Changing LV426 to LV223 is some of the dumbest writing I have ever winessed

Al Bert

It still grinds my gears to this day. Every time I watch Prometheus (which isn't that often), I can't help but get distracted and annoyed by the blatant fact that the original script was clearly set on LV426. The mural of the xenomorph, the engineer putting on his space jockey outfit and sitting in his chair; Taking his position/setting the stage for his 'cameo' in Alien. Then you have the obvious crashing ship that would eventually become the infamous derelict ship.

I mean, really. How dumb did the writers think fans of this franchise would be? Did they think we wouldn't notice? "Oh that's a *different* ship.. Different planet.. We swear" Pfffft.Pull the other one, Lindelof. Maybe it's the case *now*, canonically speaking, but let's be honest folks.. That WAS the space jockey. That WAS the derelict ship, and by F*** that WAS LV-426!  

It baffles me why they decided to change it. And the only reason that I can think of is so that they could make room for Shaw to have one last standoff with the engineer in the lifeboat (in true Alien fashion). It's almost like they realised that since they now had the engineer written as the host for the would-be xenomorph for the tacked-on ending, there was no way to get him back to his lovely chair to sit and die in.. so it's like they rewrote everything else to fit around that.

BigDave

I actually disagree... in a respectful way... everything that was good with Spaights Draft was carried over to Prometheus only it needed another writer to then tidy up Lindeloffs Draft

You see here are the Problems with Spaights draft...

*Watts  (Shaw) became to much of a Bad-ass who become a Heroine more than Ripely and Sarah Conner, it sucked that she basically killed most of the Aliens off herself... the last Scene was rather daft.

*Holloway was more Naive than Shaw in Prometheus with even more Religious Faith.

But the biggest problem was the way it ended and being on LV-426 and how it was explained, simply left a lot of Plot Holes to Alien.. it simply did not add up...  Apart from tease the Engineer could be the Space Jockey.

But the Signal would not have added up, and we have those Pyramids that let off Signals, and then in Alien and Aliens there is no evidence of the Magellan or the Temples or the Pyramids or the Dead Humans and Aliens etc.

Prometheus made more sense to move it to LV-223 and simply hint it was connected to LV-426... we see the Engineer in Prometheus was fine but the other Cryo-Pods had Chest Buster Holes.. so it was more Logical another Ship with the Space Jockey suffered the same fate, but they had also got into Cryo-sleep but was also infected.

They then awoke a few hundred years latter and went to resume the mission but only left LV-426 when they realized they was infected and then Quarantined the Cargo on LV-426 then have the Chest Buster be responsible for those Eggs.

RS had also hinted to such a fate... Here is prior to AC what RS had said about the Space Jockey.

*The event happened within a few hundred years of the outbreak on LV-223 that wiped out those Engineers.

*The Space Jockey was heading to a undisclosed location but he did not get far.  (hints that his journey was not far thus LV-223 ==>LV-426).

*The Space Jockey got infected by his Cargo and set down a course to LV-426

*The Derelict did not Crash, it was intended to land there.

*The Pilot was Chest Busted during the landing procedure.

Ridley Scott latter and again well prior to Alien Covenant, added that the Space Jockey had got infected by his Cargo, something had EVOLVED in the Cargo and infected him.

BigDave

Fans complained about how Stupid Prometheus seemed and the route it was taking... so now RS/FOX have given us that David creates the Xenomorph and that now its either a Human, Synthetic or maybe still a Engineer that becomes the Space Jockey and looking at the Time Frame...

The Space Jockey is now 5-10 years old in Alien and not thousands.

Walter

What are you talking about?We see LV-426 only in Alien.Maybe it will be shown in Awakening or in other prequel.

ali81

I don't get whats hard to understand here. if u knew anything ud know that there r 3 moons orbiting the gas giant. lv426 was a dead rock so made sense that the prequel took place on one of the other moons. all that's on lv426 in alien is the derelict. how is that so hard to get?

hox

Wise man he say "Don't say other people dumb when he say dumb things himself".

