Quote from: SM on Nov 13, 2014, 02:24:16 AM
"The corporation co-financed that colony along with Colonial Administration..."
They're part owners.
After having just rewatched a couple of scenes, you're right. But that just goes to show they're not solely in charge, by any means. Their logo is all over Operations, but that's no different from getting investment from the EU for things here in the UK: It's money with strings attached and a stipulation you have to put up lots of European Union signs, so that they get good PR. The same as racing cars have their sponsor's logo all over the place (or how, as our space exploration advances, we're likely to see a lot of Space X logos on stations and outposts which are technically under NASA's authority). The colony, as we saw it, is also chiefly there to run the atmosphere processor, as they're still at an early stage. Many of the staff we see are probably there to run it and would be cycled in/out, trained by Weyland-Yutani in how to maintain their hardware.
Note how the Jordans, who are there to be the actual colonists and prospectors, don't have all the company logos on their vehicle and clothing. Notice, too, how on Newt's citizenship Award, there's a complete absence of any Weyland-Yutani logo:
http://www.b26354.co.nz/newt/pictures/dsc_1199.jpgI'd imagine that "Colonial Administration" is to do with the US (or UA) government, who would ultimately be the controlling authority. Federal authorities are the ones who send the troops in to investigate. Weyland-Yutani didn't (even though, as we saw in '
Alien 3, they have the capacity to do so). So, in this case, I'd think things which impact citizenship and actual colony status, aren't under Weyland-Yutani control. Just stuff like the atmosphere processor and whatever they might have secured the rights to, such as future mining sites.
It's also worth pointing out that any colonisation effort would
have to come under the authority of an existing nation's government. Otherwise, they could just do as they pleased without any legal consequences, as there'd be no legally-recognised laws to govern their day-to-day operations. All the kinds of things which end up in court, in today's world, would have to be dealt with locally and if there's no existing legislation to dictate what is and isn't allowed under particular circumstances, they could just make it up as they go along.
