[MedIC86]

i cant figure this out in the story tho:

PRE-HISTORY

Circa 3.2 billion B.C

The Space Jockeys control much of the galaxy, including Earth

Circa 1.6 billion B.C

The Space Jockeys are nearly wiped out by the Aliens.

[DECK'ARD]

I don't know if you're being sarcastic but this actually make sense to me.

Except the weapon hold with the vases had a mural of the most dangerous lifeform they knew.

It was also a parallel to the birthing chamber, it was a military installation.

[Dascu]

I don't know if you're being sarcastic but this actually make sense to me.

Well it's not as outlandish as assuming that life was created on a planet on the other side of the galaxy as a testing ground for 65 million years later.

[daviyoung]

Well it's not as outlandish as assuming that life was created on a planet on the other side of the galaxy as a testing ground for 65 million years later.

We have no idea if that was the engineers plan but it was humans that thought they were going to attack the human world. Silly humans, always thinking the universe revolves around them and meddling in other races business.

It was David who was actually planning their destruction.

[Wilbury]

Except the weapon hold with the vases had a mural of the most dangerous lifeform they knew. It was also a parallel to the birthing chamber, it was a military installation.

Maybe the xenos were ancient mythological gods but all but extinct and they wanted to recreate them so they could find out what they were like, ask their motivations behind creating the Engineers. Or maybe they were just using them as weapons.

Well it's not as outlandish as assuming that life was created on a planet on the other side of the galaxy as a testing ground for 65 million years later.

I know right

[zoukka]

Can you explain when this was mentioned in the movie?

Well for starters life on earth was their idea and their timing to nuke us with black goo was way before space travel. So that eliminates the possibility of them thinking of us as a threat that needs to be taken care of. And that pretty much leaves us one explanation which is the labrat aspect (were labrats actually mentioned on the movie also?`Can't remember right now).

The Space Jockeys are nearly wiped out by the Aliens.

Nothing points to this conclusion. We have never seen or even heard about the jockeys home.

Just a bit fuzzy on why Jason Voorhees immediately killed everyone.

What does a scientist do when he comes to his lab and notices that all the rats escaped their maze, pooped everywhere and are running amok the premises.

Well it's not as outlandish as assuming that life was created on a planet on the other side of the galaxy as a testing ground for 65 million years later.

They visited the testing grounds sooner than 65 million years.

[Dascu]

Or maybe the mural was there so that they could pimp H.R. Giger's name in the marketing campaign.

[MedIC86]

Nothing points to this conclusion. We have never seen or even heard about the jockeys home.

This is said in one of the comics, but maybe the comics arent considerd canon

[Wilbury]

Or maybe the mural was there so that they could pimp H.R. Giger's name in the marketing campaign.

Engineers are such thoughtful fellows.

Maybe the last Engineer rebelled against the system and he was the one who caused the outbreak, then locked himself into cryosleep.

[zoukka]

This is said in one of the comics, but maybe the comics arent considerd canon

Superman lives in Alien universe if we go by the comics.

[Dascu]

Engineers are such thoughtful fellows. Maybe the last Engineer rebelled against the system and he was the one who caused the outbreak, then locked himself into cryosleep.

In my theory, this is actually not a bad idea. He didn't want humans to have the black goo, so he sabotaged the operation. He obviously doesn't like humans so that's why he kills them when he wakes up.

---

Let's reformulate it:
- Highly advanced civilization of Engineers has manufactured or discovered some kind of black goo, that if digested, causes you to disintegrate but allows your DNA to mutate.
- They spread over the universe and decided to create life on a few planets (because they can).
- One of those planets is Earth. Whether human life (with DNA just about the same as their own) was intentional or not, the Engineers like them and visit them.
- They leave a map guiding towards the planet where they create this black goo and from where they send out space ships to create life on other planets.
- If one of their "seeded" civilisations become so advanced to find and travel to this planet, then they are deemed worthy to use the black goo themselves and create their own life.
- About 2000 years ago, something goes wrong. A disgruntled Engineer who does not like humans, does not want them to get black goo, or simply disagrees with the entire thing, sabotages the operation.
- The black goo spreads out, xenomorphs and facehuggers show up, one of the space ships crashes on nearby planet LV-426, the black goo mutates and forms little snake and worm creatures.
- Eventually, us humans find the planet, travel to it and discover these facilities. Non-proper use of the black goo causes mutations in Lifield, and (after ingestion) it leads to the side-effect of impregnating others with facehuggers.
- We wake up that old disgruntled and hateful Engineer, who proceeds to kick our butts.

