Recently, I had a chance to sit down and watch the 1981 science-fiction film Outland. The film stars Sean Connery as Marshal William O’Niel, who is assigned to a tour of duty at the titanium ore mining outpost Con-Am 2. The facility is owned and operated by the evil mega-corporation Con-Amalgamated, on one of the moons of Jupiter.
The film follows the plight of Marshal O’Niel as he looks to protect his family while serving the cause of justice as a law-enforcement officer. Productivity and profits for the outpost are at all time highs, but something sinister is happening. A series of accidents and strange deaths have workers on edge; a secret stimulant is being used as a performance-enhancing drug that is causing psychosis and violent behavior. The Marshal must survive long-enough to finish his investigation and to hold the greedy corporation behind the chaos responsible.
The film is owned by Warner Bros. and has no direct connection to the Alien franchise. But any die-hard fans will immediately make the connections upon viewing the film. The atmosphere is gritty, dark, and has all the markings of retro-futurism, consistent with the late 70s and early 80s wherein Alien thrived. Marshal O’Niel uses an iconic shotgun to deal out justice, almost as though he “keeps it handy for close encounters.” When speaking with his family or meeting with staff, he inserts a key card to activate two-way video communication (viewers will swear it’s the same system featured in Aliens). And most significant, the film explores themes of working-class struggle against all-powerful corporations who believe the crew is expendible.
As I watched Outland, I felt like I was watching a spin-off film, a story that helped build out the larger Alien universe. As a big fan of the video game Alien: Isolation, I got a kick out of O’Niel bearing the title of “Marshal” and not police chief or sheriff. (Marshal Waits, anyone?) The colonial marshals are a celebrated aspect of Alien lore within the expanded universe. This story could easily fit within that.
The Alien franchise has grown well beyond the original films and has stories told across many genres including novels, video games, tabletop RPGs, fan-films, and soon to be a television series directed by Noah Hawley. Indeed, many of Alien‘s most celebrated stories are not films at all; this makes the franchise a bit different, special really, among other beloved intellectual properties.
For decades, fans had to create their own canon to survive the “death” of the franchise brought on by Alien 3 and later Alien: Resurrection. In some cases, fan “canon” has become so fiercely accepted that it has essentially become real canon, as is the case of Alien: Isolation and Amanda Ripley in particular. As such, I think there’s a real case to be made that fans should push for Outland to be acknowledge as a canon within the Alien Expanded Universe.
I know that Disney and 20th Century Studios would likely never acknowledge it as such due to licensing and copyright agreements; but it could be included in the way that Fede Álvarez included the “save stations” in Alien: Romulus by having the emergency phones featured in corridors. Remember, AVP began with the Xenomorph skull appearing in Predator 2, and now it’s hard to imagine a world where we don’t have this celebrated crossover. It’s been 44 years since Outland; let’s bring it home.
Tell us what you think! Should the film Outland be considered part of the canonical expanded universe of Alien? Share your reactions in the comments below or join the conversation on Boss Rush Network’s Discord, Facebook, or Twitter.
Featured Image: Contains Moderate Peril
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