Why is the Technology in Prometheus (2093 A.D.) So Much More Advanced than in Alien (2122 A.D.)?
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2024
- While Prometheus takes place close to thirty years before the events of Alien, the film features numerous displays of technology much more advanced than what was seen in the 1979 film. Was this reluctance to maintain continuity on Ridley Scott's part, or is there a reason between the differences in available technology found on the Nostromo compared to the Prometheus?
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And this is why I have the utmost admiration for the team behind Alien: Isolation for maintaining the same environments from Alien 1979.
very true. Finally a computer game that catpures the feeling of the first two movies - which i.m.h.o. are the ONLY alien movies. The rest is just to be disregarded.
@@mrhoplite2931 alien 3 is still epic in my opini9n
@@noahconnors8001 Mine too, glad to see someone else giving it some love
@@noahconnors8001 It like Alien and Aliens better. For the most part, however, I dig Alien 3 as well.
The gameplay loop is something to debate over, but the atmosphere, if you let yourself absorb it is brilliant. You got all the beeps and boops and bleeps of the original film as well as an almost identical copy of the amazing interior design of the Nostromo.
When the crew of the Nostromo wake up they look tired and groggy, when the crew of the Prometheus wake up they are overcome with illness. The cryo methods have clearly improved. I think when the colonial marines wake up on the Sulaco its even better.
Fair point! So while the Nostromo looks less advanced, and has simplistic displays. Clearly beneath the surface, at least some of the technology is better on the Nostromo. Makes sense! I theorize that hyper sleep tech was new, almost experimental in Prometheus. And it advanced greatly by Alien. 29 year difference
Or maybe because the crew of the Nostromo got used to long periods of hypersleep after so many years working as space truckers.
@@IRONHIDE666FUL yes, perhaps.
Still, even with the tech justification, one big factor of the feel is that it pretty much has the culture of the late 70s to mid 80s but in space, alien isolation is a perfect example when recreating the culture and aesthetic of the alien universe.
We can come up with other justifications for the technology differences, but let's be real here. This movie was made at least 30 years later with a significantly higher budget. Ridley Scott was simply trying to appeal to modern audiences.
I think there are two explanations - "real world" and "in-movie." Real World: special effects and the overall design aesthetic of science fiction film has changed massively. There's an assumption there that audiences wouldn't have "gotten into" a carefully constructed 'retro future' look with CRT green screen displays and the overall more 'analog' look. In Movie: As others have pointed out, the Nostromo is a fairly old workhorse of a vessel. The Prometheus is a bespoke ship with a specific purpose and essentially unlimited funding.
@@finalascent or maybe He didnt give a fuck and Just used updated Looks because He could
It's not just the computer screens, even the UI looks ancient on the Nostromo. For comparison Windows already existed long before we moved from CRT to LCD and it didn't look much different during that transition either. It also ignores Aliens where the screens on the Sulaco and Hadley's Hope don't look any newer even though another 57 years have passed. At least Alien Isolation was consistent and kept the original aesthetic intact.
It makes more sense to just place Prometheus and Alien: Covenant in an alternate timeline instead of trying to merge this mess all together.
So what you're saying is, Ridley Scott should remake Alien and then make his own sequels now that a lore is more established? I'll take it, but only from Ridley Scott or at his guidance
Yeah I’m surprised this is even a video. What is there to even discuss?
I think the simple answer is budget restrictions, the Prometheus was fully backed by Wayland (a multi billionaire) and when the nostromo takes on it's mission at the time the nostromo was nothing more than a cargo ship ps I'm making this comment halfway through your video and I totally agree with your last statement
jordan thompson Definitely how I see it
jordan thompson Fun fact: It was stated that the ship Prometheus cost 3 Trillion USD$ to make.
bagsikdangal l wonder how much the several alien ships cost to make and what kind of technology would it take to build such colossal ships?
They must have a shit-ass budget if they are stuck with over 200-year old display technology for that reason.
if you assume that America had continued on as it does now, you'd have to reasonably assume that it's military was still top tier, and the tech available to the marines in Aliens was still far outmatched by the tech displayed in Prometheus, and even Covenant.
Also, considering that the Marines had squared off against hostile alien life before, and I would go so far as to assume far more intelligent life, then their military strength would be stronger still. Now, considering at the time, that the Predators were still apart of the official canon and humans had indeed engaged them at several points throughout the years, you'd then have to also reasonably consider that the technology needed to engage with just the Yautja alone, should've made them more than ready to face off against the Aliens... but instead they basically just used far "better" kinetic bullets dressed in really big guns with some decent tracking and handling, even though Wayland has had SEVERAL encounters with the Xenomorphs in some form or another.
I guess what I'm saying is, whatever happened between Prometheus, up through Aliens 4, humans (and by extension Wayland-Yutani) didn't exactly learn squat in terms of bringing your A game to the party
Ehhh....Nostromo was a piece of junk hauler.
Prometheus was Weylands private top-notch ride.
syntaxed2 You sound like you don’t like the original alien movie
@@arkanyapeters1669 no he doesn't
People just don't understand the power of money. There is a mansion in miami (the most expensive in his era for decades) that had air conditioning systems all over the house before it was even thinkable, this same house had the very first fridge system to preserve food, 40 years before it was invented for industry.
So, yeah, when your wallet is endless like weiland you can own 50 years ahead of tech than the rest of mortals. Ask to the creator of the antiquitera artifact, he built a pocket computer 1500 years ahead of modern portable computers to navigate through the seas.
People do not read even shakespeare, so, do not waste your time explaining reasonable arguments.
Peace, kid.
@@yakuza2123 Destroyed in seconds, hehe.
I agree 100% buddy. Your statement is simplified and yet completely sums it up as the truth.
I think the SW Prequels looking new is to show what was lost when the Empire took over.
This makes more sense, ever since the takeover the military ships all made after that point became increasingly brutalist in design while the civilian ships had to be kept running longer and longer as most resources were sucked up by The Empire. Think of how thanks to the Great Recession (as well as increasing reliability) the average age of cars on the roads kept going up and is around 13 years now as people hung onto them for longer. You still see new cars but there is no shortage of cars from the early 2000's and even late 1990's still cruising around.
Not to mention, the Prequels take place on important, civilized planets with vast cities. The Original trilogy takes place between backwater poor planets and ragtag Rebellion bases, with Cloud City being the exception.
@@yrooxrksvi7142 I was just typing out a comment saying exactly this. I don't think the core worlds would look much different in the Original Trilogy if we had some of the story set there. Not accounting for special effects technology making huge leaps of course.
The imperial near-command economy and high amounts of corruption in the galactic military industrial complex meant the quality of goods went down as the Empire would buy regardless and decreased the drive to stay competing with new or more sophisticated techniques.
Yes it was a deliberate creative choice Lucas made, as the lead artist Doug Chiang originally planned on continuing the OT aesthetic until Lucas explained how the galaxy was meant to be in a (declining) golden age. The ST takes place post-war and again back in the galactic boonies. It's all more than justified in the lore and creatively.
I was never thrown off by the difference in technology between the prequel and Alien. I always reasoned that the Nostromo was an old ship, that had seen better days. It possibly been even older than the Prometheus.
