Hello. Could someone explain to me why so many fans were unhappy with Prometheus?

Well, having been a moderator on the site almost 2 years now, this is what I have understood to be the biggest issues with the movie according to fans:

#1- It wasn't a direct prequel to Alien like it was originally advertised as. The story did not end with an opening to the events in Alien. 

#2- It was jumbled and messy, you could tell it had more than one writers ideas in it. The story seemed sloppy.

Important: Keep in mind some fans waited 30 years for the movie and felt really betrayed after. Prometheus was very interesting story on it's own, but never really was that Alien prequel people were promised. 

Svanya, please don't forget that Prometheus was planned as trilogy. Of course it will be partially a prequel by telling the story of the derelict. And we can (at least) suggest that the Alien is genetically engineered. In my opinion this is a lot of "prequel-information"

But the question is what you and others expected of this film and what you personally call a prequel. I agree with the writers but what was sloppy?

@Valkorin: I watched the film a lot of times but I still don't understand why the ampules in the tomb leak and that ones in the Juggernaut do not. It seems to depend on temperature but there is no difference between the two scenes except for their distance.
There was an explanation (I forgot the name and the topic but it was here in a forum) where the distance was crucial but I'm not sure if this is cannon, even if it is it would be much too complex for anyone to find out on his own.

As I said Prometheus is a really complex film: You need to think about it (Philosophical) an you need lot of background knowledge (like the history of ancient greece, physics, etc).

I think a lot of people are angry about these aspects.

WHEN LOOKING AT PROMETHEUS WE HAVE TO REMEMBER...

That Alien and Aliens where classic movies, so much so that for a number of people Alien 3 and Alien Resurection simply did not do the previous movies justice.

Take The Thing, another classic where people had to wait nearly 30 years for the Prequel and the 2011 movie was a direct prequel.

When you have such a cult classic movie, and you wait a long time before we get a sequel and indeed prequel then these new movies will always have a MASSIVE expectatons upon them.  Sometimes the fail, sometimes they do justice and most times they are ok but never compare with the Orginal.

This i feel was ONE of the main things that caused Prometheus reception to be Disapointing in the mainstream.

The SECOND is many fans was expecting the movie to be directly linked to Alien and indeed expected to see Xenos and the explanation to where they came from.  A number was also expecting to find out exactly what happened to the Derelict and its Pilot and literally show us the Ship before it crashed and maybe how the Eggs got on board etc.

The Orginal Draft was more focused on being a more literal Prequel,  (John Spaihts Alien Engineers).

Ridley and Fox came to a point where they felt the draft was too Alien and they wanted to focus more on the Engineers (Space Jockey) and so Damon Lindelof came aboard and changed the Script to what we near enough got on Screen.

These changes resulted in a movie that was a bit too ambigious and had that element of Lindelofs style of writting as seen in Lost TV Series.  What we was left with was vague clues to the Alien Xeno, that only Alien fans would pick up on and so the casual Sci Fi fan or worse still the casual puplic simply could not understand what the movie was about or any connection with Alien, those who was aware it was supposed to be connected did not see any connections really, and those who did not know 100% it was in the same Universe as Alien would have found the movie to be a real odd movie that made little sense.

TO UNDERSTAND THE MOVIE...

One needs to understand the first Alien movie, and then they also need to study every little aspect and clue in the movie and cross reference it to Alien and Space Jockey and Derelict and they then need to maybe also read the drafts for the movie and look at concept work and even THE DELETED SCENES and ones that was not even shown.

Only then can you start to make some kind of sense of the movie as you have fragmented parts of the puzzle before you, but how you put that together and then what you make of the missing parts that are not there is well different for every viewer and i think that was the aim for Lindeloff.

Now i am going to say what i found disapointing. but first this is a movie the more you study and watch it the more it grows on you and we have to remember that its intended to be a 3 part Franchise and when its done no doubt we would have a lot more clues for the answers we was looking for from Alien.

