History Headscratchers / AlienVsPredator

* Why, oh why, couldn't they just adapt one of the comics? They had everything the fans wanted. Instead we got a noncanon mess full of plots and a egriegous lack spess marhens.
** Not disagreeing with the main point, but sorry, it's not noncanon. If anything it has a better canon connection with the Alien/Predator films than the comics.
*** Ah, sorry, but no. It's non-canon. Nothing in the original four Alien movies indicates that the Predators exist in the same universe, making Aliens, Predator, and Aliens vs. Predator three similar but ultimately separate continuities.
**** And there's nothing in ''Alien'' to suggest that Alien Queens exist, so I suppose ''Aliens'' is non-canon as well. Unless the film specifically says that it is a separate continuity, it can be presumed that it isn't.
*** Nothing in those movies says they don't, either. I think it's more up to the directors and writers to decide what is and isn't canon than you guys.
*** In Predator 2 the shot of the predator's trophy case shows an alien skull.
** Ignoring the silly canon argument, a possible reason is that this way they didn't have to pay anyone for the rights to film the comic. Another reason is that, as said above, setting it in the modern times is both a way to build up the history of the franchises, and more appealing to a wider audience (some of whom might have a threshold for where an action movie turns into a "nerdy sci-fi movie"). Also most of the comic plots require you to be fairly familiar with the setting... they're targeted at fans, whereas a movie has to be at least somewhat accessible to people for whom this would be their first ''Aliens'' or ''Predator'' movie.

* Why, oh why, couldn't they just adapt one of the comics? They had everything the fans wanted. Instead we got a noncannon mess full of plots and a egriegous lack spess marhens.
** Not disagreeing with the main point, but sorry, it's not noncannon. If anything it has a better cannon connection with the Alien/Predator films than the comics.

**** And there's nothing in ''Alien'' to suggest that Alien Queens exist, so I suppose ''Aliens'' is non-cannon as well. Unless the film specifically says that it is a separate continuity, it can be presumed that it isn't.

*** The idea that the heat bloom was for the sake of alerting the locals doesn't seem to hold up for two reasons; 1) if the local populace worship the Predators, why do they neeed some giant flashy light show to tell them when to go in, rather than just incorporate it into the calender, and 2) if the "flare" creates enough heat to be detectable by satellite, then it is dreadfully inefficient.

**** We're making several assumptions here namely a combination of depth, speed of decent, and xenomorph strength and intelligence. It's entirely possible that the ocean is only a few hundred feet deep where they are. All we know for certain is that the Alien Queen, who is black, sank out of sight. Anybody who's been to a natural body of water (or a dirty pool) can tell you that it doesn't take much, She could be just ten feet blow the surface and completely out of sight. Second she could easily get free before she reached a crushing depth which even for puny humans is around pretty deep. Third, she could probably break the chain or remove it from herself once she calmed down if she knew to do it which leads me to my final point. Alien Queens are a little rare if we only count the movies as cannon but in the EU they are incredibly intelligent. The equivalent of a 200 IQ by some measures. If she hit bottom without dying (probable) she'd eventually get free and she'd likely not be crushed by the water tower. In all likelihood the queen survived that encounter assuming she didn't drown which is of course always a possibility. We don't know that they can't drown, we know they can survive in space for limited periods of time and they can swim but there is no evidence they don't require oxygen just that they are considerably tougher than humans.

*** So says a couple of the games, which are not cannon with the movies or even the comics. I only know such terms from the RTS game, and that had to introduce such things for the sake of variety and balance.
** According to "Inside the Monster Shop" The PredAlien's likeness to the Predator as opposed to a warrios likeness to a human was because it had 'More Potent Genes' and thus gave the designers something more to work with. It sorta makes sense, I mean they are BIGGER and STRONGER than the UN-average human, and usually that points to more superior genes(as well as physical attractiveness.). I personally think since Preds have been hunting Xenos for years, and Xenos have incredibile adaptability able to change to match their environment and it's hosts. I wouldn't be stupid to think a few unblooded warriors(like Scar, Celtic and Chopper) failed the Xenomorph test and were impregnated rather than killed so it wouldn't be stupid to think this has happened before.

