Prometheus

[Eric Lofgren]

At first I was guarded about an adaption of Mountains, but the more I thought about it, the more you can really see a pretty good thriller in there with lots of action and horror. HP loved to elaborate on the finer details of course and that's what we see a lot of in the story, but if you extrapolate all the details between all that, you can see a how a pretty tight storyline could be developed and still be pretty damned interesting, retaining a lot of the cosmicism and cynicism HP created. It's too bad we won't see it for at least a long while now. That said, with del Toro's commentary on Prometheus, I'm even more excited to see it. So it's kind of a double edged sword    

[T. Kelly Lee]

I think it's when they started talking about casting Tom Cruise in the thing that I started to feel pretty sickly.  That's just to much "big Hollywood" for me. 

[Eric Lofgren]

That didn't bother me at all. I'm actually a Tom Cruise fan. Although I do understand why people have issues with him.

[Elphantasmo]

In fact, if I am not mistaken (and I could well be) the original android crewman that Ripley knew had already transmitted data about eh xenomorph back to the corporation in "Alien" and they were interested even then.

Bob

If I recall correctly, the Coorporation knew about planet LV-246 even before the Nostromo picked up the signal. Remember that Ash was pretty determined to get those samples on board without any consent from the officers.

It's been a while since I've seen it, but I'm pretty sure the corp knew. Ash was not acting in the best interest of the crew, that's for sure.

The original 'Alien' is one of my all-time favourites!
It's strongly implied quite early on the company were sending Nostromo out to the planet to bring back samples but wanted to make it look like an accident. Don't forget Ash was a last minute replacement for the usual science officer who got pulled from the mission. I'm pretty sure Ash later spills the beans and reveals the plan was for the infected/face-hugged crew to go back into hyper-sleep and then be quarantined on their arrival back home.

The title Prometheus, when you watch the TED Talk-style trailer with Guy Pearce as Mr Weyland (if you haven't seen that go take a look, it's pretty good), seems to me to be a reference to the fall after humanity's massive pride in reaching out for what's beyond them. Titan and humans are combined and Weyland says "we are now the gods" as he prepares to send out a ship of godlike explorers in shiny new equipment (which was made by my buddies at FBFX in London!) to blaze a trail among the stars. It presumably all goes wrong when the xenomorphs start eating faces.

I suspect this is a tale of humanity's hubris. That and screaming alien death monsters.

You sure you are not thinking of "Aliens"? In which the corporate guy that is there is responsible for trying to get people chest-pregnated to get them back through quarantine?

And I am pretty sure Alien starts with the Nostromo hauling something (just remember it was a "deep space towing vessel" or something like that), which they leave in space when a signal is heard from the planet, the ships computer wakes them up when the signal is noticed.
Ash later states he received orders to bring the Alien back, not sure if those were already in his programming or not.

I honestly don't think they knew about the planet before the Nostromo got there, in the beginning of Aliens, the panel doesn't believe Ripley's story because there is no proof, they've already colonized the planet and revoke her flight license. But the corporate guy (burke?) sends colonists to the derelict after hearing her story. That's if you count "Aliens" as canon.

I just found my DvD copy last night, I may sit and watch it tonight, it's been years.

[Genus Unknown]

That's if you count "Aliens" as canon.

Why wouldn't it be?

[Bulbatron]

A bit upset about the impact on At the Mountains of Madness, but I'm really looking forwards to Prometheus.  Hopefully it can repair some of the damage done to the series.

[CMcCormack]

Hey guys, I'm new here

This is a horrible way to start things off, but I have not read any of the other responses regarding Prometheus, just on the off chance that you guys know more about it than I do--I want ZERO spoilers going into this.  I did hear about Guillermo Del Toro's ATMoM quote, and even that was a little too much info for me.

Basically, I cannot wait for this movie--Ridley Scott is going to knock this sucker out of the park, and I cannot wait.  Did i mention i cannot wait?

Clay

[T. Kelly Lee]

I want it to be scary and weird and open up a bizarre new mythology that no one expected.  I want mind-fuckery and internal torment.  In short, I want a damn HORROR movie!! 

[T. Kelly Lee]

An excellent article on the Prometheus-HPL connection.  

"Is Ridley Scott's Prometheus as Lovecraftian-2001?"

Yes.  Yes it is. 

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2012/04/ridley-scotts-prometheus-a-lovecraftian-2001/

[Eric Lofgren]

Nice article. I'm a little perturbed at Scott's opinions on the ancient astronaut theory, though. It seems fueled by the notion of trying to fill an uncomfortable vacuum. Just because the earth was devoid of humanity for billions of years doesn't mean there MUST have been someone else here before hand. He seems to completely ignore the successful dinosaur occupation of many hundreds of millions of years, for instance      

[T. Kelly Lee]

Nice article. I'm a little perturbed at Scott's opinions on the ancient astronaut theory, though. It seems fueled by the notion of trying to fill an uncomfortable vacuum. Just because the earth was devoid of humanity for billions of years doesn't mean there MUST have been someone else here before hand. He seems to completely ignore the successful dinosaur occupation of many hundreds of millions of years, for instance      

Yeah, the Hollywood-types love that ancient astronaut stuff.  Of course HPL seemed to love it too - at least as a plausible possibility.  But if you take it subtle, you can get a nice Battle Star Galactica thing going on.  If you go to far, you end up creating a new religion. 

[TransconaSlim]

Nice article. I'm a little perturbed at Scott's opinions on the ancient astronaut theory, though. It seems fueled by the notion of trying to fill an uncomfortable vacuum. Just because the earth was devoid of humanity for billions of years doesn't mean there MUST have been someone else here before hand. He seems to completely ignore the successful dinosaur occupation of many hundreds of millions of years, for instance      

Yeah, the Hollywood-types love that ancient astronaut stuff.  Of course HPL seemed to love it too - at least as a plausible possibility.  But if you take it subtle, you can get a nice Battle Star Galactica thing going on.  If you go to far, you end up creating a new religion. 

Wasn't Battle Star Galactica about Mormonism?

[T. Kelly Lee]

Yeah.  And Mormonism is, in some ways, about ancient astronauts.  Joseph Smith - in his Book of Abraham, if memory serves - talks about the planet/star of Kolob being closest to the throne of god.  Some Mormons believe that humanity or the earth was either created on or near Kolob and transferred here.  That was the inspiration for the original BSG.  Space opera, baby!!! 

[Eric Lofgren]

I recall seeing an animated telling of the Mormon story recently. Holy moly, that is some out there stuff fueling that religion.

[T. Kelly Lee]

I recall seeing an animated telling of the Mormon story recently. Holy moly, that is some out there stuff fueling that religion.

Well, if you dig deep enough, most religions are pretty out there!  Old Joseph Smith was just ahead of his time...beat L.Ron Hubbard to it by a century!