Great job, Nate. I'm guessing that the script has been on lockdown hence the mystery? How can something like this huge get made with so few knowing what's going on?

Thanks for all the hard work, Nate. You're a gentleman and a scholar. May techno-organic xenomorphs never darken your doorway.

Thanks guys! @Gabe: Yeah, I think you'd probably have an easier time robbing Fort Knox than you would finding that script. Haha it's a tough gig, I think. Chris Nolan usually accomplishes it, as does JJ Abrams. It takes a lot of effort and security and probably a few really nasty NDAs for everyone to sign :). @CJ: May they never darken anyone's doorway. If I've learned anything from watching movies about techno-organic xenomorphs, it's that we're sorely outmatched.

Some weird discrepancies-- the David/canister scene from the teaser features a more jellyfish-translucent looking creature than the one in the trailer; it's as if they digitally darkened it to make it more opaque. And in the UK version of the trailer, the mutant guy who leaps down upon the characters inside the loading/cargo bay is on fire -- at least it looks like that -- where he's not in the US trailer or teaser.

Good job on the breakdown. One of the things I keep thinking about is the Space Jockey being seated in the pilot chair when a chestburster sprang out of his chest. Which makes me think one of two things: 1) there are more than one SJ, one was seated and infected - somehow, we're not given details - when he died, leaving the others to board the Prometheus and attack the humans. Or, 2) there was only one, a caretaker of what was in the canisters, and after trying to escape to his own ship (the croissant, as I call it), was knocked down by the Prometheus. And obviously, the blue lines stretching across Dr. Shaw's skin was similar to those in what is presumably a Space Jockey's skin at the beginning of the trailer, as it overlooked primordial Earth. Lastly, there seems to be a lot of "morphing" and transfiguration going on, like genetic splicing once the two species are in contact with each other. So, in short, I can't wait till June 8th!

[...] Black List’s Scott Myers provides a shot-by-shot breakdown of the Prometheus trailer. Because watching it 43 times on my Sunday afternoon wasn’t enough, I need it analyzed [...]

Nate, one other thing, at 1:38: I wonder if those four sarcophagi-like pods arranged radially are where the SJ(s) reside until something awakens him/them.

Good eye, Mark. I actually only watched the UK trailer once before starting the US breakdown, so I'll have to go back and rewatch it now that the US version is seared into my retina. I'll get back to you about anything else I spot.

Yeah, I was thinking either that or some kind of power supply?

Thanks, Erick! Well, that's the thing: now that we've seen the Space Jockey walking around sans being in the chair, and we've seen that brief glimpse of the chair's "skeleton" fitting itself around him, I think that could technically mean that the facehugger exploded his way out of the empty skeleton suit. When the SJ was not currently sitting in his throne/encased in said suit. I think it's likely there were definitely more than one SJ at some point in time. Whether that would be in the timeline of PROMETHEUS or somewhere else, I'm not sure. I get the feeling they represent a race of beings, though. So I'm sure at some point the reasoning goes their used to be a ton of them, especially since we see one in the beginning of the trailer, which I'm assuming is hundreds if not thousands of years before any of the events of any of the Alien movies take place. Unless they're immortal and that's just the one SJ. Literal interpretation of them being some sort of God-like creator. RE: your 1) and 2) theories. About 1)--but when the crew from the first Alien movie find the Space Jockey's chair that has the chest missing, that's potentially YEARS after the events of Prometheus. Maybe even DECADES. So. Theoretically, that could have happened long after the events of Prometheus are over but long before Alien 1 ever starts. Right? So it stands to reason that the 2) theory of their only being one of them could technically be correct still. (Personally, pretty sure there will be evidence of more than one existing. Whether we'll see more than one walking around in Prometheus, not sure) But yeah, definitely seems to be a lot of stuff suggesting that there's some melding of DNA/species going on. Which opens up endless possibilities and is sort of terrifying, actually. I've read in a few places on the net about people theorizing--and this gets pretty speculative-y--about the fact that some of the crew members "look" like they're suffering from the shock of some attempted/successful alien-led...rape of some kind? Pretty sure they're basing that on those few shots of characters alone, in various forms of half-nakedness, looking shell-shocked. Huge stretch to call that the aftermath of a rape, but the idea that the SJ or maybe some strand of alien is forcefully taking/implanting DNA? Bring on June 8th. I need answers.

