Space jockey from the movie Alien. Creators - Engineers - Space Jockeys

Of the entire AVP universe, I am perhaps more interested in those creatures whose representative was found by the crew of the Nostromo on Acheron, rather than the xenomorphs and naudu themselves. They are called space jockeys. It is quite possible that they are the creators of aliens as biological weapons of mass destruction, which the jockeys used in their wars. Naturally, this weapon destroyed them. It is unknown whether at least one representative of this mysterious biomechanical civilization survived, although in Steve Perry's book "Earth Hive" one of them appears... However, I would not take this mention in the book as a basis for the fact that the jockeys survived, since between the books and the films there are many very noticeable inconsistencies. ..

This mysterious creature still remains under the cover of ignorance - and this ignorance is perhaps even deeper than that associated with the xenomorph. One of the few recorded human contacts with the Space Jockey occurred on the planet LV-426, where a crashed alien ship was found containing the only crew member - the long-dead and petrified pilot. Most likely he died at the birth of a chestbuster, which broke his chest. In support of this theory, a hangar full of living xenomorph eggs was discovered on the ship.

The technical term for the Jockey race is Biomechanoid. Biomechanoids are a synthesis of man and machine, which is most likely a consequence of their natural development, rather than side effect. No one can say with certainty what kind of intelligence these aliens have. Sometimes you can hear the version that there are no differences between Jockeys and humanity. However, they may also have two arms, two legs, two eyes and one mouth, but that's where the similarities end. Two arms and two legs have the same meaning as ours, but everything else is alien. They are very tall (3.6-5.2 meters) and have extremely strong and powerful arms and legs. They have dead eyes, very weak compared to ours. Their mouths are practically useless to them, and their bodies are sepia-toned while their surroundings are mostly painted black.

The Jockey's mind operates on a completely different level than the human mind. They harness energy that was previously unimaginable. Technology has completely integrated into their lives. Although they appear organic on their own, they may be able to blend into their devices. Somehow, all of their tools - be it a hammer or a spaceship - become part of their bodies when used. Moreover, they become an extension of their own mind.

Some Biomechanoids are still alive, but they have gone deep into space, turning in on themselves and awaiting their death. Some of them are still frantically searching for the remains of their technology to avoid this. Others want to revive their race from its roots. And each holds a morbid horror and undying hatred for the xenomorphs they created. Both of them are long-livers. It is very possible that the Jockeys still roam the universe, witnessing the destruction of their own race, and very few people have had the opportunity to even see this creature.

The Xenomorph was created by an ancient alien race (the Jockey race) tens of thousands of years ago. The jockeys fought each other in a fierce civil war. Their technology - organic in nature - was so powerful that the number of victims of this war was in the millions. Decades passed, and there was no end in sight to the war. It seemed to go on forever... until one of the parties came up with an idea.

This was the idea of ​​an experiment to create biomechanical weapons. It will adapt to its environment, will be absolutely independent of her... and, finally... it will be cruel. This creature will be a living machine with the most grotesque combination of science and nature. Jockeys have created a species that knows only one art - the art of killing. The experiment was carried out on the remote planet Proteus. The Jockeys developed a species of creatures that lived like a hive, which would allow them to keep the spread of infection under control. The methodology and principles of the existence of the “ant” have been improved. Goal: Keep the infestation under control by keeping creatures near their "Queen".

The experiment was carried out successfully, and the creatures that we now know as Aliens or xenomorphs arose. The standard infiltration mission was as follows: the egg is placed in masses, it infects the host, the Alien is born and soon finds more hosts that it can transform into eggs, which in turn infect further victims. The creature will kill anyone who poses a threat and turn others into eggs. Soon the population will be completely destroyed, and the Aliens will be left alone on the planet or spaceship where they were released. This will allow the Jockeys who created the xenomorphs to destroy them and prevent further spread of the infection.

The jockeys were ready to unleash the xenomorphs on their enemies. The planet Proteus was still under their control and the experiment seemed safe. The queen of the species produced large offspring to keep the hive safe. This form of life reproduced in huge quantities and at breakneck speed. If necessary, the Jockeys' transport simply landed on the planet and picked up the Queen, a soldier, an army of soldiers, or just eggs, as required by the mission conditions. The new weapons proved their reliability, and the war was soon over.

Xenomorphs were designed to easily adapt to current situations, however, their basic morphology should not have changed... but it did. Before the Jockeys could stop their "pets", they evolved. One small change, something minor, apparently related to the "ant" life form, but not included in the project... It was Royal Jelly - a strange substance that the Queen used to produce. When the Jockeys discovered infected worlds that were not supposed to contain xenomorphs, they became concerned.

