Alien: Earth 1x01 Full Reaction!
Added 2025-09-11 12:15:19 +0000 UTC
Comments
I've only ever seen the first Ice Age, so any subtext involving this one is going right over my head. I haven't seen anyone else bring it up, at least.
Ryan
2025-09-11 17:54:22 +0000 UTCI knew this was coming, like you said, the love that Jess has for the franchise alone would guarantee that. Given how she said she was sick, combined with the stressful first week back with, among other things, the emergency with Rocco, I had assumed that was the cause for this not being right away, assuming too that copyright trouble didn’t factor into it. We both did have the incentive of Hawley with this show. He does have that reputation of bending the material to his style whilst keeping the feel of the material in an organic way. There was strong nerd glee with the Nostromo of it all. Fair on the one guy being slightly clunky with the forced exposition, though like Mel Brooks said, everyone’s allowed the modicum of plot and exposition, so it’s another case where you take in the naked exposition, then channel Dark Helmet by saying, “Everybody got that?” Plus it is lightyears better than in The Next Karate Kid. Yeah, we’re agreed on it being dirty pool about teasing us with Richa after she was so great as Indira. As I mentioned, I got excited that she was in this. Damn it. Can see the Rutger Hauer look making it hard to recognize Timothy. His voice is too unmistakable. Sort of figured Jess would know about him being in this. Reminded that I’m so behind on Stranger Things as the line you mention, I do the Michael Keaton thing of throwing my hands up saying, “I don’t even understand the reference.” Google pointed me in the general direction. I did have that similar thought about him gloating to Randy, although funnily enough, Mickey wasn’t even the one to mention Aliens as a superior sequel, though he did say T2, which that one is better than the original. Timothy is fitting in well with those listed, such as David Thewlis. I’d throw in Sam Spruell onto the list. Not seen Legion, though I don’t doubt those you listed from that are great. Timothy is doing good work leading you to quote Malvo, and I Varga. (Kirsh starts going on about the Mormons, I’m out.) The Neverland of it all does feel more like Hawley’s original thing that just happens to work with this franchise. Helping is Alien and Blade Runner always felt like being in the same family. One’s first thought is of doom for this given the prequel nature of this. On the other hand, characters like Kleya, Dedra, and Vel aren’t in the Original Trilogy, and despite expectations, they did live through Andor, much though the leopards did eat Dedra’s face, so it keeps you on your toes as you keep the options open. Hawley loves the very avant garde shots like with Nikki and Ray having the high ground with the air conditioner, and he impresses here with the very seamless shot. Good note on them being kids helps better justify the more stupid mistakes. Sort of like the beginning of Skeleton Crew before the title group found their groove. Had to look up who’s kid was in the Justified continuation. Sounds unfortunate about Timothy’s kid not being up to snuff. Sydney, did not know her dad was Kyle, though she is doing strong work, just as Esmé delivered as Delirium showing she inherited the skill of her mom, who still, the default image of her is in Minority Report as she so thoroughly stole that movie, and I get the image of Agatha in this world, and it’s a nice mental image. Yeah, that is somewhat eerie timing of this being on the anniversary of 9/11. Christ it’s hard to believe that next year will be a quarter of a century since that happened; already jarring as hell when discussing it with co-workers who weren’t even born then. That is the thing with phobias: even if one doesn’t share phobias, we all seem to have one, and there is the comradery as it were. Keep thinking that the phobia of snakes that Jess has rubbed off on me, combined with how my grandma shared the phobia. Completely with her on the aversion to needles. Figured the Tingler variant of the Xenomorph fun would be ungodly terrifying for you, especially knowing how you talk about the scene of Kate Capshaw in the bug tunnel. Again, not seen Legion, so can’t speak to endings there. Hawley’s stuck every landing in Fargo by my estimation. The sole exception being season four, and even then, you can’t entirely blame him for that one, and there was still enough good stuff to not have it be tremendously disappointing. Sure, I wasn’t happy with what happened to Rabbi who was my favorite that season. On the other hand, Ebal was about tied with Oraetta and Doctor Senator for second or third favorite of the season, and I liked the ending he got. Here, I’m fairly confident we’ll have a satisfactory ending. One thing for sure, concur about Jess being the big Alien fan getting just as attached to this does greatly enhance the enjoyment.
