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AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
jockey species), “re-versioned” or “de-narrated” stories (aspects, events, or
stories that are first presented as given and then denied or modified, most
significantly Ripley’s “ultimate” death in Alien 3), as well as many smaller
divergences, incongruities, gaps, and indeterminacies that do not “make
sense,” so to speak. 14 As Colin Harvey points out, “transmedia articulations
are allowed to remember, misremember, forget and even non-remember
diegetic elements from elsewhere in a specific transmedia network.” 15
Examples of these narrative gaps, incongruities, and indeterminacies
abound. An example of a significant gap would be the question of how the
Weyland Company that sends the unknowing crew of the Nostromo to its
lethal fate knows about the alien eggs in the first place (Alien). This is only
explained in the recent film Prometheus. An apparent incongruity would
be the fact that the company is more interested in the creature than in
the clearly advanced technology of the space ship in which the eggs are
planted; and why does the company install costly terraforming devices on
the planet instead of simply starting another attempt at collecting the eggs
(Aliens)? It remains indeterminate why the Alien queen would lay an egg
in Ripley’s head, and how this is consistent with everything else we know
about the reproduction of this species (Alien 3). In addition, what happened
to Earth (Alien Resurrection)? Is there any connection between the species
of the space jockey and the predator species (AvP)? And so on. The list of
questions could be extended indefinitely.
Some friction between storyworlds inevitably arises due to remediation:
most Alien computer games do not bother with lengthy narrative parts, and
graphic novels add visual elements for which there simply is no graphic
antecedent in the Giger universe or in the films. In addition, some of the
gaps and incongruities are simply the result of flawed storytelling or, for
whatever reason, willful omission on the part of the franchise maker(s).
Moreover, many of the franchise products are no longer readily available
or accessible (e.g. the board game, early PC games), and even if they were,
very few people except some aficionados would be likely to be familiar
with all of these storyworlds and constituents, and be able to remember
them completely whenever they enter a new storyworld contribution to this
ever-expanding fictional universe. Furthermore, large parts of the audience
simply will not care about illogicalities, inconsistencies, and oversights.
14 For a theoretical discussion of dis- and denarration, see Richardson, Unnatural Voices,
87–94.
15 Colin Harvey, Fantastic Transmedia. Narrative, Play and Memory across Science Fiction and
Fantasy Storyworlds (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), 2.
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
jockey species), “re-versioned” or “de-narrated” stories (aspects, events, or
stories that are first presented as given and then denied or modified, most
significantly Ripley’s “ultimate” death in Alien 3), as well as many smaller
divergences, incongruities, gaps, and indeterminacies that do not “make
sense,” so to speak. 14 As Colin Harvey points out, “transmedia articulations
are allowed to remember, misremember, forget and even non-remember
diegetic elements from elsewhere in a specific transmedia network.” 15
Examples of these narrative gaps, incongruities, and indeterminacies
abound. An example of a significant gap would be the question of how the
Weyland Company that sends the unknowing crew of the Nostromo to its
lethal fate knows about the alien eggs in the first place (Alien). This is only
explained in the recent film Prometheus. An apparent incongruity would
be the fact that the company is more interested in the creature than in
the clearly advanced technology of the space ship in which the eggs are
planted; and why does the company install costly terraforming devices on
the planet instead of simply starting another attempt at collecting the eggs
(Aliens)? It remains indeterminate why the Alien queen would lay an egg
in Ripley’s head, and how this is consistent with everything else we know
about the reproduction of this species (Alien 3). In addition, what happened
to Earth (Alien Resurrection)? Is there any connection between the species
of the space jockey and the predator species (AvP)? And so on. The list of
questions could be extended indefinitely.
Some friction between storyworlds inevitably arises due to remediation:
most Alien computer games do not bother with lengthy narrative parts, and
graphic novels add visual elements for which there simply is no graphic
antecedent in the Giger universe or in the films. In addition, some of the
gaps and incongruities are simply the result of flawed storytelling or, for
whatever reason, willful omission on the part of the franchise maker(s).
Moreover, many of the franchise products are no longer readily available
or accessible (e.g. the board game, early PC games), and even if they were,
very few people except some aficionados would be likely to be familiar
with all of these storyworlds and constituents, and be able to remember
them completely whenever they enter a new storyworld contribution to this
ever-expanding fictional universe. Furthermore, large parts of the audience
simply will not care about illogicalities, inconsistencies, and oversights.
14 For a theoretical discussion of dis- and denarration, see Richardson, Unnatural Voices,
87–94.
15 Colin Harvey, Fantastic Transmedia. Narrative, Play and Memory across Science Fiction and
Fantasy Storyworlds (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), 2.