1) Visually the movie is very nice, Ridley knows how to set a atmosphere.  But there are a few flaws and the main one is a sense of Scale, this was also a problem with Alien aswell. These Engineers was intended to be 12-15ft tall, they revised that as they knew they would be hard done to pull that size off so the idea was for a 9-10ft tall Engineers.

Sadly that scale was not reached for those with a keen eye and sense of Scale and he only illiusion created was one of a 8ft tall race of Engineers.

2) They tonned down the Alien DNA too much, had they used some of the other concepts for Fifield and indeed the Animatronic model they was orginally going to use then fans would have seen more Xeno DNA and made the Goo less confusing.

3) The Goo, well the movie was a bit too contridicting in how they wanted to show the connection to the Urns and Sacrifcial Scene and Xeno DNA. Some of the hints like Shaws comments and Janeks, simply did not add up to some of the things we was seeing. They even went as far as to release a file on the internet to discribe the Goo.

If we saw the Spaights idea of the Sacrificial Bowl and Urn connection and apply that to Prometheus then the event is more clear.

4) Characters... the use of some Characters was not as well done as Alien, it was a bit cheesy for some, but so too did Aliens have some cheesy cast...  but while people may pick bones at how stupid some of the crew was and how we never got a sense of any feelings for some. We must remember these Characters was used for Plot Devices, yes they could have been scripted better but then again we can see Lindeloffs style rub off on some of the scenes.  However some clues could be that Vickers had a Agenda and hints seem she did not want this mission to be a sucsess and she hand picked the crew and thus may have on purpose not employed the best people for some tasks.

5) Ambiguity vs Inconsistency... the movie had some parts that never made much sense or added up, this is maybe part Lindelofs kind of writting, but to be fair the biggest problem was THE EDIT AND CUT of the movie, once you watch the Deleted Scenes and if you saw some of the Shots from Scenes we not even shown in the Deleted Scenes then the problems are not as bad as when you study the Scenes and Alternative Scenes then things add up more.

We have to remember that even the order the scenes in the movie appeared are not in the correct order that the Orginal Shooting was taken and intended to be if they followed it Scene by Scene off the Draft.

6) SCOPE..... While not so much a problem in the movie, the whole expectations aside, they intended on showing us a Movie about these Engineers, and that they are connected to the Space Jockey and they created us, and indeed created many other life on other Worlds.  They are what Ancient Cultures interpreted as Gods etc... and this race also have somehow a connection to the Xeno.

This is where the Sequels can fix this, because with such a Plot simply put Prometheus was not long enough to do it any Justice, its a plot that would have to span at least 5 hours on film and that would be without going into massive detail about other aspects such as how Weyland and Yutani Merged.

But Fingers Crossed for Parts 2 and 3 ;)

I was going to add a reply to what the purpose of Promethues may had been as far as for doing a Alien Prequel.

But i have started a thread on it instead here.

http://www.prometheus2-movie.com/community/forums/topic/32479

How do i rate Prometheus?

Out of 10 i would say 7/10 mainly gets that due to the Scope and some of the Plot and Visuals. (if not for the performance by some cast members and the beauty of the movie then it would be 6/10).

Before people jump on me here is how my rate system works.

2 Very Poor

3 Poor

4 Below Average

5 Average

6 Above Average

7 Good

8 Very Good

9 Excelent

I leave out 10 and 1 as they are for movies that are Flawless and Perfect or well diabolical.

For Reference here is the rest of the Franchise.

Alien (9/10), Aliens (8/10), Alien 3 (6/10), Alien R (5/10),  Prometheus (7/10)

This is taking into account i am a massive Alien Franchise fan, if i was not then i guess each movie would drop by 1 point. I.e how i would rate them if not being Alien Fanatic.. ;)

@Nibbix; It was never planned a 3 part movie at first, that came after. It was described and 'sold' to fans as a direct prequel to Alien. People understood it would lead up to us seeing the crashed Derelict ship the Nostromo discovers.

