What do you think the Holo-ENGINEERS were truely running from, an animal or an e

".. There end-of-the-world Atlantis-like destructuion wrought in their own ruin.." If that occurred there was at least one Engineer that survived. The Running Engineers did indeed seem to be running for their lives and lifestyle(whatever that maybe.) So much that they didn't even stop to help the falling Engineer. We have so little evidence that it hard to deduce anything. Enjoyed your thoughts and i hope you can expand on them.

Dr Shaw, while watching the rerun of the suit recording of the holographic Engineers asked that same question and she said that she couldn't help thinking that they were running from an outbreak, and so they were desperately running in the end from themselves perhaps trying to out run infection which didn't work. That is also what I believe and I think that is what we were supposed to believe via the writers and RS.

..."trying to out run infectiothis is agreeable. i am assuming that they were running from a lab or testing area or something that had the goo being experimented on and maybe there were a few xenos/deacons/facehuggers(?). but those werent the real threat compared to the outbreak

[quote]Dr Shaw, while watching the rerun of the suit recording of the holographic Engineers asked that same question and she said that she couldn't help thinking that they were running from an outbreak ---[/quote] by nostromo001 This had me thinking that they saw how one of them was bursting a deacon. That would explain the horrific yell before seeing the runners. While one bursted (the source of the yell) the others ran off while the new born Deacon tries to "wake up". Since every single xenomorph I remember seeing have these pause right after they burst, they are like gathering strength or something before walking so Engineers tried to use that time to run away.

Just watched it first time on bluray and I picked up something I didn't hear before- at least one of the dead piled up engineers chest had exploded, so my guess is that they were running from a xenomorph.

[i]Just watched it first time on bluray and I picked up something I didn't hear before- at least one of the dead piled up engineers chest had exploded, so my guess is that they were running from a xenomorph.[/i] - richardbrucebaxter You're confining the xeno as solely a chestbursting creature as that's all we've seen so far. I think it's possible that the black substance creates many different types of xeno life by any means necessary, and possibly that there were some head bursters along with that chest burster. I've also been wondering if the Hammerpedes were actually transformed worms or if they are actually another organism that bursted from the worms as Milburn and Fifield found a molted skin which follows more closely with a chest burster from Alien.

The scene were the engineers are piled up. My thoughts are that the engineers died from infection rather than a xeno. One of the dead engineers had a hole in its head , maybe its cause of death was similar to what happend to the engineers head in the med lab on prometheus. it just exploded from the infection. The way the bodies were pile up wasnt in true xeno style. Normally the xeno sticks them to the wall. Im not sure whether or not the engineers were running from infection or a xeno, perhaps the last engineer looked around to see if there were any fellow engineers behind him so he could seal the door without locking someone out.

I think the infection can take at least three or more forms from what we have seen in Prometheus only. It can turn a person into a Fifield bioweapon killing machine if they get it on there skin or face, the evidence of the dead engineers some of which had chest bursrted is a second form and the third was what happened if a squid-like face hugger is birthed either naturally killing the host in the process if female after intercourse with an infected male, or if she is lucky enough to have access to a Pauli Med Pod through Cesarean section. And then we saw that the squid grows into a gigantic face hugger that can impregnate its host in the typical xenomorphic method resulting in a chestbursting xenomorph who's form depends upon the genetic makeup of the host. Probably other options are available to this very advanced morphogenetic substance. I think the screen writers and RS just had fun coming up with multiple ways to surprise the audience while giving them clues that viewers of previous alien movies would recognize like the blown open chests of some of the dead engineers. That was placed in there so we the audience would raise our eyebrows in recognition of what we know about xenomorphic reproduction as seen in previous movies.

We can only imagine what would cause the Engineers to flee INTO the Big Head room instead of away from possible infection. And I think we may never know why so many were piled up along the wall. A cynical person might suggest that they were fleeing from another possible Lindelof/Spaiths script.

