DEFINING CANON IN AN ALIEN WORLD(From RPG Writer & Franchise Consultant D Gaska)

[SiL]

You had replied to the post itself my dude.

I feel like there's some misunderstanding on my part, I'm having trouble connecting the dots here. I apologize, it's been a long day.

If the company already has the Alien and is studying it, Ripley's attempts to stop the company getting it are pretty moot.

[Xenomrph]

That's fair. That said, Ripley doesn't know that, and it doesn't invalidate the audience's or Ripley's emotional journey.

[Stitch]

So I saw this and I am elated to know that there are three separate continuities for the Alien, Predator AVP franchises.

However, I did have one question as he had said that each series doesn't really connect one another-- at least canonically. Naturally, I didn't really agree with this as some media even refers to the events from one franchise or another, treating them as having historically happened. For example, we know in AVP 2010 that the events of Hadley's Hope were mentioned by Tequila and that Ripley was also referenced in Karl Bishop Weyland's audio tapes. So, I asked Gaska about it. In other words, did the events of ALIENS happen in the AVP universe if a character mentioned it in dialogue?

This is the answer...

https://i.imgur.com/nVvjyTj.png

So alternate versions of Predator, Predator 2, Alien, Aliens and Alien 3 have happened in the AVP Universe but certain things are different... Wonder what those small differences are. Aftermath events perhaps? 

That is such a cop out. Probably the only way to answer it, though.
Effectively, that's saying that AVP encompasses everything, and thus everything is canon in the AVP universe. Since it's 'a version' of things; both Charles and Peter Weyland existed, we can have Engineers vs Predator, David obviously recreated the eggs because the Alien was hunted by Predators on earth in ancient Antarctica, and everything else can be explained away. Gaska has basically just said that AVP is the Xenomrph timeline.

Cool.

[Xenomrph]

The Correct Timeline, you mean.

[RakaiThwei]

Effectively, that's saying that AVP encompasses everything, and thus everything is canon in the AVP universe. Since it's 'a version' of things; both Charles and Peter Weyland existed, we can have Engineers vs Predator, David obviously recreated the eggs because the Alien was hunted by Predators on earth in ancient Antarctica, and everything else can be explained away. Gaska has basically just said that AVP is the Xenomrph timeline.

Not how I interpreted his answer and his article... To me, this means that if you want a strictly Alien timeline, you have to go with Prometheus and the Alien films only. If you want an Alien vs Predator timeline, you have to go with the AVP films, with the first two Predator films and the Alien films, presumably only the three Alien films (Resurrection can fit seamlessly) but drop Prometheus and Peter Weyland from THAT particular canon.

...I'm okay with this!

[Stitch]

The Correct Timeline, you mean.

Cool.

[Local Trouble]

The Correct Timeline, you mean.

Does David create the aliens in that timeline?

[RakaiThwei]

Gaska did mention the possibility of an AVP canon list when I asked him if he would update with the question I presented to him.

[Xenomrph]

The Correct Timeline, you mean.

Does David create the aliens in that timeline?

as stitch pointed out, he couldn't have.

[Local Trouble]

Do the prequels and AvP co-exist in The Correct Timeline?

[Xenomrph]

Sure

[Drukathi]

I see it this way - AvP (the third franchise, universe) is a sandbox formed from Alien and Predator. Thus: Alien and Predator events can be canon for AvP. But AvP doesn't set lore and events for Alien and Predator. In other words: AvP is not canon for Alien or Predator.

[SiL]

Seems to be what Gaska's saying.

[Delta Echo Alpha Delta]

I have gripes with some tiers of canon, namely Sea of Sorrows can't happen unless Out of the Shadows happens... But the harpoon totally nix continuity in Aliens.

[Drukathi]

Sea of Sorrows can't happen unless Out of the Shadows happens...

Yes, it's a bit confusing. Especially without explanation. I believe that only the location (LV-178, underground alien city, dog-like alien civ...) is taken from the Out of Shadows, while the Ripley mid-story is completely ignored. Ah, even so it doesn't make any sense!

Perhaps the point is that Sea of Sorrows is simply of higher quality than OoT and RoP. Ah, again it doesn't make any sense...

idk