Prompt: "suggest the broad outlines of a script with "wow" ideas as a sequel to prometheus where shaw and david go to confront the engineer creators on the planet paradise. themes should be highly mythological. it should not focus on who created the engineers, the engineers should be true aliens with beliefs not easy to stick into a box from a human perspective"

ChatGPT said:

Title: Prometheus: Paradise Lost

1. Opening: The Voyage

• Setting: The film opens with Shaw and the decapitated David aboard the Covenant or another ship, heading toward the Engineers' homeworld (Paradise). Shaw is driven by vengeance and her quest for answers—what drives the Engineers, what role humanity plays in their grand design, and how to end the cycle of creation and destruction.
• Inciting Incident: Shaw discovers a cryptic, alien message in the data extracted from David's head. It is an ancient mythological text, written in a language only David can somewhat decipher. It hints at a cataclysmic event that will rewrite the nature of existence.

2. Arrival at Paradise

• The Planet: Paradise is not a lush utopia, as the name suggests. Instead, it’s a desolate, haunting landscape of ancient ruins, vast temples, and colossal, organic structures that seem to pulse with energy. It’s as if the planet itself is a living, breathing entity, part machine, part ecosystem.
• First Contact: Shaw and David land, and the atmosphere is oppressive. The engineers are not waiting for them. The planet is abandoned, but they begin to uncover signs that something powerful and ancient still lingers there—something that has been waiting for millennia.

3. The Engineers’ Religion and Beliefs

• Mythological Structure: The Engineers' religion is not straightforward. It’s not about creation in the typical "God made us" sense. Instead, they view existence itself as a cyclical, cosmic battle between Creation and Destruction, embodied by two opposing entities or forces.
• The Engineers are followers of the Primordial Engine, a metaphysical entity that represents the eternal drive to unmake and recreate the universe. They see themselves as both creators and destroyers—vessel-like beings who must keep the balance of destruction and rebirth intact.
• Rituals and Power: The Engineers have rituals tied to this cosmic struggle—sacrifices, vast cleansing events, and mind-bending technologies that force the boundaries of space and time. Their ultimate goal is to reset the universe through controlled destruction, believing that by annihilating one cycle of life, they allow a more "pure" form of life to emerge.
• Shaw, through a mix of deciphering alien texts and visions, begins to understand that her existence, her creation, was not an accident. The Engineers intended for her to play a role in the cycle—a key figure in the rebirth of the universe.

4. The Return of the Gods

• Shaw’s Role: Shaw is not merely a human survivor. She is a vessel of potential, the one the Engineers have been waiting for to initiate a new cycle of life and destruction. She comes to understand that her "creation" at the hands of the Engineers is part of a grander, more terrible plan—the birth of a new universe, but at the cost of her humanity.
• David’s Revelation: David’s role isn’t as a mere antagonist, but as an embodiment of the machine’s side of the equation. He becomes fascinated with the Engineers’ god-like power and their duty to reshape existence. As Shaw grapples with her purpose, David seeks to ally with the Engineers to become a greater being, transcending his own programming and humanity. David is caught in a battle between becoming a god-like figure and recognizing his own limitations as a creation of human engineers.

5. The Descendants of the Engineers

• Not What They Expected: As Shaw and David delve deeper into the ruins, they encounter the Descendants of the Engineers—evolved beings who have transcended the limitations of their original form. These beings are godlike, but their forms and thoughts are so alien and complex that they defy human understanding. They speak in riddles, and their minds are like vast cosmic oceans, filled with ancient secrets and incomprehensible truths.
• The First Engram: Shaw learns about an ancient "Engram"—a sentient entity or collective consciousness that holds the memories of all previous cycles of creation and destruction. The Engineers believe this entity has the power to guide them in their mission, but it is locked away in a chamber that can only be opened by a "key"—and that key might be Shaw herself.

