The Connection

I honestly believe the events and mythology created in "Aliens" will be ignored or even wiped clean with Prometheus. Aliens was a great Sci-fi Action film, but ALIEN is so much more intriguing and well-made. I would gladly like to forget the "[i]oh no! we're fighting giants bugs and their hive queen![/i]" concept of Aliens for a return to a more unique sci-fi concept such as the one in the original film.

I think it'll be revealed that the space jockeys have been space faring for millions of years. I think they will be portrayed as engineers that may have had a hand in genetically modifying an early human ancestor into what we are today- as is told in nearly all religious stories. The alien will be a species that these "Gods" have also created. The greek tale of Prometheus is one where the titan, Prometheus, gives mankind a technology they did not previously possess- fire. I think, then, that a lone space jockey will give modern day man, in secret, a technology that the rest of the space jockey species will deem to have been an irresponsible action. This tech could possibly be FTL travel or some other knowledge. This clash of interests with the space jockeys could be the basis for the conflict in the film with a team of human scientists caught in the middle. A bit like a modern day battle between heaven and hell.

GRIK!!!!! That is one of the best ideas yet!!!!!! If you were to connect that to ALIEN. The 'Lone Space Jockey' on its way to earth. Crash lands on LV - 426 due to??? Facehugger let on the loose purposely from his kind. AND the humans get stuck in the middle of the conflict as you explained. I know its speculation at this point but good idea. Would explain few things but who knows!!!!!

Sorry was also meant to say could the 'lone space jockey's' technology be.....The Egg???? Or is that stupid???

I don't really connect the derelict on LV-426 since it's been crashed for millions of years, I think. With regards to the derelict, I think a facehugger escaped while the ship was in transit, impregnated the jockey and end of story. Another idea floating around in my head was- there might have only been one facehugger on board the derelict, it impregnates the pilot, a chestbuster is born, turns into a queen in the absense of the rest of her species and LAYS all the other eggs on LV-426.

I TOTALLY forgot!!!!! I think your right. The ship is there for quite sometime. Have to say Grik you should write more of your opinions up because they make a lot of sense ha. If that other idea was true it would also make sense. Like the derlict ship was full of eggs. How did they get there? The queen that burst out of the Space Jockey!!! Well Done.

Wait a minute, lets not go overboard here. A metal ship in a methane and ammonia atmosphere could not last "millions of years" no matter what the temperature. Ammonia is corrosive to all metals. Over time the ship would have been eaten away by the atmosphere. In fact a ship like that maybe would last 100 years in that atmosphere.

Hi arrgy I'm a chemist. It's ammonium that's corrosive and only mildly. And who said the derelict ship was made of metal. It could be galvanised or made of an organic material.

Hey Grik, Since you mentioned Galvanization, wouldn't Ammonia gas react with Magnalium? (Magnesium/Aluminum Alloy) used primarily in Aerospace and Aviation. Since we are talking The Space Jockeys, a strong yet light weight metal possibly combined with an organic process has to be achieved. Also the inside of the ship (egg chamber below) had high humidity since Cain said it was "like the god damned tropics in here". You mix, Methane, Ammonia, Water (from the water dripping upside down from under the blue force field where the eggs are at), Magensium/Aluminum Alloy a little heat and walla corrosive. The Ammonia (NH3+H2O) dissolves the Magnesium in the Alloy and the ship falls a part over a short time? Not to mention structural weight flexing and bending the alloys, creating imperfections in the material to allow more exposed Magnesium and then the hot/cold cycle even a minute one effects a metals thermal expansion characteristics such as aluminum. What about possible environmental gas pockets that didn't escape the ship during the crash?

So ammonia...ok, ammonium...not ok. I bow to your chemist skill. I still don't think that ship could last like that for millions of years.

Grik, a quandry has always lingered in my mind since seeing the film for the first time. Who activated the laser field over the eggs in the chamber. Was this the cargo hold of the ship or a cavern beneath the vessel. As you can see the chamber curves around in the distance resembling the horseshoe shape of the ship I tend to believe it's the former. Is the mist some kind of stasis technology keeping the eggs in a dormant state? Secondly, there is no way that ship could be transmitting a warning beacon after millions of years. Which means either the atmosphere on LV-426 accellerated the fossilization process without devouring the derelicts hull, or it's biochemistry contributed to the effect.

I'm loving the debate and discussions on this page. Since first finding out about this upcoming prequel I've had little sleep! I just hope that Scott doesn't slather Prometheus in CGI. The best part about the original 'Alien' is how tangible the experience was made for the audience. The set designs have that 'authentic' feel, the look & movements of our beloved "guest" are so visceral and life-like...(I personally would have loved it if Scott kept the scene in where Lambert turns around and sees the 'Alien' sitting in the corner...then scurries across the floor to her and sloooowly gets up....how CREEEEPY was [i]that?!?!)[/i] Please God (and Ridley Scott), make Prometheus the way it should be intended....as a TRUE PREQUEL to the best science fiction/horror film ever. Amen

Rick I admit that saying millions of years could be an exaggeration but I would settle for say 10,000 years. I don't think that the humidity in the ship is caused by liquid water. LV-426 is cold because of it's distance from it's star. I think the humidity is caused by liquid ammonia which has a boiling point of about -35C. The composition of the ship could be totally alien so it's not worth speculating on the corrosion. As for the egg chamber I think it is part of the derelict ship but is subterranean due to shifts in the planetoids surface. I think that transmitting a signal from the ship for 10,000 years is possible. It's just a case of the power supply- could be nuclear fusion.

Having digested so much information regarding this franchise over the years it saddens me that I can't recall where I heard or read that Lambert was supposed to have hidden herself in a locker and died from fright rather than being directly mauled by the xenomorph. Ripley was supposed to have found her after discovering Parker's body, or rather what was left of it.

