# Prometheus discussion with open spoilers \[edited title\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2012, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755 "2012-06-01T09:40:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/221 "2012-06-12T00:53:55Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > There were people saying just that about them when they came out. Including a lot of critics. I don’t recall anyone saying _Blade Runner_ was stupid. Since you know of “a lot of critics” that said that, could you provide links to, say, five of them? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/222 "2012-06-12T00:57:09Z")
Do y’all really not remember (or maybe not realize) how many plot holes have been pointed out (and then fanwanked away) in _Alien_ and _Blade Runner_ over the years? Start with the alien’s inexplicable growth spurt, and the missing replicant, and go from there. _Prometheus_ shares with both of those films the sense of wonder, the many-layered story (which rewards repeat viewings and fuels fanboy discussions), the unresolved mysteries, and the top-notch art direction Ridley Scott brings to SF. It will join his other SF films as a classic. (Whether that annoys you or not.) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/223 "2012-06-12T00:58:38Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I don’t recall anyone saying _Blade Runner_ was stupid. Since you know of “a lot of critics” that said that, could you provide links to, say, five of them? You do know the internet wasn’t around in 1979, no? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/224 "2012-06-12T01:01:08Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Do y’all really not remember (or maybe not realize) how many plot holes have been pointed out (and then fanwanked away) in _Alien_ and _Blade Runner_ over the years? Start with the alien’s inexplicable growth spurt, and the missing replicant, and go from there. > > _Prometheus_ shares with both of those films the sense of wonder, the many-layered story (which rewards repeat viewings and fuels fanboy discussions), the unresolved mysteries, and the top-notch art direction Ridley Scott brings to SF. It will join his other SF films as a classic. (Whether that annoys you or not.) So you have no links to any critic reviews of _Blade Runner_ that called it “stupid”, then? You made the claim, I’m asking you back it up. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/225 "2012-06-12T01:06:58Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > You do know the internet wasn’t around in 1979, no? You do realize that many things written before the internet have been made available on the internet, yes? Besides, _Blade Runner_ is from 1982. ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/226 "2012-06-12T01:08:13Z")
I adored Alien and Aliens, I love sci-fi movies and horror movies. I’ve been breathlessly waiting for Prometheus, it was my most anticiapted movie of 2012. It was stupid. My favorite plot holes: 1. Map guy gets lost, he releases the puppies, he’s in charge of the mapping! The rest of the away team had no trouble finding their way out, even under a panic. 2. They have this great view at the spaceship where each person is in the mound, they can’t tell the two scientists are lost and not with the main party until everyone is already back? The captain tells Shaw to come back now (because of the Silica storm) was that message ONLY to Shaw and not to the entire away team (the two missing scientists never got the evac command?) 3. Right before the scientists get the command to evac because of the silica storm, they see something moving in the liquid in the bottom of the vase room, they are freaked out and leaving already. Do the scientists not pass this information along to the two left behind folks? Does the caption? No! So, of course, that’s where are unfortunate duo decide to bivouac for the night. 4. The captain goes to score with non-robot Vickers. We know that the away team was transmitting what they saw/said. But apparently, they don’t RECORD IT. So, everyone is completely unaware what happens to the two lost scientists. There’s no desperate last calls to the ship, there’s no stored video of what happened, nothing. I could go on - but this movie had HUGE ISSUES. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/227 "2012-06-12T01:09:02Z")
