On fiction- reading Spaihts' script for Prometheus
I just can't seem to get away from that, can I. Anyway, recently rumors emerged, confirmed by Spaihts himself, that his original script for Pro- actually, "Alien: Engineers" as it was called, was leaked online. Originally it could be found at scribd, but that link has been killed by the film's producers. I managed to locate a copy with a "spaihts prometheus script pdf" google search which pointed me to prometheusforum.net*, so try that, may work for a day or so more.
(*: no, I won't put a link to the pdf here.)
So I found a copy, I've read it. And now for some spoilery impressions.
The script has a reputation for being much more solid in the plot hole department than the original film. The reputation is for the most part earned.
My favorite point about it is the beginning.
The Engineers popped down to Earth from time to time to jumble the DNA of humans by sacrificing one of their engineerkind. Yes, that idea is pretty stupid on its face if you think about it- a star-faring civilization could disseminate genetic material through more efficient means than flesh eating scarabs consuming one of their own and then roaming around to bite random people. But whatever, grant the mysterious aliens their quirks.
Back in "present time" for the film, two scientists, Holloway and Watts, are investigating an obelisk they've dug out of the deep sea. It is covered with intricate markings and star maps, which they decipher as pointing out a certain star system.
They have more than the obelisk. One is an archaeologist, intrigued by "jumps" in cultural development that seemed to happen every eleven hundred years. Another is a biologist, who noticed "jumps" in DNA change occurring at the same times. Together, they also see that the climate itself seemed to have changed and stabilized since the beginning of the Holocene. Civilization was allowed to happen because the alternation between Ice Age and Warm Age stopped since then, they say. It stopped, because the aliens made a terraforming effort on Earth, they hypothesize.
It also appears that the Engineers missed two visits, six hundred and seventeen hundred years ago respectively, and the scientists are intrigued about why.
Compare and contrast with the final film. Notice the vast difference in complexity. On the one hand, I love this beginning. Now that's classical SF, where a writer tries to imagine a voyage of scientific discovery and hypothesis. On the other hand, I understand why it was simplified for the film to the barest essentials. Since the film, at that point, wanted to be an Alien prequel, too complex a setup would have detracted from its focus, maybe.
Having seen the finished film, it's also interesting to see how the original script seems to take pains to anticipate and respond to the objections of the film's current haters. Fifield, the guy in charge of the mapping hardware, gets lost in the film. In the original script, mapping was more of a team effort and the communication links were not completely reliable even without the storm.
Watts doesn't run around with staples in her abdomen. After the surgery- which fails to extract the parasite in time before it bursts out- it's she that is kept in the machine undergoing complex and futuristic (so plausibly magical) surgery to repair the damage from "birthing" the parasite. Meanwhile the parasite roams around and does damage, meaning it has something to feed on and grow with.
Character dynamics are also different. Fifield is not a scientist. Most of the expedition is made of miners, he's one of them, and they're not very interested in the scientific outcome apart from finding valuable minerals to dig out. If they don't find those, there's not much in the mission for them.
Peter Weyland doesn't put himself in needless danger because he doesn't join the expedition, Vickers isn't his daughter and is pissed at being sent away and out of it for years, David is unmistakeably a robot. The film Elizabeth Shaw is split into two characters, Holloway and Watts here, with Holloway carrying all the religious conviction and in general not acting like his hysterical film self.
Also helmets don't come off. Well they do, but that's because of facehugger shenanigans.
Finally, for everyone who wanted an actual Alien prequel, that's exactly what Spaihts provided. The action occurs on LV-426, and the ending of his script sets up what the Nostromo is to find later. Plus, various kinds of xenomorphs make their appearance throughout, doing the xenomorphy things you expect to see in an Alien film.
