# Alien: Earth **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, disney-hulu\ **Created:** [August 13, 2025, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996 "2025-08-13T04:25:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/241 "2025-09-10T04:59:19Z")
This episode confirmed they don’t have FTL travel yet, when Atom Eins commented that a hybrid might be the one who invents it. So either the 2-year mission of the Nostromo violates the in-universe rules, or it was foreshadowing that FTL is imminent. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/242 "2025-09-10T07:45:49Z")
No it was just bad writing and can’t be anything else. The writers either don’t understand or don’t care about the vastness of space (as is almost universal no pun intended in TV/movie SF). The star system from Alien is specifically named as Zeta Reticuli, which is 39 light years from Earth, for instance. There is simply no possible way to contort Alien-movies travel time into anything less than a multiple of light speed in real-world terms, so you just have to cover your ears and pretend you didn’t hear that incredibly stupid line. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/243 "2025-09-10T07:56:17Z")
The distances of the nearest stars to Earth, displaying their rough locations relative to the Earth and each other. > **[The Nearest Stars to Earth (Infographic)](https://www.space.com/18964-the-nearest-stars-to-earth-infographic.html)** > > Exploring the stars closest to our home planet. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/244 "2025-09-10T08:56:09Z")
> [@vislor](#): > > I can accept the first part and agree the system shouldn’t have let it happen. I disagree with the third part. Arthur was being human. Maybe if Slightly gets Arthur to Morrow, Arthur has a chance. This goes back to emotions. If Slightly didn’t have any, could he still be manipulated but in a different way? Arthur should have known the first rule of rescuing someone: Don’t become the next victim. He rushed into a dangerous area with no planning, no help, and no real idea where the dangerous alien creature was. He didn’t even try to tell the other kid to go get help. Did just about everything wrong that he could have done. > [@DSeid](#): > > I believe that Dame Sylvia really does care about the “children” _and_ about the success of the project. I’m sure she cares about the project, not so much the actual kids. I haven’t seen anyone else comment on this, but this whole program is coded as metaphorical child abuse, predominantly sexual in nature. They isolate the kids, and tell them they’re “special”. They manipulate Wendy into helping them get the new kids on board with the program, “Can you be a big sister to them?”, classic grooming behaviour. Now we see her trying to pass off a major violation as “I was just trying to _help_, why can’t you let me help?”, as if involuntarily erasing someone’s memories is like doing the dishes for them. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/245 "2025-09-10T12:38:24Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > I’m sure she cares about the project, not so much the actual kids. > > I haven’t seen anyone else comment on this, but this whole program is coded as metaphorical child abuse No question that she cares about the project _more_ in any case. More than her husband as well. To me the conflict between things that she cares about is what keeps her interesting. I interpreted her as rationalizing her behavior to herself, trying to convince herself, even more than to Wendy. Anyway. Even if she has zero authentic concern for the children, her ability to manipulate them is needlessly undercut by throwing Nibs back with no cover story supplied to Nibs herself and the others (not only Wendy) for her memories being gone. It doesn’t fit as malicious compliance and the character is a more skillful manipulator than that. Not dumb. Not sure it is _coded_ as child abuse - pretty straightforward out there. The children are property to be used as their owner sees fit. But pretty much everyone other than The Five are. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Tonight’s scene with Kirsh and Morrow _How_ do they already have such (acknowledged) history with each other? The characters are great but I must be missing something that explains how that old bad blood metaphorical dick wagging makes any sense. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/246 "2025-09-10T12:52:18Z")
I really want to know what’s up with Kirsh. My fear is this is some kind of “Synths have a secret conspiracy to get rid of humans” BS. That would be lame. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/247 "2025-09-10T13:48:44Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > _How_ do they already have such (acknowledged) history with each other? It wasn’t personal bad blood between them. I saw it more as the global competition for artificial supremacy – synths vs cyborgs vs hybrids – paired with the W-Y vs Prodigy competition. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/248 "2025-09-10T13:57:16Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > _How_ do they already have such (acknowledged) history with each other? The characters are great but I must be missing something that explains how that old bad blood metaphorical dick wagging makes any sense. Until we learn more, I assume it’s just the same racist hatred instilled in warriors for centuries. Morrow was indoctrinated with it and Kirsh was programmed with it. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/249 "2025-09-10T14:22:57Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > the global competition for artificial supremacy – synths vs cyborgs My thought was, “Wow, mecharacism!” They each see the other as inferior, and this is an argument that goes back a relatively long way. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/250 "2025-09-10T16:30:26Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I really want to know what’s up with Kirsh. Malicious compliance makes sense here. Morrow is correct that hybrids might make his kind obsolete. He may need to comply with the directives but he is free to only comply with them as given. He’s fine if the hybrid program fails and more curious as a matter of science than eager for it to work. This is an experiment. He is now observing and measuring. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/251 "2025-09-10T17:38:57Z")
I thought it was neat that the Flys seemed to be eating the Synth fluid. I have always assumed it was something artificial but organic so that was a cool if horrifying touch. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/252 "2025-09-10T18:02:37Z")
The tray of fly food was rocks, pieces of metal, and old circuit boards. They have a different idea about what “organic” is than we do. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/253 "2025-09-10T18:08:03Z")
Oh, good call. I missed that. Also I I have to retract my opinion that Eyeball is not sentient (or was at best like Chimp in intelligence). This episode confirmed otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/254 "2025-09-10T21:36:16Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Also I I have to retract my opinion that Eyeball is not sentient (or was at best like Chimp in intelligence). I have no doubt Eyeball is the smartest character in this show. Low bar, I know… ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/255 "2025-09-10T21:40:57Z")
Some sentient eyeball-octopus hybrid parasites just want to watch the world burn. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2025, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/256 "2025-09-10T21:51:05Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Even if she has zero authentic concern for the children, her ability to manipulate them is needlessly undercut by throwing Nibs back with no cover story supplied to Nibs herself and the others (not only Wendy) for her memories being gone. It doesn’t fit as malicious compliance and the character is a more skillful manipulator than that. Not dumb. Yes, this was a disappointing ploy by the writers—not believable for the character. Contrived stupidity to make the plot go. Same with Arthur trying to get Isaac out of the Fly pen with no help. Same with Isaac, a child, being told to feed the dangerous aliens with no help or oversight (though that one MIGHT be explained by Kirsh’s malicious secret plans, presumably to infect Earth with those dangerous-to-humans aliens). But Phryne failing to have a cover story for Nibs’ amnesia was just….stupid. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/257 "2025-09-11T02:42:35Z")
Anyone very clear on the details of Morrow’s daughter? My understanding during the episode was that she was doing well, wanting to go to Harvard and could likely get in but W-Y would only pay for a corporate education school. Then a notice that she died in a fire. But after the show I read people saying she died of a chronic disease that they were going to cure her of. Not rewatching to find out if I just missed something. My reason for asking is that I wonder if something happened that had them just decide to kill her as the cost effective option, which might be discoverable by Morrow. And motivate some change of path for him. Her death in a fire seems a bit … convenient… after her complaint that she can’t go to a real school. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/258 "2025-09-11T02:52:20Z")
If you missed that detail, I did, too. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/259 "2025-09-11T10:41:44Z")
We bailed twenty minutes in to the most recent episode. We just couldn’t take another hour of mood replacing plot and affectation instead of character development. I assume they all did something incredibly stupid again this week? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996/260 "2025-09-11T13:46:44Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I assume they all did something incredibly stupid again this week? Well, all except the sheep. She’s playing the long game. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-earth/1021996.md?page=14)