Was it the casting or characters that were terrible?

I've tried watching this again and the stupidity of these characters and their motives just doesn't get any better. Obviously lessons weren't learnt because they turned up the stupid notch in the sequel.

The Dr Holloway character comes across so very unlikeable and unprofessional, almost like he isn't a doctor at all. He may as well have been on this mission to explore some waves to surf or something. The geologist getting scared at the first sign of anything slightly untoward is ridiculous. How can anyone travelling through space to explore a new world be frightened over seeing a dead alien body? It makes no sense. People hired would be required to be open-minded and prepared for anything. And then to put the icing on the cake they have him get lost when he is the one in charge of mapping the area. The captain and his assistants don't even feel like they have the intelligence to pilot an advanced spaceship like this.

The writing for these characters and the ones in Alien are miles apart. These are a group of basic character cliches you see for a cheesy slasher movie by comparison. Just there to act dumb and get killed. The characters in Alien felt real and although some of their choices were stupid, their stupidity felt believable. It doesn't here. I can't take seriously how any of these people were allowed on such a far-reaching mission through space to find a new planet together when their behaviour is so at odds with one another.

This film has some good qualities, and could have been a decent accompaniment to the Alien universe, but the script is jarringly dumb and impossible to ignore. It brings the whole film down for me. Ridley Scott is dumb for not seeing it too.

Prometheus had a decent cast, but the script and the way a lot of the characters acted was what did the movie in.