Prometheus Reviews

[maledoro]

Not convinced.

[deezelboy]

Just out of interest, what parts do you not find convincing?

[maledoro]

The ones between the opening credits and the closing credits.

[Limited Vertigo]

The ones between the opening credits and the closing credits.

You sir owe me a portion of my beverage now.

[maledoro]

You sir owe me a portion of my beverage now.

If you're ever in town, look me up and I'll refill that mug.

[BishopIII]

I for one have no problem with the apparent contradiction between Milburn freaking out at the dead engineer, and his cooing over the hammerpede. Humans aren't rational animals, they may screw about creepy dead things, but be bowled over by seemingly curious, seemingly harmless living creatures. I've been in a similar situation with a young brown crab, fucking idiotic of me, but it resulted in the crab trying to burrow into the palm of my hand! One of the most excruciating experiences of my life! Easily a hundred times worse than being bitten by a young Burmese python! The hammerpede scene brought those memories back! So it does make sense. All people who have worked with animals likely has a similar experience due to a moment's negligence. Although I think he was just showing off, trying to impress Fifield with his skills. No one's perfect, throughout he seemed to beg for Fifield's approval and respect.

[maledoro]

Human or not, Millburn is supposed to have some training behind him. Plus, if my chumminess gets rebuffed by someone who doesn't seem right in the head and responds with hostility, I'm not going to go out of my way to impress them with my snake handling prowess; my personal safety be damned.

Last night, I came across this article, that covers a lot of the bad science of Prometheus. Here is an excerpt that covers our favorite bumbling biologist and psycho geologist:

Bill Chadwick, Geologist, John Milner Associates

The first thing the geologist says is, “I’m in it for the money.”

[A pause that I interpret as puzzled silence.] Uh, typically not.

The scientists, including the geologist, come across a hollow mountain, then immediately enter it. Would you enter a hollow mountain on an alien planet, or would you perform some tests first?

I might look around, do some tests on the material first. I’m sure eventually I’d go in. I’ve been in caves where I didn’t know where it would lead.

The geologist uses science-fictional probes to map the area after he gets inside. If you had the technology, wouldn’t you have mapped the area before you had entered?

I would do it before entering.

The geologist, the one with the probes, gets lost. How do you prevent getting lost?

Theoretically if you’re mapping, you would know your way back out using the map you’ve created. Depending on what the ground is like, you can follow your steps.

The geologist didn’t do any of that.

Maybe he was lost in the moment.

Ken Paige, Head of the Department of Animal Biology, University of Illinois

In one scene, a biologist encounters an alien creature that looks like a giant phallus. The biologist refers to it as a “she.” What would you call a creature that resembles a giant phallus?

A “he.” Definitely.

This phallus soon spreads open and seems to display a neck frill. As a biologist, what would that mean to you?

It can be defensive or it can attract mates. Usually it’s a threat display. It makes the animal look bigger and more ferocious.

The biologist doesn’t back away from the threat display. If you were there, would you reach out and touch the alien or, ya know, try to contain it in some way?

Probably contain it in some way to see what it is. Depends on how big it is, I’d use an actual snake stick, which would clasp it behind the neck and hold it down.

He doesn’t do that. He reaches out with a gloved hand, then the alien wraps itself around his arm. He screams for the geologist to get it off of him, and the geologist attacks it. What would you have done?

My goodness. I certainly wouldn’t try to kill it or harm it in any way.

Too late. The alien has killed them both.

I always cringe when I see those things. Where are the advisors to the movie? If you’re going to do a movie, do it right. 

You should be the next Hollywood advisor.

As long as they pay me the big bucks. Like the geologist.

There are some other points made in this article, including four components an exploration team needs.

[Hieronymus]

I've heard it suggested elsewhere that, since Weyland was in a hurry to talk to the Engineers and get himself an extended life, that he may have deliberately chosen people who would be reckless.  It would have taken far too long - decades, perhaps - to study the site properly.

[maledoro]

I've heard it suggested elsewhere that, since Weyland was in a hurry to talk to the Engineers and get himself an extended life, that he may have deliberately chosen people who would be reckless.  It would have taken far too long - decades, perhaps - to study the site properly.

