3) Who Is The Space Jockey? Is It David?
Another big mystery that’s yet to be resolved is the identity of the space jockey in the original film. In Alien, Captain Dallas describes the space jockey’s suit as “fossilized,” though we now know – thanks to Prometheus – that its fossilized characteristics are simply what the pilot’s suit appeared to look like from the beginning.
Also, could the original space jockey actually be David? Ok, it’s a bit of a longshot as there’s one major inconsistency here: remember, the space jockey’s suit showed signs of a sort of chest-burster exit wound. David is obviously a synthetic and – for the most part – the Xenomorphs just aren’t that interested in androids; a robot can’t be a host for the alien’s weird parasitic lifecycle. Despite this, it’s still an interesting idea, but definitely one that needs some backstory to paper over the acid-soaked cracks to make fans buy into it.
And, while we’re on the subject, how come the original space jockey is noticeably larger than the pilots seen in Prometheus? Perhaps there are different species of Engineers and some may be larger than others. Further still, could these different types of ancient, extra-terrestrials have contrasting cultures and philosophies? This kind of leads us into our next big question…