Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report

This is an incredible coffee table book based on the Alien and Prometheus saga of films and an absolute must-have. It is a handsomely bound hardcover at just under 170 pages. The outside cover is textured with tiny embossed Weyland-Yutani emblems and has a small slipcover that reaches around the spine to the back. The presentation of the book is absolutely breathtaking. As an Alien fanatic, this is a real treat and a true gem that belongs in any collector's library. We rarely get anything this cool and unique. It is presented as being in-universe, written as if somebody from Weyland-Yutani were to read it. It is filled with little goodies, cutaways, foldouts, and neat material.

The premise of the WY Report is that after the events in Alien Resurrection, the company puts together a file of its research backlog regarding the xenomorph, and its relation to the Weyland Corporation (later Weyland-Yutani,) Ripley, and further still, the United Systems Military. To play catch up, the Weyland Corp was founded by Peter Weyland in 2012, Weyland Corp merges with cybernetics rival Yutani in 2099, giving birth to WY as we know it. Nearly 100 years later, the USM is formed, and nearly 250 years later, megacorporations are officially banned, causing Weyland-Yutani to fold. The USM is phased out after the Auriga crashes into planet Earth during the final act of Resurrection, thus giving birth to Weyland-Yutani once more. This is the lead-up to the book.

Inside the book are numerous sections, that give a very thorough look into the lore and mythos of the Alien saga. It starts with a timeline, detailing the 2000s up to the 2400s chronologically. Next, there is a section detailing the original Big Chap Alien, codenamed XX121. Its basic life cycle stages are detailed over the course of a few pages. It explains about the Nostromo crew's encounter with the creature, from Kane's attack, to Ash's observations of the facehugger, continuing further to the chestburster, and finally ending with the Drone. The artwork is awesome!! You can tell it's digital but it is very high quality.

There is also a section regarding the Queen early on, where WY scientists list their speculations and theories about its life, purpose, hierarchy, etc.

The next section concerns "the proud history of Weyland-Yutani," and is aptly-named. It details the formation of the Weyland Corporation in 2012, to its later merger with competitor Yutani in 2099, to everything inbetween. In this section, we learn about David's creation and his legacy for other WY-produced androids, or as the book refers to them as, "artificial persons." We also learn about Call, an artificial person, where after an off-world revolt, escapes a purge where "her" kind were retired in a scheme similar to 1982's "Blade Runner." In this section, we are also educated on WY's great technological feats, such as atmospheric processing, cryostasis, faster-than-light tech, medpods, amongst other items.

Continuing further, the next section details the journey of the USCSS Prometheus, to the planetoid LV-223. Crew profiles are listed, the ship itself is broken down and specs are listed, and we get a good look at the Juggernaut ship, piloted by Engineers. There is little information about the Engineers themselves, and some information is "redacted." The redacted parts of the book are holographic and change colors and patterns when you look at them differently. Also in this section, we learn about the black goo, or the "Accelerant," that infects Fifield, and eventually, Dr. Holloway. The creatures encountered on LV-223 get their own pages of info.

The next section follows suit and focuses on the USCSS Nostromo and its fateful trip to LV-426 after its crew awaken from stasis on WY company orders. We get some handsome artwork of the vessel itself, and full crew biographies. We also learn about Special Order 937, and WY's regret towards the LV-426 excursion, where they claim "we would have sent a team of 120-A2's," hinting that a team of androids like Ash would have fared better in retrieving a full, unharmed specimen. In this same section we also learn about the quarantine breach initiated by Ash, and going further on, learn about Ripley and her legacy.

The next two sections concern the following two films in the Alien series, namely, Aliens, and Alien3. They are all packed with similar diagrams, cutaways, and technical info. The section about Alien 3 has an excerpt of the book "Space Beast" written in-universe by Robert Morse, the only surviving prisoner from Fury 161. There's also a tongue-in-cheek joke about "Vincent," the faceless prisoner referenced in lore but never shown.

The last two chapters are about Alien Resurrection and the universe post-A:R. Technical, medical, and scientific benefits of harvesting the xenomorph specimens are shown, and present an interesting look at what could be, were WY to get their evil way.

It ends on a hopeful note-- the company is still hoping to harvest an intact xenomorph and reap its powers. This book is an introspective of the franchise, and while some may find this book "too much" to dive into, it presents a tiny window into our favourite film universe, as if we lived in it, and had access to this insider info.

