"Quit griping!" "I like griping"

A lot of movies fall apart if too many questions are asked.

For the good movies there is a multitude of answers, theories, heated debates.

For the not so good movies, the what you see is what you get kind, there is only nostalgia. And zippo!

The Alien franchise needs more than action movies, that's what I try to say.

"were not to make the same film or even take baby steps but instead a whole new beast."

For whatever reason, i think ALIENS was a worthy sequel, i know some may feel it was NOT what may have been planned, we need to Understand that ALIEN was a case of more than ONE persons Vision.  It was a amalgamation of ideas.  And so ALIENS did not carry on with O'Bannons ideas and explored the Xenomorph Eggs as LAID... but we need to bare in mind that ALIEN also differed from O'Bannons ideas and what ALIEN left us with was the Space Jockey carrying those Eggs which seemed indicated (confirmed by RS) as Biological Warfare for the Space Jockey... 

Cameron had taken this idea, expanded on the Corporate Greed Angle only adding the Queen over a Egg Morph, we still HAD-NOT known how a Queen could have came to be, and maybe this is SOMETHING a Future Movie could indicate more.    While this was a NEW Direction, and gave us a more Advanced Ants/Termites/Bees/Wasps like outlook on the Xenomorph in HOW it behaved, it never covered its Origins and so it left a lot open to interpretation/speculation.

Who knows what a ALIEN 2 would have been but YEARS after ALIEN, it seemed RS had settled on the Xenomorph being a Bio-Weapon of the Space Jockey, it was only a case of was it something they CREATED, something they had obtained and USED as such or something they obtained and Re-Engineered.     This was a Mystery for Years. (Alien Engineers indicated what this connection was).

ALIENS may have changed the Game a little, it certainly did put its MARK on the Franchise to be as ICONIC as it became, maybe a ALIEN 2 would have also Elevated ALIEN and expanded it?  It depends how they could have taken it and it MAYBE could have been more Interesting but more Complex than what ALIENS was... This is Hindsight.... what happened has happened.

I think that ALIEN is what Elevated ALIENS... as i said before IF say ALIEN was never released and ALIENS was our First Foray into this Universe then i think it would NOT have been as much a HIT to a degree.... the Creature Design and Life-Cycle (Parts of it) are something Quite Different... take away those TWO and your left with more of a Starship Troopers.

ALIEN was iconic because it was the First Time really we saw something so Unique.. again TAKE away the HR Giger Input and Life-Cycle and ALIEN would have been another Sci-Fi B Movie Horror.

so i think ALIEN complemented ALIENS without ALIEN it maybe would not have worked as well, but then without ALIENS i am not sure if the Franchise would have been as well Remembered/Marketable.

Regarding ISOLATION  if we could take the PLOT, the Dialect, Add to it and go back to say 1982 and have this Produced as the ALIEN Sequel i think yeah it would pretty much be like a Re-Tread of ALIEN, but provided they kept the Xenomorph as not being shown as much as in ALIEN ISOLATION then it would have worked...  it certainly takes the Company Greed and Agenda to the NEXT Level.

I think it would have worked... (if we had a Movie and the Game Did-Not Exist)  But such a ALIEN Sequel would be something that they could NOT keep Repeating!

The same thing applies to ALIENS...  Company Discover Derelict, they obtain Eggs and wish to obtain a Queen, we get more Eggs, more Xenomorphs... someone comes in to Save the Day... how many times can you repeat that?

A ALIENS 2 (if we ignore Alien 3) would be like a Blomkamp Alien 5 meets ALIENS Colonial Marines Game!

Which is why i was excited for the Prequels, and applauded how Prometheus tried to do something different, give us a more Space Adventure, than a Horror or Action Trope!

"but that it threw the logic of Prometheus as well as Alien out the door"

I think it fits with Prometheus as far as the Themes, but they could have took the Theme Further by David Creates a Superior Xenomorph Variant but that would not please Fans either ... guess case of wanting cake and eating it.

Regarding ALIEN... yes this route (The Creator) has made the Franchise less ALIEN than what we should have interpreted from when we saw the Derelict and its Contents/Pilot.