Same. In most Sci Fi movies/novels you have ships flying that can be hundreds of years old. To me, Nostromo was just an old ship.
I thought it was because it had the old man on there, billionaires tend to be a bit more luxurious.
That's not entirely true, it's the reason that saying the Prometheus is much more advanced than the Nostromo yes but the Nostromo was Constructed in the year 2101 I believe and so Nostromo is newer and the reason why there is a more Analog technology in the first alien movie than the events of Prometheus before the Nostromo was because of the Plague virus that took place after Prometheus I believe which wiped out most of humanities data and was made to destroy as much technology as possible which lead to more harder to crack (hack) systems such as analog! However while analog may seem old even today in real life we are looking at analog technology again because it could use less energy, it can last longer than digital, it has made way to were it has some major advances were it's faster than digital because moores law is slowing down and analog can make that up. Plus analog is very radiation hardening and last longer which is very important for space travel because digital has a shorter life than analog if you watch these two videos you will understand more!
this video tell us why the alien technology looks old because of the virus
ua-cam.com/video/24g7PaPCstw/v-deo.html
here are the videos tell us why analog technologies are coming back so watch it
ua-cam.com/video/IgF3OX8nT0w/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/GVsUOuSjvcg/v-deo.html
Blue Not just any billionaire but Weyland himself, the founder and CEO of *THE* Company. WeYu is so synonymous that you mention company and it’s the first and only thing you think of in this universe. It’s more powerful and influential than governments. He’s presumably the richest human. Maybe the richest human that ever lived.
Exactly! The question is like saying why does a freight ship not look as advanced as a billionaires yacht.
I love this channel. It helps with my obsession for the Alien franchise.
Yeah, I feel the same way.
I'm with you brother!
It is interesting that Alien Isolation is closer in terms of technology to Alien than Prometheus is
I'm holding out hope that Isolation gets a sequel. Definitely one of my favorites.
The creators of Alien: Isolation had the guts to got with an aesthetic like that, and that was one of its more defining features.
Yeah because weyland yutani is a soulless corporate entity that considers all employees expendable
People making Alien stuff now are fans of Alien as we know it. Ridley Scott, and now potentially James Cameron again, aren’t adoring fans like us. Scott especially would see the franchise much differently than we do, as he made the thing, whereas the fans and devs view Alien as less malleable. This is why most Alien fan stuff is more accurate to the first film, or first two films, depending on the source, than everything that officially followed
What is the time cap with that game like where does it fit into the movies?
The Prometheus mission was launched by the richest people in the known universe, the other missions were simply corporations attempting to profit with revenues that far exceeded expenses. There is absolutely no disparity in this. There are plenty of people that own multiple Ferraris and Lamborghinis, and there are other people who have to make do with a pedal cart or a scooter. It reminds me of the William Gibson quote, although apocryphal while trying to attribute it to him, is that "the future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed."
The tech is still on a colony ship. And the ship he was stashed on, nobody knew. Not even his daughter.
Doesn't wash.
The latest crappy cars still have the same kind of tech in them though. They have electric windows, they have alarm systems, they have remote central locking.
Just over the last 20 years, technology has not advanced that much, and certainly not to the point where something today having an LCD screen would be in any way comparable to something in 30 years having a CRT screen. Doesn't make any sense at all.
At least in star wars the tech looked mostly similar in the prequel trilogy. It just looked nicer and cleaner. Probably because much of it was new, and the galaxy was more prosperous and so things were kept cleaner, newer and tidy. There was more order in that kind of thing, rather than the order only being focused on keeping people in line and maintaining a huge military-style presence.
But CRT are not even available today. Hence it would make sense that if they were being use a couple hundred years from now, it's because we had never started using LCD at all, not that it was too expensive to put into a bloody space ship.
CARS have LCD screens in them these days, and heavy haulage trucks have them as well, including in their GPS screens.
But let's say you're right. Then what about aliens? Are we to believe that a high tech colony like hadleys hope didn't have any high tech gear? Or the bloody military? The bloody colonial marine core had tech, 57 years LATER, that still wasn't anything like the tech used in prometheus, which at that time would have been, what almost a hundred years PRIOR to the marines going to hadleys hope?
I'm sorry, but if you want to fudge it just because you like prometheus, then fair enough. But don't expect other people to ignore logic for that awful movie.
@@w0bbl3r Hadley's Hope, high tech? Pfft, the only high tech things there were the atmospheric terraforming plants, and even then only by necessity. Everything else was the bare minimum the corporation could get away with without compromising the integrity of the colony.
@@Gustav_Kuriga And so we would believe that this "low tech" facility, using the most cutting edge terraforming known to man pretty much, would use CRT monitors when they are hundreds of years out of date? When in these awful prequels they are using tech massively different, and not just because it's more expensive
It's done that way because the prequels are based on sci-fi tech that we would expect NOW, when the originals were based on sci-fi tech we expected in the late 70s and 80s.
They should have just done what alien isolation did, and then we could just assume some parallel universe is the reason their tech is not the same as ours today.
That would have made far more sense than having tech 200 years later that is not as good as tech we have now. And as cheap as they wanted to be, even very cheap cars today have LCD screens in them for viewing movies and even satellite navigation. Things we never could have imagined when alien and aliens came out.
The Prometheus is like a presidential jet while the Nostromo is more like an army cargo plane. Great video and 100% on point with this.
Think of it like this. The Nostromo is like a cargo train that will be built twenty years from now. The Prometheus is like a Tesla built today. Utilitarian tech verses flashy tech.
You realize that Tesla in terms of actual hardware is not advanced at all... actually most of tech that it use where already available for few years, and only difference is that tesla make it fancy and put more buffed tracking software, that others dont use because it just.... suck, just like in tesla where its only a toy to play.
@@paranoiia8 Musk, for his outlandish PR dreams of occupying Mars, is simply a car sales man .
@@jacobjorgenson9285 yeah his dady had diamond mine he got all that money his team invest it and now he act like he is some amazing men... When In reality he just face for car company, he didn't actually touched anything in his business
@@paranoiia8 not entirely true. He created several companies he sold for a lot of money, he is also directly involved with developing his current businesses. My concern is people think he will save humanity when the idea of humans colonizing Mars is ludicrous at best!
If he ambition is to save humanity, then why build sexy cars? Why a toaster? Why is the pick up Bulit proof?
Two things stand in the way of human survival, over population and an unwillingness to change our behaviour such as needing new cars all the time . Musk is smart enough to know this but addresses neither. He sells cars that for the most part is filed with grid electricity because renewables simply cannot gather enough fuel to power them, grid electricity will never be solely powered by solar or other means. Further is the fact that electric car production is incredibly polluting.
So he is selling false hope about interstellar human living and keeping the idea we can survive and still have sexy toys on earth. Neither is true
@@jacobjorgenson9285 if musk was actually interested in saving humanity, his world saving machines would have been affordable to the largest demographic possible instead of the smallest minority of the wealthy and super wealthy.
I'd venture to say the Prometheus was so much more advanced due to Wayland being on board and needing all of the equipment personally in some shape, form or fashion. You know the boss on the private jet while everyone else has to travel in coach.
datboyjeff Spot on man, spot on. Having the man that literally (within the alien universe) guided the path of humanity into a space faring species as well as A.I. and countless other technologies on board would absolutely assure that everything from the wires being a bigger guage to the damn cups having more visually appealing decorative design would be added. Having Peter Wayland on board means having everything absolutely state of the art and top of the line.