BigDave sums it up well: "The Orginal Draft was more focused on being a more literal Prequel,  (John Spaihts Alien Engineers)".

I use the word "sloppy" because I can't explain it any other way, it was just jumbled, you can see ideas Spaiths had then ideas Lindelof had in it sort of cut together in a strange way. And the characters themselves were very odd. The whole thing felt disjointed and the scenes sort of got tossed at you one after the other so fast you barely had time to take in what was happening.

It's not a bad movie at all, it just isn't a great movie. The visuals of course were stunning, and the character 'David' was just amazing and unforgettable.

One of the redeeming qualities of the movie, in my opinion, is that it's made up of almost all of the original ideas Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett had for Alien (Starbeast) but were never used, such as the pyramids and the urns. That was really nice to see. 

Here is the Starbeast script if anyone would like to read it. ALIEN(project formerly titled STARBEAST)

Yep most of it had been said but I agree very sloppy film making it is not deep at all people just read into it like tea leaves unfortunately they are just tea leaves! It was muddled and did not add up some off the worst parts being people acting very strangely. You\'ll have to search the site for the arguments - they have been talked over time and time again. Visually very nice and ideas were great in the beginning but it just came out garbled... :(...still have hope for part 2 though with an interesting writer...

I suppose alien also set the bar so high it was always going to be a slight drop at least unless there was a miracle. But if it had just made sense with pretty much the same story it would have been a hit I reckon just not as good as alien. 

I think that a lot of fans are just plain angry cause they can't get enough helmet bong.  I ,on the other hand, do and I'm not over critical of the film.  In fact I happen to Like the pot holes. 

And it's also got allot to do with the God damn studios. Alien was made in a much nicer time for film making in some ways...less meddling - allowed to have an 18 cert . One thing that stood out was how cool the viral stuff could have been but someone overseeing that really messed it up. If they did the viral campaign properly that could of been awesome. But it ended up like the film -great ideas poorly executed. They still got missing videos from that n links etc. !

@everyone

Why were so many fans unhappy with Prometheus?

It is really hard to out do a masterpiece like Alien. In fact I would say it is impossible.

I want to also preface any explanation through the situation that Scott found himself in with getting what he needed from the producers to make the movie that he originally intended. Scott had much larger sets planned for this movie and he was not backed financially to make this film the real way it was supposed to be made.

As far as lot of people (fans) not liking the movie so much or being disappointed I can only state the facts.

I look at a lot of different art forms. Fans in general are trying way too hard to compare this movie to other movies and this is an enormous mistake.  We go to movies to be enlightened, scarred, challenged, shocked, and
entertained.

After Picasso’s blue period he started painted faces and bodies where all parts of the subject could be seen from a single vantage point. Of course this is unique and very beautiful as abstract art. No other artists had ever done this before so it was something quite new. El Greco had painted figures that were elongated when the majority of artists were painting realism.

So back to Scott and this movie Prometheus. This movie is an astounding masterpiece both visually and because of the subject matter portrayed through the medium of film. Make no mistake about it parts of this film should be viewed as very separate from anything else in the rest of the film. Forget about continuity. Forget the rules. Do not try to understand this film and pick every detail that is not instantly understandable.

For me literally the film is a warm up if you will. Scott has taken a much larger type of canvas and suspended disbelief quite masterfully. In your entire lives you will never get to see such fine art as this in other mediums…this film is very unique and no one else has done the things that are done in this movie.

We could all point to similarities in other films. Once again try to see the parts of this and forget about the whole.  You cannot always compare fine art such as this to other fine art it is a mistake to do so!

The beginning of this movie is so complex and wonderful it defies all logic. This is a canvas like any other. It mixes different themes beyond comprehension, imagery, sound. You cannot convey this type of mastery in any other medium.

The scene with the farther and the girl as David is watching Dr. Shaw’s dream is better than most science fiction movies that have been made in the last 20 years combined. Scott has given you all so much more if you only have an open mind and have a better understanding of other forms of art.