This actually ties up a lot of the questions rather nicely. Other than the mural. It also goes against the speculation of the movie characters that it's a military facility.


Edit: Nevermind, this is much better.

New theory: The xenomorphs were long extinct and Earth was to be a Jurassic Park tourist destination for the Engineers.

[MedIC86]

Superman lives in Alien universe if we go by the comics.

Good point

[DECK'ARD]

New theory:

The xenomorphs were long extinct and Earth was to be a Jurassic Park tourist destination for the Engineers.

[Wilbury]

New theory: The xenomorphs were long extinct and Earth was to be a Jurassic Park tourist destination for the Engineers.

I like it

[MMaRsu]

New theory: The xenomorphs were long extinct and Earth was to be a Jurassic Park tourist destination for the Engineers.

Hehe im ok with this.

I really want to see this again but in imax 3d

[Mr. Sam]

Engineers are such thoughtful fellows. Maybe the last Engineer rebelled against the system and he was the one who caused the outbreak, then locked himself into cryosleep.

"Man, I've gotta go save Earth! Time's running out! Wait, what's that coming at me?"

[CorrisD]

I said it in the other topic, as I didn't realise this one existed, but I think the premise for this film would have made an excellent TV Series instead of trying to fit everything they wanted in two hours while to me feeling like it should have been a few hours longer which could have expanded on the development and lore that they tried to fit in.

And while I realise some people really enjoyed this film, to post in this and the other topic inferring that other people are stupid for not picking up obvious answers that you did is rather rude, made more so by answering posed questions with your thoughts which are not facts from the film but opinions.

Remember that people asking all these question on apparently missed points didn't see it because we wanted to complain. We went because we are fans of the series and have been waiting years for a film that expands the universe and lore.

[MedIC86]

In Steve Perry's book Earth Hive the Space Jockey's race are referred to as collectors as they collect Xenomorph eggs. whut?

[dorn.]

I came to the conclusion that the black goo is some very powerful but volatile and dangerous(as evidenced by several outbreaks that seemed to have happened and wiped out all Jockeys on the respective ships) stuff that the Jockeys want to weaponize/make more controllable. They do this by letting it evolve into more manageable forms(facehuggers or Xenomorphs maybe) through the infection/host-cycle. They could use other Space Jockeys for this but Jockey life is precious, so they terraform some planets, splash their genome there and let nature take its course. They wait a couple million years(they have intergalactic travel, cryosleep and are probably immortal anyway, what's a few million years to them?) until a lifeform similar to theirs has evolved and they use them as hosts. It's fairly obvious that Jockeys are supposed to be very advanced humans(or rather that humans are less-evolved Jockeys), they look exactly like one would expect humans to look in the future, taller and completely hairless. So just like humans use apes as lab animals, they use humans.
LV-426 is just some remote place(probably not even in the same galaxy as their homeworld) where they produce/keep the black goo stuff. Anyone notice how all Jockeys are male? That's because it's a military base.


Though that still doesn't explain the cave paintings. Those make absolutely no sense to me.

[CorrisD]

In Steve Perry's book Earth Hive the Space Jockey's race are referred to as collectors as they collect Xenomorph eggs. whut?

I would assume that isn't cannon really at all, more so when the engineer in the picture is wearing his err, helmet thing with another suit over the top, lol.

[Wilbury]

I came to the conclusion that the black goo is some very powerful but volatile and dangerous(as evidenced by several outbreaks that seemed to have happened and wiped out all Jockeys on the respective ships) stuff that the Jockeys want to weaponize/make more controllable. They do this by letting it evolve into more manageable forms(facehuggers or Xenomorphs maybe) through the infection/host-cycle. They could use other Space Jockeys for this but Jockey life is precious, so they terraform some planets, splash their genome there and let nature take its course. They wait a couple million years(they have intergalactic travel, cryosleep and are probably immortal anyway, what's a few million years to them?) until a lifeform similar to theirs has evolved and they use them as hosts. It's fairly obvious that Jockeys are supposed to be very advanced humans(or rather that humans are less-evolved Jockeys), they look exactly like one would expect humans to look in the future, taller and completely hairless. So just like humans use apes as lab animals, they use humans. LV-426 is just some remote place(probably not even in the same galaxy as their homeworld) where they produce/keep the black goo stuff. Anyone notice how all Jockeys are male? That's because it's a military base. Though that still doesn't explain the cave paintings. Those make absolutely no sense to me.

