Kontraband Know It All

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

Why is the new film from Sir Ridley Scott called Prometheus?
Prometheus was the name of the Titan from Greek mythology who decided to help mankind by stealing fire from Zeus (the King of the Gods) and then giving it to man, who up to that point had been hiding away in dark cold caves eating chunks of cold animal flesh. His choice to defy the Gods to improve mankind led him to receive a dreadful punishment, he was chained to a rock and had his liver ripped out and eaten by an eagle. Every day his liver would completely heal, so that his terrible suffering could be repeated over and over again.
In Ridley Scott's exciting new sci-fi horror movie, after the discovery of the same star map in the pictorial histories of different unconnected ancient civilisations, a group of human explorers decide to follow what they believe is an invitation to an alien world in a spaceship called Prometheus. Believing they will meet with a superior alien race known as Engineers, who just might have actually created the human race and could answer the questions about the origins of humanity, the crew encounter a series of terrifying events and deaths, eventually realising their creators want to destroy them. Cue lots of scary aliens, corridors resonating with screams and a few surprises coming from the crew themselves. Again Prometheus was intended for the benefit of mankind, but by defying a superior race, a terrible punishment is dealt. Apparently one of the early names for the film was Paradise, but this clearly sounds too cheerful. The tagline for the film is "The search for our beginning could lead to our end". Scott should have considered these though: "Oh no not more aliens" and "In space, no-one can hear a squeaky bottom".

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

How is Prometheus connected to the Alien films?
Ridley Scott, who directed the original Alien film, has stated that Prometheus contains some of Alien's "DNA" and that fans would recognise that his new film is at least set in the same universe. There are intimidating spaceships, scary impregnating aliens, practically omniscient androids and the sinister Weyland Corporation; all familiar concepts for Alien lovers. But the connections are meant to be subtle and not too integral, as Scott has deliberately moved away from the Alien franchise to begin a Prometheus franchise, with a sequel on the cards if Prometheus does well at the box office.
The film has an impressive cast; Charlize Theron appears as an executive with an agenda, Michael Fassbender features as the know it all robot David and Noomi Rapace is the 21st Century version of Ellen Ripley (regardless of how much she dismisses the comparison). Unfortunately there was no return for the motherly Queen Alien from Aliens; the crew couldn't find a trailer big enough for her and her entourage of facehuggers.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

What script changes were made? Was James Cameron involved?
Scott has been planning on making a 5th Alien film for many years, with a prequel to the original Alien film being his ideal choice. Script development for this prequel began in the 2000s, with Aliens director James Cameron being brought on board to help with production ideas. Scott wanted to delve into the background of the huge dead alien (known as the "Space Jockey") found by the Nostromo crew in the original Alien film. These aliens are now known as Engineers in Prometheus, and they have a crucial link to mankind, potentially as both creators and destroyers.
The prequel script was shelved when Fox decided to go forward with the production of an Alien vs. Predator film, leading Cameron to believe that this would end the validity of the franchise, so he stopped with his development work on a prequel and instead concentrated on his Avatar project. Alien vs. Predator was a commercial hit but a critical miss, its sequel also made money but was received even more negatively. It is easy to see why Scott wanted to keep strands of Alien & Aliens in Prometheus but basically create a whole new story arc. It is a shame Cameron is no longer attached as Avatar 2 would be infinitely better with a few chestbursters thrown in for unnecessary 3D gore. The tagline could be "An all new world. gets eaten".

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Which are the best aliens to ever feature in film?
The best aliens that ever featured in film come as quite a mixture, as they are not all human-eating acid-spitting monsters like the exomorph from the Alien movies. ET was soft and gentle even if he did have a glowing finger, and Superman is a veritable alien superhero. So many weird and wonderful aliens have appeared in Star Wars, Men in Black, Star Trek and Doctor Who that it is practically impossible to pick the best ones (but not Ewoks or Tribbles). The best aliens include the Exomorph, Predator, Cloverfield, Gort, the Martians from Mars Attacks, most of the cast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the original Thing (by John Carpenter). The new snake like alien in Prometheus is a nasty looking beast and a welcome addition to the best aliens list.
The worst aliens ever is a 3 way tie between Howard the Duck (post-Return of the Jedi George Lucas giving Star Wars fans a taste of things to come); ALF the orange cat-eating TV alien with a name meaning Alien Life Form; and any of the sexy female aliens that appeared in the original TV series of Star Trek such as the "Orion Slave Girl" the crew painted green and stuck in a skimpy bikini. As Kirk might have said to Spock after being caught in a steamy clinch "I know she's a green alien Spock, but she's hot".

[Answers provided by 63336. Text any question to 63336 for £2.50 or ask one for free at http://63336.com]