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

[Lucane]

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?

I was looking for that option too,Saying it was stupid to take off there helmets would be wrong because they didn't start dying because they took them off it's because they we're directly infected on purpose or to close to hostile alien lifeforms. The helmets just stopped them from dying in the open field areas of the surface.

 

[Twilight_guy]

No. Not only because of possible microbes but also because of dust and other particles in the air that could have an unknown reaction when exposed to your lung tissue for an extended period.

 

[FalloutJack]

Two things motivate me not to worry about the crew taking off helmets. First, if the instruments say clean, then clean. When you start second-guessing your instruments when they're certainly geared towards citing the presence of unfamiliar particles, you don't belong on another world. Too much paranoia. Lacking the presence of unknown agents, the helmets would be fine and later evidence proved that it wasn't the air doing anything. The second reason...is that there is no spoiler here. The cast is doomed by canon and LV-223 itself is doomed to become 20 times more inhospitable due to the events of this movie. When you're talking a sci-fi horror prequel, you're watching to see what horror befell those who came before the Nostromo and how the situation got the way that it did.

 

[Furioso]

Half the shit that goes on in the movie was unbelievably stupid, case in point. The guys who made it clear that they had a FUCKING MAP were the ones who got lost, and were the ones horrified of the aliens, yet leaped at the chance to molest the first live one they saw

 

[Dr. Cakey]

In case you weren't paying attention, it's pretty damned clear through 3 of the 4 alien movies(Alien 3 doesn't involve the corp iirc) that in order to be a shareholder or on the board of directors of Weyland-Yutani you have to pass a test certifying you free of conscience, compassion, and the ability to discern possible negative effects of your actions. Moreover, their hiring process clearly is meant to weed out anyone remotely competent. Ripley clearly managed to slip through their hiring filters on accident. This is obviously true of the Weyland corp in Prometheus as well.

Ripley was hired because they only hired incompetent people to screen out competent people?

Like most sci-fi prequels, the technology at this time is more advanced than it will be hundreds/thousands of years in the future. I mean, they have like, tricorder thingies. They scanned for...bad stuff. I dunno, I feel like even stupid people would think it makes more sense to wear your helmet on an unknown planet than to just go "science has confirmed everything is safe".

Actually, if they have science that can magically tell everything is safe, shouldn't the science have gone "ding" when near the molasses jars?

And why do the scientists want to touch everything while the greedy corporation with an ulterior motive who has no problem with every member of the crew dying wants to be careful?

Why were those staples so big?

Why did the xenomorph at the end look different from other xenomorphs?

When they said the Engineers were genetically identical to people, did they mean IDENTICAL or just identical?

Did the Engineers seed all life on the planet or just humans? And if all life, does that mean they're four billion years old?

Why do people like this movie?

If they needed to take off their helmets because otherwise viewers wouldn't be able to tell them apart when you're spending like seventy billion dollars on a movie, isn't it time to hire a new costume designer?

(Even though you could tell them apart because the person who was designing the suits actually was doing their job, unlike everyone else involved in the movie excluding Charlize Theron and the animators)

 

[Weentastic]

The second reason...is that there is no spoiler here. The cast is doomed by canon and LV-223 itself is doomed to become 20 times more inhospitable due to the events of this movie. When you're talking a sci-fi horror prequel, you're watching to see what horror befell those who came before the Nostromo and how the situation got the way that it did.

Ok, but I still hold that it is bad writing in ANY kind of movie to have experts make moronic, unjustified decisions, especially repeated ones that result in a catastrophe. Conversely, I'm always impressed by both the writer's skill, the universe they created, as well as the danger that the character's face, when despite their sincerest efforts, a catastrophe circumvents their efforts. In the original Alien, it didn't seem so moronic to have a look see at the leathery egg-thing that showed movement. And even that was a single, isolated character, who has been previously characterized as a "space trucker", and not, say, someone trained in cross-cultural contact. And quarantine being broken on the Nostromo is justified as Ash was the one who allowed it, and the crew on the outside were shaken up, and also previously characterized as "space truckers" and could be expected not to give a damn about quarantine procedures. It fit together nicely, and was justified and detailed. And in the end, it made you really appreciate the story, because you couldn't just blame it on some dumbass.

 

[FalloutJack]

The second reason...is that there is no spoiler here. The cast is doomed by canon and LV-223 itself is doomed to become 20 times more inhospitable due to the events of this movie. When you're talking a sci-fi horror prequel, you're watching to see what horror befell those who came before the Nostromo and how the situation got the way that it did.

Ok, but I still hold that it is bad writing in ANY kind of movie to have experts make moronic, unjustified decisions, especially repeated ones that result in a catastrophe. Conversely, I'm always impressed by both the writer's skill, the universe they created, as well as the danger that the character's face, when despite their sincerest efforts, a catastrophe circumvents their efforts. In the original Alien, it didn't seem so moronic to have a look see at the leathery egg-thing that showed movement. And even that was a single, isolated character, who has been previously characterized as a "space trucker", and not, say, someone trained in cross-cultural contact. And quarantine being broken on the Nostromo is justified as Ash was the one who allowed it, and the crew on the outside were shaken up, and also previously characterized as "space truckers" and could be expected not to give a damn about quarantine procedures. It fit together nicely, and was justified and detailed. And in the end, it made you really appreciate the story, because you couldn't just blame it on some dumbass.

