I think my issue with your argument is that the crew are never portrayed as or referred to as the best-of-the-best. If anything, the implication is that they're the opposite. The entire point of the movie is that Weyland is on a fool's mission for immortality. (Even bringing along Shaw and Holloway is just a ruse…

And even they found out it was a different mission than they thought it was.

Unrealistic expectations from the day the movie was announced.

Because they had to be willing to blindly accept the offer. With the exception of Shaw and Holloway, they didn't know why they were there until they arrived.

Exactly! The mission was doomed from the start

YES! YES! YES! Thank you for saying this. It was a crew of idiots who took the money without knowing the mission.

And maybe not all the plot holes are plot holes.

I'd say it's more like the really, really pretty girl you finally get the nerve to approach and then discover she's human. Expectations for this movie were beyond unrealistic.

I think you'll be vindicated. Some people dismissed Alien when it was released, we just didn't have the Internet as echo chamber for the haters back then.

Why do characters who do stupid things mean the movie is mindless? The geologist lost his tracking devices when the storm hit and the scientist was foolishly trying to impress the geologist when he tried to pet the super worm.

Why does incompetent scientists = bad writing? The whole point was that Weyland was recklessly throwing around shitloads of money chasing immortality and hired whoever would take the mission without knowing anything about it.

Since no one else is asking, what's the "particular hilarious reference?"

I've heard that Scott wanted an Alien prequel but the studio interfered and fucked it up.

Ridley Scott has said in interviews that Jesus-as-alien was an idea they kicked around early on, but it was scrapped pretty quickly.

That was one of the theories circling the Internet that summer …

That movie was fucking gorgeous. I watch it now just to admire its beauty.

Memphian here. You guys keep saying it, but I really don't remember Steve Selvidge being in Lucero.

And that she's self-aware enough to realize that all her hijinks keep her in the news.

"Whhhhhhaaaaaaaaat dooooooooooes aaaaaaaaaaa yellowwwwwwwwww liiiiiiiiiiight meeeeaaaaaannnnn?"

But can you yell movie in a crowded firehouse?