To clarify some things…
The DNA can’t be an exact match of the Engineers/Titans or else they would look like the humans, not alabaster-skinned humanoids standing 12-15 feet tall with the other obvious anatomical differences. What they mean is that the Engineer’s DNA contains matching human DNA, i.e. the humans were engineered from Titan DNA. And of course, that is the only thing that makes sense. I don’t know why this is even a point of debate.
The substance the titan is drinking is the new DNA engineered/synthesized from Titan DNA. The DNA product, manufactured in Titan laboratories, needs to mix with preexisting organic material to assume its dispersant protein form. Then, through the destruction of the Engineer, the viable DNA is spread through the water (this occurring on an experimental planet , not Earth. The effects specialist explaining what they are doing in the new video clip is describing things precisely according to the way Scott sees the process. This is the way Scott explained it to him.
At the deep spiritual level, it’s the metaphor of the dying/life-giver god that one finds throughout ancient mythology. Gods create life through self-sacrifice. Standard life-from-death theme (Osiris, Kephri, etc.). This is how gods pass onto immortality. For example, Osiris was disintegrated by the Seti and cast into the sea. His parts were collected by Isis to germinate the Tree of Life. All the while Osiris became transcendent—liberated from corporeal form—to guide the sun through the sky.
At the concrete technical level, just as we humans have to grow life in definite media, all the technology the Titans have developed requires incubation in some preexisting organic materials. If the reality were otherwise, there would be no point is using bodies as vessels, which is the gruesome vibe of the Alien universe. So humans (or some other unlucky organism) are synthesized into eggs via xenomorphic slime (see the Director’s Cut of Alien to see the actual life cycle and fuck Cameron and his simplistic ant/bee treatment), eggs that produce facehuggers, facehuggers that produce xenomorphs, xenomorphs that produce eggs. All of these stages use a host. Not to beat you over the head with this, but these are parasites. Another process is DNA infusions producing Holloway monsters, producing trilobites, trilobites producing deacons, etc. A cycle of life engineered by the “gods.”
Third, the Titans aren’t going to destroy the human race simply to destroy them. Humans were bred for a purpose: the production of bioweapons. Either that or the Titans have a newfound purpose for humans, either for use in an inter-Titan war or a war between Titans and some other alien race, perhaps an alien race they themselves created, a Frankenstein’s monster (which seems to be suggested by the dead spacejockeys/engineers/titans against the wall).
The catalyst for this new purpose is likely the murder of Jesus 2000 years before. Jesus was really an Engineer misunderstood and killed—or sacrificed inappropriately or inopportunely—by the Romans. Whatever the specific case, the vials aboard the Juggernaut destined for Earth self-evidently contain the same substance that David plants in Holloway to create the Holloway monster and, therefore, into Shaw to create the trilobite (some of the trilobite larva are even seen coming from Holloway’s eyes). The substance is transforming Holloway into a bioweapon or at least into an incubator for other larval trilobites, which are collectively through Holloway desperately seeking to stay alive for further implantation. Implanted in Shaw’s womb, the trilobite matures, intending to give rise to the Deacon. Shaw stops the process temporarily by performing autoabortion (continuing Scott’s feminist theme established in Alien).
(By the way, the trilobite grows fat on the blood and blood plasma that exists in the well-stocked surgical unit. So you can ignore the haters who sarcastically wonder how it got so big. It is clear that the females are to be used a wombs for trilobites, whereas the men are to become vessels—once transformed into Holloway monsters —for the Deacons.)
It’s an extremely well thought out movie, yet we have all these people walking around talking about how disappointed they are because the movie doesn’t make sense. Really? I guess they would have preferred a flat and awkward tour guide speech about unobtanium; otherwise they wouldn’t get the whole earthlings-exploiting-third-world-primitives thing. Cameron holds hands. Scott doesn’t. He depends on the intelligence of his audience. On that score, I think he’s too optimistic.
freedom and reason 