History YMMV / Prometheus

** Before the film's release, a supposed early draft of the script was leaked. It contained a lot of religious weirdness (even more) and changed the setting's name from LV-223 to Zeus and the Engineers' to Terraformers, and for a while it was thought to he true until Lindelof swore it was a fake. Still, some believe it to be authentic.

* QuestionableCasting: It seems odd to cast Creator/NoomiRapace as an English scientist considering she uses her own Swedish voice. The real 'WTH' moment comes with casting an obviously English child actress to play the young Elizabeth. The character being English isn't necessarily vital to the plot, so it would have been less jarring to just have Elizabeth be Swedish like her actress.

** As noted below under OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight, the movie was heralded as Creator/RidleyScott finally returning to "his" franchise, despite the fact that he didn't come up with the story for ''Alien'', and the few ideas he did come up with himself were rejected by the studio.

* CommonKnowledge: A mistake that is often brought up is that a character says they're only half a billion miles from Earth- which would put them only as far as Jupiter, never mind another solar system. But this ignores the context- namely, Vickers using it as informal shorthand for "miles away from anyone else" rather than an official measurement.

** Vickers decision to leave the moon and return to Earth, despite being told about the [[spoiler: Engineer ship's genocidal capabilities]] can be read in two ways: Vickers is a coward and is willing to put the lives of everyone on Earth at risk to save her own skin OR Vickers is trying to save the lives of the remaining crew and will try and figure out a plan to [[spoiler: stop the ship later]]. The scene happens so quickly that it's impossible to tell what was going through her head and she lingers for several seconds after [[spoiler:Janeck announces his plans for HeroicSacrifice and tells her to AbandonShip]], looking upset but not trying to force him to abandon this plan.

** When the full script of the film was leaked on the internet, it was revealed the reason why Engineers wanted to destroy mankind was because [[spoiler:they killed Jesus, who was an Engineer harbinger himself.]] This is still implied in the film, both in the timelines shown in the Engineers' archives and in a deleted scene where the Engineer sees Shaw's cross, but it is ultimately left ambiguous. Many fans prefer it that way, considering the original reason trite and uninteresting.

* WTHCastingAgency: It seems odd to cast Creator/NoomiRapace as an English scientist considering she uses her own Swedish voice. The real 'WTH' moment comes with casting an obviously English child actress to play the young Elizabeth. The character being English isn't necessarily vital to the plot, so it would have been less jarring to just have Elizabeth be Swedish like her actress.

* RetroactiveRecognition:
** On the side of the Engineers, we have [[Series/GameOfThrones The Mountain that Rides]].
** Not to mention [[Series/GameOfThrones Lysa Arryn and Marillion]] as the ship's medic and one of the co-pilots.

* MemeticMutation: A lot of images have been made comparing the Engineer to [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants Handsome Squidward]].

* CommonKnowledge: An example of CriticalResearchFailure that is often brought up is that a character says they're only half a billion miles from Earth- which would put them only as far as Jupiter, never mind another solar system. But this ignores the context- namely, Vickers using it as informal shorthand for "miles away from anyone else" rather than an official measurement.

* SignatureScene: Shaw's [[spoiler:improvised c-section to remove the proto-facehugger she's pregnant with]].

* CriticalResearchFailure: One of the scientists on the bridge of the ship claims that 3% atmospheric carbon dioxide will kill you. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide#mediaviewer/File:Main_symptoms_of_carbon_dioxide_toxicity.svg It won't.]] Carbon ''monoxide'', however, will.

* MisBlamed: Damon Lindelof used to bear the brunt of the hate for this film by people who didn't like it, as now it's known that he turned the script from what was originally known as ''Aliens: Engineers'' into the first draft of ''Prometheus'', so the blaming does have a basis. However, his treatment didn't end up being the final product either: as it was revealed when the script became available online, Ridley Scott actually cut '''tons''' of scenes that were instrumental to understanding the film, therefore opening plot holes and ambiguities left and right (and causing the IdiotPlot mentioned above), all while Lindelof futilely tried to caution him ''against'' leaving so much unexplained precisely because of the bad reaction to the finale of ''Series/{{Lost}}''. With Scott's decision to turn the sequel into ''Film/AlienCovenant'', the weight of the duology's unpopularity has switched mostly from Lindelof to Scott.

