Poll: Was it stupid of the Prometheus crew to take off their helmets?

[Weentastic]

-Minor? Spoiler Alert-

So I just saw prometheus and have been sailing around the internet to find all the plugs for the plot holes and what not, but that's a different issue. What I can't figure out is whether or not it was completely moronic or not for the expedition crew to take off their helmets once they found out the air inside the facility was breathable. My first reaction was utter astonishment that they could be so stupid, but the person I saw the movie with said it wasn't that silly.

Now obviously I knew that bad shit was abounding everywhere, so I can't project that onto the characters, but cross contamination isn't that foreign of a concept, so you'd think that a deep space expedition might be worried about space herpes or at least space allergies. I understand that the crew was all excited and what not, and said to hell with aseptic technique and quarantine procedures, but that doesn't make it any stupider. And I would have been more impressed with the writing if the bad shit in the movie had happened DESPITE the crews stringent protocols, rather than because of their idiocy. Not to say that all the bad things that happened were because they took their helmets off, it was just a moment of shock to me.

On the other hand, it was brought to my attention on tvtropes that the likelihood of a a space bacterium or contagion evolving separately and naturally would have an almost zero percent chance of being compatible with humans, or any other species from earth. Now we as the audience know that the inhabitants of the planet are related to humans, but an expedition would assume quite the opposite. So I guess I just want to know if other people who watched the movie thought that was stupid and/or bad writing, or if it might be justified.

 

[Dags90]

We, the audience, wouldn't be able to see their faces as clearly with helmets on. It makes sense from a directorial standpoint.

 

[Rawberry101]

We, the audience, wouldn't be able to see their faces as clearly with helmets on. It makes sense from a directorial standpoint.

Well that sums it up pretty nicely on that front.

As far as immersion, it would take some confidence for me to take off my helmet on an ALIEN PLANET. I probably wouldn't be the first to do it, if I recall correctly most of the crew was skeptical until the first man did it. I might if the rest of my crew didn't start wheezing and fall over dead after a minute or two.

 

[Weentastic]

We, the audience, wouldn't be able to see their faces as clearly with helmets on. It makes sense from a directorial standpoint.

Really? I didn't have any trouble seeing their faces; they had giant clear bubbles on their heads. That's like 3 steps ahead of the regular helmet with the face lit up on the inside.

 

[Gennaroc]

I actually think it is more of a characterisation thing than anything else. Shaw and Holloway are portrayed as being rather impulsive and are trained archaeologists/anthropologists/whatever and not all that big on playing things safe. The only rule enforcing character being Vickers is not physically around, and so when Holloway sort of peer pressures everyone into taking off the helmets, they comply. Just because your in space doesn't mean overbearingly inquisitive people are going to suddenly follow structured procedure. Besides, most of the characters (and most of the relating dialogue) treats the suits as just there for oxygen supply, not as hazchem suits.

 

[ClockworkPenguin]

'Oh breathable air, it must be a good idea to remove our helmets even though we're expecting to find life and we're all presumably familiar with the ending of War of the Worlds'

No, It was a bloody stupid idea, and it annoys me in every sci-fi where it happens.

 

[Rednog]

From a disease standpoint it really isn't stupid, like the poll says the odds that something on a foreign planet will infect you is obscenely low. Granted I haven't seen the movie and really don't plan to, the only thing I would really worry about is what breathable means, granted you have the required oxygen, nitrogen, etc in the air for a human to breathe, but did they check for any toxins and whatnot? If they did and it was 100% clean I really don't blame them for taking their helmets off.

 

[Odbarc]

They said the air was breathable. So that mean's it's contagion free as well. Why would an advanced society/civilization have something that has a yes/no breathable meter scanning device that doesn't include air born viruses too?

 

[Unsilenced]

While if it were just some random planet the odds would be low of successful infection, this wasn't just some random planet. They were looking for proto-humans. As in things that were close to humans. As in things that might have similar biology to us.

Plus, something doesn't have to be compatible with your system to still fuck you up. There could have been all sorts of things in the air which would wreak major havoc on the human body.

Field testing is stupid too. You can only really field test for things you know might be there. They could test for common poisons such as cyanide or carbon monoxide, but what if there was a type of misfolded protein or some such that had never been seen before on Earth? It is, after all, a fucking alien planet. Things might have formed there that just don't on Earth. They're in an atmosphere with foreign organic material. I would have locked them out of the god damned ship after something like that. Sounds harsh, sure, but that's the price of shitting on professionalism when dealing with a situation that could potentially lead to the extinction of the human race via space-plague.

