(This article contains spoilers)
The Xenomorphs are back! After Alien: Romulus in 2024, the franchise created by director Ridley Scott, writer Dan O’Bannon and producer Ronald Shusett is now coming to TV with its first live series Alien: Earth, led by showrunner Noah Hawley (Fargo). Set in 2120, the events unfold before the first movie, Alien, released in 1979.
When the mysterious deep space research vessel USCSS Maginot crash-lands on Earth, Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet’s greatest threat.
In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream
But we’re on Earth, and things are about to become very ugly.
First of all, it looks great. They kept the signature art direction of the early movies: the technology, the room design, the costume design. The opening sequence could also be directly taken from the first movie. The ship design is more modern, but it’s a detail as it’s never been a real focus. One of the best choices is undeniably to have practical effects. The Xenomorph, played by stunt actor Cameron Brown (who’s also vegan, which is so ironic), fits perfectly into the scenes, anchoring them in a believable reality.
In Alien: Earth, three technologies have been created in a race for power: cyborgs (cybernetically enhanced humans), synthetics (artificially intelligent beings), and hybrids. Hybrids are “synthetic beings downloaded with human subconsciousness”, a new concept in the Alien universe. Created by trillionaire Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), hybrids are a brand new technology, a real revolution.
Of course, my first thought immediately went to Ghost in the Shell, and specifically Motoko Kusanagi, its main character. Just like the young Motoko whose “ghost” was transferred into a synthetic body (though her origin story can be slightly different depending on the material), Marcy, a terminally ill young girl, has been downloaded into a synthetic body named Wendy. The difference here is that Motoko can change her body, while Wendy seems to be stuck in hers (at least, for what we know). It’s worth noting that both live in a body that don’t belong to them. While Motoko can leave her state-issued body, Wendy is trapped in someone else’s property, because I don’t think Kavalier just gave an 11 year-old child this advanced technology for free. So who signed her entire being off to this trillionaire?
Kids With a Job
If I’m a big fan of Ghost in the Shell, I have questions about Alien: Earth and having literal children put into adult bodies. So far, nothing creepy happened but even without that, we’re supposed to believe a bunch of sick kids suddenly become superbeings because they now have an unbreakable body and superhuman abilities? If it wasn’t for Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), the synth in charge of this rescue team of sorts, managing everyone’s fear, they wouldn’t go very far.
The idea is that the machine — their body — is equipped with a “supermind” of its own, somehow operated by the conscience of the child who will learn and grow, become more mature with time and experience. We can’t rush that. But we see them still acting very much like children, immaturity included. How is that supposed to work? Even with a supercomputer in lieu of their original brain, they need to learn how to use it, control it, ease their conscience into the machine. I have so many questions.
How do they even know how to take decisions, work together, or even use advanced critical thinking in time of crisis? Do they let their AI take over? Do they just trust the computer to shove their conscience in a corner of the software to execute a series of actions?
There’s no real training session, no lesson of any kind, they’re just downloaded in their synthetic bodies, spend time together in a room talking like preteens do, we briefly see them “train” in ways they don’t need to (rope jumping, pushups) in the background of a scene, maybe so they can get used to their body, and… they’re sent to the crash site to rescue people. How?
We know they have their emotions under control as all levels of various hormones are regulated and toned down, but they’re not machines in their head, they’re still human (which is one of the apparent themes of the show) with their own thoughts and feelings, with all their immaturity and need to experience life to grow. And before being downloaded in these bodies, they weren’t even out and about, learning all kinds of skills, being “super kids”. No, they were all dying children. There’s a missing link there, and I hope the show will fill the blanks and find a way to make these children grow in a believable manner in bodies put to use in ways children wouldn’t know how to handle.
The Usual Suspects
Big Tech and Big Money remain the actual villains, true to the Alien lore. The ship that crashed on Earth belongs to Weyland-Yutani, represented in the first episode by Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver) herself. For those who are familiar with the Alien world, it’s obvious nothing they do is for the good of humanity. Everything is a matter of power. But that’s not all. We learn the Earth is governed by five big tech companies, Kavalier’s Prodigy being a new one among the great. At the very beginning of the show, we can read “Which technology prevails will determine what corporation rules the universe” after a description of the three humanoid new technologies, meaning not only the stakes are high, but the fight for power will be even bigger.
Weyland-Yutani brought many specimen on the ship that crashed, creatures from outer space that weren’t supposed to land in such a dramatic way, and certainly not in the city owned by Yutani’s rival, Kavalier. While lives are at stakes, the battle of tech giants will undoubtedly be one of the main storylines. Yutani and Kavalier seem to already have settled some dispute in court, and this new incident is making everything difficult again between them. Yutani wants her specimens back, Kavalier thinks he owns everything that lands in his city. Now let’s see how money will solve their Xenomorph problem. If exploiting alien life was the initial goal, it’s already starting to backfire, and we all know it’s only the beginning.
The Franchise That Keeps Giving
Now, this hybrid concept is, so far, the only thing that bothers me on this show, and only because it involves children. I’d love to see it more developed, with more experimenting. Wendy is the first hybrid success (I’m now curious about the prototypes and test subjects) and her being an actual revolution is treated so lightly.
The rest is engaging, well-crafted, the writing and the pace are even, the action is good, so is the acting, the effects are great (again, kudos for so much practical effects), the production is meticulous. Watching this show is a treat.
The first two episodes are already giving a lot to chew on, between new monster designs, new concepts, and the lore expanding even more. Releasing this first season in August is a strange choice, and it’ll end on September 23, with 8 episodes total.
Alien: Earth is broadcasting on FX, and streaming on FX on Hulu (USA) and Disney+ (rest of the world).
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