This caught my eye last night, but I was too tired to watch it. Looks like there will 8 episodes, so I'm curious to see how that goes. Often times, it takes a few episodes for a show to hit its stride.
TV you've just watched
Re: TV you've just watched
Alien: Earth
I find the new Alien show a mixed bag.
It has that distinctive Noah Hawley style that I recognise from Fargo and more clearly from Legion, various small inconsistencies to let the plot run smoothly (a spaceship entering atmosphere and only smashing a skyscraper, other stuff), and small canon mistakes (Aliens mentions that the USA are still around, though corporations really run the planet). It pilfers from SF anime/manga the idea of "children soldiers using powerful weapons" (Wendy/Marcy and the other kids, even though we need to see how powerful their "weapons/mechas" actually are), and from the Dark Horse comics various other minor ideas (e.g. xenomorphs being sensitive to fear).
I guess that the show will involve a lot of world building, so I wonder where they will go with that aspect. I hope that it will not be another six episodes/six hours of people going around corridors and getting slaughtered by one xenomorph (hey, get some more to join the fun!). The occasional dialogues in which characters try to say something smart made me chuckle due to their "high school ethics class" flavour: TV shows and "philosophy" seldom mix, I know, but Hawley and the other writers could perhaps do a bit more research on the topics they wish to "explore".
I found the few xenomorph scenes intriguing because the big X quickly exterminates lots of people in absolutely gruesome manners and, frankly, the first group deserved that (Go, Xenny! Slaughter the rich!). I feel that the visual effect people wanted this specimen to be particularly bulky and scary, so the xenomorph does look different from previous movies. The retro SF look is impressive but it is used in a heterogenous manner: why "New Siam" looks so "modern", but spaceship interiors are straight from the 1970s? Do Weyland-Yutani really love the "zee rust" design so much?
I am rooting for the multi-eyed little fella to survive unscathed, to be honest, and for the xenomorphs to slaughter a few more dozens of detestable people. Hopefully, the whole cast, which I found mostly one-dimensional. If they will evolve over the episodes I would be delighted: their deaths at the hands (pardon, claws) of the xennies will be more enjoyable Go, xennies, go!
The Peter Pan and baseball references give me headaches, anyway. I *do* want the tablets that look like 1970s radios, though.
It has that distinctive Noah Hawley style that I recognise from Fargo and more clearly from Legion, various small inconsistencies to let the plot run smoothly (a spaceship entering atmosphere and only smashing a skyscraper, other stuff), and small canon mistakes (Aliens mentions that the USA are still around, though corporations really run the planet). It pilfers from SF anime/manga the idea of "children soldiers using powerful weapons" (Wendy/Marcy and the other kids, even though we need to see how powerful their "weapons/mechas" actually are), and from the Dark Horse comics various other minor ideas (e.g. xenomorphs being sensitive to fear).
I guess that the show will involve a lot of world building, so I wonder where they will go with that aspect. I hope that it will not be another six episodes/six hours of people going around corridors and getting slaughtered by one xenomorph (hey, get some more to join the fun!). The occasional dialogues in which characters try to say something smart made me chuckle due to their "high school ethics class" flavour: TV shows and "philosophy" seldom mix, I know, but Hawley and the other writers could perhaps do a bit more research on the topics they wish to "explore".
I found the few xenomorph scenes intriguing because the big X quickly exterminates lots of people in absolutely gruesome manners and, frankly, the first group deserved that (Go, Xenny! Slaughter the rich!). I feel that the visual effect people wanted this specimen to be particularly bulky and scary, so the xenomorph does look different from previous movies. The retro SF look is impressive but it is used in a heterogenous manner: why "New Siam" looks so "modern", but spaceship interiors are straight from the 1970s? Do Weyland-Yutani really love the "zee rust" design so much?

I am rooting for the multi-eyed little fella to survive unscathed, to be honest, and for the xenomorphs to slaughter a few more dozens of detestable people. Hopefully, the whole cast, which I found mostly one-dimensional. If they will evolve over the episodes I would be delighted: their deaths at the hands (pardon, claws) of the xennies will be more enjoyable Go, xennies, go!
The Peter Pan and baseball references give me headaches, anyway. I *do* want the tablets that look like 1970s radios, though.
"The only desire the Culture could not satisfy from within itself was one common to both the descendants of its original human stock and the machines [...]: the urge not to feel useless."
I.M. Banks, "Consider Phlebas" (1988: 43).
I.M. Banks, "Consider Phlebas" (1988: 43).
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Re: Alien: Earth
I find myself being a hypocrite. I will say it retreads old ground too much, but what new there is just doesn't feel "Alien universe" to me. Disney brought Star Wars to Earth like environments and now the Alien universe is on Earth too. Like who would have thought that in an Alien universe, an Alien would gate crash a party?

Looking at this mornings advert on facebook, the messages seem scripted.