Aliens were able to produce their own Queens and increase the number of hives. The infection could no longer be frozen; it was quickly getting out of control. The jockeys saw that their experiment was turning against them. They tried to find weapons to destroy their own creatures, but they were too demoralized past war. They sent one last ship to pick up egg samples from Proteus for study... it never came back.

The Jockey race has disappeared from the universe. After thousands of years, without any special transportation, xenomorphs quickly overran the planets on which they first lived and then simply died out. They were supposed to live a long time, but after tens of thousands of years their lifespan finally ran out. The eggs turned to stone, the bodies disintegrated, and last legacy The aliens were completely destroyed. A ship flying from Proteus crashed on a planet very distant from its home world.

This planet became LV-426. A jockey on board died when one of the eggs he was transporting for some reason burst open and infected him. The stasis field in the cargo bay was damaged and all but one compartment with eggs was unprotected. All unprotected eggs soon died. But one compartment was still functioning - it contained the last living legacy of a long-ago failed experiment.

Name

Creation

In Dan O'Bannon's script (the very first version of the script), the heroes were supposed to take the alien's skull with them and much later the only surviving character took it to lifeboat. The alien in this version was nameless and neither his nature nor his connection with Aliens was revealed. The characters found Alien spores not in a compartment of the ship, but in a pyramid-shaped structure located nearby. In the next version, written by producers David Giler and Walter Hill, the abandoned ship was instead an Earth spaceship and the skeleton the characters found inside was human, but it was the first time he was called the "Space Jockey" in this script. The Alien disputes, as in the previous version, were not in the ship, but in a cylindrical structure located nearby. In this version, it was revealed that the unknown planet was a human testing site, and the Alien was a prototype of an offensive biological weapon. Meanwhile, the script did not provide any further explanations about where the eggs came from (were they found on that planet, or were the Aliens created by geneticists), where did all the personnel from the test site go, why they were bred in a cylinder, and why they even tried to deliver the Alien to Earth through infection.

Initially, Ron Cobb and Jean Giraud were involved in the appearance of the alien and the abandoned ship. Hans Giger, who joined the project (who was originally hired to develop the appearance of the Alien), came up with his own appearance of the Space Jockey and his ship, making them biomechanical, based on his earlier paintings (which were not related to the film). To finish most of the scenery and interior elements of the ship and the Alien egg chamber, he used dry bones along with plaster and hand-airbrushed all the decorations in the room with the Jockey. Veronica Cartwright described Giger's work as " erotic... these are big vaginas and penises... it's all about how you gather in some womb or what... it's kind of visceral» .

Creating a compartment with a deceased alien, nicknamed "Space Jockey" by the crew, proved problematic as 20th Century Fox did not want to spend money on expensive sets that would only appear in one scene. But film crew managed to convince the studio that this scene was important to wow audiences and convince them that this was not a B movie. To save money, only one wall was created, and the seat with the "pilot" figure was on a disk that rotated for shots from different shots. In addition, according to the authors' idea, the alien pilot in the seat should have been huge compared to humans, but then he would not have fit into the pavilion. Ridley Scott had to resort to a trick and use two of his sons and the son of one of the operators, who were wearing smaller versions of spacesuits, as replacement actors. Compared to them, Jockey really looked gigantic.

Novelization

The Jockey himself does not appear in the novelization; instead, the team finds the signal transmitter itself and an empty Alien egg (the Space Jockey was absent in final version script, but Ridley Scott managed to insist on creating his set).

Aliens

In a scene cut from the theatrical release of Aliens, his ship is found 57 years later by the Jorden family of colonists, however, it is unknown whether they found the Jockey himself. Meanwhile, in Foster's novelization, during the commission meeting, Ripley mentions the Jockey, although in the novelization of the first film, the Jockey is not present.

Aliens vs Predator: Requiem

The Jockey Skull appears in the film Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. It hangs upstairs in the trophy room in a shot of the Predator processing an Alien skull.

