Prometheus Viral Marketing Begins

A fictional TED talk from the year 2023 has been released today as viral promotion for Prometheus, confirming what we heard a few weeks ago. TED is a non profit organization devoted to ideas worth spreading. It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. In this talk, Peter Weyland from Weyland Industries (played by Guy Pearce), talks us about his own technological ambition, humankind and Prometheus. The video was conceived and designed by Ridley Scott and Damon Lindelof and directed by Luke Scott. You can watch the talk below. Alternatively you can download it in HD here.

Fox has also launched a new promotional website named after Weyland Industries: www.weylandindustries.com. In which they have included the following blurb: “Considered a seminal moment in the career of our founder Peter Weyland, this 2023 TED Talk launched Weyland Corp into the international spotlight.

In honor of our 50th year, Weyland Corp is planning to offer a new round of investment soon. Interested parties can expect to find out more within the next few days. #weylandinvestors“

The official TED site includes two additional blurbs about Peter Weyland and his talk. Make sure to read them after the cut!

Update: TED has posted up a Q&A with Damon Lindelof about his work on the viral marketing campaign. It has also been confirmed that the video was made for promotion only and won’t be in the movie.

Additionally, Jon Spaihts has commented on the TED talk, Weyland and canon via twitter, stating the following: “We tried not to violate canon wherever possible; but the canon’s not completely coherent and in the end story wins.”

“Peter Weyland has been a magnet for controversy since he announced his intent to build the first convincingly humanoid robotic system by the end of the decade.

Whether challenging the ethical boundaries of medicine with nanotechnology or going toe to toe with the Vatican itself on the issue of gene-therapy sterilization, Sir Peter prides himself on his motto, “If we can, we must.” After a three year media blackout, Weyland has finally emerged to reveal where he’s heading next. Wherever that may be, we will most certainly want to follow.”

“Sir Peter Weyland was born in Mumbai, India at the turn of the Millennium. The progeny of two brilliant parents; His mother, an Oxford Educated Professor of Comparative Mythology, his father, a self-taught software Engineer, it was clear from an early age that Sir Peter’s capabilities would only be eclipsed by his ambition to realize them. By the age of fourteen, he had already registered a dozen patents in a wide range of fields from biotech to robotics, but it would be his dynamic break-throughs in generating synthetic atmosphere above the polar ice cap that gained him worldwide recognition and spawned an empire.”

In less than a decade, Weyland Corporation became a worldwide leader in emerging technologies and launched the first privatized industrial mission to leave the planet Earth. “There are other worlds than this one,” Sir Peter boldly declared, “And if there is no air to breathe, we will simply have to make it.“