Rick Errington
Very good
14h
Reply
Terry Throop
Loved the first two episodes
14h
Reply
Ben Eld
Loving the first episode
21h
Reply
Wez Ratcliffe
Loving it so far
14h
Reply
Terry Hodson
First two episodes have been awesome.
11h
Reply
Shayee Carter
loved it can't wait for more
17h
Reply
Thomas Mailley
Been very good so far love the blade runner links. Transitions into the flashbacks through me a little wasn't expecting the fever dream type of filming but it worked well.
1h
Reply
Mark Ball
Its Brilliant a sure fire hit..
1d
Reply
Jan Marjan Majeran
Best thing on disney rn
1h
Reply
Richard Halford
Awesome so far very much the feel of Alien with a big dip into Blade Runner.
The aug steyr pulse rifles and maxim 9 were very cool.
1h
Reply
Steven Pooler
Throughly enjoyed first two episodes, can't wait for more releases
1h
Reply
Cam Whiley
Love how they used the 80s style cameras and the setting is just immaculate! Loving it so far
This industry has become 2 dimensional as it transcended into a 3D world.
Re: TV you've just watched
Yeah, but that's fb for you. Also, my comments on it in the movies thread were basically 'love it so far'. A lot of the time peeps just want confirmation others are liking the same stuff, and save the analysis for elsewhere (if they can be arsed to analyse; I often can't).
Alien: Earth
I actually agree on the show recycling it too much and then shoveling Disney-style stuff in; I forgot that the big D was behind this. Another headache, really.
I think that it feels like a show designed to be “1980s cyberpunk throwback at all costs”, and then they added the xenomorphs because the big D now owns everything and they thought ‘why not?’. I safely avoided their output for decades but they caught me off guard, this time.
When the xenomorph gatecrashed the party I definitely started rooting for the Alien(s), anyway. If there will be more occasions in which the “Big Chap” dismembers obnoxious characters (i.e. more or less everyone, so far), I consider myself satisfied.
I do think that I should watch this with my father when I am back in the homeland (not this summer; work matters and so on). I think that he would snap every five minutes and I would laugh for hours thanks to his ‘angry nerd’ tirades
I think that it feels like a show designed to be “1980s cyberpunk throwback at all costs”, and then they added the xenomorphs because the big D now owns everything and they thought ‘why not?’. I safely avoided their output for decades but they caught me off guard, this time.
When the xenomorph gatecrashed the party I definitely started rooting for the Alien(s), anyway. If there will be more occasions in which the “Big Chap” dismembers obnoxious characters (i.e. more or less everyone, so far), I consider myself satisfied.
I do think that I should watch this with my father when I am back in the homeland (not this summer; work matters and so on). I think that he would snap every five minutes and I would laugh for hours thanks to his ‘angry nerd’ tirades

"The only desire the Culture could not satisfy from within itself was one common to both the descendants of its original human stock and the machines [...]: the urge not to feel useless."
I.M. Banks, "Consider Phlebas" (1988: 43).
I.M. Banks, "Consider Phlebas" (1988: 43).
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Re: TV you've just watched
Mr In Between is brilliant.
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Re: Alien: Earth
There has a been a trend with certain directors and Ridley Scott and Jim Cameron definitely fit into it.
Terminator 2 was a reiminaging of Terminator. Just better effects. Same story, just told slightly differently. (Jim Cameron). Even T3, went down the same road again. Terminator back in time, blah blah blah.
Avatar 2 was just a slight rescript of Avatar. Same story, just told slightly differently. (Jim Cameron). I believe Avatar 3 will be the same.
Then you had Aliens, which whilst a continuation, had many aspects copied, vamped up and told again. (Ridley Scott/Jim Cameron)
But with Alien, its gone a bit too far. We have 6 or so movies and a TV show, which regurgitates the same storyline everytime. So its not that Alien Earth is retreading old ground, its that the formula has been done to death.
And another thing I'm not liking about Alien Earth, is the fact that 50 odd security rescue officers have wandered into this crashed spaceship, found 15 people dead inside by chest buster deaths, alien species in the lab rooms, dead people everywhere by means of violent conduct (not crash related), including 2 officers which just entered the ship, and no fucking quarantine/alarm or anything. The show writers are ignoring common sense practices.
Back when I was 13 years old, I took entertainment for what it is, entertainment. But I analyse things a bit too deep these days. Why did he do that? Why doesn't he do that? Why are you just fucking standing there when alien dribble has fallen onto your body?

This industry has become 2 dimensional as it transcended into a 3D world.