Gavin raises a important point!

A long time ago, when looking at Alien DC, for me it seemed that the whole Egg Morph scene made more Sense if this lead to a EGG LAYING Version of the Organism.

I have YET to see any real Proof of HOW the Queen came to be, its something NOT spoon fed to us in the Movies, we could look at it as being like Ants/Bees in how a Queen can come about which makes the Xenomorph become more of a Alien Species than a Engineered Weapon.

Prometheus has some clues, Alien Engineers more so that the Xenomorph was Re-Engineered from some Organism that the Engineers had encountered... we can speculate HOW this Organism would have Procreated.

Alien Engineers indicates to us that there are Various Cargo Holds that CONTAIN different Versions of the Xenomorph and so when looking at this then YES! as GAVIN pointed out the Jordons could have came across a Different Variant with a Different Procreation Route.

THIS^^^ Kind of Plot that can allow us to GO BACK to the Derelict and introduce something different... another Variant, with a more Disturbing Procreation and a Movie that can have a Mix of Action and Horror.

Why cant ONE variant Procreate like how the Pred-Alien did from AVPR by that Implant Embryos Directly, thus NO-NEED for a Face Hugger.  Another VARIANT infects Hosts so they either Give Birth to Face Hugger like Organisms (like Dr Shaw did) or if a Female they Give Birth to a Egg, that then Grows..

We could even have Eggs be it laid by a Organism, or Birthed from a Host or Morphed from a Host, and regardless these hold a Smaller Version of the Organism... thus NO-FACE HUGGER Stage...

I am sure we could think of even more Bizarre and Horrific Procreation Routes, if we put our mind to it!

A Derelict/Egg Silo with Multiple Cargo Holds can allow for this, a ONE Cargo Hold but LV-223 has different versions of the Bio-Weapon in the Various Complexes likewise allows us to explore Variants of the Xenomorph.

How many ALIEN 3, ALIEN Isolation can we churn out?  how many ALIEN Resurrection or Blomkamp Alien 5 could we churn out (to be fair both seem to be trying to offer something a bit different).  A Direct ALIENS 2 however would have the Potential to just be ALIENS Colonial Marines the Movie!

I think you can go the ACTION and then HORROR Trope maybe 1-2 Times Each before its a case of BEEN DONE TO DEATH!

The Beast is NOT Cooked... but there is only so many ways you can Cook a Egg!

"A lot of movies fall apart if too many questions are asked."

Certainly DK

I could attempt to give a Plausible Answer to those Questions but it would be a BIG READ... and then just my interpretation... and who is to say if Cameron and Co even had it as thought out as i could attempt to explain it.

By the same Token... i could raise a Number of Questions in regards to ALIEN in a similar way..

For Example.... (Theatrical Release)

Why was the Xenomorph just going around Killing all the Crew? is that all it was Intended to do?

Why did the Xenomorph just await (on the Narcissus ) for Ripley instead of track her down being as though its Faster and Stealthy?

But i will be honest, i can come up with answers to those, and they had explanations given by (other Cuts) and RS comments... and their are NOT as many Questions Raised from ALIEN.

I may at another time give my answers to the Questions you put down daliens but its just a case that ALIEN was the movie that was least flawed in this respect...  seems EVERY movie after, has many Questions we could be asking!

How the Eggs got on the Sulaco being a Starter for ALIEN 3 etc

Perhaps the TRUE answer to all of them would be PLOT Convenience/Direction.

Which with ALIEN the reveal of ASH was a Master-Stroke Really!  No Ash and Special Order 937 and if the Crew was not too Stupid or listened to Ripley, then we would have had NO Movie!   Ash was a CLEVER Plot Convenience to get the Organism on the Ship ;)

"The Alien franchise needs more than action movies, that's what I try to say."

I agree, but some like the Action you need to find the Balance or make Multiple Movies that can cater for a different take on the whole Situation.

Say... If ALIEN Isolation and Colonial Marines never existed.

And instead we had TWO movies (released 5-10 years ago) ... a Alien Sequel thats similar to Isolation, and a Aliens Sequel thats similar to a Colonial Marines.

