No way. I completely agree with you Estelle. The book does offer some really good insight into the character. In fact, I can say that there is little in the book that I don't like, save the physiological aspects.
As for the movies, I think all of them have a place in the predator mythos (they kinda have to because they have been released and are public knowledge. Its kinda up to us to make sense of them though...lol.)
That's one of the things I spent a lot of time on, trying to incorporate a lot of different ideas into a standardized, rational culture, psychology and physiology. Its something I have been truly passionate about really since AVP and how severely it was bashed upon release. Consequently, all the detractors could make arguments against the next 2 movies along the same lines as AVP.
Its funny but probably the worst of the last 3 movies was Predators, mythos wise. Still, I think if we wriggle it around enough we can figure out a way to fit it into the grand story. It'll just take some work.
So let me do a quick breakdown on my interpretation of the pred movies thus far:
Predator: This to me is an example of a seasoned hunter out on expedition. He made few mistakes and if his prey wasn't the caliber of Dutch, he would have come out smelling rosy. Still the best movie, although the special effects are pretty dated (although cutting edge at the time.)
Predator 2: Second best movie in my opinion, mainly because of the preds supporting cast (Danny Glover and Gary Busey). As for the mythos, I think we get our first look at a young, maybe even juvenile predator. The support I have for this is A) he has handlers, in the form of the other preds on the ship. Also who's to say that one or two of those preds didn't accompany the city hunter out, and observe him while hunting and B) at one point in the meat locker scene you see the pred cower in fear after being wounded by Harrigan. Maybe I'm being hard on him but I don't see P1 doing that in the fashion city hunter did. So I'm, thinking this is an example of one of the later tests of the predator agoge.
AVP: Like it because its preds, hate how it was executed. Again though I feel mythos wise we are dealing with young preds, probably in the last test of the agoge. Two fail miserably and Scar at least puts forth a pretty good showing, considering they were minus their primary weapon for most of the movie. Lots not to like here but it has a workable position mythos wise.
AVPR: Actually liked this one minus the lighting which sucked and the messed up predalien concept. I liked the predalien design, just didn't really care for the physiological adaptations the directors came up with. Again though, we can work with it. The Wolf is probably my second favorite predator, all time. He also represents an aspect of pred society which we have seen very little of. He hunts and works alone trying to keep the xeno infestation from getting out of control (though he fails miserably I might add). But this is what a predator is. He is a mature hunter, possibly near elder status. Again we see few mistakes, save for underestimating the predalien, which I kind feel this movie shows as, at least to the preds, is an abomination and a fairly rare occurrence. We also get some insight into a pred homeworld, their ship and some new sweet tech.
Predators: AAAARGGGGHHHH! Why! My biggest and really only complaint about this movie is if the preds are such great hunters, how come they suck so much here? The only way I can get this mess to work, mythos wise is to a lot of ad lib with pred society. My thinking is the three not so super preds are out laws, perhaps for using genetic enhancements to increase their physical prowess. I'm thinking the commandeered a ship and had been kidnapping humans to hunt on their on little hunting reserve. Maybe they were a part of a larger offshoot or deviation from pred society as a whole. The normal pred was probably a part of a larger expeditionary force trying to track down these rogues and was either marooned or intentionally left behind to monitor the "super" preds. He slipped up and got caught. Now lets look at the kill breakdown. Danny Trejos character is the first clean kill. Then the African guy is number two. Both of these are unaccredited kills. We have no idea who killed them. Next is Noland and the Russian, both sloppy kills, one of which kills the tusked pred in the process. Next is Stanz which the black pred handles easily, but not without taking some damage of his own. Then Henzo and the Bird pred fight to a stalemate(both die). Then black pred kills regular pred, Royce effectively kills Topher and then out smarts the black pred. Just and overall pretty pathetic showing from team pred. lol.