Yeah this is all fantastic. Like you day, the cave painting are a big question mark. At least the answer to them wanting to destroy Earth will be answered in a sequel (and may well be this), but I don't see that being addressed.

[Dascu]

I came to the conclusion that the black goo is some very powerful but volatile and dangerous(as evidenced by several outbreaks that seemed to have happened and wiped out all Jockeys on the respective ships) stuff that the Jockeys want to weaponize/make more controllable. They do this by letting it evolve into more manageable forms(facehuggers or Xenomorphs maybe) through the infection/host-cycle. They could use other Space Jockeys for this but Jockey life is precious, so they terraform some planets, splash their genome there and let nature take its course. They wait a couple million years(they have intergalactic travel, cryosleep and are probably immortal anyway, what's a few million years to them?) until a lifeform similar to theirs has evolved and they use them as hosts. It's fairly obvious that Jockeys are supposed to be very advanced humans(or rather that humans are less-evolved Jockeys), they look exactly like one would expect humans to look in the future, taller and completely hairless. So just like humans use apes as lab animals, they use humans. LV-426 is just some remote place(probably not even in the same galaxy as their homeworld) where they produce/keep the black goo stuff. Anyone notice how all Jockeys are male? That's because it's a military base. Though that still doesn't explain the cave paintings. Those make absolutely no sense to me.

The most advanced lifeforms around and they're still sexist chauvinist scum!

[Fallout-NL]

Can you explain when this was mentioned in the movie?

Stringer mentions it about 75% in.

[zoukka]

The most advanced lifeforms around and they're still sexist chauvinist scum!

I doubt there are different sexes among engineers.

But if there are, I want to see the females..............................

[MedIC86]

I would assume that isn't cannon really at all, more so when the engineer in the picture is wearing his err, helmet thing with another suit over the top, lol.

No it isnt canon at all, but the cool thing is that ever since prometheus came out we know its a helmet, i was under the impression that was their face, or at least not a helmet.

[Wilbury]

No it isnt canon at all, but the cool thing is that ever since prometheus came out we know its a helmet, i (and it seem like a lot people) were under the impression that was their face, or at least not a helmet.

I'm a little mixed on it being a helmet. I loved it in Alien that they looked like these elephantine creatures, huge big 'aliens'. But it makes perfect sense to me that it looks like a human.

[zoukka]

No it isnt canon at all, but the cool thing is that ever since prometheus came out we know its a helmet, i was under the impression that was their face, or at least not a helmet.

Even as a kid I always thought it was somekind of exoskeleton and wanted to see the creature inside so bad. To think I was something like seven years old when I first saw Alien... goddamn.

[Mr. Sam]

I preferred the idea of space jockeys as these hulking, biomechanical elephantine things, rather than just big guys in elephant suits. Oh well - c'est la vie.

[Truant]

I think they did a great job with the engineers. They look super cool, and their baby faces freak me out. Everything about the design in this film is great, EXCEPT the zombie guy. Cutting that scene would have made the film better.

[Dascu]

Did we figure out why the Engineer head exploded?

[CorrisD]

No it isnt canon at all, but the cool thing is that ever since prometheus came out we know its a helmet, i was under the impression that was their face, or at least not a helmet.

Ay, I think most people did after seeing Alien, any media I've seen around them involved that being their faces.

I'm a little mixed on it being a helmet. I loved it in Alien that they looked like these elephantine creatures, huge big 'aliens'. But it makes perfect sense to me that it looks like a human.

It was one of those good mysteries from the films, we knew there was this alien that never got explored, well till now, and so we were left wondering what was it was, did it really look like that when it was alive.
We finally get an answer and while solving those previous questions it ends up opening more.

I hope so much that we get a sequel, has there been any mention of one?

[Wilbury]

I think they did a great job with the engineers. They look super cool, and their baby faces freak me out. Everything about the design in this film is great, EXCEPT the zombie guy. Cutting that scene would have made the film better.

I think if he had been more of a threat or went up against the Engineer it would have been better.

Did we figure out why the Engineer head exploded?

I can't. Maybe the strain of being revived?

[Chopper]

I doubt there are different sexes among engineers. But if there are, I want to see the females..............................

There needs to be females. Otherwise the Shaw impregnating/abortion scene and its repurcussions are a waste of viewing time. Apart from the visual awesomeness.

Did we figure out why the Engineer head exploded?

The electric pulse accelerated the goo's effect on the Engineer's head. Killed him. Makes me wonder what would have happened to Charlie and the geologist if they hadn't been killed.