Re: Alien: Earth
Definitely. But like I said in the movies thread, I'm not sure there's much left to say about the xenomorphs or the company (that would be of interest to me). Origin stories are largely a turn off -- if you explain everything you leave nothing for viewers to mull over or interpret. Endless sequels follow a trend of diminishing returns, as ideas start to link back to the source in increasingly tenuous ways (and usually with decreasing budgets!), and any writing talent associated with the original idea has long departed to work on fresh projects. Remakes? Not sure anyone wants a scene-for-scene reshoot of the classics. So that leaves reboots in the form of these parallel/sidequel?/midquel? stories. I think this show has the potential to work on that level, but it needs to leave a lot of the old formula behind. Since the xeno feels so well known now it's sort of reduced to generic monster status, a bit like the zombies in Walking Dead. So there's three options: tell a decent story of human drama against this generic monster backdrop, or change the backdrop and add different monsters (in which case, why bother setting it in the aliens universe at all? Oh yeah, $$$ fan loyalty $$$). Third option is to do both; I think that's what they're going for here. I'll try to reserve judgment for now, as it's early days.neorichieb1971 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 15, 2025 12:19 pmThere has a been a trend with certain directors and Ridley Scott and Jim Cameron definitely fit into it.
Terminator 2 was a reiminaging of Terminator. Just better effects. Same story, just told slightly differently. (Jim Cameron). Even T3, went down the same road again. Terminator back in time, blah blah blah.
Avatar 2 was just a slight rescript of Avatar. Same story, just told slightly differently. (Jim Cameron). I believe Avatar 3 will be the same.
Then you had Aliens, which whilst a continuation, had many aspects copied, vamped up and told again. (Ridley Scott/Jim Cameron)
But with Alien, its gone a bit too far. We have 6 or so movies and a TV show, which regurgitates the same storyline everytime. So its not that Alien Earth is retreading old ground, its that the formula has been done to death.
Re: Alien: Earth
That's why Alien:Resurrection is by far the best of the Alien movies that came after Aliens. Just pure schlock, dialed that shit up to 13. Like Jason goes to space kind of nonsense.
The emotional core in the franchise was severed when they threw all the expanded universe characters in the second one into the trash. Ripley's cat, her husband, her robot lover, her newt. At that point, yeah screw it.
If you can tell the movies/shows in a franchise apart from the marketing/movie poster alone, that's already a win in the memespace inside our brains.
So real Prometheus vibes eh.
The emotional core in the franchise was severed when they threw all the expanded universe characters in the second one into the trash. Ripley's cat, her husband, her robot lover, her newt. At that point, yeah screw it.
If you can tell the movies/shows in a franchise apart from the marketing/movie poster alone, that's already a win in the memespace inside our brains.
neorichieb1971 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 15, 2025 12:19 pmBack when I was 13 years old, I took entertainment for what it is, entertainment. But I analyse things a bit too deep these days. Why did he do that? Why doesn't he do that? Why are you just fucking standing there when alien dribble has fallen onto your body?
So real Prometheus vibes eh.
Re: TV you've just watched
General comments...
recycling, my two cents: Hollywood has been "recycling land" for decades, Alien is Horror province and horror on the big/small screen is about repeating a formula well beyond death, so the show being horribly formulaic is not exactly surprising and not even depressing; just vaguely annoying.
Internal logic/coherence: The writing feels ham-fisted in this regard. I think that Hawley and co. wanted some eye-catching visuals and pretentious-sounding dialogues and decided to ignore how to get from point A to point B of the story without just making up stuff at random.
There is also a degree of "vanity writing" stealing time from "common-sense framing" scenes: a 5-minute scene on some famous baseball player of the 1970s, in a show set in 2120 in Thailand? Hawley and co. might as well as appeared in the show and give a monologue about how delicious their favourite diabetes-inducing breakfast cereals are (...maybe we will get one in episode 3).
The whole franchise: Dark Horse tried to develop the whole fictional setting with their first comics run (1988-1998). There was a lot of world building and most of the stories reduced the "bug hunt/slasher monster" tripe to a minimum; the rest was sometimes relatively decent ruminations on human beings, greed, space and so on. Some books published in the 1980s and 1990s also offered interesting plots and ruminations with the excuse of using the xenomorphs as a catalyst for some dramatic change.
Dark Horse eventually ran out of decent stories and worked on reprints and the occasional special issue (1999-2008), then switched to regurgitating the same "bug hunt/slasher monster" ideas for a few more years (2009-2018), until Marvel/Disney acquired the rights and provided their own brand of regurgitation (2019-now). There is the occasional decent comic, from what I have read; most of it is "more of the same".
If the show continues along these rails, I am fine with the scenes in which the xennies brutally dismember people, and maybe I will just "watch" the rest of each episode at double speed. Pet peeve: xenomorphs are eyeless, by the way. Since Alien 3, there is at least one scene per movie in which the camera shows a xenomorph's first person view, which looks mostly like a human's.