Do them a favor: please don't tell me where you read that.

[Dutch90]

Maybe it's just Steve Irwin in space?

[deezelboy]

I for one have no problem with the apparent contradiction between Milburn freaking out at the dead engineer, and his cooing over the hammerpede.

Me neither - at least, regarding the butterfly-cobra. Not terribly sure about freaking out over the dead Engineers, as I've only seen it the once, a month ago now, and I can't remember if Milburn was that worried about them.

But our introduction to Milburn shows him doing the same thing to Fifield - completely disregarding Fifield's threat display and continuing to wind him up. So it's not in any way contradictory behaviour for Milburn to do what he does with the butterfly-cobra.  Add in encountering an alien species for the first time and combine it with being comparatively safe in a space suit, and you've got a recipe for disaster.

There are some other points made in this article, including four components an exploration team needs.

Yeah, that one was quite scary, especially the bit about building cages in Antarctica! Of the five, he was the most sympathetic to the film - 'it happens in real life too.'

I've heard it suggested elsewhere that, since Weyland was in a hurry to talk to the Engineers and get himself an extended life, that he may have deliberately chosen people who would be reckless.  It would have taken far too long - decades, perhaps - to study the site properly.

It's certainly my reading of the film. There's nothing in Prometheus to suggest that they've sent a cautious team out, and quite a lot to show that the opposite is the case.

Points to consider:

* Weyland has only a couple of days left, and hypersleep's a risky business (one of the first lines of dialogue after the crew wakes up asks if anybody has died en route).

* It's not a scientific mission - this is bankrolled and controlled by Weyland Corp and this point keeps getting hammered home.

* At the mission speech, Vickers introduces herself as if she's in command, then hands over to a holographic Weyland who introduces David as if he's in command, then hands over to Shaw and Holloway and it's now them who are effectively in control. We're being shown a fuck-up of a mission right there, with different and competing agendas...

* ...Which is explicitly brought up when Vickers tells the team that at the first hint of alien contact they shouldn't contact the aliens. Not exactly the sort of thing a team sent to explore First Contact is asked to do, and Holloway asks if there's a hidden agenda...

*...Which we find out is the case, and Vickers doesn't want the mission to succeed. We also find out Vickers has hired some of the personnel herself, and Weyland presumably has hired Shaw and Holloway...

*...Who Vickers refers to as zealots, and Milburn has concerns about their conclusions.

* David, hired by Weyland, is shown interacting with everything he can find, with no sign of caution or ethics. And he's pressed by Weyland to 'try harder' because he hasn't obtained immediate results.

I think this is what we're supposed to conclude from what's being presented, but unfortunately we all take our presumptions about what the mission is supposed to do in with us (and that's another theme of the film - when faced with the unknown our presumptions are what cloud our judgement, from Shaw's 'invitation' coming out of her belief in a benign and ordered universe, through Weyland's desire for immortality, through to Janek's belief that it's a military bioweapons base).

But then again, they're shown carbon dating stuff on an alien planet, so who knows...

[BishopIII]

Milburn seemed to be fresh out of university, he didn't have much real-world experience, and as for his trying to impress Fifield, that's completely normal for someone with low self-esteem, plus they got along just fine once separated from the others, also a sign of Fifield having a lack of social confidence, everything he did in front of the others was to show off. Arrogance, the ultimate expression of a lack of self confidence. As for my experience level with the crab, I've been handling them for fifteen years beforehand, and made one error of judgment. And the scientists made a few errors of their own. The engineer's head was sat in a stasis field of some kind, that's why it wasn't rotted, and also why it didn't shatter when dropped, in its protective crash helmet! The ship wasn't traveling at light speed when we see it, it would have to begin deceleration the better part of a light year beforehand!

[maledoro]

"Let's see, let's see... Self preservation, or impress hostile psycho guy? Self preservation, or impress hostile psycho guy? Self preservation, or...? *sffffttt!!!*"

Pic of Millburn's psyche during mental struggle:

[dude]

Maybe Millburn got into Fifields stash?

[NERMAL]

Maybe it's just Steve Irwin in space?

Watch me stick my thumb up this Jockey's arse!