Bingowings, even though I can't get onboard with the whole 'flute'(!) thing, I sure liked a lot of the notions you came up with on page 16, and would rather have seen something nearer *that* onscreen, compared to the movie we ended up with!
And asterisk8, that link to Gavin Rothery's blog you posted on page 19 covered some really good points I hadn't seen mentioned elsewhere.
As well as having general misgivings about the whole 'Chariots Of The Gods'-type storyline to begin with, I was also one of those who was sceptical of the notion of ALIEN's mysterious 'Spacejockey' skeleton turning out to be an ancient 'spacesuit'...considering the 'skull's open mouth actually had 'teeth' attached to it in the close-ups, on top of everything else... They weren't seen on the 'Engineer's 'helmet' in PROMETHEUS (of course not, seeing as it's meant to be a 'helmet' now, rather than a 'skull')...
...and even though I wasn't entirely satisfied with imagining them as being the 'helmet'-wearer's teeth instead, I was willing to disregard this little 'continuity' detail, and just completely go with the movie's overall storyline.
But in the end, although I thought it's 3D was really effective, PROMETHEUS has unfortunately turned out to be yet another addition to a handful of movies that I really wanted to like a lot more. And like some others, I was disappointed with Ridley's 'Theatrical' cut in certain places, and hope that the future 'extended' version can improve on things somewhat.
So just for fun, I wanted to see if I could come up with a few alterations of my own for an 'imaginary' edit of PROMETHEUS, which would allow for reasonably smooth music and sound transitions throughout. Here's what I'd prefer to see -
1. Revealing the 'Engineer's appearance so near the beginning really gave away what the 'Spacejocky's looked like a little too early in the movie for my liking...but although I guess there'll probably be future edits that remove this scene entirely, my own preference would be to KEEP the initial epic, sweeping shots of the landscape (featuring the credits and title score) leading up to the waterfalls and saucer, as well as the 'sacrificial Engineer' prologue, regardless.
It seems there's a chance that instead of the lone 'Engineer' at the beginning, that we may see a longer scene with various other 'Engineers' in the 'extended' version...but either way, I'd prefer to cut out a couple of overly-CGI'd shots during the 'disintegration' of the 'sacrificial Engineer'...and just cut from the initial extreme close-up of his 'DNA'-strands breaking down at the point the screen then goes completely black, and instead go directly to the close-up of his leg giving way before he collapses into the waterfall. He will *still* seem to be getting 'infected' quickly and 'breaking apart' without requiring the shots of the 'black ooze' flying around him, which reminded me of a 'swarm of angry bees'. It's just a little thing however, and no biggie. We'd then continue as normal as the 'Engineer's DNA mutates and the main title 'PROMETHEUS' appears briefly before fading out to black...
2. ...but at *this* point however, what I would REALLY like to see incorporated...is the '2023 TEDtalk' viral featuring Guy Pierce as the younger Weyland. I missed not seeing any part of this nicely performed speech in the movie, and felt it would have really added something of interest for what was ahead, and strongly informed us about the persona of 'old man' Weyland who appeared later on. And it would have tied in nicely with the 'Lawrence Of Arabia' scene that David watched later too, of course.
Here the scene - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvx1xr88qfM
It also seems like there's a chance that the FULL 6 minute version of the '2023 TEDtalk' viral will feature as an extra on the 'extended' release...but I'd be content to just include the shortened version linked to above, so that it ends with the words - "My name is Peter Weyland...and if you'll indulge me, I'd like to change the world..." before the clapping dies down and we then fade to black...
3. ...and after a brief pause, we'd *then* transition into the darkness of the Scottish cave being excavated to reveal Shaw's face peering through, and continue the movie as normal from this point, which reveals we are now in the year 2089... (Although some may remove this scene too, I kinda like this moment of actual 'cave painting' discovery. And as I'm from the Highlands of Scotland myself, I wouldn't dream of removing any of the 'Isle of Skye' footage!) :)
4. But when I reached the moment where David removed the 'helmet' to reveal the 'Engineer's head, I rolled my eyes when it was suggested that it might be possible to 'trick it into coming alive'... This kinda thing worked fine for me when it came to reviving the likes of Ash's 'robotic' head in ALIEN, but making out that it might be possible to bring this long-dead 'organic' head to 'life'' seemed a little laughable to me, even in the context of this movie's future setting... On top of that, some shots of the bulging head and eye movements in this sequence came across as overly 'animatronic'-looking, which kinda threw it off even more for me.
The scene can't really be removed unfortunately, as it's too relevant in the context of other scenes...but it's possible to cut out certain shots from the sequence to make it look like the head 'unexpectedly comes to life' instead...when an 'incision' is being made. Perhaps the long-'dormant' black ooze that seeps from the head could be thought of as being somehow reacting to being exposed to human contact or something, causing the head to 'seem' to 'come alive' before the crew hurredly isolate it, before it then explodes... Who knows?, but the scene plays out a little creepier and unexpected if it's altered this way. (It also reminds me of how an unexpected consequence occurred in ALIEN when a certain other 'incision' was made...)