You are ignoring the matter that nobody knew that he was on board.
This is one thing that the Alien: Isolation game did great was it felt like the early movies.
I accept your explanation, AlienTheory. Their missions and purposes were very different to begin with.
Still doesn't explain why they did not send a science vessel to pick up the alien eggs in Alien 1979 instead of a Cargo ship with untrained personnel. The plot-line in Alien isn't as solid as it could be, and frankly that was a problem before Prometheus. :S We know it takes months to travel from the movie, but isnt that worth the wait compared to, well, letting a bunch of cargo-people handle that alien? Strange.
@@emilsohn1671 cargo people where expendable, cargo ship was expendable, it was explained by the android following Yutani's orders!
Good reasoning, well and thoroughly argued.
The mission parameters are perhaps the best argument. A modern tug of 2020 has nothing like the appointments of a multimillion-dollar pleasure yacht of two or three decades earlier. Additionally, he yacht costs much much more to maintain at that state of finish. It's really just an unbelievably expensive toy.
Also, consider NASA's Apollo missions with the CM and LM's state-of-the-art 7-element digital readouts (which we take for granted today) that wouldn't see mass commercialisation for decades, either.
I follow the maritime trade. In the online journals I've seen the interiors of state of the art tugs, their pilothouses have very modern displays, ergonomics and controls not too far behind the stuff you find on the bridge of a superyacht.
A modern tug still has LCD displays and touchscreens even. Also mass commercialization happens a lot faster these days than in the 70's.
Legends say that Alien Theory dated the Legendary Ellen Ripley.
and Luis DeShitt opened the hatch and let it in...
I absolutely loved how Romulus put me right back into the futuristic 70s scifi universe of Alien
One think i can tell you from a aircraft technicians point of view is that reliability in flight is paramount. Simply put, touchscreens and holographic technology that is reliable enought to be used in flight today is often obsurdly expensive or it just simply doesnt exist, often times both private and government owned aircraft come with avionics that seem extremely outdated, but in reality it is simply to keep the costs somewhat reasonable and extremely reliable. Its sort of how old nokia phones are basically bulletproof vs our modern day smart phones that need replacement every year. I imagine a ship like the nostromo needs to be ultra reliable while at the same time being reasonably cheap to operate, so they use more outdated designs in their electronics to keep functionality in reliability in a low cost application. The Prometheus was a huge project where no expense was spared (sort of like the new f35 jet) ultra complicated and ultra reliable electronics can be used because the budget allows reliable systems to be so futuristic and advanced. The f35 fighter jet has no dials or gauges, everything is holographed into the pilot's helmet, thus is why they cost 130 million a plane.
Great comparison. You must know more than me about it but B-52 are still used in the US military and it"s cockpit probably look like the Nostromo's !
No disrespect but you cant put real world logic or physics into a movie Especially one about aliens.
Military equipment is bigger and bulkier and usually less advanced than the civilian counter-parts, because of the stress it has to stand up to, but tech is tech and if it works, it advances, not regresses. This video only covers the differences between Alien and Prometheus and it is quite possible the Nostromo was already as old as Prometheus when Alien took place. A 30 year old mining vessel and cargo hauler is not outside the realm of possibilities.
The problem I have is with the tech disparity is more obvious when we include Aliens into the argument. Aliens takes place 57 years after Alien and while it is technologically more advance, it is not Star Wars episodes 4-6/1-3 kinds of advanced. The tech advance is more realistic between the two. The problem arises when the tech demonstrated in Prometheus is far more advanced than anything used in Aliens.
To put things into perspective, the Titanic, the most technologically advanced luxury ship of its time launched in 1912. Fast forward 57 years to 1969, Neil Armstrong is walking on the moon. Given that military and government tech is inferior to civilian tech and ideally on the cheap, there is no reasonable explanation the Prometheus would be so technologically superior to everything found in Aliens. Furthermore, even if the Nostromo is a very old ship, perhaps as old as Prometheus, it would've been upgraded since then to make it more efficient. The bottom line is, the Nostromo, while it might not have looked advanced on the outside, would have been more advanced in many ways to the Prometheus, but we don't see that, because Ridley Scott is a CGI whore.
Lots of planes have touchscreen avionics. I don't know what the hell you are talking about. You clearly aren't an avionics guy. I've been in Cessna 152s from the 1970s that have touchscreen GPS that connects with my ipad.
this guy nails it.
The Weyland Titanic super special CEO exploration ship can have all the bells and whistles it wants because El Jefe is dumping money into it and what he says goes.
But for the average joe shmo space trucker who is going to live or die based on whether or not his spaceship springs a leak, I'd rather have my ship be an indestructible nokia brick than a brand new iphone with a cracked screen after one drop. Analog technology in extreme environments like deep space makes more sense. If something mechanical breaks, you can replace a part or wack it with a wrench and curse at it until it works again. If one of your miles and miles of conduit has a loose wire on your all-digital life support system and you don't find it before the oxygen runs out, then you just die. Not because the actual life support system stopped working, but because the all digital system had a loose wire.
The same thing is true with the Star wars series... The Empire took control over almost all manufacturing and cut spending in most civil places. It became communistic and the rebels had to build things from scrap... makes perfect sense in both cases.. The prequels worked if you are familiar with the story.
It also helps them that there's different races and civilizations that have their own technology development across the whole universe, different companies and contractors that make and distribute that technology for example the naboo fighters from phantom menace or the whole umbaran army in clone wars.
@@rocket_sensha4337 Good point.
Yeah, exactly. What I like to think is that, the Republic was like hey, we have all this and that, you can do that and this, then clone wars came and all went from 10 to 5 and then the empire, now you can't do this and that, have that and this Cuz the Emperor said so, so there's a bit of downgrade in tech.
Good points.. kind of saying how third world countries are still hauling donkey drawn carts yet in the same time someone out there is driving a state of the art self-driving vehicle with every feature imaginable. This works well to pacify new fans who cannot get into the old films due to the changes of the cinematography.
Yep, also why they destroyed the Trade Federation, to stop the free flow of technology.
It’s like the Prometheus has advanced tech because it’s a science vessel, but the Sulaco for example has advance tech too but it’s a military ship so it has to be soldier proof.
Nope. That's a bullshit ad hoc explanation. The reason is that post production technology is better and they always want to max it out rather than maintain the same look.
Yep, I mean we can go and make excuses on how it looks like it looks but its true that the new movies are inconsistent with the old ones.
I agree.
The cost benefit analysis for not only a science vessel, but a ship carrying the owner and figurehead of Weyland corp, would justify the disparity in technology.
So in the movie the disparity doesn't make a lick of difference, because it makes sense story wise.
The people crying about how the new movies have high technology I think are resistant to change, and don't understand how life works. While I will not defend these movies as great, or even being on the same level as Alien or Aliens, I will say that the technological "gap" as some are calling it, is freely explained by this reasoning.
