Just had to go see it again tonight.

From an FAQ at IMDb.com...

How is this related to Ridley Scott's 'Alien' and the rest of the series?

The movie is set in the same fictional universe of Ridley Scott's Alien and has shared events with it, and directly precedes the rest of the original series, but it's definitively not related to Aliens vs Predator. There had been talks of a fifth Alien movie for years, with alternating contributions from James Cameron and Ridley Scott. In fact, Scott had committed to an Alien sequel or prequel several years ago but aborted the project when the studio opted to make the AvP movies first, and both Cameron and Scott, separately, were not supporters of the Alien/Predator crossover series. After the disappointing box office from Aliens vs Predator: Requiem, the studio shelved the AvP series again to go back to the original plan. The prequel film was supposed to cover the origins of the Weyland-Yutani Company.

When the project was initially greenlit, it was seen as two separate movies to be chronologically before the first Alien movie, written by Jon Spaihts, being directed by Carl Erik Rinsc, and Scott staying only as producer. However, Fox wanted Scott in the director's chair so bad that he eventually accepted under the condition that the script was heavily retooled to reflect the concepts that he wanted to explore. Damon Lindelof was the pen to make it happen, and the result has been described in certain moments as a both a prequel and an original story. For instance, in an interview, Michael Fassbender confirmed that this is actually an Alien movie, taking place in the Alien universe. In July 2011, however, Scott stated in another interview that "by the end of the third act you start to realize there's a DNA of the very first Alien, but none of the subsequent [films]".

In short, the story takes place within the same universe albeit not directly connected to the events of the original. There has been some misdirection on part of the film makers to help heighten interest in the film by showing glimpses and links in common with Alien, including imagery inspired by, if not designed and built by, H.R. Giger (Source). The third trailer for Prometheus shows footage of alien spacecraft shaped like the Derelict Ship and the premise to explain the "Space Jockey" inside such ship, confirming that the film does, indeed, take place in the same fictional universe as the previous Alien films, but will focus far more on the Space Jockey race (called "gods and engineers" by Ridley Scott since the early interviews) other than on the so-called "alien creature" or "xenomorph", although a creature does emerge at the end of the movie that looks a lot like the original xenomorph.

More: Prometheus (2012) - FAQ

I watched it , and without going into detail with spoilers, i found the movie visually nice (not super), and the story and characters were just weak.. The non humans , the monsters so to speak... terribly bad...

I really think it's a very poor execution of a potentially great idea..

Alien III and Resurrection were just so g-damned awful I don't know if I can give another sequel/prequel/whatever from that series another two hours of my life and 20 bucks. I'll probably wait for it to come out on Apple TV / iTunes and then if Rotten Tomatoes gives it a decent ranking I'll watch it.

+1

Good on eyes. Bad on brain.

Some people have read a whole lot into it, especially about givers of life vs. destroyers of life, but to me, it was more like a grocery list of scenes and homages to Star Trek, Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Allegedly, there's a Scott-preferred cut that's +30 minutes. Will give it another chance when that's out.

Scott has made a good living re-releasing his movies with different cuts - Blade Runner (3 different versions) and Gladiator. This film will probably take him to retirement.

Actually, I believe there are 5 cuts of Blade Runner(!). Could be wrong. I have a DVD set with 4 versions. Ridley's most recent cut is my favorite.

Incidentally, I was on the set, and there was so much that didn't end up on screen. A whole parking lot full of retrofitted cars, for one.

Anyway, bunch of good user reviews on IMDB. Prometheus was beaten badly at the box office by Madagascar 3. :-/

minor spoiler alert - mouse over below area to read...

I loved the movie up until the point that the female DR was informed she's pregnant and she fought off the other two crew members when they came to take her away. She then runs to the medical pod, and while still conscious, gets a modified C section which births an alien bug and she then escapes the room. Within 5 minutes she's in the vehicle with everyone else to go back to the habitat and doesn't mention anything to anyone? WTH????? The next 10 or 15 minutes of the movie was a farce.

Too bad they didn't use and kill off Susan Sarandon & Tim Robbins in this flick.

Steve

73 911 T MFI Coupe, Aubergine