"Prometheus" (2011) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Spaceship

"Prometheus" is the name of the spacecraft in which the humans travel to the mysterious planet on which most of the film takes place.

In the original Greek myth, Prometheus created human beings out of clay. He then stole fire from the gods to give to them, and as punishment was chained to a rock and have his liver repeatedly torn out and eaten by an eagle for all eternity. The themes of creation and sacrifice, (re)birth and death, recur throughout the film.

Answer: Waterfall

After being left alone on a desolate planet, the humanoid alien drinks a black liquid which causes it to disintegrate and fall into the waterfall before being washed away. The viewer is led to assume that the planet is Earth, and that it is the alien's DNA which eventually leads to the creation of the human race.

Answer: Scotland

The archaeological dig is stated to be on the Isle of Skye, off the west coast of Scotland (viewers who know the island will recognise the strange rock formations of the area called the Quiraing). The archaeologists realise that the six-star formation is replicated in other ancient cultures which had never been in contact with each other, implying a highly-advanced common link between them.

Answer: Christmas

Shortly after the crew is awakened from their stasis pods, we see the captain, Janek, decorating a Christmas tree. Later, Holloway cannot wait to explore the planet because, in his words, "It's Christmas, and I want to open my presents." This is another example of the film's thread of religious and mythological reference: Christmas, the time of birth of the Christian Saviour, is not chosen by the film's writers by accident.

Answer: David

Back on the ship, the android David finds a phial of black liquid in the cylinder. He sneaks a minute quantity of this into a glass of champagne which is then drunk by Holloway, thereby infecting him. When Holloway and Elizabeth subsequently have sex, the infection is passed to her, with unfortunate consequences.

Answer: It explodes

Ford injects it with a serum that brings it to life. Unfortunately, after gasping and blinking its eyes frantically, the head explodes before managing to communicate anything helpful. On examining the remains, Ford discovers that its DNA is identical to that of human beings, implying that they have identical origins.

The nickname "Engineers" is given to the aliens by Elizabeth and Holloway because (in his words) "They engineered us."

Answer: Milburn

The biologist, Milburn, is killed by a slimy creature, looking like a cross between a giant tape-worm and a cobra, which emerges from a pool of liquid. Rather unwisely, he bends over to look at it, at which point it launches itself down his throat.

Answer: Remove an alien foetus from her womb

Discovering herself to be pregnant, despite being sterile, Elizabeth realises that something is not quite right about her baby, which has developed inside her in a matter of hours since she and the infected Holloway had sex. In the film's signature "yuck" scene, she programs the robotic surgical device to perform a caesarean section on herself, removing a slimy, writhing creature that resembles a particularly nasty species of squid.

Answer: True

It transpires that the old and dying Peter Weyland, head of the Weyland Corporation, has funded the expedition not for strictly scientific reasons, but because he believes that the aliens will be sufficiently advanced technologically that they will be able to help him avoid his own death. Unfortunately, the Engineer that he eventually meets turns out to be less benign, and kills him.

Answer: Crash their own spaceship into it

To prevent the Engineer from travelling to Earth and infecting humanity with the deadly liquid that killed Holloway, the surviving crew ram their own ship into it, bringing both crashing down onto the planet. Unfortunately, the Engineer also survives the crash, until it is fortunately killed by Elizabeth's offspring, the mutated squid-creature.