Spoilers Alien: Questions

[Olgar Shiverstone]

WARNING this thread contains spoilers for the various films in the Alien franchise.


So ... What are the unanswered questions, or things you would like to see addressed, in the Alien universe?

Here's a couple for me to start (I haven't seen Romulus, and don't really remember Prometheus, so if these are answered please give me the answers!):

1. So ... what exactly is the expectation for propagating the Xenomorphs through the galaxy? They don't seem smart enough to operate spaceships, and the transformation happens to rapidly to count on an infected individual getting to a new planet and spreading the infection.

2. How did the Predators learn about them to hunt, anyway?

3. In my headcanon this takes place in the same universe as Avatar (the blue alien one, not the Last Airbender). Does that drive any novel implications?

4. And with the androids they are in the same universe as Blade Runner. Just sayin'. So when do we see C-beams off the shoulder of Orion?

5. Maybe I missed this ... where's the Yutani part of Weyland-Yutani Corp come from?

6. What do we think the original species was from the original movie where the Xenomorph was found on planet XV88?

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

Regarding Question 4, I knew Blade Runner and Alien connected, but I had to go google to be sure.

Dallas' bio shows that he served as a Warrant Officer on a Tyrell Corporation vessel.

Ridley Scott's Blade Runner Secretly Connects To 2 Other Sci-Fi Movie Franchises

Blade Runner connects 2 other sci-fi universes.

screenrant.com

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

FWIW, here’s a short article about the connections between the Alien, Predator, Blade Runner, and- surprising to some- Soldier properties.

The Connection Between the Predator, Alien, Blade Runner, and Soldier Films

The very unique worlds presented in each of these properties exist in the same universe. While this has been expressed by the filmmakers…

medium.com

A couple are more obvious- like the AvP movies. But some are pretty subtle, and you’ll miss them if you’re not super focused on the details.

 

[Ryujin]

FWIW, here’s a short article about the connections between the Alien, Predator, Blade Runner, and- surprising to some- Soldier properties.

The Connection Between the Predator, Alien, Blade Runner, and Soldier Films

The very unique worlds presented in each of these properties exist in the same universe. While this has been expressed by the filmmakers…

medium.com

A couple are more obvious- like the AvP movies. But some are pretty subtle, and you’ll miss them if you’re not super focused on the details.

Well worth paying extra attention to the campaigns that Todd has taken part in, in "Soldier"

 

[Older Beholder]

The new film is pretty great, by the way.

 

[Tonguez]

FWIW, here’s a short article about the connections between the Alien, Predator, Blade Runner, and- surprising to some- Soldier properties.

The Connection Between the Predator, Alien, Blade Runner, and Soldier Films

The very unique worlds presented in each of these properties exist in the same universe. While this has been expressed by the filmmakers…

medium.com

A couple are more obvious- like the AvP movies. But some are pretty subtle, and you’ll miss them if you’re not super focused on the details.

interestingly enough in the War for Cybertron movie Ultra Magnus and Megatron have a battle at the Tarnhauser Gate

WARNING this thread contains spoilers for the various films in the Alien franchise.


So ... What are the unanswered questions, or things you would like to see addressed, in the Alien universe?

Here's a couple for me to start (I haven't seen Romulus, and don't really remember Prometheus, so if these are answered please give me the answers!):

1. So ... what exactly is the expectation for propagating the Xenomorphs through the galaxy? They don't seem smart enough to operate spaceships, and the transformation happens to rapidly to count on an infected individual getting to a new planet and spreading the infection.

2. How did the Predators learn about them to hunt, anyway?

3. In my headcanon this takes place in the same universe as Avatar (the blue alien one, not the Last Airbender). Does that drive any novel implications?

4. And with the androids they are in the same universe as Blade Runner. Just sayin'. So when do we see C-beams off the shoulder of Orion?

5. Maybe I missed this ... where's the Yutani part of Weyland-Yutani Corp come from?

6. What do we think the original species was from the original movie where the Xenomorph was found on planet XV88?

so as bad as Prometheus was we do learn that 2000 odd years ago the Engineers created a genetic bioweapon designed to mutate host genes. The first infection was some worms creating the Trilobites
Prometheus features an infected Engineer mutating to something like a Xenomorph so I speculate the original experiment backfired and some Engineers got themselves infected becoming the first of the Xenomorphs who were later encountered by the Predators (who may or may not have brought a queen to earth to lay eggs in a pyramid in antartica).

Prometheus shows a later incident when the android uses the Engineers goo to infect a human.

So Xenomorphs are engineered bioweapons not meant to be propogated through the gal;axy except in service of their masters (be it Engineers, Predators or Weyland-Yutani), except they tend to be too dangerous to control and become an infestation instead

5 Yutani kabushikigaisha is a Japanese cybertronics company involved in a number of global corporate mergers

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Well worth paying extra attention to the campaigns that Todd has taken part in, in "Soldier"

Yep!

Someone (account deleted) assembled a list:

Nibian Moons Campaign, the Antares Maelstrom War, and the War Of Perdition's Flames: References to 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.'

Battle of Tannhauser Gate and Shoulder of Orion: References to 'Blade Runner.'

