ALIEN: The Weyland-Yutani Report (S.D. Perry, 160 pages)

[Corporal Hicks]

I hear there will be a standard edition out, eventually, which will cost a lot less.

Glad to hear it.

[Xenomrph]

It's a licensing thing - the USCM Tech Manual was only licensed to use material from the first 2 movies, for example. Some video games are only licensed to use stuff from the Alien movies, or the Predator movies, but not AvP. In the grand scheme of fictional universes, though, they're all one singular universe, though.

The CMTM was written before Alien: Resurrection was released but it did in fact use material from Alien 3

Technically... it didn't.

It makes really loose, offhand references to 'Alien3', but you'll notice that the book doesn't mention any specific names or places related to 'Alien3', nor does it mention specific events. There's an interview posted online somewhere with Lee Brimmicombe-Wood where he explains that he was only allowed to use material from 'Aliens' when writing the book, and the only reason there's even data from 'Alien' in the book (the Nostromo, the Narcissus) is because 'Aliens' mentions it early in the movie.

Edit-- found the interview. Here's the relevant bit:

Q: How did Fox get involved, and at what point did this occur?

A: I presume Fox got involved when my publisher negotiated the license. Much to my chagrin I soon discovered that Boxtree had only bought a license for the second movie. That was frustrating, as I'd hoped to fill out the book with material from the first and third movies. However, when Fox's licensing division in Beverley Hills began to read drafts of the manual they had kittens. A whole section of the final chapter referenced the events of the third movie, and went into all sorts of detail about Alien morphology. That had to be scrapped because it wasn't covered by the license. In the end I had to cut the final chapter down by half and restrict mention of the third flick to an oblique reference.

Fortunately, Fox were prepared to stretch things a little with regards to the first movie. As various events and items from Alien, such as the Nostromo, were mentioned in the sequel, I was allowed to drop those into the book. But a big article on the escape pod from the third movie, done originally for the magazine, was left out.

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

But a big article on the escape pod from the third movie, done originally for the magazine, was left out.

Really? Because my copy of the CMTM has almost 3 pages devoted to the Alien 3 EEV/escape pod. 

[HuDaFuK]

Really? Because my copy of the CMTM has almost 3 pages devoted to the Alien 3 EEV/escape pod. 

Yeah, I think he must be mistaken, because that article is definitely in the book.

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

Do you have the Titan 2012 edition of the book HuDa or an older one?

[HuDaFuK]

The reprint.

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

Same here. Could be that it was added back in the reprint although I doubt it. Maybe someone with an original copy could confirm?

[DemonicD13]

"- Hicks does mention in passing that there were already some Marines at Hadley's Hope. That is a reference to one of the new novels, I was asked specifically to put it in." SDP

Wait what? did I miss something? I have not read the new books from Titan yet, is there yet another group of Marines sent to Hadley's Hope? Are they really sent before Hick's group?

Are they turning the invasion of Hadley's Hope into another action "We don't leave Marines behind" piece?

All other material makes it look like a desperate fight to survive for the colonists, more of a horror story.

What's next are we going to be told their were Marines on the Nostromo?

[HuDaFuK]

Wait what? did I miss something? I have not read the new books from Titan yet, is there yet another group of Marines sent to Hadley's Hope? Are they really sent before Hick's group?

It's referring to the third book (not released yet), River of Pain.

I'm assuming obviously, but I figured it doesn't literally mean another squad was sent in before Gorman and co., but that there were a few Marines posted there for security while the colony got established. That seems pretty reasonable.

Of course I could be wrong and there could be another entire unit gone MIA.

[DemonicD13]

I thought book 2 was set after Alien Resurrection? Is their any consistence in these new novels?

I hope your right about just having a few Marines stationed there, otherwise I'd say this is getting a little ridiculous.

[HuDaFuK]

They've released them out of chronological order.

I partly suspect it might be because the third will reference the events of Alien: Isolation, and so they've held it back until after the game has come out. But that's just a wild guess.

[Corporal Hicks]

The previews for Dark Horse's new Alien comic series also show Colonial Marines on LV-426 prior to Aliens.

[Xenomrph]

Same here. Could be that it was added back in the reprint although I doubt it. Maybe someone with an original copy could confirm?

I'll check my copy when I get home, but I don't recall anything about the EEV in my copy and I've got a first edition.  If they did add the EEV article back in, that's a pretty good reason for me to buy the reprint. My first edition copy is in readable but heavily used condition, although I did get it signed by Lance Henriksen so I'm in no rush to get rid of it.

[gabgrave]

Technically, there could have been marines in the colony acting as security guards, considering how WY owns the corps and uses them as their buzz boys. We don't know whether there's a platoon or just a squad of marines though.

[Kimarhi]

if REMF Marines hold the same connotation that it does now then these Marines are most likely the kind of Marines that would stay on base.  Maybe to facilitate information or repairs to combat arms Marines to or from battle. 

Spoiler

In the comic sequence that shows them a couple get whacked pretty easily not showing a real flair for combat. 

[close]

But then again REMF might have a totally different meaning in the future. 

I don't like the idea that WY has that much power to station Marines where they want them to go.  WY or its employees wouldn't be trying to sneak things past ICC quarantine if they could control military bodies.