non-Prequel Alien Prequel

Q: In Prometheus, there's an Alien evolution of sorts, but how it works isn't explained in the movie. Was there an internal logic to how it worked?

A: It's not arbitrary. [But] the movie has to speak for itself. I will say that the theory that is formed by Shaw by the end of the movie—that the black goo is some sort of weapon and it is headed towards earth and if it gets there the result is going to be terrible—[is] based on the information that she has in the movie, but that's not necessarily the correct deduction for her to make. The audience is privy to pieces of the story that Shaw is not. I hope that the movie is one of those films that [is rewarding on] subsequent viewings as opposed to more confusing and more frustrating.

Lindelof said this BS back in June. But it is worth noting that:

- Fifield wasnt killed by the black goo.

- The worms werent killed by the black goo.

- Holloway wasnt killed by the black goo.


Was the proposed black goo 'bombing raid' by the Engineers some kind of artificial 'evolution jump' for the existing DNA of Earth, whilst keeping all such life ALIVE during the process??!!

Was it meant to be 'an experiment with a positive outcome' using all life on Earth as lab rats? After all, in the hypothetical (and laughable) Universe of Prometheus, Life on Earth is merely a one-of-countless-many worlds, created by the Engineers and is nothing special, right?

Is this how the Engineers do UPGRADES??!! I guess the recent pain with Apple's iOS 6 upgrade is nothing compared to the Engineer's LifeOS 2.0!!

Was Janek's weapon assumption incorrect? This also makes the Starmap reveal less of a problem if LV223 is indeed NOT a weapons facility but an actual laboratory for all things life related. The engineered chemicals contained therein are benign but still dangerous and beyond the comprehension of mere Earthlings, and are clearly also dangerous to the Engineers themselves in the event of a catastrophe!

----

The problem with this conjecture (and it is a classic problem with all of Lindelof's writing) is that we, the audience, already saw at the very start of the movie a strange liquid substance tearing an Engineer's body apart, rendering him DEAD. So that goo was either more concentrated or a totally different concoction to the stuff we see in the urns on LV223??


Either way, of course, its not like anybody on Planet Earth is going to be really pleased that this kind of shit is suddenly imposed on them!

180924609,

Trying to impose any sort of logic on Lindelof's magical hand waving is an effort in futility.  As a matter of fact, I have found it is best not to think about it.  As Shakespeare said..."O, that way madness lies".

[ChrisPachi]

Trying to impose any sort of logic on Lindelof's magical hand waving is an effort in futility.  As a matter of fact, I have found it is best not to think about it.  As Shakespeare said..."O, that way madness lies".

Indeed, especially since you can find other quotes from Lindelof and Scott that contradict this one.

[Jango1201]

It is what it is. Nothing we think it is but everything we believe it isn't . It's a metaphor on the very contradiction that is life itself.

[wmmvrrvrrmm]

  As a matter of fact, I have found it is best not to think about it. 

That's certainly worked well for me

[Predaker]

  As a matter of fact, I have found it is best not to think about it. 

That's certainly worked well for me

Lol, same here. 

Lindelof's response didn't even address the question that was asked and the response he did give was ambiguous. Figures.

[ChrisPachi]

Was the proposed black goo 'bombing raid' by the Engineers some kind of artificial 'evolution jump' for the existing DNA of Earth, whilst keeping all such life ALIVE during the process?

There was a lot of talk from the film makers about the kind of evolutionary 'upgrades' that you suggest and that are prevalent in the Spaihts script. These got completely ignored in the movie however - there is nothing in there to tell us even the most basic details of the premise that the film is built around. It's as if the film makers just assumed everyone would know what they meant, or just 'believe' it along with the main character.

Love or hate Spaihts' script, or the premise in general, all of the 'big and bold' ideas that we were promised are in there and actually given proper attention. The prologue he wrote even shows it happening, but then Scott hires Lindelof to make the film less about aliens and more about said 'big and bold' ideas and then, bewilderingly, removes any tangible reference to them.

[fiveways]

Love or hate Spaihts' script, or the premise in general, all of the 'big and bold' ideas that we were promised are in there and actually given proper attention. The prologue he wrote even shows it happening, but then Scott hires Lindelof to make the film less about aliens and more about said 'big and bold' ideas and then, bewilderingly, removes any tangible reference to them.