Doom MKIV BFG: Reference to the BFG - Big F***ing Gun - from the 'Doom' video games.

Plissken Patch: 'Escape from New Work' and 'Escape from LA' Kurt Russell played Snake Plissken in these films.

O'Neil Ring Award: 'Stargate' he played Jack O'neil.

Cash Medal of Honor: 'Tango & Cash' he played Lt. Gabriel Cash.

MacReady Cross: 'The Thing' he played MacReady.

Capt. Ron Trophy: Played title character in 'Captain Ron.'

McCaffrey Fire Award: 'Backdraft' he played Stepehen and Dennis McCaffrey.

Dexter Riley Award: He played Dexter Riley in 'The Strongest Man in the World,' 'Now You See Him, Now You Don't,' and 'The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes.'

Illudium PU36 ESM: Iludium PU36 Explosive Space Modulator used by Marvin the Martian in Bugs Bunny

USCM Smartgun: Colonial Marines smartgun from Aliens.

Some of these were just homages to Kurt Russell’s career & pop culture references, but the Tannhauser Gate was explicitly pointed out in interviews by the writer as being a hint that the soldiers were all later Blade Runner replicant editions.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Here's a couple for me to start (I haven't seen Romulus, and don't really remember Prometheus, so if these are answered please give me the answers!):

I have recently rewatched all of them, but haven't seen Romulus yet.

1. So ... what exactly is the expectation for propagating the Xenomorphs through the galaxy? They don't seem smart enough to operate spaceships, and the transformation happens to rapidly to count on an infected individual getting to a new planet and spreading the infection.

That's not the expectation. They are bioweapons (either designed or discovered by the Engineers -- we don't really know, no matter what David claims, since we saw a clear Alien queen depicted on the wall of the hold full of cylinders in Prometheus) and intended to be planet killers.

Presumably, the Engineers either had a way of cleansing said planets of xenos afterwards, or they're OK with just salting the earth and moving onto another planet.

2. How did the Predators learn about them to hunt, anyway?

Presumably they came across a world with xenos that hadn't been cleansed.

3. In my headcanon this takes place in the same universe as Avatar (the blue alien one, not the Last Airbender). Does that drive any novel implications?

Well, we saw a facehugger in a jar in Avatar 1: Dances with Naavi, so it's not a crazy idea.

And not having seen any other Avatar movies, that doesn't change much, since both franchises feature corporate dystopias with either the ability to get the military to do their dirty work or private mercenaries, which feels compatible.

4. And with the androids they are in the same universe as Blade Runner. Just sayin'. So when do we see C-beams off the shoulder of Orion?

Classified.

5. Maybe I missed this ... where's the Yutani part of Weyland-Yutani Corp come from?

In the AVP fork, Yutani shows up at the end of Requiem. The movie will give you sanity damage, though.

6. What do we think the original species was from the original movie where the Xenomorph was found on planet XV88?

Do you mean the space jockey? An Engineer, as seen in Prometheus.

I don't know there's any reason to believe that there was advanced native life on that world.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Presumably, the Engineers either had a way of cleansing said planets of xenos afterwards, or they're OK with just salting the earth and moving onto another planet.

 

[Deset Gled]

1. So ... what exactly is the expectation for propagating the Xenomorphs through the galaxy? They don't seem smart enough to operate spaceships, and the transformation happens to rapidly to count on an infected individual getting to a new planet and spreading the infection.

Others have already talked about how the Xenomorphs were created by the Engineers. However, I'll be the one to toss out the idea that calling them a "bio-weapon" is the word humans used to describe them, and isn't necessarily how the Engineers thought of them. One of the major themes of Prometheus is about how the Engineers revere sacrifice and life. "Life from death" is the basis for multiple parts of their technology/culture; it's why the Engineer at the beginning of the movie dies to bring life to Earth, and why they immediately disdain Weyland and David.

From an Engineer's perspective, the purpose of releasing a Xenomorph (or Xenomorph-like) plague on a planet isn't just to kill the existing population, it's to transform the population into something else. It's not really clear what reasons they could have for that. It could be a religious cleansing, a harvest (cutting down humans to collect Xenos the way we cut down corn stalks for food), or possibly even a reward for the victims to transcend into the next form of life.

Of course, it's still murder to the human victims. Something to think about, though.

2. How did the Predators learn about them to hunt, anyway?

3. In my headcanon this takes place in the same universe as Avatar (the blue alien one, not the Last Airbender). Does that drive any novel implications?

In my headcanon, the Predators we see in the movies are just the uber-macho ultra-violent toxic-culture types who are hyper-fixated on hunting. It would be one thing if a human defeated a Predator once. But the number of times we've succeded? It's because we're not really seeing the best-of-the-best. We're seeing the Walter Palmer types to pay to go on safari and shoot a trapped lion.

We've never seen the Predator homeworld (in a movie). I want to see the day we first travel there and land in front of huge monolith, only to discover it's basically a giant office building. We are warmly greeted by a Predator secretary, and when we start talking about our first encounter with a Predator the secretary is like "Oh, jeez. Are you talking about Steve? Yeah, we all hated that guy. Never shut up about his tacti-cool toys. Actually, when we heard about that we started a petition to protect your planet as a wildlife preserve until you acheived space flight."