[MedIC86]

Did we figure out why the Engineer head exploded?

stem cell overload? or whatever they were injecting

To think I was something like seven years old when I first saw Alien... goddamn.

wow, thats pretty young, i think i would have a hard time sleeping at that age after that movie

[Mr. Sam]

stem cell overload? or whatever they were injecting

I thought they were just stimulating the nerves with electricity. It was the bacteria growing on it that caused it to explode, I think.

[PowderedToast]

Ay, I think most people did after seeing Alien, any media I've seen around them involved that being their faces. It was one of those good mysteries from the films, we knew there was this alien that never got explored, well till now, and so we were left wondering what was it was, did it really look like that when it was alive. We finally get an answer and while solving those previous questions it ends up opening more. I hope so much that we get a sequel, has there been any mention of one?

i thought ridley originally wanted to do two movies back to back, by the looks of where this film ends it seems like he's simply filmed the first one.

[Truant]

What caused the head to explode was the same thing that killed all the jokeys that were piled up in the hallway. They were exposed or infected with the goo, and exploded from the inside.

[dorn.]

I doubt there are different sexes among engineers. But if there are, I want to see the females..............................

Well they are said to have the same genome as humans and humans have two sexes. And if they had evolved to the point of only needing one gender, why would they look so distinctly male? At that point I'd imagine they'd look more like the combine from Half-Life.

Plus, I don't think the notion of a woman's life being more precious than a man's will ever change als long as they are the limiting factor in reproduction, so it would make sense to have only males tend to the insanely dangerous, accident prone WMD facilities.

[Chopper]

What caused the head to explode was the same thing that killed all the jokeys that were piled up in the hallway. They were exposed or infected with the goo, and exploded from the inside.

So it's just coincidence that the effects of the goo, and the birth of Xenomorphs look exactly the same thousands of years later? Cos getting infected with goo would not make Aliens burst out your chest...

[zoukka]

wow, thats pretty young, i think i would have a hard time sleeping at that age after that movie

No shit I didn't sleep that night at all and I was alone in a separate sauna building at my grandparents place. Black and white TV and crummy old VHS Alien :b Also watched Evil Dead at the same visit with even more nightmares lol.

[Truant]

So it's just coincidence that the effects of the goo, and the birth of Xenomorphs look exactly the same thousands of years later? Cos getting infected with goo would not make Aliens burst out your chest...

Their helmets were also full of holes, if I recall correctly. They picked them up when they said it looked like something burst out of them.

[MedIC86]

No shit I didn't sleep that night at all and I was alone in a separate sauna building at my grandparents place. Black and white TV and crummy old VHS Alien :b Also watched Evil Dead at the same visit with even more nightmares lol.

Browsing reddit and i see:
Being exposed to violence as a child could translate to molecular-level damage in the cells. (nature.com)

oh shii

[Jackpot]

The exploded engineers suggests that they had given birth to Xenomorphs, but there was no evidence of facehuggers or that there were anything resembling female Engineers.

I think the eel facehuggers came from the dead engineers. They seemed a slightly more stable bioweapon than the doomsday Aliens created through human mutation.

[Wilbury]

look at this ickle fing

[pringles]

The abortion scene was my favourite scene in the film. Anybody got a counter?

Instant classic scene imo. Right up there with the chestburster, I was squirming in my chair but also had a smile on my face knowing I was watching an iconic scene.

The one scene that rivals it is imo the scene with David and the starmap. When he's holding that holographic earth-globe in his hand.. plus the music.. epic.

[Chopper]

I think the eel facehuggers came from the dead engineers. They seemed a slightly more stable bioweapon than the doomsday Aliens created through human mutation.

Then why would they imply so heavily that the "eels" evolved from the worms on the ground in the storage chamber? Not to mention there is no evidence that rapage from the eels results in the birth of a Xenomorph.

[Fallout-NL]

The abortion scene was my favourite scene in the film. Anybody got a counter?

Same here. Thought it was fantastic.


The other scenes I liked immensely were the ones that exhibited David's fondness for Peter O'Toole (or Lawrence).

[lifa-cobex]

question:

In alien the space jokey/engineer in the pilot seat was HUGE!?

Anyone have anyone theory's to this?
The only thing i can think of to this is the engineers have adapted their DNA to evolve.

or should it be overlooked. Its nothing major i guess but still..

[-Plasma Reus-]

Abortion scene is an instant classic.

[Truant]

Abortion scene is an instant classic.

Yeah, this film definitely has it's iconic moments that will go down in cinema history.