Simple fact of life: without eyes, "seeing" works differently. Photograph directors could try to imagine how xenomorphs would navigate space without eyes and perhaps offer that kind of first-person view. Comics did this by showing that xenomorphs have something like eco-location, which can be simulated with cheap CGI programs, and would look "cool" and "alien", I guess. Predator did that in 1987. Just sayin'.
recycling, my two cents: Hollywood has been "recycling land" for decades, Alien is Horror province and horror on the big/small screen is about repeating a formula well beyond death, so the show being horribly formulaic is not exactly surprising and not even depressing; just vaguely annoying.
Internal logic/coherence: The writing feels ham-fisted in this regard. I think that Hawley and co. wanted some eye-catching visuals and pretentious-sounding dialogues and decided to ignore how to get from point A to point B of the story without just making up stuff at random.
There is also a degree of "vanity writing" stealing time from "common-sense framing" scenes: a 5-minute scene on some famous baseball player of the 1970s, in a show set in 2120 in Thailand? Hawley and co. might as well as appeared in the show and give a monologue about how delicious their favourite diabetes-inducing breakfast cereals are (...maybe we will get one in episode 3).
The whole franchise: Dark Horse tried to develop the whole fictional setting with their first comics run (1988-1998). There was a lot of world building and most of the stories reduced the "bug hunt/slasher monster" tripe to a minimum; the rest was sometimes relatively decent ruminations on human beings, greed, space and so on. Some books published in the 1980s and 1990s also offered interesting plots and ruminations with the excuse of using the xenomorphs as a catalyst for some dramatic change.
Dark Horse eventually ran out of decent stories and worked on reprints and the occasional special issue (1999-2008), then switched to regurgitating the same "bug hunt/slasher monster" ideas for a few more years (2009-2018), until Marvel/Disney acquired the rights and provided their own brand of regurgitation (2019-now). There is the occasional decent comic, from what I have read; most of it is "more of the same".
If the show continues along these rails, I am fine with the scenes in which the xennies brutally dismember people, and maybe I will just "watch" the rest of each episode at double speed. Pet peeve: xenomorphs are eyeless, by the way. Since Alien 3, there is at least one scene per movie in which the camera shows a xenomorph's first person view, which looks mostly like a human's.
Simple fact of life: without eyes, "seeing" works differently. Photograph directors could try to imagine how xenomorphs would navigate space without eyes and perhaps offer that kind of first-person view. Comics did this by showing that xenomorphs have something like eco-location, which can be simulated with cheap CGI programs, and would look "cool" and "alien", I guess. Predator did that in 1987. Just sayin'.
"The only desire the Culture could not satisfy from within itself was one common to both the descendants of its original human stock and the machines [...]: the urge not to feel useless."
I.M. Banks, "Consider Phlebas" (1988: 43).
I.M. Banks, "Consider Phlebas" (1988: 43).
Re: TV you've just watched
The isekai series I Became An Evolving Space Monster does kind of a good job of explaining the issue. At first it's novel and entertaining enough, but like with most web novels it has the problem when it comes to endurance. The protagonist will kill people and level up, and that's pretty much the beginning and end of its depth.
On the flipside, the monsters in I Became The Tyrant Of A Defense Game are given a little bit more depth and emotional drive for their actions. They make for far more interesting villains than 'wah this thing will kill u (but not eat u)'. It's a bit crazy when you stop to think about it: Xenomorphs are a worse bad guy from a story construction standpoint than a wild animal.
'Cause I've got all kinds of wild animal stories. The horrible chimp wars. Anything about tigers, who'll get really fuckin' pissed if you even take a finger off the carcass of its hunted prey or touch their babies. Compared to that, what's a xenomorph, besides some asshole who'll tear you apart for no reason?
There's a lot of 'adventurer in space' tabletop stuff that carries on with the theme of looting/salvaging dead alien tech in unknown worlds. It's actually a really interesting theme for a dungeon crawl, like how the first movie was a neat twist on the cliche haunted house story. Just as long as it doesn't devolve into a 20 minute long xenomorph chase sequence again, yeah?
On the flipside, the monsters in I Became The Tyrant Of A Defense Game are given a little bit more depth and emotional drive for their actions. They make for far more interesting villains than 'wah this thing will kill u (but not eat u)'. It's a bit crazy when you stop to think about it: Xenomorphs are a worse bad guy from a story construction standpoint than a wild animal.
'Cause I've got all kinds of wild animal stories. The horrible chimp wars. Anything about tigers, who'll get really fuckin' pissed if you even take a finger off the carcass of its hunted prey or touch their babies. Compared to that, what's a xenomorph, besides some asshole who'll tear you apart for no reason?
There's a lot of 'adventurer in space' tabletop stuff that carries on with the theme of looting/salvaging dead alien tech in unknown worlds. It's actually a really interesting theme for a dungeon crawl, like how the first movie was a neat twist on the cliche haunted house story. Just as long as it doesn't devolve into a 20 minute long xenomorph chase sequence again, yeah?
Re: TV you've just watched
Unpopular opinion - Resurrection is the only bad Alien movie. There are, of course, only two great Alien movies.
