Lovecraft's Astronauts 2.

I finished listening to the other half of Quinn's podcast and it went as I expeted. The second half wasn't as interesting because it covered the comparisons between Lovecraft's work and Ridley's film. For the record, I think Prometheus is an ok film that was shoehorned into the Alien series. Quinn seems to share my sentiments about the picture and even enlightened me on a few aspects I didn't know or remembered about the film. The original idea was about space travellers looking for their god. The backlore of the film states that they've been looking at ancient pictures and cave paintings that seem to point to a place they've located in the stars. This also alligns with the fact that something happned 2000 years ago which is supposed to relate to the time of Jesus. So, if theory is to be believed, after slaying the savior the alien gods sent to us, we, in our hubris, are trying to find answers to our origin. Quinn pointed out the similarities to this genetic goo that the astronauts find while exploring this strange planet and compares it to the Shoggoths in Lovecraft's story. Shoggoths are, in short term, giant amoebas that can transform into any shape. The Elder Things used them as slaves until the Shoggoths rebelled. In the story, Lovecraft hints at humans being connected to Shoggoths as either descendants or an experiment gone wrong by the Elder Things. Either way, this puts a wrench in the idea that humans are special in any aspect. Both stories have the characters meet their gods either Elder Things or Engineers and both are met with shock and disappointment. Quinn's discussion shifted to the character of David, the android on the ship. Every Alien movie needs to show the highs and lows of interaction with android technology. It's almost comical how scared the Alien series is of deviating from their path. David causes one of the astronauts to die after experimenting on the black goo they find. Quinn states that David seems curious, not evil as he does in the Alien: Covenant sequel. I should mention that the sequel offers no answers or conclusions to Prometheus. And that's fine. Lovecraft's work offers few answers but the sequel swings so far left from the what Prometheus established that it feels more like an add on than a proper continuation. Sometimes it's better when you don't have the answers. While the archeologists in Lovecraft's story find fear and insanity, the astronauts in Prometheus only find disappointment. Their gods, the Engineers, are mortal. Like finding out your hero has a few skelletons in his closet. 

Of course, I enjoyed Lovecraft's work over Ridley but it was interesting to hear the connections between the two media. I think I'll try out some more of Quinn's podcasts and see what else he has in store.