By 
Anyone else feeling Alien fatigue? I certainly was after the disappointment that was Alien: Romulus. It had its moments but shit the bed with the stupid call backs and that Alien: Resurrection ending. The alien is a perfect organism. Cross-breeding it with a human just makes it retarded.
I had lost all hope that we would ever see another decent outing for the greatest movie monster of all time… but there may be a glimmer of hope yet in the form of a television show, of all things.
The first two episodes of Alien: Earth have surfaced on Disney+ (I refuse to use the verb ‘dropped’ unless it’s a turd). While I can’t guarantee that it won’t shit the bed in the very near future, it’s a promising start.
The show is set in 2120, two years before the original Alien. A spaceship belonging to corporate overlords Weyland-Yutani crashes on Earth carrying several invasive extra-terrestrial species, including… well, you know.
Unfortunately for Weyland-Yutani, the ship crashes in Prodigy City, which belongs to a rival megacompany called… Prodigy.
Twisted firestarters
I bet they have excellent music.
Race For Immortality
Alien: Earth dumps a lot of information on you at the start. There are weird micro flashbacks/flashforwards that I found disorientating. I had to turn on the subtitles at one point because of all the mumbling. The large crew of the doomed ship is introduced, and then they’re dead. I’m guessing they’ll fill in the details later, but all we know is that the creatures got loose, which causes the crash.
If you’re a fan of corporate shenanigans, then I’ve got some good news. Five huge companies run the world now and have carved up the Earth, the moon and solar system among themselves. These companies are now competing in the ‘race for immortality,’ which will determine the future of humanity.
Weyland-Yutani specialises in creating synthetic humans, as we know from previous movies. These can be a little… twitchy. Other companies specialise in cybernetics – merging humans with machines. Think Griff Tannen from Back to the Future 2, or Vera from Superman 3, if you want to have nightmares.
Prodigy specialises in hybrids, where a person’s consciousness is transferred into a synthetic body. Prodigy is run by a young egomaniac genius trillionaire called Boy Kavalier (seriously). Great to see tech bros are still a thing in the 22nd Century.
In my opinion, hybrids are the holy grail in the race for immortality, but only if we’re talking ‘cut and paste’ and not ‘copy and paste.’ With ‘copy and paste’, you’re dead but there’s a convincing copy of you boning your wife. Think Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Sixth Day.
Peter Pan
The main character in Alien: Earth is a twelve-year-old girl called Marcy, who has cancer and has become the first hybrid. So humanity has conquered the stars by 2120, but not cancer. Okay then.
Marcy’s brain is transferred into the body of an adult woman, which she renames Wendy. It’s not the only Peter Pan reference in the show.
Several other sick kids also become hybrids, and the adult actors do a good job of portraying children in grown-up bodies. I felt uneasy about the morality of it all, plus you have to question the wisdom of putting a child in an indestructible adult body. But it’s fertile ground that I hope the show doesn’t ignore.
Boy Kavalier gives a speech about how humanity has to evolve to stay ahead of AI, which is relevant to our world today. The ‘race for immortality’ is absolutely something I can see happening in our future.
The heart of Alien: Earth is Sydney Chandler’s Wendy, who wants to reconnect with her brother, Hermit. Several flashbacks show their younger selves bonding over the Ice Age movies, and it is touching to see.
Hermit is part of the crew investigating the crashed ship. Wendy and the other hybrids volunteer to help with the search and rescue operation.
Wait, I just remembered I’m a kid and scared of everything.
This is an Alien show, right?
But with all this worldbuilding, synthetic humans, moral dilemmas, and ‘fambly,’ you might be wondering how the alien fits into Alien: Earth. This is an Alien show, after all. It’s right there in the title.
Well, I have more good news: the alien shows up early on and is pretty badass.
It’s not the slow-burn that I was anticipating from the trailers – it’s straight to business. Episode 2 unleashes the Xenomorph in brutal fashion. It reminds me of the Alien3 version: fast and moving on all fours. We even get the disorientating POV shot of the alien chasing people through corridors and running up the walls.
Surprise, mother******
The special effects are great. It’s gory and pulls no punches, which was a pleasant surprise. The first two episodes also provide glimpses of the other alien creatures onboard, and I’m impressed so far. Let’s just say that none of them are likely to become household pets.
It’s Weyland-Yutani doing what it always does: sourcing bioweapons that they can’t control. Which makes them effective bioweapons. It’s the bioweapon paradox.
Overall
It’s early days, of course. We are only two episodes into this eight-episode series. Plenty of time to screw up Alien: Earth like Alien: Romulus. Subsequent episodes will materialise every Tuesday in the US (or very early Wednesday in the UK).
I had no excitement for this show before today, but I’m now all-in for the rest of it.
The post Review: ALIEN: EARTH Episode 1 & 2 appeared first on Last Movie Outpost.
