N.12 - THE "ALIEN" SAGA: HISTORY, SYMBOLISMS AND CURIOSITIES (PART 3 OF 15: PROMETHEUS).

As we saw in the previous article, the release of "Prometheus" had been anticipated by 4 shorts which had the precise aim of directing spectators into the context they would experience in the film: a tycoon with boundless ambitions, an archaeologist hoping to make her wish come true (finding the origins of Humanity), an android who embodied the State of the Art of AI (and let's remember that we are 40 years before the new generation of androids that we saw in Alien original).

At the time fans of the saga were expecting a real prequel to "Alien" or to find out what events had happened on planet LV -426 which had determined the sending of the distress signal which was at the basis of the incipit of the progenitor film.

Scott, since the year before its release, froze everyone: “Prometheus” was not the prequel to the 'Alien' of '79 but it went well before the original story, touching on topics such as the origins of humanity and the development of artificial intelligence.

Scott immediately spoke of a trilogy (which could also become gloomy) of films that would have thoroughly investigated the origins of the Xenomorph species and, in doing so, we would also have come across the origins of Humanity.

The disappointment of the fans was therefore notable since the film would have dealt with the which had nothing or almost nothing to do with the first 4 films (and especially with the original Alien); Nonetheless, curiosity was so high that, at the end of the games, “Prometheus” will be the highest-grossing film in the saga ($400 million).

What I kept for you hidden in the previous article is that the 4 shorts do not refer to the same time period: from the 2023 TED conference by Peter Weyland it is necessary to make a leap of 54 years to arrive at the creation of David-8 and his short (therefore set in 2079) and only 10 years later (so in 2089 when 66 years have passed since the TED conference) Dr. Elizabeth Shaw sends her candidacy to a Weyland who, if he was 33 years old at the time, was now 99 (not for nothing I showed you how it looks in the film...)!!!

The video intercepted by the Arecibo radio telescope is from two years later (2091 narratively speaking) while the mission (and in fact the film) will start in 2093, that is when Weyland would be exactly 103 years old.

“Prometheus” therefore represents the realization of a personal dream of Scott's which can be summarized in two main themes: the origins of 'Humanity and the development and role of AI in human society.

It is not at all coincidental that a line of thought that boasts numerous adherents states that the narrative universe of the Alien saga includes that of "Blade Runner ” and there are so many coincidences that a separate article would be needed to analyze them but here I have forced myself to talk only about the saga without digressing (whether Predator or Blade Runner) and therefore I will not address the fascinating topic.

The film takes place in December 2093 (this is the year in which the USSC spaceship “Prometheus” lands on the planet LV-233) and the mission is entrusted to Meredith Vickers (played by Charlize Theron), daughter of Peter Weyland who will direct the crew for the entire duration (at the same time Ellen Ripley is already one year old having been born in 2092 in the lunar colony Olympia).

On an unidentified planet (all viewers will assume that it is Earth but Scott has always declared that it could be one of the billions of billions of billions of planets present in the Universe) a spaceship lands and immediately afterwards we see a being with human morphology (it has a head with two eyes, a mouth and a nose, two arms and two legs) who drinks a strange black liquid as the spaceship moves away.

Within a few seconds the liquid causes a metamorphosis in the humanoid, breaking the DNA of the being, thus causing it to fall into the nearby waterfalls: gradually the new DNA is formed until the creation of a prokaryotic cell and the subsequent appearance of cell division: Life is born...

We don't know where or when all this happened (to make life easier for the viewer, he takes it for granted that it happened on Earth and therefore that this extraterrestrial race is the cause of the origin of Man, that is, they are our creators) but what we are certain of is that this species is capable of generating life on planets that can host it.

The film makes a huge time leap ( we are talking about several million years if the Earth hypothesis were valid) arriving in Scotland in 2089 (the year in which Shaw sent her candidacy to Weyland with that famous short) where the doctor and her husband Doctor Holloway make a great discovery that gives meaning to Shaw's words in that video message: in many graffiti found in caves and caves in various parts of the world there is a star map depicted, always the same and this seems incredible if we consider that the various civilizations that 'they designed they never communicated with each other: is it possible that this map indicates the origin of our creators?

Certainly possible, probable, who can say unless we try the impossible, that is, go to the home of these people of ours? hypothetical creators to find out what the truth is?

The narrative really starts from here and the "Prometheus" travels towards the destination with its 17 crewmen who after being awakened by David the android and meeting Vickers, they witness Weyland's 3D video message recorded two years earlier.

This part of the film is crucial for the entire saga given that the tycoon makes everyone (first and foremost spectators) aware of the questions that have persecuted him throughout his life (which are the same ones that have always persecuted Scott):

1. David is immortal but is unable to understand the immensity of this gift because he lacks one thing that makes him different from Man: the Soul;
2. Where do we come from?
3. What is our purpose?
4. What is after death?

Precisely the discovery made by the two archaeologists pushes Weyland (who has since died) to finance the mission and therefore the two archaeologists have nothing left to do but explain their discovery on the star maps found to the rest of the crew and, in addition, inform that, after careful research, we have managed to identify the system from which the "Engineers" (as the alien race seen in the prologue will be nicknamed) come: there is a Sun similar to ours and there is a planet that revolves around which, in turn, orbits a Moon which has been called LV-233: it is a planet capable of hosting life similar to Earth and therefore that is the destination of the mission but it will be possible to find some traces of the Engineers?

