What Happened to the Engineers on LV_223?

Prometheus isn't an Alien movie, though... It's standalone. Takes place in the same universe, and a tiny, tiny fragment of it is in Alien. The xenomorph. That's what Alien was about. Nothing more, nothing deeper, nothing more in-depth than. Just a movie about an alien creature running around a ship, trying to keel everyone. Prometheus is so much more.

OH Mr Bug ..still thiking in

The only actual clues the movie gives are the black ooze and right when david activates the first hologram sequence, right at the beginning, you hear a scream....then you see the engineers running from it. The scream is the same scream the proto xeno gives at the end of the movie when the jaw extends.

What if the engineers are doing the grunt work for an unknown being above them? Wsomeone is ruling over them.. Otherwise who nominates themselves to suicide and at the foot of an unknown amount of black goo? This. May explain why no one came back to check on the engineers.. Tje higher beings simply don't care

I think it was the hammerpedes, I know it sounds simple, but I just do. When Fifield was trying to help Milburn out, he cut the head off the hammerpede, got sprayed with acid, and the head grew back in a matter of 3 seconds. It looked like the damned things were unstoppable. That could've been a perfect organism in and of itself.

i buy the the idea that the decapitated engineer are infected and the rest of engineer are running away from him in the hologram playback. I am not sure is it just me, i thought i saw something came out from the engineer head when Shaw and another doctor dissect it, before it fully explode. The piled up engineer are likely the job of the surviving engineer, maybe they were trying to destroy the dead bodies, and one of "dead body" just jump up and chase them to that door that finally chop his head off.

chased by One of Their Own? that's sounding more than a bit The Thing-ish. I propose that LV-426 is Engineer Homeworld. :) I wanna know who the Engineers were TRADING WITH or STEALING FROM to get hold of those Obviously Foreign Ampules in the Head Room i.e. the script on them was more Chinese than the usual Cuneiform. Yes, I am saying, having watched it on TV for the first time last night, "Prometheus is potentially our new generation's Star Trek mini-series or longer." [url=http://www.prometheus-movie.com/community/forums/topic/7465]Faction-tastic[/url].

@TheEgg I'm glad you were as impressed by the arm-snapper, as I was. You're right, they'd be essentially unstoppable in numbers. I've actually been pretty surprised by the ho-hum reaction to some of the creature designs and capabilities. When I went to see "Prometheus," my 18 year old movie-buff daughter was sitting next to me, and she squirmed, grimaced, and cringed her way through the entire third act.

Maybe the airliner they were all on crashed and a Polar Bear chased them into a vault holding vials full of fascination which when in contact with projected box-office earnings greenlit a sequel.

I was thinking, maybe the Engineers wanted to get rid of us because we are killing the planet and their creations. Think about it, the facehuggers have never been seen getting an animal. They target humans and human-like things. Maybe they are designed to only target humanoid things. We never see them eat so I assume they wouldn't target animals for that reason, and lots of animals might be too small or unhuman to host a Xeno. I also wonder why no one has pointed out the goo that David found on the wall before he pressed the buttons that showed the holograms. That goo looked like the goo the Xeno's produce in the alien movies. Also, that hologram of the Engineers running could have been a warning for Engineers to come. David must have known what the button would do. I also noticed that the language that the Engineers have is like the language/buttons the predator's have on their arm devices. I also don't get when Shaw and that went into the room full of urns for the first time why the urns decided to open and overflow like they did. Is it possible that David not only opened the door but opened them when he pressed the buttons of the door? And also, those worms, did the Engineers do the same thing they did to Earth and perhaps create life there?

Some of you have gotten close but drifted off into fantasy, here's what happened... Pre-2000 years ago an Engineer craft was forced to land on LV-426 when the pilot fell foul to one of his cargo. As a result the Engineers on LV-223 redesigned the Xenomorph, changing it from a biological weapon to a viral weapon, by reprogramming the black liquid used by Sacrficial Engineers to "Seed" life in their image upon fledgling worlds, to create a new strain of Xenomorph that could spread quicker. This is what they intended to use on Earth 2000 years ago to mass produce the Xenomorph using us as hosts, this is why they seed life - to create viable hosts using their own DNA to create en masse, the Xenomorph. The intention was to create a safe means by which to transport the Xenomorph using urns, but the substance was so volatile that one of the Engineers became infected whilst in the ampule room. The other Engineers sealed the door and its contents away, quarantining the Engineer, but only half (titter) of him was inside the room, the other half allowed the Xenomorph to spread throughout the base/temple killing all but one of the Engineers.

Maybe the engineers where runnig to that room to protect something,the mural with the alien on it could also be a door.Everyone seems to think the engineers developed this black goo,but what if they where extracting it from whatever was behind this mural.Also,could someone explain why the alien in the mural looks like it is being cruxified just like Jesus was?

