Almost five years after its formal announcement, Alien: Earth – the franchise’s first-ever TV series – is about to infect Hulu, FX, and Disney Plus. Ahead of its two-episode premiere, we’ve had the chance to watch all eight episodes of Season 1, and diehards…. You’re in for a treat.
We’re keeping this series review mostly spoiler-free… mostly, but if you want to go in completely sight unseen, then turn back now.
Despite Alien: Romulus’ big-screen success last year, longtime fans of the Xenomorph had plenty of reasons to be nervous as we approached the first-ever Alien TV show. Chief among them was the risk of, once again, revealing too much of the mythology behind the iconic creature and overexplaining mysteries that required none. That’s where Ridley Scott’s divisive prequels failed in many sci-fi aficionados’ eyes. Then there’s the issue with letting the Xenos loose on Earth years before Ellen Ripley faced the extraterrestrial horror — you’ll remember she went to a lot of effort trying to keep those damn things away from our home planet.
Thankfully, the show hits the ground running, and any fears or qualms are quickly dissipated. Noah Hawley (Fargo, Legion) — series creator and writer & director across several episodes — clearly understood the assignment. Everything is anchored in the aesthetic of the first two entries, Alien and Aliens, but its scope opens up and expands upon that foundation, rather than wallowing in nostalgia. As thrilling and professionally made as it was, one could argue Fede Álvarez’s Romulus often leaned too much on callbacks, references, and tried-and-true tricks. That ain’t a problem here.
‘Prequelisms’ are also kept to a minimum beyond the obligatory elements needed to sell the 2120 setting (only two years before the original Alien movie). Weyland-Yutani plays a big role in the story, synthetics are common, and ‘cassette futurism’ permeates the advanced technology on display.
Earth, which seemingly hasn’t been ravaged by climate change in this universe, is governed by five different corporations: Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic, and Threshold. Even with familiar chunks of production design and the Xenomorph at the center of the show, Hawley instantly broadens the universe’s horizons with two new additions to the lore: Cyborgs (augmented humans) and hybrids (synthetic bodies infused with human consciousness).
This approach also applies to the structure and…
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