Definition of Canon in an alien world

As a franchise consultant to 20th Century Fox on ALIEN, Predator, and Planet of the Apes, I had to carefully evaluate several cherished brand stories to determine if they fit into canon. If I couldn’t, I suggested throwing them away. I suggested barroom canon, a third possibility. These pub tales (or comics, video games or Facebook posts) may or may not be true. This gives canon considerable flexibility in including stories that would no longer count in franchise development.

I created the following Canon Tier standards for the ALIEN universe as the primary writer and canon consultant on Free League Publishing’s ALIEN RPG.

Because folks like to react before reading, I’ll repeat that this list is based on my FOX franchise consultant work. I used it to create the Alien Universe backstory/lore/history for the RPG. Several admirers requested the list. It doesn’t have to match your head canon—I’m not saying it should. The game lore rejects what you don’t like and uses what you do.
When I joined FOX as a consultant, the franchise department gave me Predator, AVP, and Easter Egg guidelines. A franchise’s canon is constantly flexible, and no RPG or novel will prohibit top producers and directors from taking it in any direction. This list is canon until it’s not.

A PREDATOR NOTE

One must recognise that ALIEN, Predator, and AVP are franchise universes.

AVP is a different franchise and canon from Alien/Prometheus. The Predator is distinct from AVP and Alien/Prometheus. Predators in alien projects are from the AVP universe, not Alien.

EASTER EGGS REALITY

Easter Eggs are only surprise homages, not canon. Fox gave me franchise separation guidelines when I started working on the Predator Bible. The AVP remarks above annoy many. Want Predator in Alien. I like AVP as a third franchise because I think both franchises are better alone.

YOUR UNIVERSE

The Alien RPG guides you through YOUR alien realm, official or not. Personalise your game world. No matter what, your campaign should include what you desire. I use this list. I based the setting and other details from my franchise consultant meetings with FOX.

MU/TH/UR: These lists will be updated with fresh inspirations and items. RECENT UPDATES:

Comics miniseries added 01.16.21. Sunshine, a 2007 film, became a Non-Canon Inspiration.

02.03.2021. Clarified comics section. The 1965 film “Planet of the Vampires” became Non-Canon Inspiration.

04.03.22. “Fireteam Elite,” “Heart of Darkness,” “Colony War with RPG Bonus Fallout”, “Inferno’s Fall with RPG Bonus EVAC”, and “Alien Harvest” were added to TIER 2 (Harvest was unintentionally omitted).

Building Better Worlds”, “Enemy of My Enemy with RPG Bonus Trojan Horse”, “Aliens: Dark Descent” and “Alien: Descent” joined TIER 2 on 07.06.24. Myths & Legends updated tabletop and video games, while NON-CANON added a few interesting films, like Galaxy of Terror (which I had never seen before but was very cool for a low-budget picture).

Definition of Canon in an alien world

By triji

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