Nisi

In the first film, the Predators appear to be idiots. Apparently standard issue gear for hunting xenomorphs includes constricting nets that draw acid blood and then ''immediately dissolve in said acid blood''. The mothership at the end gives the fallen Predator a big funeral procession...but then doesn't screen him for infestation. Supposedly they've been hunting xenomorphs for ''centuries'' -- how have they survived this long if they're still making administrative mistakes that big?

*** The alien in the third movie was killing people at a reasonable rate unil they started messing with it, then it got hostile. Plus, the inmates had already attacked the host for the implanted Queen, after that they were probably all on it's kill list. I've also heard they cut a scene from the script that had Ripley finding a bunch of cacooned inmates at some point.

*** It's still set in the same universe as the Alien and Predator movies. Prometheus simply made it official that there are separate timelines (one with the AvP movies, one with Prometheus) both i9ncorperating the later movies into their canon.

*** The ''AvP-R: Preparing for War: Development and Production'' featurette from the Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem Region 1 Extreme Unrated Set DVD says it's a young Queen.

* In Requiem after the ship crashes due to the Predalien attack why didn't one of the facehuggers attach to the injured and helpless predator? Why did the Predalien kill it instead of cacooning it for implantation.

** It's explained in many expanded universe materials that Predators dislike armed "prey" targeting unarmed prey. They also have a code of not killing unarmed/sickly prey. Examples include: the little boy with the fake gun (''Predator 2''), Charles Weyland, until he pulled out AerosolFlamethrower, (''Aliens VS Predator''). Hell in one game (''PredatorConcreteJungle'') killing unarmed prey caused you to ''' ''fail the current mission'' '''. Ergo, Predators don't seem to like unarmed prey being threatened because it is "unsportsmanlike".

* In the first film, the Predators appear to be idiots. Apparently standard issue gear for hunting xenomorphs includes constricting nets that draw acid blood and then ''immediately dissolve in said acid blood''. The mothership at the end gives the fallen Predator a big funeral procession...but then doesn't screen him for infestation. Supposedly they've been hunting xenomorphs for ''centuries'' -- how have they survived this long if they're still making administrative mistakes that big?

** There weren't actully that many. Maybe about a dozen at most. The 'grid' alien did most of the work in the movie and when they attacked in groups they only lost a couple before retreating to free the Queen. The last predator kills one to mark himself, Lex killed one, the Pred plasma cannoned two or three before they retreated and then Lex shot one in the head before they all blew up. So that's only about six killed with a couple others getting blown up.

***** Considering that this was supposed to be set in the same universe as the Alien and Predator movies (until Prometheus expunged it from canon, but that's besides the point), I think it's fairly safe to assume the Queen died right there, since the Earth in the future wasn't overrun by Xenomorphs.

** It's entirely possible the Predators, given their extremely advanced technology, have a way of safely removing an implanted xenomorph. If so, he must have gambled that he and his comrades could finish the hunt before his time was up.

* In the first film, Scar is impregnated by a facehugger, which later leads to the predalien chestburster in the mother ship. Up there, all right. However, immediately after the off-screen FaceFullOfAlienWingWong, he seems to completely shrug the fact, as his only posterior reaction is putting on his mask and continuing the hunt. Did he really ignore the fact he had got a Xenomorph inside of him? Or was he deliberately ignoring it in a strange "If-if I close my eyes, it will be gone, r-right?" attitude?

** HonorBeforeReason. Going down there with nothing but his claws makes for a more glorious tale.

*** ** The ''AvP-R: Preparing for War: Development and Production'' featurette from the Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem Region 1 Extreme Unrated Set DVD says it's a young Queen.