Part 2

Disc 1

Audio Commentary by Director (120 mins)

Cards on the table; as a visual stylist, Scott is exceptional. I will not deny his eye for detail and his determination to preserve and promote his 'vision' (a word he dislikes but uses nonetheless). But has he mellowed with age? The chip is still there, very much on older, northern shoulders. He says words to the effect of "I have three movies in the Library of Congress and still people, younger people question my decisions. You'd think I would have earned the right not to be questioned any more..." The unintended, amusing but stark petulance confirms that the guy (whatever level of success he has achieved) still sees himself, bizarrely, as an underdog. Ridley, you're a giant talent. Accept it. Move on. If a young person questions your decisions, just fire them or if you can't, use another 'f' word...

So given that Scott's work features prominently in any mainstream cinematic 'Best of' list, his commentary on Prometheus is (struggles for the right words) utterly baffling. Over the first scene, he describes what we're seeing shot for shot. Ridley. You took so much effort to go there and shoot it. Don't tell me what I'm watching because I'm watching it! And he also repeats the dialogue of other later scenes – scenes we've just seen! It's a truly inexplicable aspect of a commentary that may have held all the answers the curious were looking for. This commentary has been positively reviewed as being technically revealing. I didn't get that at all. All I got was (on occasion) someone telling me what I was watching and complaints about people not accepting creative decisions without question.

The bulk of the commentary is, of course, wonderfully revealing about the behind the scenes stuff, not a lot of technical information truth be told. The fact he expected Dragon Tattoo's punk Lisbeth Salander to walk through the door and not the round faced, designer label clad, actress Noomi Rapace is a little gem. And Rapace's determination to see Alien when under-age – "They couldn't stop me..." – is a lovely story. But perhaps the commentary was a chore. I know 70 is the new 50 but you've earned a break once you're in your eighth decade. Once my unintentionally mean spirited nitpicking has abated, I have to say that the director's commentary is still a very worthy addition to the box set.

Audio Commentary by the writers John Spaihts and Damon Lindelof
OK, here we go! I read somewhere but cannot confirm that the two writers credited with the script were recorded separately and edited together. This makes perfect sense. Why? Because Spaihts was brought in to write a prequel to Alien and at a certain point, Lindelof pitched the 'self-medication' scene and got to be the last writer on the project (as well as earning an Executive Producer credit – he must have a shit-hot agent). Alien Prequel was now renamed and re-positioned in the alien universe by Ridley Scott. This seemed to be no collaboration although I have only a sense of this and could be quite wrong. The two men were fair and sensitive to each other's contributions and input but you get a vague, uneasy sense from Spaihts that he was elbowed out by the Lost writer Lindelof who injected rather too much mystery into the proceedings.

I was frankly astonished at Lindelof's bare-faced admission of how much he would be hated by those who bridled at his constant promotion of mystery and reliance on audiences' own interpretations. He talks like a man who knows exactly what the outcome of his work's inbuilt mystery might wreak and widespread confusion is its name. There is no excuse. He decided to approach the writing of a movie about mankind's origins as an exercise in planting more questions. Maybe he was right. Think about it – what answers could you come up with? But then why ask those questions in the first place if you weren't going to take a stab at some answer? I'm reminded of Spielberg's commitment making Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Even Kubrick balked at the showing of ETs in 2001 A Space Odyssey. Spielberg put that promise in the title of his movie. True, they were bathed in over-exposure so much so that we were never able to examine them but at least he delivered however nervously. Scott does not deliver. Yes, his aliens are suitably exotic and derived from a genetic programme of mass destruction but this isn't scary. He (and his writers) simply do not deliver on the marketing promises. But there's always the sequel.

Sigh.

*

Deleted And Alternate Scenes (36:51) (Optional commentary by editor Pietro Scalia and visual effects supervisor Richard Stammers).
The editor takes the principal role here while Stammers provides commentary on just one of the deleted scenes, the alternative Fifield sequence (CG or not CG).

1. Arrival of the Engineers (2:41)
Pietro Scalia tells us what we are watching. Please, future commentators, don't do this. It puts the viewer at the level of a retarded goat with ADD. The film-makers wanted to keep it more mysterious so decided after the shoot that there was no need for dialogue – ancient language be damned and to hell with the sub-story of David taking a lot of time to learn the ancient dialect. Silence is better – more mysterious. OK. Interesting that the other Engineers were CG-cly removed from the wide shot. It's crazy how many decisions were made after the shoot. Up until bathing in these extras, I thought and accepted that the directorial mind was constant, striving to get what he/she wanted. On Prometheus, Scott seems to be making it up as he goes along and as he said "Anything goes..."