Thomas Corp
2025-09-11 17:51:44 +0000 UTCAlways a pleasure to see you giddy with anticipation with a new show, Jess. Reiterating my own ranking of the Alien films: Alien is forever the best film of the franchise, and it is just one of THE BEST sci-fi horror films. Period. Aliens is the close second. You say that you favor Aliens just a smidge, and knowing you, I figured that before you said so. The commonality of the opinion depends on do fans favor horror or action with the films, as that is the litmus test with the franchise in my experience. Wildly unpopular opinion though it continues to be, Prometheus and Alien Covenant are tied for third, my brother goes so far as to say Prometheus is either his favorite or close second favorite of the franchise. Romulus ends up just below them, above Resurrection which is such an over-the-top batshit hysterical film. Still not seen Alien3, so can’t speak to that one. (Again: This is not counting the two films which were also Predator films, not to be mistaken for the six Predator films that are also not Alien films.) And upon completion of this first episode, unsurprisingly, we’re all obsessed. We both avoided trailers. Has more of the Ridley Scott aesthetic, married well with Hawley’s style, which is fine by me. No worries about the somewhat all over the place nature of your thoughts. As you observe, plenty of moving parts, as to be expected with Hawley, so it’s cool. Solid opening with the science vessel. Morrow is proving a worthy successor to Ash, Bishop, especially David. Shame that all the others got killed from the looks of it, especially the character played by Richa Moorjani. Jarring hearing her talk with the far more neutral accent after the Fargo one where she was wonderful as Indira. She got killed, and I said, “Aw, man! And I got excited that she was in this!” The hating having to worry about the dear sweet cats in the Alien franchise, that makes two of us, Jess. Intriguing new wrinkle with the hybrid business that’s created by the boy trillionaire. I guess after the Loch Henry business, this is how a man just destroys himself. Man is he a complete asshole in this. Can’t decide if he or Cater Burke is the more hateful character. Wendy makes a good first impression and Sydney Chandler is good. You spoke of Sydney being Kyle Chandler’s daughter, making me say, “Oh, shit, that’s who that is?” Did not know that until you mentioned that. Love how already the ethics of this rub you the wrong way, and nobody is too reassuring about it, though Wayne seems nice enough. Eins, the character played by Adrian Edmondson emerges as one of my favorite characters of this. Reserve saying that he’s favorite overall until we finish the show. We had the similar response to the needles; I was yelling about how so goddamn FUCKING rude it was to just spring that closeup on us. And we set up a good parallel with Wendy’s brother who I still think of him in The End of the F***ing World before thinking of his manifesto making role in Andor. We both got thrown by the Ice Age of it all. Funny thing is, watching that part, I said, “That’s the fourth one. WOW. I am SO SAD that I knew that. I haven’t even seen that one. SHIT.” People seem to keep saying how it was a weird choice for the prominent emotional sibling bond to be showcased, to which I observe: Maybe. But considering how my brother and I keep swapping youngling memes... Who am I to judge? Before getting to the reunion which of course is coming as you wouldn’t tease that otherwise, we establish a good dynamic with the lost boys. All of them having the names. Yes, one of them is named Smee, who was not a lost boy. The more pressing question is if he c-can’t say he remembers no At-Attin. New variants of the Xenomorph fun is a big delight. Love how you say that you’re dreading the Xenomorph fun, then immediately contradict, “Oh, who am I kidding!?” that’s me as well. Strong response to the Tingler variant. At least that’s my name for it. Which does lead to the question of how the gore will go on youtube. They were fine with you showing the big scene that Kingpin had with Gallo, so we’ll see strict they are with this show, gore-wise. And one of the characters that seems to have everyone’s attention is Kirsh. Of course you’re invested in the Timothy Olyphant of it all, complete with him having a Rutger Hauer look going on. Again, he’s following in the fine tradition of the android characters that have come before. Loved your assessment of him as of this episode. Love how Wendy is quite set on saving her brother, whereas Kirsh seems to be of the opinion that her brother’s death is inevitable, that such a thing is “Perfectly natural. You see it all the time in the wild; the smaller animal going limp in the jaws of the larger. Genetic instinct. At some level, food knows it’s food.” All the same, Wendy is determined, and Kirsh, as you say, does have his hands full. Terrific first reaction, Jess. I am more than completely on board with you reacting to the full thing. However, if the views do not justify that, then I hope you enjoy the show in your own time. Meantime, we have as I say a terrific reaction, Jess, thank you.
