"Alien" Question

[EJA]

Now as big a fan as I am of the Alien/Predator mythos, recently I've been pondering a few aspects of the series and I've uncovered some plot holes. For one thing, in the first Alien film it's made quite clear that the Company that sent the Nostromo crew to LV-426 knew what was lying in wait there and deliberately endangered their lives in order to get the xenomorph......but we're never told exactly how the Company knew, and the rest of the films never follow up on this mystery. So how could this be?

Also, with the Aliens vs. Predator stories (I'm more a fan of the original literature than the movies), I am somewhat curious as to just why the Predators venerate the xenomorphs so much, and also why they have to infect populations of other planets with xenomorphs in order to hunt them? Why not simply go to the xenomorph's home planet?

 

[nx1701g]

For one thing, in the first Alien film it's made quite clear that the Company that sent the Nostromo crew to LV-426 knew what was lying in wait there and deliberately endangered their lives in order to get the xenomorph......but we're never told exactly how the Company knew, and the rest of the films never follow up on this mystery. So how could this be?

That is going to be covered in the new prequel/remake that is being released.

Also, with the Aliens vs. Predator stories (I'm more a fan of the original literature than the movies), I am somewhat curious as to just why the Predators venerate the xenomorphs so much, and also why they have to infect populations of other planets with xenomorphs in order to hunt them? Why not simply go to the xenomorph's home planet?

If I recall correctly they haven't been able to find the Xenomorph homeworld. In many ways, from what was described in the AVP films, it almost seemed like the Aliens were genetically engineered by either the Predators or the Jockeys for the hunt and may not have been natural creatures.

 

[Deckerd]

The whole AVP idea is abhorrent.

 

[nx1701g]

^ But sort of fits with what they were going for when they designed the Xenomorph in Alien: that they were engineered instead of biological.

 

[Anwar]

Well, they were torn on that. Some wanted them to be natural creatures, others wanted bio-engineering.

 

[SeerSGB]

~snip~
Also, with the Aliens vs. Predator stories (I'm more a fan of the original literature than the movies), I am somewhat curious as to just why the Predators venerate the xenomorphs so much, and also why they have to infect populations of other planets with xenomorphs in order to hunt them? Why not simply go to the xenomorph's home planet?

I'm not too deep into the AVP mythos-- never got into the comics, only saw AVP 1. But just from a logical stand point: Think off it like this: Why hit one location and wipe out your prey and no longer have it to hunt, when you can dump it on some pissant animals (re: any life that isn't Pred or Xeno) and have a nearly unlmited variety and quantity to hunt.

 

[EJA]

The whole AVP idea is abhorrent.

Well the first movie is. The second film's not so bad IMHO, but still not that great.

 

[EJA]

If I recall correctly they haven't been able to find the Xenomorph homeworld.

Then how did they get hold of the Xenomorphs in the first place? They obviously have access to enough to breed them in great numbers.

 

[nx1701g]

If I recall correctly they haven't been able to find the Xenomorph homeworld.

Then how did they get hold of the Xenomorphs in the first place? They obviously have access to enough to breed them in great numbers.

Genetic Engineering, it could also be possible that they got them from the Jockey race or something.

Even though novels are noncanon I remember an AVP novel that theorizes that the Space Jockeys created the Xenomorph as a peace offering to the Predators in hopes that they'd stop hunting them.

 

[EJA]

^Interesting. Can you remember what the novel's title was? The only ones I've read are the novelisation of the first AVP film and Steve Perry's Prey. Wasn't Hunter's Planet, was it?

It would make some sense if the Space Jockey in Alien had landed on a planet where the Preds were hunting Xenomorphs, and had been infected by a facehugger there, or a facehugger had sneaked on board.

 

[Trubinator]

The whole AVP idea is abhorrent.

Mostly true. I disregard the notion that the aliens were "engineered" or otherwise tamed for a stupid hunt.

 

[EJA]

Something that's just occured to me: In Alien, just before Kane finds the eggs, Ripley says that Mother (the Nostromo's computer) has deciphered some of the signal sent out from the derelict. Now is it possible that Weyland-Yutani, having detected the signal earlier, fully translated it and so knew what was there that way? They must have known about it for some time, as Ash (the android) was assigned to the ship by the Company in order to make sure the mission was carried out, before the crew went into stasis for the voyage to Earth. At the same time though, I'm not entirely convinced their technology was advanced enough to translate alien languages. Opinions?

 

[Hermiod]

The whole AVP idea is abhorrent.

The two movies they've based on the idea were, sure. The idea of the Predator hunting Aliens is not.

To answer the OP's question - I actually just watched Alien last night. I was under the impression that Weyland-Yutani knew about the Aliens because of the events of the first AvsP film.

I generally share the biological weapon idea. You drop a few eggs on the population, the Facehuggers attach themselves to whatever animal life is convenient and the product is large numbers of the Aliens, all of whom are perfectly adapted to the planet they're being used to attack because they take on characteristics from their initial hosts.

 

[EJA]

Found a good website on the Alien universe. Got timelines and a star chart, well worth a look:

http://time.absoluteavp.com/index.html

 

[Trubinator]

Awesome Web site! Thanks for posting!

 

[Professor Zoom]

I generally share the biological weapon idea. You drop a few eggs on the population, the Facehuggers attach themselves to whatever animal life is convenient and the product is large numbers of the Aliens, all of whom are perfectly adapted to the planet they're being used to attack because they take on characteristics from their initial hosts.

Good to destroy your enemy, but what if you want to take over the planet? Now you have to destroy the xenomorph.

It's a weapon that could destroy the user.

 

[Lookingglassman]

I always wondered what alien race was transporting their eggs? The fossilzed creature they discover sitting in the chair dont look like a Predator.

 

[nx1701g]

I just noticed something. I'm watching AVP-R (yeah I'm insane) and I realized that there's a Space Jockey skull inside the Hunter Predator's whatever it is on the Predator homeworld. You can see it off to the side as he grabs his ritual mask.

 

[Hermiod]

Good to destroy your enemy, but what if you want to take over the planet? Now you have to destroy the xenomorph.

It's a weapon that could destroy the user.

Certainly, but our own nuclear weapons are hardly a weapon of conquest either.

It's a very similar strategy to the Combine in Half-Life 2 firing shells containing headcrabs at known rebel areas like Ravenholm.

 

[EJA]

I always wondered what alien race was transporting their eggs? The fossilzed creature they discover sitting in the chair dont look like a Predator.

They've never been named in the films, but the spin-off media often refers to them as Space Jockeys. I heard there was a novel published recently where their name is given as Malak'ak or something. As for how the Aliens got on board the derelict in the first place, that's another mystery, but one I have some theories about (see my fourth post in this thread).

Another thing I've wondered: In the timeframe of the first three Alien films, are there any other sentient races known by humans? If so, I was thinking maybe they got someone who had some knowledge of the Space Jockeys to translate the signal. It seems a bit unlikely though, as the civilization in the films appears to be made up entirely by humans.