List of homages/nods to the other films in the franchise.

[HybridNewborn]

In somewhat the order they come up in the film:

• Whether intentionally or not, the basic premise is rather similar to Alien vs Predator. Some scientists discover something which intrigues a Mr Weyland, head of Weyland Corp/Industries. A team gathers on a ship where, in a large room set up with some folding chairs a group of scientists and security personnel are given a short speech by said Mr Weyland. Some scientists then compare a bunch of pictures of stuff from ancient cultures and conclude that this discovery might lead to answers about early man while the ship approaches a strange alien pyramid. The aliens who constructed the pyramid are shown via the stuff from ancient cultures to have influenced the development of man in some way.
• The alien pyramid itself is a call-back to an unused concept from early drafts of Alien.
• The title card has the same stylistic lettering fade-in as Alien.
• The map orbs and stasis dream ideas are apparently unused concepts from Alien.
• David playing basketball reminds of Ripley doing the same in Alien Resurrection.
• The design for the Prometheus is based off of a ship design originally considered for the Nostromo in the original Alien film. Similarly, the ship interiors were made to evoke those of the Nostromo and Sulaco. The APC is also meant to be an earlier model than the military design seen in Aliens. Various symbols and fonts are also reused between the two films.
• The Weyland Corp logo is a mix of the Egyptian Wings logo seen in Alien and the WY symbol seen in Aliens.
• The "everyone waking up from stasis" and "everyone eating breakfast" scenes that evokes similar scenes from Alien and Aliens.
• David carries on the naming scheme of Ash, Bishop, and Call, the androids from the previous Alien films.
• The Prometheus landing scene is similar to that of the Nostromo's landing in Alien.
• Shaw's "No weapons" exchange with the security member parallels a similar scene with Lex and security personnel from Alien vs Predator.
• The shaky helmet-cam shots as the space-suited crew members approach and enter the pyramid remind of scenes of the Nostromo crew approaching the derelict.
• The pyramid interiors evoke those of the Derelict from Alien.
• The dead giant decapitated alien is another concept from early drafts of Alien, as is taking the head back to the ship.
• The ampule room deliberately evokes the egg-chamber of Alien and Aliens.
• The urns/ampules are an unused concept from Alien before they ultimately went with the eggs idea instead.
• The Black Slime that changes things into aliens is apparently one of the ideas that was thrown around in one of the ever-changing scripts for Alien3.
• The crew accidentally 'activating' the pyramid as they explore it is similar to the happenings of Alien vs Predator.
• The murals on the ceiling of the ampule chamber and the relief on the wall all contain imagery based on Giger's concept drawings of the Alien and early Facehugger design.
• The "David, we are leaving!" line mirrors a similar line from Aliens.
• The concept of an alien getting onboard the ship via sex is, very crudely, the same basic premise as what happened in Alien.
• The pile of dead engineers are described as "having a hole in the chest, like something erupted out", similar to the chestbursted Jockey from Alien.
• The other three stasis pods in the Jockey chamber have chestburst holes in them.
• The concept of the main female lead being impregnated with an alien and then put into stasis for the ride home showed up before in Aliens and Alien3.
• Shaw and David's "I want to see it"/"I rather think you don't" conversation mirrors Ripley and 85's conversation from Alien3, which occurred under similar circumstances.
• Shaw's surgery is a deliberate homage to Kane's chestburst scene from Alien, as well as reminding of Ripley's c-section at the beginning of Resurrection.
• The Trilobite's pose as it's being pulled out of Shaw is reminiscent of Alien3's iconic Queen-burster symbol.
• The legs over the shoulders pose that monster-Ferfield is in was how the aliens were meant to pose in at rest in Aliens, though they scrapped the idea as the costumes kept ripping.
• Running over Ferfield with the APC evokes a similar scene from Aliens where Ripley runs over an Alien.
• Shaw being seemingly safe in the lifeboat before it is revealed that there is an alien onboard is a similar set-up to the final act of Alien, with Ripley and the Alien on the Narcissis.
• The trilobite ends up revealing its nature as a giant-super-hugger thing, apparently another unused concept from Alien.
• Shaw and disembodied David's "yes I can hear you" exchange mirrors the beginning of Ripley and disembodied Ash's conversation from Alien.
• Shaw's closing message as the last survivor of the Prometheus echoes Ripley's signing off speech from the end of Alien.
• The closing scene with the Deacon is an homage to the now familiar chestburster scenes of the franchise's fame, as well as mirroring a similar scene at the end of Alien vs Predator.