2. T'is The Season (1:07)
A longer introduction to Captain Janek – cut to save time. As it's Christmas day, we can start seeing all the religious nods in the movie now... Jesus (was an Engineer)...

3. Our First Alien (0:51)
Taken out because it doesn't develop the narrative. OK. This was finding the worms – underwhelming as aliens go but then I guess anything can happen via the medium of alien goo.

4. Skin (0:51)
The admission that keeping this scene is would be "...opening questions we couldn't answer..." Boring. Why set up any dramatic scenario that you can't pay off? Mystery is only fun if the answers are either teased and revealed or if the answers are never answerable (and we are led to accept this). A movie, like a joke, is set up and pay off. There are twelve set ups in Prometheus and a meagre two pay offs.

5. We're Not Alone Anymore (1:32)
This is the story Shaw's mother used to tell her cut into the scene after her getting the Engineer's head back to the ship. Not a great loss.

6. Strange Bedfellows (3:11)
Holloway is initially antagonistic, an atheist on a mission to make all religious people proved wrong. As an aggressive "good-idea promoting / bad-idea demoting" atheist myself, even I found Holloway's stance to be a bit heavy handed. He reasons that the Engineers simply viewed mankind as a "Petri dish..." Fair enough.

7. Holloway Hangover (1:35)
Given up for pace reasons – a few extra shots of Holloway's discomfort. Editor Scalia glosses over the close up 'ring' shot (see earlier). As I would have if I'd been forced to fudge like that in a movie that cost this many shekels.

8. David's Objective (0:31)
Keeping Vickers in the dark...

9. Janek Fills Vickers In (3:43)
Vickers is emotionally affected by killing Holloway by burning him to a cinder. This is a lovely character scene (and a pay off of sorts to the accordion moments) but it put the brakes on the story, so out it came.

10. A King Has His Reign (3:56)
A longer version of the Lear-inspired scene ("How sharper than a serpent's tooth...") – pace was a problem. Essential information is only required so the scene was cut to the quick.

11. Fifield Attacks (2:14)
This is the clip that Richard Stammers provides the commentary for. WETA in New Zealand created a fully CG Fifield but Scott decided on the actor/make up based creature. Not sure which version I preferred. I do like monsters. Stammers is a good guide to the creative decisions made regarding this scene.

12. The Engineer Speaks (4:23)
This is an important scene. But it was judged that the less said the better – to keep it more mysterious. There's that bloody word again. "We are gods and gods never die," says Weyland. Maybe certain things are overly explained says Scalia... A little explanation here might have helped but only fecking considerably.

13. Final Battle (5:51)
Again, Scalia explains what we can see clearly. Please. Don't. Maybe there's an art to movie commentary because this is not a great example (I cannot imagine myself doing any better, never fear). But then in his place perhaps I'd fall back on explaining what we are seeing too. In short this scene was cut because axe or no axe, a five-foot biped has no freaking chance in a fight to the death with an eight foot biped... Unless she has an octopoidal, pissed off progeny in the en suite. Oh, wait...

14. Paradise (5:20)
Again Scalia is describing what we are seeing. Stop it! There is also some unfinished FX pixellation and no head and spine alignment with shots featuring David. There's also a bizarre continuity error – David's head is out of the bag pre-abseil after we have been shown he's just been stuffed into a bag... Ignore that, just another error by dint of "Is this scene in or out?"

*

The Peter Weyland Files (18:57)
(These also include multiple text pages for each section more or less explaining what we are seeing).

1. Quiet Eye: Elizabeth Shaw (2:37)
A lie detector test? Shaw tries to convince Weyland via video to finance a trip to the stars. There's a nice moment when her Christian name is being compared to others and one of those others is 'Lizbet', an echo of a former role?

2. Happy Birthday, David (2:28)
Weyland Industries makes robots. This is an introduction to David and it's beautifully done. I watched this two or three times wracking my brains about its style and where had I seen its like before. After the third viewing, I wrenched it from my own ten-year old's memory banks. Of course, the whole tone of this piece is based on HAL's interview by the BBC in 2001 A Space Odyssey. Classic!

