# 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:** 18
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/341 "2012-06-13T16:18:01Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > As others have noted, this movie is full of plot holes…however, you must be careful because what some think as plot holes are actually not. This movie doesn’t go out of the way to explain things…and I like that in movies…and so some items appear as plot holes but are actually not. > > That being said, it is a swiss cheese of plot holes. The juxtaposition of these two things is the major problem with this movie, IMHO. If you want to make a movie that deliberately leaves things open to interpretation and strongly implies that the characters are misinterpreting the facts, I think you really need to make everything else absolutely watertight. If there are as many clear flubs as Prometheus has, it makes the audience just think you were sloppy, rather than deliberately ambiguous. ---
**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 13, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/342 "2012-06-13T16:31:26Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Nah. That would only lead to you nitpicking my fanwanks, and then 20 pages of back and forth. Pass. Fair and intellectually honest. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/59ef9b/32.png) [@FlyingRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRat)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/343 "2012-06-13T16:31:35Z")
I think [Prometheus in Fifteen Minutes](http://m15m.livejournal.com/23209.html) sums up everything that one could need to know. > [@](#): > > **The Prometheus Has Landed** > > HOLLOWAY: GOIN’ OUT TO SEE SOME LUNAR PYRAMIDS > > JANEK: We haven’t even taken off our seat belts yet! > > HOLLOWAY: GONNA EXPLORE THE SHIT OUTTA SOME ALIEN STRUCTURES > > SHAW: Can we look around first? > > HOLLOWAY: WOOOOOOO!!! 😃 ---
**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 13, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/344 "2012-06-13T16:39:10Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Put it this way: _Prometheus_ is getting [much better reviews](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/prometheus_2012/) than either _Alien_ or _Blade Runner_ (or John Carpenter’s _The Thing_) did when they debuted. If you contend otherwise, you are just plain wrong. A bold statement about something that can’t be checked for accuracy. I disagree with it, and you’ll just have to prove me wrong. Go for it. I’ll wait right here. > [@Spoke](#): > > And I encourage people to watch the show you linked. Watch it and you will see just how dismissive Ebert was of Alien in 1980. (Funny that it is now on his list of Great Movies. Also funny that his original 1979 written review seems to have been purged from the internet. Hmm.) I also encourage people to watch the show I linked to, because they’ll see that my transcript is accurate and your wiki quote distorts his statements. Come back when you have some facts; thus far you’ve shown few if any to back up any of your assertions or rationalizations. ---
**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, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/345 "2012-06-13T16:39:50Z")
“Prometheus” is not only a reference to mythology. It is also a reference to the novel _Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus_. The aliens seem to have created a monster they can’t control. And not just the goo. We humans may be a “monster” which will ultimately destroy our creators. I look forward to sequels to see where they take this. ---
**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 13, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/346 "2012-06-13T16:42:24Z")
> [@FlyingRat](#): > > I think [Prometheus in Fifteen Minutes](http://m15m.livejournal.com/23209.html) sums up everything that one could need to know. > > 😃 This was brilliant! My favorite part: > [@](#): > > David is bored. No one has ever been as bored as David is bored, right now, for two years and counting. He sits there day after day and flicks lint off sleeping scientists and plays basketcycle in the empty gym and eats robot chow because that is a thing and touches up his roots while watching Lawrence of Arabia on an infinite loop and browses Shaw’s dreams with the very latest in creeper technology. Boredom will now be measured in millidavids, and one millidavid is the most bored you have ever been in your entire life, like watching paint dry all day in a doctor’s waiting room while on hold with your cable company. ---
**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, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/347 "2012-06-13T16:42:29Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > A bold statement about something that can’t be checked for accuracy. I disagree with it, and you’ll just have to prove me wrong. Go for it. I’ll wait right here. Well, [as to _Blade Runner_](http://www.reelviews.net/movies/b/blade_runner.html), > [@](#): > > Considering how respected Blade Runner is in the 2000s, it’s difficult to remember that it was widely viewed as a failure during its initial release. Reviews, for the most part, were negative. (This isn’t surprising. Cutting-edge science fiction is often viewed negatively at first then re-evaluated later. 2001 is a classic example.) The box office was tepid, and the film failed to make back its production costs. Viewers, expecting something more popcorn-oriented from a Harrison Ford science fiction movie, were disappointed by the dark, serious nature of the project. The cast and crew, who had nearly rebelled against the director during production, were in some cases unenthusiastic in their support of the finished product. ---
**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, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/348 "2012-06-13T16:49:14Z")
As to _ **The Thing** _, [here’s what John Carpenter had to say](http://www.timeout.com/newyork/film/street-fighting-men), > [@John Carpenter](#): > > I take every failure hard. The one I took the hardest was The Thing. My career would have been different if that had been a big hit…The movie was hated. Even by science-fiction fans. They thought that I had betrayed some kind of trust, and **the piling on was insane**. Even the original movie’s director, Christian Nyby, was dissing me. Gee, that sounds oddly familiar. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/349 "2012-06-13T16:50:06Z")
JANEK: Yo, I am up to like three millidavids here. Pick one: excellent sex or accordion concerto. JANEK’S ACCORDION: BRRRREHHHHHNNNNNNGGGGG VICKERS: My room. Ten minutes. ---
