Alien Earth Review
On earth everyone can hear you scream
In Alien Earth, the venerable Alien franchise hits the small screen for the first time after seven movies (nine if you count the Alien vs. Predator flicks). It also marks the franchise’s first trip to Earth. The series takes inspiration from the early installments of the series, especially the original Alien (1979). Does it succeed in revitalizing the franchise? Read my Alien Earth review to find out!
Alien Earth is set two years before the events of the original Alien (1979). It opens, as many sci-fi stories do, with a space crew waking up from deep hibernation. Remember Weyland-Yutani, the monolithic corporate behemoth from the first two movies? The crew works for them. Their mission is to collect specimens of nasty extraterrestrial species and bring them back to Earth for study.
Inevitably, a xenomorph escapes and slaughters most of the crew. The spaceship crash lands on Earth and becomes the possession of a rival mega corporation, Prodigy, that’s ruled by a spoiled bratty trillionaire hilariously named Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin).
Prodigy has constructed human-like androids in a bid to achieve immortality. The main protagonist of the series is Wendy (Sydney Chandler). She’s the first in a series of technological wonders called hybrids – terminally ill children who have their consciousnesses transferred into synth bodies. Wendy still retains the memories and personality traits from her human life and hopes to reunite with her older brother, Joe (Alex Lawther).
She and her new friends are literally children in adult bodies, and they behave like it. The adult actors generally do a fine job acting like kids with volatile emotions and limited reasoning skills.
Wendy matures significantly throughout the course of the series, and sometimes that transformation happens too abruptly to be fully convincing. But Chandler gives an endearing performance as a curious, smart leader who gradually realizes the exploitative nature of the hybrid program.
humans are the most terrifying species of all
The xenomorphs are not the true villains of Alien Earth. Don’t get me wrong, they cause plenty of carnage. The creatures stack up an enormous body count throughout the series’ eight episodes.
The true antagonists are Boy Kavalier and his gang of demented henchmen at Prodigy. Their goal is to rule the solar system, perhaps even the universe. The xenomorphs are just angry, frightened animals who have been forcibly removed from their natural habitat by a hostile species. It’s hard to argue that anything they do is evil. They are defending themselves. Are elephants evil for attacking poachers?
Kavalier is clearly inspired by modern tech billionaires. I don’t think he’s intended to be based on any specific individual, but his inclusion by showrunner Noah Hawley (who previously ran the Fargo series) gives Alien Earth topical relevancy.
Wendy has a degree of sympathy for the creatures. She’s fascinated by how their minds work. Indeed, Alien Earth depicts xenomorphs as more complex and intelligent than in most previous portrayals. Wendy is able to understand their language and communicate with them, giving her unprecedented insights into the creatures.
This series sometimes suffers from the same problem I had with Wednesday season 2, which I felt had too many storylines. Alien Earth has an enormous number of characters. It could cut at least a few of them without losing anything of value. This show feels a bit overstuffed, but not to the extent of Wednesday. I still enjoyed both series overall, though.
Alien Earth hits its peak in the fifth episode, titled “In Space, No One…”, a reference to the famous tagline of the original movie. The series flashes back to the spaceship from the beginning and depicts the shocking chain of events that led to the crew’s demise. This is a dramatic and action-packed episode with an unforgettable ending.
Rating
Alien Earth deftly adds mythology to the burgeoning franchise and proves itself a worthy addition to the series. Variety interviewed Noah Hawley about his thoughts on the series and a potential season 2. Hopefully we’ll see more of this series in the future.
Rating from 1 (avoid at all costs) to 10 (masterpiece): 8
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