There are too many other unique scenes where Scott has pushed all the boundaries of this medium once again and in a way that no other Master has accomplished before him.

Forget about trying to figure out the plot. Just like Picasso, Scott is introducing you to new ways of looking at things never portrayed this way in film before. People will watch this film again and again even in a hundred years from now. Fine art such as this will last thousands of years.

Scott dose not care if you don’t get it you are not supposed to any more than you would be able to understand real  aliens if they landed on Earth. Art is supposed to invoke newly created deeper meanings through the medium.

People are trying to understand this movie in too simple of terms like trying to appreciate a Renaissance masterpiece by only looking at the paint that the artist used.  

For all the fans out there I will agree with this one thing only. We are used to the Alien universe as a thrill ride, straight hard core action, and horror.

That is not what this film is about at all. Scott’s message is much deeper. If you look and study you will see what he has really filmed and you will not look at other films the same ever again.

I thought Prometheus was a gas. Incredibly stylish and unexpected.

I see it as more surreal, and that's part of the fun for me. The trick will be to make that surrealism continue while providing the expository elements the fans crave. I'm personally hoping a tone has been established, and what we get turns out to be a 4 or 6 hour movie.

I'm not insensitive to the disappointment Prometheus caused. But I do think its premature. I got what I wanted, but Im not as invested in the canon as many are. Hard to do after Alien 3 and 4. I like the drama and tension Prometheus ran with, it was a change of course, and opens up a fortune in possibilities. It had to happen, it was a huge risk and it paid off enough that we should get to see a bit more. Can't wait!

I think the answer to the OP's question is that nerds on the interenet tend to have biased and hyperbolic opinions.  If the film wasn't well received, it wouldn't have had a sequel immediately green-lit.  Reference Avatar for another example of a scifi movie that was wildly successful with the movie going public but nerds on the internet want to pretend like it was a failure.

I think I might upset some people by say Alien was a great film it really was and has stood the test of time but it is starting to look dated especially on bluray but for me Prometheus was the best film I have seen to date and in 3D even better . I'm glad Prometheus it wasn't a prequel but another branch into the understanding of the Engineer/Gardener race and finaly a chance to see more than just the xenomorph because they just aren't that scary any more, they have been over done ( I have meleed them to death in games ) It is time for a fresh start. Maybe a long the way we will find out about the derelict in a recording/Log on a Engineer outpost which will keep the people who wanted a prequel kinda happy . I need a new space terror i hope you all agree on that. 

No it is true alien is 35 years old so it’s going to look slightly old but Jesus 35 years and it’s still the best sci fi film out there and looks amazing! And yes I too think Prometheus at least looked quite nice. But it is missing O’Bannon and Geiger.

And no Part two for Prometheus was not green lighted right away it took allot longer than usual and the waiting is still going on notice the difference between avengers and Prometheus - came out the same year yet avengers 2 is already ready for 2015 we know parts of the plot and cast etc. and there’s loads of stuff about it on the web Prometheus 2: almost nothing. That’s the difference between a high flying green lit movie (avengers) and a just got over the line even though we were waiting for it 30 years and it was a movie that should have blown avengers out of the water money wise film. People are still worried about it but I think it’s still going ahead. Avengers and avatar had no fan base and still did what they did Prometheus had a massive base and probably half the taking were from fans of alien part 2 will be different if it’s the same as Prometheus we will see a flop if its better thank god and all will be fine :D !

PS Avengers and avatar are pretty much what’s wrong with the industry right now - they are made for families simply because that’s were the money is if you make a film for everyone it becomes wish washy and no were near as good as a film like alien. And yes avengers and avatar were shit (not saying that the artistry wasn’t amazing though) well for anyone with any intelligence - good for kids and kid minded people but that’s about it. And thats why those films do well its kids taking parents and that is why we got a watered down prometheus trying to reduce the rating...anyway Im not saying they are great money making films with good wow factor but they are crap story lines with no depth!

