We didn't get nothing from the alien tech and the prawns are either still in South Africa or got picked up when their friends came back. In fact a retaliatory alien attack could have been the "ecological catastrophe" that turned Earth into a Crapsack World.
- Even better, Kruger may actually be Wikus from D9. He's old enough, assuming he got his Prawnishnes fixed.
- My own personal take was once humans reverse engineered the prawn tech, humans exterminated all the prawns, and the tech is what all the tech in this movie is based on.
After the alien ship departed and the Prawns were relocated to District 10, the fall of MNU was a severe hit for Johannesburg's economy, pulling the city in an even worse situation with crime and social unrest. Contestually, however, Tetra Vaal began to rise and, thanks to the research done in secret on the alien technology in the preceding years, and maybe also to some former MNU personnel, became the new forefront of the city's industry. People of Johannesburg prefer to not talk much about the years with the alien refugees because they consider it sort of an old page and, with the aliens' relocation, somebody's else problem now. Given how the fallout of the events of Chappie will surely affect Tetra Vaal and maybe even sink it, one could say Joburg is not very lucky with high-tech...
- The prawn at the end that most assume was Wikus was also green. Which might explain why those prawns saved him, they recognized him as one of their leader caste.
- This makes an awful lot of sense if you consider that Christopher's friend was yellow, a good fighter, very strong and really fast, which could signal he was his royal guard.
- This troper believes that greens are Leaders, yellows are Guards, reds are Soldiers, and the rest of the colors (browns, blues and blacks) are Workers. Think about it; greens (Christopher, Oliver and Wikus) are smarter than the others, the only yellow with characterization (Paul) dies protecting a green, the prawn on 'warning sign' in the eviction montage has a red face painted on it, ...
- Hive society does not equal hive mind. The former is a social/reproductive pattern, the latter implies a uniformity of thought or an actual Psychic Link and does not really exist in nature.
- Word of God says they do have a Hive Mind but the prawns on earth are cut off from it
- Jossed via Word of God they're nanomachines that would fix the mothership
- That makes perfect sense, as the first thing that begins to transform is Wikus' injured arm. Given that all of the alien technology seems to biological, then naturally prawn nanomachines could fix a person as easily as a spaceship.
- Also would explain (partially) why Wikus began transforming to begin with. The fluid simply started to fix his injuried arm into the only biological entity it's familiar with.
- Equally the nanomachines might have decided that Wikus was 'broken' and tried to 'fix' him...
- That makes perfect sense, as the first thing that begins to transform is Wikus' injured arm. Given that all of the alien technology seems to biological, then naturally prawn nanomachines could fix a person as easily as a spaceship.
- Word of God actually states they were colonists, and only landed on earth because the ship's auto pilot found it the only habitable planet in range.
- There was an interview where Blomkamp revealed that the concept of the Prawn didn't come together until he thought of their caste system as more of a hive-mind that had lost its Queen. And just like in Real Life, the Prawns eventually spawn a new queen (Christopher).
- Actually, since Christopher says he's been searching the junk for twenty years (ever since the ship came down), that implies he was full-grown (and not 'spawned') before District 9 was formed. Following that logic, since Christopher's 'son' seems just as intelligent as he is, it's actually more likely for Oliver (Olivia?) to become the new 'queen'.
- Several of the other prawns in the film wear clothing, so it's hardly unique. His greater understanding of human rules could just be due to his greater intelligence and interest driving him to learn about them. And as for his son, well, the prawns had been on Earth for more then 20 years by that point. Chances are his son had been born on Earth.
- The incubation chambers would seem more like an artificial womb, a substitute for the queen rather than any labratory grade equipment. The fluid has been revealed to be nanomachines.
- Jossed. Visual cues in one scene near the end indicate that it's in an elliptical galaxy.
- Also, current science actually says only that our normal commercial radio leakage get lost in noise, not "any sort of communications signal known to human science"; a sufficiently energetic and coherent beam would, in fact, punch through. That's why most plans for hypothetical interstellar probes feature a strong laser to communicate. The only reason we don't have a signalling device that could reach the near stars is that no one has ever bothered to spend the money to build one; the limit is budget and priority, not technology or physics.
- Yes that was the point.
- Maybe not; combining two other WMG's, if the Fluid is a nanotech designed to repair Organic Technology, and if the Prawns are not a natural species but the result of accidental Fluid exposure that remade them into biomechanical lifeforms, then maybe the tech only works because it recognizes them as other tech.