Dire_effects Here's the silver bullet for your argument. The span of time between Prometheus and Alien are roughly 30 years, but I'll be extremely conservative and say 20. The events between Alien and Aliens is 57. That would put the extremely conservative time span between Prometheus and Aliens at 77 years. The Titanic, the most technologically advanced ship of her time launched in 1912. Fast forward to 1969, only 57 years later the same amount of time that Ripley spent drifting in space, Neil Armstrong is walking on the moon and literally everything about the Titanic has been obsolete for decades by this time.
The point is, regardless of how luxurious Prometheus might have been, because it has Peter Weyland on it, doesn't excuse the fact that the technology being used far outstrips technology used in films that take place nearly 80-90 years in the future.
The pencil didn't change all that much in that time. Because there was no need.
Neither did the basics of shoes.
Nostromo was a deep space mining crew while the crew of Prometheus were scientists on an exploration mission.
Okay, what about Aliens ?
@@mizurazu2500 military vessel. all specs are eyes only, which means we don't see what they had 😏
To be fair, The star wars prequels were at very technologically advanced planets like coroscunt, where as 4-6 we're on a sand planet or ice planet or a tree planet like come on XD
Dan Good point. Also you didn't really see much technology while on Naboo.
But Naboo was Sleek and classical.
Besides, with the Empire taking control of basicaly the whole galaxy, they had a monopoly on any technological advancement. Because of this, everyone else would rely on old or outdated but reliable tech.
And IIRC, the technology in the SW's universe is stagnant, they have used the same tech since thousands of years ago with little to no change.
This!!! In addition we spend most of our time with the Rebels in the OT. They are using old outmoded, converted, discarded scavenged equipment. While the Death Star and Star Destroyers of the Empire would be considered the latest in military hardware it was still military hardware. Anybody ever taken a good look at how long it has taken the military to update some of their digital tech, especially how long it takes them to get around to retrofitting tech to a ship as old as USS Nimitz or some of the original Ticonderoga class Aegis ships? The standard sidearm for the US military is still a derivation of the AR-15 which was developed in the late 50s or early 60s (I forget which). Commercial tech can be much the same in some ways. I've worked in an environment as recently as 5 years ago that was using an inventory management program that still ran on a DOS based system. The hardware was new and the program was run in a DOS shell setup but it was still a program that was close to 30 years old!
The tech consistency in Prometheus doesn't bother me nearly as much as the other plot holes inherent in the storyline and those found in Covenant. The same holds true for Star Wars. If you are going to write prequels it's a good idea to write them in such a way that the fan base doesn't have to torture retcon theories to death to make everything fit. It's one of the most maddening things about the direction Star Trek has taken ever since they decided to create Enterprise, reboot the theatrical franchise and chose to try and cram another prequel series into the prime timeline with Discovery. Star Trek has always had a horrible time keeping track of its own internal consistency but the more they tinker with it the worse it seems to get. I have much the same feeling about the Alien franchise and Star Wars.
I felt this way too. I think George Lucas did that on purpose with 4-6. He set them on planets that were poor or primitive and wouldn’t have advanced technology. When special effects became more advanced he changed the settings to planets that would be more advanced. Whereas with the Alien franchise, these idiots decided to add all the bells and whistles to make a cool looking movie without considering how stupid it would look against the original films.
Honestly the technological differences between the Star Wars Original Trilogy vs. the Star Wars Prequels never bothered me at all. The Old Republic was supposed to be a Golden Age full of wealth and prosperity and during/after the Clone Wars and Galactic Civil War the Galaxy had fallen into a dark age where things became more austere and utilitarian.
In real life this reflected by our decades. The 1920’s to 1950’s were opulent times. A gilded age despite the stock market crash, depression and WWII. This was reflected in the ornate Art Deco designs of buildings and common machinery full of sleek curves, detailed ornamentation, shiny chromed finishes, and wood paneling. By the 1970’s when _A New Hope_ was made, America was in decline facing gas shortages, sanctions, mass layoffs through offshoring and obsolesce. Machines such as cars and typewriters became more boxy, rigid, sharp, less refined, built from cheaper less durable materials, and had expiration dates planned into their design.
It also helped that the characters we focused on were from different social classes between the prequels and original trilogy. Luke Skywalker was a farmboy from a backwater planet in the Outer Rim, and Han Solo was a neer do well smuggler flying a ship everyone described as a _piece of junk._ The Imperials we saw were all military which meant what they had available was mass produced and built by the lowest bidder.
Whereas the prequels focused on the upper echelons of the Galaxy: royalty, politicians, the inner circle of the Jedi Council. And even then we saw some technological advancement. For example Obi Wan’s ship in _Attack of the Clones_ couldn’t travel faster than light on it’s own and needed to dock into a hyperdrive ring. Count Dooku’s Solar Sailor could not enter orbit by itself. These are features that the most common ships in the OT are capable of.
Where I had a problem was how little tech and styles advanced between the original trilogy and Disney sequels. We are meant to believe that after the fall of the Empire and the rise of the New Republic, the Galaxy saw a reign of democracy, a return to peace and improved economy a d way of life. But the Resistance and First Order were still using all the same machinery, with slightly different detailing. The vehicles used by both the common man and the elites looked straight out of the OT. I expected at least some higher resolution or color holograms, but there was none to be seen.
Why so many theories??? Every sci-fi movie that depicts future is using the latest technology and the latest presumptions what would technology look like in the future. So 70's and 80's computers with extra light bulbs were how people back then thought the future will look like. Just like we will laugh at Prometheus tech in 20 years.
That would be great to be able to laugh at the Prometheus technology. I may track down this comment again when the time comes. c. 2038.
True. As a child of the 1970s I loved watching the original Star Trek. I remember being fascinated by the technology, such as when Spock would place something into the ship's computer to retrieve some data. Later, I realized that it was a floppy disk. Here we are in the year 2018 with computers and cell phones that look far more advanced than anything Kirk and Spock used.
Still, however, that show had a lot of vision. I still enjoy watching it. :)
@@johnaddisoncull I was refering to techology in question here. Mostly computers and displays.
Lol this is the obvious answer but they had to make up some bogus theory and milk to make a youtube video.
Why so many theories? Because theorizing to make inconsistencies like this make sense is the point of channels like this.
If we just go "well film making technology changed, and people's expectations of the future changed between the making of the two movies" then we are left with an in-congruent in-universe feeling that leaves a lot of fans unsatisfied. So we try to make these inconsistencies make sense in-universe.
I read a fanfic once where this topic was mentioned by stating that those holograms e.g. were very unstable and caused a lot of problems in the computer systems so they had to be removed from various ships XD a bit weird but at least it was some sort of explanation
It's about time to show "Ash" in Covenant 2, you know the A2 always were a bit twitchy.
Your explanation is spot on. Compare the equipment found on a megayacht from the early 90`s to that on a brand new commercial fishing boat, and you would swear that the older boat was more futuristic than the new boat
Movies from the 70s/80s= awesome magic
Movies from now=greed, profit and c.g.i.
Not really, the movie making industry is the same, just got more efficient at making. Though, the dollar in 70s/80s is different than now due to inflation in our economy which started around late 80s when processing power advanced. The closer we reach to singularity in technology, more automation will be introduced due to advancement in processing power, such as the down side of efficiency conformity.
@@analienfromouterspace Aliens have about 18 million USD. That's about 45 million USD today. How would one use it to make a modern blockbuster with the best special effects & CGI, can anyone today make 200 million with just 45 million?
