“Prometheus” is on the way, and I’ve been doing some thinking. (Yes, dangerous, but I’ve still been doing it).
It’s a prequel, of course, but how exactly will it set the stage for “Alien” or any of the following movies in the series?
I have some theories based on what I’ve read on the web and gleaned from the trailer. Some of what I’m going to write is already out there, but some of it’s going to be what I came up with when I pondered the plot and the origins of the xenomorph creatures who’ve popped up in all the “Alien” movies that have followed over the years.
According to the Wikipedia page, James Cameron, director of “Aliens,” had worked on a story for a prequel that would tell us the origins of the xenomorphs but changed his mind when he found out “Aliens vs. Predator” was being made. He figured that movie would ruin the franchise.
Then Ridley Scott, director of “Alien” and “Blade Runner,” decided he’d take a crack at the prequel. But he didn’t just want to tell the xenomorphs’ origin story. He wanted to tell the origin story of the Space Jockey alien too. You remember the Space Jockey, don’t you? That’s the nickname people gave to the skeletal remains of who or whatever that creature was the explorers of the Nostromo discovered in “Alien.” Some humanoid guy’s skeleton lied in a chair with its ribs broken outward, and he seemed larger in size than a normal human person.
Scott said in later interviews that he was surprised no other filmmakers of the “Alien” series had explored this creature. But now, presumably, he’ll do that with “Prometheus.” The movie will delve into this alien race’s civilization and the role that race played in humanity’s development. The Space Jockey’s race could be the makers, or helpers, of our way of life, or at least, that’s whom they will be with Scott in the director’s chair.
Scott plans to delve into the origins of the xenomorphs, mankind, more about the Space Jockey’s world, and to do it all while creating a scary sci-fi action movie.
If the Space Jockey’s race created the xenomorphs and us, too, then what was their point? Why create a bunch of vicious insectoid creatures that kill people left and right? What’s the point?
I’m not sure, but I’m wondering if the name “Prometheus” has a clue. For those of you who are up on your Greek mythology, Prometheus was a Titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. He taught us how to use fire, which allowed us to take our civilization to newer heights. The gods got mad at him for doing this, though, and punished him by binding him to a rock for all eternity while an eagle ate his liver. The liver grew back over and over again, and the eagle would eat it every time, so Prometheus suffered endlessly.
In the film “Prometheus,” the ship the explorers travel in has the same name, so the meaning could be metaphorical.
What if the Space Jockey in this film was responsible for creating humans against the wishes of the other members of his race? They could have punished him, and us, by creating the xenomorphs as biological agents of our destruction. Maybe humans are creatures who weren’t supposed to be made, or perhaps we advanced so much that our creators were unhappy, so they decided to get rid of us by tossing xenomorphs at us. Perhaps that’s what the Space Jockey, or others like him, were creating in the “Prometheus" plot before the explorers landed on the planet. The Space Jockey we see in “Alien” could be the Space Jockey from this film, living out his punishment at the order of his brothers and sisters because he helped humanity progress too far.
That’s just my theory, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the humans in “Prometheus” are merely pawns in a much larger plot between alien beings who aren’t the xenomorphs at all. They're the xenomorphs’ “makers,” and ours as well.