Still wondering what happened in that movie, but the above species origin infographic explains nicely.

Even so I have lots of unanswered Prometheus questions.

For example, is the first scene taking place in Scotland or on the Engineer planet?

And is the first scene a deliberate creation of mankind or just an Engineer doing himself in because he was left behind?

What's the thing that looks like a kimchi jar?

Most reviewers call it "the goo": http://movieline.com/2012/06/08/unanswered-question-ridley-scott-prometheus-spoilers/

"In the prologue we see one Engineer take a dose of black space goo and tumble, dead and transmorphing, into the water -- thus presumably starting human life on Earth. So what is the goo? Prometheus builds a tech-driven world filled with great flying ships and alien holograms and C-section machines but is more concerned with ideas: Of creators and creation, of life and death cycling endlessly across the universe between humans and aliens, parents and offspring, scientists and their inventions. All children want to see their parents dead, according to David, who seems to be counting himself in that equation."

"What is the goo, then? Is it the proto-material of a xenomorph? How does it work, exactly? Why would anyone feed it to the cute Tom Hardy-looking guy? And who created the Engineers, anyway? Does it even matter when the real question is asking why we create, and in the process, destroy?"

Some possible explanations of the goo and other questions are at cinemablend.

I liked Maddox's summary too:

The movie's biggest problem is that one of the main protagonists is a (maybe) nihilistic robot who (maybe) has no emotions, (maybe) no ethics and (maybe) no motives. Lot of "maybes" in that last sentence? That's because the movie doesn't answer any of them. Everything in this movie is a big mystery, except it's not the fun kind of mystery you like to solve, it's the shitty kind where your girlfriend stops talking to you and she says "nothing" when you ask her what's wrong. It makes me so fucking mad I want to puncture my ball sack with a pen. And unlike real life, you can't just dump her and bang her hotter friend, because her friend is Madagascar 3: fat and ugly.

Ridley said that the first scene was on a planet, could be Earth or could be another Engineer "farm".

SPOILER SPACE: http://www.avclub.com/articles/prometheus,79947/

Oh man, all these months later I'm still thinking about this!

IT was a random new world, and his body taking the jar of ooze/goosebumps/are you afraid of the dark sauce is used to create life on that planet. As his body went into the water stream, from it life was created...

So basically he's showing how human life came to be on a planet like earth.

And pretty much the movie never says WHY he creates humans.

But presumably many like him have done so on many planets like earth.

I hope they make a sequel!

Btw I love the passage about David the robot and Lawrence of Arabia: http://pandawhale.com/convo/2616/whats-the-biggest-unanswered-question-raised-by-ridley-scotts-prometheus-movieline

Truth. There are not many Whys given

Prometheus is this year's Inception: http://gawker.com/5916932/what-is-the-meaning-of-life-and-other-questions-prometheus-fails-to-answer

"Prometheus wants to explain existence in general... The answer is irrelevant."

Also, in every Alien movie has a female hero: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20483133_20587886,00.html

"Did God, or gods, or higher beings create humans, and are they messing with us still? Or maybe it was mice who made men, as revealed to fans of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? The answer is hazy; try again later."

Prometheus is all about faith: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bishop-pierre-whalon/prometheus-faith-unbound_b_1605074.html

What David says to the Engineer: http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/06/21/prometheus-questions-engineer-david/

What is the black ooze? http://entertainment.time.com/2012/06/11/prometheus-alien-ridley-scott/

Where are they heading in the final scene? http://entertainment.time.com/2012/06/12/prometheus-sequel-final-scene/

Humanity's origins finally revealed: http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/06/11/prometheus-nietzsche-zarathustra/

I think the biggest helpful hint to understand Prometheus was that if you were an Alien fan, you would have noticed that when this crew lands, it is not the planet LV-426. Which was the planet the Nostromo landed on and was introduced to the (final stage) alien. You can see at the end of Prometheus that the alien still had different stages to evolve. It wasn't quite the same as the original alien in the first appearance. Which basically concludes with the same idea that Ridley Scott just made the movie to keep people guessing about how early had Prometheus found the Alien form to when Nostromo picking up the signal beacon.

Though I do agree why wasn't there any aliens in a movie that was suppose to be apart of the series to the "Alien" franchise.

Hence the reason he went with "Prometheus" as a title rather than "Pre (no aliens in this film) Aliens".

I agree. Too many questions unanswered.

I was mad the funny Scotsman died. Also didnt understand the zombie-esque thing he turned into. Seemed cliche and not really fitting of Alien franchise. The movie seems very setup for a sequel. Maybe Prometheus was the question and its sequel the answer.

As shown by the diagram atop this page, the zombies are important for the production of the squid creatures.

But yes, this was no prequel. This is a reboot with sequel(s) to come.

It's no coincidence there are more questions than answers; one of LOST's producers was one of the writers of Prometheus.

34 spoiler-filled reasons why we loved Prometheus include the following.

"Why do you think your people made me?"

"We made you because we could."

I think there should be a law, which would require movie theaters to provide people good infographics before the movie. Pulp fiction is the best example! http://www.iwatchstuff.com/assets_c/2012/05/pulp-fiction-chronological-thumb-640x853-3098.jpg

Who's got focus to follow the story line? I want clear high level picture of what I will see in advance!

This way I can enjoy my pop-corn and cola and follow the story.

Sometimes the fun is in figuring stuff out on the fly.

Prometheus did such a good job connecting to the old Alien movies while also leaving it open for several follow-on movies.

I need to go back and watch it again!

I, too, want the universe to continue on.

Wikipedia says that "Scott said that an additional film would be required to bridge the gap between the Prometheus sequel and Alien. On August 1, 2012, it was confirmed that Fox was pursuing a sequel with Scott, Rapace, and Fassbender involved, and was talking to new writers in case Lindelof does not return. The film would be scheduled for a release no earlier than 2014."

Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender are contracted to return.

Scott knew exactly where the sequel would be going while he was making Prometheus: “I know where it’s going. I know that to keep [David] alive is essential and to keep [Elizabeth] alive is essential and to go where they came from, not where I came from, is essential.”

But first he's working on a Blade Runner sequel.

Here's everything we know about Prometheus 2 so far... My favorite:

One of the biggest questions left open at the end of Prometheus is why the Engineers made the decision to wipe out the human race, their creation. Josh Hororwitz at MTV asked Lindelof if he and Scott had worked out the answer to that question yet, and here’s Lindelof’s response:

“Golly, I’m all for ambiguity, but if we didn’t know the answer to THAT one, the audience would have every right to string us up. Yes. There is an answer. One that is hinted at within the goalposts of Prometheus. I’ll bet if I asked you to take a guess you wouldn’t be far off.”

Sweet. Can't wait!