Thomas Corp
2025-09-11 17:17:24 +0000 UTCOh, the sound I made when I saw this was up. I figured it had to be coming given how you've talked about being such a fan of the franchise, but it took just long enough after you came back that I started to wonder if it just couldn't fit in the schedule. Noah Hawley is one of the most pure and unique storytelling voices currently working, and hearing he would be behind this instantly got me fully on board despite my reservations at certain choices in Romulus. He's especially proven himself apt at bending existing settings to his own desire while still staying true to their spirit, shown especially here by the flawless recreations of the Nostromo sets to start off. I'm pretty sure I had the exact same look on my face as you through it all. And while the one crew member who's not up on how the world works is a pretty naked exposition device, it's still a fairly painless way to get across what we need. My biggest worry was that the show would lean too much into pandering like Romulus occasionally did, so I was thrilled to see Hawley knows we know exactly where this is going, so he could get away with showing the absolute bare minimum of what happened on the ship before moving on to something more interesting. And very dirty pool to use our lingering affection for Indira Olmstead to make it hurt when she's the first onscreen xenomorph victim, despite how little we actually got to know this character. Kind of a shame you already knew about Timothy Olyphant, since it would have been fun to see how long it took you to recognize him with that hair. I had an immediate gut reaction of "Chrissy, wake up, I don't like this," but quickly got over it since he's doing some of the best, most subtle work of his career here, showing a robot letting out just the barest traces of emotion. And I love imagining his throwing in Randy Meeks' face that he's now in the most beloved entry in the franchise since 1986. "How did that line go again, motherfucker?" He easily fits in among the likes of Billy Bob Thornton, David Thewlis, Aubrey Plaza, and Navid Negahban in delivering Hawley's more philosophical lines from a very twisted moral perspective, until at the end he's basically just explaining why the human eye can see more shades of green than any other color. I kind of get the sense that the whole transhumanism thing was something Hawley had already been thinking of for his own original story, including the Peter Pan motif, but once this opportunity came up he figured it could fit in perfectly. It also carries a vibe of branching into other Ridley Scott projects with Blade Runner, but still manages to feel natural in the world of Alien, and given a whole other layer by how this is a prequel and hybrids haven't shown up anywhere else, so something is probably going to go horribly wrong with them. And yes, I did immediately rewatch that single shot of the hybrids being made several times trying to catch when the actors swapped out off-camera, and never did find any signs. It's so perfectly seamless that it fully earns being preceded with the line "You want to see a magic trick?" Also pretty handy that it provides a blanket excuse for them all making stupid horror movie decisions because, hey, they're kids and haven't learned yet that a strange noise is never just the wind. Speaking of Olyphant, Justified: City Primeval permanently cured me of assuming a great actor's child could inherit any of their talent, but Sydney Chandler is very much proving that she deserves this chance and I can't wait to see where else she can go from here. The spaceship crash is an incredible piece of CGI, and extremely eerie to watch again on the anniversary of 9/11. And as someone who names the ceiling shot from Suspiria (if you've seen it, you know) as one of the most terrifying things in movie history, the giant ticks got to me about as much as you respond to snakes or needles. See, I can empathize sometimes. So now we get to watch a bunch of unprepared kids with robot strength bumble around in there. Joy. This show instantly won me over, and with just a bit more to go my love for it has only grown and I have full faith it will stick the landing (something you can't always count on Hawley for, but when he's on it's insane to watch). And seeing a big Alien fan like you get just as attached adds so much to it.
Ryan
2025-09-11 15:12:19 +0000 UTC