I dont think FOX had the Courage or Finances to risk the release of TWO different movies within a span of 5 years...  they may have considered it, but then they decided to do a AVP, and then the Prequels.

Disney may have taken this into consideration... but the Box Office of Alien Covenant would make them take a LONG LONG Hard think about it.....

look at their Reaction to Han Solo and then Canceling a number of Planned Spin Offs.... If they can do that to Star Wars... they could be FAR more Cautious with ALIEN.

Make a Movie to Please Fans?

Hard Task...

Risk making TWO Movies to please Fans and offer something different to each other....  Big Risk!

When the movies were made, they likely didn't think the franchise would become what it has and maybe didn't scrutinize every little plot point. 

This has been discussed before so it starts to feel like this lol:

A lot of movies fall apart if too many questions are asked.

Totally agree. This past week I watched Prometheus,Alien Covenant, and Alien. During Alien I stopped myself and asked "Why doesn't the xenomorph hop out and mercilessly murder Ripley on the Narcissus?".... then dismissed it because who cares? No need to question the logic of everything.

Back in the day before Blue Ray, DVD, VHS, Cable and Betamax, we pretty much saw a movie like Alien in the theater and that was all you got- no rewinds, special features or bathroom breaks. If you wanted more, you had to pony up more cash for another ticket for the privilege.

These days we can analyze everything to death. I am guilty of partaking but prefer the latter.

Suck it you Goll Darn Whippersnappers!

"Why did the Xenomorph just await (on the Narcissus ) for Ripley instead of track her down being as though its Faster and Stealthy?"

"Why doesn't the xenomorph hop out and mercilessly murder Ripley on the Narcissus?"

I guess you have to ask the producers who wanted Ripley alive, the last survivor of the Nostromo.

Here some food for thought...

#1 - James Cameron gets the blames for introducing the Queen and insect lifecycle to the Alien. But is he completely to blame.

Production for The Terminator was delayed because of Arnold Schwarzenegger's prior commitment to Conan The Destroyer. Cameron used this time to pen the script for Rambo: First Blood II and refine The Terminator's script. Cameron also met with David Giler (and Walter Hill) to discuss ideas for what would become Aliens. From this meeting, Cameron then penned the script for Aliens and developing the concept for the Queen. The question is this... did Giler tell Cameron about the deleted egg morphing scene?

Considering that Giler clashed with Fox executives and even sued Fox prior to Aliens being greenlit any possibility for a Ridley Scott Alien 2 (Scott instead worked on Blade Runner) went down the pan. Together with Giler's rewriting of Dan O'Bannon's script, and that during the production of Alien many of O'bannon's ideas that Giler omitted in his rewrite were re-incorporated into production, it is highly unlikely that Giler would have told Cameron about the filmed, but deleted egg morphing scene. Being a fan of the first film had Cameron known of the scene before production on Aliens began, he likely would have incorporated the idea into his script in some way. Cameron may have found out about the scene once production began, but by that point it would have been too much to rework the script and schedule to incorporate the theme into his production, considering how much of the movies third act involved the Queen.

#2 - There is no Alien franchise.

The biomechanical appearance of the Alien and egg morphing lifecycle were introduced in, but only ever appeared in Alien.

The more organic (skeletal in Aliens, fleshy in all movies afterward) appearance and the insect lifecycle were introduced in Aliens and used in all movies since.

Alien is one off, Aliens was a sequel based off the theatrical version of Alien, Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection continued the appearance and lifecycle introduced in Aliens, therefore they are part of the Aliens franchise.

Original Egg > Facehugger > Xenomorph > Eggmorphing > Royal Facehugger > Queen > Egg Laying.

Eggmorhing, no doubt, more scarier and alieny process. But I always wondered - what Alien did with Dallas? He looks even more terrific than Brett-egg!

"I guess you have to ask the producers who wanted Ripley alive, the last survivor of the Nostromo."

Precisely it was Necessary for the Plot for her to Survive and this applies to WHY it was that Newt Survived, she was also the Plot Device to how we got to see the Queen.