- Two theories as to how this happened: Either they were purposely transformed by their mysteriously-absent overlords to serve as workers, or they were transformed by a fuel leak in the course of the incident that left their ship stranded. In the latter case, they completed their transformation over the three months that went by between the ship stopping and the humans cutting their way inside.
- Alternatively, they were once Rubber-Forehead Aliens in the distant past, but the fluid they used to power their technology permanently mutated the whole species into the bug-like forms they have now.
- Not a WMG, it's pretty clearly canon.
- It's pretty clear from the way his father-in-law acts that he's one of those creepy overprotective fathers who wants their daughter to stay single and got his son-in-law a job where he was likely to be killed. Is that a trope yet? Because this is like the third or fourth time I've seen it
- Combination of Boyfriend-Blocking Dad and The Uriah Gambit.
- It's not necessarily the case that his father-in-law wanted his daughter to stay single but rather that he felt that she had married "beneath her station," and hence wanted to get his unwanted son-in-law killed so that he could have his widowed daughter marry a better husband for her.
- Part of this depends on how long a prawn lifespan is, though.
- Note that this theory is exactly the same as what happens to humans in the same conditions. This movie is a even more depressing when you look at it as the Anvilicious allegory for racism/xenophobia/prejudice in general that it is, and realise that it's absolutely spot on.
- Or, as a more likely alternative: Alien Auschwitz.
- Looks like you kinda missed the end-notes about MNU coming down hard for crimes against humanity, no longer being in control (the main reason of the move is another nicer Megacorp is taking over) and D10 population being 2.5 million and growing (making it fairly clear their reproduction isn't being controlled).
- For the time being... (But yeah, I forgot about that.)
- Well seeing how the whole thing is based on apartheid with an anti-apartheid message at that, D10 becoming a death camp would make it a Broken Aesop, so the sequel would be about humans and prawns putting their past behind and working together.
- True, but we could get a sequel along the lines of Inglourious Prawns if Christopher comes back to a Holocaust parallel. Just sayin'...
- And I figured the sequel would be more like Independence Day, but the aliens have firewalls.
- Which both would be massive Disproportionate Retribution because its only MNU fualt, and again, a Broken Aesop.
- It's even more of a Broken Aesope if you act like it's only MNU's fault. Racism is never one company/institution/government's fault. It's insidious and a part of the population's attitudes. The worst kind of racism is the subtle, unconscious, unquestioned racism.
- Don't hate me, but "all men are created equal", and the Prawns are big over-evolved bugs. Even if you can somehow argue (to the satisfaction of the general population) that aliens deserve human rights in the first place, you can tell why the natural human reaction is not to welcome them with open arms. Hell, at least in fiction-South Africa we give them a home, however bad the conditions. In the fictional versions of some other countries I might mention, aliens get dissected. Say what you like, but at least the Prawns are still, yanno, alive. For historical parallels, just think back on what happened to the native inhabitants of America, and know that the wholesale slaughter of the original locals is one thing that didn't happen in South Africa.
- Obviously the above troper managed to completely miss the part where MNU was taking prawns in, dissecting them, attempting to use them for weapons testing, successfully using them for weapons testing with Wikus' unwilling help, mass aborting Prawn eggs, allowing them to live in shitty conditions and using illegal methods to try and relocate them to a different place which before MNU was exposed for being, you know, horrendous, most likely would have involved even tighter restrictions and worse crimes against them. I feel like you sort of missed the point completely if you think that them merely being alive is a kindness.
- Looks like you kinda missed the end-notes about MNU coming down hard for crimes against humanity, no longer being in control (the main reason of the move is another nicer Megacorp is taking over) and D10 population being 2.5 million and growing (making it fairly clear their reproduction isn't being controlled).
- He didn't create them, but was on the lookout for any kinda alien spaceships passing by and at the same time kept the surveillance operation and possible alien spaceships secret from the world's governments. When he saw the "Prawns" flying by, he either hailed them with a beacon to come and land here, since they pretty much screaming on all available frequencies (available to them and the super-genius Ozymandias, not to human scientists) "HELP US, HELP US, WE'RE TOTALLY FUCKED!!!" (at least the "totally fucked" part is canon, they were found in a horrible condition) or hacked their ship's computer into landing on Earth (guess their firewalls are bollocks, too, huh?).
- This is more about if they're a true Hive Mind, but like the Bugger the race as a whole really doesn't see a million drones being treated like crap a big deal (this explanation would make them just as bad as humans)
- Or possibly didn't- they probably don't have any idea what happened to the Prawns on earth, if they were even still alive. Once CJ gets back with stories to tell, though...