I feel like it's kinda similar to 40k in that the dark age of technology had an impact on technology development mostly due to time and circumstance. One of the reasons I always say, "All timelines lead to 40K"
40k is boring horseshit
easiest solution would be to say the nostromo was simply an old ship, say like 50 years old. Putting its tech 20 years behind that of the prometheus.
One of many ships made by WY and need to be low cost. The space is vast so to one ship wouldn't be hauling enough resources that Earth required hence the need to build them in numbers. Think of today's freighters. The planets in Alien are akin to islands on Earth, the Nostromo's IRL counterpart would be a regular cargo ship. These can be changing hands and used for many years.
Weyland can afford the best ship money can buy...
Then hires 3rd rate numpties to go on a dangerous mission.
An unfilmed scene from the script explained that his daughter deliberately hired those fools to sabotage the mission. However I don't get why she herself came along on a mission that she was setting up to fail and put herself in danger.
The difference in technology was one of the first things I noticed about this movie. It’s hard to overlook. It almost feels like a different universe, or at least a different era.
I think your justification for the differences in technology is sound and well explained.
As for Star Wars Episodes I-III, I feel a portion of the difference in technology and the old, used feel of episodes IV-VI can come from two facts: first, that in I-III, you see the Republic at it's grandest and most decadent phase. It had stood for a thousand years without challenge, there would have been grand and elaborate infrastructure and awe inspiring architecture projects. The Empire, on the other hand, is seen 20 years after the collapse of the Republic, which followed a devastating galactic civil war. While well funded and supplied, Imperial forces were stretched thin trying to maintain order in an unruly Galaxy. They didn't have the resources for the grandiose public projects of the Republic.
If we consider that Peter Weyland was a megalomaniac that consider himself to be the most important thing in the universe, yes he would create a vessel for himself as worthy as he considers himself
Worthy spacecraft with a useless defected lifeboat?
I think you are spot on with Alien and Prometheus. Now in Star Wars I think of the technology gap in terms of the height of the Republic and then the desolation with the Empire. So while there was peace tech was abundant but after the empire took over resources were taken and tech was focused on the Death Star.
One movie was made in the 70’s the other one 40 years later.
THANK YOU, the most logical and literal of reasons lol
ereis fireboi seriously. It’s like when the trekkies get annoyed at the new shows not useing tin foil to represent robots like they did in the 60’s.
Ever heard of cassette futurism?
Nostromo was a tow truck but the prometeus was a luxury villa or limousine. The boss aint taking an Uber.
I have always felt exactly as you described in the video. The missions were completely different, and if the technology in Alien seemed "outdated" or less than spectacular, it's because it very well could have been. In real life I have worked many places that continued to utilize horribly outdated technology, simply because they didn't want to spend money to update so long as they were still able to get by on the old junk. Obviously, since the movies were made so many years apart there's going to be a gap in vision & special effects, but I just didn't let that bother me. When the story is good enough and told well enough, you can overlook stuff like that. Whereas in your example with Star Wars, it's difficult to overlook some things, because it just wasn't done right. I remember the first time I saw Yoda leaping around, I was both irked and disappointed. Because it looked too slick, too unrealistic. I didn't exactly expect him to still be a puppet, but it went too far to the other end of the spectrum and didn't have any realistic look to it at all. The magic was gone, and I felt like I was just watching someone play a video game.
You are right!! The nostromo was basically a truck, taking cargo from point to point, great video.
I’ve thought of this issue too but when we look at the real world.
It should not be a surprise for well off and high tech Companies using old tech but still perfectly working vehicles for less priority jobs. As Long as it gets the job done, they’re more likely not upgrade it to cut cost. It happens all the time.
Trust me, I’ve even seen people still driving WW2 refueling Trucks for modern fighter planes today in 2017.
I just assumed the ship from the first movie was a very old model from before 2093. If you look on the WY fake website, it describes the Nostromo like ships as being the very first type of space exploration vessels to hit the market. Where as the ship in Prometheus looks state of the art, (Made in 2093)
I would love for there to be an Alien tv series, being able to tell a story while taking its time. What do you think, Alien Theory? If you agree, who should produce it and on what channel?
I'd prefer that too at this stage. The last three movies now have been bogus.
It also needs to be taken away from Scott. He's had his day.
As a long time Alien addict, iiagree with your justification, and what's more, it's confirmed by the original Alien pre-production team!
The Prometheus vessel is actually heavily inspired by the designs for the Leviathan/Nostromo by Cobb. There is a famous bridge design (and remember this is back in 1978!) that featured heads-up CGI display screens, cantilevered pilots chairs projecting over huge bay windows, and flat screen monitors. Scott intended to shutters over the bay window that opened up to reveal the spectacular approach to the planet. The artwork has been featured in several "making of Alien" books and documentaries.
In the end they scrapped the idea because it was deemed too flashy and expensive for a commercial tug boat, and they decided that the Nostromo would be a retrofitted and repurposed space-liner, gutted out for its new role as a towing vehicle, then outfitted with old salvaged parts that give it a cluttered, claustrophobic feel.
When it came time to do Prometheus, Scott got his chance to revive the original Leviathan/Nostromo concepts.
In summary, the low-tech vibe of the Nostromo was deliberate, and it was always part of the narrative that far higher tech. vessels existed that were reserved for the no-expense-spared billionaires and military vessels.
For context, take a look today at the difference between a container ship and and an elite 'super-yacht'. Chalk and cheese.
I love the technology of both time spaces. But I mostly interested in the Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien Resurrection spaceships and technology.
It looks more futuristic. The voices and computers have a sort of homing feeling towards acting out in the films.
Out of all the technology of the whole franchise, I would love to live in the Nostromo/Sevastopool spaceship. With a couple of friends and things.
ChouMakaimura Don't let practicality get in the way of living out your dreams! Stow away on a tanker or oil rig and you can have your fantasy!
Xenomorphine I’ll die by the time it’s 2083. 50 years before it would even exist!
The differences between the prequels and OT in Star Wars were meant to represent the glamour and wealth of the Galactic Core where the Republic ruled, and the Outer Rim where everything was just a bit less new.
why is nobody seeing the prequles technology that way?
Latvian Dragon because they are probably willfully butt-hurt that George Raped their childhood 🙄😂
@@iloveyourgyatttt yeah
I agree. If you look in a long haul trucks or mining equipment today, you could easily imagine yourself being 30, 40 or even 50 years in the past in some cases. While scientific research stuff is always new and cutting edge. Add a dash of suspension of disbelief and I dont have any issues with the differences at all.
Keith DGuy Are you kidding? In Western Australia many mines are automated. The trucks don’t have drivers. The drills and carts are robots.
Ah yes Oz.......bustling hub of future tech. You got me! I was talking from the perspective of ol backwaters North America. Im trying to move to Oz right now actually (not kidding). Ill wave when I get there, maybe hitch a robot truck to a robot mine. See the sights.
Even in North America long-haul tractors bear little resemblance to their pre-1974 brethren. The never-ending quest for efficiency and ever-tightening exhaust emissions regulations has forced the manufacturers to embrace computer controls just as automakers have. The differences between the Prometheus and the Nostromo are the same as those between the current Endeavour and a towboat pushing coal barges on the river.
