Humanoid Space Jockeys

Viscal

Long before Ridley Scott publicly entertained any von Daniken influence in any one of his movies, Scott most likely held the notion that the Space Jockeys were a completely different specie altogether with absolutely no human ties. I'm imagining (as most fans and so did Ridley, I'm sure) something elephant-like in its pre-fossilized appearance.

But he has confirmed that the Jockey as you've seen it in ALIEN is just a suit. Other things indicate that the giant we see in the trailer is he who dons the suit. Many other clues point to the fact that the Jockeys are also our makers in the movie.

THEN

NOW (most likely)

What are your ideas and/or opinions on humanoid jockeys? Also do you sit well with them being humanity's makers in Prometheus?

Nanosoldier

Hmm. When I look at the Space Jockey, it has a certain uniqueness to it. It may not be an original design (considering that it looks like, well, us) but it's different to a certain degree that you can see it's indeed alien and that's enough for me to accept that it is alien and not some basis race for our species.

I frown the decision to make the SJs our creators but I can see that they look the part to be our creators. Call me crazy, but I sometimes like to compare it to the Forerunners from the Halo series if you know what I'm saying.

Viscal

I actually never played Halo before (when it came to FPS games, it was only ever on the PC).

But yeah, you can sorta make out the biomechanical detail on the back of the SJ. Maybe this is how he's fused with his suit?

Nanosoldier

I would not be surprised if the Space Jockey fused to that huge piece of junk through biological means. Since most of the SJ related technology is Giger-based, and most of Giger's work has a lot of unnatural biological meanings to it, I am guessing that the entire majority of SJ tech is biomechanical. I remember a discussion I read some days ago that the actual Derelict is biological and explains possibly why the Derelict in Alien has a more skeletal look that in Prometheus. Hell, even that Swedish artist's fan artworks on Prometheus gave the Space Jockey tech a real biological feel to it.

Kanesson

I don't really like the Humanoid Space Jockeys at all...all of the Exotic appeal of their nature seems to have vanished in favor of some visually uninteresting blueish/gray Humanoid being...and it seems to me that this sudden "human" appearance was just altered to fit the human seeding plot of the film, these compromises are unfortunate, as nothing made A L I E N more "alien" to me, than the Space Jockey itself, as did the Derelict.

The Alien or "Xenomorph", whatever you wanna call it was a horrific, beautifully designed Creature, but the mystique and otherworldliness lies in the Derelict, its interior design and the exceedingly creepy Space Jockey...ever since seeing A L I E N I've wondered about it's living appearance, culture, motives, homeworld, basically more about it, than the "Xenomorph" itself.

The humanization of it, I will admit, upsets me a little...Instead of a strange alien lifeform, that possibly exists among millions if not billions of others in the Universe, we hit the galactic jackpot and find THE Creator of all possible life?...Is this stories reach exceeding it's grasp?

NickIsSmart

I don't care so long as it's scary.

aperezNWO

Take a look at that Space Jockey concept by Ron Cobb

aperezNWO

http://alienexplorations.blogspot.com/2009/02/space-jockeys-origins-in-swiss-family.html

Kanesson

aperezNWO said:
Take a look at that Space Jockey concept by Ron Cobb

I liked it when they were INhuman ^^^, now they're just giants...that's boring to me...but, knowing Ridley, they'll have some inhuman aspect to them other than height.

ramp_closing

Kanesson said:
Instead of a strange alien lifeform, that possibly exists among millions if not billions of others in the Universe, we hit the galactic jackpot and find THE Creator of all possible life?...Is this stories reach exceeding it's grasp?

While I don't share it, I understand your discontent about the humanization of the SJ. However, with respect to your point above, if we are, in some fashion, their scions, it makes the odds of us discovering them more plausible not less so. By design, we're in their stellar playground.

metaltissuefreak

in god's image

Sticky_Fingaz

aperezNWO said:
Take a look at that Space Jockey concept by Ron Cobb

I actually prefer this to what is seen in the trailer.

Viscal

The SJ still reminds me of generic videogame bosses:

OR

And I'm sure there are more buff bald gray giant dudes like these, particularly in Japanese produced games.

