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8:06 a.m. - 2012-06-26
PROMETHEUS PART 3
Again, a warning: This review contains plot spoilers.

Finally, I have some real problems with the science part of the science fiction in "Prometheus."

I know from a friend that in 2012 Rite Aid workers have to pass multiple safety CBLs every year, including how to use a box cutter. But apparently in 2089 people sent to explore unknown planets (or the moons of unknown planets) are a lot more laid back about the whole safety thing. Witness the scientists of the Prometheus, who, upon learning that the atmosphere in the just-discovered caverns of an alien moon contains oxygen, go ahead and remove their helmets. No one mentions the possibility of biological contaminants or screening for such.

And in a later scene, when an alien life form is first discovered, I have to ask myself what kind of scientist--what even moderately commonsensical human being with or without a degree--would, upon seeing a pale serpentlike creature of indeterminate size (some of its length hidden in a pool from which it emerges) would decide that the creature was "cute" and try to coax it to come
closer? Kane was incautious in "Alien," but this guy should have his biology degree canceled and be given the Darwin Award in its place.

Peter Weyland financed the huge operation because he hoped the advanced species would tell him the secret of eternal life. Why would they do that? What could he offer them in return? Stock options in the Weyland Corporation? Did he consider using existing technology, i.e. the suspended animation used during the long space voyage, to put himself to sleep while awaiting advances in medical science on earth?

I don't think that carbon 14 dating would work on a newly discovered planet because it depends on a constant conversion rate of nitrogen to C14 by cosmic rays and a known proportion of C14 relative to other carbon isotopes. The scientists of Prometheus would have to do preliminary studies to verify the value of C14 dating on a new world.

"Alien" and "Aliens" outlined a life cycle for the deadly species that threaten Ridley: Queen lays eggs, eggs hatch to release Face Huggers, Face Huggers implant embryo in unfortunate host, Embryo after a sufficient incubation period bursts out and grows into Alien. But in "Proteus" we are introduced to a huge multitentacled monstrosity that apparently bypasses the face hugger stage and is capable of infecting the superior alien race (their science seems a little sloppy, to allow this to happen) with the alien embryo.

Maybe I shouldn't be so rough on the human scientists of Prometheus since the "superior race" didn't have sufficient safeguards on their own experiments.

Dr Shaw shows the crew of the Prometheus a nice little PowerPoint presentation early in the film, creating a sort of Chariots of the Gods hypothesis, in which humans of different cultures and different eras worship superior beings from the stars. But once having created human life, why would the Engineers (Shaw's term for them) find it necessary to revisit earth or otherwise reveal themselves to humans?

The opening scene of the movie shows one of the Engineers apparently sacrificing himself (was this the only way they could seed the earth?) in order to spread his race's DNA on our primeval planet. But early human DNA would be too complex to evolve from molecules to whole organisms. It wouldn't give rise to primitive single celled organisms. More likely it would simply break down on its own through entropy or be gobbled up by single celled creatures once they came into being. And why would the alien DNA be identical to that of humans after literally billions of years? This "theory" of human origins not only rejects Darwin; it rejects all of Molecular Biology.

Okay, I've said a lot of negative things about "Prometheus" in this 2-part review. But when all has been said and done I did enjoy the movie. In fact it was one of the better scifi movies I've seen in a long time. I rank the "Alien" series on quality as follows:

Aliens>Alien>Prometheus>Alien Resurrection>Alien 3>Alien vs Predator>AVP Requiem.

The Alien movies stand up pretty well as a series. Their quality varies widely, so not as good as the Jurassic Park series, which has about the same quality all the way through. But better than the Predator series, which went from one very good movie to a lot of mediocre sequels.

"Prometheus" is the only film in the Alien series so far to give us a high quality film without Ellen Ripley, and that in itself is an accomplishment worthy of note.


 

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