PROMETHEUS: What Did David Say To The Engineer? Find Out Here

An exchange between David (Michael Fassbender) and the Engineer near the end of Prometheus has left many fans stumped, so if you'd like to know what exactly it was the android said that upset the alien so much, hit the jump to find out! [MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD]

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By Josh Wilding - 6/20/2012

We've known for a while that there will be a lot of deleted scenes on the Prometheus DVD and Blu-ray, but it appears that one of them will include a much longer exchange between David and the Engineer. Many had assumed that he said something offensive (which resulted in the killing spree that followed their exchange) but The Bioscopist caught up with linguistics consultant Dr. Anil Biltoo of the SOAS Language Centre in London in order to answer one of the many questions fans have been discussing in great detail since the film was released.

"The line that David speaks to the Engineer (which is from a longer sequence that didn’t make the final edit) is as follows:

"/ida hmanəm aɪ kja namṛtuh zdɛ:taha/.../ghʷɪvah-pjorn-ɪttham sas da:tṛ kredah/"

A serviceable translation into English is:

"This man is here because he does not want to die. He believes you can give him more life."


Dr. Anil Biltoo actually goes on to confirm that the two shared a conversation rather than the single line translated above. Michael Fassbender apparently spent a great deal of time working on learning the alien language, so it should be interesting to see what else David said and whether or not we'll also end up getting a translation of that at some point too. Hopefully, this will shed some more light on the actions of the Engineers, especially as director Ridley Scott decided to remove the subtitles from their scenes in Prometheus. With the promise of both a director's cut AND an audio commentary on the upcoming home release, fans will hopefully not have too much longer to wait until more of Prometheus' many secrets are revealed.






In the distant future, two superpowers control Earth and fight each other for all the solar system's natural resources. When one side dispatches a team to a distant planet to terraform it for human colonization, the team discovers an indigenous race of bio-mechanoid killers. Ridley Scott, director of 'Alien' and 'Blade Runner,' returns to the genre he helped define. With PROMETHEUS, he creates a groundbreaking mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.


STARRING:

Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw
Michael Fassbender as David
Guy Pearce as Stannison
Idris Elba as Captain Janek
Logan Marshall-Green as Holloway
Charlize Theron as Meredith Vickers

RELEASE DATE: June 1st 2012 (UK) June 8th, 2012 (US)


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R888 - 6/20/2012, 4:40 PM
I knew it
PreparationH - 6/20/2012, 4:46 PM
Thought he asked him for the time
gillri - 6/20/2012, 4:47 PM
Weyland Mission Immortality......status fail!
Tony93 - 6/20/2012, 4:47 PM
what language is this
TheGambitFreakIsBatmanOfCBM - 6/20/2012, 4:47 PM
This is cool. Makes sense too. The Engineer gets pissed cause he already gave them life, and now they ask more of it, even more selfishly, they make their creation ask for it.
GUNSMITH - 6/20/2012, 4:47 PM
"COOL, I'M GONNA PUT SOME OF THIS IN MY HOMIES DRINK."
laughterman26 - 6/20/2012, 4:49 PM
i thought he said i am here to tell you that this old man needs immortality and theat he wants to learn more.
RorMachine - 6/20/2012, 4:55 PM
Nah, that sucks. It would have been better if he asked something that neither Weyland or Shaw asked him to. As for it being the reason the Engineer attacked, I think he would have no matter what David said to him. They were already planning top return to Earth to clean up their mess so why not start with a few dumbass astronauts.
BIGBMH - 6/20/2012, 5:02 PM
OMG! THAT'S...pretty much what I figured he said. :) Interesting to know though.
miguelus - 6/20/2012, 5:08 PM
@im53 i've always known that ridley scott has always intended this to be a two parter film and that the sequel would answer every questions we had for the first one. so right now, it's up to the studio to let him go ahead and do it...
OdinsBeard - 6/20/2012, 5:09 PM
loved this movie!
BattlinMurdock - 6/20/2012, 5:19 PM
"Hey. That's the guy from Lockout."

SMACK.
Leftcoastpunk - 6/20/2012, 5:20 PM
I think the real question here is, what ad are we gonna have the pleasure of getting sick of once the ufc fight is done with this weekend? d;-)
LucasMend - 6/20/2012, 5:21 PM
I thought he said: "You look a lot like Handsome Squidward"
Screwger - 6/20/2012, 5:21 PM
Your info is wrong! David said: " We came to RAPE you" , that's why Engineer got angry.
ForceOfLegend - 6/20/2012, 5:32 PM
@Tea your translation is by far the best. Scott needs to add your subtitles to the director's cut.

@Westcoastpunk The UFC commercial was old the first time we saw it. I am greatly looking forward to the next "advertisement" :/

Thanks for the post! Decent movie, but should have been better. Fasbender was amazing though...
ForceOfLegend - 6/20/2012, 5:35 PM
Hey! No one said the guy who wears a red Mohawk was smart! I could tell that from the second he appeared on screen. Not sure if he wanted to be a hard ass, or a complete wuss for getting lost, and crying like a little girl. Glad he was one of the first to go.
ForceOfLegend - 6/20/2012, 5:43 PM
@Tea I know! Well one could argue Mohawk was scared after seeing the bodies, and being scared he got lost....Oh wait nevermind! He had state of the art 3D mapping technology (his own hounds for fricking sake!) and he still got lost!