* LoveItOrHateIt: If you believe the Internet, this movie is either a misunderstood masterpiece or a total disaster.

* {{Applicability}}: This movie was ''designed'' for WildMassGuessing. One moment of IdiotBall could mean an hour of theorizing behind why it is so.
* ClicheStorm: But arguably, many of this movie's clichés are ones for which ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' was the TropeMaker / TropeCodifier, so they qualify as {{Call Back}}s.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: The Deacon, [[spoiler:a proto-xenomorph]] that only shows up in the last scene.
* EpilepticTrees: Oh where do we ''begin''? However, one should have expected nothing less from the TropeNamer, [[Series/{{Lost}} Damon Lindelof]] (though not so much as believed - see Misblamed below).

* HarsherInHindsight:
** David mentioning that Ellie's father was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease killed by Ebola]] back when the film was originally released in 2012 may have made it seem like a distant, exotic disease to most people around the world. Then in 2014 an Ebola outbreak flares up again in West Africa, infecting several US caregivers and doctors in the region, killing one man who had visited relatives there and didn't get treated in time, and infecting one of the nurses who was looking after said man that died of the disease. Suddenly Ebola doesn't seem so remote any longer for those in the West that normally only saw news statistics about deaths in Africa from this disease.
** In a less significant but still worth noting thing to mention, a lot of David's friendly interactions with Shaw becomes this considering [[spoiler:that he kills her in ''Film/AlienCovenant'']].

** Also Millburn toward Fifield. He seems to be laughing at his comment early in the film in a way to gain his approval.
%% * IdiotPlot: While the movie is a visually and aesthetically amazing piece, the plot and behavior of the crew is a ''mess.''

* NeverLiveItDown: Shortly after its release, the film was thoroughly mocked for the scene where Shaw and Vickers try to escape the crashed Engineer spaceship by running in a ''staight line'' in the same direction it's rolling, [[OneDimensionalThinking even though they could easily evade it by running to the side]]. Thanks to the persistent jokes, it's now one of the most famous scenes in the film.

* {{Squick}}: A completely uncensored emergency [[spoiler:c-section]], anyone?
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks:
** When the original script for the film, ''Alien: Engineers'', became available online and was confirmed as authentic, series fans were outraged over how superior it was to the rewrite, which removed all of the overt connections to the original film and introduced a lot of plot holes in the progress. Also counted towards as TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot.
** Even the complete script of ''Prometheus'' was much better received than the film's cut when it became available on the Internet, as it contains many explanations and clarifications (among them, the intentions, history and works of the Engineers) which would have helped things make sense in the film. Those scenes and lines were either cut from the movie itself or never filmed.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
** Fifield's ScrewThisImOuttaHere being undermined by his getting lost, when the plot wouldn't have been suffered if he had made it back, and Milburn had just lingered behind on his own to inspect the body or something.
** Vickers. [[spoiler:Whether she ultimately lived or died it would have been interesting to see her encounter the Neomorph and/or the engineer in the aftermath of the HeroicSacrifice instead of just being crushed by a wheel.]]
** While their sacrifice was handled well, [[spoiler:Chance]] and [[spoiler:Ravel]] making it to the surface for the final act could have been interesting.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The concept is we apparently get to contact the aliens who created humanity and the xenomorphs but then the movie explains next to nothing.

* FanPreferredCutContent: ''Prometheus'' was initially titled ''Alien: Engineers'', since the original script was released online, there has been no shortage of fans furiously declaring that it has far better {{mythology gag}}s, action scenes, and plot developments than anything that made it to screen.