I'm sure I've forgotten some. Feel free to contribute. 

[sagans bongwater]

"David, we are leaving!"

[urvile]

The legs over the shoulders pose that monster-Ferfield is in was how the aliens were meant to pose in at rest in Aliens, though they scrapped the idea as the costumes kept ripping.

Wow, really? pics?

[ShadowPred]

"David, we are leaving!"

This one was so damn obvious, that I loved it.

[Xenomrph]

When Shaw first talks to decapitated-David, he responds with "Yes, I can hear you", the same thing Ash says to Ripley after he gets decapitated.

[NGR01]

the map orbs and dream bed cryo are unused concepts from 1979.

[HybridNewborn]

Updated the list.

[marrerom]

In somewhat the order they come up in the film:
5. David carries on the naming scheme of Ash, Bishop, and Call, the androids from the previous Alien films.

I've never noticed this before. Is it a deliberate choice on the part of the filmmakers or a happy coincidence?

to add to the list: Vickers had a realistic screen in her private room a lot like the one that Ripley was sitting in front of before her meeting with the executives in Aliens.

[Blacklabel]

according to the art book Ridley wanted to have a giant facehugger in the original film... he didnt get to do it then.. but he did it on this one.

[HybridNewborn]

Updated the list again.

In somewhat the order they come up in the film:
5. David carries on the naming scheme of Ash, Bishop, and Call, the androids from the previous Alien films.

I've never noticed this before. Is it a deliberate choice on the part of the filmmakers or a happy coincidence?

Apparently it's a happy coincidence, as far as I can recall from interviews.

[Bat Chain Puller]

[MrSpaceJockey]

Great list! Very very well fleshed out, and full of nice references.

Here are some other references I could think of, but your list pretty much got the bulk of it.
- The orbs also call back to the blue laser scanning machine from the opening of Aliens. 
- The closing monologue of Shaw echoes Ripley's closing monologue in Alien (and heard in Alien 3). 
- Both the Prometheus and the Nostromo have their landings counted down (though the countdown in Alien was interrupted by the rough landing)
- The Weyland Corp logo combines elements of Alien's winged sun logo and Aliens's letters logo for the Weyland Yutani Corp.
- Finally, the last I can think of is how in the recent article, the colors of the Prometheus (a lot of black and yellows contrasting on the upper hull) are reminiscent of Chris Foss's bright color schemes for his Nostromo concepts.  If you will, things like the ID numbers plastered on the hull are also on the Nostromo. 

If I'm allowed to ask, what is the piece that plays in the beginning of Prometheus/Dallas listens to? I never realized they were one and the same! That's pretty cool.

[First Blood]

Woah. That's nice.

[Sharp Sticks]

If I'm allowed to ask, what is the piece that plays in the beginning of Prometheus/Dallas listens to? I never realized they were one and the same! That's pretty cool.

nah, they different. Dallas rocks out to Eine Kleine Nachtmusik while David is all about Chopin's Raindrop.

I thought ending the movie with a classical score was a nice touch by the way, reminded me of the Howard Hanson temp track.

[MrSpaceJockey]

Oh...thanks though!

Your avatar reminded me of something....In some of the original Ridley grams, there was a bispectacled Nostromo crew member reminded me of Milburn...probably a coincidence, I don't think at all that it's a reference.



There's a much better image with that fellow with the headset on and the space helmet, where he really reminded of Milbs, but I can't find it at all...I did use it in one of my recent signatures though.

ACTUAL HOMAGES:
- The red "X" seen in Alien as the ship is preparing to detonate.


- I believe on a released still of the computer screen either on the medpod or the cryotube (I forget) you can see the ship is run by a Muthur computer.