The Predator/AVP franchise on the other hand makes the Alien sequels look like fucking Shakespeare.
Alien Earth is a mixed bag so far, for reasons stated above but Im glad it exists.
The Predator/AVP franchise on the other hand makes the Alien sequels look like fucking Shakespeare.
Alien Earth is a mixed bag so far, for reasons stated above but Im glad it exists.
Re: TV you've just watched
Eh, it's not unpopular, it's just different people like different things about movies. Alien 3 has its fans who enjoy bleak absolute black suffocating misery. Resurrection is like the Space Balls of Alien, after all.
Alien 3 even ranks higher than it slightly on IMDB.
Re: TV you've just watched
I stick by what I said about Alien Resurrection. Everything structural about the movie was correct (the overall story, the action, the special effects, the tone). Where it failed hard was the script. I can't even tell if the actors are good or not because someone handed them all dog shit to read.
But even given that, it's still a better movie (IMHO) than A3 was. It's the third best Alien movie. At least I had fun watching it, unlike A3 which I actively thought sucked the whole time. Only thing I liked about A3 was the creature designs and the toys.
Will watch this new show soon. Interested to see opinions as it continues.
But even given that, it's still a better movie (IMHO) than A3 was. It's the third best Alien movie. At least I had fun watching it, unlike A3 which I actively thought sucked the whole time. Only thing I liked about A3 was the creature designs and the toys.
Will watch this new show soon. Interested to see opinions as it continues.
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Re: TV you've just watched
Alien earth - 2nd viewing
I watched it with my wife this time.
Up until the crash i'm 100% ok with the way it went.
After the crash. Iillogical decisions crept in. Like 1) People were dead onboard, obviously not from the crash, no alarm raised. 2) 2 newbies on board, get killed, no alarm raised. 3) New rescuers on board, find chest busted humans, no alarms raised. 4) A lab full of alien bodies, no alarm raised. 5) In a 120 odd storey building, press lift button, lift is there in 1.5 seconds. 6) 3 or 4 rescuers with machine guns get slaughted in 1.5 seconds, Marcies brother without a weapon runs for at least 20 seconds. 6) Did I mention no alarm was raised? 7) The story of Marcie and her brother seems more interesting to me at this point by the end of ep2, the alien story seems to be a sideshow.
Conveniently comms are all down, but Mark Zuckerburg is watching everything on cameras. Maybe I missed it, were the comms deliberately switched off?
Just like many movies/tv shows, if the people are supposed to die, they just fall like storm troopers. But when they are meant to survive, they survive even against all the odds.
What I do like -
1) A potential war between the 2 companies.
Its worth watching and I will watch all 8 episodes. Sometimes we just watch shit because its the trending thing.
I watched it with my wife this time.
Up until the crash i'm 100% ok with the way it went.
After the crash. Iillogical decisions crept in. Like 1) People were dead onboard, obviously not from the crash, no alarm raised. 2) 2 newbies on board, get killed, no alarm raised. 3) New rescuers on board, find chest busted humans, no alarms raised. 4) A lab full of alien bodies, no alarm raised. 5) In a 120 odd storey building, press lift button, lift is there in 1.5 seconds. 6) 3 or 4 rescuers with machine guns get slaughted in 1.5 seconds, Marcies brother without a weapon runs for at least 20 seconds. 6) Did I mention no alarm was raised? 7) The story of Marcie and her brother seems more interesting to me at this point by the end of ep2, the alien story seems to be a sideshow.

Just like many movies/tv shows, if the people are supposed to die, they just fall like storm troopers. But when they are meant to survive, they survive even against all the odds.
What I do like -
1) A potential war between the 2 companies.
Its worth watching and I will watch all 8 episodes. Sometimes we just watch shit because its the trending thing.
This industry has become 2 dimensional as it transcended into a 3D world.
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Re: TV you've just watched
neorichieb1971 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 17, 2025 8:26 pm Alien earth - 2nd viewing
I watched it with my wife this time.
Up until the crash i'm 100% ok with the way it went.
After the crash. Iillogical decisions crept in. Like 1) People were dead onboard, obviously not from the crash, no alarm raised. 2) 2 newbies on board, get killed, no alarm raised. 3) New rescuers on board, find chest busted humans, no alarms raised. 4) A lab full of alien bodies, no alarm raised. 5) In a 120 odd storey building, press lift button, lift is there in 1.5 seconds. 6) 3 or 4 rescuers with machine guns get slaughted in 1.5 seconds, Marcies brother without a weapon runs for at least 20 seconds. 6) Did I mention no alarm was raised? 7) The story of Marcie and her brother seems more interesting to me at this point by the end of ep2, the alien story seems to be a sideshow.Conveniently comms are all down, but Mark Zuckerburg is watching everything on cameras. Maybe I missed it, were the comms deliberately switched off?