I also found it interesting that She made her way back into the Bridge of the alien ship after it had crashed, rolled, and literally burned lol!
ForceOfLegend - 6/20/2012, 5:45 PM
@Tea also! Why would anyone (spoiler for those who haven't seen it listen to the same fricking android that tried to kill you!) End of Spoiler

:)
geeekgod - 6/20/2012, 5:48 PM
i don't know what people are complaining about. i loved the movie. it was fun and scary!!! noomi rapace looks so [frick]ing hot with red hair!!!
ForceOfLegend - 6/20/2012, 5:48 PM
Lol that is some awesome artificial gravity! "Just chill right there David! We are going to cruise te cosmos looking for the same big mutha frickers that are trying to kill us, instead of heading back to Earth with bad ass ship to warn everyone lol
ForceOfLegend - 6/20/2012, 5:50 PM
@ CaptainProg lol that's probably what it will look like!
SHHH - 6/20/2012, 5:56 PM
Is The Movie Any Good... I Loved The First 2 Alien Movies..
thedudeabides - 6/20/2012, 6:09 PM
If David doesn't breath, how could he play the flute?
ForceOfLegend - 6/20/2012, 6:14 PM
@tea that sounds like fun! I'll be first in line lol

@thedude good point! Maybe it was "to make the humans feel comfortable" lol
fistofthenorthstar - 6/20/2012, 6:21 PM
the engineer wasted everyone in the same way the greek gods wasted humans on a regular basis... because we're mortal.
MrYurMomm - 6/20/2012, 6:25 PM
ForceOfLegend - 6/20/2012, 7:06 PM
Yes the Engineers weren't that powerful. In the end the big guys get killed by their own WMD's. Ironic lol
ShermanHakim - 6/20/2012, 7:08 PM
david : what do you think of alien vs predator?
last engineer : DAFUQ?
david : would you play a role in space jockey vs pokemon?
last engineer : grrrr( killing everybody in the room)
Aeyan - 6/20/2012, 7:11 PM
Anything for a buck...
HavocPrime - 6/20/2012, 7:33 PM
I enjoyed it except for the massive, cringe worthy plot holes that ruined it in areas.
and
Seriously, how can the guy who created the map get lost in the first place.
Godzillafart - 6/20/2012, 7:58 PM
Beautiful, [frick]ing stupid, and completely lacking logic. God damn it! I want something different from my movies than from the women I date!
SolidSnake007 - 6/20/2012, 8:06 PM
I really expected the movie to be better. Great visuals. Story sucked... they tried to do an ancient aliens story, but didn't go in depth with it enough to follow the story coherently. The engineer at the beginning didn't make any sense. He just drank poison then died, his body down to the DNA was destroyed by some black stuff that somehow became the ingredients for all life on earth? So... how come monkeys, turtles, etc.. don't look somewhat like the engineer if it was the original basis of all life? And how then after millions of years of evolution does our human DNA match perfectly with the engineers? We are not 8 feet tall with blue skin and no hair... If that black stuff is what David put in dude buddy's drink how come he didn't break down at a molecular level and how did it overwrite his DNA in his sperm to create that squid monster? Wouldn't Shaw have broken down at the molecular level too? Ah!! Too many stupid questions that could have just been answered in short dialogue in the movie. that would have been smart right?
Godzillafart - 6/20/2012, 8:16 PM
It was like the writers were Christian Creationists who had lost their faith but didn't bother to learn basic biology and genetics. Am I mistaken or was the term "Darwanism" actually uttered in this film?
Lasher88 - 6/20/2012, 8:20 PM
Great movie,can't wait for the sequel
eleven59 - 6/20/2012, 8:39 PM
"Whats stranger is that she found her way without a man to give her directions"

Well it never did say why "she" couldn't get pregnant... ;)

Mentok - 6/20/2012, 8:39 PM
The movie premiered here in Ecuador last friday but I was at the hospital, got out on monday and pulled myself together so I could watch it today.

Awesome movie, all that I expected and then some, loved every bit. David, of course, is a showstealer.

Prometheus: 10/10 in my book. Well worth the wait.

I want Ridley Scott to design humankind's future.
113 - 6/20/2012, 10:30 PM
I know a lot of people are hating on this movie, or just massively disappointed but I thought it was very well done. I think having an "ancient alien" story like this done in quality way is great. There are so many questions about the Engineers that need answering and I want to see those questions answered in subsequent sequels.

I do hope they continue to minimize or completely eliminate the "horror parts" because frankly the Aliens are quite boring to me, those were the least interesting parts of the whole film.