**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 13, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/350 "2012-06-13T16:52:58Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > As to _ **The Thing** _, [here’s what John Carpenter had to say](http://www.timeout.com/newyork/film/street-fighting-men), > > Gee, that sounds oddly familiar. Look dude, it’s okay if you like drivel. No one is here saying that you don’t have the right to love shitty, horribly written nonsense. It is your right. But the people here who are leveling critiques on the film aren’t just neckbeards. They’re people who expect some effort to be put into the writing of a film. Shit, you can’t even defend the film, you just raise hands and say it’ll be retconned at some point in the future by fans. To sum up, you are okay with shitty writing. That’s cool. There is a lot of it for you to enjoy. But to those of us who value writing and intelligent plotting, you’re not making a good case. ---
**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 13, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/351 "2012-06-13T16:59:22Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Look dude, it’s okay if you like drivel. No one is here saying that you don’t have the right to love shitty, horribly written nonsense. > > It is your right. But the people here who are leveling critiques on the film aren’t just neckbeards. They’re people who expect some effort to be put into the writing of a film. > > Shit, you can’t even defend the film, you just raise hands and say it’ll be retconned at some point in the future by fans. > > To sum up, you are okay with shitty writing. That’s cool. There is a lot of it for you to enjoy. But to those of us who value writing and intelligent plotting, you’re not making a good case. Yep. And using not-so-subtle insults towards those who had problems with the film isn’t helping his case either. ---
**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, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/352 "2012-06-13T17:09:01Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Gee, that sounds oddly familiar. But I liked The Thing when I first saw it. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/353 "2012-06-13T17:30:41Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Figuratively. > > It’s called “hyperbole”. Vicker’s isn’t giving navigational directions. She’s complaining she a “bazillion” miles away. Nope. What she did was the **opposite** of hyperbole. Nobody says hyperbolically that they’ve traveled “a whole ten miles” when they’ve actually gone ten thousand. Likewise, nobody would say that they’re half a billion miles from home when they’re really several **trillion** (or several hundred trillion, there seems to be some confusion about whether the distance in question was 10^12 or 10^14) miles from home. Making that kind of elementary mistake just reinforces the impression that the scriptwriters aren’t really interested in this fictional universe and don’t care about maintaining any kind of realism or logical consistency in their characters’ engagement with it. “Billion, trillion, what’s the difference, as long as it sounds like a big number.” But the thing is, to a character who was **ACTUALLY** traveling trillions of miles, a billion **WOULDN’T** sound like a big number in that context. That’s not me looking for things to nitpick after the fact because I like to imagine that I look smart on the internets. That’s (just one of many examples of) something that pulled me right out of the film **while I was watching it** because it was so sloppily, gratuitously incongruous. ---
**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 13, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/354 "2012-06-13T17:55:04Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Nope. What she did was the **opposite** of hyperbole. Nobody says hyperbolically that they’ve traveled “a whole ten miles” when they’ve actually gone ten thousand. > > Likewise, nobody would say that they’re half a billion miles from home when they’re really several **trillion** (or several hundred trillion, there seems to be some confusion about whether the distance in question was 10^12 or 10^14) miles from home. > > Making that kind of elementary mistake just reinforces the impression that the scriptwriters aren’t really interested in this fictional universe and don’t care about maintaining any kind of realism or logical consistency in their characters’ engagement with it. “Billion, trillion, what’s the difference, as long as it sounds like a big number.” But the thing is, to a character who was **ACTUALLY** traveling trillions of miles, a billion **WOULDN’T** sound like a big number in that context. There are a whole lot of legitimate complaints about this movie, but this one is pretty trivial. The character in question isn’t a scientist or a navigator. She’s a corporate suit. She doesn’t care how many actual miles she is from Earth, she just knows it’s a really big number. “Billion” is also a really big number. To most laymen, once you get above a million, the numbers are pretty much interchangable. They all mean “way more of something than you can possible count.” There’s a lot of bad writing in the film, but there’s nothing at all wrong with that line. It’s an absolutely believable thing for a person in her position to say in that situation. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/355 "2012-06-13T18:34:29Z")
Heh. In Star Trek IV, Scotty [in the polymer factory talking to the plant manager] goes on a fake rant about traveling “millions” of miles from Edinburgh [to San Francisco]. Bones had to correct him. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/356 "2012-06-13T20:23:52Z")
[Sigourney Weaver reviews Prometheus](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPa5oVG-nII) ---
**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, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/357 "2012-06-13T20:54:38Z")
Bah, all the thinly veiled insults are kinda pointless. I liked the movie and look forward to seeing it again. If that reflects a horrible flaw in my nature to some, so be it. There are a lot of dumb things that go on in the movie, but I had no problem overlooking them. Then again, I like my fanwank on the movie a lot better the Ridley Scott’s interpretation. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/358 "2012-06-13T21:03:53Z")
I think fanwank is what was in those black canisters. And they’re going to need a few more shipfuls for this movie make any sense. But I would totally pay to see a “maybe prequel” to Prometheus that was just Scorsese’s “Last Temptation of Christ” with a Big Bald Alien in the Jim Caviezel role. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/359 "2012-06-13T21:29:06Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Bah, all the thinly veiled insults are kinda pointless. I liked the movie and look forward to seeing it again. If that reflects a horrible flaw in my nature to some, so be it. No, nothing wrong with you. Just as I don’t think there is anything wrong with people who hated it, people who are tepid on it, and people who have had their views change as they considered it more (like I did). Differences of opinion on subjective things is not a moral failing. That said, I’m right and you’re wrong. Or vice versa. [QUOTE=Kimstu] (or several hundred trillion, there seems to be some confusion about whether the distance in question was 10^12 or 10^14) miles from home. [/QUOTE] I hope not, 10^12 is less than a light year away from our sun (1 light year being 9.4x10^12). Not many “galactic systems” at that distance. ---
**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 13, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755/360 "2012-06-13T22:27:09Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > confusion about whether the distance in question was 10^12 or 10^14) miles from home. I remember distinctly that it was something x10^14. I think it was 3.somethingx10^14, but that’s a little shakier. I believe it was kilometers, not miles. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prometheus-discussion-with-open-spoilers-edited-title/623755.md?page=19)