[i]Also,could someone explain why the alien in the mural looks like it is being cruxified just like Jesus was?[/i] That parallel was unnecessary, in my opinion. The movie made one too many references to Christianity for my taste (blame Fox?) but then again, you could also think of Ripley in Alien 3. She dies in that position too. It also seems like an unnatural posture for a Xenomorph so we're not talking about a whacky version of Da Vinci's Vitruvian. It's a clear nod to divine worship, but why? The moment we see that "xeno crucific" and the green crystal, Holloway says: "It's just another tomb." I know, I'm not helping.

This is just about the xenomorph targeting only humans is wrong alien3 has the answer to that. Also to the ties from movie to movie in aliens doesn't bishop mention about a older model going haywire(maybe he was mentioning rippleys previouse encounter with bishop'1waylen is a company thru out all the alien movies and the xenomorph was the basis of the movie(s).. And just another thought what if the engineers ment to create the xenomorph as the so called perfect life form.. Pure rapid adaptation.. The black goo for whatever reason gets bubbling maybe because of David being a button pusher, the goo drips on to the floor in which there seems to be maggots or larva worm things. The black goo being xeno in liquid form (possibly because of the martyr in the beginning doing the contaminate the water supply, turning it into TBG) anyways the T1000 version of xeno infects the maggots creating what I call the lil beauty (per the ones who get the business from it call it that) or worm things. An then the natural instinct of the xeno (programming or otherwise knowledge of what to do like capture as many hosts as possible to progress the species. And if someone can tell me how a queen is determined is it just a host that has a reproductive organ as in female like or if it used a "A" sexual reproductive species like with frogs I believe can do that does that mean one xeno could rapidly self produce?

Near the end of the movie, David says to Shaw that its not the only ship. That means there are many other installations, each with its own Jagger nut. Its one of such Jagger nuts which Shaw boards and make her way to the SJ's home world. Had all of these installations got infected and all the SJ's dead?? After all in the movie we just saw one of the installations which the crews of PROMETHEUS explores. What happened to the others....??

I believe they were chasing the space jockey because the title prometheus was used as a name by a titan who was punished by the gods for giving man fire. Which the Space Jockeys (the titan) must have created humans but also giving them "fire" (invitations). Which the other Space Jockeys (gods) did not approved and might have got angry with them and decided to kill them as a punishment. Which may have lead into a war with eachother and one of them try to escape by sealing the room but some got in except the unlucky decapitated one. Whatever happened one survived to try and wipe out humanity. This is what I think? But its a mystery that can never be solved.

maybe the pile of engineers were test subjects that went wrong so they piled them up to dispose of but something went wrong before they could be moved, just a thought.

@BRODO.... alien 3 man...the xeno was born from a DOG...Obviously the face hugger attached to the k9... @snorkellbottom...its not just you man...and i think your well on too something..but still these little things arise for me to question...but ....why would the rest of the engineers run INTO the ampule room you say the last engineer was infected by and in..as to risk infection themselves...apologies if i misread your post but i read it twice. 2ndly everyone seems to overlook that they where wearing their BIO (spacesuits) forms designed for intergalactic space travel...is it really plausible an infection air born or otherwise could penetrate these suits? designed to protect them...it didn't penetrate shaws or holloways or anyones run of the mill 'Human' suit. and as stated in the film later on...david (despite the goo being all over the floor) is adamant to shaw that its safe to take of their helmets when they're walking with weyland as shaw is concerned that an infection/contamination is airborne...because holloway got infected...but as we know david did that...so despite al this stuff and goo and cobra worms running about the place it was still 'SAFE' to walk around with NO helmet on...all great theories but what about the facts of the movie first and build from there. i'd put a thread about this up just yesterday about this stuff...and quickly here's my 2 cents about the point and questioned asked. i'll try and keep it quick and to the point..... TO ME...the engineers where running from an outbreak yes...but not a panspermic...or contaminative type. but more of a nested infestation type...of creatures...like the face huggers...or some variant of these creatures....wether it was a controlled or accidental outbreak we just don't know. The Engineers in their biosuits looked ready to leave the planet...***but i have to say the engineer that was awoken later in the film was wearing a different garb in the cryo pod (of which there where four) until he was about to fire the ship up and leave where his bio suit encased him in the pilots chair...so where these other engineers pilots or 'Captains' of the other vessels and subject to a conspiracy possibly started by the sacrificial engineer who took the black goo to intentionally escape and start life on earth...which also sets in motion the idea of warring factions.... which is why none of the other ships left LV223 planet to (supposedly) go to earth. as david says "there's lots of them" and other engineers in the other pyramids could be in cryo..or dead at the hands of the rebel sacrificial even double agent style engineer*** back to the question. Engineers being chased by these Facehugger types or variants .....run into the first open chamber they see (wouldn't you)...hit the close button and the last engineer doesn't quite make it (for what ever reason) and is decapitated. as for the last engineer (head) being infected...i actually don't think so....if you put an apple in a bag of onions and leave it a few days....the apple starts to smell like and to a point taste like an onion....so i think the decaying head picked up/absorbed particles of the atmosphere and what was in the atmosphere around it, like most if not all decaying or fossilised artefacts we found in the world today...and as we know if it was an infection...it wouldn't have stabilised it would still have spread..hence things like the plague...the body maybe dead but the infection is alive and why it spreads in the atmosphere to others. but as i've said earlier...despite being all over the floor..this didn't contaminate the "air". no i believe the electrical stimulus applied to the head just like the atmosphere triggered the particles in the engineers head that where absorbed...and accelerated so quickly as to combust...and really if you think about it his body out side the door didn't seem to have any of these symptoms of contamination in the change of atmosphere when the team arrived. So. the bunch of dead engineers piled up outside the other chamber door with the holes in the chest....and the head (exciting thought) i believe where either a further bunch of engineers/pilots/captains (captains cringe i know) who climbed over each other panicking trying to get INTO this other chamber knowing the danger that lurked. or indeed where the same ones who entered 'OUR' chamber and where still caught out by the face huggers....HR GIGERS mural shows that the engineers knew all about the xeno face hugger life cycle ...therefore knew how dangerous an outbreak was...where these creatures went after they burst out? ...who knows there's no sign of them dead or alive...but again considering we only seen about 15% (guess) of the pyramid they could be anywhere. its also plausible that the last engineer (at least in out story) either controlled this outbreak, or closed the door on the dead pile of engineers...or both...to keep himself safe as to carry out the mission to earth and try to overcome the betrayal (he would see it as) by the creator sacrificial engineer....it is called 'Prometheus' .as well as just maybe being lucky and made an authentic escape.....but then why didn't he leave and continue on then?....too much to consider...thats my logic to it. ... at least to this individual point.

