# 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:** 15
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/281 "2012-06-12T21:35:15Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > But, in the end, Shaw was able to get it do do exactly what she needed. So what was the point of the whole male/female distinction? I think it was just tension building - another obstacle to overcome while trying to get the thing cut out of her. Also, on reflection - Shaw requested the machine perform a Cesarian section. That’s not just, “Cut this thing out of me,” that’s “Cut this human infant out of me and make sure it survives the process.” Adding a whole natal care module to the device is probably a pretty significant upgrade, and not something you’d bother with in a device that’s only ever intended to be used by one very, very old man. > [@obfuscatrist](#): > > They knew the significance when they saw it in the cave so they’d already seen at least some. Perhaps Scotland was the first one that couldn’t be explained away as cross cultural contamination? > [@](#): > > Assuming they weren’t just sitting around with a crew and ship waiting to launch immediately that doesn’t leave much time for discovering much more. They got the extra time for archaeology from the same place the squid monster got extra mass to grow gigantic. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/282 "2012-06-12T23:35:53Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Here’s something that bothered me that no one has mentioned yet. They demonstrate several futuristic technologies: > -Anti-gravity survey balls > -Dream monitoring tech > -Severed head electro stimulation technology > > What bothers me is when you introduce a futuristic technology in a film, I now expect that culture would have used that technology in more than one or two use cases. In retrospect, the dream/memory monitoring technology bothers me the most. It may be the second least plausible (after FTL travel) technological advance in the movie, but that’s not what gets me. It bothers me that pretty early in the film it’s established that technology exists that can basically read people’s minds, but after it’s used to provide us with a bit of backstory on our heroine this astounding invention is _never used again_. It only even mentioned once, when David says he knows about Shaw’s father’s death – something he brings up for no clear reason and that he could easily have learned without the use of the Pensieve. The idea of a machine that can read people’s dreams is interesting enough to build a movie around (it’s been done at least once, with _Inception_), but _Prometheus_ introduces it and does nothing with it. > [@SenorBeef](#): > > It’s pretty implausible that the star map left on earth were a “stay away” warning. The images themselves gave no indicaton of this, and it’s a much safer bet that humans aren’t going to discover that moon amongst millions of other planets and moons in the area simply through obscurity. The idea that you’d make a map to the area as a way of trying to get them not to go there just doesn’t add up. I also think it’s stupid to draw people a map to the place you don’t want them to go to, but in fairness there is at least one very well-known story about how the creator of life on Earth told mankind “See this place? Don’t go there” and we disobeyed. But if the filmmakers were going for a Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil thing then that’s another potentially interesting idea that they introduced sloppily and then totally dropped. (Unless that snake-thing was supposed to represent the Serpent, but I don’t think the dumbest scene in the movie is improved by the addition of a layer of religious symbolism.) IIRC the star maps were never even mentioned after Shaw’s initial presentation to the crew of the _Prometheus_. It would have taken only a few seconds to at least have two characters say “What about those paintings? Why did they invite us here if they wanted to destroy us?” “Maybe it wasn’t an invitation. Maybe it was a warning.” ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/283 "2012-06-12T23:49:05Z")
The “rapid growth” of the xenomorph is addressed in the _Alien_ novel; it broke into a pantry and ate everything. It should have been addressed in the movie, as well. As far as _Aliens_ is concerned, there’s a colony of ~150 people. Either they grow their own food, or have groceries delivered on a regular basis, or have a good-sized store of food. Which they no longer need once they become xenomorph incubators. ---
**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, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/284 "2012-06-12T23:52:54Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > WAG: Foreshadowing who was in that stasis bed. I think you’re right. The problem of course is that it’s only foreshadowing by like five minutes, since Weyland appears in the next scene. Sloppy writing. ---
**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, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/285 "2012-06-12T23:56:17Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > I think you’re right. The problem of course is that it’s only foreshadowing by like five minutes, since Weyland appears in the next scene. Sloppy writing. Yup. Oh, and per **Lamia** ’s point above, apparently you can talk to - not just check out the dreams of - someone in stasis because David uses it to chat with Weyland and get his orders on “dosing” Holloway, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/286 "2012-06-13T00:12:04Z")
I would love to see this movie get Plinkett reviewed. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/287 "2012-06-13T00:31:33Z")