Prometheus

According to the plot, the Jockeys (in this film they are called Engineers) visited the Earth in ancient times and, using their genetic code, gave rise to human DNA. After this, the Jockeys sometimes visited Earth and over time turned into a kind of gods for the ancient earthlings, but after some time the Jockeys stopped flying to Earth. TO end of XXI centuries, archaeologists all over the Earth have found images of people worshiping Jockeys, pointing to a certain constellation. Analyzing the images, scientists come to the conclusion that this is LV-223 - one of three natural satellites of a giant gas planet orbiting the star ζ2 Reticulum as part of the double star Zeta Reticulum. In 2089, an expedition of the Prometheus ship to LV-223 is organized. On the planet, something like an outpost of the Jockeys is discovered, in which they stored some terrible biological weapon in liquid form. Also, the decoding of the holograms shows that the Jockeys wanted to deliver this weapon to Earth, but it got out of control and killed all the Jockeys at the base (it entered their body and blew their brains). Meanwhile, the main leader of the expedition, Peter Weyland, being very old, is obsessed with the idea that the Jockeys apparently had the secret of immortality, and orders his subordinate, the android David, to experiment with the weapon's liquid. He infects one of the expedition members, Charlie Holloway, with the liquid, who then has sex with his mistress Elizabeth Shaw, in whom, after a few days, a certain squid-like creature with the habits of the Facehugger fully matures in her womb. Shaw manages to remove the creature from himself by caesarean section, but soon it grows to gigantic proportions.

At the same time, it is discovered that a living Jockey is lying in suspended animation at the base, and Weyland wants to wake him up. Elizabeth Shaw begins to suspect that the biological weapon was clearly intended to destroy humanity, and that even after the plan with it failed, the Jockey race clearly hoped that people would decipher their ancient messages and fly to this base to awaken the remaining Jockey. When the Jockey is woken up, Shaw directly asks him why their race wanted to destroy humanity, but Weyland interrupts her and demands to tell him the secret of immortality. Suddenly, Jockey goes into a wild rage and kills everyone except Shaw, who manages to escape from the base. The jockey boards one of the ships at the base and prepares to take off, but after a while the ship is rammed by the Prometheus (everyone on it dies), and it falls to the surface. Jockey, however, survives and after a fight with Shaw, he is captured by a squid-like monster (which survived the crash of the Prometheus), and it infects him in the manner of Facehugger. After this, the twisted android David gets in touch with Shaw (who translated their speech to the Jockey and was the first to fall under his arm, but continued to function) and reports that there are more Jockey ships at the base and he, if Shaw helps him, will be able to control them. After this, Shaw decides to find the home planet of the Jockeys in order to finally find out from them the truth about their attitude towards humanity. IN brief scene after the credits, an Alien-like creature is shown bursting out of the Jockey.

The film does not reveal the reasons for the Jockeys' hatred of humanity, but Ridley Scott revealed in the DVD commentary that during the writing of the script, the idea was considered that the Jockeys were angry at humanity for killing one of their representatives - this implied that Jesus Christ was actually one of the Jockeys, but Scott then thought it was "too obvious" and the issue was left open. It is also revealed in one of the deleted scenes that the name of the Jockeys' homeland meant paradise in most ancient Earth languages.

Creation

The role of the last living Engineer on LV-223 was played by Ian White, a longtime fan of the Alien and Predator universe, who has already participated in films based on it - he played Predator Scar in the film Alien vs. Predator and Predator Wolf in the film Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem .

Actor Daniel James played the Engineer, who sacrifices himself to create life on the planet in the film's opening scene. John LeBar played the role of a holographic image of one of the pilots of the Engineer ship, which the heroes see in one of the scenes.

The Deacon was replaced by the Xenomorph Jockey - a type of Alien enormous growth and with almond-shaped eyes, cut from the original script for Prometheus.

Alien Covenant

The home planet of the Jockeys with their certain city (obviously the only populated area on the planet) is briefly shown in one of the scenes of the film "Alien: Covenant". The entire population dies when the android David sprays over the city the same black liquid found on planet LV-223.

In books

Aliens versus Predator

In film "Prometheus" the corpses and holograms of the Engineers look similar to the pilot from Alien, but then it turns out that the usual appearance- this is a biosuit, which during flights in space also works as an anti-g suit (apparently, the Jockey ships are not equipped with any stationary equipment designed to compensate for the overloads occurring in flight), and under which hides an appearance similar to a Caucasian with the correct structure of the skull and faces. The proportions and structure of the body are similar to those of humans. Height is about 2.5 - 3 meters. They have highly developed muscles. The skin color is white, around the eyes gray. High bridge of the nose, thin and straight. The nail plate is reddish in color. The sclera of the eyes is gray, the iris is black. Hair and nipples are absent throughout the body and face. Internal organs presumably human-like. Their physical abilities are several times superior to humans. Lifespan is unknown, but probably much longer than that of humans.