Just like many movies/tv shows, if the people are supposed to die, they just fall like storm troopers. But when they are meant to survive, they survive even against all the odds.
What I do like -
1) A potential war between the 2 companies.
Its worth watching and I will watch all 8 episodes. Sometimes we just watch shit because its the trending thing.
A war between Weyland-Yutani and the Prodigy Corporation would be interesting see to happen/unfold, especially between the two conglomerate owners whom are trillonaries as it is -- spending money like nothing on military excursions to get the job done right the first time -- plus Wey-Yu's eagerness to acquire the xenomorphs (at any costs including employees deemed "expendable" to further the "Company's agenda/goal/endgame" for supremacy over the other four corporations) for their bio-weapons division branch side of things (as they did in the movie Alien Romulus but had to "write it off as a loss" for the time being).
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It's interesting to note that the events that take place in "Alien Earth" occur two years earlier to what happens in the first Alien film. Writer/director Noah Hawley has said if AE gets more seasons "green-lit/made," he hints that there's a possibility that it could tie-in into the first Alien movie -- we'll see if that happens or not.
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PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
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Re: TV you've just watched
PC Engine Fan X! wrote: ↑Mon Aug 18, 2025 6:46 pmQuote from Aliens -neorichieb1971 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 17, 2025 8:26 pm Alien earth - 2nd viewing
I watched it with my wife this time.
----------
It's interesting to note that the events that take place in "Alien Earth" occur two years earlier to what happens in the first Alien film. Writer/director Noah Hawley has said if AE gets more seasons "green-lit/made," he hints that there's a possibility that it could tie-in into the first Alien movie -- we'll see if that happens or not.
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PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
ECA REP - In boardroom scene
To be perfectly frank, we've surveyed over three hundred worlds and no one's ever reported a creature which, using your words.... 'gestates in a living human host, and has concentrated moleculear acid for blood'.
To be fair, this alien in AE hasn't done that. But it will be interesting to see how future episodes handle it. Probably use something stupid like an alternative universe. I mean, if those aliens get out and start taking out a city block, its ignoring the fundamental scripts of the previous movies.
This industry has become 2 dimensional as it transcended into a 3D world.
Re: TV you've just watched
I mean to be fair, Alien Covenant (which I believe Hawley said he is disregarding along with Prometheus) and Alien Isolation both contradict that plot point as well. It's kind of necessary if you want to do any prequels at all. Also, clearly Burke knows that Ripley is telling the truth about the Xenomorphs, so quite possibly the ECA and/or the general public aren't aware of its existence but W-Y obviously know about it, although it's a bit hard to believe the general public would be unaware if the events of either Covenant or Isolation are canon.
Not sure if you've watched Ep 3 yet, but
Not sure if you've watched Ep 3 yet, but
Spoiler
They end up bringing the xenos and eggs back to the Prodigy base without it getting loose into the city, so the general public is none the wiser.

We here shall not rest until we have made a drawing-room of your shaft, and if you do not all finally go down to your doom in patent-leather shoes, then you shall not go at all.
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Re: TV you've just watched
it290 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 20, 2025 7:45 pm I mean to be fair, Alien Covenant (which I believe Hawley said he is disregarding along with Prometheus) and Alien Isolation both contradict that plot point as well. It's kind of necessary if you want to do any prequels at all. Also, clearly Burke knows that Ripley is telling the truth about the Xenomorphs, so quite possibly the ECA and/or the general public aren't aware of its existence but W-Y obviously know about it, although it's a bit hard to believe the general public would be unaware if the events of either Covenant or Isolation are canon.
Not sure if you've watched Ep 3 yet, but
Spoiler
They end up bringing the xenos and eggs back to the Prodigy base without it getting loose into the city, so the general public is none the wiser.
I finally watched Alien Earth Episode 3 "Metamorphosis" with a running time of 54 minutes -- it falls back to a few familiar callbacks with the Alien and Blade Runner films (they both co-exist together according to Ridley Scott himself). Sure, Ms Yutani has spent billions to gather up the alien specimens and has absolutely nothing to show for it -- you bet that Weyland-Yutani will get their "property" back no matter the expenditures to do so (even if it entails utilizing a "silent but heavily armed" special forces extraction team to pull it off if it needed be -- they, too, could up being alien fodder just as well if shit hits the fan).
I definitely enjoyed watching this 3rd episode of AE as it masterfully cranks up the tension factor a few notches higher which sets up for an very interesting high-stakes "cat & mouse" situation with both the Prodigy Corporation and Weyland-Yutani at each other's throats.
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GaijinPunch
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Re: TV you've just watched
He lives!!! Well, I only post here these days...SuperPang wrote: ↑Sat Aug 16, 2025 11:29 am Unpopular opinion - Resurrection is the only bad Alien movie. There are, of course, only two great Alien movies.
The Predator/AVP franchise on the other hand makes the Alien sequels look like fucking Shakespeare.