3. Prometheus Transmission (7:08)
More fascinating 2001 echoes of old furniture. This is the crew and hardware and preparatory tapes for the mission sent to what was believed to be the Engineers' home planet. Holloway wants to crush all man made religion and prove everybody wrong. There are also out-takes from the Scandinavian helicopter shoot. Kubrick would have loved the year 2012... This is the Prometheus version of Voyager's meagre offerings to extra-terrestrial cultures.

4. TED Conference, 2023 (6:58)
I don't wish to patronize anyone at any time. But, if you've not heard of TED and the jaw dropping number of super-inspiring videos that the organization has produced, Google and swim in infesTED waters. Smart people being unapologetically smart in a good way. This viral ties in the Lawrence of Arabia quote used by David in the opening of the movie. Not wanting to diss TED at all (I love TED) but there is a definite Nuremberg Rally vibe going on here. It's a great performance by Guy Pearce. TED got so big!

*

Live Extras
My Blu-ray player is not connected to the internet but I'm reliably informed that this just takes you to the Fox site... This 'feature' is simply not worthy enough to be an 'extra' on the root level of the menu.

*

Outside the disk:

App iPad Control Blu-ray Remote which gives access to the archives of Peter Weyland (60 mins):
I didn't test-drive the app (I do have a life, you know) but the specs tell us the content is similar if not the same as some Extras on Disc 3 (so it's a kind of tease of the Extra Features available if you stump up the money for the 3D version).

I'm reliably informed that this lot is what you can expect (see later for reviews of some or all of these features):

Pre-production:


• First and final draft of the script (text)

• Sketches of Ridley Scott (photo gallery)

• The Art of Prometheus (photo gallery)

• Pre-visualization (30 mins)

• Tests of Noomi Rapace (15 mins)

• The costume design (photo gallery)

• Tests "look" of the cast (10 mins)


Production:


• Graphic Video Dashboard

• Photographs of the team

• Video of the private pilot
Production and post-release
• Marketing Gallery

*

Disc 2 (Prometheus 3D):
The 3D film
And hey, I was curious so I put it in my resolutely 2D Blu-ray player and got a curt telling off akin to the Heart Of Gold's message to Arthur when he pressed a button and it came up with the message "Do not press this button again." Very satisfying!

*

Disc 3 (Bonus material)

The Furious Gods: Making Prometheus (3:40:56)

1. Conquest of paradise: renewing the story (19:29)
2. Under the pyramid: LV-223 (25:43)
3. Reverse Engineering: USCSS Prometheus (17:26)
4. The human manifest: casting and costumes (25:41)
5. A world without green: Pinewood studios, 2011 (24:19)
6. Demons in the dark: creature design (28:08)
7. Hazard pay: stunts and action (24:50)
8. Fire from the sky: visual effects (24:35)
9. Prometheus unbound: post-production and release (30:42)

Well, what can I say? For a real science fiction fan, a lover of cinema and someone with a particular fascination with special effects (those done in camera) and visual effects (those done in post), there is only one word.

Wow.

You may argue about the merits of certain creative decisions but the work that has gone into this movie is staggering and so many aspects that I blithely assumed were digital were in fact attained on camera. Utterly and gobsmackingly fascinating. With respect to the entire crew of both movie and magazine, this documentary is like an edition of Cinefex put on stage! If I were to enthuse about specific moments, I (and not presumably you) would be here all night. I'll just say that if you want to know how big budget Hollywood acquits itself under Ridley Scott, it's all here. My slight nit-pick is as follows:

If you are going to make a kick-ass, multi-hour documentary on the making of a movie, don't wimp out... The following 'Enhancement Pods' don't fool anyone. Include them in the doc (who cares if that makes it almost five hours long?) People have remotes. They can skip stuff they don't want to watch.

10. Enhancement Pods (1:10:54)
Bloody silly. Just shove it all in "The Making Of..." Enhancement Pods? They are simply out-takes with more testosterone. They are simply cutting room floor rejects made to look super cool and futuristic. I am convinced these were in place to be offered on the iPad app...

1. The Title Conundrum (2:38)
Steven Messing (Visual Effects Art Director) mentions that the demi-god Prometheus is revisited by a crow... It's not a crow that eats his liver. It's an eagle. The title of my whole review would simply not work if it was a crow. I mean, was the 1969 lunar module christened 'Crow'? No. It was 'Eagle'. Someone get me a Xanax.

