Quote from: Xenomrph on Oct 14, 2013, 05:50:57 AM
You're welcome to that opinion - there have been several threads that reconciled the Weyland thing, so if you don't like the explanations posted, that's your opinion.
I am aware that there are several threads, and I have briefly looked into them but keep in mind that these are mostly fan theories. Or rather mere fanfiction to explain how to reconcile the Weyland Industries and Weyland Corp issue at hand. I think it's great that many fans out there are actually trying to reconcile the timelines, but until someone official actually manages to do it and do it nicely without any real issues without handwaving it and simply declaring it so, well then I'm not inclined to buy the fan theory reconciliations.
Also, just to be fair that I want you to know I am not being sarcastic. I try to treat others with respect, so I am not showing any maliciousness to you. I just wanted to get that out of the way.
Quote from: Xenomrph on Oct 14, 2013, 05:50:57 AM
The problem is the "word of god" idea has numerous "gods" stating their own opinions, and they don't exactly line up. You said it yourself - Antal considered 'Predator 2' to be a part of 'Predators', but Robert Rodriguez didn't.
If I'm going to defer to any "god" in this scenario, it'll be the ones who own the franchise, the ones who actually get to make the decisions regarding it, completely independent of what any other contributor has to say on the matter, and that's FOX. This is the same FOX who, after Robert Rodriguez said he was discarding the AvP films and everything AvP, specifically stepped in with the 'Predators' blu-ray and dropped in "Yautja" references, and designed the NECA toy packaging in-house complete with AvP and EU references.
You do have another point regarding the Word of God trope, but then again so do I. While the franchises do have multiple contributors and creators, there are infact multiple tropes adhering to this. Word of God, Word of Paul, and Word of Dante. In the case of Rodriguez and Antal, I consider Rodriguez to be the highest source in regards to PREDATORS. He wrote the 1994 script, he had worked with Alex Litvak with the revisions, he maintained creative control by being producer. He wrote, consulted and produced. He was practically helming the project. That's higher than Antal considering that PREDATORS, for all intents and purposes was his brain child since 1994. Therefore he is the creator.
When the word does not come from the creator himself but from someone involved in some ancillary role in production, that's Word of Saint Paul. Antal would be Word of Paul. He didn't write the film, he only directed it. He was being over-seered by Robert Rodriguez, who consulted on production while on-set. This is where a lot confusion comes from. Rodriguez's word vs Antal's word. Word of God vs Word of Paul. Given that Rodriguez is the creator, I would say that his word is higher than Antal's.
And while Twentieth Century Fox does own the rights to the franchises, well... that brings us back to square one. Everything is a mess. Nothing makes sense. Confusion is rampant. You have Yautja, Hish, Non-Humanoid Space Jockeys, Engineers, Black Mold, Black Slime, Royal Jelly, dead Shorty, living Shorty, etc, etc...
Also, as far as the PREDATORS Blu-ray Yautja Evolved segment is concerned... Aside from the title, they never really spoke that word. It served more as to a behind the scenes segment to how the BSPs were designed. The word Yautja was never uttered. However the Weyland-Yutani articles in the AvP-R Blu-Ray bonus well... they do use the word. PREDATORS doesn't. I've seen the segment on Youtube.
As for the NECA backstories, I suppose Big Red from Dead End would now be canon and the Kenner Predators too? I'm not buying it. And even if Fox did write the back story to NECA's toy packages well... that all goes back to square one, again.
Quote from: Xenomrph on Oct 14, 2013, 05:50:57 AM
Well except for the Alien Quadrilogy/Alien Anthology disc supplementals specifically saying that the EU and whatnot is "part of the universe" (I can get a specific quote, but you've already seen it before) and having EU-themed special features such as the "Weyland-Yutani Archive" or the pop-up trivia tracks that reference the EU liberally, that is.
FOX doesn't have to come down from on high and make a signed and notarized letter addressed directly to the fans - the fact that they're saying these things to their licensees doesn't change the fact that they said them at all.
That's all there in the Quadrilogy? I have the Alien Quadrilogy but I never have watched the supplemental discs much. If this is on the supplemental discs, then I would like to know which discs and what segment and time frame that they are on. This genuinely does have my interest now.
However if it's on the Blu-ray Anthology series.. then I'm out of luck.
Quote from: Xenomrph on Oct 14, 2013, 05:50:57 AM
To be fair it's not a bad way to handle it - there's plenty of room in the galaxy for new and interesting stories, and like SM said it's pretty much par for the course. If we get lucky maybe some other writer will drop a reference to older comics and stuff just because the long-time fans will get a kick out of it, just like a couple of the DHPress books did.
Considering that Sebela has said that he is avoiding the AvP movies and the older publications, I doubt references will be made to the older comics. The only thing that I can see making it to the new comics is maybe the blooding ritual, that's it. Everything else may accidental or coincidental at this point from what Sebela has said. That aside, based on from how I'm seeing his words from the interview and his answer on Tumblr, it's a different mythos. A mythos which has Aliens, Engineers and Predators but a different mythos from what was established twenty five years ago.
On another note relating to the comics... Is this going to be on going or merely a collection of stories from the solo titles similar to what Predator 2009, Aliens 2009 and Three World War were? In other words.. a lengthy run which is one story line and then ends.
Also anyone notice how they announced this right when they about to potentially lose the license to two popular titles to a competitor right in the nick of time?
-Rakai'Thwei