06 May 2012

33 days to go


There's a new Prometheus trailer out with lots of new imagery (discussion here).  No one does it like Sir Ridley!

2 Comments:

Blogger Tommykey said...

Is there an agenda that you're not telling us about?

When it comes to Alien movies, isn't there always? It's just like zombie movies, in addition to the monster threat, there's always a human enemy who manipulates you and betrays your trust.

This trailer definitely reveals more of what kind of alien threat they are facing, as well as telegraphing which person gets attacked first.

I'm wondering how the David android is going to turn out. In Alien, Ash was undermining the crew of the Nostromo based on Company orders, while in Aliens, Bishop was clearly programmed to help the humans (though they did stick in one scene where he's studying a dead facehugger where he acts in a way that gives you some cause for suspicion).

With the David android, I have a feeling his actions will be dictated by him weighing what he interprets as being some greater good that might potentially put him at odds with the human crew. In other words, whatever course of action he takes, it will be autonomously determined by him based on some internal criteria built into his programming that enables him to make his own choices. I'm thinking that because I watched a short video about the David model, and he is asked what troubles him or makes him sad, and he answers something along the lines of war, disease, suffering and so forth. That got me to thinking that as the situation in the movie unfolds, he might conceivably come to the conclusion that humanity is the problem.

I'm probably wrong, but I think it is safe to say that David will not be a repeat of either Ash or Bishop.

06 May, 2012 12:51  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

TK: I get the feeling that these trailers aren't giving away as much as people think. The scenes with David could be interpreted any number of ways.

It's actually Vickers who seems most clearly suspect -- she obviously does have an agenda she's not telling, though presumably it's the agenda of the Company higher-ups.

But in either case it could be misdirection -- David might turn out to be benign in the end, or Vickers could be a "Snape" character, highly unlikable but not actually evil.

he is asked what troubles him or makes him sad, and he answers something along the lines of war, disease, suffering and so forth

A machine's analysis of what to do about those things might not be at all to our liking. I've read a couple of stories about self-appointed higher thinkers deciding to exterminate humanity as a form of mercy killing. In those cases they were human, but it's easier to imagine a machine coming to such a conclusion.

For this film I'm definitely hoping for more biology and glop and less social / political insinuation, and this trailer looks a little better from that viewpoint.

The android names seem to be alphabetical from film to film:

Ash (evil)
Bishop (good)
Call (good)
David (?)

Hmm, looks like we're overdue for an evil one. As you say, though, David won't be just a retread of any of his predecessors.

06 May, 2012 13:41  

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