We've known for a while that there will be a lot of deleted scenes on the
Prometheus DVD and Blu-ray, but it appears that one of them will include a much longer exchange between David and the Engineer. Many had assumed that he said something offensive (which resulted in the killing spree that followed their exchange) but
The Bioscopist caught up with linguistics consultant Dr. Anil Biltoo of the SOAS Language Centre in London in order to answer one of the many questions fans have been discussing in great detail since the film was released.
"The line that David speaks to the Engineer (which is from a longer sequence that didn’t make the final edit) is as follows:
"/ida hmanəm aɪ kja namṛtuh zdɛ:taha/.../ghʷɪvah-pjorn-ɪttham sas da:tṛ kredah/"
A serviceable translation into English is:
"This man is here because he does not want to die. He believes you can give him more life."
Dr. Anil Biltoo actually goes on to confirm that the two shared a conversation rather than the single line translated above. Michael Fassbender apparently spent a great deal of time working on learning the alien language, so it should be interesting to see what else David said and whether or not we'll also end up getting a translation of that at some point too. Hopefully, this will shed some more light on the actions of the Engineers, especially as director Ridley Scott decided to remove the subtitles from their scenes in
Prometheus. With the promise of both a director's cut AND an audio commentary on the upcoming home release, fans will hopefully not have too much longer to wait until more of
Prometheus' many secrets are revealed.
In the distant future, two superpowers control Earth and fight each other for all the solar system's natural resources. When one side dispatches a team to a distant planet to terraform it for human colonization, the team discovers an indigenous race of bio-mechanoid killers. Ridley Scott, director of 'Alien' and 'Blade Runner,' returns to the genre he helped define. With PROMETHEUS, he creates a groundbreaking mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.
STARRING:
Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw
Michael Fassbender as David
Guy Pearce as Stannison
Idris Elba as Captain Janek
Logan Marshall-Green as Holloway
Charlize Theron as Meredith Vickers
RELEASE DATE: June 1st 2012 (UK) June 8th, 2012 (US)