Fact or fiction: Countering the canon critics

[Thedus]

So really, they were so concerned with letting the audience know Brett was dead that they included dialogue immediately after in which Lambert asks if the Alien could want Brett alive for some awful purpose, then asks whether he could still be alive, and Ripley replies that she's unsure.

A bit of foreshadowing not unlike the Vasquez, Hudson, Ripley, Bishop conversation about bees, queens, and something they haven't seen yet. ...only a little less obvious.

What is egg-morphing ?

The process by which an adult alien transforms a host into an egg with facehugger within.

Screen caps from ALIEN DC

Dallas


Brett

[deezelboy]

A bit of foreshadowing not unlike the Vasquez, Hudson, Ripley, Bishop conversation about bees, queens, and something they haven't seen yet. ...only a little less obvious.

Yeah.  It's strengthened later on with the "No blood, no Dallas" line, which always used to freak me out as a kid.  It was obvious it was taking the crew members for some frightful thing, but what?  Then I found out about the deleted cocoon scene, which was just as horrible, if not more so, than what I'd imagined Dallas' and Brett's fate to be.

[BLAIN]

When I finally realized that the alien was transforming the crew into eggs (well after I had seen Aliens and heard about the queen laying eggs) I wondered why there was such a discrepency. And then I started thinking that it was an adaptation of sorts: without a queen, it makes its own eggs. With a queen, it doesn't need to. Its sort of like those frogs which change gender in a single-gender environment. Whatever needs to be done to survive.

Thats just my take on the matter.

[Thedus]

And then I started thinking that it was an adaptation of sorts: without a queen, it makes its own eggs.

Thats just my take on the matter.

This is pretty much what most fans have come to agree on as a means of dealing with the discrepancy between the first and second film.

[BLAIN]

And if that is in fact true, it just adds to the lethality of the creature...one would imagine that killing the queen means the end of the hive and it will eventually die. But no, it doesn't.

[Anto of the Sand]

I saw that scene and couldnt help but notice how egg-like they looked. Never thought egg morphing was accepted as canon by some.

[CanadianHero67]

I am one who excepts the idea of both the Queen and egg morphing being used. My reasoning is that if there is no Queen then the aliens are not just going to simply die because the only thing they live for is to survive. They would need to adapt in some way in order to survive without a Queen so then egg morphing takes effect.

P.S I have never seen the cacoon scene. Maybe getting that version of ALIEN should be a consideration for my birthday. 

[Thedus]

I saw that scene and couldnt help but notice how egg-like they looked. Never thought egg morphing was accepted as canon by some.

I've always considered it canon - ever since the early 80's when I first read the novelization.  I see egg-morphing and the queen as equal elements of Alien universe canon.  I was very happy when the Brett-egg and Dallas cocoon were put back into the film.  It does interrupt pacing, but I see it as an integral part of the story as well as a key element in fleshing out the alien as a creature and as a species.

Some don't like the fact that Cameron introduced a Queen, and did away with Scott's egg-morphing, but I think the addition of the Queen coupled with the egg-morphing makes the alien more interesting and that much more disturbing.  It also (IMO) raises Ash's comment about the alien being the perfect organism up a notch.

On the flip side there are those who don't see egg-morphing as canon because it wasn't in the original release, and it conflicts with the idea of having a queen. - and that's fine too.

[Anto of the Sand]

I guess. No reason they cant co-exist really. Alot of people really like the idea of a Xeno becoming a sort of temp-queen before something long term can be established. This could be a perfect balance.

[NERMAL]

It's easy enough to ratify the two with each other. Morphing begets a queen, which begets drone-producing eggs. Why does Ripley have a queen? Some of the first colonists were morphed. The Sulaco egg was one of these. Purely conjecture of course.

[beckmen]

I am one who excepts the idea of both the Queen and egg morphing being used. My reasoning is that if there is no Queen then the aliens are not just going to simply die because the only thing they live for is to survive. They would need to adapt in some way in order to survive without a Queen so then egg morphing takes effect.

P.S I have never seen the cacoon scene. Maybe getting that version of ALIEN should be a consideration for my birthday. 

I wasn't aware they released a version on DVD without the scene. The 20th Anniversary Edition has it as an extra feature, and the Quad version has it as pat of the Director's Cut. The 20th Anniversary DVD has a longer verion of the scene, though...but the video quality is teh suck.

[SM]

Went and had a look at Apone's nabbing.  Nothing in it indicates headbiting.

[Thedus]

Went and had a look at Apone's nabbing.  Nothing in it indicates headbiting.

Ditto.  I stand corrected.

[NERMAL]

You stand up typing this?

[Thedus]

Sometimes.  ...It keeps me on my toes.