# Predators extinct in the future? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2012, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376 "2012-01-23T06:34:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376/1 "2012-01-23T06:34:27Z")
Given that we’ve seen 5 predator movies (some with Aliens)set in the present, and four Alien movies (without a hint of Predators) set in the indeterminate future, does this imply that there are NO predators around in the future? BTW…Ridley Scott (of the original Alien movie) is returning to the genre he created…this time focusing on the Space Jockey! [http://www.thelastgoddess.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Space-jockey-.jpg](http://www.thelastgoddess.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Space-jockey-.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376/2 "2012-01-23T06:42:07Z")
I think you’re applying more thought to the matter than the people who made the movies did. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376/3 "2012-01-23T06:50:36Z")
One theory is that the Space Jockey species bioengineered the Alien species to fight against the Predator species.:rolleyes: > **[The Pilot (Engineer)](https://avp.fandom.com/wiki/The_Pilot_(Engineer))** > > The Pilot, sometimes referred to as the "Space Jockey", was an Engineer who piloted the spacecraft that crashed on LV-426. It was killed by a Chestburster, although what happened to the resultant creature is not known. The Pilot's body was discovered... ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376/4 "2012-01-23T07:19:58Z")
I think explaining the origin and purpose of the space jockey derelict ship misses the point and ruins Alien, we are supposed to wonder WTF it is/was? Bioweapons of war, part of terraforming/wiping out hostile non-sentient species, farming for food/medicine/chemicals, specimens collected for scientific purposes? Thats the point we don’t know, we’re not supposed to, you might as well explain the bizarre and unsettling bio-mechanical nature of the ship(remember the jockey was literally part of the ship formed into the chair the crew comments on this unsettling detail). Which makes the alien ten times scarier as its a eldritch abomination from the unknown, found in a organic ship from an unknown civilization. :smack:I’ll stop now. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376/5 "2012-01-23T07:49:03Z")
It could simply be that starfaring species are too dangerous to hunt, since they have an unsettling habit of retaliating by showing up at your home planet and nuking it from orbit. Just to be sure. C’mon, I HAD to say it! ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376/6 "2012-01-23T19:20:56Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > It could simply be that starfaring species are too dangerous to hunt, since they have an unsettling habit of retaliating by showing up at your home planet and nuking it from orbit. Just to be sure. > > C’mon, I HAD to say it! This is where I pretty much came down on the matter. I reckon primitive, planet-bound screwheads with chemically powered ballistic projectile weapons are much safer to hunt than Colonial Marines with Phased Plasma Pulse Rifles. And nukes. That they’ll happily kick out the airlock by the dozens while in orbit over your homeworld. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376/7 "2012-01-23T19:40:36Z")
There are definitely Aliens, Predators, and Spacefaring humans interacting together in the comic books. The original [Aliens vs. Predator](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_vs._Predator_(comic_book)) books are about the Predators seeding a recently colonized human planet with Alien eggs so they can come back and hunt. ---
**Author:** ![SunSandSuffering](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SunSandSuffering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunSandSuffering)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376/8 "2012-01-24T16:39:34Z")
Great, so we find out about Space Jockey - will it be as dull and linear as when we found out about Anakin turning into Darth Vader? Seriously, what’s the point of a prequel when it tells us exactly what we already know? ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376/9 "2012-01-24T17:35:54Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > This is where I pretty much came down on the matter. I reckon primitive, planet-bound screwheads with chemically powered ballistic projectile weapons are much safer to hunt than Colonial Marines with Phased Plasma Pulse Rifles. I always figured the Predators are bound by some kind of honour code that limits what weapons they can use during the hunt. If the Colonial Marines would ever meet the Predator equivalent of a SEAL-team, they’d be dead before they knew what hit them. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376/10 "2012-01-24T18:24:01Z")
> [@SunSandSuffering](#): > > Great, so we find out about Space Jockey - will it be as dull and linear as when we found out about Anakin turning into Darth Vader? Seriously, what’s the point of a prequel when it tells us exactly what we already know? We don’t know anything about the Space Jockey. Other than that he’s dead and that there were a whole bunch of Xenomorph eggs in his hold. ---
**Author:** ![SunSandSuffering](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SunSandSuffering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunSandSuffering)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376/11 "2012-01-25T20:22:16Z")
I just watched “The Thing” 2011 prequel version. Oh dear, they did it as well - just because we had to end up with a \ split head / two head “monster” as found by McReady in the original version we had to put up with two boring, forced, linear, no surprises “action” sequences just to maintain continuity. Alien prequel will be just the same I’m sure. You have aliens, a whole universe of possibilities, why do we have to have sequels or prequels that tell us what we already know? Space jockey transports alien eggs, eggs hatch, jockey gets impregnated, jockey dies. Great, now we know. How about a new film a billion light years away pushing our imaginations? Nope, sorry, another prequel. \ ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376/12 "2012-01-25T20:54:20Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Given that we’ve seen 5 predator movies (some with Aliens)set in the present, and four Alien movies (without a hint of Predators) set in the indeterminate future, does this imply that there are NO predators around in the future? We also see no elephants in ANY of these movies. I must assume they exist in a alternate reality without any elephants ever. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376/13 "2012-01-25T21:29:27Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > We also see no elephants in ANY of these movies. I must assume they exist in a alternate reality without any elephants ever. LOL this post reminded me of a debate on whether elephants existed in the Battlestar Galactica fictional universe, based on some carved wood props visible in one short scene. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376/14 "2012-01-25T21:49:01Z")
I was going to make the same point. Just because in _The Flying Leathernecks_, we don’t see any Nazi’s doesn’t mean to imply that they don’t exist in that world. They do, they just happen to be somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376/15 "2012-01-25T22:28:06Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > This is where I pretty much came down on the matter. I reckon primitive, planet-bound screwheads with chemically powered ballistic projectile weapons are much safer to hunt than Colonial Marines with Phased Plasma Pulse Rifles. > > And nukes. That they’ll happily kick out the airlock by the dozens while in orbit over your homeworld. Yeah, but you can outrun those nukes by jumping behind a tree. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predators-extinct-in-the-future/610376/16 "2012-01-26T18:18:04Z")
> [@grude](#): > > I think explaining the origin and purpose of the space jockey derelict ship misses the point and ruins Alien, we are supposed to wonder WTF it is/was? Actually, from what I’ve heard/seen of _Prometheus_ (the _Alien_ prequel Ridley Scott is making,) We still might not get a lot of info on it…from what I can tell, the movie is about a bunch of human scientists sent to investigate it several years/decades before the Nostromo picked up the distress signal…which might turn out to be one sent by the humans, not The Space Jockey. But that is all speculation off of seeing a couple trailers…I think it will be good. Ridley Scott and Geiger are both back, and while I’m sure it will be more “action-y” to appeal to today’s audience, I am looking forward to it. Can’t be any worse than Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, or the two AvP movies, can it? Edit: Link to the trailers: [‎Apple TV+](http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/fox/prometheus/) Double edit: Really just one trailer, and a few teasers that were released a few days before the trailer..man, trailers for trailers, this is what we’re reduced to?