The Alien Saga and humanity's future

[RoJoHen]

Has there ever been anything written about the future history of humanity in the Alien universe? All we see are the tiniest glimpses throughout all the films, which span several hundred years, and we really only get to see the bits that Ripley sees.

So what the hell has humanity been up to? In the second film, we see a big space station orbiting a fairly healthy-looking Earth, but by the time Alien Resurrection rolls around, Earth is a wasteland. They were working on terra forming planets; how many human colonies are out there? Is there any kind of collective human government, or do the colonies pretty much keep to themselves?

How wide-spread was Weyland-Yutani's influence? Did they pretty much have control over everything, or did it just look that way because Ripley worked for them? By the fourth film, they had gone under, bought out by Walmart (I thought that was a funny touch).

Do we really know anything about humanity?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ By the time Resurrection rolls around, there's a United Systems Military (which, AFAIK, is the single, unified military command throughout all humanity), so I guess that counts for something.

As for the wasteland thing, how true is that? How much of Earth do we actually SEE in the film? As in, up close?

 

[RoJoHen]

As for the wasteland thing, how true is that? How much of Earth do we actually SEE in the film?

Well, if we go by the Special Edition, we see a completely devastated Paris at the end of the film that looks like it's been bombed to hell.

EDIT: okay, maybe not a wasteland, but Ron Perlman does call Earth a "shit hole."

 

[sojourner]

I don't remember that Walmart bit.

 

[RoJoHen]

It's during the scene where Ripley is sitting at the dinner table and says, "It's a Queen. She'll breed. You'll die. Everyone in the Company will die."

Then one of the scientists goes on to explain what the Company was and that they got bought out by Walmart.

 

[Reverend]

I think there was also a line in an early draft of the script that mentioned Morse (the sole survivor from Alien 3) founding some kind of Religion. I forget the details but I think Call had something to do with it. A follower maybe?

As for how powerful Weyland-Yutani were, I always had the impression that they were something in the order of OCP from Robocop or the Tyrell Corporation from Blade Runner. That is to say, very powerful within their own sphere, but that sphere was limited to off-world industry and colonial efforts. I don't think it was meant to be the type of omnipresent mega-corp that has more power than the government.

I think part of the appeal of the Alien 'verse is that it's a non-specific future. The more detailed the backstory, the more quickly it'll become dated.

 

[Set Harth]

I don't remember that Walmart bit.

Freeman made it sound like "Wolmar", but I guess it says Walmart in the script.

 

[RoJoHen]

I dunno, always sounded like "Walmart" to me.

 

[Set Harth]

I may be thinking of the subtitles, which could have been inaccurate.

 

[-Brett-]

So what the hell has humanity been up to? In the second film, we see a big space station orbiting a fairly healthy-looking Earth...

I always thought that version of Earth looked kinda decrepit, myself. Weren't the clouds sort of yellowish?

Been a while since I've seen the movie, so maybe I remember wrong.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

IIRC, the traditional nation-states were still supposed to exist during the era of Alien/Aliens/Alien 3. For instance, the soldiers from Aliens were part of the United States Colonial Marine Corps, which was probably commissioned to protect all interstellar colonies under U.S. jurisdiction.

In practice, much of the actual space colonization seemed to have been conducted by huge corporations with as much or even greater power than the national governments. All of this definitely gave the first three movies a cyberpunky feel.

Two hundred years later, we're confronted with a "United Systems Military" in Alien: Resurrection, so there's probably a United Systems government in place as well. As to which has happened to Earth in that 200-year timespan... nobody knows for sure. It's possible that the planet was evacuated/deserted for some reason.

Of course, it's still undetermined whether James Cameron intended to have his Avatar films take place in the same universe as the Alien films. There's at least a strong influence.

 

[Reverend]

Not that much else in Alien Resurrection made sense or anything, but if Earth was a deserted slum as the ending would have us believe, then why was it the home base for the Auriga?

 

[RoJoHen]

After just watching it again last night (which in fact prompted me starting this thread), I get the impression that there are only parts of Earth that are in really bad shape. I think it might be a lot like Earth in ST: First Contact after WW3. A lot of it is a mess (like Paris), but there is still a huge population living there. If it was abandoned, they wouldn't have cared so much about the aliens arriving there. The bit at the end with Ripley and Call in Paris is a bit misleading.

 

[The Wormhole]

Not that much else in Alien Resurrection made sense or anything, but if Earth was a deserted slum as the ending would have us believe, then why was it the home base for the Auriga?

Maybe that's where the ship was built? Or maybe it was just France that was a deserted slum?

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Not that much else in Alien Resurrection made sense or anything, but if Earth was a deserted slum as the ending would have us believe, then why was it the home base for the Auriga?

Maybe Earth was only used as a military base by then?

We can only speculate...

 

[Reverend]

^Indeed. I suppose what I should have asked is why a ship that big has an auto-programmed base on the *surface* of a planet. I mean wouldn't a space station make more sense? The thrust needed to lift something that big into orbit (or, indeed decelerate for a landing) could probably strip the atmosphere clear off a whole continent...actually, maybe *that's* what happened to Paris.

 

[Set Harth]

Or maybe it was just France that was a deserted slum?

Then Ron Perlman would have said "France, man. What a shithole."

 

[RoJoHen]

Not necessarily. The rest Earth can be inhabited and still be a shit hole.

 

[Set Harth]

Indeed. I suppose what I should have asked is why a ship that big has an auto-programmed base on the *surface* of a planet.

We don't know for certain that the auto-program was to go to the surface. Ripley chose to crash the ship.

 

[RoJoHen]

True, but it's weird that the computer refers to it as "Earthdock." That kind of implies that they will be docking on the planet.