Just got back from seeing it in IMAX (which was amazing, and I’m not usually a huge fan of said). I noticed the things that people here are complaining about (plot holes, implausible characterizations, etc.), and for most movies those sorts of things would be fatal, but in this case it actually FEELS like nit-picking. It was an incredible, visceral movie-going experience, and it’s a little hard for me to grok how someone could sit there stewing about a character running the wrong way or failing to relay information. Yeah, it’s fucking weird that (for instance) a bunch of scientists would be angry or uninterested about being on a planet with dead aliens on it, but I didn’t care. (Compare this to _Avatar_, which had comparable problems, but was not good enough to keep me from caring.) ---
**Author:** ![holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e95f7d/32.png) [@holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/holmes)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/288 "2012-06-13T00:50:44Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > IIRC the star maps were never even mentioned after Shaw’s initial presentation to the crew of the _Prometheus_. It would have taken only a few seconds to at least have two characters say “What about those paintings? Why did they invite us here if they wanted to destroy us?” “Maybe it wasn’t an invitation. Maybe it was a warning.” Which is pretty much what Shaw said when she was talking to Weyland in his room. She either said, “this was a mistake” or “I made a mistake”. Clearly the maps weren’t invitations. It doesn’t make any sense that they would be, so what does that leave them as? Either a simple record of the visitations or it’s a warning. Clearly Shaw was chosen because she told Weyland what he wanted to hear, because as a scientist, she’s pretty weak sauce. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/289 "2012-06-13T01:04:27Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > I would love to see this movie get Plinkett reviewed. [Here ya go.](http://redlettermedia.com/half-in-the-bag-prometheus/) (Not technically a Plinkett review, but done by the same guy as part of their Half in the Bag series.) ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/290 "2012-06-13T01:13:45Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > [Here ya go.](http://redlettermedia.com/half-in-the-bag-prometheus/) (Not technically a Plinkett review, but done by the same guy as part of their Half in the Bag series.) Cool! I never clicked on “Half in the Bag” for whatever reason, nor did I have any idea one of the guys was Plinkett. Time to blow off watching basketball. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/291 "2012-06-13T01:38:57Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > [Here ya go.](http://redlettermedia.com/half-in-the-bag-prometheus/) (Not technically a Plinkett review, but done by the same guy as part of their Half in the Bag series.) > [@Morbo](#): > > Cool! I never clicked on “Half in the Bag” for whatever reason, nor did I have any idea one of the guys was Plinkett. Time to blow off watching basketball. 🙂 [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-x1YuvUQFJ0) one is great. (Nothing but rapid-fire spoiler questions about the plot). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/292 "2012-06-13T02:02:46Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > Just got back from seeing it in IMAX (which was amazing, and I’m not usually a huge fan of said). > > I noticed the things that people here are complaining about (plot holes, implausible characterizations, etc.), and for most movies those sorts of things would be fatal, but in this case it actually FEELS like nit-picking. It was an incredible, visceral movie-going experience, and it’s a little hard for me to grok how someone could sit there stewing about a character running the wrong way or failing to relay information. Yeah, it’s fucking weird that (for instance) a bunch of scientists would be angry or uninterested about being on a planet with dead aliens on it, but I didn’t care. (Compare this to _Avatar_, which had comparable problems, but was not good enough to keep me from caring.) Pretty much this. I noticed most of the plot holes and characterization flaws mentioned and I do think it would be a better movie if they were fixed. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t intensely captivating at the same time, more than enough to make up for the flaws when they are summed together. In fact, it has so many flaws that I _want_ to dislike it more. But there’s something about it that won’t let me. Contrast to Alien 3. That had the same amount of completely classic scenes in it as Prometheus (i.e. only a couple), but they came wrapped in a shit sandwich and were smothered in the grave of everything they fought for in Aliens. Whereas Prometheus had several nonpareils wrapped in creamy nougat. Smothered in bacon. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/293 "2012-06-13T02:18:00Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Yup. Oh, and per **Lamia** ’s point above, apparently you can talk to - not just check out the dreams of - someone in stasis because David uses it to chat with Weyland and get his orders on “dosing” Holloway, etc. Well, it’s a good thing they brought along their freaking mind-reading device then, because otherwise they might have to wake up the old man and talk to him. Although really I don’t know why David bothered; Weyland _didn’t_ order him to dose Holloway (he reports that Weyland merely said “try harder”), so David must have been acting largely on his own initiative anyway. Here’s something _useful_ they might have done with the mind-reading device that couldn’t have been accomplished through mundane means: read the mind of the Big Bald Guy in stasis. Heck, maybe that’s what was supposed to have happened, and it was just one of many important plot points that wasn’t actually included in the movie. Some of David’s behavior makes somewhat more sense if we imagine he did have a better understanding of the nature of the black goo and the BBGs’ plans than he should have based on the holograms. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/294 "2012-06-13T02:26:14Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > In retrospect, the dream/memory monitoring technology bothers me the most. It may be the second least plausible (after FTL travel) technological advance in the movie, but that’s not what gets me. It bothers me that pretty early in the film it’s established that technology exists that can basically read people’s minds, but after it’s used to provide us with a bit of backstory on our heroine this astounding invention is _never used again_. It only even mentioned once, when David says he knows about Shaw’s father’s death – something he brings up for no clear reason and that he could easily have learned without the use of the Pensieve. > > The idea of a machine that can read people’s dreams is interesting enough to build a movie around (it’s been done at least once, with _Inception_), but _Prometheus_ introduces it and does nothing with it. That could be used in the sequel, though. Perhaps David read the sleeping alien’s mind and knows exactly what they were up to. Perhaps he is keeping that information from Shaw. I got the impression David wouldn’t mind seeing the end of humanity. He seems pretty disdainful of the humans. Maybe he wants to carry the alien plan through (whatever it was) and extinguish the meat bags. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/295 "2012-06-13T02:26:38Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Pretty much this. I noticed most of the plot holes and characterization flaws mentioned and I do think it would be a better movie if they were fixed. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t intensely captivating at the same time, more than enough to make up for the flaws when they are summed together. > > In fact, it has so many flaws that I _want_ to dislike it more. But there’s something about it that won’t let me. Contrast to Alien 3. That had the same amount of completely classic scenes in it as Prometheus (i.e. only a couple), but they came wrapped in a shit sandwich and were smothered in the grave of everything they fought for in Aliens. Whereas Prometheus had several nonpareils wrapped in creamy nougat. Smothered in bacon. Yeah, sloppy as they were with the science and the plotting, at least you have to give them credit for learning the lesson of Aliens 3. Which was, “Don’t you DARE pull that shit again!” ---
**Author:** ![Gerald\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Gerald\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerald_II)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/296 "2012-06-13T02:27:09Z")
I had fun watching it but overall it was a pretty stupid film. It’s supposed to be a serious Sci-Fi film that shows humans attempting to make contact with their creators and presumably intelligent alien life for the first time. Stupid things they do: \*Taking off their helmets on an uncharted alien planet, which the normal air will kill you in less that 2 minutes. But it’s okay where there at because that particular spot has breathable air. No reason to worry about some kind of alien air born viruses. \*Not getting upset when David the android starts pressing buttons that activate things in the alien tunnels. What would have happened if accidently turned on a self destruct sequence or unleashed some bio hazard? \*Having to tell everyone “Don’t touch anything!” Shouldn’t that be common sense? \*The scaredy cat biologist who gets afraid at the sight of dead Prometheuses and wants to run away from blinking alien life signals, getting all cute and cuddly wanting to pet an alien space cobra that’s hissing at him. \*How do they get lost when they were in constant radio contact with the ship AND they had the mapping spheres giving them the correct coordinates? \*Going