I Joined the Colonial Marines, boarding Sulaco tomorrow for LV426

Remember how I got the awesome Colonial Marines badge from my Secret Satan last January? Well, I finally found time to patch it to some sleeve, doing the necessary needlework yesterday at the club.

Wear it with pride, Marine!

And here's a better look at the badge.

If you don't remember this picture, check the link at the top of the page!
Secret Satan is a great story

Prometheus Redeemed in the afterlife?

In June I had this epic rant about Prometheus, Ridley Scott's overpowering Alien prequel. It is a visual and audio spectacle which could keep you glued to your seat by the sheer force speed, light and noise if not for and endless stream of glaring glitches.

Even this Engineer had lost the script

I was exasperated at the inconsistencies, flaws and stupidities in the movie. More so because it is a.spectacular movie in sight and sound, and it poses the interesting questions about the origin of the aliens.

This is by the way very similar to the way aliens have been introduced in Jim Wallman's scifi Universe. Genesplice 9, anyone?

It ripped me up so much I dug in to several theories available online to make sense of it all. This gave some satisfaction, but now finally there is proof, damning proof if you ask me, that everything was there to make this a brilliant movie,.fully consistent and believable. Scott just chose not to make it so.

Comicbookgirl brings together two elements of new knowledge in three youtube videos. They last about 45 minutes in total but are well worth the watch. Start with the first:

First of all, there's a bunch of deleted scenes on the new Blu Ray edition that would have explained a lot about the characters' actions. Much of this is so elemental, you have to question Scott's ability as a director for leaving it out.

Second, the original screenplay has been leaked, and it's very different from the later version. The first version was written by Jon Spaihts, the latter by Damon Lindelof. As Comicbookgirl says, there is a lot to say for the changes in the later script, because they make it a lot more interesting, but the original had more character depth and consistent storytelling. But that would have probably been a bit dull.

At least having the original screenplay around helps understanding the final version.

A different Fifield than we have come to know (and love). A clue to the goo!

For a second I felt this was exactly what Scott had wanted: to release the information necessary to understand the movie bit by bit to maintain the interest (among hardened fans of course, most people will not have bothered with the discontinuities and inconsistencies in the first place). This kind of worked with David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, which I went to see twice in two days because I felt the clues were all there and I just needed to pay attention better. Maybe the same was intended for Inland Empire, but that was just so far off I gave up halfway.

So if you still care for Prometheus go and see these videos by Comicbookgirl

Return to LV223 - Not that you'd want to

I got some interesting reactions to my Prometheus post on Fortress Ameritrash and I'd like to share some of that with you. Obviously I made some mistakes.


Here's the Engineer, trying to make sense of the movie

My reaction to the many inconsistencies in the movie has been done much better by ComicBookGirl at the basic level and about the ideas and mythos behind the movie.

A longer list of basic inconsistencies by Red Letter Media

This guy Cavalorn has tried to make sense of the mythos, tying it in to the Prometheus story. Quite probably a lot of this works, but I think he overestimates Scott's consistency and thus drives off into the ridiculous. Good try and interesting take, though.

The Film Crit Hulk makes short work of the pretentious script of the movie and shows the inconsistencies in the movie go beyond the ones I pointed out. There's even inconsistencies in the mythos behind it. Although this is way too long and the CAPS might piss you off, have a try at parts #2 and #3,

The planet in Prometheus is LV-223, which is not the same planet as LV-426 where the Nostromo lands. So no continuity problems there.

It seems logical that the black goo in the movie is the same in all instances but acquires different characteristics in different circumstances. But breaking down the DNA and then dissoving the Engineer is really something different than turning you into a violent monster. Can't get my head around that.

I now think that indeed the movie proposes some kind of Space Jesus theory. However, even if the Engineers decide to erase humanity for dismissing and killing Space Jesus, that does not explain how the Engineers got infected with something they were creating themselves. What could the humans have done to cause this outbreak?

And finally, this is just a teaser, cut parts from the opening scene?


So what does that leave me with?
1) Shaw is a droid. No human being could have gone through all that and fly off into deep space without as much as breather. And it is a bit of a give away that she's not able to breed...
2) to be revealed in the mequel (ie inbetween Prometheus and Alien) to make sense of it all

Prometheus: Ridley Scott won't have his liver picked for this one

Just come back from Prometheus on the big screen in 3D. And just as expected it's a visual spectacle. Some images will last me a long time. Beautiful, scary, just wow.

The sound (as separate from the music) is awesome as well. You are really trembling in your seat when a spaceship blasts overhead.

And it's well paced in terms of action, building up in steady crescendo. It's a chain reaction with few let ups. I'm still releasing tension. So that part of the movie worked very well.

Plotwise, well...

...spoilers from here

The actions of the scientists are just unbelievable unprofessional. No archeologist worth his salt would interfere with the find. Noone would just take of their helmets (especially not later, when you've decided this is a hostile environment).

Also, how can two men get lost in a system that is being mapped by one of them, and while they have constant contact with the ship's crew?

Since when do biologists try to make friends with animals clearly showing their not friendly when you know the environment is hostile?

Why does the captain leave his post when there are lifeforms at large and two of his men out when he know something bad has happened out there?

Why does the face of the decapitated alien look serene, rather than smashed?

But more basically: why are cannisters with very dangerous weaponry neatly arrayed in a room with ceremonial function? And why would people try to hide there?

And how does the captain suddenly understand that the base is meant as a WMD production facility? He hasn't been down in the base and not put any time into tying all the ends together, rather the opposite. He's ignored lots of info.

Ok, suppose you just auto-removed an alien embryo and then had your belly stapled... You then run into the guy that's tried to freeze you in while carrying the embryo. You then just talk to him? You don't try and put a bullet in his head?

And you don't tell anybody of the squid lingering in the operation room? Not even the cleaner?

I also see serious issues of continuity with Alien (the sequel). The guy they're supposed to find in the control room (I always thought he was manning the gun, but that's another story) in Alien. has left. In Alien, nobody notices the remnants of the Prometheus, close by, let alone the human remains of the prometheus crew in the control room.

And actingwise, the performance by David the android with his love for Lawrence of Arabia is very good. All the other roles, I think, are forgettable.

oh well...

I just don't know why Scott chose to go this way. The original Alien works much better in terms of suspense and pacing, while at the same time keeping the movie coherent. The acting gets much more time to shine making it interesting from that point of view as well. This all makes the choices and actions of those involved much more believable.

Is the modern blockbuster just incapable of telling a good story, so as not to interfere with the action sequences? Makes me sad.

But let's start on a positive note: the Engineer at the start of the movie, who drinks a cup and dissolves. What was he drinking. Why did he do it? Guilt? Suicide? As a means to start the outbreak? Fascinating and unresolved in the movie.

This is just my take. There's a much better review from a more cinematically versed Scott fan that I really recommend.