3. Why Were The Engineers Returning To Earth?
Shaws carbon dating of the decapitated Engineer registers its death at around 2000 years prior to the mission, placing the Engineers planned visit to Earth at just after the time of Jesus Christ if we consider that the events of
Prometheus occur around 2093 (not counting for any potential time dilation that might result from faster-than-light travel). First things first then- lets discount the Jesus was an Engineer/ Jesus was a human-Engineer hybrid theory When asked if the
Prometheus team ever considered going down the Jesus Christ: creation and emissary of the Engineer route, Ridley Scott has said that they considered it, but then added that the
Prometheus team thought it was a little too on the nose ..." I for one am very happy about this- using the above as a plot device would not only be tried and clichéd, it would have presented a whole other set of issues: all in all opening up one huge can of LV-223 space worms. Additionally, anything that would connect the movie to the worst Christmas song of all time- Chris De Burghs
A Spaceman Came Travelling- is not something that should be forming the basis of a film that fancies itself as an intellectual sci-fi magnum opus! My suspicions hinge on the Engineers taking offense at the spread of monotheism, and the associated implications that we had stopped worshiping them as gods. If they had created us to worship them, then the fact that we turned away from them to pray to an abstract, non-corporeal deity may have just been a step too far away from their world view: which appears to be set in the physical world as evidenced by their love of bio-mechanics and genetic engineering. Whatever happened, the holographic replay suggests that Earth was their destination, and the fact that the ship the Engineers would pilot was loaded with the black liquid seems to indicate that their intentions were not particularly altruistic. Other thoughts: A friend and I recently discussed the possibility that the Engineers may have suspected that humans might one day create synthetic non-DNA based life, which they considered anathema - a mockery of their own worldview, as evidenced later in the film by the awakened Engineers reaction to David. If you remember, the Engineer at first seems captivated by David (who speaks to him in his own language), but when he realises that David is synthetic he rips off his head. We speculated that eons ago the Engineers may well have dabbled with non-DNA based synthetic life themselves- resulting in a turbulent war- hence why they now despise it.