It would have been interesting if Ridley Scotts idea of Ripley being killed off and the Xenomorph imitated her voice PLOT, where would this had left a Sequel?  Maybe it would have been a bit like AVATAR lol

Regarding some of the Plot that would have had to lead to ALIENS...

While we have not 100% Evidence (in the Movie) i think we could ASSUME that the Jordon's Rover had Traveled for at LEAST a Hour, I dont think it was a quick 20-30 Min Drive, and looking at the Rover it appeared to only be doing say 20KMPH.   I think we could safely assume that the Derelict would have been located at least 20KM from Hadleys Hope (Maybe for Plot Convenience of the 30KM Blast Radius at its Destruction)

I cant see the Jordon's Xenomorph taking Host after Host all that FAR to the Derelict,  or go to the Derelict and bring back EGGS.

Which maybe leaves TWO Options for the Outbreak!

1) The Colony send some people down to Investigate the Derelict, maybe to Destroy those Eggs but a number get infected which would leave enough Xenomorphs to then Overrun the Colony.   By the Time Mr Jordon's Chest Buster makes its appearance,  those who went to the Derelict would have been infected!

2) Mr Jordon's Chest Buster scurries away, Grows, and obtains a Few Hosts and Finds some place to Egg Morph them and Create the QUEEN!  Which then is able to Lay Enough Eggs to allow for a Infestation.

Thats the TWO explanations i can logically come up with for HOW a Infestation could have came about.

But we have to Bare in Mind the Face Huggers, we can assume these are ONLY activated with close Proximity to the Eggs, so thats something else to Consider...

As its Pretty Stupid to Store a number of those if they are AWARE of the Xenomorph as far as ADULT... it maybe would not be so bad if they saw the Chest Buster and thought this is about as BIG as they would GROW.

Could the Xenomorph (Mr Jordon's) have gone and collected a few Face Huggers and taken them to Hadleys Hope?  I find this UNLIKELY.

Maybe some others went to Investigate what happened to Mr Jordon, Got Infected, was brought back.... this accounts for some of the Dead Face Huggers and the ALIVE ones, maybe they had prevented them from infecting by Acting Early Enough.

Alien Covenant kinda bums out that idea, due to the Quick Gestation and How Little time a Face Hugger needs to be on the FACE (but thats just one of the Flaws of AC).

I think such things that are needed for Plot Convenience are NEVER thought out, as they just dont care to put much detail into such things as most would not Question them.   So thats similar to HOW the Xenomorph in Alien Managed to Hide the Body's of Dallas and Brett, it does not matter.

"what Alien did with Dallas? He looks even more terrific than Brett-egg!"

It was one of TWO options...  They was BOTH being turned into EGGS which would then require a Host Each, or Brett was becoming the EGG and Dallas was Cocooned to be used as the HOST.

Lets try and make some SENSE of it all...

 WHY would the Xenomomorph only want/need TWO of the Crew?  surely if the Xenomorph also had Lambert and Parker then he would be left with the TWO options.

1) Four EGGS waiting for a Host, so the Nostromo would have 4 Eggs, and a Xenomorph awaiting for whoever came across the Ship.... we could have 5 Eggs if the Xenomorph managed to get to Ripley.

2) We would have TWO Eggs and TWO Hosts, so the o the Nostromo would have 3 Xenomorph's awaiting for whoever came across the Ship.... we could have another Egg if the Xenomorph managed to get to Ripley.

But the Xenomorph only had TWO of the Crew, did the Xenomorph need the others for FOOD?  or did it ONLY require TWO Victims?

I had came to this conclusion NEXT a long long time ago...  the Logical way that the Deleted Scene made SENSE... would be IF this was the route to a QUEEN.

Egg Morph = Queen, then the Nostromo would have ONE Xenomorph and ONE Queen and then knows how many Eggs awaiting for someone to come aboard the Ship.   This i felt was the best way to explain what the Egg Morph would have done...

But this would NOT be the case as we can see from ALIEN 3

And so we still have to WONDER what was the Purpose of the Egg Morph, and WHY only use TWO of the Crew? 

So again i think another explanation  could be as Gavin Pointed out that there are Variants of the Xenomorph in the Cargo Hold.