There were really only two points that struck me as bad, techie-wise. Watts has the lens from an Engineer's eye mounted on her goggles, which allows her to see infrared and other electromagnetic energy patterns. It's a cool idea, and it was foreshadowed that there was more going on that the human characters could see. It's just that the technological solution to get them to see those things is hopelessly implausible (a lens doesn't change what frequencies the sensor behind it can detect) and needlessly exotic, because humans already have the technology to see those things. David's eyes can see everything just fine.
Speaking of David, he breaks free of his mistress' control by "learning trinary code. Hardest thing I ever learned". It appears the Engineers were using trinary for their machines, which is where David found out about it. But there's nothing exotic about trinary codes either. Such machines were built on Earth and though they are more like academic curiosities, it's something David would probably have heard about. It's implausible that he wouldn't have.
Still, an author fudging the techie side a bit is nothing new. Even I have first hand experience with it, as by now I've deliberately fudged tech three times for my own Prometheus fan fiction novella.
So all said and done, Spaihts' script is solid, and would have made a creditable Alien prequel.
I'm still happier that the film as made isn't his script though.
"Prometheus" took the grandiose themes hinted at in "Alien: Engineers" and cranked them up to eleven. Less subtle, more ambitious, it set out to explore what soul and purpose are, the nature of divinity, creation, and life everlasting. It failed as a result, but sometimes an ambitious failure is better than an easy success.
Had I watched "Alien: Engineers" in the cinema, I'd have gone home content in having seen a good SF/horror in the mold of Alien. I would probably not have considered writing anything about it. I watched "Prometheus" instead, and it moved me more.
A large part of that is to be found in the new characters that Prometheus has: Elizabeth Shaw and David. Watts (A:E) isn't Shaw (P), nor is David (A:E), David (P). Watts is a pragmatic survivor. There's nothing more at stake for her than her hide. Shaw is a believer. Her hide is at stake, but also her soul, as her worldview is called into question. David (A:E) knows he's better than every human he sees and wants all of them dead. David (P) knows he would be better than every human he sees but for the lack of that elusive soul quality, and flails around searching for one and for freedom.
As a consequence, Watts and David (A:E) surviving is much less imbibed with thematic possibility than Elizabeth and David (P).
I keep saying that the main reason I like Prometheus so much is because I feel there's a good story in there somewhere. Spaihts' script is a good story. It isn't that story though.
(*: no, I won't put a link to the pdf here.)
So I found a copy, I've read it. And now for some spoilery impressions.
The script has a reputation for being much more solid in the plot hole department than the original film. The reputation is for the most part earned.
My favorite point about it is the beginning.
The Engineers popped down to Earth from time to time to jumble the DNA of humans by sacrificing one of their engineerkind. Yes, that idea is pretty stupid on its face if you think about it- a star-faring civilization could disseminate genetic material through more efficient means than flesh eating scarabs consuming one of their own and then roaming around to bite random people. But whatever, grant the mysterious aliens their quirks.
Back in "present time" for the film, two scientists, Holloway and Watts, are investigating an obelisk they've dug out of the deep sea. It is covered with intricate markings and star maps, which they decipher as pointing out a certain star system.
They have more than the obelisk. One is an archaeologist, intrigued by "jumps" in cultural development that seemed to happen every eleven hundred years. Another is a biologist, who noticed "jumps" in DNA change occurring at the same times. Together, they also see that the climate itself seemed to have changed and stabilized since the beginning of the Holocene. Civilization was allowed to happen because the alternation between Ice Age and Warm Age stopped since then, they say. It stopped, because the aliens made a terraforming effort on Earth, they hypothesize.
It also appears that the Engineers missed two visits, six hundred and seventeen hundred years ago respectively, and the scientists are intrigued about why.
Compare and contrast with the final film. Notice the vast difference in complexity. On the one hand, I love this beginning. Now that's classical SF, where a writer tries to imagine a voyage of scientific discovery and hypothesis. On the other hand, I understand why it was simplified for the film to the barest essentials. Since the film, at that point, wanted to be an Alien prequel, too complex a setup would have detracted from its focus, maybe.