Just another curious observation but: If the Engineers have been dead for 2000 years, why would the decapitated head be in flesh form? Wouldn't it have decomposed to the bare skeleton after say a few centuries at most??? So when they take the engineers head back to the ship and reveal a slightly fresh, fleshy head inside the helmet, wouldn't that have indicated something's amiss here? also: - what was the life form that was pinging in and out from the pup(this happened before the black goo was found)? - what was the green goo that David found on the wall/panel? This would indicate that a creature was alive and roaming around since 2000 years would have decomposed this slime as well - what was the deal with the open sequence of the engineer killing himself over the waterfall and the "mothership" taking off? this seems to be the key to the whole movie, no?

Has anyone stopped to consider the following: All of the 'star maps' left to various ancient civilizations on earth all lead to NOT the engineer homeworld, but this military or scientific installation? It seems that the engineers were not leading us to a friendly welcome to begin with... Did the one engineer in the beginning of the film not agree with that?

Matt, I thought that was weird also. I think this invitation was actually a warning. Just as in Alien the signal turned out to be a warning. Perhaps some friendly entitie wanted to give the humans a heads up.

@facehuggerlover @matt hi guys just a thought to your question Matt...this wasn't a big point for me mate as i had taken it...that it was the Star System in is total...that the cave drawing and constellations where pointing too the drawings weren't pointing specifically to lv223....THEY (Shaw and Holloway) decided upon LV223 because of its nature and adjourning sun where they'd hoped and said that one of these planets in the system was approachable in its condition of supporting life which was lv223 it doesn't mean thats where the engineers came from specifically but is part of their solar system ....it kinda makes sense when you think that its well documented that lv426 is a neighbour of lv223...and even bigger suggestion is the the engineers planet IS in that star system....like the sun moon pluto uranus etc are in our star system but light light light years apart....keeping a safe distance...yet easily approachable cause of their technological advancement to get there....it doesn't seem the engineers need oxygen to survive...as the engineer at the end chased Shaw with out a biosuit on out in the open...which would make their planet unsuitable for us...therefore we wouldn't choose that star...hope that helped your idea...not saying I'm right...but thats what i took from they start especially cause shaw and holloway say in the movie thats why they chose lv223.