2. Prometheus: the board game (3:23)
3. Sexburster (1:53)
4. Knick knacks of tomorrow (4:44)
5. Fun with molecular gastronomy (6:14)
6. Building better logos (2:21)
7. Maker's mark (1:58)
8. The ampule shoppe (2:09)
9. Gigeresque (3:57)

10. Language of the gods (3:57)
Oh joy unconfined... Want to take a guess at the passage that David learned in the oldest language on the planet. Come on, Ridley Scott aficionados... What would Ridders playfully get David to learn... Here's a clue how it starts...

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe..."

Oh, bloody marvellous!

11. First exposure: alien (5:47)
12. Body mechanics: trilobite (1:09)
13. Xenomorphology: the deacon (1:26)
14. Constrictive construction (2:01)
15. Chair fetish (4:05)
16. One day in Africa (1:54)

17. Location: Iceland (3:34)
Seven hours of make up for the Engineer actor. And then most of them were digitally excised! Sheesh.

18. The art of terraforming (1:35)

19. Battle of the planets: 223 vs. 426 (3:17)
Scott didn't know what planet the Prometheus set down on – even in editing these issues were still being debated. That still surprises me given the investment in the Alien world. Fassbender mentions that the film-makers should be prepared to break a few geek hearts going after something new. I'm tempted to quote Sir Humphrey Appleby here... "If you must do this bloody silly thing, don't do it this bloody silly way."

20. All things holographic (6:18)
The orrery (a model of the solar system) directive was straightforward, "...it just has to contain the entire universe." Classic.

21. Weyland's wet dream (2:39)
Why cast a 40 year old (Guy Pearce) as an old man? It's because he was originally going to be seen in his own dreams so his appearance as the older Weyland made perfect sense. But the dream scenes didn't make it to the shooting stage. But there is artwork and one of the pieces shows what has to be Kirk Douglas on a wet-bike! "I'm Spartacus! On holiday!"

22. The Case of the Fanfic Fake (2:32)
The so-called "Plan 9 From Outer Space" quality of the fake script 'leaked' on to the internet... Fascinating stuff.

23. Merging Ridleyverses (1:03)
The Tyrell-Weyland Corporation – a "Batty" soldier... I have no idea why the suggestion that the Blade Runner universe should be linked or even be the same universe as the Alien one. But this idea seemed to have turned some crew-geeks into weak-kneed sycophants! "Awesome!" Oh, OK.

*

WEYLAND CORP ARCHIVE

This includes galleries containing a vast amount of images.

This is, I think, a selection of what's previewed on the iPad app.

1. Pre-production

a) The Art of Prometheus

I) Ridleygrams

* Scenes
* Misc sketches
* White board sketches
* Visual effects notes

Scott's skill in visualising ideas is well documented. These Extras must be one of the most complete records of the making of a major mainstream movie ever released.

II) Giger & Gutalin

Giger's contribution to Prometheus is more as a passing nod to the brilliance of his original creation. Penned sketches are not much more than a few thoughts of the re-design of the alien head, Fifield's incarnation and a 'baby' alien that Scott toyed with. Gutalin's work (or Russian designer Alex Kozhanov) reminded me what might have come from a coupling of Giger and the hyper-clean art of SF illustrator, Chris Foss who incidentally did some preliminary art for Alien all those years ago.

III) Conceptual art

* Prologue
* Mars/excavation
* Int. Prometheus
* Vickers' suite
* Ext. Prometheus
* LV-223
* Pyramid
* Int. Juggernaut
* Final battle

IV) Costume design

V) Creatures

* Early concept
* Engineers

The 'female' Engineer's vaginal slit is noteworthy. Isn't it extraordinary how powerful an effect slight changes in anatomy can be? Don't zoom through the computer art as some Fifield creatures are animated and not just stills.

* Worms/hammerpede
* Mutations: Holloway and Fifield
* Med-pod creature/trilobite
* The deacon

The deacon, the alien born from Shaw's DNA-giant chestburster, I'm happy to report, was based on the physicality of the Goblin Shark. Google it. What an extraordinary animal.

VI) Vehicles

VII) Props

VIII) Logos & Patches
The detail, the detail... Extraordinary.

b) Pre-vis (25:47)

Pre-visualisation is the process where the movie's scenes are completed via rough CG so everyone's on the same page when it comes to shooting it for real.

I) Prologue (4:09)
There's a different original Engineers' ship design in the pre-viz. If the Giger ship is a bagel, this one's a pretzel. Life emerges. And there's a first land lizard!