 

[gideonkain]

Hell ya it was, as soon as that happened I filed the movie under "one time watch" - your on an alien planet and a little machine says the air is fine? It's an Alien Planet?!?!, you don't know if everyone died due to the fast acting air borne virus, or if the spores of the mushrooms cause your skin to melt.

They said the air was breathable. So that mean's it's contagion free as well. Why would an advanced society/civilization have something that has a yes/no breathable meter scanning device that doesn't include air born viruses too?

How would technology be able to identify alien organisms as contagious viruses? Their ALIEN, as in unfamiliar.

If you ever find yourself in a hazmat suit, and some idiot with a tricorder says: "Hey instead of being safe lets all simultaneously remove our protective headgear."

Their working with the aliens, kill them with fire.

 

[The Madman]

Yes it was stupid, but then the entire goddamned movie was stupid. So disappointing. I wouldn't say I felt ripped off leaving the theatre, at least the visuals and sound were nice. But jeez, what a convoluted idiotic mess of a plot.

 

[gideonkain]

like the poll says the odds that something on a foreign planet will infect you is obscenely low.

I'm really surprised to hear someone say that.

It's like saying "What are the chances that small pox is going to decimate a native population who has never been exposed to that form of disease and has absolutely no antibodies built up against it?"

 

[Esotera]

What's the science behind something evolving separately and not being harmful (i.e., is it just in the Prometheus universe or is it a general rule)? I wouldn't take off my helmet for several months as there's absolutely no way of knowing how a planet full of various different organisms will react when a human is put there. Obviously if someone else survived with their helmet off for several months, I'd probably take the risk (despite *****-slapping them constantly through the interim period for possibly killing us all).

 

[lumenadducere]

like the poll says the odds that something on a foreign planet will infect you is obscenely low.

I'm really surprised to hear someone say that.

It's like saying "What are the chances that small pox is going to decimate a native population who has never been exposed to that form of disease and has absolutely no antibodies built up against it?"

But smallpox is a disease that actually affects humans and evolved on this planet. There are thousands of diseases that affect animals on Earth that have no impact on humans whatsoever, because they have evolved to suit that particular species. It's not unreasonable to think that since there are so many contaminants that don't even affect humans on Earth, that a virus or bacteria encountered on a foreign planet that has never had to evolve alongside humans would not harm them in any way whatsoever. So in this case the analogy wouldn't be smallpox but rather dog flu.

 

[Casual Shinji]

We, the audience, wouldn't be able to see their faces as clearly with helmets on. It makes sense from a directorial standpoint.

That was most likely why it happens in the movie, but it goes a bit too far.

The first character who took his helmet off was Holloway, and I was fine with that because it seemed to fit with his character which was sorta "leap before you look". And because Shaw trusts him and wants to stand by the one she loves, it would make sense for her to take off her helmet, too. Both of them seem to be scientists with an overly romantic view of this alien civilization they've waited years to explore, so the fact that they're kind of blind for whatever hazard they might encounter makes sense.

But the rest of the crew who didn't have their head in the clouds should've been way more reserved about the matter.

 

[Murais]

I don't think it was a stupid idea for them to remove the helmets because of the xeno threat. That's meta knowledge they simply wouldn't have had that made sense in the context of the film.

I DO, however, think it was stupid of them to remove their helmets for a different reason. The scientists on the expeditions were accustomed to cave exploration: it was the primary method they engaged in finding their alien artifacts. Now, a little bit of basic cave ecology would tell you that the problem with descending deep into caves, especially ones with water bodies in them, is that they tend to have an abundance of dangerous gases in them. The kind that make you dead fast.

So, when the vast majority of their time on this alien planet was spent spelunking in the same manner you would in subterranean environments on Earth, it seemed downright irresponsible to just toss the goddamn helmets away. And even though their suits said the air was "clean," it would be highly probable that there would be undiscovered elements in that air that could be equally harmful to human life. There are protocols for this shit that NASA has in place now, and it just seemed like a rather massive neglect of common sense for a group of professional scientists to disregard them all.

As far as scientists go, they were pretty shitty. Touch all the things!

 

[TheScientificIssole]

Yes, it was stupid, but you need to understand that they weren't expecting anything less of god himself. They went there to see their creator, not freaky alien stuff.