When looking at Prometheus and the Alien Engineers Draft, i think this Became the Most Logical Solution....  But with Alien Covenant things could turn out to be different as far as HOW we get Thousands of Eggs and IF we see a Queen.

BigDave we have to be clear what egg morphing is. 

If the adult xenomorph will implant a facehugger embryo into the body of the host and that facehugger will grow inside what has become an egg, waiting for mother really, we can assume the second victim will be the host for the chestburster. Probably one adult xenomorph is capable of a very limited number of egg morphing. If it was a bio weapon that would be a safeguard against having the xenomorphs multiply at a fast and uncontrollable rate.

So if we assume the xenomorph from Alien had one or two embryos only, it is understandable why he killed the rest of the crew. It would have killed Ripley too, but the script was changed.

But can the egg morphing be kind of a shortcut to its life cycle? Can he implant into the host directly the embryo of the chestburster? He could not do this without immobilizing the host, I can imagine a chestburster out of Dallas and Brett, without the interference of an additional facehugger. And in this case the adult xenomorph would act like the parasitoid wasp itself.

@daliens,

The second scenario you infer to b egg-morphing is actually "direct implantation", an idea that was used by the Pred-Alien (Chet) in AvP: Requiem. The writers/directors the Brothers Strause retroactively claiming that the Pred-Alien was an immature Queen and that she was only capable of direct implantation for a short period of time before she evolved into a Queen. This idea makes sense as it allows the Queen to establish a small brood before becoming defenseless, but conversely, the Queen would be putting herself at risk by doing so.

Egg-Morphing has always been referred to as what we saw in Alien's deleted scene - whereby a host, likely after being forced to consume something passed to it by the Alien, metamorphosizes into the Ovomorph stage of the Alien lifecycle. More specifically an Ovomorph slowly encases the host, reducing the host to viscera, and likely reconstructing components from the host (such as the spine, hands, lungs) into a Facehugger.

If we are to look at the Xenomorph as a biological weapon, then it would likely be classed as a WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction). Once released into an ecosystem, the resulting spread of the weapon would devastate said ecosystem, supplanting all viable hosts with more of its kind until all such hosts were exhausted, after which the adults would eventually die, with only the eggs remaining. Reducing the number of possible hosts the Alien can egg-morph reduces its R Nought (reproductive rate), but in no way can be viewed as a safeguard, because as Alien showed, the creature eliminated potential hosts it viewed as a threat to its young. The spread of the Xenomorph would therefore slow, but the fatalities from a gradually rising number of Xenomorphs would grow quite rapidly. The safeguard against the Xenomorph is its reliance on hosts to propagate. Without viable hosts, any brood/hive of Xenomorphs will die out.

This is where the Queen as an insect-like mother-caste, capable of producing thousands upon thousands of eggs makes the Xenomorph a deadly and more efficient biological weapon, as one Queen could wipe out within a relatively small time frame an entire worldwide ecosystem. Though scorned by some Alien purists, James Cameron's addition to the Alien lifecycle makes the creature a much more effective biological weapon.

But here's some food for thought...

in Aliens, Ripley says towards the end of her hearing with Weyland-Yutani that Kane told her (and the crew of the Nostromo) that he saw thousands of eggs. Yet in Alien when Kane wakes up all he relates to his crewmates is a nightmare about smothering.

By-the-by, James Cameron has a habit of doing this. In Terminator 2: Judgment Day Sarah Connor is shown to know the exact date of Judgment Day; August 29th, 1997. But in The Terminator Kyle Reese never once related that date to her.

on the other hand, Gavin, it would be more appropriate if the xenomorph would have the capability of direct implantation, they could do it on spot, without the need of dragging the hosts to the nest. 

I was reading some interesting facts on Wikipadia about the commercial use of parasitoid wasps and the use of xenomorphs as pest control would be perfectly plausible if the Engineers started to see the humans as pests. This would not exclude the theory of the xenomorph being a species of its own right discovered and deemed useful for the Engineers' purposes.