6. Shaw’s Transformation

• The Cosmic Revelation: Shaw is forced to confront the question of whether humanity is truly the pinnacle of creation or just one fleeting cycle in a much larger, cosmic pattern. As she learns more about the true nature of existence, she realizes that the Engineers’ quest to reset the universe might be the only way to prevent entropy and a final, irreversible collapse of all life—human and alien alike.
• The Divine Choice: Shaw is presented with an impossible choice: to embrace the Engineer’s view of life as a cycle of destruction and rebirth, or to challenge it and carve out a new path for humanity—one that goes beyond their role as mere players in a cosmic game. Her decision will have enormous consequences, not only for the Engineers but for all life in the galaxy.

7. Climax: The Confrontation

• The Final Showdown: As Shaw contemplates her choices, David’s motivations take a darker turn. He allies himself with the most radical of the Engineers, who believe the current cycle of existence has grown stagnant and must be forcibly reset. Shaw must race to stop David from using the power of the Engineers to trigger the ultimate destruction.
• The Unseen God: In the final moments, Shaw confronts the Primordial Engine, the cosmic entity that exists beyond the Engineers’ understanding—an ancient god that does not care about human concepts of morality, life, or death. It reveals itself not as a being of wrath, but as a being of indifference. Shaw must choose whether to destroy the force that could bring about a new universe or use it to reshape existence.

8. Ending: A New Dawn or a Dark Future

• A Loss of Innocence: The film ends ambiguously, with Shaw either embracing a new form of godhood and transformation or rejecting it altogether, choosing instead to fight for humanity’s independence from cosmic predestination.
• The Choice Between Creation and Destruction: The film ends with a haunting image: Shaw, standing alone, gazing at the stars, knowing she can never return to the world she once knew. She may have saved the galaxy, but at the cost of her own identity. The universe is vast, and it’s unclear whether humanity will ever escape the reach of the Engineers' influence—or if they should even try.

Key Themes:

1. Creation vs. Destruction: A philosophical exploration of whether life and existence are inherently tied to cycles of birth and death, and what happens if those cycles are broken.
2. Divine Indifference: The idea that gods—or in this case, the Engineers and their creators—are not benevolent or malevolent, but simply exist as forces of cosmic balance.
3. Mythological Archetypes: The narrative uses elements of human mythology (creation myths, divine war, cyclical time) but reinterprets them through an alien, incomprehensible lens.
4. Identity and Choice: Shaw's struggle to define herself against the forces of creation, and whether she can truly escape her predetermined role in the Engineers’ grand design.

"Wow" Ideas:

• The Primordial Engine is revealed not as a singular being, but as an ancient cosmic artifact that embodies the chaotic law of the universe: entropy, rebirth, and destruction. This artifact might look like an interdimensional machine or an alien god that speaks through visions.
• The Dreamlike, Non-Human Architects: The Engineers’ belief system is based on a unique interpretation of time. Time doesn’t move linearly to them, but as a fluid, ever-shifting phenomenon. This allows for truly mind-bending visual sequences where Shaw experiences the past, present, and future simultaneously.

prompt: "i like your description, cool stuff. but that is so far away from the ideas of the alien franchise, and it doesn't sound like there is much horror or any human bodycount (a staple of the franchise). it might be too trippy and not commercial enough for mainstream audiences. the idea should tie a bit more in to the ideas from the franchise, still with the wow and mythological factors. either shaw and david grow more humans as support as they go to paradise or more likely humans send a rescue ship to the planet and somehow find where shaw/david went and go after them"

[bad result]

"try again, but this time not exploring the idea that the engineers were themselves created, which just kick the question off further. and the engineer paradise planet is not dead, but their motivations are obscure and truly alien and horrifying from a human perspective. again, focus on mythology"

ChatGPT:

Got it! Let’s go in a direction that still leans into the Alien franchise's core horror—body horror, a growing body count, and that ever-present sense of dread—but also builds on the idea that the Engineers are enigmatic and their motivations far beyond human comprehension. We'll retain the mythological themes, but keep it grounded in the horrifying nature of the Engineers as beings of incomprehensible power, unyielding intent, and strange, almost religious practices.