Hmm Seems to me what you are suggesting is that the Big Head Room is actually what earthlings call a 'Panic Room'. If that is the case the size if the room would reflect the number of Engineers at this particular dome. Although there was some space in the Big Head Room to accomdate Engineers in need. it more more likely to house 50 but not hundreds of the runners. And what really did happen to the running engineers that already entered the room before slamming the door down. There must have been an escape somewhere. somehow that made sense to them.

Well, the Big Head Room being a "Panic Room" for the Engineers would the equivalent of humans having a bomb shelter loaded with anthrax.

The Engineers would rather run to a goo(or an anthrax equivilent) filled room than face what was chasing them. This Bomb Shelter has more than a casual connection to the Engineers. Heck depending on the circumstances they could have raced thru the tunnels to the Juggernaut and get the hell off moon.

[img]http://cache.gamercreated.com/F/1024x768-tagged-scale/13999-Fart_27376_20080227160315.jpg[/img] Maybe there is an easier explanation of what happend to them. We came from them, and I think all dead engineers were males. They just ate a lot of beans infected by a black goo, than suddenly, huge and powerful "flatulence" happend which bursted out of one engineer/ the one who ate beans first. A discharge of intestinal gas was so unhuman/unengineer and contagious that everybody ran away. The engineer who started to eat beans in the second place ran away with others, but again "flatulence" happened and burst his abdominal cavity plus was decapicated. Next engineers escaped into the cryo, but right before they were frozen, monster flaulence came again and again=damaged cryos. The only survival was our engineer who didn't eat beans...;)

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Actually we don't see or hear any alarms at the Dome site fro anything that i think would have triggerred a warning to other domes or engineers. *When The Prometheus Landed *Openning the various Doors *Activating the Orrery *Juggernaut preparing to lift off and destroy Earth Heck There were more warning lights/alarms when the Prometheus crew was leaving the ship the frst time than anything ever displayed by the Engineers. For what Janek desscribed as a possible Military Base..or at least a super Goo Research center there were no warning.safeguards displayed in our movie at all. It could be that this Class of Engineers were very arrogant thinking there were no need for them. And even if there was a silent alarm/intruder alert system in place no other dome showed any activity in any form while a Juggernauit was being destroyed right above their heads. Now let's see how far Shaw/ David get to on the next stop before some alert is issued.or our two crew members are challenged.

lol, i think theyre all running to avoid being locked out its a bit 'das boot' the ship may have been readying for take-off as david said, we dont see or hear the alarms, the weird noise i think is the recording like a video tape in fast forward or a record catching, they look goo infected to me which we've been told affects behaviour even early on..... it really looks like angry bob is a saboteur! and a moiderer! the one that ran into head room may have been looking for an alternative route to the orrey as the orrey/pilot room does have several entrances/exits having seen the doors where the pile of bodies lay shut ahead of him he may have ran for the head room only because it was open and part of the ship rather than part of the mound the desperate aim being to get off the moon even if it meant being in there! think about it if you were facing being stranded with guys going all zombie-ape like fifield or worse youd climb into the effluence tank if it was the only option.......

An experiment gone terribly wrong as in a bio-hazard emergency here on Earth.

I wonder if the outbreak if that was what it was started turning that place into an I AM LEDGEND situation where all, or nearly all, had become infected and zombie-fied/vampiric and a mass exodus to kill any remaining 'normal' ENGINEERS and at the same time a mass-exodus to get as far away from this infected place as possible before becoming infected themselves. Also, did the remaining engineers run to the 'Prayer Room' or 'Cathedral' with the giant face/head in it as a form or religeous salvation? Their way of wanting to repent and be delivered from all of their sins? Hence while they are all piled up outside - they were or became the 'Forsaken Few'.

@ Indy Guys I meant it only like a joke :) I'm a big Prometheus fan..

i thought it was funny i'd quite like to see a phantom raspberry blower prometheus spoof mashup! flatulence humour transcends language and cultural barriers xD