In film "Alien: Covenant" on the home planet of the Jockeys lives a race of certain humanoid creatures similar to the Jockeys from "Promethea", but still having external differences(they have different skin and eye colors). The film makes no explanation as to whether these creatures are Jockeys or if they are some kind of Jockey. In everyday life, they wear long cloaks with hoods and are divided by gender (females differ from males mainly only in that they are shorter, but their heads are also devoid of any hair).

Technologies

Technologically, their civilization was many years ahead of human civilization. The basis of technology is biomechanics, nanotechnology and biotechnology. The durability of their technology is estimated at thousands of years, which is clearly demonstrated in the films “Alien” and “Prometheus”.

Planets

• Earth - there they gave birth to life and influenced the development of humanity.
• LV-426 - their ship crashed there, the pilot, being infected with an Alien, died, but managed to launch a danger warning signal.
• LV-223 - there was their base where they developed biological weapons.
• LV-1201 - there was another base of theirs, where there was a certain artifact capable of keeping Aliens at a distance.
• Home planet - its name and location are unknown. In a deleted scene "Promethea" The android David tells Elizabeth Shaw that when he asked the Engineer where he came from, he said a word that means "heaven" in most ancient Earth languages. The climate itself is very similar to Earth’s summer, but it is unknown whether there is a change of seasons and whether the climate covers the entire planet. Most There are frequent rains and thunderstorms throughout the year.

Relationships with other races

Aliens

In the DVD commentary, Ridley Scott suggests that the Space Jockey's ship was a bomber ship, and the Alien eggs on board were weapons with which they fought an unknown enemy.

People

As shown in the movie "Prometheus", The Space Jockeys, or Creators, as they are called in this film, created life on Earth and influenced the formation of major human cultures visiting ancient civilizations throughout to the globe. However, for some reason, the Creators decided to destroy humanity by spraying a dangerous pathogen throughout the Earth. However, at the base where he was kept, there was a leak of this pathogen, which killed almost all the creators who were there, and the mission was postponed, for an unknown reason.

Predators

The relationship with the Predators is not exactly known, but in the film "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem" on the Predator's ship you can see a head wearing a Space Jockey helmet.

What exactly did the Engineer (Space Jockey) do at the very beginning of the film?

Film Anatomy Lesson from EMPIRE: A Public Dissection of the Prometheus Mythology

“This is self-sacrifice,” confirmed Ridley Scott, commenting on the version according to which the Engineer drank a black liquid that destroyed him from the inside and “seeded” his DNA to start the process of the origin of life. The Engineer's act, according to Scott, is "equal, in essence, to an act of creation."

Is this Earth?
Yes. And no. In Prometheus: The Art of Film, screenwriter Damon Lindelof asks the question: “What if aliens were involved in the origin of life on Earth?” Scott himself does not hide the fact that he was inspired by the theories of Erich von Däniken. However, Scott recently noted: “It could have been any planet. The engineer simply acts as a gardener in space."

So, Engineers have visited our planet more than once throughout Earth's history?
According to Scott, after the initial sowing, “emissaries” visited Earth several times. In the book Prometheus: The Art of Film, production designer Arthur Max writes that the Engineers, worshiping giant head, worshiped themselves: “Playing the role of God in the universe, they flew to Earth many times and carried out genetic updating of people - both our physiology and our intellect.”

Why would Engineers leave hints on Earth about how to get to a distant temple, or a “weapon depot”?
This is not clear. But 2000 years have passed since the last visit of the emissaries, and during this time the place intended for receiving guests Entertainment Center could very well turn into a vast temple of death.

It turns out that the “invitation” was cancelled?
This is if we assume that people were invited somewhere; Shaw (Noomi Rapace) is not too inclined to believe her findings. According to another theory, the maps left on Earth are a kind of warning system for Engineers that humanity has reached the stage of interstellar travel. Kind of like in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

What's on David's mind? Is he just a servant of Wayland or does he have his own motives?
Lindelof suggests that David is mainly Weyland's puppet, but there may be something like a soul inside this machine, as hinted at by Michael Fassbender's performance. That's why David is the most interesting hero film.

Is it David who chooses Earth as the target of a punitive expedition by placing its hologram on the control panel?
Hardly, although there is a painful ambiguity in the remark “sometimes in order to create, you need to destroy.” Scott made it clear that the Engineers themselves decided to destroy the Earth. We considered it necessary...