5. I initially presumed that 'Vickers' would turn out to be a 'robot' too, especially after Ridley's early comments about there being more than one in the movie. Anyway, I'd prefer to remove some of the 'Stephen Stills'/'flirting' dialogue involving her and the Captain which kinda indicated she's *not*. This is one of the 'questionmarks' that I'd have actually preferred to remain a little more ambiguous...and there's a nice way to do it which ends with the Captain asking her the question, before she then looks at him in a 'taken aback' way without answering him, as he looks at her again as if to say "Well?..." and she then just walks off without answering him...as he looks on afterwards. This would keep the 'mystery' a little more intact.
6. As far as the moments where 'Fifield' and 'Milburn' seemed to be lost, despite all the 'mapping' technology available...it's possible to reduce this by removing a brief part of the 2 shots where we hear 'Milburn' saying - "We've been here before, Fifield"...and when one of them says - "Which way now, huh?...well which way now, huh?" on a monitor that Janek the Captain is beside at one point. They are basically inside the corridors of the 'pyramid'-dome during these scenes, and have been told by the Captain that between static electricity and windspeed, that there's no way to safely come and get them until the storm passes, and just to wait there till the morning. But they investigate the area a little more while they are there. (However, even removing these lines doesn't help to explain why these guys are *still* in the 'pyramid'-dome complex to begin with...considering they left the others a good while earlier... Surely, they would have just exited the same route that they entered, just as the others presumably did without difficulty, later on?)
7. It's also possible to make 'Milburn' the biologist get bitten by the 'space-cobra' a lot quicker, so that he *doesn't* seem like such an idiot for continuing to go near it, despite it's continual 'hissing' and threatening pose. (It's a pity the scene didn't just show 'Fifield' and 'Milburn' backing away from this creature in the first place, only to then be attacked by the other one from their rear...)
8. And while some may like 'em, the shots of the 'flute' that was played by the 'Engineer' and David to initially 'power-up' the spacecraft didn't really do it for me (sorry Bingo) I have to say. I realise there was actually a subtle musical note added to the 'Engineer's 'sacrificial' bowl at the start of the movie, so I guess their culture embraces a musical tendancy...but I'd prefer to see these 'flute' shots removed altogether, to give things a less-'cultured' vibe in these scenes. The scenes still work fine without them, including the accompanying 'powering-up' sounds.
9. Finally, we come to one of my *main* bugbears about the existing movie - the ending!
I certainly understand why Ridley felt this kind of scene was required, but it just came across as an overly-'shlocky' finale as far as I'm concerned. I was quite ready to accept the overgrown 'Cthulhu'-like 'squid' monstrosity overwhelming the 'Engineer' as being the last image of an 'alien' in this movie...but this additional 'birth'-scene seemed 'tacked on', and 'cheapened' the whole proceedings after hearing 'Shaw's 'soulful' final dialogue, I felt... (On top of this, I wasn't too impressed with the actual design of the creature that emerged. Personally, I'd have liked to have seen something a bit more scary-looking and 'biomechanical' overall, than what we were shown. And less 'fully-formed' too!)
But rather than totally removing this scene, I prefer the notion of actually integrating it a little *sooner*, to keep the footage...
So here's how I'd like to see PROMETHEUS end instead -
...at some point after the 'Engineer' is overpowered and 'impregnated' by the giant 'squid', David alerts 'Shaw' that there are many other 'Engineer' spacecraft, and that he can operate one to get them out of their situation. So she rides away from the crashed 'lifeboat' on a 'buggy' towards the crashed 'Engineer's craft in the distance...and eventually makes her way inside to retrieve David's bodyparts...
...then during their conversation aboard there, she ends up telling him - "I don't want to go back to where we came from...I want to go where *they* came from...you think you can do that David?..." We then see a close-up of David as he eventually replies - "Yes, I believe I can...", before briefly fading to black...
...but at *this* point, I'd prefer to integrate the end 'birth'-scene of the 'proto-alien' here instead. (Unlike the elegant life-stages we saw in ALIEN, the ones in this movie seemed very haphazard where their look and growth-rate are concerned...so it's not too much of a stretch for me to have the 'proto-alien' emerge at this moment either. And I'd certainly prefer to see it here, rather than have the movie finish on this particular footage!)
Since someone stuck it up, here's a recap of how it looks - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssgazf_Hp9s
...and when the creature's 'roar' ends and the scene fades to black, we'd *then* cut back to seeing 'Shaw' lowering David's body out of the 'Engineer's craft, before his severed head asks her - "May I ask what you hope to achieve by going there?, and she then answers - "They created us...then they tried to kill us. They changed their minds...I deserve to know why..."
...and as we then see the 'buggy' head away from the crashed 'Engineer's craft, and towards the 'pyramid'-domes...we'd now end the movie on a more 'poetic' note as we hear 'Shaw's voice saying - "Final report of the vessel PROMETHEUS...the ship and her entire crew are gone...if you are receiving this transmission, make no attempt to come to it's point of origin...there's only death here now, and I'm leaving it behind...it's New Years Day, the year of our Lord , 2094...my name is Elizabeth Shaw, last survivor of the PROMETHEUS...and I'm still searching...", as we see the final image of a distant 'Engineer' craft passing through the clouds and accelerating past a huge ringed planet in the distance...
...we then fade to black as the end credits begin.
(And although the crashed 'Engineer's craft was far enough away from the crashed 'lifeboat' for Shaw's 'buggy' ride at the end to avoid an encounter with the newly-born 'proto-alien'...who knows whether it eventually managed to follow them and sneak onto the craft they took off in, or not?...) ;)