- I took the 9 to be a flipped 6, for District Six in Cape Town, where 60,000 people were forcefully removed from their homes by the Apartheid regime.
- Aye, I'm pretty sure that's what it's referring to...I think Blomkamp may have said so explicitley at some point, though I can't verify it. And really, if he was going to do a Shout-Out, why in God's name would it be to that movie?
- Why does the English subtitle still appear when the film is shown in non-English-speaking countries?
- Becuase your mind makes the subtitles. The Nigerians are swing Nigerian subtitles. You watch the movie, and your mind adds in English subtitles.
- They've had twenty years to learn the prawn language. And South Africans would be used to languages with clicks and gutterals.
- And when Wikus is told that the treatment to return him back to normal will take 3 years he asks if he heard the last click correctly. If there was a telepathic aspect then he wouldn't need clarification on what "Christopher" said.
- Then again, he may have asked for clarification out of sheer disbelief. Admit it, you've done the same; you've said "Did I hear that right?" when you know perfectly well you did. You just hope you didn't.
This will lead to Earth becoming part of the Tau Empire, causing a rebellion led by a man known as 'the Emperor'. How's that for a WMG?
- There are more practical evidence for this. Firstly, the fact that the aliens in question could be said to resemble Vespids without wings-perhaps some twisted mutations (just look at this). Secondly, the power armour that has a near-replica armament layout and toughness of a Tau battle suit (somewhere between a XV81 and a XV9). Thirdly, the fact that the damn ship actually looks like a miniaturized carbon copy of Tau air caste space stations (compare this and this). Fourthly, the bar codes on the side of their heads resembling Tau writing. Finally, the alien's lack of decision seemingly pointing to a link between them and the now dead Ethereal. The Imperial Inquisition thanks the above troper for the alert...
- Why does every single WMG need a Warhammer 40K section?
- For the same reason that every single WMG needs a Time Lord section. By now it's just status quo.
- There were several different colors of them. It's also implied they are not a natural species, given what Wilkus goes through. It's possible that they are an empire or federation of sorts, and the insect form is simply best suited to alien environments. The prawns are very strong and acrobatic, their hardened skin supplies a natural armor of sorts, and those feline eyes are probably suits for darkness. Christopher said there's technology that could change Wilkus back. Why would they have that unless such transformations occur on a regular basis? My guess is they get turned into the prawn form when they go abroad, and when it's time to come home, they are changed back into whatever they were beforehand.
- Or they could be into body art and consistently paint themselves.
- No, im sure the chitin coloration is either a caste thing or simply ethnic (much like the variations in human appearance).
- Maybe, maybe not. It's not explained in the film.
- What are the evil aliens though, Combine?
- That's it! The prawns are vortigaunts! The prawn weapons don't work with humans because they need to be powered by a vort's energy.
- Win.
- I'd say not invasion per se, for invasion is ahead still, but a reconnaissance and landing ship. That's why they chose Africa - the most depraved and out of control continent (no offence, Africans) would be perfect jumping-off ground.
- Offense taken. Why would they come to South Africa, anyway, if that were the case? You know, ... one of the most advanced countries in Africa (along with others like Nigeria, ironically)? And in Johannesburg, of all cities? I know what foreigners think of the place, but around Jo'burg and Pretoria side, we're about at the same level of development as Louisiana and Mississippi. Which, I'll grant you, isn't much, but it's not exactly an anarchistic hell-hole.
- Well, excuse me, but that's the way it was portrayed.
- Dude, television lies.
- To round off the argument here, I'm fairly sure experts in the movie theorize that Africa has a climate that makes the most sense to them (although I know that South Africa's pretty varied geographically, it's odd that they would choose a relatively arid region otherwise).
- Offense taken. Why would they come to South Africa, anyway, if that were the case? You know, ... one of the most advanced countries in Africa (along with others like Nigeria, ironically)? And in Johannesburg, of all cities? I know what foreigners think of the place, but around Jo'burg and Pretoria side, we're about at the same level of development as Louisiana and Mississippi. Which, I'll grant you, isn't much, but it's not exactly an anarchistic hell-hole.
- That would kind of fuck up the whole message of the film. "That which is different is threatening after all! Nuke 'em!"
- Actual explorers tended to be well armed in case the wherever they ended up had natives hostile to foreigners, animals that where pretty damn tough or just so that if they ran out of food they could hunt.
- Fuck up...or rectify?
- Rectify? In a movie about apartheid... yeah...
- Fuck up...or rectify?