I give this book 5/5 stars, and I wish I could rate it more. It is truly an awesome book, especially considering the price. From its sturdy, handsome bind, to its unique and deep look at the Alien saga, Insight Editions knocked this out of the park!

I am a host of Perfect Organism, a podcast about the Alien saga. We can be found on Podbean and Facebook! I give this book my blazing recommendation and approval. Passing up on this book is a huge mistake!

Just got done reading through the WY Report.

Overall I'm... kinda disappointed.

Like it's got some neat tidbits here and there, but they're few and far between, with too much emphasis on (very) pretty pictures and not enough emphasis on actual meaningful content that expands or enhances on the movies.

There's a ton (a TON) of missed opportunities in this book, from the way info is presented, to what is/isn't said, to opportunities for speculation or theorizing. It's kind of a shame because the book starts out REALLY strong, and even the Prometheus chapter is cool and has a lot of neat ideas, but then it starts to nosedive in the 'Alien' chapter, goes right into the ground in the 'Aliens' chapter, and really never recovers. Even the "practical applications of Xenomorph science" bit, which is literally a blank slate for cool and interesting ideas, starts out strong and then ends up being a wet fart.

Did we really need an entire page devoted to a verbatim transcript of Apone talking in the hive, telling everyone to unload their ammo? I've seen the movie. Why not replace that with something we haven't seen/read before, like a transcript of Ripley's report that none of the Marines read, or a transcript of a mess hall conversation that the audience doesn't hear, or a transcript of Bishop's observations on the facehuggers in the medlab while the Marines are venturing to rescue the colonists?

Did we really need a full two-page cutaway of the Dropship, when it was done better and in more detail in the USCM Tech Manual? I'd have rather seen a cutaway of the Auriga, or a cutaway of the Betty or Prometheus, something we haven't seen before.
On that topic, did we need a two page drawing of the Sulaco? The USCM Tech Manual handled that in much, much greater detail. Heck, if you're going to devote two pages to it, at least make it an interesting cutaway or something. The collector's edition of Colonial Marines came with a more visually interesting diagram of the Sulaco than the WY report did.

As cool as the artwork is, did we really need nearly three full pages of paintings of the Dog Alien from Alien3? Why not replace one of those with something we haven't seen before, like a blueprint of the Fiorina 161 facility?
And speaking of the Alien3 section, I really wish they'd gone into a little more detail on the prisoners (especially since it only lists 17 of the 22). There's a ton of unused space on those pages.

It's a really recurring problem with the book - nearly every page has a ton of unused space that's just filled up with images from the movies or whatever. It's really a case of style over substance: the book is this big hard-bound tome that feels really substantial, but the pages are all unnecessarily thick paper stock, and the content itself is sparse or repetitive of things we've seen in the movies. With the $40 price tag, it feels like I'm paying for the binding rather than the content. Hell, the USCM Tech Manual's last chapter crams more interesting insight on Alien biology and applications into like 15 pages than the entire WY Report does in the whole book, and the Tech Manual is half the price.

I'm just trying to figure out who the intended audience for this book really is. It's regurgitating a ton of content straight from the movies (often verbatim) without really expanding on any of it (aside from the Prometheus section, as mentioned), which tells me it's not aimed at die-hard fans of the movie because those sorts of people will already know everything the book is presenting them. But at the same time it's a $40 hardcover book, which makes it a really hard sell for casual fans looking to learn more (especially when the superior USCM Tech Manual is $20).

I'm really, really glad I didn't pull the trigger on the Sideshow special edition version of this book for several hundred dollars.

This is a good summary of the 4 Alien movies + Prometheus. The original artwork is very well detailed, including cutaways of the dropship and APC from Aliens and full color drawings of each of the main ships from the movies. The Prometheus was rather disappointing, though, as it's drawing was only of the front third or so. They really should have added a cutaway of that ship as well. This book adds a little bit of background info not in the movies, written in universe from the perspective of someone working at Weyland-Yutani. One of the most disappointing aspects of this book, though, is how much technical information was appropriated, uncredited, from the Colonial Marines Tech Manual from about 20 years ago. This included some of the physics of the ships, such as the lithium hydride fuel of the Sulaco. Overall, it could have used more original drawings, such as the ships and the alien pictures, and less of the movie photos.