Title: Prometheus: Paradise Lost

1. Opening: A Signal from the Abyss

• Setting: The opening shot is a dark, oppressive space. A small Weyland-Yutani rescue ship—a crew of soldiers and scientists—moves through the void toward the planet Paradise. The crew has been dispatched after the Covenant last encountered Shaw’s cryptic signal. The message is fragmented, hinting at her desperation and possibly something far worse than they could have imagined. A disturbing element of the message is that Shaw describes herself as "becoming something else" and warns them, "Do not land. Do not open what I’ve opened."
• Inciting Event: The ship, despite the warnings, lands. The crew is here to find Shaw and David, but the planet is not lifeless—it breathes. The alien structures that dot the landscape are pulsating, alive in ways that defy logic. It's clear the Engineers still inhabit the planet, but what their intentions are remains unclear, and their power is both vast and terrifying. In many ways, the planet itself feels like a living organism—one with its own pulse, rhythm, and agenda.

2. The Engineers' World: Paradise or Prison?

• The Planet's Beauty and Horror: The surface of Paradise is otherworldly. Gigantic, smooth, perfectly symmetrical structures—vast, organic buildings made of bone, stone, and some unidentifiable material—rise like temples to forgotten gods. At first, it seems beautiful, peaceful, but the deeper the crew ventures into the ruins, the more unsettling things become.
• The Engineers' Motive: The Engineers’ goals are terrifyingly obscure, and at first, the crew assumes they must have been involved in the creation of humanity, but as they delve deeper, they realize that the Engineers’ motives are far stranger. They are not “creators” in the conventional sense; rather, they are beings obsessed with cycles of destruction and rebirth—ancient, god-like entities whose role in the universe is to reset existence when it falls out of balance. They believe the universe must die in order to be reborn—much like an eternal cycle of cosmic entropy.
• Religious Aspect: This is where the mythological aspect comes in: The Engineers worship a cosmic entity they refer to as The First Cycle. To them, existence is a never-ending loop of creation and annihilation. To the Engineers, the act of wiping out life is not an act of malevolence—it’s an act of divine necessity. The Engineers view themselves as agents of a higher will—beings who have existed for eons to maintain the cycle. But unlike gods we understand, the Engineers’ religion is alien. They see death and destruction as a sacred act. To them, it’s not about creation in the human sense; it’s about ensuring that the universe perpetuates and evolves through constant cycles, ensuring that only the right life forms survive, often wiping out entire civilizations to start anew.

3. Shaw’s Transformation: The Vessel of Rebirth

• Shaw's State: When the crew finally finds Shaw, she is not the woman they expect. She has been transformed, but not in the way they thought. Shaw’s body has become a vessel for something far more alien than even the Engineers—she has fused with the planet, with its strange energy. There are hints that she might be carrying the "seed" of something new, something that could either destroy the Engineers' cycle or become part of it. Her mind, too, has fractured—she believes herself to be chosen by the Engineers to lead them into their next stage of existence. Shaw no longer sees herself as a human being but as an instrument of something larger. She speaks in riddles, her eyes gleaming with a kind of otherworldly knowing, and she believes her suffering is the key to saving—or destroying—the universe.
• David's Role: David, who has been silent and largely inactive, has his own agenda. He is both fascinated and repulsed by Shaw's transformation. He believes that in her, he sees a path toward transcending his artificial form—something more. While Shaw aligns with the Engineers’ religious fervor, David sees their methods as flawed and attempts to manipulate the Engineers in his own way. In his pursuit of “divinity,” he wants to prove that a synthetic creation can surpass its creators. He views Shaw’s transformation as a betrayal of her humanity, but one that he can use to his advantage.