Could be ... One other, other thing: When Dr. Shaw is standing in front of the mirror and we hear the screams--and here's some true speculation a la Lost in its heyday--what if the screams are being telepathically sent to her by the Space Jockey, who's flooding her mind with her friends' suffering? Also, she's making motions as if she's trying to make the voices stop but can't. Full disclosure: This speculation may be based on my reading of how the Space Jockeys were handled in the apocryphal "Alien Harvest" script, where they'd use telepathy to make humans ... do things.

[...] of the new Prometheus trailer? Well, as it turns out Scott Meyers has beaten me to it with a shot-by-shot breakdown of the trailer. He does a pretty great job of it, so instead of me just duplicating his work, I thought I’d [...]

Chew on this folks (had a dream about this one last night, and my girlfriend agrees that I'm obsessing about the movie :-) ) - The Promethean 'fire' if you will, is a metaphor for the jiggly goop that is found on top of the vials, on the ceiling and between whatzizname's fingers. It's a proto-form of many different life-forms. - The vials in the big cave with the big-man face contain kill-switches for each of the Space Jockey's creation. There is one for humans. Above it, is the carving of the xenomorph. David finds the one for humans and picks it up and takes it back to the ship. - The infected crew-member actually bears the wrath of a vial-stealer's booby trap and gets transmogrified. He along with some other sentry creatures make it back to the Prometheus. (THe flamethrowers and whatnot). - Back on the ship, David has successfully ACTIVATED the kill-switch. He has TWO facehuggers. - He tries to use Shaw as a test subject but fails. The hugger impregnates somebody else instead. Alien comes along in due time. Everyone now figures out David is psycho. David hides. Meanwhile, - The Space Jockey is appalled! All our kill-switches belong to US! - He gets on the Prometheus (dunno how, but he clearly does) and starts tearing the place apart looking for his stolen property. - The Jockey and Xenomorph v1.0 duke it out (epic battle, Jockey wins). - Meanwhile, David finds and sneaks back onto the Croissant, aka Jockeys ship. - The Jockey, convinced that the killswitch has been eradicated, goes back to his ship and prepares to get the hell out of dodge. - SURPRISE! David unleashes his second facehugger on the Jockey after Jockster is nicely esconced in his bio-suit. David reprograms the ship to head to Earth. (This is the part where he's holding the big blue orb). - Janek, Shaw and everybody still alive aboard the Prometheus figure out David's plan to get this creature back to Earth. Jockey is out cold in the meantime with huggies on his face. - They pile the Prometheus into the Croissant, destroying the former and its crew. - Lastly...the Jockey comes to and realizes that something is inside him. He sets the warning beacon (caught in Alien) and awaits his fate. A queen bursts out of him and burrows her way down into the big empty area in the Croissant and lays all her eggs. Ironic that the point of exit of the chestburster is in the liver area, the same thing that Prometheus' eagle ate every day. - So in the end, Weyland Yutani isn't an evil human corporation. It's an evil ANDROID corporation, who's goal is the gradual but stealthy eradication of their masters, good old Homo Sapiens. The Promethean fire, was part of their grand plan to be free of their captors.

I quit reading at the disclaimer, but just from the scroll down and these comments, it's obvious an impressive amount of thought went into this. Bra-vaux. (Now I suggest you go off the grid for fear of reprisals.)