If Shaw is an archaeologist, how does she know so much about the autopsy (in the scene examining the Engineer's head)?
She is not a simple archaeologist, but a cosmic one. From the future.

If the Engineers gave birth to us, why did they decide to kill us? And what exactly influenced their decision 2000 years ago, even before we began to destroy our planet?
In one version of the script, they wanted to tell us that Jesus Christ was the Engineer, the last emissary sent to limit the expansion of the Roman Empire. “And you know what? - says Scott. “They crucified him.” It turns out that the desire to destroy the Earth is, um, retribution for the crucifixion.

What is the significance of a fresco that depicts an Alien-like creature and an Engineer who appears to be giving birth?
We assume that the appearance of the Alien on the mural is just “a tribute to Giger and his images of Aliens, without which the film would not exist. The characters look at the fresco and briefly discuss it. But what is depicted on it is unclear.” A theory that appeared on the Internet (authored by LiveJournal user Cavalorn) states that the mural depicts the creative (the Engineer “gives birth” to the world) and destructive (Alien) sides of black slime technology.

What are these worms that are shown to us when people enter the hall with vessels?
Perhaps this is all that remains of the creatures that destroyed the Engineers twenty centuries ago? And when the Prometheus crew awakened the slime again, the worms turned into “hammerpeds,” nasty white snakes.

Why did David put black goo in poor Holloway's (Logan Marshall-Green) drink?
By order of Weyland, Lindelof reports. “I would bet,” he tells MTV.com, “that during the conversation with Wayland, he gave some order that caused David to mix black goo into Holloway’s champagne. And it was a certainty that Holloway would have sex with Shaw shortly thereafter.”

Why does Holloway see a small worm in his eye?
It is possible that this is the first stage of mutation, like the large worms in the hall with the vessels. They could just be the eye worms of the Engineers, because they were larger than earthlings.

How does black slime work? With its help, the First Engineer gave birth to life, it turned Fifield (Sean Harris) into a zombie, Holloway got sick from it, his body began to deform, through Holloway the mucus penetrated into Shaw, and a squid-like monster grew inside it...
It's not a fact that all the black goo in the film functions the same. According to the already mentioned Cavalorn theory, mucus affects the body differently depending on the mental and emotional state"master". The engineer, being a dispassionate "gardener", had power over the slime and forced it to create. Well, we, unenlightened people, are driven by destruction. Interestingly, in early drafts the slime turned Fifield into something much more Alien-like. In other words, the ultimate goal of the black substance in its destructive mode is the creation of Aliens from subsequent films. (Perhaps Fifield's "Mohawk" is a subtle hint at the Alien's long head?)

Why does the hologram that David turns on show the Engineers running down the corridor in panic? Where did what scared them go?
It can be assumed that the Engineers were fleeing from the mutated black slime, which went into destructive mode in some of them (see above). And then... strangely disappeared.

Why, when people run away from the pyramid to escape the storm, do they see that the truck has already left? Who's driving this truck?
The book “Prometheus: the Art of Film” teaches us that the “all-terrain vehicle” will not go by itself - it needs someone to drive it. We can only assume that the driver was one of the guards whom Shaw told not to take weapons. Or maybe it's space magic.

Why is the automatic medical camera designed for men if it is installed in the rescue module owned by Vickers (Charlize Theron), a woman?
Because in fact, this medical cell is not for her, but for Peter Weiland. Don't be stupid.

Is it true that Vickers is an android (capable of having sex)? She looks a lot like David.
No, but she and David have something in common. “There’s a mysterious, subtle connection between her and this character,” Theron told us on set. "It's all about the DNA, the Vickers genes were used to create David." Lindelof notes that the physical resemblance between Vickers and David is not a coincidence. "Is it possible to think of The best way humiliate your daughter rather than create her male counterpart?”

Why did Peter Wayland go to another planet? To find the source there eternal youth? Or meet “God”?
Neither one nor the other. Or both. And since Wayland chose to keep his presence on the ship a secret, it's clear that he loves surprises.

Why cast Guy Pearce as a hundred-year-old man if there are no scenes in which he is young?
This is a mystery to us. Is it just because a much younger Wayland appears in a promotional video for TED 2023? It may well be that deleted scenes with a more recognizable Guy Pearce will appear in the upcoming director's cut.

If the creature in the finale is an Alien, why is it not very similar to the Aliens from planet LV-426 in other films in the series?
Because it's not Alien. On set, he was called the Priest because his head was shaped like a miter. It is believed that this is the predecessor of the Alien, a creature that will give birth to Aliens in the future. The creature's DNA combines the genes of a human, an Engineer, and a giant "trilobite" with tentacles. In the sketches for the film, we see how it maliciously heads towards the crashed ship...

