version 3 - The Alien Encyclopedia

ment about a topic, to be complete (meaning covering both lore and behind-the-scenes aspects)
and accessible to people who may have never heard about the Alien franchise and just
want to know who the heck Ellen Ripley is. But this is about the fictional Alien universe,
and only the fictional Alien universe.
• Reason 3: To sidestep continuity issues for the sake of being consistent. The best example
for this would be, again, the “Alternate Xenomorph life cycle” depicted in the Director's Cut
of Alien. The thing is that this life cycle at least potentially removes the need for a queen in
the life cycle. So instead of admitting that I have two conflicting canon sources or having to
skip this information entirely, I incorporated it as “unconfirmed reports.” This way, the encyclopedia
can acknowledge the possibility without taking sides, saying “yes, it does exist”
(therefore possibly creating a contradiction) or saying “no, it does not exist” (omitting interesting
information). However, there are two special cases in which we have two versions of
the same source directly contradicting each other, which I will cover in the following section.
There are other minor reasons such as to make the reading experience more involving.
d) Alternate versions of Alien³ and the 1988 Aliens comics
This encyclopedia regards the expanded Assembly Cut of Alien³ as canon, with the exception of regarding
the Xenomorph seen in the movie to be born from a dog as shown in the Theatrical Cut.
The encyclopedia also regards the revised version of the 1988 “Earth War” comic storyline as canon
to avoid conflicts with Alien³.
The Assembly Cut of Alien³ as featured on the Quadrilogy DVD set and the BluRay release restores
much of the cut footage and incorporates back into the storyline of the film, expanding it with about
half an hour of additional scenes. There are also alternate scenes featured, but they don't pose any
continuity problems, as it is, for example, basically irrelevant whether Ripley is found inside the
EEV or washed upon the shore. There is, however, one major exception: Whereas in the Theatrical
Cut, the Xenomorph is born from a dog, the Assembly Cut instead shows it being born out of an ox.
Thus, this creates an irreconcilable discrepancy where I have no choice but to take sides. I decided
to go for the “dog birth” as it seems implausible for a Drone to be this small when originating from
an ox. Consider that the Alien³ Xenomorph is no larger than the human-bred Drones we have seen
in other cases, possibly even a little bit smaller. Considering the DNA Reflex, a Drone from an ox,
an animal which has far more body mass than a human and is also larger, would have to be significantly
larger than a “human” Drone.
Another case of “irreconcilable differences” is the “Earth War” storyline as shown in the early Dark
Horse comics. Released in 1988, way before Alien³ would be made, the comics were intended to be
a sequel to Aliens, showing the further adventures of Hicks, Newt and later, Ripley. In 1991, Alien³
threw a monkey wrench in the continuity by killing off Hicks and Newt before they even had the
chance to wake from hypersleep. Reissues of the “Earth War” comics kinda fixed this by renaming
Hicks and Newt to Wilks and Billie, turning them into new characters, and making Ripley an android.
The encyclopedia reflects the “Earth War” storyline as shown in the reissue. I realize the reissue
fix was a “bend over backwards” in the first place, but it is the only way to incorporate the
pivotal events of the comics without screwing up the continuity.