If there is one rule to keep in mind when naming a spaceship headed off on a mission of dire importance or consequence to the human race it should be as follows:
1. Do not name your spacecraft after a tragic Greek character.
Between the doomed Icarus of Sunshine and the haunted Nostromo from Alien, the results have never been particularly successful. Whether it be an act of pure stupidity or divine retribution it ends up being no coincidence that the characters in Ridley Scott's return to science fiction break this fundamental movie rule and adopt the moniker of "Prometheus" for their spacecraft.
Are these characters, a scientist team led by Elizabeth Shaw (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's Noomi Rapace) and android David (Michael Fassbender), aware that Greek myth Prometheus's quest to steal fire from Zeus and bring its knowledge to humanity would have him bound to a rock for eternity whilst an eagle ate his liver? As they set out into space it appears their quest isn't so different from Prometheus's; they are out to confront their maker and take from him the secret to humanity's origins. This irony isn't lost on Ridley Scott, a master artist whose return to the genre has been eagerly awaited, and with great -- and perhaps faulty -- hubris he has also titled his film Prometheus.
