Movies - Weyland-Yutani

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	Movies - Weyland-Yutani

Weyland-Yutani is a fictional corporation that forms an essential part of the setting of the Alien
movie, and its sequels. It is one of the Interstellar Commerce Commission (ICC) corporations that runs the human colonies outside the solar system through the Extrasolar Colonization Administration, has a seat in the Company Review Board, and also has a large presence on Earth.

Alien

The specifics of Weyland-Yutani's origins as a fictional construct are unclear: We know that the compound word "Weylan-Yutani" may be viewed at the bottom left of a badly vibrating display screen during the planetoid landing sequence in Alien. It was also printed on the prop beer cans in the film, where it is partially visible in some scenes ("Original and Genuine Weylan-Yutani Aspen Beer - Extra Strong - Aspen Colorado").

Aliens

When James Cameron was assigned to write and direct the sequel, it is possible he spotted this barely-present name during research, or learned of it from the original writers. Whatever the case, the compound word appearing as "Weylan-Yutani" (omission of "d") in Alien became "Weyland-Yutani" in Cameron's Alien II treatment, its role and significance hugely amplified. Weyland-Yutani is now an indispensable element in Alien lore. Major appearances include several scenes in the 1992 Special Edition cut of Aliens, most of Alien³ (sets, costumes, and other props), and a brief allusion in Alien: Resurrection. The original Weylan-Yutani logo was an Egyptian winged-sun emblem; it was modified to its current corporo-industrial interlocked W/Y for Aliens.

Alien³

In Alien³, Weyland-Yutani's name appears on screen several times written in Japanese. It appears once on a box of supplies as ウェイランド湯谷. The first six kana of this are part of the Japanese syllabary katakana which is used to spell foreign words, and here they spell weirando. The second part is the Japanese name Yutani written with two kanji. The corporation's name also appears in a newspaper headline as ウェイランド湯谷株式会社 where the last four kanji read kabushikigaisha which means "joint stock corporation."

Other works

As an homage to the Alien
movies, the Weyland-Yutani logo was used on some weapons in the dystopian TV series Firefly. Incidentally, that show's creator, Joss Whedon, wrote the third Alien sequel, Alien: Resurrection
, where The Company had been long subsumed and forgotten.

The corporation

Weyland-Yutani is consistently portrayed as having the worst aspects of corporate profiteering, and as being willing to sacrifice decency and human life in the pursuit of profit. In various portrayals of the Aliens universe, the corporation has its hands in all aspects of space colonization and research. In Alien: Resurrection
, the company is notably absent (in the novelization, Dr Wren says that it was bought out by Wal-Mart a century prior to the film's start). But in almost every other portrayal of human contact with the Aliens from the popular video games to the original trilogy, they have some involvement. The corporation has consistently ordered its employees and agents to attempt to obtain living Xenomorphs so that they can be exploited as a bio-weapon.

Aliens Vs Predator

In Alien vs. Predator
, the founder of this company (then known as Weyland Industries) is shown to be Charles Bishop Weyland. He is played by Lance Henriksen, the actor that played the android Bishop in Aliens and Alien³, suggesting that the android was modelled after him. However, in the novelization of Alien³ (released before Alien Vs. Predator), it is made clear that the Bishop android was created by a Weyland-Yutani employee named Michael Bishop, which the Alien Vs. Predator filmmakers either chose to ignore or did not consider canon. John Yutani, who cofounded the company with Weyland, was originally intended to appear in the film (various actors, such as Gary Busey and Peter Weller, were considered for the role) but this was dropped from the final film.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Weyland-Yutani ]

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