Speculating on the composition of the ship would lead to some interesting conclusions. As the interior and exterior of the ship resembled nothing so much as bone, muscle and sinew that would suggest that the ship was grown rather than manufactured. If the ship were a quasibiological organism then it might generate it's own power as part of it's metabolism. Fusion reactors are extremely tempermental beasts. For a fusion reactor to operate in steady state, as magnetic fusion energy schemes usually entail, the fusion plasma must be maintained at a constant temperature. Thermal energy must therefore be added to it (either directly by the fusion products or by recirculating some of the electricity generated by the reactor) at the same rate the plasma loses energy. Regardless, if the ship did generate it's own energy for propulsion, life support, etc then this technology would vastly outweigh the worth of the Xenomorph. Ever consider that?

I'm somewhat late joining up here, so forgive me if this has already been discussed: Have you read the original "Alien Harvest" by Jon Spaights- which is still the "basis"per Damon Lindelof for what this film will be? I know some of it seems to fit with some of the leaked pictures- but was just wondering what your thoughts were on it. For those who haven't read it, here's the link. Warning (I guess?) this MAY be spoilerish... http://dl.dropbox.comhttps://www.scified.com/u/4083772/24549638-Alien-Harvest.pdf Again, forgive me if this has already been discussed

Ghost Solitare, I believe the Lambert locker scene was in the Alan Dean Foster novella of Alien. It also describes the Alien breaking into the ships food store by clawing through the metal walls and destroying their supplies,this happens directly before Dallas confronts the Alien in the Shafts. It knows Lambert is in the locker and watches her die of fright,as stated above,it could have easily got into the locker and killed her but instead relished in her fear....truly sinister behaviour.

how is this for a connection and the company knowing about the Alien and I hate going this route with the thinking but what if the company already knew about the "xenomorph" from AvP via Mr. Weyland and AvP:R with Mrs Yutani. Since they did deliver the Predator's Cannon to Mrs. Yutani and the statement being made that "its not for this world is it Mrs. Yutani." and then the Queen Sinking to the bottom at the edge of the island. In essence these are "Prequel" even though they blend the two franchises together. I'm not fond of this at all it takes too much away from the Alien but it was bound to happen.

Ghost Solitaire I love the idea that the ship is a living thing and I agree with that since the space jockey seems to be interfaced with the ship. I agree aswell that the company would be highly interested in the ship's technology although they never got the chance to study it because of the events in Alien and Aliens.

Agreed about the living ship idea; that sounds pretty sweet. This may be insignificant, but my one quip is this: the older the ship is, the older it's distress signal is. Just comparing it to our modern technology, we can barely keep a standard for 20 years... Perhaps the Nostromo could recognize all older distress signals as well? But if the ship is 10,000 years old... Would they even be able to get a distress signal? I doubt we'll still be using radio in 10,000 years...

Theres an idea in an alien spin off novel called 'Steel Egg' where it describes a distress signal having detailed information on the Alien, its lifecycle etc. Maybe the company picked up this signal and were able to decypher it,then send in the Nostromo? The original signal in Alien could be thousands of years old. They explain today that our radio signals are flying through space,a sort of frequency echo. This could possibly explain the age of the derilict and also how the company found out about the Alien in the first place? It always bothered me in Alien,that Ash didnt go to the derilict to destroy this 'signal' so other organisations wouldnt find it. Maybe the company realised that what ever was producing this signal was long since destroyed/kerputt, the radio echo theory may be the answer? Whats your thoughts?

I disagree. I think we'll use electromagnetic radiation to communicate forever. It is a fundamental force after all. In Alien, Dallas says that it's an "acoustical beacon" which doesn't really make sense since acoustics is vibration through solids, liquids or gases. How did the Nostromo receive the signal in space? It was hypothesised that the signal was a warning so the space jockey may have deliberately used a variety of different types of transmission.

above post for Ben. I agree with your echo theory, Thadus12

If the Xenomophic/terraforming theory was correct wouldn't you want to recover the ship if that was your technology? What happened there, why didn't the Space Jockey's people come for the ship if they were at all concerned about having it's secrets revealed. Easier yet, why didn't it do what Ripley did with the [i]Nostromo[/i] Those are all questions that have revolved around each time I watch the film. I read the Alien Harvest blog, and while it's entertaining, I hope that Prometheus goes in a different direction. I hate to think that our falibilities as a species resulted in the entire chain of events.

Space will be a playground for the privilaged and the powerful. The ships and technology represent investments in capital and resources that would bankrupt small independent companies. Weyland Yutani is a conglomerate that has probably eaten up all the lesser corporations that might have been a threat to it. No doubt they would not have a problem resorting to industrial espionage in order to keep their interests private. As regards the Space Jockey's distress signal perhaps it required years of reconstruction if had been bouncing around between stars losing integrity for thousands of years. There's a lot of noise out there and if it was one segment of bandwidth among all that static. It might have been discovered by unmanned survey ships as Weyland Yutani obviously has mining interests. If a survey probe did a fly by of the system it would have stood a better chance of picking up this beacon if the broadcast itself was faint due to EM interference from LV-426 or it's two suns. Worse yet, if the ship was operating under reduced output so the signal strength was downgraded in order to conserve it's power reserves.

"ya- rrright!?"

where is Giger in all of this? will he get some long deserved and neglected credits? we are seeing his inventions on the masthead of the site here and i saw 'derelict ship' designs allegedly from this film that completely reference Giger's 'derelict ship' from Alien

H.R. Giger is doing all of the Alien designs in Prometheus,including the brand new bigger xeno, but he is bound by contract not to give anything away. This film will be special.

"ya- rrright!?"