Alien Earth is a mixed bag so far, for reasons stated above but Im glad it exists.
Hope you're, well, brotha!
RegalSin wrote:New PowerPuff Girls. They all have evil pornstart eyelashes.
Re: TV you've just watched
new phone who dis?
Much the same but older and more jaded.
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Re: TV you've just watched
Episode 4 of Alien Earth premieres on Hulu+ today, 8/26/2025 at 5:00pm PST. If you've watched some of the AE trailers, you'll notice that a group of Prodigy military grunts decked out in full armored gear walking outside the Prodigy island itself -- that particular scene would give us a tantalizing clue that the captured Weyland-Yutani cargo has escaped their confines of the underground lab and all hell's broken loose (leading to a "worst case" senario of what to do next?). Episode 4 of AE should be well worth the wait indeed.
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
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Re: TV you've just watched
Alien Earth's fourth episode deals with some rather surprising further character development -- the very last ten minutes is the payoff that you won't see coming.
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
Craaarr, Crrrrr, Hisss!
No! I saw it coming! I talk with me ol' boy Xenny every day and we lots of interesting screech convos all the time! crarr, creee, hisss and all those cute noises, indeed! (....They are pilfering from the Dark Horse Comics a lot, regarding xenomorphs; I might write down a list of possible ideas that they will pilfer in episodes 5-8. I swear that I would also pet "big snake", too).
The show is terrible, in particular the writing (or: "so bad, it's actually hilarious"), and Noah Hawley should be forbidden from ever even thinking about Science Fiction, never mind about writing Science Fiction; the lad has the speculative/intellectual abilities of an intellectually impaired US teen from a public school (i.e. a considerably higher than the average shmup member, indeed).
The show mostly features deeply turgid writing from writers who seem to lack decent knowledge or even basic readings about the issues they would like to talk about (e.g. consciousness, identity, etc.), let alone the whole Alien franchise. Simply put, Icycalm or BryanM could write better shows as personal fanfics, I suspect.
However, "xenomorph moments" are almost endearing (i.e. they show xenomorphs' phases in a lot of detail), and the furniture in the Prodigy's base is just plain fantastic. I was tempted to discover if I can find a sofa like the one that Boy Cavalier has in his own personal room. By the end of the episode, I was expecting a duet between "Snake head" and Wendy, in Space Balls style.
Also, three cheers for the multi-eyed alien friend: I really hope it gets to the end of the show and does a Houdini. If him and the xenomorphs "win", at the end of the series, I will be the show's official N.1's fan. I swear
The show is terrible, in particular the writing (or: "so bad, it's actually hilarious"), and Noah Hawley should be forbidden from ever even thinking about Science Fiction, never mind about writing Science Fiction; the lad has the speculative/intellectual abilities of an intellectually impaired US teen from a public school (i.e. a considerably higher than the average shmup member, indeed).
The show mostly features deeply turgid writing from writers who seem to lack decent knowledge or even basic readings about the issues they would like to talk about (e.g. consciousness, identity, etc.), let alone the whole Alien franchise. Simply put, Icycalm or BryanM could write better shows as personal fanfics, I suspect.
However, "xenomorph moments" are almost endearing (i.e. they show xenomorphs' phases in a lot of detail), and the furniture in the Prodigy's base is just plain fantastic. I was tempted to discover if I can find a sofa like the one that Boy Cavalier has in his own personal room. By the end of the episode, I was expecting a duet between "Snake head" and Wendy, in Space Balls style.
Also, three cheers for the multi-eyed alien friend: I really hope it gets to the end of the show and does a Houdini. If him and the xenomorphs "win", at the end of the series, I will be the show's official N.1's fan. I swear

"The only desire the Culture could not satisfy from within itself was one common to both the descendants of its original human stock and the machines [...]: the urge not to feel useless."
I.M. Banks, "Consider Phlebas" (1988: 43).
I.M. Banks, "Consider Phlebas" (1988: 43).
Re: TV you've just watched
Well, I am watched up through Episode 3 of Alien Earth.
I'm entertained enough right now to keep watching it. I will say that there were some aspects that bothered me, but nothing that I can't wave away.
My main problem, as neorichieb stated, was the terribly illogical course of events surrounding the "crash" and the subsequent search and rescue. They have these people rushing into a building that could potentially fall down and crush everyone at any moment, and they are just playing it for suspense. As if that's just normal protocol for these private security guys to just walk into buildings that might fall down at any moment without checking to see what's up first. They didn't have to do it like that, they could have had the ship crash any fucking where in the planet, but they chose a tall building, and they chose to play up the fact that it was in an immanent state of collapse. Stupid.
And I'm sure it's been mentioned, but they were definitely trying for a 9-11 metaphor with first responders. That pissed me off. I felt very pandered to.
I also don't love how all these main characters are like kids, because it's clearly just a plot device to explain why they are going to keep doing stupid things. Thanks. Love it.