Finding out why the Engineers made us (or if they even really did), how they did it, and why they hate us/want to kill us is interesting.
Marxman12 - 6/20/2012, 11:01 PM
This translation adds a lot to the movie. There is already this contrast between the Engineers and humans. Engineers consider death to be necessary part of creating life while humans try every conceivable way to try and "cheat" death. It makes sense that the Engineer would be offended at Weyland's attempt to get out of his "duty". Furthermore, the Engineer was first impressed by David but I think once the Engineer realized that David was not actually organic but synthetic, the Engineer took it as further heresy. And to top it off, you have Elizabeth, who was given the opportunity of giving life, and she tried to destroy it. I'm just trying to clarify the Engineer's perspective.
Marxman12 - 6/20/2012, 11:11 PM
I don't understand how Milburn and Fifield getting lost is a plot hole. Fifield was intoxicated, his thinking was impaired, and there was a magnetic storm that was making the gear glitchy. And for those that say "Well, why didn't they just go the way the came?" First off, the ship is gigantic with tons of levels and rooms and for the second part of their exploration they blindly followed a computer image.
Seriously, Milburn and Fifield acted stupidly but them getting lost is not a plot hole.
JonasWepeel - 6/20/2012, 11:20 PM
He said, "The Aristocrats".
ChazzGoodtimes - 6/21/2012, 12:40 AM
It'd be a lot better if the translation was "Can I have a quesadilla, please?"
Ceejay - 6/21/2012, 2:27 AM
This movie is so intelligent that the race who created us visited thousands of years ago to leave co-ordinates with primitive man of not where they live, but where they plan to make a base to hold weapons of mass destruction to destroy us hopefully a few thousand years later.

It's so intelligent that they managed to convince 16 people on board a ship that can only save 9 people if it goes down due to its 8 life pods and one lifeboat capable of returning to earth.

Its so intelligent that the one medical chamber on board only has enough programming to service males only.

It's so intelligent that despite constant contact with the main ship and high tech 3D mapping system, two supposedly intelligent scientist still get lost.

It's so intelligent that scientist who are prepared to risk their lives on a mission to an alien planet two years travel and two years return trip, yet are so terrified when they see the fossilised remains of a dead alien, that they want to run back to the safety of the ship like Shaggy and Scooby. Yet they are eager to stroke a live alien that looks like a King Cobra!

This film is so intelligent that two women (one a scientist) lack the common sense to run either left or right, away from the path of a falling ship but instead try to out run it!

This film is so intelligent that rather than commandeer another of the ships his race already have on the planet, like the one Shaw and David steal to go starting their star trek adventures; the last engineer decides he'd rather steal Vicker's lifeboat which is not made for his size and has no faster-than-light drive his race obviously used to get around the universe.

This film is so intelligent that despite taking over a day to grow to the size of rat inside Shaws stomach, the alien manages to grow to the size of a great white shark in less than 24hrs without anyone noticing in Vickers own quarters she shared with Weyland on the lifeboat!

This film is so intelligent that instead of pilot using the lifeboat to crash into the alien craft so the co-pilot and navigator could pick up survivors and fly back to earth. The pilot instead ejects the lifeboat and crashes the main ship sacrificing everyone on board who can possibly fly as well.

This film is intelligently made my engineers/studio execs who focus on creating franchises instead of art so they can make money from non intelligent people who feel the need to be led on by films designed to-be-continued and made-up-as-they-go regardless of who jumps on as writer or director. It's contrived to make supposedly intelligent people make UN-intelligent choices against all common sense just so that they can eliminate all the cast except one who will be their new Ripley for the franchise.

These people have learned nothing from George Lucas and the Prequel trilogy fiasco..

These people are called "suckers"!
TheDickRises - 6/21/2012, 4:08 AM
I thought he said =

"you aliens dont have penis"
DoodPool - 6/21/2012, 4:10 AM
Not to sound omnipotent but i already knew this when i watched the movie he was just translating for his boss. Why are people having such a hard time understanding this movie?
dellamorte1872 - 6/21/2012, 5:25 AM
i agree @CJ plus, SHAW never wants to do an autoposy on ANYONE in this film. the dead/king cobra scientist was the loosest plot thread of them all. we dont know what happened there we just dont see him anymore lol
dellamorte1872 - 6/21/2012, 5:27 AM
SHAW shoulda studied that alien std she took out of her? or her dead "b/f/husband" it was the easiest movie to critique b/c it literally contradicts itself by veiling this existential side instead of showing INTELLIGENT sci-fi!
dellamorte1872 - 6/21/2012, 5:31 AM
its literally analogous to a piece of paper (even more so than some films) its extremely easy to poke nymerous holes into the story. the studio and everyone planned on a sequel but no one thought that this one will have to be incredibly strong to support layers to it
dellamorte1872 - 6/21/2012, 5:35 AM
so its a missed opportunity unless it goes through multiple versions like BLADE RUNNER
dellamorte1872 - 6/21/2012, 5:39 AM
in which case its a money making coupe from the studio, they dont care about what SCOTT wanted/wants they want 3x their investment lol. theyre greedy execs who wanna make money! KINGDOM OF HEAVEN underperformed so they put back some of the director's content he edited and it made ENOUGH back finally to please people
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