This is a proven fan script by Mark McAllister, who used to post on these very forums. Full story:
On November 1st, 2012, Chris Picard of
prometheusmovie.com received an email purporting to be from Damon Lindelof. Entitled 'Oops', the email included a PDF of a script. This was the now famous 'Draft 17' or 'Orange Revision' script. The front page had a Gmail address,
damon19732008@gmail.com, supposedly that of Damon Lindelof.
Chris immediately contacted Damon Lindelof on Twitter. The response came back: 'Nope. Not mine. Even if you loved it, I can't take credit for it.'
https://web.archive.org/web/20130423235506/http://www.prometheus2-movie.com/news/384
Just like the earlier 'Planet Zeus' fan script that fooled aintitcoolnews (proven to be written by Mark McAllister because the .odt document contained his name!) it contained some lines that were so absurd they almost seem to have been put in as a joke, which in retrospect they may well have been. 'Pure shite' in particular stands out:
The one standing closest to the River has a young MAGESTIC, pure shite face and black eyes.
IT'S VOICE IS MORE NASTIER AND INSIDIOUS than WHAT WE'VE HEARD BEFORE
The ELDER holds out a BOX –- SIMPLE BUT COMPLEXTED DESIGN
David activates the POD and it suddenly opens up in – - A SIMPLE, YET COMPLICATED FASHION
Those of us who were paying attention at the time began to wonder if the Draft 17 script could be another creation of that shadowy mastermind, Mark McAllister. There were already several factors linking the two works. A faked backstory about 'leaking'. Abundant misspellings. The exact same tendency to leave sentences hanging, with no final punctuation mark. Confusion about when to use apostrophes.
Closer examination reveals some significant clues. Both scripts feature characters making reference to major Hollywood movies, in one case the Wizard of Oz, in the other Titanic:
Planet Zeus script:
SHAW looks down at the ground. The ground is riddled with golden/silvery glittery trails.
HOLLOWAY
Follow the yellow brick road
Draft 17 script:
David smiles and raises his hands out in a cross position.
DAVID
I'm the king of the world. . .
And both scripts feature the word 'illuminous', a telltale misspelling of 'luminous':
Planet Zeus script:
The Sarcophagus opens and a green illuminous liquid pours out of it.
Draft 17 script:
The ASH from the ENGINEER that was in the water has also turned into ALGAE and hundreds of tiny microscopic ILLUMINOUS TADPOLE'S are eating the ALGAE.
'Illuminous' is the smoking gun. The Draft 17 script is clearly Mark McAllister's work, a deeply imaginative and sincerely motivated attempt to correct what he felt to be the flaws in Prometheus, incorporating material from The Furious Gods.
If things had simply rested there, the Draft 17 script would have been no more than a monument to fan enthusiasm in the face of frustration. But events took a different turn.
A Youtuber called Kroft discovered the Draft 17 script and mistakenly believed it to be genuine. His videos on the subject, analysing Mark McAllister's haphazard writing in the belief that it is Damon Lindelof's, have millions of views. Concepts such as 'the Engineers worshipped the Deacon' and 'the black goo is the blood of their Lord' have entered the discourse and are now presented as canonical fact.
Kroft has, so far, failed to acknowledge that the Draft 17 script is fanfiction. Like others, he seems to find it hard to believe that anyone would write an entire script as a fanfic project. I can only assume that people who think like this have never met any fanfic writers. They churn out millions of words for no reward other than the simple pleasure of writing and sharing their work. Moreover, there are multiple Prometheus fan scripts in circulation, from 'Alien Harvest' to 'Planet Zeus'.
Other defenders of the Draft 17 script applaud it because 'it makes so much sense' and 'is better than the actual movie we got'. Such claims are usually followed by lamentations that Ridley Scott or the studio stupidly 'cut' this marvellous content, and sometimes segue into dark speculations concerning the nature of Hollywood and conspiracies to keep people from finding out some important truth.
It was this widespread public applause for Mark McAllister's work that led me to seek him out. Although I had originally been as impatient with him as many of the other forum posters were back in 2012, the public response to his script led me to think again. Here were people praising his script to the skies, and yet Mark himself was nowhere to be seen. So far as I could tell, he had simply dropped off the radar after Prometheus had been released. Could he be unaware of the rapturous reception his work had received?
Mark replied:
"I had absolutely no idea that it got picked up by YouTube. I know there were some who fell for it back on some Alien forums I followed but I thought my usernames would have been a strong enough hint."
And millions of people are still 'falling for it' today.