"Parasitoid wasps are considered beneficial as they naturally control the population of many pest insects. They are widely used commercially (alongside other parasitoids such as tachinid flies) for biological pest control, for which the most important groups are the ichneumonid wasps, which prey mainly on caterpillars of butterflies and moths; braconid wasps, which attack caterpillars and a wide range of other insects including greenfly; chalcid wasps, which parasitise eggs and larvae of greenfly, whitefly, cabbage caterpillars, and scale insects."

@daliens,

Speaking retroactively, I think the Ovomorph and Facehugger parts of the Alien lifecycle allow reusability of the creature as a deployable biological weapon. let us consider the deployment of a direct-implantation variant, alongside the traditional Facehugger implantation variant.

Scenario #1 - Direct Implantation Deployment

Adult Xenomorph deployed subjugates hosts spreading until all viable hosts have been exhausted/killed. Adult Aliens die, leaving behind a devastated ecosystem.

Scenario #2 - Facehugger Implantation Deployment

Ovomorph deployed. Facehugger subjugates host. Adult Xenomorph gathers hosts for further Facehugger subjugation, spreading until all viable hosts are exhausted/killed. Adult Xenomorphs die, leaving behind a devastated ecosystem and hordes of Ovomorphs, ready for future deployment elsewhere.

In layman's terms - you drop one egg off, wait a few weeks/months and return to a world devoid of hosts and thousands of eggs. A highly effective, self-sustaining biological weapon. Direct implantation would remove the self-sustainability of such a weapon.

@daliens

I think considering a Limited Number of times a Xenomorph can Egg Morph would be some kind of Safeguard certainly. So indeed if we assume a Xenomorph could only EGG Morph a single Host, and then Cocoon another, then Certainly that would explain the Xenomorph actions as far as KILLING (or attempting to) the other Crew Members to Protect the Egg Morph.

I think as far as a Engineered Bio-Weapon this would make sense.  As indeed having the ability to Egg Morph as many Victims as possible would make it a Bio-Weapon they could Loose Control over...

The same can be said for the Queen though, not really a Ideal Weapon, unless the Queen has a Limited Life-Span, or if the Weapon has One Purpose and thats to Eradicate a World/Threat while leaving the Place  a Hostile Environment to go back too...   So a bit like using a NUKE... but maybe the Xenomorph Queen with a Limited Life-Span would mean after a World is Cleansed a Period of Time passes as all that remains are EGGS... then as Gavin pointed out it would make a Viable Weapon.

"Though scorned by some Alien purists, James Cameron's addition to the Alien lifecycle makes the creature a much more effective biological weapon."

I think Gavin it depends, on one hand YES having a Queen that can Lay Countless Eggs makes it a more Mass Producing Threat...  However.....  A lot depends on the Process of HOW a Queen comes about... what Process does a Queen come from, this is something we have YET to be shown and does have a BIG impact on the Organism as far as a Threat!

Example...   Queen Lays 40 Eggs... then the Queen Dies... what makes one or more of those Eggs Host a Queen?  Is it just a RANDOM number/chance, surely NOT?

If it was a Egg Morph then should all Egg Morphs be killed too, then does that leave ONLY standard Xenomorph Eggs?

So a Queen is a threat as long as she is ALIVE, it then depends on HOW does another Queen come about when the Queen is Killed Unexpectedly?

This is something the Movies have not answered (i cant say for any Novels though).   The ability and process of how a Queen can come about is what raises or lowers the Xenomorph threat as far as a Egg Laying Species via said Queen.

A Egg Morphing Species however.. would have the ability to Procreate Eggs at Will, provided it is given ample time to get Hosts and Egg Morph them...   It would NOT depend on a Queen, and thus Halt Egg Production with the Death of a Queen.

As far as a Bio-Weapon from the POV of those who intend to use it, then Egg Morphing would maybe NOT ideal as once you have say 20 Xenomorphs unleashed then they could go around and continuously Egg Morph Hosts and so you would have less control over how to HALT the Infestation..... with only a QUEEN as the route to the Eggs, then if the Queen has a Limited Life Span and a Fail-Safe or you could have a Fail-Safe to Kill the Queen, then you HALT the infestation... depending on HOW a Queen could come about.

