What Does The Title Of Ridley Scott's 'Prometheus' Refer To?

Besides the reveal of Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man costume, and today's Dark Knight Rises news, easily the biggest piece of movie news to be revealed in the past several weeks is that Ridley Scott's rumored Alien prequel had evolved into a whole new original story called Prometheus. The brand new sci-fi story is said to have "Alien's DNA" but will actually be "a new, grand mythology and universe," according to Scott himself. The script was written by Damon Lindelof, based on an original draft by Jon Spaihts, and it'll star Noomi Rapace.

So now that the green light has turned on, that's the Internet's cue to start speculating. One website seems to think clues to the film can be found in another of Spaihts's scripts which also features a "Prometheus." What does it refer to? Read more after the jump.

The common usage of "Prometheus" is a character in Greek mythology, a Titan, "a champion of mankind, known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals" according to Wikipedia.

That notion of taking from the more fortunate to help the less fortunate fits in perfectly with what the guys at ScriptFlags think Prometheus is in the new Scott film. Apparently, in one of Spaihts's other scripts called Shadow 19, there's a terraforming ship that's called...you guessed it, Prometheus. Terraforming is the idea of physically making other planets habitable because of Earth's decline which has become a regular theme in modern science fiction. Did Scott and Lindelof just grab the name? It wouldn't be without precedent. Terraforming has already playe a part in the Alien franchise, it's why the families ended up on LV-426 in Aliens. The ScriptFlags article also points to other projects, such as The Forever War, to show that Scott is interested in the idea.

Also, a few months ago, before it was confirmed that the Alien prequel became Prometheus, we ran an article about a bunch of plot spoilers that now, in retrospect, seems a bit more valid. Those too mention terraforming.

Without a doubt, be skeptical about these claims. ScriptFlags hasn't always been that reliable, but they have Spaihts' Shadow 19 script and there's "Prometheus," loud and clear. It seems plausible.

Ridley Scott's Prometheus is scheduled for release March 9, 2012 so expect to hear more soon. Do you think the Prometheus is a terraforming ship? How will that, ever so slightly, fall into the Alien mythology, if at all?