ALIEN vs all other ALIEN movies

I have not id what if actually means to be honest.Is it something like the Weyland Yutani report?Or is it a new policy on what is canon and what isn't?

You guys are funny. You know I'm not arbitrarily claiming what is and is not. I don't have Fox's Alien Bible. I was just commenting on the joy of gathering primarily around the core film. I can think of very few fan communities like ours.

I thought the rule book was for further movies- the direction I guess. Maybe rule 1 would be no light sabers!

"You guys are funny. You know I'm not arbitrarily claiming what is and is not. I don't have Fox's Alien Bible. I was just commenting on the joy of gathering primarily around the core film. I can think of very few fan communities like ours."

Fair enough - but you did make some fairly sweeping generalisations initially.

"SM mentioned IP owners as being the deciding entity- I am not sure if that is FOX like I mentioned."

Yep, Fox is the owner.

"I have not id what if actually means to be honest.Is it something like the Weyland Yutani report?Or is it a new policy on what is canon and what isn't?"

There are guides for canon which are for the internal use of Fox and its licensees, as there would be for any franchsise.  The Weyland Yutani Report is effectively the public version of this.

Thanks S.M. that's what I was leaning towards 

I though FOX de-canonized the AVP films as just a spinoff series with no connection to the ALIEN films

What I find hilarious is that there are enough Alien geeks so it makes it possible for this message board to get many replies every week but hey I am here often so I guess that I am also to blame (LOL). The depth and in detail discussions here makes me think that there are enough borderline Aspergers people here but that is cool because people with Asperger’s syndrome (a light version of autism but you can read more about it if you want just look at reliable sources) tend to be very knowledgeable about some/a few things. My intention is not to make fun of people with Asperger’s syndrome but it is fun that there are people that are so interested in something so they can a lot of details about X and Y. Some people post here often and some people less. It is those that post here often that contribute to me impression that there are many Alien geeks here, I don’t point fingers it just an observation that I find interesting.

You say all, well people have different opinions so I find that way of thinking to be flawed. I say this in a respectful way, just to make that clear.

As far as cannon is concerned I am not sure. It seems to me that Prometheus to Alien 3 makes perfect sense while AR doesn’t since that movie isn’t necessary to the whole story. 1979 started it with Alien where we meet Ripley, she survives and makes it to Aliens where she tells the marines about the Xeno. After Aliens we get to Alien 3 where we find out that Hicks and Newt are dead so 1, 2, and 3 are obviously connected while I wouldn’t necessarily say so about AR. Resurrection it seems too much of a fiction thing to me if we look at the matter of logic and continuity at least to me. They could have decided to not do AR and it would have changed much of the total story (the way the movies went). Of course this is just my opinion, someone else will probably disagree about it.

Batchpool:

You wrote

 “I think it would have been great if before the arrival of the marines, there had been a movie which portrayed the colonists last stand.”

I am not sure if you would need a whole movie for that but they could have added some more about it in Aliens. This is one of the things that were missing in that movie if you ask me.

I understand what you mean about how they went from Aliens to Alien 3 but I don’t find that to be a problem. What is important to me is that Newt and Ripley survived and that they went for new adventures. Newt died but were got to follow Ripley in the next movie. If you look at what role that Newt played in the movies then you realize that she wasn’t meant to be a big part of really then if it was right or not to kill her that is probably another topic in itself.

“. . . the end result is much like watching a monkey throwing its own excrement at a fog horn”

Sorry I can’t help it but I laughed so much at that comment, no offense.

Drake:

“I think it is a testament to the power of the original film that any of us would be willing to consider over half of the current 'Alien' films as non-canonical in a franchise, yet be here obsessing over Alien/Prometheus/AC.”

That might be the case, what I think is interesting is that they work on the Alien story about 40 years later and that people still talk about it. I am not sure if there are a lot of movie franchises where that is a reality, Star Wars is the other franchise that I can think about at least among those that has had a huge impact like that but “there might be more of them out there” (Luke Skywalker-quote which in this context means geek mode, heh).

Alien is one of the greatest films ever made.  Ever.  Easily.  I have several close friends who agree with me on this, plus the added benefit of talking to all of you on this forum.  The cinematography, the pacing, the fact that the film felt REAL.  As much as I enjoyed the films that followed, none of them felt nearly as 'real' as Alien.

Can't agree more about the 40 years later comment.  I am a huge Rolling Stones fan and can draw parallels to that community..  Alien is sci-fi for thinkers.  Thats what draws us in.  Its not just some evil beast running around, there is quite a bit to it.

@Batchpool, I have always thought the same about there being more of a story that could have been told in relation to the LV-426 colonists. This could have produced a spin off story that became canon. That said, part of me likes the fact that it is left to the imagination, like, for example, in relation to the facehugger specimens, "Marachuk, John J", Newt's den, the "last stand", the small arms fire, the acid burns, the half eaten donut, the rest of the Jorden family, that likely last other colonist that Dietrich finds etc. 

The other part of me wants that story fleshed out. River of Pain has attempted to do this and there are some good ideas there but it's not entirely satisfying. 

We're left therefore with, in my opinion (or what I choose to believe lol) the story of Ripley, her character building and ultimate sacrifice through the first 3 movies whilst also witnessing the evolution of the derelict's cargo through the original Kane-alien, the hive that is created in Aliens from Russ Jorden and other colonists and then, finally, the purely murderous alien in Alien3 which displays entirely different characteristics than its predecessors in Alien and Aliens. 

I think that it's clear that Alien Covenant will embrace what Prometheus started in providing us with more evolutionary examples geared towards a canonical and extremely complex lifecycle for the alien entity which provides for so many variables in how the beast presents depending on host, genetic make up, environmental factors etc all of which have been utilised in the Aliens series to date to show a different kind of alien (although, for the record, I don't care for anything in the series beyond Alien, Aliens and Alien3). I can't wait to see the effect and outcome of David's likely continued input into the creation/evolution of science-fiction's greatest ever concept. The countdown says 75 days to go, we're not gonna last 75 hours (couldn't wait until 17 days!).

The fall of Hadley's Hope is detailed in the novel River of Pain - but even that missed some great opportunities.