Seph7

I mean, really. How dumb did the writers think fans of this franchise would be? Did they think we wouldn't notice? "Oh that's a *different* ship.. Different planet.. We swear" Pfffft.Pull the other one, Lindelof. Maybe it's the case *now*, canonically speaking, but let's be honest folks.. That WAS the space jockey. That WAS the derelict ship, and by F*** that WAS LV-426!!!

Err... It was always meant to be a different moon in the same system, orbiting the same planet. Having it be the same moon as Alien wouldn't make sense to canon. The Alien crew would have found the wreckage of the Prometheus and the crashed Juggernaut with a decomposed Weyland...

drucea

This whole argument can't be proven unless RS or Fox states what was changed and how and why.  Other than that, you're saying Fox and RS made all of these "dumb" changes thinking fans wouldn't notice or don't care, just because you think that's what happened.

DG

It was a mistake to make the Zeta 2 Reticuuli system the primary setting for Prometheus if LV 426 wasn't going to play a significant role. It would have been more effective to have (LV 223) on the other side of that system and by the time events culminated in the Space Jockey reaching the infamous planetoid, the scope and mystery of what we've already seen would not only be preserved, but reaffirmed. The fact that 223 and 426 are kind of right next to each other takes a little bit of that away in my opinion.

Seph7

Not necessarily... If we go with the idea that at the time of Prometheus the Space Jockey hasn't happened yet, there's nothing remarkable about LV-426...

But, if it turns out that the Alien Xenomorph is an older version of David's reverse engineered beings, who knows what will happen?!

ali81

according to weylands logs in the blu ray extras the company are aware of the signal on lv426. though the way everyone keeps changing their minds in this prequel I wouldn't be surprised if this is forgotten about and ignored by fox

chli

Well, I agree that Spaith's script "Alien: Engineers" was better than Lindelof's. It would have been a much scarier film which would have pleased many fans (elements which were brought back into AC). It would also have given us a logical connection between the engineers' experiments and Alien (the Space Jockey).

On the other hand, to explore the engineers and our origin wasn't bad, and the ideas in AC were also pretty good, but how to connect it with Alien? Did the Space Jockey die about 2000 years prior to the arrival of The Nostromo on LV-426, or about 10?

ali81

my personal preference is the derelict is an ancient ship crashed or landed there thousands of years ago. once id seen Prometheus I thought that the vents that affected the lv223 facility would have a direct connection to the derelict which I liked. this now seems to be 50/50 if it is indeed david who is responsible for the derelict. I personally hate this explanation for the derelict. I prefer the ancient and more mysterious backstory to its fate and if knowing that an android was responsible for the derelict in alien I don't think the derelict scene in the original film will hold the same feeling for me.

Kethol

Ridley said years ago that there did not need to be a direct connection to the derelict, since that was just another Engineer ship doing what the Engineers do. 

His recent comments sound like they may actually lead the story directly to that ship. I hope they don't. Completely unnecessary, unless they back themselves into a corner by explicitly stating the xenos on that ship are exclusively David's breed, not a breed that already existed. As it stands now, it could be either/or.

chli

Kethol

Well, it doesn't have to be a direct connection to the Derelict if the engineers created the xenomorph (in a facility on LV-223). If David did (on Planet 4, The Covenant or Origae-6), then there has to be.

ali81

id say there will be a connection between the prequels and derelict. the derelict is the whole reason we got alien so id assume the connection between the prequels and the original film will be the derelict. I hope not though, I hope they find another way to connect them and keep the derelict as an ancient ship that lander or crashed millennia ago

chli

ali81

Yes, I would prefer a flashback scene at the end of Alien: Awakening where we go back in time to the outbreak on LV-223 and a juggernaut hastily leaves with its cargo hold filled with eggs and crashes on LV-426.

ali81

chli, that's something along the lines of what id like to see aswell. for me, if the derelict is there because of david, it takes so much away from the derelict scene in alien and it wont be the same watching it again.