- The Aliens are NOT heavlily armed by any means. Please consider: 1) their spaceship itself, if used as a weapon and crashed into earth, can wipe out the entire human civilization. In comparison, their guns and mechs mere peashooters; 2) They have a population of 1 million. If 1 out of 100 aliens had a gun, then they already have TEN THOUSAND guns. How many militaries do you know that gives 1 gun to 100 people? Lastly, if you think "they had enough weapons to occupy Africa before arriving", you vastly under-estimate the combined military might of Africa. 1 million infantrymen is NOT enough to take over africa (maybe if the mothership was a warship, or if it had a fleet of fighter aircraft in it's hangers, but there is "the lack of demonstrated weapons, defenses and dropships on the Mother Ship itself").
- They are not heavily armed YET. The weapons will be para-dropped when the invasion starts. And by the time they are moved to D10 their population doubles (Auswitz my ass). Still not enough, I know, but neither the invasion has begun yet.
- This troper just imagined the promo spot for new "Powerbolt" soda, featuring a Nike-clad prawn leaping in slow-motion from the half-court line to slam-dunk a basketball and the caption:
\' .; ',. '\ /|' |/" . /,. .' "|
- Actually he had the aparatus in the mothership,but Wikus saw that they couldn't get inside of it without cover so he choose of his on will to stay and give a chance to Christopher to go to his home,and when Christopher said he would come back wasn't to cure him but to free him of hellhole he was,so yeah he won't be able to come back to human life but he and Christpher already knew that when they escaped.
- No, they're seen eating other things, mostly cow heads, and some references to eating tires from cars.
- Doesn't mean that they have the required nutrients. There are numerous cases of pregnant women eating dirt (any other usual things) due to having nutrient deficient diets. Who's to say chewing on tires isn't the same equivalent or just mindless crap made up by the news.
- Isn't there a mention somewhere in the early Mockumentary part of the film that Prawn tech is partly organic? The Fluid "heals" the machines too.
- Which leads to the possible corollary that the reason the Fluid turns lifeforms into Prawns is not intentional, it sees biological organisms as malfunctioning biotechnology and tries to "repair" them to perform whatever task it "thinks" they're designed for— manual labor, most likely, judging by the strength of the Prawns.
- And thus returns the status quo mentioned in the Warhammer 40,000 entry. Lolsocks.
- It's also possible that Christopher wasn't a genius before; the effect of the fluid is starting to wear off, and his is the first intelligence to return. In a few years District 10 is going to be a very interesting place...
The Prawn mining ship was actually trying to reach Pandora when it malfunctioned and brought them to Earth. This is also why the Na'vi did not seem to have any kind of fear/xenophobia about the humans arriving on their planet- they had already seen another race visit to mine. However, the Prawns (with their advanced technology and kinder demeanor) didn't have as much of an impact on the environment as did the humans. It's quite possible that the Prawns opened up successful diplomatic negotiations with them and managed to get some to peacefully relocate.
- Or, in a more entertaining and canocally accurate event, the Na'vi attack the Prawns at sight, begining a war between them. Think about it, the Na'vi killed the humans on sight at first, and they look a lot like each other, and with the Na'vi being the xenophobic bastards that they are, They would want to kill the Prawns, not giving a chance at diplomacy. The Prawns thoroughly pissed at this, they declare war. The vain and confident Na'vi think they can take them on like the humans. The Na'vi are extinct in a matter of hours. The Prawns share the unobtanium with the humans, finally making peace between the two and saving the human race.
- Alternatively, both the prawns and the Na'vi decide they've been being kicked around by the humans too long and gang up on attacking Earth.
- Except that actual Mayans say there's no "prophecy", the end of one calendar just triggers a rollover into the next one's year-zero.
- And the movie is set in 2002. The aliens landed in 1982 and have been around for about two decades when the audience meets Wikus.
- 2010, explicitly stated. The narration as the ship leaves states "The ship is moving for the first time in 28 years". A three year return would be 2013.
- However as soon as the humans cut into the mothership the footage shows that the adults are already in humaniod form.
- It could be a side effect of the aliens hive-mind telepathy. They're able to tap into a planets morphic-field, an automatic body process(like breathing or digesting food) then transforms them into a similar form to whatever pings the strongest morphic resonance and is therefore the dominant species. Also considering Wilkus changed-species in a few days three months would be long enough to change body shape.
- This would make sense as the prawns don't seem to have genders.
- If this were so, Christopher's son would not have said "Where's your friend?" but the far more poignant "Where's Mom?"