For those out there that HAVEN'T really seen "Prometheus" (but are just ranting about how HORRIBLE it was) and, for those that DID see it...and were NOT impressed... Allow me to present my own " thinking persons interpretation" of what may have happened, and of what many may have missed in the "storyline" of the movie (and YES, obviously, I HAVE seen the movie). *WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS INVOLVED! * ;-) First off : the movie WAS entitled "PROMETHEUS" for a REASON! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus The opening scene depicts an "alien" being, standing naked and ready to sacrifice himself, by opening a (STOLEN) small canister of "something" that he ingests...and sacrifices himself to create (ultimately) mankind... while the (COMPLETELY different from any other in the movie) alien craft he arrived in, hovers overhead...and then departs. From here on out, for "clarification purposes": I will refer to THIS alien AS "PROMETHEUS". When Weyland's ship Prometheus arrives on the planet that "PROMETHEUS" escaped from, with the power to seed planetary life : the crew finds all of the other aliens dead except only one, as a result of "PROMETHEUS" sabotage, while making his escape with the power of creation. THAT was why, when the only survivor "alien" was awakened...he was so ANGRY... and wanted to kill all of them...and THEN get to Earth to wipe out the rest of humanity. And that is the answer to Elizabeth Shaw's (Noomi Rapace) question: (paraphrased here) "Why did you create us...and now want to destroy us?" Just my thoughts on the film. Going to see it again...just to see what else I might have missed. ;-)

Only thing I can see is that they were running from something and seeking shelter. Maybe that thing in the mural has something to do with it and the Prometheus crews were lucky not to have found it. Weird thing is that it looks like nobody made it to the shelter places as all the bodies lay outside. At one point it seemed to me that that planet may have been some sort of penal colony and weapons testing lab...

@donalddinks...hi man...nice to see a good post...but theres quite a few of us myself included....who have pretty much written the same thing give or take...am i missing something or is that much not kind of obvious?...i'd always felt that was the story....the gripe i've had with this film is that this subject matter...plus the intense story build up where abandoned...giving rise to all these speculations....and questions like the one at the head of this thread....id even written without going into detail on this thread...about the possible conspiracy against the engineers...on lv223...and that the last engineer was the only 'lucky survivor' of this conspiracy nae outbreak....and is why he deduces that these humans he encounters are the fruit of the betrayal he and his 'pals' hah! suffered and reacts the way he did....having said that the film is so city and distracted for me....that we find ourselves caught up in these threads looking for plausible reasons...to the other parts of the film...that dropped (for me) the narrative.

Donaldinks, great idea. I do see a problem though. Wouldn't that mean the engineer would have been in cryo sleep for a couple billion years while humans were developing on earth. It might not be a problem at all, just thinking its hard to fit into the timeline.

The sequel will clearly characterize the white "engineer" aliens as evil and their black overlords as good. This has been planned in the treatments.

i had the same idea as scotty123 . the Engineers had an enemy. the were creating/ bioengineering the zenomorphs to use as a weapon against that enemy. Humans were made as a way to farm hosts for the zenomorphs. but what happened is the speed of the life cycle caught them off gaurd. some of them got infected by the little wormies and destruction ensued. there is no proof as someone else suggested that it happend to ALL the ships/bases on the planet. most of the others may have gotten away. all we know is that at least a few ships remained behind. at least one was taken by elizabeth. the other thought is that they were trying to create one thing- life like themselves to seed the galaxies but they- like the humans that trampled them on the way into the room- were just not paying attention to the little wormies in the room. they maybe spilled some of their black seed goo and didnt think anything of it until the little wormies turned into things that shoved themselves down your throat. the reaction of the one surviving engineer is because he realizes he's still on the base , figures that anything human that he sees around himself is infected and wants to get the heck out of their as quick as possible to find out how long he's been asleep and what happened since hes been in suspension.

@facehuggerlover.... thats a real good point man...but i believe this is where the warring factions come into play....its an intergalactic war of factions...engineer lovers and enginer haters....and fits in with many of the iconic multi religious stories and depictions of the heaven and hell wars....(or whatever they maybe to what ever religion) that the sacrificial engineer...chose to begin mankind...for whatever his omnipotent reason...he believes its right..(prometheus steels/takes the fire)...he's not going to show the engineer haters where he hid/or used the fire..for them just to come along and extinguish life...this war is eons in length and ongoing again as described in many religious texts....and these engineer lovers visit earth in our ancient to recent past to teach us and look out for us....when the haters finally find out where we are they're on their way....(as i don't personally believe they where going to infect us as hosts for face huggers and xenos...to what end) but again a sacrificial loving engineer sabotages them and probably himself...to save mankind....and we are made from their ultimately (despite the shit in the world today) loving and sacrificial genes....hence the notion of Shaw but more heroically JANEK (although the scene was badly handled imo) to instinctively want to save humanity from the hater..as it where....what ya think?

I'm intrigued by the fact that all the Engineers were all wearing suits when they died. The masks indicated that they were probably using respirators of some kind, despite the area being fully breathable. Furthermore the black goo was not know to cause problems as an aerosol. This leads me to believe that there could have been a war on the surface, and that they ran underground for protection. Plus, they seemed prepared to be in harsh conditions. At the same time, the problem can't be some breakout due to problems containing the black goo. So from this, I can theorize that the Engineers WERE attacked by some 3rd party not shown in the movie, and that they knew about impending dangers.