Want to know how it all started? Where did Aliens come from? Who are the Space Jockeys? Finally, why did a film that was originally announced as a prequel to Alien end up being such a big deal? independent project of epic proportions? Our slimy jaw-huggers tore out a text from the depths of the foreign segment of the Internet that could be a full-fledged synopsis of the upcoming Ridley Scott film (Prometheus). And if this is indeed the synopsis of this movie, then in it you will find the answers to all these questions.

Let us remind you that the script was written by John Speitz and Damon Laindloff. Starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Sean Harris, Kate Dickie, Rafe Spall and others. Directed by Ridley Scott himself. Cinematographer: Dariusz Wolski. The film's budget is crazy - 250 (yes, TWO HUNDRED FIFTY!) million dollars. The premiere is scheduled for June 7-8, 2012.

The fossilized skeleton of the Space Jockey from the 1979 film Alien.

When I watched the movie “Prometheus” the day before yesterday, at first, like many viewers, I was somewhat puzzled by the number of inconsistencies and simply incomprehensible places in the plot. However, having thought about what I saw, I find that many moments in the film that seem to be blunders are quite logical - with assumptions regarding science fiction, Certainly. And since there are lively discussions on the plot of the film and the scenes shown in it on blogs and forums, I decided to list the main questions of discussion and give answers to them from my point of view.

1. What was the white alien doing at the beginning of the film? I drank some liquid and fell into pieces. Did people come from his DNA? But isn’t DNA in the water enough for an organism to appear?

An alien (this race in science fiction is usually called Space Jokeys, so from now on I will call representatives of this species “jockeys”) drank a liquid that his body used to create new life forms: they show how the jockey’s DNA first breaks down, then new DNA is assembled and created cells. A similar principle was behind the action of black liquid from vases on planet LV-233, where the Prometheus ship arrived: it caused a mutation in the body and transformed it into a new creature. That is, not just DNA got into the water on Earth, but parts of the jockey’s body, which were transformed into new organisms. Who exactly appeared as a result of this - only people or other creatures - is not directly stated in the film. Judging by the fact that the DNA of insects, mammals and humans is more than 90% identical, it is possible that the jockey gave rise to all living beings on the planet.

2. If jockeys, as can be seen from ancient drawings and paintings, communicated with people and showed them where the planet LV-233 was located, to which Prometheus eventually went, then why did LV-233 turn out to be a military facility, and the jockeys were going to destroy humanity ?

This is not directly stated in the film, so all that remains is to analyze and make assumptions.

At first I thought - why is the film called "Prometheus"? There must be some meaning to this. A film that raises such important issues as the search for God, the meaning of life, faith, etc. cannot be named after an ordinary spaceship. Even a simple science-fiction thriller (I'm thinking of 1979's Alien) would be ridiculous to call it Nostromo. Promethea is mentioned briefly by Weyland in her introduction, but it seems too insufficient for choosing a title for the film.

Who is Prometheus? Weyland was not entirely right when he said in his welcoming speech that Prometheus wanted people to become equal to the gods and paid for it. Prometheus, titan from ancient greek mythology, is actually famous for two things: 1) he created people; 2) he loved people and, contrary to the will of the gods, gave them fire, for which he was punished. Despite the fact that he did not die and was eventually forgiven, Prometheus popular culture is a symbol of self-sacrifice for the sake of people.

Doesn't remind you of anything? Of course, the lone jockey at the beginning of the film is Prometheus, who sacrificed himself for the sake of humanity. Then the title of the film immediately makes sense. And what is important here is that the earthly Prometheus, from mythology, was in opposition to the gods. Since myths are an echo of people's communication with jockeys - "gods", from this we can conclude that the jockey at the beginning of the film did his job contrary to the opinion of the other jockeys and their supreme power.

Perhaps he was a dissident or a criminal left on Earth as punishment (if this had been a special experiment, then there would have been observer jockeys nearby; and he looked very mournful). His like-minded people or relatives learned about what had been done and took “patronage” over humanity, which is reflected in ancient drawings. However, 2000 years ago (interestingly, the time of the coming of Jesus Christ was chosen for day X) the rest of the jockeys found out about this. The “gods” were forbidden to appear on Earth (note that all found images of people communicating with jockeys are ancient, BC, there are no later ones), and the jockeys decided to destroy people as a result of illegal actions.