Thank god he hired him.  He took a subpar Dark Horse Comic and made it watchable. 

I am a Spaihts script hater.  If he didn't confirm it as being real, or if it had leaked before the movie was released I would be guilty of calling it fake.

[180924609]

There was a lot of talk from the film makers about the kind of evolutionary 'upgrades' that you suggest and that are prevalent in the Spaihts script. These got completely ignored in the movie however - there is nothing in there to tell us even the most basic details of the premise that the film is built around. It's as if the film makers just assumed everyone would know what they meant, or just 'believe' it along with the main character.

Love or hate Spaihts' script, or the premise in general, all of the 'big and bold' ideas that we were promised are in there and actually given proper attention. The prologue he wrote even shows it happening, but then Scott hires Lindelof to make the film less about aliens and more about said 'big and bold' ideas and then, bewilderingly, removes any tangible reference to them.

It is almost possible to imagine that the black goo is a liquid suspension of nanobot-like scarabs doing the same job that Spaihts described in his script! It certainly looked like a clear liquid containing particulates in the 'glass' vials that David examined.

Perhaps poor Fifield, Holloway and the Worms just got a highly concentrated overdose of 'DNA upgrade' causing severe mutation instead of the intended beneficial dose. If Juggernauts were to disperse the black goo in the Earth's atmosphere (suggested by the canister's foaming reaction on contact with an air atmosphere) then I guess the concentration would dilute to parts-per-trillion all over the globe, with slightly less drastic results?!

----

It's a double edged sword unfortunately - Spaihts' script explicitly describes a human 'DNA upgrading process' injected via tiny micro organisms, but at the same time explicitly describes the Juggernaut as a death ship delivering a deadly cargo of Alien eggs intended to wipe out mankind.

Ughh - I guess Prometheus will forever be a story told from three separate points of view...
...and never the twain+Ridley shall meet!

[josephchoi]

I always thought the black goo was in essence Alien DNA that imprints itself upon whatever it comes in contact with. Some might cause it to die, others to mutate. Engineers could be the ones who managed to either create it or harness it.

[Magegg]

Blu-Ray explains how the Black Goo works:

[Predaker]

Who came up with that? Is this more mumbo jumbo like the info about storm rifles and power loaders on the fake website?

[Deuterium]

Who came up with that? Is this more mumbo jumbo like the info about storm rifles and power loaders on the fake website?

I like to think of it as childish, nonsensical hand-waving, ex post facto, in an attempt to prop up the creaky foundations of a dilapidated house.  Or, perhaps a better metaphor would involve plugging up holes in a sinking ship?

If the writers/director couldn't embed essential information, key to major structural aspects of the narrative (however implausible) within the actual film, then it is a fundamental failure in story-telling.  No amount of viral, external media or post-release fluff can correct or excuse the fact.  If anything, it strikes of desperation.

[Magegg]

If the writers/director couldn't embed essential information, key to major structural aspects of the narrative (however implausible) within the actual film, then it is a fundamental failure in story-telling.  No amount of viral, external media or post-release fluff can correct or excuse the fact.  If anything, it strikes of desperation.

No. It basically condenses what you saw in the film. And it's true. People who ingested the Black Goo reacted like that, and people who inhaled the Black Goo reacted like that. In case you didn't notice.


And it's clear Black Goo accomplished a double purpose: Spread DNA of creatures (I guess if they feed xenomorphs in Black Goo, we would get Evolution to follow the weapon-path), and spreading chaos by mutating creatures.

[Deuterium]

If the writers/director couldn't embed essential information, key to major structural aspects of the narrative (however implausible) within the actual film, then it is a fundamental failure in story-telling.  No amount of viral, external media or post-release fluff can correct or excuse the fact.  If anything, it strikes of desperation.

No. It basically condenses what you saw in the film. And it's true. People who ingested the Black Goo reacted like that, and people who inhaled the Black Goo reacted like that. In case you didn't notice.

Nope, didn't notice.  I probably was distracted by all the other ridiculous nonsense and insanity going on in the film.