PPS I think Rodan described himself perfectly lol I am surprised he didn’t use that old argument it’s like blade runner everyone will love it in the future once they understand it oh wait it is the future now :O !

DJ whateve your name is, I don't know what kind of drugs you are consuming to alter the reality around you, but in the one I live in, the Prometheus sequel was anounced rather quickly aftr the movie made a large boxoffice haul.  You can read about it on the news updates on this very website.  I suggest you read those and take some classes on how to best construct English setences, instead of making yourself look like a fool.

No seriously it was slow check with the admins there was a thread on it. Can’t find it - hard to search found this one though: http://www.prometheus2-movie.com/community/forums/topic/28526 theres a thread were it talks about fox finally announcing a sequel painfully late and it was low key I think 4 months after premier. Compare that with avengers that had the sequel announced in the same month it was released (slight difference considering prometheus should have been bigger!) - they waited till they saw how well it did in every country then announced it quietly... that’s not a confident way to do things. As I said just google avengers and see how much is on that then type Prometheus 2 - kinda different things going on - not me taking the drugs LOL! You can always tell when someones lost the arguement when they start attacking spelling or grammer!

You're typing like a 12 year old on a Justin Bieber fan forum.  Seriously, why would I take anything you have to say seriously when you obvioulsy have a 5th grade education?  You're trying to split hairs about when the sequel was announced, but it was still anounced because the first film was successful.  So your point is moot and totally asinine. 

The fact you are still on a forum for a film this long after it came out, June, 8 2012, that you obviously did not enjoy to whine about how it was only very successful, not very, very successful is pretty much one of the most pathetic things I have ever seen.  I guess by your logic Alien was a bomb, because it took much longer to produce a sequel.  However, you obvioulsy don't care about hypocrisy.  It fits in great with your pathetic sour grapes internet troll persona.

So now I know you hang out in Bieber forums it's all making sense now! So I'll take the fact you don't deny what I say it's true as an agreement. Thanks for admitting your faults. And who said I hated prometheus?

Why were so many fans unhappy about Prometheus ? It will probably come as no surprise that I do have one or two issues.

 My only real issue with the film is that nobody really knows what the big guy in the chair is, even thought we are given a reference name of a Space Jockey. I have waited with eager anticipation to find out such facts and spent good money on being led to think that I was going to find out, but no.

 If we rewind the clocks back, I don’t know about you, but just maybe you may have been one of those fans of Alien who one day discovered that Ridley Scott was going to do a film that is a prequel to Alien. Just imagine the unbelievable excitement of hearing such news. The first thing you would probably do would be to check the websites and see what you could find out, and to all accounts the marketing strategists now have you hook, line and sinker, and copy of the Angling times.

 With your interest in the Alien franchise reignited, you might probably have watched all related movies back to back, and be prepared to brush memories of AVP under the carpet.

The chances are that with your new vigour in all matters Alien you might have found yourself in the company of other persons who you want to impress with your new found info, and spend weeks, possibly months telling people to go watch Prometheus.

Explaining why they should go and see it is like shooting fish in a barrel since you could proudly state that it is a prequel to Alien. All you would need to say would be ‘Alien’, and ‘Ridley Scott’.

Then one day, you wake up to the sounds of birds singing, and the sun is shining. A day when no-one on Facebook has been unfriended and you decide to take that long awaited journey to a place where there is no daylight. A place where people gather and say every little to each other apart from maybe, that’s my seat your sitting in. A place where the sound of a mobile phone  can summon up feelings of blood curdling rage.

In what seems the blink of an eye, it is all over, and there is a quiet shuffling to the cinema exits. There is a strange silence that engulfs the exiting mass with very little eye contact being made between persons known and unknown. The world as you once knew it has now changed.

For some it was a matter of minutes and for others hours, before that all important question was asked “Well, How was it?”

 For those who did not go through this alone, there is that awkward moment before the person you’re with finally asks that all important question. The most frequent question that is still being asked today is ‘What was it about ?’