What I have told you is enough to pique the curiosity of those who have not yet seen the film, now the time has come to analyze the themes of the film.<1 >

Before starting, however, I would like to underline that 20th Century Fox, Ridley Scott and Damon Lindelof, as early as 2010, publicly released various statements in which they explicitly stated that the film had no relationship with the saga; only in 2011 was it confirmed that “Prometheus” took place in the same narrative universe as “Alien” but that it would not have been a true prequel to the '79 Masterpiece.

This is not the case it's easy to talk about the film in the perspective of the chronological beginning of the saga and, at the same time, keep in mind all the dynamics and events of the four previous films, in any case I will try to give an overview of the themes that will emerge from the vision while avoiding revealing important elements as much as possible narratives.

THE ENGINEERS

The first novelty that spectators witness is the acquaintance with this new extraterrestrial species of which, almost certainly, the fossilized creature (subsequently nicknamed "Space Jockey" by fans) that was seen in one of the most fascinating and mysterious sequences of Alien of '79 was part.

The film will therefore explain to fans the mystery of the "Space Jockey" but, at the same time, will introduce new questions to which no answers will be given.

In second part of the film we will see how there is a direct correlation between the race of Xenomorphs and this advanced civilization and here further questions arise: if the Xenomorphs have a direct relationship with the Engineers who, in turn, created us, then what relationship can there be between Humans and Xenomorphs, they are both experiments of the Engineers and the latter, in our comparison, are Creators or Destroyers?

< 113>THE XENOMORPHS

We are talking about a mission that takes place 29 years before that of "Alien" and, in addition, we realize that what is shown in the film differs quite clearly from the alien monster that viewers had encountered in theaters 33 years earlier. 

Here too the theme of the biological evolution of a species clearly emerges: just as the first hominids did not resemble modern Man at all, the same thing applies to the Xenomorphs and therefore we realize that the he alien of '79 was certainly an evolution of those seen in “Prometheus”.

ENGINEERS AND XENOMORPHS

“Prometheus” will leave many unresolved situations but certainly on one he seems to give a clear and strong answer: if the xenomorph of '79 was moved solely by the instinct of survival (we will see later that the question will be definitively explained in "Aliens"), the Engineers instead will demonstrate that they act with lucid malice in trying to sweep away all those experiments that do not provide the results they hoped for. 

THE ANDROIDS

The androids are a pillar of the saga and are always present in all the films and in this David-8 will represent the character towards which, little by little, all the subplots of the film will converge. Once again, however, his behavior will make us reflect on Weyland's prophetic words: David does not have a soul...

CLICKS'

If it is true that the film deals with themes that had not been developed in a profound way by the four previous films, it is also true that certain typical clichés of the saga remain:

1. Dr. Shaw replaces, in the role of heroine, Lieutenant Ellen Ripley;
2. David-8 being an android confirms the central role of AI within the saga;
3. Although this time the threat is not mainly hidden from inside a spaceship, the same is present in the maze of tunnels and caves that are part of the structure that part of the crew will explore;
4. Once again human curiosity will lead to dramatic consequences;
5. This time too the "Company" (understood as the Weyland Corporation which in subsequent films will become the Weyland-Yutani Corp.) will behave in a somewhat questionable way;
6. Here too there are some characters who know much more than what you can imagine.

The film obviously includes a continuation ("Alien Covenant" in fact) but in itself, despite having answered some of these and created further ones, it leaves the viewer somewhat disoriented as for Weyland's famous three questions, he is unable to answer completely.

WHERE DO WE COME FROM?

This seems to be precisely the question to which the film tries to give an answer as clear as possible even if, in practice, the causes are unknown. If it was really the Engineers who started the biological evolution of life on Earth, were they really able to predict and calculate any possible modification at the genetic level?

The answer is quite certain: not at all said that the Man we know is really the creature that the Engineers had in mind and in any case until creation can constitute a threat to its creator, everything is fine but what happens if Man manages to create a "being" endowed with abilities superior to himself (let's remember Weyland's words at the TED conference) and what, in turn, can happen to Man if he turns out to be a creature endowed with so many talents that he calls into question the superiority of his Creator, i.e. the Engineers?

Would we fill him with pride or would we automatically become a threat?

WHAT IS OUR PURPOSE?

Here the narrative pinnacle of the entire film which is not completely revealed but to reach the complete answer it is necessary to see some cut scenes during the editing phase where the role of the Engineers and their initial project is clarified, once and for all. I won't spoil anything, you have to buy the bluray version to get the answer.

WHAT'S AFTER DEATH?

Nothing, nothing, nothing…

To conclude, “Prometheus” turns out to be the decidedly most ambitious film of the entire saga where universal themes never before taken into consideration are addressed but despite this, the film has a unique charm that goes beyond the war between the heroine and the monsters that we were used to in the past.

More than being a science fiction film itself, Scott's work is more evolutionary, philosophical, spiritual and universal than any other film directed by him.

In the next article we will address the events that link the end of “Prometheus” to the beginning of “Alien Covenant”.