Keith DGuy Are you being sarcastic? In America I can’t get away without having physical cash in my wallet. In Australia, I never need cash.
I can use payWave or Apple Pay everywhere.
The uptake of technology here is more ubiquitous than the states son.
Y2Kr4SHM4N I don't know what part of America you've been to, but I never carry cash. We also have 300 million more people to deal with so that kind of gums up the works a bit. Australia should run more smoothly than here in the states, just like a small town runs smoother than a major city.
i loved prometheus, i loved alien 3, i went into each movie as if the previous movies had never existed. seen from that point of view, prometheus is an amazing stand alone film. if i went in comparing them to the original, there is no way they would stand up. the original is precisely that 'original' once seen cannot be unseen, alien in its look, alien as a story and a masterpiece.
i still to this day though go into a movie as if it is the first one ever, like seeing robcop for the first time, or 2001, or the abyss. i'm not there to criticise every detail. i want to munch my snacks and enjoy. critics might have very valid points, but sometimes what you're seeing is still a 1000% better than movies of 30-40 years before. movies people were happy to see, so why complain. the technical mastery is still way beyond what i can comprehend and the minor flaws are still nothing to the 1000s of years of learning applied by the collective combined crew of the movie
i actually watched prometheus without knowing it being connected to the alien universe. I found out when the deacon came out torwards the end and it's mouth reminding me of the xenomorphs... So yes, absolutley an amazing stand alone movie. I only saw the alien vs predator movies as a kid so prometheus was actually the movie that introduced me to the original timeline!
i personally don't mind how the tech looks, or special effects, etc, as long as it has a good story
Kia Silverstar yeah that’s true, I never actually sat down and thought about it, I still accept the story as it is with whatever tech they have but I do have to say that it was pretty cool of the developers of alien isolation to keep sevastapol controls and typing key boards, computers etc... exactly like in Alien
You'll Love Star Trek Discovery then... Oh Wait.
Never mind.
Kia Silverstar Agree! I still think Alien was a better story! Promethious had too many holes and silly casting choices! Alien simply worked
It's amazing the thought you put behind your posts. I agree with your theory in this post. It makes the most sense.
So 30 years ago a VERY rich CEO of a big company (let's say, Bill Gates) would buy a brick cellphone, drive a mercedes bens with CD player, cruise control, A/C and basic on board computer. Where a trucker would still use public phones with a coin and have at the most an FM radio on his truck.
Now, 30 years later, even truckers have smartphones, a truck with all the bells and whissels of a 80s merc and even more.
In other words, the tech make no sense in it to be a prequel. Even truckers would have prometheus tech if not more 30 years after Prometheus
or, you know, THE MILITARY. And how about Gateway Station, the (guessing here) headquarters of Weyland-Yutani and the trade hub of Earth. You'd think they would get some new tech.
I keep thinking blade runners' wars and conflict somehow was connected and that's the reason everything looks all i steampunk as opposed to the fresh Prometheus tech. ships burning off Orion's' belt and all that. plus their synthetics went crazy too, so a systemwide war and resulting mini dark age.
The Nostromo and other deep space vessels would be on journeys that take decades - so it would be very unlikely that the ship would have the latest and greatest. Instead, the old ship would keep on using outdated tech as long as possible until it would be ready for scrap - just like present-day cargo ships and semi trucks.
Okay put it this way, think of all the technology we put into cars today, rear facing cameras, parking sensors, heated seats, electric engines etc. Why are they not in all cars? Why are they not standard features?
Your veiwing technology like once we have it, it's unlocked and needs to be in everything. But that's not how it works today let alone 100 years in the future. I don't think the Nostromo was ever meant to be a top of the line ship, there might have been other Tugs built around the same era that had holographic displays etc
After all while most of us today have smartphones, not everyone does. Some people haven't upgraded from there ancient indestructible Nokias.
I agree with your analysis. In fact, if we are to run into the Nostromo or a similar freight-hauling team in future movies, it would be wonderful if they were also dealing with the same technological limitations. Since Weyland-Yutani doesn't place much value on crews' well-being, the "crap they got from Corporate" could even make for some interesting plot points.
You know this makes a lot of sense. I always wondered why some schools and business used older computers/versions of Windows compared to what we have at home! It all comes down to money! This means they didn't give enough money to those poor Marines in the future!
Sicarius Seven company I work for still uses a computer program from Windows 95 to run all of our production lines lol
Sicarius Seven The marines were expected to go into and out of war zones the Promethious was a a yacht completely different designs are necessary
The marines were being led by a inexperinced leader and that was done on purpose as WY wanted a specimin and with a inexprienced leader they could get one.
I loved Prometheus, the lore fascinated me. It was a really visually pleasing film to me.
The Nostromo was a mining ship and not a research vessel so one would expect it to be not so packed with high tech toys
It was a tug towing a portable refinery. If it was a mining ship it'd probably be pretty advanced as mining is risky and expensive so you don't want to mess it up or waste time digging in the wrong spots.
Nostromo was a long distance cargo hauler (a space tug), pulling a refinary, Prometheus was a state of the art exploration vehicle, most likely specifically designed for the task it was sent on, with a great many experimental techologies for the task
Im just mad that they scrapped the classic lore and just went “EVIL AI”
And a big part of the mystery of the xenomorphs was not knowing anything about their origin.
@@jeffumbach did you ever look at the old comics? They have lore and their entire own homeworld
I pretend the prequels don’t exist, humans creating the aliens is near a franchise killer in terms of bad decisions
@@edmonddantes563 bad move by the original director. Would Blomkamp be the one who should sit on the director's chair instead of Scott?
For Covenant yes
Mate this is one of the best channels of all time on UA-cam. Outstanding work and I often listen to this while at work during my days. Thank you for your amazing content, much love from Melbourne, Australia.
My opinion. The newer movies, prometheus and covenant is like what was narrated. Both are brand new top of line ships designed for very deep space exploration, no expense spared. The nostromo or even the suloco are work horse ships. Minimal tech for short jumps to do repeated jobs. Think of it like having a bently vs a freightliner.
I think that Prometheus is in an alternate universe to the original Alien, which explains the jarring differences in tech and why it and Alien: Covenant would have gaping plot holes if they were Alien prequels.
I know I'm late to the party but I just have to say this I love retro tech I really do so as a alien fan I just love the tech in alien alien isolation and aliens ext. But in Prometheus and covenant it takes all of that out listen I get it weyland was on project Prometheus so there better funded and I get that covenant was on a terraforming mission to discover new planets and they need the best equipment to do that I can I accept it matter of fact I agree with it but still if you take something that makes the alien films stand out to put all this cg and advance tech it just feels like another regular sci fi film it doesn't stand out as unique but that's just my opinion
You've pretty much hit the nail on the head. The Nostromo was a workplace, nothing more or less, and was not designed nor intended to do anything more than support the vast automated refinery it was pulling at around Warp 3.4. As time has passed I begin to wonder if Ash programmed the radio for the beacon frequency since he'd already rerouted the ship.
"Alien" was perhaps the first movie that treated space as a workplace, with characters that everyone could relate to. The blasé Kane, finicky Lambert, been there, seen that Dallas, the professional Ripley, "I'll do it only if I get more money" Parker and Brett, wannabee Vulcan Ash, and Jonesy the cat.