We, the audience, wouldn't be able to see their faces as clearly with helmets on. It makes sense from a directorial standpoint.

That was most likely why it happens in the movie, but it goes a bit too far.

The first character who took his helmet off was Holloway, and I was fine with that because it seemed to fit with his character which was sorta "leap before you look". And because Shaw trusts him and wants to stand by the one she loves, it would make sense for her to take off her helmet, too. Both of them seem to be scientists with an overly romantic view of this alien civilization they've waited years to explore, so the fact that they're kind of blind for whatever hazard they might encounter makes sense.

But the rest of the crew who didn't have their head in the clouds should've been way more reserved about the matter.

This too, but I feel that everyone else was just following the leader, David took it off because he needed to seem more like the crew, to seem more human, just like why he wore the helmet. Fifield and Milburn didn't know much about procedure, being they were a geologist and a biologist.

 

[Unsilenced]

like the poll says the odds that something on a foreign planet will infect you is obscenely low.

I'm really surprised to hear someone say that.

It's like saying "What are the chances that small pox is going to decimate a native population who has never been exposed to that form of disease and has absolutely no antibodies built up against it?"

But smallpox is a disease that actually affects humans and evolved on this planet. There are thousands of diseases that affect animals on Earth that have no impact on humans whatsoever, because they have evolved to suit that particular species. It's not unreasonable to think that since there are so many contaminants that don't even affect humans on Earth, that a virus or bacteria encountered on a foreign planet that has never had to evolve alongside humans would not harm them in any way whatsoever. So in this case the analogy wouldn't be smallpox but rather dog flu.

But the came to the planet looking for proto-humans. Things that they thought would be like us. Biological similarity wasn't just a possibility, it was the point.

Even if it weren't, some parasites can make huge species jumps. Most can't, but it only takes one to completely wipe out the human race due to space AIDS.

And, perhaps most worryingly, it doesn't even need to be a parasite. Certain types of organic compounds just fuck shit up when they enter the body. Like I said before, what about a misfolded protein? Or some bit of organic matter that doesn't interact properly with human physiology? It might not hitch a ride back to Earth and kill everyone, but it would still leave a large portion of the crew incapacitated or killed by an unknown ailment far from any help.

"Well this could lead to a biblical plague capable of wiping out all of humanity, but boy I would hate to miss this moment to show everyone just how much of a free spirit I am!"

 

[Nikolaz72]

like the poll says the odds that something on a foreign planet will infect you is obscenely low.

I'm really surprised to hear someone say that.

It's like saying "What are the chances that small pox is going to decimate a native population who has never been exposed to that form of disease and has absolutely no antibodies built up against it?"

But smallpox is a disease that actually affects humans and evolved on this planet. There are thousands of diseases that affect animals on Earth that have no impact on humans whatsoever, because they have evolved to suit that particular species. It's not unreasonable to think that since there are so many contaminants that don't even affect humans on Earth, that a virus or bacteria encountered on a foreign planet that has never had to evolve alongside humans would not harm them in any way whatsoever. So in this case the analogy wouldn't be smallpox but rather dog flu.

Well as explained in the movie humans evolved from that Alien race who 'lived' there. So its not too far fetched that diseases that the old alien race could fight, the humans could not. As they had grown vurnerable to them again with time.

 

[gideonkain]

like the poll says the odds that something on a foreign planet will infect you is obscenely low.

I'm really surprised to hear someone say that.

It's like saying "What are the chances that small pox is going to decimate a native population who has never been exposed to that form of disease and has absolutely no antibodies built up against it?"

But smallpox is a disease that actually affects humans and evolved on this planet. There are thousands of diseases that affect animals on Earth that have no impact on humans whatsoever, because they have evolved to suit that particular species. It's not unreasonable to think that since there are so many contaminants that don't even affect humans on Earth, that a virus or bacteria encountered on a foreign planet that has never had to evolve alongside humans would not harm them in any way whatsoever. So in this case the analogy wouldn't be smallpox but rather dog flu.

What it comes down to is a matter of common sense. If you were anywhere else but Earth and someone suggested you take off your helmet, I think 99.9% of people would say "Thanks, but I'll pass." not have 100% of the landing party taking in big gulps of air.

There is no futuristic spacesuit that is so god awful uncomfortable that you would willingly risk catching Space Ebola because you didn't like how humid it was in there.