Just imagine, how many fans have gone through the process of discovering who enjoyed the movie and who did’nt. How many fans are there who felt like complete idiots for recommending Prometheus to those who hate it. How many fans have spent hours on the internet trying to explain to people what it was all about?

If I was to give a good reason why so many fans are unhappy about Prometheus, it would have to be because so many got sucked in by the marketing and got a lot of non fans to watch it to end up feeling like they are presenting pearls before swine.

Personally I like Prometheus, its just a pity not everyone else does, and its get bloody tedious trying to explaining to those who don’t get it, what it is about.

@djamelameziane

You are in a way correct and also wrong, first the Orginal Idea was a movie that would prequel Alien and explain what Race the Space Jockey was and what the purpose and connection to the Xeno was.

This would lend to a single movie, with a potential for sequels.  They then got Spaights in and on that note he expanded the idea that the Space Jockey was a Giant Humanoid Race who created Mankind but then wanted to destroy us and that LV 426 was a place they used to create and experiment with a whole manner of Organisms related to the same Xeno DNA.

Spaights draft ended implying that a Signal is sent into Space and that David is headless on the Juggernaught while Shaw is in the Vickers Escape module. This plot thus does not lend to having a Sequel but the movie could have one.

Then some changes are made, Ridley and Fox are not happy with the draft and get Lindeloff onboard to change direction.

This new draft has many changes and one in relation to the debate you made, is this draft has at the end David and Shaw leaving on a Engineer Jugernaught and thus lends itself to having a potential sequel.

They did the movie in a way however that they felt the movie could be seen as a stand alone movie, which must be in case a sequel is not garunteed.

So it would see that no sequel was given the Green Light by Fox at the time of shooting and that such a sequel would depend on the reception of the Movie and then how Fox feels about the potential plot advances.

Pretty Sure Ridley may had wanted to maybe cover enough in one movie but the budget was not big enough, and shooting length of movie and so they must have gone to make some bits embigious so that they could be futher explained in a sequel so the whole movie to me lends itself to vagueness as far as the Engineers, as far as the Xeno and as far as Weyland Yutani, in such a way that these ideas leave many questions us fans would crave to want to know and in which case if the fans seemed to go see the movie for Answers they never get and then would want them answered this would leave Fox to have to consider that they should back Ridley a Bigger Budget to then answer those questions.

This was a double edged sword as while the movie did fine at Box Office as fans wanted to see the Answers, it was not too connected to Alien or interesting to get masses of casual fans onboard.

So i would agree that Fox had not Green Lighted that the movie would get a sequel but they did intend for it to have one, depending upon how well received the movie was and if they saw any potential to have any sequels make money depending on reaction.

And that would be yes, there would be money to be made, but it would have to be done sooner rather than l;atter before fans would well maybe lose interest in waiting for their answers.. i,e so Fox wont leave it like 10 years plus..

"My only real issue with the film is that nobody really knows what the big guy in the chair is"

Batchpool, that was the idea, all along this prequel in every draft was to show us that our Engineers and Space Jockey are one of the same...

Here are the facts...

1) The Space Jockey was intended to be a 26ft Pilot of some Alien craft... Giger had the idea that he was actually part of the chair, fussed and a prisoner.  Ridley went for the idea that he was fused to the chair but not that he is actually part of the ship but becomes part.

Ridley at the release of the movie, like the O'Banon Drafts had this Space Jockey as a Race of Tall Beings who piloted the ship.  Ridley then said the Space Jockey was some kind of Space Suit that connects to the Chair.

In REALITY... there was scale issues the Prop was 16-18ft long thus the Space Jockey was 13-15ft the use of Child Actors was hopped to make it appear to be like 25ft+ but it actually appeared as 21ft.

Then with the closer shots using Adults revealed that the Chair and Jockey was not 26ft but only appeared about 16ft.