Because Alien was based on a Cargo ship, where Prometheus was on a science ship.
As mentioned, that doesn't address the obvious problems with the Sulaco, Gateway Station or the Auriga. It's just sloppy franchise management from filmmakers who are more interested in current special effects technology than continuity.
Robert Strickland wrong point of way. Prometheus needs David to supervisor travel, crew and ship. Sulaco is fully auto without mother computer. Prometheus needs a pilot, Sulaco not. Nostromo is basically a truck. Sulaco is a supertech military ship. Prometheus is, almost, a private jet: tech and comfort but need supervisor and pilot.
That's the argument of someone from outside the science, to be honest :D
Science doesn't use the latest tech. Science use efficient tech.
Very often, very "crude" and old looking mass spectrometers for protein study are same or even better then 2017-built mass spectrometers of the same application. Mostly because you really cannot go more into accuracy of measurements, but you can go for a lot of minor features that don't make measurements more reliable or accurate but faster or "enjoyable". Automatic sample application into measuring machinery, etc.
At the same time those machines are more prone to damage. Recent trend of integrating fully operational PCs inside those machines is one of the reasons. Newer PC components are somehow more fragile and often that damn spectrometer must be serviced because RAM, CPU or motherboard was somehow damaged, but system is designed to be operated via integrated PC. Even with having your own separate PC the signal must go through integrated computer and this fucks up everything.
Soooo. That's poor argument. Scientists of strictly discovery missions into very harsh environments would probably take older tech that is proved to be much more resistant by years of exploitation.
Also a lot of different science technologies are not that new frankly. Mass spectroscopy. Spectrophotometry. Etc. Even the basics of genetic manipulation - the PCR technique is from early 80s. Scientific methods and equipment is just being frequently made batter (accurate) or better (more stupid user friendly). The tech gap of Prometheus and Nostromo is way to big. According to wiki Nostromo was build 20 years after Prometheus.
I was a little pissed with the differences when I first saw them, but your analysis is quite accurate. The Nostromo was an old truck. Worth noting that it was an older boat and was commissioned 2101 as a cruiser before being refitted as a tug in 2016, so she was far from new. As a problem me mover, the chief concern would be power and reliability. To that end, older, more stable tech would be more desirable than shiny and new.
You don’t speak of the Sulaco. She was built in 2169. Basically a troop transport, it too was a bit austere. It was a military ship where comfort and firm were secondary to function. It should be noted that the Sulaco was the 13th vessel in its series. An inauspicious number that was much reviled and maligned by many who travelled on her. She had a chequered history and was known to be past her operational period.
Since Promethius was the NCC1701 of its universe, it’s unsurprisingly luxurious. A CEO would want to enjoy the fruits of their labours. There is also a reputational aspect to this story. As the boss of Weyland-Yutani, and quite the showman, Weyland would absolutely want to show the world how sunny his trinket is. Bearing in n mind that rival corporations would be waiting to steal a march on any and all of the W-Y contracts, Weyland would absolutely want to showcase how Williams my he was to spend money on unprofitable, even loss makes my space travel. I am unclear on the economics of the next century, but I suspect that the obviously capitalist structure alluded to means that it still costs a lot of money to get materiel into space. That Weyland would choose to take along a piano speaks as much of hubris (more so in fact) than of a love of the arts.
I cannot confirm a build date for the Covenant, but it should be noted that it offers a clear compromise between the tech of the Promethius and the utility of the Sulaco. It has all the high end equipment, but it has none of the frills. It is, in every sense, a functional exploratory vessel.
So, IMHO, the tech differences belong in the movie.
Short Answer: Ridley Scott never saw Alien.
Ridley Scott made Alien
An advanced science research vessel versus as you said a truck caravan in space. Add to that The Company coldly, and at times recklessly, seeks the bottom line above all else-And your explanation makes perfect sense within the Alien Universe.
04:40 At sea all ships have a duty to respond to SOS. Therefor it would be logical for them to have EVA suits if it was similar in space. The landing craft could have been an emergency shuttle rather than a lifepod that had dual purpose or just a regular pickup shuttle. I dont see a conflict here tbh.
Plus how the heck would they do any emergency repairs needed on the outside without EVA suits?
@@jeffumbach Good point.
I can see in one of the concept paintings for the Nostromo bridge that it was going to have LCD displays. Though yeah, standard analog screens was what they had on hand and it worked well. I don't think the ship design will ever have to be updated, but if I was updating the interior I would replace the analogs with digital LCD screens (some of them dusty, scratched, glitchy and with some dead pixels after years of service), which by the time of Alien would be considered cheap low budget tech.
I have a simple answer to this question. Money and interest. I always imagined the ships in the alien universe to have that retro style we see in Alien and Alien Isolation. So I see commercial ships like the Nostromo given the retro tech because it’s cheaper for an expensive craft. And Prometheus would have the all the holographic projectors and touch screen monitors because Peter Weyland wanted the best technology for they exploration to find life, and the truth of humanity. I also believe that on Earth or Mars, they would both have the newer technology compared to Hadley’s Hope on LV-426 or other deep space colonies and facilities like Sevastopol. Because it’s so expensive to get that tech out there.
Like I said it all has to do with money and interest.
I was a little confused by the technology in regards to each of the movies. I just watched a timeline of the movies and now I get it. I can see why different ships with their different missions would be equipped differently.
Agree about Prometheus & alien. Disagree pretty strongly regarding Star Wars though. Lol.
A lot of people don't know but the design of the Prometheus bridge was based on an original concept art by Ron Cobb when he was designing the Nostromo ship. Ridley wanted a more rugged look for the Nostromo given it was more of a cargo ship. I am glad they reused the original design by Cobb for Prometheus. The Book of Alien that came out many years before Prometheus shows a lot of the concept artwork for Alien that includes artworks by Ron Cobb and HR Giger.
Promethious was a full budget explorer ship! Carrying the chairman of the corporation! No expense spared! The Commercial Towing Vechicle Nostromo was a tug boat with a crew of working sailors not the best not the brightest! They were accidentally diverted to investigate a possible distress beacon! Truckers never get the best
i almost totally agree, Nostromo was a truck, Prometheus was a research yacht, almost all the tech could be hand waved by that simple difference. But i still believe they should have made an effort to include some of the Alien era type displays, maybe as the "minimum power draw" computers that did some of the work while the passengers were asleep, or showed up in some of the maintenance type areas of the ship. This would have tied in nicely, we could have seen that, yes, those green hue computers were in use, but for nicer vessels, there were also the fancy full color and graphics based types.
Damn good video
This has never been an issue for me, and your explanation makes perfect sense. Great vid as always.
Because of shit production design. Answered that easily.
This makes so much sense! I had never thought about it, but it does bring a great explanation. However, i believe that innovation and the technology available at the time of production are the main reason. But the fact that both missions' objectives are different, is a perfect way to look at it.
Thank you!
The technology used in Prometheus matches that of the tech represented in the first Alien Vs. Predator by Dark Horse comics, which was a very well written and drawn comic series so imo the tech variation of the first Alien and Prometheus is noticeable but not distracting to me as an avid Aliens fan.