**Snowboarder Bo** , both films received a lot of bad reviews when they debuted. I thought that was common knowledge, but I guess maybe you weren’t aware. [Alien](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_%28film%29#Release_and_reception): > [@](#): > > Reviews by Variety, Sight and Sound, Vincent Canby and Leonard Maltin were mixed or negative. A review by Time Out said the film was an “empty bag of tricks whose production values and expensive trickery cannot disguise imaginative poverty”. In a 1980 episode of Sneak Previews discussing science fiction films of the 1950s and 1970s, critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were critical of Alien. Ebert called it “basically just an intergalactic haunted house thriller set inside a spaceship” and one of several science fiction pictures that were “real disappointments” compared to Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and 2001: A Space Odyssey… [Blade Runner](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner#Reception): > [@](#): > > In the United States, a general criticism was its slow pacing that detracts from other strengths; Sheila Benson from the Los Angeles Times called it “Blade Crawler”, while Pat Berman in The State and Columbia Record described it as “science fiction pornography”. Pauline Kael noted that with its “extraordinary” congested-megalopolis sets, Blade Runner “has its own look, and a visionary sci-fi movie that has its own look can’t be ignored—it has its place in film history” but “hasn’t been thought out in human terms.” Roger Ebert praised the visuals of both the original Blade Runner and the Director’s Cut versions and recommended it for that reason; however, he found the human story clichéd and a little thin. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/228 "2012-06-12T01:10:10Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Do y’all really not remember (or maybe not realize) how many plot holes have been pointed out (and then fanwanked away) in _Alien_ and _Blade Runner_ over the years? Start with the alien’s inexplicable growth spurt, and the missing replicant, and go from there. An inexplicable growth spurt is hardly a plot hole. It’s not a mammal. > [@](#): > > _Prometheus_ shares with both of those films the sense of wonder, the many-layered story (which rewards repeat viewings and fuels fanboy discussions), the unresolved mysteries, and the top-notch art direction Ridley Scott brings to SF. It will join his other SF films as a classic. (Whether that annoys you or not.) It doesn’t annoy me, other than the low level of your expectations. In any case, calling this a many-layered story is absurd. The story is utter drivel. Explain to me the Buff-Jockey plan. It’s nonsense. I know that Scott isn’t a complete idiot, but he is channeling Lucas hard here. At least for the writing. I will grant the direction is solid, given the absolute shit he’d scripted. ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/229 "2012-06-12T01:10:21Z")
Cliched and a little thin sounds a lot better than gaping plot holes. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/230 "2012-06-12T01:16:10Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Explain to me the Buff-Jockey plan. It’s nonsense. _We don’t know their plan._ That is one of the unresolved mysteries (which are a feature of Ridley Scott’s SF films) (a _feature_, not a _flaw_). That’s one of the things that make his films so enjoyable to discuss. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/231 "2012-06-12T01:19:26Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > **SenorBeef** , you could easily have 5 pages of detailed nitpicking about the bad science and plot holes of _Alien_ and _Blade Runner_, and those films are acknowledged classics. I just watched _Alien_ last week, in preparation for Prometheus. It’s an incredibly tightly written movie. No plot holes I can see, no characters acting irredeemably stupid. You’re going to be really hard-pressed to find anything wrong with it that’s on par with “the guy mapping the caves got lost” or “that android guy assaulted me and tried to turn me into a monster-incubator, but he’s ok now. That was like two scenes ago.” Go read [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15149908&postcount=53) again. Those aren’t nitpicks. They’re major structural problems with the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/232 "2012-06-12T01:20:30Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > _We don’t know their plan._ That is one of the unresolved mysteries (which are a feature of Ridley Scott’s SF films) (a _feature_, not a _flaw_). That’s one of the things that make his films so enjoyable to discuss. It is a black liquid that forms super-strength-fast-zombies, changes victim’s sex sells so that they implant giant facehuggers into ladybits during sexytimes. Then the giant facehuggers grab someone and implant a nearly adult xenomorph, which presumably can then lay eggs. That liquid, is something a stupid person would write. Or maybe a six year old. Or maybe an aging artist who has sat on his laurels so long he’s forgotten how to craft a story that doesn’t sound like a mental deficient dictated it. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/233 "2012-06-12T01:24:50Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > I just watched _Alien_ last week, in preparation for Prometheus. It’s an incredibly tightly written movie. No plot holes I can see, no characters acting irredeemably stupid. You’re going to be really hard-pressed to find anything wrong with it that’s on par with “the guy mapping the caves got lost” or “that android guy assaulted me and tried to turn me into a monster-incubator, but he’s ok now. That was like two scenes ago.” [_Aliens_ plot holes](http://movieplotholes.com/aliens.html). > [@](#): > > Major Plot Hole: Hicks knows the aliens will breach their perimeter sooner or later, yet no one suggests getting to the other dropship until they learn of the imminent nuclear disaster. So they were just going to sit there for 17 days with next to no ammo and 150 pissed aliens trying to get in if the reactor didn’t go critical? Sounds pretty stupid to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/234 "2012-06-12T01:25:02Z")