Having seen the finished film, it's also interesting to see how the original script seems to take pains to anticipate and respond to the objections of the film's current haters. Fifield, the guy in charge of the mapping hardware, gets lost in the film. In the original script, mapping was more of a team effort and the communication links were not completely reliable even without the storm.
Watts doesn't run around with staples in her abdomen. After the surgery- which fails to extract the parasite in time before it bursts out- it's she that is kept in the machine undergoing complex and futuristic (so plausibly magical) surgery to repair the damage from "birthing" the parasite. Meanwhile the parasite roams around and does damage, meaning it has something to feed on and grow with.
Character dynamics are also different. Fifield is not a scientist. Most of the expedition is made of miners, he's one of them, and they're not very interested in the scientific outcome apart from finding valuable minerals to dig out. If they don't find those, there's not much in the mission for them.
Peter Weyland doesn't put himself in needless danger because he doesn't join the expedition, Vickers isn't his daughter and is pissed at being sent away and out of it for years, David is unmistakeably a robot. The film Elizabeth Shaw is split into two characters, Holloway and Watts here, with Holloway carrying all the religious conviction and in general not acting like his hysterical film self.
Also helmets don't come off. Well they do, but that's because of facehugger shenanigans.
Finally, for everyone who wanted an actual Alien prequel, that's exactly what Spaihts provided. The action occurs on LV-426, and the ending of his script sets up what the Nostromo is to find later. Plus, various kinds of xenomorphs make their appearance throughout, doing the xenomorphy things you expect to see in an Alien film.
There were really only two points that struck me as bad, techie-wise. Watts has the lens from an Engineer's eye mounted on her goggles, which allows her to see infrared and other electromagnetic energy patterns. It's a cool idea, and it was foreshadowed that there was more going on that the human characters could see. It's just that the technological solution to get them to see those things is hopelessly implausible (a lens doesn't change what frequencies the sensor behind it can detect) and needlessly exotic, because humans already have the technology to see those things. David's eyes can see everything just fine.
Speaking of David, he breaks free of his mistress' control by "learning trinary code. Hardest thing I ever learned". It appears the Engineers were using trinary for their machines, which is where David found out about it. But there's nothing exotic about trinary codes either. Such machines were built on Earth and though they are more like academic curiosities, it's something David would probably have heard about. It's implausible that he wouldn't have.
Still, an author fudging the techie side a bit is nothing new. Even I have first hand experience with it, as by now I've deliberately fudged tech three times for my own Prometheus fan fiction novella.
So all said and done, Spaihts' script is solid, and would have made a creditable Alien prequel.
I'm still happier that the film as made isn't his script though.
"Prometheus" took the grandiose themes hinted at in "Alien: Engineers" and cranked them up to eleven. Less subtle, more ambitious, it set out to explore what soul and purpose are, the nature of divinity, creation, and life everlasting. It failed as a result, but sometimes an ambitious failure is better than an easy success.
Had I watched "Alien: Engineers" in the cinema, I'd have gone home content in having seen a good SF/horror in the mold of Alien. I would probably not have considered writing anything about it. I watched "Prometheus" instead, and it moved me more.
A large part of that is to be found in the new characters that Prometheus has: Elizabeth Shaw and David. Watts (A:E) isn't Shaw (P), nor is David (A:E), David (P). Watts is a pragmatic survivor. There's nothing more at stake for her than her hide. Shaw is a believer. Her hide is at stake, but also her soul, as her worldview is called into question. David (A:E) knows he's better than every human he sees and wants all of them dead. David (P) knows he would be better than every human he sees but for the lack of that elusive soul quality, and flails around searching for one and for freedom.
As a consequence, Watts and David (A:E) surviving is much less imbibed with thematic possibility than Elizabeth and David (P).
I keep saying that the main reason I like Prometheus so much is because I feel there's a good story in there somewhere. Spaihts' script is a good story. It isn't that story though.
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