WEYLAND-YUTANI

'Weyland-Yutani' is a fictional corporation in the motion picture ''Alien'' and its sequels, often referred to simply as "'The Company'". It is one of the corporations that runs the human colonies outside the solar system through the Extrasolar Colonization Administration, has a seat in the Interstellar Commerce Commission's Company Review Board, and also has a large presence on Earth.
Weyland-Yutani is consistently portrayed as exhibiting 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. The corporation has consistently ordered its employees and agents to attempt to obtain living Xenomorphs so that they can be exploited as a biological weapon, of course, without regard for their lives.
Weyland-Yutani is a modern example of the longstanding trope of the evil megacorporation in science fiction.

Contents

''Alien''

''Aliens''

''Alien³''

''Alien: Resurrection''

''Alien vs. Predator''

Other works

Origins of name

''Alien''

The compound word "Weylan-Yutani" may be viewed at the upper left of the display screen during the ship awakening sequence and 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, the role and significance of Weyland-Yutani increased greatly, becoming an indispensable element in Alien lore. The original ''Weyland-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. 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 where the last four kanji read ''kabushikigaisha'' which means "joint stock corporation."

''Alien: Resurrection''

By the time of '', the company no longer exists; an interstellar international political military force called "'United Systems Military'" now controls all the aspects of previous W-Y involvement, including projectile firing weapons (pulse rifles and smart guns) and all other weapon development contracts.
In a deleted scene included in the director's cut of the film, as well as the novelization, one scientist remarks that Weyland-Yutani was "bought out by Wal-Mart." And in the novel ''Aliens: Original Sin'', there is a reference made to a vehicle once made by Weyland-Yutani that now has "Wal-Mart" in its name.

''Alien 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. Some fans have argued that Michael Bishop was the human descendant or clone of Charles Bishop Weyland, which would fix this discrepancy.

Other works

As a homage to the ''Alien'' movies, the Weyland-Yutani logo was used on some weapons in the TV series ''Firefly'', and can be seen on a heads up display in that show's pilot episode. In ''Serenity'', the Operative's claim that the Alliance was "building a better world" echoes the slogan of Weyland-Yutani, "Building Better Worlds." (The show's creator, Joss Whedon, wrote the fourth ''Alien'' film, ''.)
In Whedon's series ''Angel'', Weyland-Yutani is also named as a major client (along with Yoyodyne and News Corp) of the evil law firm Wolfram and Hart (see "Harm's Way").
The firm's name also appears on the bow of a supertanker passing under the "Gibraltar Bridge", near the end of an ''Extreme Engineering'' installment, on the Discovery Channel.
German industrial artist Wumpscut co-opted the company logo as its own.
A Weyland-Yutani ship can be seen, among other crashed ships, in the ''Red Dwarf'' episode "Psirens".

Origins of name

The name "Weyland-Yutani" was created by Ron Cobb, one of the designers of the Nostromo and her crew's uniforms.
The original spelling of the Company's name was "Weylan Yutani" (note that there was no "D" in the name). At no time in Alien nor in the portfolio was the name of the Company spelled with a "D". This was changed by the time of Aliens to "Weyland Yutani".
Weyland is also the Anglo-Saxon form of the name of the Norse hero Völund.
In the 2005 game '', a clip at the end shows the new current owner of Weyland and a Japanese man (presumably the CEO of Yutani) celebrating the formation of their joint venture. They mention in a discussion something about Mr. Weyland's disappearance.