back there after two members were found dead, and one of them apparently has contracted some kind of alien disease. \*Forgetting about the alien squid in the auto surgery chamber \*No one making a big deal after David tried to put Shaw in cyro sleep against her will. \*No one surprised to find out that the old man faked his death and stowed away on the ship, and still agreeing to go with him in an alien WMD factory. - the Prometheus killed the remaining humans just for wanting to talk to him, attrempted to go back on his mission to kill of Earth, and tried to kill Shaw. So Shaw reasons it makes sense to go back to his home planet to find more of them. The visuals were beautiful and the Giger inspired designs are still refereshing after all these years, but the story was ridiculous and the references to ALIEN only reminded me how much better the original scenes were. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/297 "2012-06-13T02:29:45Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > The idea of a machine that can read people’s dreams is interesting enough to build a movie around (it’s been done at least once, with _Inception_), but _Prometheus_ introduces it and does nothing with it. True dat. You can’t just introduce some game-changing technology and then never do anything else with it ever again. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/298 "2012-06-13T02:31:24Z")
I haven’t read this thread yet so this may have been covered but… I just saw this movie and LOVED it. Fucking loved it. I’m so glad I saw this in the theater because the visuals were just amazing. I saw the 2D version by the way. Yeah there were plot holes but I thought the movie worked spectacularly. I didn’t understand the opening scene and wanted to see it again after watching the movie but this thread cleared it up for me. I also think the movie had just enough connection to Alien to shed real light on that story, but not so much that Prometheus is an Alien prequel directly. The only thing I didn’t understand was why did David contaminate the archaeologist to begin with? It seemed to have no motivation whatsoever. Did he intend to get the female pregnant with an alien baby? I don’t understand that thread. Otherwise GREAT movie and I HIGHLY suggest watching it in the theater. I was more impressed by the visuals in this movie than Avatar. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/299 "2012-06-13T02:31:53Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > The “rapid growth” of the xenomorph is addressed in the _Alien_ novel; it broke into a pantry and ate everything. It should have been addressed in the movie, as well. Yes, that’s exactly the kind of fanwanking I’m talking about. And most of the nitpicks about Prometheus could be just as easily fanwanked away. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/300 "2012-06-13T02:36:01Z")
> [@Gerald\_II](#): > > I had fun watching it but overall it was a pretty stupid film. > > It’s supposed to be a serious Sci-Fi film that shows humans attempting to make contact with their creators and presumably intelligent alien life for the first time. Stupid things they do: > > \*Taking off their helmets on an uncharted alien planet, which the normal air will kill you in less that 2 minutes. But it’s okay where there at because that particular spot has breathable air. No reason to worry about some kind of alien air born viruses. > > \*Not getting upset when David the android starts pressing buttons that activate things in the alien tunnels. What would have happened if accidently turned on a self destruct sequence or unleashed some bio hazard? > > \*Having to tell everyone “Don’t touch anything!” Shouldn’t that be common sense? > > \*The scaredy cat biologist who gets afraid at the sight of dead Prometheuses and wants to run away from blinking alien life signals, getting all cute and cuddly wanting to pet an alien space cobra that’s hissing at him. > > \*How do they get lost when they were in constant radio contact with the ship AND they had the mapping spheres giving them the correct coordinates? > > \*Going back there after two members were found dead, and one of them apparently has contracted some kind of alien disease. > > \*Forgetting about the alien squid in the auto surgery chamber > > \*No one making a big deal after David tried to put Shaw in cyro sleep against her will. > > \*No one surprised to find out that the old man faked his death and stowed away on the ship, and still agreeing to go with him in an alien WMD factory. > > - the Prometheus killed the remaining humans just for wanting to talk to him, attrempted to go back on his mission to kill of Earth, and tried to kill Shaw. So Shaw reasons it makes sense to go back to his home planet to find more of them. > > The visuals were beautiful and the Giger inspired designs are still refereshing after all these years, but the story was ridiculous and the references to ALIEN only reminded me how much better the original scenes were. Why do you keep referring to the aliens as Prometheus’? Did I step out to go to the bathroom when they named them because Prometheus was the name of the ship they traveled on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755.md?page=16)