- Or, Christopher carried Oliver, but Paul did a disappearing act when he found out. Several years later, he came back and asked if he could be part of his son's life again. Christopher being Christopher, let him in for a trial period, in which he helped with the fuel collection and took the risk of having the lab in his home. Then the MNU showed up with an eviction noticed and it all went wrong.
- Could be that they were a couple, just not for that long. This troper referred to her mum's boyfriend as 'her friend' until he'd been around long enough to become a permanent fixture. And before someone says that they'd been working together for 20 years, Paul shows signs of being new at what they're doing. So Paul helping out is kinda like him taking an interest in his partner's hobby, but sucking at it.
- Geez, thanks! I sure feel special now... *is African* Call me crazy, but I like to imagine the rest of the human race would care if aliens land and start creating an invasion force by turning people into more of themselves, whether their victims were African or not. Then again, judging by how involved y'all are when you need to help us out rather than strip-mine our favorite continent, maybe the rest of humanity not giving a shit if we all die is a realistic scenario...
- Mr President aliens have invaded and attacked - OH God what do we do, Defcon 1 people - let me finish, they've attacked Africa and seem to be leaving. - Oh well in that case organise a couple of concerts. Seems like a fair assessment, I'm sure a lot of people would care, at first. While the news is all over it and people would talk about it but generally speaking people are rather selfish. Perhaps we need to be to be able to function.
- The Golgafrincham arrived on Earth two million years ago, so... no.
- That is disturbingly (and awesomely) plausible. Not to mention that the Prawns had to build those guns themselves while on Earth. That gun that shoot lightning that makes you explode? The Prawns built that in a slum. With a BOX OF SCRAPS!!! When the Prawn army arrives the humans are gonna be totally screwed.
- Completely agreed. A space fairing civilization should have much better weapons than mechs and rifles. We've only seen their jeeps and hunting shotguns. If and when they decided to whip out their F22s, we are going to cry!
- Or perhaps it was because Oliver didn't have the proper mouthparts to eat the candy. Their madibles are used to tear and swallow food like most predators, and Oliver would have likely choked on the candy when trying to eat it.
- Or building on the original theory, Oliver is older than he looks and giving him the candy is offensive for a totally different reason. Imagine giving a ten-year-old a dummy.
Specifically, the Zebesian species that serves as the Space Pirate's mook army. Aside from the obvious point ( They're both insectile humanoids of large but slender stature, with significant physical acuity), consider: Zebesian pirates are described as "almost feral," and are generally completely useless and ineffectual without a leader like Ridley or Mother Brain to guide their actions. Space Pirates have always been incredibly mysterious in the Metroid 'verse, and they are said to have been a dangerous presence even at the earliest points in Galactic federation history.
what happened to the District 9 group is as such: Their ship was traveling through space and tried to raid an alien vessel or Fortification, but underestimated their target. In the attack, their leader-figure was mortally wounded, surviving long enough to send the ship on a retreat course, but dying before it could finalize the navigation systems. Since the entirety of the crew was Zebesian mooks, noone on board was capable of using the system to return to Space-Pirate territory, and they just waited on the ship as it followed an autopilot to the nearest habitable planet. This took much longer than intended, and the ship was damaged enough that it couldn't support the massive crew on board.
The reason Christopher is more intelligent than the other prawns/zebesians is that he's a higher-level "sub-leader" caste, like the tougher Zebesian mooks that Samus fights in later parts of the game. (there's actually a type of Zebesian in super metroid that's green and resistant to everything except missiles, so the color scheme even fits!) He's smarter than the other Prawns/Zebesians because his type of Zebesian is intended to lead small groups, but he wasn't trusted with enough responsibility to actually control the ship. The reason he can do it in the movie is that he's spent all of his time repairing the command module and teaching himself how to use it.
- THEY KNOW
- Shouldn't their ships be somewhere near water?
The prawns are either the original creators of the black oil, which was then appropriated by the Colonists, or one of the many races in the universe which have been taken over by the black oil, or one of the races making up the Colonists, which was implied to be a group of several species of which only The Greys were shown, or some kind of genetically modified warrior race created by The Greys.
- If there'll be a sequel, then the rival species will be the villains.
- Crazy-Prepared.
- In love with really big guns.
- Mentally hardwired to provide overkill.
- Really big drama-queens who over-react, a lot.
One of the reasons why I do not think their colors determine their skill-sets is due to the amount of Prawn weapons all types of Prawns built. However, it is possible that each Prawn color has a genetic code that allows them to perform certain functions, IE: red warriors have the genetic disposition of making weapons, the green ones are more intelligent and can lead. They all seem unintelligent, but can make advanced weaponry? Perhaps their hive leader had died in the ship accident.