Other than that, it was alright. I liked the sets and the action and even some of the characters. The writing is by and large okay. I like the fact that they put Billy Idol in charge of the kids. Fun. And I liked the Metallica outro.
I'm entertained enough right now to keep watching it. I will say that there were some aspects that bothered me, but nothing that I can't wave away.
My main problem, as neorichieb stated, was the terribly illogical course of events surrounding the "crash" and the subsequent search and rescue. They have these people rushing into a building that could potentially fall down and crush everyone at any moment, and they are just playing it for suspense. As if that's just normal protocol for these private security guys to just walk into buildings that might fall down at any moment without checking to see what's up first. They didn't have to do it like that, they could have had the ship crash any fucking where in the planet, but they chose a tall building, and they chose to play up the fact that it was in an immanent state of collapse. Stupid.
And I'm sure it's been mentioned, but they were definitely trying for a 9-11 metaphor with first responders. That pissed me off. I felt very pandered to.
I also don't love how all these main characters are like kids, because it's clearly just a plot device to explain why they are going to keep doing stupid things. Thanks. Love it.
Other than that, it was alright. I liked the sets and the action and even some of the characters. The writing is by and large okay. I like the fact that they put Billy Idol in charge of the kids. Fun. And I liked the Metallica outro.
grrrls
HB0's Girls Season 1. In the great naming tradition of The Golden Girls, Gilmore Girls, Girlfriends, and The Boys, the title could not be more of a placeholder if it where called "Untitled". Missed it when it was new-new. Still feels fresh. Rule-breaking applies. Gal gave it the hard pass after 2 eps. She has no patience for the diamond-in-the-rough quartet of characters. I do. Having weird character traits does not make a total weirdo, it's what one does with it. Inexperience leads to mistakes and hilarious situations, etc. The high humour got over my head one time and I had to back up for it, and that's rare. This is not Tax and the City or Seinfeld.
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Re: grrrls
NYN wrote: ↑Tue Sep 02, 2025 10:37 am HB0's Girls Season 1. In the great naming tradition of The Golden Girls, Gilmore Girls, Girlfriends, and The Boys, the title could not be more of a placeholder if it where called "Untitled". Missed it when it was new-new. Still feels fresh. Rule-breaking applies. Gal gave it the hard pass after 2 eps. She has no patience for the diamond-in-the-rough quartet of characters. I do. Having weird character traits does not make a total weirdo, it's what one does with it. Inexperience leads to mistakes and hilarious situations, etc. The high humour got over my head one time and I had to back up for it, and that's rare. This is not Tax and the City or Seinfeld.
The actress/director of Lena Dunham directed some of the Girls episodes herself -- she also directed and starred in the "Tiny Furniture" movie (circa 2010).
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
girl boss
Yeah. I was loosely informed about it, since I gather more info about a thing I came in contact with than before. And the credit roll to the first eps
, it's her name over many creative slots. Creator and writer, etc. Much.

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Re: TV you've just watched
Foundation - Apple plus.
I must be the only one watching this. Great sci fi with quite a bit of filler, but it has a great budget, great actors and always keeps you peeled into it.
I think the timeline spans 3000 years so its different in that aspect. Season 3 is up to Ep8 and i'm up to date.
Alien Earth - Ep4 - Disney plus
Watching with my wife 2 eps at a time. I'm looking forward to each episode but the thing that bothers me a bit is that I don't know the direction, the incentives, the end goal of anything about this story.
Based on the timeline of the movies the end game is a cover up?
I must be the only one watching this. Great sci fi with quite a bit of filler, but it has a great budget, great actors and always keeps you peeled into it.
I think the timeline spans 3000 years so its different in that aspect. Season 3 is up to Ep8 and i'm up to date.
Alien Earth - Ep4 - Disney plus
Watching with my wife 2 eps at a time. I'm looking forward to each episode but the thing that bothers me a bit is that I don't know the direction, the incentives, the end goal of anything about this story.
Based on the timeline of the movies the end game is a cover up?
This industry has become 2 dimensional as it transcended into a 3D world.
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Re: TV you've just watched
Finally checked out episode 5 of Alien Earth which returns back to the events that transpire before episode one. Clocking in at one hour & 4 minutes in duration, it has quite a bit of high tension & nail biting scenes that are the hallmarks of what makes an Alien movie work/tick. Add in the classic Nostromo interiors along with some slick action scenes, it's what the first Alien movie should've had from the very beginning (assuming if the Nostromo crew had access to guns which would've changed the overall dynamics of the story altogether, but in AE, it all works/gels together as it should). It seems that the Prodigy Corporation wants what Ms. Yutani has scored aboard the ship itself making for a rather interesting wrinkle to the overall situation between Yutani-Weyland & Prodigy companies in for a quite an "epic showdown" with three episodes remaining.
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~