2) Then comes the Prequel, knowning the scale issue in Alien the idea was these Engineers to be 15ft tall that fits in with the Space Jockey size.  Ridley realised to create such a scale on screen using the methods he would like and budget, that 15ft Engineers would be to hard to create and so they went for a 10ft Race but again one that in essence was Engineers in Suits, the difference in size to the Space Jockey well could be some Engineers are taller and that also over time the Space Jockey suit simply expanded, just as Dallas said when it seemed he grew out of the Chair.

3) Again in REALITY another mistake in scale sees our Engineers only show to be about 8 feet tall, some scenes they are near 9ft (Space Jockey Suits hanging on Wall) others they are merley near 7.5ft (The Last Engineer close up fight scenes).

What we are left is a 13-15ft Space Jockey and a 8ft Engineer that was intended to be 9-10ft tall.

Now how they will logically fix this, i think the deletion of the Elders is key, why remove all references to them?  Because maybe they looked frail and also they appeared to be smaller than our Sacrificial Engineer.

So i feel they could go the route to try and show us our Engineers are 8-10ft tall and vary and that maybe then the Elders are 10-12ft or they have created another Humanoid race who are 12-15ft or that indeed its a 12-15ft Race that created the Elders (especially if there size is shown to be the same as Engineers).

These are a few things i think could be done to explain the Space Jockey size difference.

Heres my opinon on it....WAITING 30+ years for a movie and then expecting something else!

Svanya put it perfectly...sloppy....and I would add sloppy as hell. As was so aptly stated, it's simply good not great and, in some ways, purely awful. Svanya also correctly pointed to the editing, which is one of this films Biggest issues. I spent much of last year re-editing the film for my own personal enjoyment and because I felt that from the first moment I saw it (and was horribly disappointed) this film could have been better. The material is there, it was just edited horribly. Scenes are improperly oredered in places, some were left on the cutting room floor that helped better drive the plot, others were poorly chosen in favor of alternate versions that more logically applied to the characters involved. Said characters end up coming off as incredibly shallow, childish, or down right silly when it was not necessary in the first place. This speaks to numerous issues with the credibility of our scientific expeditionaries on this mission, but that's a whole other can of worms. Essentially, what I learned was that Prometheus was lost in the cut. It was never going to be a masterpiece, and I am FAR from thinking my own cut is a masterpiece, but it could have been SO MUCH BETTER than it was.

"This speaks to numerous issues with the credibility of our scientific expeditionaries on this mission, "

We have to remember many of them was purely plot device, if we try to scientifically pick holes in the plot then we could do the same with many movies inc the latest Star Trek lol

A way i look it is Vickers Agenda, it seemed she did not want to be part of this mission but she also had her own Agenda to take over the company and maybe the failure of this mission would help her in her Agenda.  She hand picked the crew and it seems that she did well as far as making sure the Pilots was up to there job, and so could get her to and from LV 223 safely, and that the Ships Engineers and Security was Top Notch, and even that Ford was good at her job.

All this staff basically insures a safe journey and keeps the ship and its crew safe and protected.

The only part of the crew who do not function for this task are Dr Shaw and Holloway and Fifield and Milburn,  Fifield was only in it for the money he was useful for study of the Geology of the Planet and use of his Pups to map the place.  But seemed Vickers wanted to undermine Shaw/Holloway and her Fathers Mission, and Milburn being the Biologist was as with Fifield not the best in their field but thats what Vickers wanted to do, save money and get people in who would not been the best for the purpose of finding what Weyland and Shaw was after.

Thats how i kind of make of some of the crew not being well very good lol, as far as how they all died in some dumb ways... well thats what happens in most Horrors and Sci-Fi they are just canon fodder to use as plot devices.

Yes they was not as well thought and done as the Alien Cast, or like the Thing 1982's the 2011 Thing the cast u had no feelings for they was same kind of mindless fodder that Prometheus cast was.

However craigamore i have to agree with the rest you said, my biggest gripe was the movie seemed like it needed to be 3 hours long and that the deleted scenes added to the movie plot and i said all along after it first come out the movie looked like it had been cut up by someone and they then tried to peice them back together but got order and some parts mixed up.