The difference between _Alien_ and _Blade Runner_ vs. this is in the first two I didn’t give a flying fuck about anything that might have been a plot hole, because it was that awesome and I cared about various characters and what was happening and what the outcome would be. In Prometheus, I rapidly found myself running out of my supply of Give-A-Fuck and just wanted to see how it’d end. (Scott had suggested a sequel if the film did well enough, so perhaps he’ll hire a better writer - as [Lindelof used the ‘I dunno, I’m just the writer’ excuse](http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1687022/prometheus-secrets-damon-lindelof.jhtml) in an interview to blow off some character stupidity.) Sorry about the brain cells that you killed if you read that piece of shit excuse for an interview, BTW. If you don’t want to do that, here’s the “secrets” this guy “spilled” and the last two are actually pretty interesting: - This is “maybe” a prequel to Alien; the old script was very full of Alien stuff and Lindelof stripped it out under orders - Fassbender penis jokes for teh lulz - Lawrence of Arabia reference was in the script - He cribbed lines from various other works for this script - Weyland intentionally made David look like Vickers - She’s not a robot - “I’m just the writer” excuse for is she alive/why didn’t she run perpendicular to rolling spaceship questions - David chatted with ‘a cryosleeper’ right before spiking Holloway’s drink; cause-and-effect is a good bet there, and it was assumed he and Shaw would have sex - The creators did turn on humans, and the reason is hinted at within the film ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/235 "2012-06-12T01:27:11Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > [_Aliens_ plot holes](http://movieplotholes.com/aliens.html). > > Sounds pretty stupid to me. Dude, you’re just reaching. Maybe nobody wanted to go and run the uplink with _a bunch of aliens running around._ ---
**Author:** ![misterW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@misterW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misterW)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/236 "2012-06-12T01:31:12Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > _We don’t know their plan._ That is one of the unresolved mysteries (which are a feature of Ridley Scott’s SF films) (a _feature_, not a _flaw_). That’s one of the things that make his films so enjoyable to discuss. Not knowing the plan could have been done in an interesting and powerful way. But in this film, something retarded happens in every significant scene throughout the movie. It makes not divulging the plan come across not as something thought provoking or mysterious; rather it seems more likely that it is just something that they kind of …forgot to take care of. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/237 "2012-06-12T01:32:24Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > [_Aliens_ plot holes](http://movieplotholes.com/aliens.html). > Sounds pretty stupid to me. He specified _Alien_, not _Aliens_. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/238 "2012-06-12T01:35:57Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > He specified _Alien_, not _Aliens_. You’re right. I misread. I’ve already pointed out the often-noted major plot hole in _Alien_. The beast grew rapidly without any apparent food intake. That’s just stupid. (Commence fan wanking in 3…2…1…) (Oh, and don’t get me started on the microchanges in air pressure alien detectors.) ---
**Author:** ![misterW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@misterW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misterW)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/239 "2012-06-12T01:37:02Z")
A few plot holes one can overlook. It’s the sheer number of plot holes in Prometheus that is the problem. There is literally a plot hole in nearly every significant part of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/240 "2012-06-12T01:38:52Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > You’re right. I misread. > > I’ve already pointed out the often-noted major plot hole in _Alien_. The beast grew rapidly without any apparent food intake. > > That’s just stupid. > > (Commence fan wanking in 3…2…1…) Dude, that’s not a plot hole. It’s a monster, we learned its rules during the film. It would be a plot hole if it were established that it needed flesh to grow and no one else died. Wait… you’re Ridley Scott, aren’t you? What happened to you? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755.md?page=13)