II) Discovering the planet (1:18)

III) Med-pod: PG-13 version (4:24)
The digital doppelganger is not as good looking as Noomi, but even this version of the 'self-medication' scene is really tense. Music helps. Music always helps...

IV) Med-pod: R version (4:20)
More guts, more blood splatter (the real was eventually much worse, gore-wise).

V) Awaking the Engineer (6:45)
Interesting – The Engineer says nothing in this version.

VI) Prometheus vs. Juggernaut (4:50)
Shaw does not stay on the planet in this version but is picked up and exits the ship via the escape pods like Vickers.

2. Production

a) Screen Tests

I) Noomi Rapace as "Shaw" (9:55)
Rafe Spall plays the Holloway character in these scenes – interesting. And he also plays David's severed head!

II) Costume/make-up/hair test (11:28)
So the last thing you want to do with any actress is stick a red wig on her head... until both director and actress both agree it looks terrific. You have to actually do these things in order to see what the result will be. On paper these things cannot be judged.

Fassbender based his interpretation on Lawrence's Peter O'Toole (the crisp femininity of the character to the forefront) and also Bowie of course, the original man who fell to earth.

Theron – She mentions that it's very important to her, the look and the "sharkskin" suit. She remarked that the collar was "militant" – I think she means military.

Harris and Spall – lots of enthusiasm for the Mohican and tattoos.

Elliot ('Chance' the co-pilot) – likes his 'superhero' outfit!

b) Timelapse sequence: Juggernaut (1:51)
(Optional commentary by production designer Arthur Max)

This is fascinating watching the Space Jockey set form in front of your eyes. Max mentions that Scott changed nothing of the original design except getting the 'gun barrel' part extended by 4ft! You also get the idea that almost all sets are made of wood cunningly treated to appear as something else. Marvellous.

c) Unit Photography

I) Prometheus
There's a lovely punch line laughter shot of Fassbender, Scott and Kate Dickie (Ford).

II) Pyramid
III) Juggernaut
IV) Creature shop
V) Iceland

3. Release

a) Marketing gallery

I) Poster explorations
II) Key art

b) Trailers and TV-spots

I) Trailers (and a lot are featured with their own keywords)...

* US teaser
* US trailer
* International teaser
* International trailer

II) TV-spots

* "In 3 days..." promo
* "In 2 days..." promo
* "In 1 days..." promo

Three trailers for a trailer – now this is silly - also a bad film effect applied – in God's name, why? And I still think that after the genius trailer that was Alien's, most of the Prometheus efforts showed way, way too much (giving away the destruction of the ship was a real faux pas). You end up ticking off the shots as you watch the movie.

Trailer Announcements (I'll spare you the list...)
The music of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" used as music over some of these trailers. Interesting but also very, very silly.

III) Promotional featurettes (play all, 18:43)

30 years in the making
"He's at the top of his game..." Big Ridders love in – embarrassing in the extreme.

Creation
New story... New Screenplay... "about the truth that may be out there..." Oh, really?

International creation
Very similar...

Space travel
Ship design – a few nods to Joss Whedon's Firefly – rotating engine pods. I like my media gods to mix and match but for Arthur (Max) to say that the Prometheus is a completely original ship, oh come on. There was no one on the crew who knew of Firefly?

Noomi Rapace on Shaw
She wants to find some answers. That's nice.

Shaw
"The difference about what a scientist knows and believes. The difference is proof..." OK, Dawkins is on board.

Visions of Prometheus
"This film starts off epic..." "He's my fantasy director..." "What I want to do is scare the living shit out of you..." Oh, come on. We audiences are more sophisticated than that... What? We're not?

Logan on Holloway
"More about the thrill of the search..." "We're going to meet all those expectations." I think not. So what's the meaning of life then?

Charlize Theron on Vickers
"He's my fantasy director..." Oh for God's sake. He kept correcting your posture, Charlize.

IV) HBO First Look: Prometheus... (12:03)

Now this little nugget was not on the UK 3 Disc release (and I am grateful for that fact) because if I have to watch any other Prometheus promotional materials, I will surely die. Paraphrasing what a famous critic once said, I view all these extras so you don't have to...

It's a wonderful release, not a great movie, but presented in a technically pristine fashion. I could say fairer than that but am not going to. If you are a fan then, heaven awaits. If you want answers, real answers, you'll be disappointed after one of the most cynical marketing campaigns I've ever seen.

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