Prometheus - The Alien Connection

Well, hullo, Space Jockey. Been waiting 33 years for you.

WARNING: MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR SPOILERS FOR PROMETHEUS (AND ALIEN, OBVIOUSLY) AHEAD. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM, STAY THE FLYING FUCKBAGS AWAY.

As I stated in my Prometheus review on Saturday, there are some very divisive feelings on this film so far, with some labeling it as Ridley Scott's Phantom Menace, some calling Damon Lindelof and Jon Spaihts horrible scriptwriting hacks, and many unfavorable comparisons to Alien abound. And while some comparisons to Scott's former monster movie are certainly warranted, I felt that comparing Prometheus to it is rather unfair. While Prometheus may not be as good as Alien (though, as stated in my review, I enjoyed the hell out of it), it is also aiming for a different tone, and also aspires to heights far higher than Scott's 1979 film did. As such, with all the negative contrasts appearing on the Internet, I chose not to rewatch Alien before going to see the movie (though I did rewatch Blade Runner earlier this week, but that was more just because it's one of my favorite movies), and I felt that probably helped me from avoiding comparisons. Nevertheless, there were many verbatim lines and visual references between the two, and my many viewings of Alien still lingered in my mind. And now, I wish to explore in words the exact vein between Prometheus and Alien. Is it a prequel or not? MAJOR SPOILERS AFTER THE PHOTO, AND POSSIBLY IN IT:

Yep. Body armor. A tad disappointing, but had to be to fit with the movie's themes.

OK, here it is: Prometheus is completely, totally, unmistakably, and 100% certainly an Alien prequel. Despite all the misdirection thrown around by Lindelof, Scott, and others over the last couple of years, saying keen fans would recognize "strands of Alien's DNA" and such, it is pretty clear that they are set in the same universe (despite some backwards prequel tech, but that's technically explainable by the fact that the Nostromo was a simple commercial towing ship, while the Prometheus was a super-advanced, prototypical science vessel), and deal with a very similar chain of events. Tossing aside scenes like Shaw wandering around skimpily dressed (like Ripley in the original's climax) or Holloway telling David that "we are leaving", much as Hicks informed the Colonial Marines in Aliens (I DO like that Scott references James Cameron's film as well, thus recognizing its importance, in spite of his disappointment at being left out of that sequel's development), or hell, even how the title fades into existence in the same way Alien does in its credits (or as both did in their respective teaser trailers), the movie has many visual and technological references, like the hypersleep pods, the land rovers, the similar-looking spacesuits (even if the new films' suits are a bit more fanciful in design), and of course, finally answering the multi-decade question: Who the hell are the Space Jockeys? And as it turns out, they're pretty much our God, referred to in the film as "the Engineers" (I'm just gonna keep callin' em Space Jockeys, K?). They created us, and then became displeased with us, so they chose to destroy us with the help of the black goo (It's implied, at least I think, that Jesus Christ was a Jockey, and that his crucifixion is what caused them to turn on us). The iconic elephant-ish design from the original film turns out to be simply body armor (which, as I stated above, was slightly disappointing), covering up the giant white hairless humanoids inside, but it fits with the movie's themes of life and creationism and such, and still, the humanoid design, combined with their awesome costume design, was still pretty damn effective (it didn't hurt that the one Space Jockey we see alive was played by none other than Gregor Clegane). It's also implied, through the evolution caused by the black goo (which I will get to in a moment), that the Space Jockeys planned to use the goo as a bioweapon to wipe out humanity, to "clean out planets", such as suggested in the plot elements suggested by Scott and Spaihts years ago, back when it was a definitive prequel. Also, in a wise move for creative freedom, Scott chose to use a new planet, LV-223, instead of bringing back LV-426, allowing them to work with a whole different planet, derelict ship, and Space Jockey, so that when the ending doesn't match Alien, it doesn't matter, since IT'S NOT EVEN THE SAME DAMN PLANET (I emphasize this because a lot of people have suggested this constitutes a plot hole. Idiots). The black goo's power is eventually shown, from when David infects Holloway, who then proceeds to put his own goo into Shaw, and that goo festers inside her uterus, leading to the birth of a beautiful little alien tentacle monster (in just about the only sequence of the film I'm truly shaky about; I agree with the haters that the logic there is a bit flawed, albeit not totally senseless). Due to the goo's accelerated evolution, the tentacle monster grows to enormous size, allowing Shaw to use it to kill the Last Jockey when it comes for her, jumping on top of it, and eventually splitting the Space Jockey's chest open. And that's about it, thanks for reading.

Oh, right, I forgot! Yeah, and then this thing erupts from the Jockey's chest:

If the original xeno's head is a phallic reference, then I'm an erect penis.

Now, I was totally surprised the film actually went this way. I went in fully prepared to see no Xenomorphs at all, and then, while we did not get the Alien Warrior's final form, we were shown that the black goo's Shaw-Holloway tentacle baby was basically a giant facehugger, and that the above-pictured Proto-Xeno is most likely the Jockey's chestburster. Many moviegoers complained that the Proto Xeno looked goofy, or not Giger-ish enough, but I won't hear it. It's most likely not even the final  form of this particular little xeno, and that it will grow into a big giant God-Alien, or something like that, maybe even being the mother of the entire Xenomorph race, laying a bunch of eggs in the abandoned derelict ship that the Nostromo finds. I know, 30 years is a bit little for evolution like that, but with the black goo's accelerated evo path, who knows what's possible? Besides, the idea that the aliens that gave Ripley so much grief in the series started with a goo-lovechild between Shaw and Holloway is INSANELY AWESOME in my book. Also, the Proto-Xeno's appearance bolsters the idea that the black goo was planned to be used as a bioweapon. Maybe the Jockeys even knew that the Xenos (or something like them) would be born from the goo, and THEY were the bioweapon. DAMN. So many possibilities, so much to ponder. 

I will not deny that Prometheus does feel incomplete at times, almost like it needs a sequel to be completely told. But isn't one of the points of movies, especially in the case of those from Ridley Scott, to cause debate and get people talking about ideas and theories? Prometheus, though it may not be as smart as it claims, ultimately gets me to keep thinking about it, and that's why it's one of my favorites of the year so far (it's pretty close to a tie with The Avengers, which I loved for almost the opposite reasons), and is indeed a return to form for Scott. Bring on the sequel. From the opening weekend's draw, it certainly seems like a strong possibility.

It's not the same explosion, but it's a great one nonetheless.