Movie: Prometheus

[Animeniax]

Doesn't that actually make sense? If it was a more informed person, he would come up with all sorts of theories and couldn't pick one without much more evidence. But an ordinary grunt will stick to his first idea and believe it's the absolute truth - unless a better alternative is crammed down his throat (literally in Alien's case).

That does seem possible, so most likely I'm annoyed with the character's behavior and that sort of one-track mindedness more than anything. It just appears to be a very specific hypothesis and very much plausible, which didn't fit coming from a grunt. While I don't put 100% faith in the "specialists," it just seemed unlikely that a grunt would figure it out.

This is a great bit of writing - a serious-minded military guy extrapolating his life experiences out into a framework to understand the world and believing in it with absolute certainty despite no real evidence, in a movie about the dichotomies of science and faith.

What evidence is there that the ship captain was former military? Unless they mentioned that somewhere, the guy could be a merchant marine, a ship captain who just floats from location to location. It's just as likely it was poor writing and you're reading too much into it.

[Y]

What evidence is there that the ship captain was former military? Unless they mentioned that somewhere, the guy could be a merchant marine, a ship captain who just floats from location to location. It's just as likely it was poor writing and you're reading too much into it.

Thanks for this reply to my post.

[Animeniax]

Thanks for this reply to my post.

Thanks for dodging the question? I searched around, nothing anywhere about Janek being former military. On one site Scott is said to describe Janek as "an old sea dog" but that's hardly a reference to military experience. Like I said, it's just weak writing in a movie that focused too much on a grander scheme, meanwhile leaving out details that make the scheme worth caring about. This lapse in particular is just giving Janek something to do besides drive Ms. Vickers around.

EDIT:

When people see this scene they often ask "How the hell does he know?" when he gives the explanation. He doesn't. He wants to know. Not coincidentally, this ties in with a lot of the themes of the movie.

Again, I think you're giving too much credit here both to the writers and to the Janek character. He's a ship captain, paid to haul his cargo from point A to point B. You could argue he wouldn't accept the mission unless he actually cared about the purpose, but for pilots the travel is the purpose, not the scientific oddity they hope to find at point B. And remember the expedition cost over a trillion dollars, so he's paid quite well to take the mission, not because he "wants to know."

[Y]

Thanks for dodging the question? I searched around, nothing anywhere about Janek being former military. On one site Scott is said to describe Janek as "an old sea dog" but that's hardly a reference to military experience. Like I said, it's just weak writing in a movie that focused too much on a grander scheme, meanwhile leaving out details that make the scheme worth caring about. This lapse in particular is just giving Janek something to do besides drive Ms. Vickers around.

Again, I think you're giving too much credit here both to the writers and to the Janek character. He's a ship captain, paid to haul his cargo from point A to point B. You could argue he wouldn't accept the mission unless he actually cared about the purpose, but for pilots the travel is the purpose, not the scientific oddity they hope to find at point B. And remember the expedition cost over a trillion dollars, so he's paid quite well to take the mission, not because he "wants to know."

That's just like, your opinion, man.

[Animeniax]

That's just like, your opinion, man.

Indeed, but supported with facts and common sense. I'd rather the movie didn't have so many glaring plot holes and poor writing, but it does.

To make the Prometheus/Alien world even crazier, I was reading about the supposed connections between the engineers and Jesus Christ. Ridley Scott himself suggested/entertained the idea that JC was an engineer sent to the earth to help humanity during one of our times of crises and debauchery. When humans responded by crucifying him, that's when the engineers decided to exterminate all humanity with the black goo. Maybe Scott was kidding, but if not, how's that for some suggestive story telling?

[Y]

Indeed, but supported with facts and common sense. I'd rather the movie didn't have so many glaring plot holes and poor writing, but it does.

Yeah but, not really though.

[Buffalobiian]

Ani's idea is more supported due to the lack of evidence that the captain was ex-military.

The Jesus Christ thing is interesting.. but all depictions of Christ that we see are facially hairy, while the Engineers are anything but hairy. How are they going to pull that off? Someone gave him a wig?

[Y]

That does seem possible, so most likely I'm annoyed with the character's behavior and that sort of one-track mindedness more than anything. It just appears to be a very specific hypothesis and very much plausible, which didn't fit coming from a grunt. While I don't put 100% faith in the "specialists," it just seemed unlikely that a grunt would figure it out.


What evidence is there that the ship captain was former military? Unless they mentioned that somewhere, the guy could be a merchant marine, a ship captain who just floats from location to location. It's just as likely it was poor writing and you're reading too much into it.

Wow it's really weird how Kraco and I are obviously proposing the same idea - that as a direct, practical thinker the captain of the ship would immediately guess at a military purpose for the installation and then present his theory as fact - but when Kraco posts it, you find it plausible and confess that your distate for the scene mainly lies in finding his personality and background suspect. When I post it, in a near-identical formulation, suddenly his behavior is just "poor writing" and I'm "reading too much into it" and you seize upon minutiae to falsely dispute - in the same post, no less! Maybe in the future instead of obviously posting your replies based on who you're replying to, you could make them in two consecutive posts to disguise your naked trolling and lack of interest in any sincere discussion, on such a pithy subject as a movie no less.

[Animeniax]

Wow it's really weird how Kraco and I are obviously proposing the same idea - that as a direct, practical thinker the captain of the ship would immediately guess at a military purpose for the installation and then present his theory as fact - but when Kraco posts it, you find it plausible and confess that your distate for the scene mainly lies in finding his personality and background suspect. When I post it, in a near-identical formulation, suddenly his behavior is just "poor writing" and I'm "reading too much into it" and you seize upon minutiae to falsely dispute - in the same post, no less! Maybe in the future instead of obviously posting your replies based on who you're replying to, you could make them in two consecutive posts to disguise your naked trolling and lack of interest in any sincere discussion, on such a pithy subject as a movie no less.

Where Kraco tries to explain his mentality, which would be understandable as the ship's captain and because people are full of shit, you try to justify with unsupported claims about his military background. It's possible Kraco's explanation is correct, and it's just as possible it's shitty writing. Your explanation is out in left field.

They could have done so much as far as story to lead up to someone explaining the purpose of the planet for the viewers. They got lazy and made Janek explain it just as a plot point. That's what makes me upset about the movie.

[Y]

Where Kraco tries to explain his mentality, which would be understandable as the ship's captain and because people are full of shit, you try to justify with unsupported claims about his military background. It's possible Kraco's explanation is correct, and it's just as possible it's shitty writing. Your explanation is out in left field.

They could have done so much as far as story to lead up to someone explaining the purpose of the planet for the viewers. They got lazy and made Janek explain it just as a plot point. That's what makes me upset about the movie.

Thanks for this reply to my post. The discussion wasn't complete without a reply such as this. After reading the whole thread and then this post, I realized what the thread was missing was a post just like this.

[Animeniax]

Thanks for this reply to my post. The discussion wasn't complete without a reply such as this. After reading the whole thread and then this post, I realized what the thread was missing was a post just like this.

Wow you really hate to lose an argument don't you.

edit: you do understand, don't you, that when you go back and edit older posts once you've sobered up or reconciled any bitchy feelings, your revisions are often missed. Maybe think before you post and you won't have to do edit.

[Y]

Wow you really hate to lose an argument don't you.

edit: you do understand, don't you, that when you go back and edit older posts once you've sobered up or reconciled any bitchy feelings, your revisions are often missed. Maybe think before you post and you won't have to do edit.

I don't think you're very good at reading posts if you think we've been having a discussion, that my edits softened up my posts, or that the edits are directed at you.