10 Horror Movie Retcons Everyone HATED
4. The Space Jockey's Body Is Actually A Suit - Prometheus
The Alien franchise has had its share of questionable retcons over the years, but one that perhaps angered the ride-or-die fans more than most? Changing the Space Jockey's physiology.
Early on in Ridley Scott's original Alien, the crew of the Nostromo find the fossilised, chest-bursted remains of a gigantic alien lifeform in the derelict spaceship which the production and later fans nicknamed the Space Jockey.
Its origins fascinated fans for decades, due to both its towering physical appearance and the fossilisation implying that it had been there for a long, long time.
But Prometheus retconned the Space Jockey to confirm that it was in fact an Engineer - a member of an ancient humanoid alien race responsible for humanity's creation.
More to the point, Prometheus revealed that the Space Jockey's elephantine head was actually just a helmet, while the Engineer's head underneath was considerably smaller and more humanoid-looking.
Given that the Jockey's "helmet" in Alien clearly had teeth and a tongue, though, this was dismissed by most fans as a flimsy, inattentive retcon at best.
Considering the sloppy state of the Alien franchise's continuity, some have simply chosen to believe that the Engineers are a separate race descended from the Space Jockeys, hence their different appearance and seemingly smaller stature.
In reality, it's just inconsistent world-building.