* UncannyValley:
** ''Heavily'' invoked by the "Happy Birthday, David" viral clip. David is shown making several odd gestures, including what appears to be a slight moment of processing when the narrator asks what he can do (tilting his head slightly with a glossy look in his eyes), and his speech about how war and poverty make him sad, complete with thorough waterworks, then (without missing a beat or changing expression) describing how he does not feel even the remotest emotion but can replicate them perfectly. He also "smiles" (note SarcasmMode) whilst claiming he can perfectly replicate emotion and fit in with humans.
** Brought up when Holloway asks David why he's wearing an environment suit when he doesn't need to breathe. David responds by saying that he was designed to be as human as possible to put humans at ease when dealing with him. Not wearing the suit would put him squarely into UncannyValley territory.
** The Engineers, first seen in the movie's intro. They look almost human, but are over ten feet tall, and even if the DNA is mostly the same, they genuinely seem to have about as much in common with us as we have with David.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Save for Creator/GuyPearce's faulty makeup (which, as mentioned, can be explained in-universe), even those with a negative opinion on the film can agree that it looks incredible, ''especially'' in 3D. Some examples include but not limited to would be the opening shots of the waterfall and the world, The Engineer's sacrifice, and the Starmap.

* FanDislikedExplanation:
** Many fans did not like this answer to the question raised by the Space Jockey. One of the main points was the reveal that they look like humans and not the elephantine alien beasts thought until then, despite the fact Ridley Scott had stated endlessly (back since TheNineties, actually) it was their suit which gave them that shape. Even fans familiar with that bit of WordOfGod were still rather miffed at the HumanAliens reveal, since they had preferred the appearance to stay a mystery.
** When the full script of the film was leaked on the internet, it was revealed the reason why Engineers wanted to destroy mankind was because [[spoiler:they killed Jesus, who was an Engineer harbinger himself.]] This is still implied in the film, both in the timelines shown in the Engineers' archives and in a deleted scene where the Engineer sees Shaw's cross, but it is ultimately left ambiguous. Many fans prefer it that way, considering the original reason being trite and uninteresting.
* FanPreferredCutContent: ''Prometheus'' was initially titled ''Alien: Engineers'', since the original script was released online, there has been no shortage of fans furiously declaring that it has far better {{mythology gag}}s, action scenes, and plot developments than anything that made it to screen.
* {{Fanon}}: People tend to believe Fifield is supposed to be Irish, as his actor is from the United Kingdom and he generally looks an awful lot like Wrestling/{{Sheamus}}. However, nothing about his background has been officially released.

* HesJustHiding: With all the FridgeLogic about how [[spoiler: Vickers]] could have gotten out of the way it’s not completely out of the question that she actually did, off-screen.

* MemeticMutation: A lot of images have been made comparing the Engineer to [[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants Handsome Squidward]].

* ParanoiaFuel: David can access the memories of the crew whilst they are in stasis. They've been in stasis for over ''two years''. Furthermore entrusting your life to an amoral synthetic for that length of time is unnerving.

** Vickers decision to leave the moon and return to Earth, despite being told about the [[spoiler: Engineer ship's genocidal capabilities]] can be read in two ways: Vickers is a coward and is willing to put the lives of everyone on Earth at risk to save her own skin OR Vickers is trying to save the lives of the remaining crew and will try and figure out a plan to [[spoiler: stop the ship later]]. The scene happens so quickly that it's impossible to tell what was going through her head.

* WhatAnIdiot: [[WhatAnIdiot/{{Prometheus}} Also enough for its own page.]]

* ContestedSequel: If you believe the Internet, this movie is either a misunderstood masterpiece or a total disaster.

* JerkassWoobie: Vickers is kind of icy and a bit self-motivated, but doesn't seem to be bad person beneath it all, and was dragged onto the crazy mission to find immortality, is traumatized after being forced to kill [[spoiler: Holloway]]., and by the time things are over wants badly to go home, but can't due to the threat the Engineer ship poses, but is forced to abandon ship (seeming both frustrated about this and concerned for the others), then run for her life to keep from being crushed to death [[spoiler: but doesn't move fast enough]].