Has anyone considered the possibility that the big mechanicky-skinned fellow/Space Jockey in the trailer might actually be a Prometheus crew member? My theory is this: The god-like mad-scientist alien race that was responsible for seeding human life and creating the xenomorph "tech", are long dead. Maybe not enough Space Jockey chics around - who knows. However, they made plans to prevent their complete extinction. They encoded their DNA into another life-form, a parasite of sorts, which they stored in those canisters in the Giant Head Room. Their hope is that, once an organism (like us humans) is intelligent enough (and worthy enough), they will be able to decode the messages they left behind and find their way to this planet, and this room specifically. Once there, the parasites would attach themselves to the nearest host. However, unlike the xenomorph tech, these things actually rapidly mutate and evolve their carrier, merging ancient-alien DNA and host DNA together, simultaneously preserving the essence of the ancients as well as creating a breed of advanced new lifeforms. But the question then is what new awareness does this lifeform have, and what does it want? Does the god-alien DNA inside them make them go crazy with power, drunk on genetically inherited knowledge of the universe? Does it now want to make everyone, the entire race of humanity back on earth, just like him? Is this what the ancient aliens always wanted? -- they weren't benevolent gods of creation, but rather organisms looking out for their own survival? I mean, any race that can create such a terrible weapon as the xenomorphs can't be entirely peaceable. And speaking of those old buggers, I'm sure at some point we'll see them, perhaps acting as bodyguards to this Human-Alien hybrid, or just a security system for the alien ship/giant mound complex. Or, perhaps our new "Space Jockey" decides he just wants to just off everyone, and having a few acid-bleeding killers around might just do the trick.

I like your theory of propogation linsane86. Kinda makes sense. Tweak your theory with mine: David is responsible for changing the facehuggers' purpose from propogator of Space Jockey DNA to human0killer so that Androids can take over. Jockey was infected and killed by a mutated facehugger thanks to David.

Well, I actually think the "propogation" creature inside the canisters are an entirely separate species from the facehuggers. They look like something that the aliens took care to protect and seal (given how they house their genetic material), rather than leave lying around in their natural egg like state (like what we see of the facehugger hanger in the first movie)

Yup, I agree. It's David that causes the confusion. Goes mad as it were, figures out how to change things to wipe out mankind. Weyland Yutani (android or human commanded), wants that creation. Space Jockey wants to kill it but becomes the unwitting host to it's own destruction.

Ah, I see what you're saying. Yes, interesting. Does seem that this movie is shaping up to deal with the concept of evolution not just in terms of biology, but in technology as well. Artificial Intelligence gaining sentience and desire for propagation and survival may well dovetail with the larger themes of creation and life.

I'm just amazed at the difference between this one (I supposed this one is meant for North American audiences?) and the one that Scott posted earlier, which was the UK version. For my own personal tastes, I saw the UK version one and thought, hmm, I think I would like to go to that. An sci-fi/special effects flick that has enough story and character to it that both me and my hubby would like it. Then I saw this version. Unlike the UK one, which starts slowly with the two characters discovering the cave paintings, then to a fairly long sequence of the guy giving the high-tech powerpoint presentation of all the indigenous cultures that had that star pattern (so it is giving me some hints of characters, mystery, history, something a bit cerebral before moving into the space ships and monsters). But this version - it starts with the action and threats and spaceships and just goes faster and faster from there. The final 25 or so seconds, with scary shots changing every second or less - coupled with that growing grating sound - total put me off seeing it! Not making any comment that other people's tastes should be mine... I know that everyone has different taste in films. But it is pretty amazing how two previews for the same film can inspire such a different reaction in me. I just sent my hubby the link to watch the UK one. But now I realize I'll have to send him this one - he'll like this one better!

Jackie, file this under great minds think alike. I'll be doing a post, suggested by another GITS reader, comparing the U.S. and U.K. versions of the trailer to solicit opinions as to whether either/both says something about our respective cultures.

Fantastic work and I cant wait for it to premier. Sucks that It'll premier here in Europe the same time I go to the US for a week. And then premier in the US the same day I fly back. But I'll see it in time. Oh YES I will... I can always smell a Blu-Ray purchase when I see it (what?:) Anyway, wanted to share the "International Launch trailer" which is the best one I've seen so far. Just feels it contains the right elements of action, sci/fi and storytelling I needed. :) So in case you havent seen it, here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1byZkbNB3Jw Have a great day -Matt