Intro scene spacecraft..

[Negatronix]

Sorry ahead of time if this has been discussed.. Any opinions on  the spacecraft in the intro. To me it was clearly different than the juggernaut, which leads me to believe we will see at some point another species/gods at work.. Maybe see them using the engineers as a carrier/tool/messenger to terraform worlds using the black goo.

[Nightmare Asylum]

Well, I don't think that ship has any real relation to the 'god' element, but Ridley has said that we didn't meet God yet.

[jonc2006]

We have many different designs for our spacecrafts, I don't think its too far fetched to think theirs could vary as well.

[Zenzucht]

In one of those early shots, you can see at the bottom of the "mother" ship pattern similar to the shape of the Derelict/Juggernaut class ship, as if there were the ship inside..

[Jenga]

Hi guys, at the Prometheus Q&A last Friday in Hollywood with many of the film's concept artists they showed the concept art and some renders of the ship from the beginning of the film and although the fine surface details are similar (in that there is a sort of dark metallic surface with fine etched relief lines), the ship shape itself was not at all like the juggernaut/derelict. It was in fact not a round disc either as it appears in most shots. Scott called it "the petal" because it is actually a more ovoid ship that is weighted and slightly stretched in one direction so as to appear exactly like a rounded rose petal or more spefically like a guitar pick.

It is almost exactly this shape: http://static.musiciansfriend.com/derivates/6/001/188/231/DV019_Jpg_Regular_110562_med.jpg

There is also a smaller landing ship that disconnects from the petal and deposits the group of engineers on the planet surface. The ship does not belong to another race.

[fangface]

Yeah, if I remember correctly, there were different classes of Engineer ships to be featured in that opening scene (with the elders getting out and milling around, etc.).  One ship had a guitar-like design to it.

However, Ridley & Co. felt it all looked too much like a Star Trek film, so they cut back on the ships and other Engineers.

[MrSpaceJockey]

Hi guys, at the Prometheus Q&A last Friday in Hollywood with many of the film's concept artists they showed the concept art and some renders of the ship from the beginning of the film and although the fine surface details are similar (in that there is a sort of dark metallic surface with fine etched relief lines), the ship shape itself was not at all like the juggernaut/derelict. It was in fact not a round disc either as it appears in most shots. Scott called it "the petal" because it is actually a more ovoid ship that is weighted and slightly stretched in one direction so as to appear exactly like a rounded rose petal or more spefically like a guitar pick.

It is almost exactly this shape: http://static.musiciansfriend.com/derivates/6/001/188/231/DV019_Jpg_Regular_110562_med.jpg

There is also a smaller landing ship that disconnects from the petal and deposits the group of engineers on the planet surface. The ship does not belong to another race.

I recall NGR01 referring to the opening craft as a teardrop shape when he had his advanced screening, too.

[zuzuki]

if that scene happened billion of years ago or millions of years ago chances are they upgraded their tehnology since then and have new designs now for the ships