Space Jockey body in the Derelict ship

I'm a bit behind the times guys so can someone explain what canon means exactly i'm serious i have not heard that expression before. except in historical armoury lol. and cameras lol

Regarding films, literature, comic books, etc., I'd define canon as being the intent of the author/filmmaker who originated a particular concept. Canon in relation to Alien is what is deemed to be true by Ridley Scott. Subsequent films, comics, etc., created by others that expand on the work that Ridley Scott created are arguably not canon, as they are not based on ideas Scott directly conceived. So you can have a comic book series or a novel that takes place in the Alien universe that expands on elements from the film Alien, but if it doesn't have the Ridley Scott seal of approval, it's not canon.

what if the subsequent films have the fox seal of approval or one of the writers Ron Schusett for example or David Giler does that not contradict that theory ? But i understand the principal thanks Jones.

There's a certain degree of artistic vision that factors into the equation. I would say that Aliens is a fine film, but it's a film that James Cameron made. Sure, he used Alien as a springboard, but Cameron developed his own ideas about the alien queen, aliens in a group, and so on. Those were extrapolations made based on the Alien source material, focused through Cameron's mental lens. Had Ridley Scott made Aliens, his film would have, without a doubt, turned out quite different than Cameron's.

@Brego no i'm not stating anything its a stab at dry humour regarding the larder i really don't know its intentions for cocooning the crew. I admit the egg scenario was something i never contemplated its a new concept to me im a fan but it wasn't obvious in the film at the time that it was using the crew to transform into eggs its a new one for me. even if it is in gigers law its just a stretch to far for me but if that's the case so be it. i never really studied the life cycle sequence in detail and neither have the subsequent film as far as that particular area is concerned so its a revelation to me but one i cant say im that sure about. I always thought the xenomorph was driven like all creatures by instinct and like a spider catching its prey it instinctively cocoons it prey for... (in the spiders case) eating later so whatever the reason it cocooned Bret and Dallas its instinctive behaviour. But now it appears that it may well have been transforming bret into a cream egg and Dallas was going to be the proud happy father to yet a second alien had ripley not intervened. i'm ok with that i guess.

Jones, I think you have nailed it. Or almost. One very interesting thing I just realized is that "Alien"´s scrip lacks a Space Jockey! There is a fifteen feet skeleton, but it´s laid outside the ship. So the trouble is: movies are a collective work. If a mere script can diverge of the movie, what´s sacred? :) Maybe the canon is what we see at the silverscreen, point. The problem is that sometimes we are not sure of what we are seeing... bye, C.

Strictly speaking, canon is whatever was written and [i]published[/i] by the original creator. So for instance, whatever Shakespeare wrote is canon - if [i]I[/i] wrote Hamlet Part II, or Romeo and Juliet: Attack of the Clones, or MacBeth Begins, it would not be canon. Similarly, The Terminator and T2 are canon while T3 and Terminator Salvation are not. Having said that, when it comes to film, canon is whatever you want: most people accept the entire Star Trek universe, as is, as canon - even among us, some only hold as canon the work of Ridley Scott while others include Jim cameron, and I'm sure at least 1 among us swears by all 4 alien and 2 avp films. So with respect to film, you have the freedom to make it what you prefer.

Cool Alteredste. Like the Cadbury Cream Egg! The only reason I asked was that for years I have thought that in especially Aliens, If they needed to eat and I imagine that if they did they would need a fair amount of food, being a large organism. There would not have been enough humanoids on LV426 from the colony to support such a large hive. I have always imagined that the Aliens may have simply taken sustainance from whatever environment they live in.

Good point brego. I like the idea of ingesting whatever sustenance would have had been around them at the time. The question is what kind of sustenance are they ingesting and how are they able to live under such conditions. Maybe their an organism that can produce their own sustenance. Maybe food is just an option. Interesting?

Hey Ripley 8. There is a line in Alien spoken by Ash "I have confirmed that he's got an outer layer of protein polysaccharides. Has a funny habit of shedding his cells and replacing them with polarized silicon, which gives him a prolonged resistance to adverse environmental conditions." I always took this as to mean that the Xeno actually is able to absort sustainance from whatever atmosphere it finds itself in. Just a thought.