Yes this book is full of surprises. First off, let me just say SPOILERS! Let me just say that the timeline of events actually surprised me the most. If anyone here are fans of Alien Isolation, then good news. Amanda Ripley's adventures from that game was referenced in the timeline of events. Making that game canon to the films. The other thing that gave me the big surprise was the year 2219 AD in the timeline of events in this book. Here's why! The company(Weyland-Yutani) sent the ships "Geryon" and "Kadmos" to LV-223 in the year 2219 AD but contact was terminated. The reason why I'm surprised by this is because this book is referencing the events that happened in the Fire and Stone Comic. What is Fire and Stone you ask? Its a Comic Crossover Franchise Event that involves the franchises Prometheus, Aliens, AVP and Predator. In the Comic Prometheus Fire and Stone, it shows the ships Geryon and Kadmos on a mission to LV-223 led by Captain Angela Foster in the year 2219 AD. Okay that's enough spoilers. If you want to know about Fire and Stone, just buy the book Prometheus the Complete Fire and Stone Hardcover. Its available here on Amazon. I highly recommend reading that book. This book also mentioned names and places from novels. An example of this is LV-178. Which was featured in the novel Alien out of the shadows. Captain Brackett from Aliens River Of Pain was also mentioned in this book. This makes those novels canon to the films. What is not mentioned in this book are the events of the AVP Films and the game Aliens Colonial Marines. To be fair, the AVP Films was canon to the Alien Films. But those Films are contradicted by Ridley Scott's Prometheus Film and the timeline of events mentioned in this book. The director(Paul Anderson) of the first AVP Film mentioned in the making of AVP that after Charles Bishop Weyland's death, his company Weyland Industries was taken over by Yutani Corporation in modern times. This would mean Ms Yutani in AVPR was the head of Weyland-Yutani Corporation in modern times. This is however contradicted by the Films Prometheus since the movie shows that Weyland Corporation hasn't merged yet with Yutani Corporation. And Prometheus takes place on LV-223 in the year 2093 AD. This book further contradicts this by saying Weyland Corporation merged Yutani Corporation in the year 2099 AD. Lets also mentioned the Fire and Stone Comic Event seeing Dark Horse Comics also doesn't consider the AVP Films canon with their current comics of Alien, Prometheus, Predator and AVP. Bottomline AVP is non canon to the Alien Films. As for Aliens Colonial Marines being non canon to the Alien Films, lets just say non of the events in that game was mentioned in this book. So its also non canon to the Alien Films. Thank You 20th Century Fox for making things right. I can go on and on telling what I read in this book. But that would be revealing way too much. So I'll stop the review right here. I have no regrets buying this book. If this book however becomes non canon, so what? To me this was still a fun read and I highly recommend this book. This deserves a 5 out of 5.

The idea behind "Alien: the Weyland-Yutani Report" is to present the events of the films in the form of a comprehensive corporate dossier.
I'd like to note that I hold author S.D. Perry in the highest regard. I've read several of her novels, and they've all been excellent. She's one of a handful of authors that represent the gold standard of the media tie-in genre. If you're a fan of any of the franchises she's worked with (notably Aliens and Star Trek), and haven't read any of her stuff, check it out. I think you'll be very happy.

Also, the illustrations in this book are all very well done. The artists are clearly talented professionals. It is a beautifully bound hardcover, and would make a classy coffee table display for any Alien fan. If you can't tell by the photo, the illustration "bar" on the cover is a dust-jacket style wrap around. The actual hardcover is the large Weyland-Yutani logo centered on a black background of smaller,embossed logos.

The problem I have with this book is the lack of new content. If you're a fan of the movies, you're probably pretty familiar with the Flame-Thrower, Pulse Rifle and Smart Gun by now. A two-page spread of each with minimal commentary feels like filler. As does the fold-out of the Sulaco, and cut-away illustrations of the Drop Ship and APC, for that matter.

The same can be said of the text. There may be bits of information that weren't present in the movies, but it isn't substantial. Nothing that adds to the story or expands on it in an interesting way. The various reports and transcripts that are supposed to come from key characters tend to fall flat, either because they fail to attain the 'voice' of the character, or because they seem contrived when placed in the existing context of the films.

All in all, it strikes me as a missed opportunity. They could have created expanded bios for the characters, and additional background and history for the locations, vehicles, and weapons. Instead they've provided a very complete summary of the films within a picture book. There's a few pages at the end that are meant to speculate on possible military applications of the Xenomorph. One is a gun, which looks like silly and out of place. The rest relates to using the Alien's exterior as body armor for humans. Again, not too original.