Thus, the situation depicted in the pictures has changed. The planet that the “good” jockeys pointed to was turned into a military base and punitive expeditions began to be prepared on it.

However, whether it was a military base, as the captain of the Prometheus suggested, is another question. After all, after the disaster of the first ship, the jockeys are shown how Shaw and David quite quickly, without any incidents, take off on another ship. This means that there was nothing dangerous there. Maybe it's just a cosmodrome, a transit point.

3. Is Vickers (Charlize Theron’s character) a robot?

The question is raised due to the fact that there is no direct answer to the question “Are you a robot?” which the captain asks Vickers is not given in the film. The fact that Vickers calls Weyland father can be interpreted in different ways: since Weyland was the head of the corporation that made androids, the android can call Weyland father.

I think Vickers is the man. The fact is that one of the key storylines film is the Weyland-David-Vickers triangle. Weyland has a daughter (Vickers), but does not love her, and his favorite child is David, whom he envies because of David's immortality. Vickers, and this is obvious, is jealous of her father for David (what a look she has when at the beginning Weyland calls David almost a son!). This explains why she sometimes behaves like a robot - in order to be like David.

If Vickers were an android, then this triangle would make no sense. Moreover, it becomes unclear why there were two androids on the ship at all, and why Vickers’ presence was hidden from Weyland.

There are other signals: Vickers was a member of the board of directors of the Weyland Corporation (inconceivable for an android), at the beginning of the film Vickers, either in sweat or in some kind of mucus, does push-ups from the floor to restore shape after sleeping in a cryochamber - the android clearly did not sleep in a cell, as seen in David's example.

4. How did the earthly android David so easily understand alien signs, codes for opening doors, and controlling the ship?

Due to the influence of jockeys on ancient human civilizations, part of the jockeys' culture was reflected in the culture of these civilizations. Given the power artificial intelligence David (whose degree of development under the influence of Moore's law over 70 years we are simply unable to imagine), who analyzed all the data available to him and the data coming in at the time of the study of the alien ship, it is not surprising that David's brain instantly found solutions.

5. Why does David essentially engage in sabotage by letting the scientist, Holoway, drink liquid from an alien vase?

David, despite his independence and fights with Holoway, was not independent - he obeyed Weilnad, who was in the cryochamber and gave instructions to David from there (see the episode when Vickers pinches David and demands to tell him what Weyland said). Weyland was interested in one thing - the continuation of his life. The liquid from the “gods” found in the vases could be rejuvenating. It’s clear that in the face of such prospects, no moral standards could stop Weyland. Since Holoway, in fact, was no longer needed, the liquid was tested on him, like on a laboratory rat.

It is possible that David’s curiosity and inquisitive mind also had an influence here. For example, Weyland ordered the liquid to be tested on someone, and David chose Holoway - asking him the question “What lengths are you willing to go to get answers?”

Later, the attitude towards crew members as consumables for experiments was demonstrated by Shaw, who became pregnant with an alien organism.

6. What kind of idiotic behavior of scientists (!) on an alien planet? They take off their helmets, reach out with their hands to the obviously aggressive alien snakes...

Indeed, taking off a helmet on an alien planet looks strange - when even on Earth a European who goes to Asia risks stretching his legs from some kind of infection or insect bite. In fairness, it should be noted that the lack of a helmet did not harm anyone, and the helmets did not save them - when the lost geologist and biologist were attacked by a snake, they were wearing helmets.

As for the biologist who climbed up to the snake... Yes, it looks wild. But we must take into account that, as they say at the very beginning, fanatics were recruited onto the ship. And the biologist was also a fanatic. It’s a common thing for someone like this to meddle with all sorts of creatures. Here, for example, about his colleague, the famous Australian animal show host Steve Irwin:

"In East Timor, he was rescuing a crocodile that had gotten caught in a concrete pipe and there was no way to get it out. So Irwin dove in with the animal. The crocodile had a death grip on him, which resulted in the same hand being ripped open again, this time The tendon was torn."

And this is just one episode of many cases of injury from all sorts of aggressive animals. As a result, Steve Irwin died after receiving death blow stingray to the heart area.

So the biologist in the film is not a blunder, they really are like that.

7. Why did the geologist bitten by snakes not carry an Alien or another organism, but came to the ship and attacked the crew?

The geologist was not bitten by a snake. When he cut her, her blood burned through the helmet, the geologist fell face first into the black liquid, which caused him to mutate.