Kanesson

I get that in the Mythology Prometheus was a Titan,(NOT a God) but I think Ridleys being a little too literal in his analogy...when I think of a Titan those "buff bald gray giant dudes" is what I think of...and that's what our long mysterious Corpse from another world is turning out to be...it's just...boring.

ramp_closing

There is some danger in a retread of the old Anakim idea, but to me an interesting story is more important than interesting morphology, and I expect Ridley will do it justice. Having a truly exotic looking SJ might even dilute the strangeness of the hinted at ALIEN precursor.

nineinchwonder

I'm with you kanesson. i don't like the whole ancient astronaut concept even though I'm open minded to the belief that we were at some point visited but that in itself could just be us misinterpitating what we read and see.
but as we all know this may not be the case at all. June is too bloody long. March would have been better.
I can't live 3 months without sex nevermind bloody prometheus

metaltissuefreak

i love the concept of a living space suit made out of bioengineered material that interfaces with the user in a very vile way, but it is equally disappointing that the guy in the chair was not some freak alien being condemned to a life of permanent fixation to a navigation chair

Sticky_Fingaz

My main problem with the SJ being very humanlike is that the "suit" is so alien and feels related to the xenomorph. I find the bad guy to be boring. Im sure Ridley has some tricks up his sleeve so I'll reserve judgement for the cinema.

ramp_closing

Sticky_Fingaz said:
My main problem with the SJ being very humanlike is that the "suit" is so alien and feels related to the xenomorph.

If the suit and the ALIEN are both SJ constructs, then a similarity in design makes sense. Our human technologies suit us and conform to our needs, but they don't tend to draw their aesthetic from our appearance. Our materials, science and artistic predilections determine the look and feel. I don't see why it need be different for the Jocks. Their tech reflects its biomechanical basis.

I do wonder at the uneven flooring though. We're prone to stumble over slight discontinuities in footing, not sure how another biped would fare better.

Dolemen

So, I'm bored at work and playing the “what if” game. I thought it interesting, what if in Prometheus we find that the Space Jockey race is extinct. The crew of the Prometheus find the remnants of their society and technology and attempt to meddle in things they don't quite understand like genetics.

In the trailer we see a SJ head on a scanner/table of sorts and there is also the scene where we get a glimpse of the substance in the urns. It wouldn't be to far out of scope that humans try and resurrect the SJ race to learn their secrets with dire consequence, i.e. birth of Xenomorphs by way of its predecessor.

Jonesycatpants

Dolemen said:
So, I'm bored at work and playing the “what if” game. I thought it interesting, what if in Prometheus we find that the Space Jockey race is extinct. The crew of the Prometheus find the remnants of their society and technology and attempt to meddle in things they don't quite understand like genetics.

In the trailer we see a SJ head on a scanner/table of sorts and there is also the scene where we get a glimpse of the substance in the urns. It wouldn't be to far out of scope that humans try and resurrect the SJ race to learn their secrets with dire consequence, i.e. birth of Xenomorphs by way of its predecessor.

i think you're spot on, fits in with the Lovecraftian elements that existed in Alien.

nineinchwonder

come june the 1st and discover Prometheus. . . . and bob

kjohnson26

The IMDB credit listing shows four puppeteers and 16 people involved in various aspects of creature design, sculpting, technical direction, etc. I think that there is going to be more than just a humanoid jockey or that "white worm" thing to need all those creature/puppet people.

Nragemachine

Damn Doleman, you just blew my fuckin' mind with that shit! Nice idea, I like it very much.

kjohnson26

This popped up on that ridleygrams twitter feed

http://ridleygrams.tumblr.com/post/18317219970/dead-crew-member-or-just-one-space-suit

Just to the back of the jockey chair it is suggested is a dead crewman or space suit. When I look at the hi-res trailer, its kind of ambiguous maybe/maybe not. That got me thinking though, I had noticed earlier that the sarcophagus/sleeping pod(?) behind the chair looks different than the others. It seems to be shallower or missing its lid. I thought at the time maybe that that was just some design decision, but now I think that could be an open space jockey pod. Maybe the humanoid jockey climbed out of that pod rather than his being a mutated crew member? Or the jockey in the pod is out wandering around the ship?

Appended: I have to agree with the ridleygrams post that the what looks like a blue space suit and part of a backpack is visible just beyond the bottom edge of the opened sarcophagus by the chair. It is probably the body of a crew member. I think that the Orrery and the Jockey Chair Room are the same. It is probably the blonde crew member standing in the middle of the Orrery scene that died or was rendered unconscious, which is either David or maybe Vickers.

bluefish

Of course the SJs are humanoid. They have created us in their image.

Maybe what seems like LV426 in the trailer is actually early earth. Kind of a reverse Planet of the Apes thing where the crew of the Prometheus go back in time to pre-life earth just as the SJ's are beginning to terraform it. Note that the images of Skye in the UK look like a post-terraformed version what we see as a barren landscape in the trailer. Maybe humans are fully evolved end product of SJ life on earth and we go back in time and possibly screw things up, thereby threatening the entire future timeline of earth. The horror is in finding what we actually originated from.

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