Holy Fuck Balls
I must laugh at you repeatedly, then...
Your movie tastes... they are incredibly hit or miss lons.
Ok so, aliens pop out of no where that have run out of gas and the only way to get going is to use the oil from their ships parts and they never did that prior. It also just so happens that the same fuel also completely changes your dna to theirs and transforms you into one of them. HORRIBLE!
Omgz spoiler, I didn't see the movie yet! =(
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
Actually, the original concept for the story (which they filmed, then edited) was pretty elegant, but the producer (Peter Jackson) felt that the backstory and all the explanations ruined the timing and the flow of the real story, which was the apartheid-ironic situation between the prawns and the humans. Too much technical jargon wouldn't work, especially inside the mockumentary format. It wasn't until the director had finished filming and finished most ot the post-production effects that the decision was made to edit out the 'explanations' in favor of a smoother storyline.
WHATS MISSING:
1. The prawns are a caste society similar to ants or bees, where the majority of the population will be drones and the rest will mature into leaders. It isn't known until late adolescence whether a prawn will be a drone or a leader, and even the leaders are organically compelled into narrow specializations.
2. The ship didn't break down or run out of gas - a disease killed the leadership, and their last act was to park the ship above a habitable planet.
3. The two main prawns of the story aren't from the ship. They were born on earth, and are the first two leaders to reach maturity. The story never explains exactly what their specialties are, but the prawn who is killed is supposedly some form of doctor and the other is some form of engineer. Neither is supposed to be someone attuned to operating a starship.
3A. The child prawn with them is the third leader, but his talents are unknown.
4. Prawn technology, whether a weapon, a tool or a vehicle, is part mechanical and part organic. Prawn equipment is designed to become an extension of the user, with the user assimilating the item as if it is part of their own body. Humans can't use prawn weapons because the weapon doesn't know how to talk to the human. Human scientists mistakenly believe that this was designed solely to keep non-prawns from using prawn technology.
5. In the original story the 'fuel' isn't fuel at all, it's a mutagen designed to alter prawn DNA so that a prawn can operate complex equipment. It's an interface that alters prawn neurology so that a prawn can easily absorb information and feedback from large systems like armored suits, shuttles and starships. When the main human character sprays it on himself the mutagen starts to reassemble him as a prawn.
6. The disease that killed the original leadership was in the mutagen that allowed them to operate their equipment. The first part of the movie is not about finding fuel, it's about finding, growing and sanitizing a useable amount of mutagen.
---------------------------------
I can see how trying to explain all this could drag down the story. I can also see the parts where they fudged the story to fit with the simpler plot line.
Pooter, i liked the movie a lot before you explained, and i guess i never cared to think, or look more deeply into it, or research it for that matter. But after you have explained some of the missing links, and some questions i had, it makes the movie that much enjoyable. I hope they come out w an extended version of it then for DVD
PLot was weak..But everyone knows you dont watch and alien movie for the "Sweet" Plot. You watch it to see the splash gun blow people into bite sized bits.
Sleep little one, sleep
take comfort in the nights embrace
Cause the morning sun is going to open your eyes
and you'll see that you live in a fucked up place
Back to the original post. I'm very much looking forward to this!
Ain