8. Why is there such a variety of monsters from one source - liquid from vases? Either snakes, or squids, or zombies? Why in one case does reproduction occur through the laying of an embryo inside through the mouth, in another case through sexual intercourse?

Perhaps it is connected with the “source material”: one effect on worms, another on humans. But in general, the black liquid, as we are told in the film, is a biological weapon. For biological weapons, the stability of the result is not important, i.e. so that the effect is strictly the same. The main thing is that it incapacitates the enemy and the infection is transmitted further - and this black liquid does this perfectly.

9. How is Shaw, after having her stomach cut open and stitched back up, running around the ship calmly?

It is clearly not worth judging the medicine of 2093 by today's criteria. For example, if people who lived 70 years ago would have seen things that are simple for today's medicine - the same antibiotics - they would also have said that this is unrealistic. So it is quite possible that after 70 years we have very effective healing and restorative drugs - this is probably what Shaw injected into his shoulder during the operation and into his leg after it. And Shaw didn’t run very calmly - she was constantly cringing in pain.

10. Why did the surviving and awakened jockey attack the earthlings who arrived to him and kill them? I could talk to them, explain... They are, after all, the children of jockeys, so to speak!

Firstly, if the jockeys decided to destroy humanity, then the fact that the jockeys will not be happy with the people who appear practically at their home is a completely natural result. Who knows what their policy was there? If the Nazis in the Second world war cultivated the destruction of people without any talk, then the same can be expected from alien creatures.
Secondly, the jockey did not attack them right away. He watched them quarrel for some time, obviously appraisingly. He only became angry after David said something to him. And even then, at first he even seemed to gently pat David on the head, as if to say, “You turned out good, assholes.” Maybe the jockey finally realized that these worms wanted to use him, and decided to quickly get rid of them in order to begin his mission.
Thirdly, one should not idealize the attitude of jockeys towards people. Even if I am wrong when I spoke at the beginning of the post about the Prometheus jockey and the “illegal” creation of people, then jockeys are not at all obliged to treat people as their children. People, for example, breed cows, but how many of us want to be friends with cows? On the contrary, we mostly love cows exclusively in the form of cutlets and steaks. Jockeys, of course, did not eat people, but a contemptuous attitude towards people is quite likely.

11. Why did they recruit some idiots for such an important expedition, why is there no discipline, subordination, why do they not have a plan, security, control of things carried, etc.?

Weyland was a fanatic of his cause and the same fanatics were recruited onto the ship. If only it were a classic investment project- here is the specific money of specific individuals invested, here is the business plan, here are the measures to control its implementation, here is such and such a planned profitability - of course everything would be different. But this was Weyland's personal adventure, so he organized it all accordingly.

Fanatics despise bureaucracy (including all sorts of safety instructions), this goes to the point of bravado (one biologist in a discussion of the film wrote that they consider it a scam to work with material with gloves).
They value improvisation, as a result of which things are born that would otherwise be difficult to achieve in the usual way.
In addition, Weyland lived last days and therefore it was necessary to force events. For example, the same test of black liquid: how much time would they spend on research and testing in the usual way? And then they added Kholoveya - and it was done.

Questions I don't have answers to:

1. The purpose of the room with a huge humanoid head where the vases stood. For some reason this issue is not discussed in discussions. In the film they say, “This is a grave.” But these words are more like emotions; there are no real signs of a grave, except perhaps a head that vaguely resembles a monument. Laboratory for experiments? But why then does it have an earthen, non-sterile floor? Why did jockeys run there in times of danger? Is this some kind of rescue room? The liquid begins to flow out when a humanoid creature appears nearby, that is, it is enough to get there even if you are wounded and lose consciousness - the liquid will reach the body. However, the fact that the liquid acts on jockeys as " living water", that is, completely different from people, it looks unrealistic, because genetically people and jockeys are almost the same.

2. Rapid growth squid without any food (an often discussed blunder). Inside Shaw, in a few hours he grew to a couple of kilograms, that is, he should have taken the appropriate amount of nutrients from her, but she did not feel it. After the operation, he was left alone in the medical unit and, without any food, grew to 3 meters in height.

Update 06/08/2012: In the comments they gave a link to an interview with Ridley Scott, where he talks about one of the scenarios in which the jockeys decided to destroy people 2000 years ago because they were disappointed in their “children” - people took up aggressive wars (Roman Empire). The creators gave people another chance - they sent their emissary to them, but people crucified him (this is how the story of Jesus Christ appeared). After this, the final decision was made to destroy humanity.