MovieChat Forums > Predator (1987) Discussion > How can the Predator see the trip wires?

How can the Predator see the trip wires?

posted 8 years ago by A-zone
18 replies | jump to latest

The Predator was able to avoid all the trip wires and steal Blaine's body. Also when Dutch and team set the trap for it, Dutch says that there were trip wires in every tree for 50 yards, leaving only one way in.

So how can the Predator, who relies only on infra-red vision, be able to see the trip wires? They certainly don't give off heat like a living thing. In fact with Predator's "impaired" vision, it would be impossible to see anything that does not give off heat.

"I'm the dude, playing a dude that's disguised as another dude".

[–] PreachCaleb 8 years ago

It's not so much that it saw the trip wires; it's that he was in the trees above the ground the whole time.

Seize the moment, 'cause tomorrow you might be dead.

[–] the_bamboo_spear 8 years ago

True, he's just coming in from up high. He tripped the flare at night, and also tripped the net during the day, and those were pretty visible. He only knows about Dutch's trap at the end because he pokes his head with the tip, and figures something isn't right.

[–] A-zone 8 years ago

True, he's just coming in from up high. He tripped the flare at night, and also tripped the net during the day, and those were pretty visible. He only knows about Dutch's trap at the end because he pokes his head with the tip, and figures something isn't right.

It wasn't the Predator that tripped the flare, it was the boar. This is clearly pointed out in the dialogue:
"It came in through the tripwires.
Took it right out from under our noses.
That boar had to set off the trip flare, Major, cos there ain't no other tracks."

Also Dutch says:
"It can see our tripwires. Maybe it can't see this."

Also when Dillon asks:
"What makes you think he'll come in through here?"

Dutch replies:
"There are tripwires on every tree for 50 yards. This is the only way in."

So it is quite obvious that the Predator can see the trip wires. Which is why it couldn't see the trap that Dutch and the team set because they didn't use trip wires.

Also putting trip wires in every tree for 50 yards was because Dutch knew that the Predator could see them and would avoid them, eventually ending up right where they had set the net.

Also what PreachCaleb said and you agreed with, that the Predator was in the trees and thus didn't set them off. That also cannot be true because if it were then he would have set off one of the trip wires that Dutch set in all the trees for 50 yards.

It is quite evident from all this that the Predator can see the trip wires. I'm curious as to how?

"I'm the dude, playing a dude that's disguised as another dude".

[–] PreachCaleb 8 years ago

"It came in through the tripwires.
Took it right out from under our noses.
That boar had to set off the trip flare, Major, cos there ain't no other tracks."

Bingo. Since there are no traps, that shows it came from above. That's why it didn't set off the trip wires.

Also Dutch says:
"It can see our tripwires

Dutch is wrong. He doesn't know the Predator sees in infrared. We do. The reason he didn't set off the trip wires is because they weren't high enough. Dutch and his team were pretty much setting traps for humans. They didn't know the Predator was all the way at the top of the trees.

Or he just switched visions like in Predator 2.

Seize the moment, 'cause tomorrow you might be dead.

[–] ttaskmaster 8 years ago

It is quite evident from all this that the Predator can see the trip wires. I'm curious as to how?

Nothing is straight in nature, which is why you use things like scrim nets to break the dead-straight outlines of weapons, equipment and vehicles.

The Pred has enhanced vision and trip wires are the only dead-straight thing around. That's about as far as I'd need it, anyway.

[–] atd8vii (593) 7 years ago

Didn't the pig trip the flare, or did the flare find something bigger?

[–] A-zone 8 years ago

It's not so much that it saw the trip wires; it's that he was in the trees above the ground the whole time.

Please see the reply that I gave to the_bamboo_spear below

"I'm the dude, playing a dude that's disguised as another dude".

[–] Ultrashiver 8 years ago

I thought the trip wires is what prompts the predator to use the trees.

[–] PreachCaleb 8 years ago

We see from his POV that he's always using the trees. Even before they set the trip wires.

[–] laplante-co-672-297856 8 years ago

Just a general answer... it has been awhile since I saw the movie so I can't answer you specifically.

i. Infrared exists at a much longer wavelength than the spectrum in which we see. To 'see' in infrared with the same acuity that we see would require HUGE eyeballs.

Don't quote me but I think I read once that it would require an eyeball EIGHT FEET across which it why no life on earth has ever evolved to see in that spectrum.

Given the Predator's very tiny eyes, it's actually more likely it would see clearly in light at the OTHER end of the spectrum, i.e. toward the microwave end.

That all said, I'm sure the special effects guys didn't worry too much about the science of optics and went with 'hey, wouldn't it be cool to give this thing weirdly small eyeballs to make it more alien!".

ii. Technology can be used to translate infrared into something we can 'see' although it still looks 'blurry' for the reasons I mentioned above.

I once went to a tour of a British military base where infrared cameras were used to monitor the approaches to the base. The tour guide explained how it was impossible to get past infrared cameras because they detect the DIFFERENCE between heat outputs of the environment.

Anybody sneaking up on the base in some sort of camo would still be visible in the infrared spectrum because their heat signature would differ from that of the plants, rocks and ground around them.

In the case of the wire, you are right... it doesn't have a heat output. It would show up as a darker wire against the brighter background of the foliage (biological heat) and ground (absorption of daytime sunlight, micro-biological heat of insects, bacteria, etc) around it.

I'm a science geek, yes...

[–] Costumer (1829) 6 years ago

old post, but.

The difficulty with your explanation is that there are many animals that can percieve infra-red light. It is often believed that mammals and birds can't see it because they are warm blooded and that would interfere with the infra-red. (I don't necessarily agree with that conclusion that they couldn't evolve to see it. Just that they didn't)

However, snakes, frogs, some fish and some insects can all see or otherwise perceive infra-red light and none of them need eight foot eyeballs.

[–] The-Social-Introvert 8 years ago

Maybe he has other visions that we didn't see

[–] !!!deleted!!! (4524359) 8 years ago

Infrared has nothing to do with technology. It's just a frequency of light outside our visible spectrum. Essentially everything that radiates heat glows in infrared.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] TruthPredator 8 years ago

It is actually explained in Predator 2. The Predator has several different visions.

[–] PaladinNJ (21587) 6 years ago

[deleted]

[–] PaladinNJ (21587) 6 years ago

Could it just be as simple as the artificial materials of the trip wires (e.g. nylon or steel wire) looks different to its vison sensors than the natural materials around it? For example, when it killed Hawkins, his glasses looked different than his face although both should have been around the same temperature.