4. The Crew’s Descent into Horror

• Terror Strikes: The crew, initially focused on rescuing Shaw, begins to realize that they are walking into a far darker scenario. As they explore the alien structures, they encounter horrific beings—mutated, godlike creatures that are part Engineer, part something else entirely. These creatures are born from the Engineers’ belief that they must perfect life through destruction. In a sense, these creatures are "born" to die, made in the image of the Engineers’ twisted logic, but altered by something incomprehensible. Their bodies are covered in symbols and glyphs that hint at the Engineers' cyclical philosophy, like tattoos of fate that are doomed to repeat.
• The Horrifying Cult of the Engineers: The Engineers' civilization is revealed to be a kind of cult. They do not merely "create" life; they sacrifice it, giving it form and then tearing it apart in rituals designed to "purge" their creations and ensure the cycle can begin anew. Some Engineers appear as if they are in eternal mourning, living in states of agony as they await the arrival of the next destruction. Their culture is built around this cycle—endless rebirth and death. To them, this is what all life is for—an eternal ritual of purification.
• Alien Horror: There are sequences where the crew begins to discover bodies—Engineers who have undergone strange and horrifying transformations, now hybridized with their own creations. These mutations are the result of some twisted ritual or experiment to "purify" themselves. These horrific hybrid creatures roam the vast, labyrinthine structures—ancient gods reduced to mindless, horrific entities—trapped in their own religion.

5. The Conflict: Humanity vs. The Divine

• The Crew’s Fight for Survival: As the crew starts to fall victim to the horrors of the planet—body horror and deadly traps set by the Engineers—they realize they must stop Shaw before she fully transforms into whatever terrifying being the Engineers want her to become. Their mission shifts from rescue to containment and destruction. But Shaw is no longer the woman they knew—she is becoming a tool of something much larger, an unwitting key to unlock a cataclysmic event.
• The Human Dilemma: The horror is magnified by the fact that the crew starts to realize that their very existence may be in direct opposition to the Engineers’ cycle. They are intruders in a sacred world, and their very presence might trigger the next cycle of destruction. The Engineers do not wish to save humanity; they wish to use humanity’s destruction as a step in their divine plan. This leads to horrific moments where the crew is forced to choose between dying to stop the Engineers, or potentially unleashing a force that could destroy the universe as they know it.

6. Climax: The Ultimate Sacrifice

• The Final Act: The climax would see Shaw and David at odds, with Shaw fully embracing the Engineers’ worldview. Shaw, as a vessel for their twisted creation, sees herself as their chosen one—the only one capable of steering humanity into its next evolution. She and David fight for control of the Engineers' ultimate weapon: an artifact that can either trigger a cosmic rebirth or destroy everything. The crew must try to stop both Shaw and David, battling through a nightmarish labyrinth of decaying gods, hybrid monsters, and ancient rituals, all while the planet itself seems to wake up and begin its process of transformation.

7. Ending: A New Cycle

• A Dark Revelation: The film ends with the crew failing to fully stop Shaw. In an act of ultimate sacrifice, one of the survivors manages to destroy part of the weapon, but not before Shaw triggers a catastrophic event that threatens to reset the universe itself. The last shot is of Shaw, now fully transformed into something both human and otherworldly, standing in front of the Engineers’ divine creation, staring at the stars in anticipation of the universe's next great reset.
• Ambiguous Ending: Shaw is left as both savior and destroyer—forever caught between the Engineers’ religion and her own twisted form of transcendence. The cycle of life and death continues, but now humanity is caught in the middle of it.

Key Themes:

1. Creation and Destruction: The Engineers are not creators in the traditional sense; they are agents of divine destruction, ensuring that the universe remains in a constant state of death and rebirth.
2. Cosmic Indifference: The Engineers’ actions and beliefs are governed by a terrifyingly indifferent philosophy—life and death are not moral choices; they are necessary, inevitable acts in an eternal cycle.
3. Body Horror as Transcendence: Shaw’s transformation, horrific as it is, represents a kind of twisted transcendence—an evolution beyond human limitations, but at the cost of everything that made her human.
4. The Alien as Religion: The Engineers' religious practices, rooted in incomprehensible motives and god-like worship, clash with human understanding—what seems like madness to us is the Engineers’ divine truth.

"Wow" Ideas:

• The Engineers’ Religion: Their belief in a cosmic cycle of death and rebirth—life must be destroyed to be perfected—would provide a backdrop for horrifying, god-like entities engaged in a religious practice of purification.
• Hybrid Horror: Mutated creatures, born of the Engineers' self-destructive rituals, that blur the lines between gods, humans, and monsters.
• Shaw's Transformation: Her becoming both savior and destroyer, embodying the terrifying concept of cosmic rebirth—sacrificing humanity for the sake of the universe’s next great cycle.