The alternative shots in the trailers seemed to show this, and when we finally got to see the deleted scenes, and even shots we never saw in deleted scenes, these include Engineer leaving his Chair and then running across LV 223 to get to the Lifeboat, and how the Engineer was shown reading a book on the floor.

All these unused but shot scenes would have added to the movie would have left it less Ambigious and Confusing.

Add to that if they had managed to pull of the Orginal Concept ideas and drafts of a taller Engineers and used the Lord or the Rings and Hobbit effects that take 5.5ft tall Actors to look 3.5ft tall thus near 60-65% reduction in size, if this was applied to 6ft actors we would get 10ft Engineers they could even make the Engineers using this Technololgy to be 12ft on screen easy.

This was not the case due to maybe Budget and Time Restraints and also Ridley is more a fan of what you can practically see and use on screen than using effects like CGI etc.

This brings me to Fifield, its seems they orginally was working on Animatronic Fifield that had a more Xeno look, but they then went for CGI which never looked right and so they in the end went for Sean Harris in make up to give us Toxic Avenger Fifield.... now if they had tried to keep to the orginal concept works and more like the un-used Animatronic Fifield we would have seen more of a connection to the Goo effects on the Worms and Fifield and ultimately a link to the Xeno DNA.

Just these few changes above would have vastly improved the movie.

Off-top, but I never understood, even reading all the arguments, why Alien 3 has been rated so low. I liked it very much, as much as previous two. In fact to my personal taste, it's a true gothic-smelled grotesque horror movie that scared me even more than Alien 1. I would rate each of the original 3 as much as 10/10.

The situation with Alien 3, Return of the Jedi and some others just seems to confirm my belief that the worst part in every franchise is its fans. It's so religious and ridiculuous.

I have to disagree with you there scutinizer1. As much as I like 'Alien 3' more than 'Aliens', as I think it gets the closest to approaching the horror atmosphere of 'Alien', none of the sequels come close to quality of film that we see in 'Alien'. The first film is, quite simply put and for countless reasons, a masterpiece and you would never say that about any of its sequels.

alot of the things we are rightfully picking at could have been easily and inexpensively remedied... Its a shame really. Scale, script, actions,creatures...

Over all Promethius is a beautiful looking film with great effects. Its just that we Alien fans have such huge and eager expectations...

Haven't posted in a while... but I have been looking at the forums since the announcement of Ridley scouting for P2 locations. Good to be back on the forums! Anyhow, on to the thread topic...

I have several friends that really dislike Prometheus. The one universal complaint I keep hearing is: they beleive several characters (mainly Fifield and Millburn) acted strangely or even stupidly, and made decisions that are deemed inconsistent with the level of intellect normally associated with their character's educational/professional status (Dr's, Proffessor's, Scientists, etc.). In other words, they think the character behavior was a large plot hole. 

I do not agree with this opinion, but again, its what I continue to hear from people that dislike the movie. 

A minor few others claim that they do not understand the purpose of the "black-goo" or how it worked since to them it seemed to be a "magical-do-anything-liquid". I have touble with this opinion as well, but hey...everyone's entitled to their opinion. 

Prometheus remains one of my favorite movies. Surpassed only by the original ALIEN. Bring on Prometheus 2!

Not sure if people are so worried about the goo and we'll find out more about it anyway i assume. But yes the other stuff your mates are correct with. Man just finished watching the latest game of thrones that feels more real then prometheus even though it's a fantastical world. A little too nasty but probably the biggest breath of fresh air in a Hollywood dominated film scene in years.they should get some of that team working on prometheus 2 especially the author! Actually since the crimson wedding I keep seeing film after film killing off characters in an attempt to copy game of thrones it seems but doing it poorly...I wonder about prometheus hmmm...that was one of the problems I had...i just didn't care about any character but Shaw and David...and sorry but alien is so much better...but yes everyone's different...