Either way as a Bio-Weapon the Xenomorph has its draw backs... its a bit OVERKILL.   Unless we say ONLY had ALIEN and the Egg Morph and as daliens mentioned if a Xenomorph can ONLY perform a single Egg Morph.. 

Then this is a Weapon that while it would have less Killing Potential/Threat due to Limited Procreation, it would make any World they are Unleashed upon, something that you have some Control over as far as Retaining that World after a Infestation.

10 Eggs Deployed...   After Killing Spree...  having up to 10 Eggs (Egg Morphs) remaining... or if 3 of those had Hosts then thats 7 Eggs (potentially) and 3 Xenomorphs left over that could potentially lead to another 3 Eggs.

Compared to 10 Eggs/Xenomorphs that can Egg Morph as many times as they like... that could leave a HELL of a lot of Eggs/Threats.

The Queen likewise.. especially if their is some Efficient way to replenish Queens once a Queen has died...  then your left with a Massive Clean Up Problem.

So as far as the OT goes....  YES they could Co-Exist, its trying to think HOW, as in what does a Egg Morph create, i think as most would not be aware of Egg Morphing i think it could make a appearance in Future...  but as far as being the Procreative Route of the ALIEN Xenomorph as its only shown in the DC, then it can be down to Personal Preference, until we are shown a Egg Morph and Result in Future...    Also it would be interesting in Future to be shown HOW does a Queen come about.

@ BigDave,

My position is that matters such as canonicity any really matter to the fans, and the version of any movie, especially franchise movies such as the Alien movies that matter to fans will in most cases be the extended home release of a movie, whereas theatrical releases are more geared towards general audiences. As such when it comes to Alien I view the Directors Cut, and ergo egg-morphing scene as canon.

As to how egg-morphing can fit in with the rest of the movies, which predominantly follow the Queen based lifecycle introduced by James Cameron, I feel there are two possibilities...

#1 - many moons ago I proposed the possibility that had Ripley not discovered and torched them that once Brett had fully 'morphed into an egg that the Facehugger within would implant an embryo into Dallas, which could have burst out as a Queen Chestburster.

#2 - a more recent proposition of mine is that the biomechanical egg-morphing Alien is sourced from the thousands of eggs stored within the derelict Juggernauts, whereas the more organic Queen variant of the Alien is sourced from the collapsed "hammer" arm of the derelict Juggernaut.

Option one answers the question of how a Queen would come about, whereas with option two the mystery of how a queen would be formed remains a partial mystery.

We know that Ripley ended up with a Queen Chestburster gestating within her, sourced from a Facehugger attacking her while she was in hypersleep aboard the USS Sulaco. This Facehugger, likely the royal variant pictured above, as seen in Alien 3's Assembly Cut (if we are to consider the Assembly Cut as the canon cut of the movie), would have come from egg onboard the Sulaco (pictured below), which was highly likely left there by the Queen that stowed away aboard the dropship.

This would mean that the Queen is capable of producing, collecting, and guarding eggs that would produce more Queens, using them to create a new hive if and when needed.

Agreed....   what you said is exactly what i had mentioned, i also felt the Egg Morph = Queen as it made most sense... but later movies would contradict that.... so then i agree with the Derelict having more than ONE kind of Egg Cargo could be used to explain the differences... its certainly what was indicated in Alien Engineers.

The Sulaco Egg was always a Mystery that Bugged People!

Could Bishop had done it? did he have time?, was there another Crew?  It really came down to purely a Plot Convenience that was NOT thought out because it NEVER mattered.

But THANKS to Alien Covenant we could have a Answer for the Sulaco Egg!

We see here SMALL Eggs, that are the same as the Larger Ones that infected  ORAM... we see David had sneaked some Face Huggers on the Covenant that where Small that he had Ingested... 

so it could be possible the Queen Produces Small Eggs that GROW in the Egg Sack/Ovipositor as these make their way along they GROW and are Finally Laid.

So the Queen that got on the Sulaco could have Produced a Few Small Eggs that where Stuck against the interior of the Sulaco and  GREW!

I think that could explain how they got Aboard the Sulaco ;)