I agree with you and think it's a valid explanation. If we look at cockpits in modern aircrafts for example the digital gauges and everything is in simple graphics, and maps look like in Google maps. There's no need for 3D holograms when you just need to see how much fuel is left in the tanks, or which weapons you've used or not in a fighter jet.
The only thing that goes against this theory is the lack of touch screens, something that would make things easier for the crew and which wouldn't be too expencive or too advanced to install compared to analogue keyboards or thick TV screens.
Another thing that makes this theory valid is that it's a space ship that travels long distances and the less storage for servers and such, the more room you have for oxygen, water, food and fuel.
Yeah, this apparent anomaly is definitely the least of my problems with Prometheus. I can really see how Weyland's team would be better equipped than the rugged Nostromo. But the crew of the Nostromo were way smarter...!
That's why I love the 2011 sequel to 1982's 'The Thing' - y'know - because it is a prequel and it looks and feel just like it should; an homage to the prior movie.
I always thought it was a difference in mission and company funding. The Prometheus was funded by the upper echelons of the company. The Covenant was also well-funded as the first large-scale colonization ship, so their tech was more similar to that of the Prometheus, as well. The tech seen on the Nostromo, the Torrens, Hadley's Hope, and Sevastopol station all seem to be more cost effective. You can see a similarly wide spectrum of technology used today in RL.
Without even watching this video first I can assure you the reasons can be explained as that the ship in the Prometheus film was the personal ship of Weyland while the ship in the original Alien movie was just a bunch of low ranking workers. Weyland gets the best money can buy, and the workers don't. It's like watching an old beater on the street today followed by a brand new BMW.
I see this sort of thing every day at my job. I work on airplanes and I will see 2 airplanes less than 10 years apart in age. One is brand new with a touch screen glass cockpit and a GUI. The other sill uses "steam gauges". It's even more apparent of you go back 20 years or more.
Totally makes sense that the Nostromo is an old, battered ore hauler that does it's job just fine while the Prometheus is Weyland's personal ship on a fully funded mission of exploration.
I came to the same conclusion you did. Nostromo was a space hauler, it did what it meant to do. Didn't need holograms of fancy screens, as it was basically an industrial tug. One thing I also need to point out too is that various navy ships still operate on analogue systems and steam gauges, even with all the tech we have today. Simply because it works and is reliable. No good getting into a sudden battle at sea and all your high tech systems gets a windows 10 blue screen of death. You can't exactly call system support and having a team of IT crew on board can spend hours trying to fix the problem, yet an engineer or mechanic will be able to solve an analogue issue fairly quickly
More thrilling, inventive, surprising and entertaining IMO than Prometheus and Covenant has been the four Audibles I have enjoyed this year. Starting with Out of the Shadows and most recent Alien: The Cold Forge was especially EPIC. If Scott would have made cold forge it would have been the greatest sci-fi movie of all time.
I was wondering about this the other day after watching alien again and it did bother me thinking about this. But this video was good and I can see all the arguments in this working towards it. Although I would've liked to see a few shinier old consoles with more dos like readouts amd flashing studs. Maybe even cleaner, more polished looking furnishings and wall paneling reminiscent of the nostromo but top of the line and spotless which could create a dycotomy with Alien where the design has become old hat now and worn with the biege panels fading and rusted dripping areas in the holds.
I think the fact that you say that the original alien movie which is like you said nearly 30 years old in a time with considerably less special effects is a incredibly realistic reason. To say that’s a cop out is in accurate cause back then they simply couldn’t do anything better then what they could.
Good Video.
For Star Wars, one can make the argument that the original trilogy was largely spent on the rim planets, where it took a while for the latest and greatest technology to catch up to them. Combine with that The Emperor's tight grip on the galaxy and hoarding resources for various projects like the Death Star, Sun Crusher, Death Star II, etc... then it wouldn't be hard to see how the technology took a nose dive across the galaxy, greatly affecting those on the outer rim.
With this logic, a billionaire should live in the same kind of crappy apartment as I do… for continuity’s sake 😂😂😂
Compare a container vessel or a tug in service today with a late-90s research vessel, backed by a major corporation.
Also, the "Nostromo" might actually be older than the "Prometheus": It definately looks used.
There you go! Best Explenation so far! 2nd Hand junk material for colonists And none important Civilians!
All good points. Let me add that in the late 1970’s, the idea of a user interface to a computer was vastly different than it is today. Take a look at the people interacting with computers on the 1967 episodes of Star Trek. The user interface was way different back then. They didn’t even have monitors. They had blinking lights. That is all. By 1979, computers were basically green screen only: character based display only. And that was only what you got on the deck of the Nostromo. Much of the evolution of what you saw in science fiction was an output from what computer displays grew to be. And the movies reflected it. They couldn’t just have the blinking lights like they had on bridge of the Enterprise (which is supposed to be centuries later - not decades later.
I think you hit the nail on the head. While yes, the newer films take advantage of modern effects technology and this can lead to some question as to why a story set further back on a series timeline looks "newer" than the films that come "after" it, it's the context of those style and technology choices that can explain them. Strictly speaking much of the events in the Star Wars OT take place on the fringes of Galactic society or in places where access to top of the line tech is probably not available. Space is big after all and while flying cars, advanced droids and ships, and holographic displays may be common on places like Corusant or Naboo, they are probably either too expensive, hard to maintain, or just plain impractical on places like Tatooine, Hoth, or even Cloud City. Even the Imperial Navy and Death Stars, which should have the most advanced tech possible, still have to keep costs under control and probably rely on prefabricated and modular components that are easy to assemble and replace.
As you mention, the Alien franchise could be seen to follow a similar tack. A workhorse tug like the Nostromo is probably going to be equipped with what it needs to function and little else(CRT monitors and text command aren't fancy but they do get the job done), while the Prometheus (being personally funded by Weyland) is going to have all the bells and whistles money can buy.
Honestly, I've never seen it as an issue so long as the differences can be framed properly.
I think that the Prometheus mission was so important, that Wayland used every resource at his disposal to make it the best he could. And covenant was another big ticket operation so it only made sense to give them more of the best technology available. But the original Alien movies were all about corporate profit and it makes sense that their technology was second rate as theyre trying to get the biggest bang for their bucks. Ridley Scott was right to do things the way he did with the prequels.
I think you're 100% right.
If the Nostromo and the Prometheus events happened in the same year, it's still reasonable. They are 2 very different ships with very different budgets and missions.
Compare a modern tugboat with a modern US Navy Battleship. You'd get the same exact contrast.
I can totally get passed going from Prometheus to Alien because one was made in the 70s. What I can't get passed is going from Prometheus to Covenant. We go from all the really good looking tech of Prometheus to using GoPros in Covenant?! Just takes me out everytime I see them on their shoulders. It's like they saw how good everything looked in Prometheus and tried to pull it back a bit.
I agree with the ending thoughts. That the Nostromo was "just a cargo ship" and probably an older one at that (even though it was still considered to be an "expensive Star freighter") where as Prometheus was kitted out with the latest and greatest for a mission to explore another planet. Also, about that surgery pod, even in the movie they said that was rare and expensive tech.
i felt the same way you did. It has been 30yrs since the original and it only makes sense to take advantage of the technology available.