The idea behind this book is a good one. In spite of the very talented people involved, the execution falls short. Ultimately, at $40 I can't recommend this book as a good value.

Not only Fox has apparently decided that April 4 is "Alien Day" (the crew of the Nostromo landed on LV-426), but 2016 is the 30th anniversary of James Cameron's "Aliens." As such we're getting a flood of merchandising and books related to the Alien franchise.

The "The Weyland-Yutani Report" is the type of book I would have loved as a kid. It's got gorgeous photos of xenomorphs from all 5 films of the franchise (thankfully no "Alien vs. Predator" here). The book is written as an in-universe account by Weyland-Yutani researchers in the aftermath of Alien: Resurrection. It basically recapitulates the plots of the movies from Weyland-Yutani's point of view.

However, in the age of the internet, when films summaries and photos galore are available online, I'm not entirely sure what the point of a book like this is. I was disappointed that it doesn't contain any new information about the xenomorphs or the Weyland-Yutani company. Also nothing from the books, comics, or spinoff material. I understand that it can't spoil anything from the upcoming films, but it seems to me that part of the appeal of a book like this is learning more about the universe.

Also although the book is supposed to be written from the point of view of the Weyland-Yutani company, there's some information in it that it seems clear that the company could not have gotten. The events of Prometheus were, so far as we know, lost to history because Shaw did not return to Earth. Likewise, how does the company have detailed accounts of what happened in Hadley's Hope if all the colonists died? Admittedly there aren't too many such contradictions, but it did occasionally break the illusion that this is a company report.

Overall, if a book with gorgeous Alien photos written from the point of view of the Weyland-Yutani Corp. sounds appealing, then it might be worth checking this book out. However, I suspect for most fans, this book doesn't have enough new material to make it worthwhile (especially at the current price point).

[Note: I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.]

A seriously amazing book. Made specifically for Aliens Fans. It has EVERYTHING you need to know on the Alien and the people that have encountered them. The book is packaged in a way that you want to put away and not read it. It's like a manuscript of perfection. I highly highly highly recommend this book to any Aliens Fans. It is worth every penny!!!!!

When I heard about this book, I decided I wanted to add it to my collection of Alien memorabilia. I was able to get this item for a good price & found, much like the old saying that it's only a good deal if you still wanted it when you get it home. The book has been slickly produced with above average production values, and it does have artwork you won't find anywhere else. However, a number of things I would have seen reviewed in greater detail are only briefly touched on if at all. For example, there are detailed prints of the Nostromo, Sulaco, & UD-4L Dropship, but not the Betty, Auriga, or Prometheus. Almost nothing is mentioned about the vehicles or support equipment from the Prometheus expedition. Not saying it isn't worth a look, but if you're still interested after reading this review, buy a good used copy & save yourself a few bucks.

I LOVE this book!! Every page is pictures and descriptions of items, organisms, ships, equipment, characters, explanations...it reads like a report for personnel working for Weyland-Yutani Corp explaining the "incidents" that occurred while trying to retrieve an Alien specimen for Earth bio-weapons use. It contains summaries of the Alien franchise 1-4 plus the Prometheus movie because it "occured" before the first Alien movie. I think it's a must for any Aliens fan! If you liked my review, please click the "Helpful" button below and I will review more items. Thanks!

Beautifully done hardcover. Love the waxy feeling to the exterior and raised Weyland-Yutani Corp name and logo. As for the information and photo contained within, there's no need to go over that again when others have done so in great detail with other reviews here. The main issue with the book is that it's no outdated since it doesn't contain any data on the "Covenant" movie. I certainly hope a updated version will be released later. There is an odd photo anomaly on page 96. It has a note indicating images of Apone, Dietrich, Vasquez and Drake were not available for their informational sections. Considering that Frost, Crowe, Ferro and Spunkmeyer have images either taken from movie captures or, in the case of Frost, the actor in costume for a facial publicity shot, there's no reason why the publisher's could put images of the four main characters in the book as well, either publicity costume photos or taken from the Blu-ray. There is also no section between "Alien" and "Aliens" of the "Isolation" game with Ripley's daughter, which is supposed to be canon and rightly deserves a place in the tome. Other than these problems, the book is amazing and well worth having for any ALIENS movie series fan.