When did the scene at the start of Prometheus happen?
The engineers are supposed to have engineered...us, right? That is shown at the beginning of the movie, with the self sacrifice, somehow seeding the initial life on Earth. Panspermia.
But if that was the case, that would have been 4.6 billion years ago. So why did life on earth develop plants and fungi? Why so many wildly varying species. Why didn't they all look humanoid from the get go. Why did it take 4.6 billion years, to go all the way through invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, apes to finally get to the ultimate goal of resembling the engineers. 4.6 billion years is stupendously long time for a species to remain the same, physically, technologically, culturally and ideologically.
Perhaps the idea is that many branches of science such as biology, paleontology, paleobotany, geology, etc, were thrown out by this new discovery, and life on earth is much much younger than the evidence suggests.
Alternatively, they came just a few million years ago and their DNA just mixed with apes, who already happen to look similar to engineers (and have compatible biochemistry) by a totally remarkable example of convergent evolution.
I am perfectly willing to suspend my disbelief for any scenario for the sake of fiction, but it has to be clear and consistent. I just don't get the main premise of the movie. Were they planning to come back to earth to kill all humans, or all life? I suppose it is to be explained in the sequel.
Now, I understand this is just fiction, and that evolutionary/biological plausibility is not a high priority, but I want to ask this very simple question: did they seed ALL life on earth (which is suggested by the prologue), or just human divergence from apes?
The answers here also suggest they created all earth life.
Best Answer
To be perfectly honest, this is a highly debated question (not just about the movie) and is open to several interpretations.
- While we were shown that the engineers seeded life in the first scene of the movie, it might not even have been earth.
- While the seed of life was created from engineer DNA, it can be interpreted that when the engineer broke down, it was into the very basic molecules that chain up life. At the base, there was simply DNA / amino acids, that kind of stuff. So evolution also produced several other species. While it took several thousand years before the DNA would emerge to form humans. See, they seeded life, and it grew. Take the analogy about growing a seed into a tree.
- Even if we have been given life through their DNA, there are still some big differences in the bodies. This could have been due to other factors apart from DNA, such as planet gravity, the sun, plant life, atmosphere, etc. This could also be the reason that life needed to be engineered from the very basic so that it could evolve in that atmosphere. Their DNA would be evolved from whatever their planet and atmosphere led it to be.
- You mention they came a few million years ago and their DNA mixed with apes. I strongly oppose this point. Because to mix DNA, it would require somehow introducing the DNA into the apes, and ensuring that it worked, etc. The first scene did not seem to suggest any such thing.
It has already been a scientific milestone, that we now approximately know when life was supposed to start on Earth. That age is given as 4.6 billion years (I'm not sure about the number, am quoting that from your question). The story was created as an explanation for real facts.
Read up on a few interviews he did about Prometheus.
There are a lot more.
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That certainly seems to be the case: we see an engineer, apparently left alone on a barren earth as his fellows ship out, who consciously sacrifices himself by drinking black goo that causes his body to crumble into little bits of DNA that spread throughout the world.Prometheus - Alternate Opening Sequence
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Answer 2
The flyover scene at the beginning showed green areas as well as lots of rock and water meaning there was at least plant life on the planet before they seeded. Maybe they were adding roses to the garden. If it was a few million years ago, all they had to do was "engineer" a way to nudge us in the humanoid direction and see what happens...the soup was at the right point (potatoes boiled, meat cooked) to add some spice.
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