It's funny, because you reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock when he was directing The Birds. Main actress asked him why she would head into a room that her character knew quite well was filled with birds eager to peck her apart. He replied "Because I tell you to.". And this is considered to be a brilliant classic for its times. You can poke holes in it, but that's really not going to do much. In the end, you can only accept that it's a movie and that stuff HAS TO happen or else it won't be as eventful.

 

[Doclector]

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

Yes, and it sort of makes sense with the characters. They simple couldn't keep their helmets on with the secrets of the universe all around them, understanding that they're archeologists that have studied this kind of stuff for years.

 

[T4FF3R]

I thought of Guy from Galaxy Quest every time they did something stupid. ESPECIALLY pulling off their helmets... "Is there air?! You don't know!!"

 

[Siege_TF]

I would have been on eggshells the whole damn time, there for the money in spite of everyone looking for God. These idiots were looking for Buddy Christ, not He who smites cities with meteors, turns bitches to salt, flodded the world, killed every firstborn in the houses that didn't have lamb's blood smeared on the door, and that's if it's Old Testament God instead of the older patheons which are even worse.

This is the kind of indiviual who gets his privacy if that's what he wants. Do Not Disturb is not a suggestion in this case, but if the money's incredible I'll tiptoe around and make sure these lunatics who took off their helmets follow the same basic rules as timetravel: Don't eat anything, don't drink anything, don't screw anything, don't fix/wreck anything, don't marry anything, don't pull anything out of anything, and if you see Merlin don't tell him he's be a vaulable addition to the fucking team.

Take my helmet off? Yeah, maybe a week from now. Of course I'm the kind of guy who would have grabbed a riot shield and something heavy when the boss says 'no guns' instead of sulking in the ship like a primmadonna.

 

[CODE-D]

.

I would say yes but the two who died had their helmets on.
Also to say that I wouldnt have wanted to take mine off for the heck of it Id be lying.

 

[Tilted_Logic]

I have yet to see Prometheus, but people taking their space helmets/hazmat suits off in any foreign environment (talking any sci fi here)... It just sort of stuns me.

In my mind I can't see the logic behind removing your helmet if you're in an unexplored and potentially hostile area. Does it really hurt to have one small extra layer of protection in case something should go wrong? Granted, I have no idea how obnoxious the helmets in Prometheus are to wear, but in an unknown situation like that I'd throw comfort to the wind. Don't see the point in taking the chance, it really can't hurt to keep it on, at least for the first visit.

 

[digital warrior]

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!

Thank you sir this right here. It's how I would sum up the entire film these scientists are just stupid. It felt like none absolutely none of these people had any right or training to be shot into space. I should never be able to look at a film like this and mean it when I say I could have survived because I'm more qualified for a first contact/exploration mission than these people. Cause lets face the only experience I have is watching Star Trek.

 

[Paradoxrifts]

I didn't mind the helmet thing so much. Yeah it was all shades of stupid but it wasn't my deal breaker with Prometheus. What ended up doing me in was when they realise that two of the crew have gone missing they immediately go looking for them without first rewinding and replaying the footage that was still being broadcast back to the ship by the recording devices they still had on them at the time. And the stupidity just kept coming and coming, like a relentless onslaught of dumb. Dumb after dumber after dumbest after dumester after dumbesterest!

 

[MammothBlade]

Yeah. They were complete stupid f**ks inside the Engineer ship. A breathable atmosphere isn't necessarily a clean or pathogen-free atmosphere - as has been said, there might be micro-organisms against which humans have no defence. Likewise, they should have been a lot more cautious the moment they saw hints of organic life. Even if it doesn't look dangerous, biocontamination is a factor both for the prometheus crew and their chances of getting clean specimens. That was very unprofessional, and Weyland must have cut corners on hiring costs.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

In character, good from a directoral standpoint to showcase the actors' faces, but definitely incredibly stupid and unprofessional. In addition to ignoring the possibility of malfunction or how such a small hand-held sensor would be able to reasonably scan all the air in their vicinity and beyond, they also ignored the possibility of sudden poisonous gas leaks as well as the fact that their sensors may not be calibrated to detect spores, bacterium, or other pathogens composed of completely alien matter and chemical compounds.

 

[Elamdri]

-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.

The protagonist is exactly as competent as the plot demands.

 

[PurePareidolia]

The thing is, a random alien contagion being compatible with humans is unlikely. An alien contagion capable of infecting a race that's 100% DNA identical to humans however would pretty definitely be compatible with our biology. If you're actively searching a planet known to be inhabited by the latter, then keep your damn helmets on.

Identical biology means that if they can breathe you can breathe, so that's not too big of a deal, but give it a few days at least, make sure the place isn't crawling with space germs you haven't got an immunity to, and above all, don't touch the hissing cobra things, god damn.

I swear those were the worst scientists who EVER, EVER lived.