It’s taken over half a decade for Alien: Earth to come to fruition, but this FX original series has finally come to Hulu with a two-episode premiere.
The Alien franchise itself has had several ups and downs since Ridley Scott‘s original movie made Sigourney Weaver a star back in 1979.
Directors like James Cameron and David Fincher have also left their mark on the franchise, but Alien: Earth already seems poised to break new ground of its own.
Now that the series has premiered, Watch With Us is sharing three reasons why Alien: Earth is worth watching.
It Recaptures the Horror Vibe of the Original ‘Alien’
Casual TV fans may not know who Noah Hawley is, but he’s been doing some amazing work for FX over the last decade, including the adaptations of Fargo and the X-Men-inspired drama, Legion. Alien: Earth is Hawley’s most ambitious FX series to date, and it looks like he went all out to recreate both the visual style of the original Alien as well as the film’s sensation of intense impending doom.
The first half hour of Alien: Earth keeps the Xenomorphs off-screen, save for a few flash-forward moments and preserved facehuggers. By the time a full-grown Xenomorph does show up, it doesn’t waste any time establishing itself as one of the universe’s deadliest predators. This is the kind of Alien story that we know and love from this franchise, and it looks like Hawley has succeeded again.
This TV Production Looks and Feels Like a Big-Budget Movie
We couldn’t tell you off-hand how much it cost to make Alien: Earth, but it looks incredible. The technology may appear to be stuck in the 1970s’ portrayal of the future, but the series is beautifully filmed with some inventive ways to convey the passage of time.
Some film-to-TV adaptations fall into the trap of under-delivering the thrills of the original property. Alien: Earth appears to have that problem well under control in its first two episodes. It looks and feels like a genuine installment of the Alien franchise, even though Hawley is pointedly ignoring everything Prometheus attempted to explain about the origins of the Xenomorphs. They don’t need a backstory here. The Xenomorphs are simply the universe’s greatest killing machines, and now they’ve arrived on Earth.
‘Alien: Earth’ Successfully Expands the Mythology of the Franchise
Perhaps the most refreshing surprise of the first episode is that it spent the first half hour defining a previously unexplored aspect of the Alien franchise. Androids have been a part of the Alien stories since 1979, and cyborgs were alluded to in several installments. But this show is the first time that synthetics have emerged as a potential rival to both androids and cyborgs as part of a larger conflict between humans and AI creation for resources and time.
When she was still a human child called Marcy, Wendy (Don’t Worry Darling‘s Sydney Chandler) was fatally ill. As the first synthetic with a human mind, Wendy is unwittingly the pawn of Prodigy Corporation CEO Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), one of the major players among the corporations that have carved up Earth into tinier fiefdoms. This part of the story is interesting by itself. The show also features the first time the Xenomorphs have been on Earth in the continuity of the original films. That has our attention more than anything else.
Should You Stream ‘Alien: Earth’?
Yes. Whether you’re a die-hard fan or just simply curious about one of summer’s most anticipated new shows, watch Alien: Earth on Hulu now. It’s off to a great start and promises to be even better with future episodes.
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