But they didn’t lose any of that, they only lost the one synth body. They even said that “theoretically” he could be brought back. Though I assume that’s just to leave themselves the possibility more than anything.
Just checking into see if it is worth it to continue on from Episode 3. Seems like the consensus is no unless Terry Crews shows up as the President.
Stranger
Who here is that consensus coming from? Because I sure don’t see it.
I’ll vote that @Stranger_On_A_Train NOT continue with it. I very much enjoyed it but if you’ve watched through ep 3 disliking it then you probably won’t change your mind watching more.
I think it’s great (flawed, but still great), but I agree that if you don’t like the first three episodes, you probably won’t like the rest.
Yeah, there are good reasons to dislike the show but even with its flaws I found it entertaining and worth the watch. It would have been much better without the whole kid synths thing though.
I would recommend watching to at least episode five, since that episode is most like what we have come to expect from this franchise. But as regards the recommendation of the audience, I have seen some very negative reviews out there from people who just seem to want something to dislike. I know mileage varies and all but sometimes when I see a bad review (from regular folks, not TV critics) I get the impression that it is less about the show and more about something else related to the show that has upset or offended the reviewer. Unfortunately I am seeing more and more of this across various franchises. I’m not saying you have to enjoy this show (or any others for that matter) but by that some token, don’t let anyone out there tell you you’re not allowed to enjoy it either.
The recurring stupidity from corporate bosses is a clear theme of the show - not a bug, but a feature, of the writing.
From watching the first two episodes of Alien: Earth it became pretty clear to me that while this show faithfully (if somewhat anachronistically) reproduces the look of the original film, the creators have no understanding of what made that story work and have removed all tension and suspense in favor of trying to weave multiple storylines with discordant themes into a narrative with so many plot holes and inconsistencies that viewers are spending more time trying to ‘fanwank’ answers than actually being enthralled in the show. Pretty much everything I’ve seen discussed in this thread since there has really confirmed that this is the case. Which is a shame because there is so much more worldbuilding and interconnected stories that could be done in this universe without having to constantly trying to reference or pay homage to Alien but instead it is as if someone grafted a set of completely different storylines into one soapy drama punctuated with occasional comedic or absurdist elements, resulting in a tonally inconsistent mess.
It would have been really interesting to see this as an anthology series with one or two episode stories set in different colonies or aspects of corporate and military life dealing with the revelation of the xenomorphs and their implications and how ill prepared humanity is to explore an uncaring universe populated with existential threats. At least is isn’t as utterly derivative as Alien: Romulus, which was a movie that had no reason to exist other than to create fan-service-y scenes calling back to Aliens.
Stranger
If nothing else, the eye monster is awesome.
Again, I completely endorse your not watching the show any further, but having participated in this thread and having read it closely, that read of it seems very inaccurate. I can’t argue the point that it isn’t the movie Alien or any of the other movies of the franchise. (Mainly because I never saw any of them.) But most of us seem pretty enthralled. Not uncritically so. But of course many of us were critical fans of Severence too. I read little “fanwanking” but lots of speculation and guesses and sharing questions raised. My educated guess is that it is as different from the movies of the AU as Andor is from the Star Wars movies, and some disliked Andor for that reason; some OTOH loved it for that reason. The storylines mesh with undying themes IMHO. And I have hope that some holes will be resolved in S2.
My WAG is that anyone watching this wanting a repeat of Alien will be disappointed though. And that could be a big fraction of their initial audience.
I was taught not to talk to Strangers, but I must agree that rather than having started with the intention of weaving a plausible new thread into the Alien universe, the show creators clearly wanted a young ensemble of actors (inc. one starlet) to carry the series through multiple seasons, and used quite an effective retro Alien homage as a Trojan horse to lure us in.
The ‘Earth’ in the show title implied something expansive and varied, but the island setting seemed claustrophobic - and not in the manner of the Alien films, more in that of Reality TV (i.e. contrived and populated by fools).
“starlet”? Does she have gams that won’t quit? Seriously, why not just say rising or upcoming star?
I will say, one thing that drove me nuts were the long, unnecessary close-ups of her mouth when she was “speaking” to the alien. We get it, she speaks to aliens, we don’t need a full minute of looking at her mouth to get the message. Move on.
The mystery of eye monster (my suggestion of “Optopus” isn’t catching on) and seeing how the story flows into the 1979 film are the main reasons people will return for season 2.
Probably true. The Eyeball Jockey (I think my favorite) is definitely the runaway star. I actually think this is something of a failure for the show. It’s an Alien property and the Xenomorphs are the heart of it, them being overshadowed will probably hurt the overall appeal. If this show pivots to being mostly about Eyelene then I think it will fall much more on the AvP side of the house than the OG movies.
Personally, I’m most interested in how this will dovetail into Alien. After one season, I don’t feel like this will ever be paid off satisfactorily.
I voiced this concern when I first heard about the show, and I delayed starting it for the same reason. Setting this prequel on Earth really limits the narrative options. Because Earth in the time of Aliens isn’t overrun with Xenomorphs (and presumably no other horrifying critters either) and they are unknown to the average Joes that only gives you a couple options.
- The crashed aliens all end up isolated, then killed and kept from the general population.
- The crashed aliens are all perfectly contained by someone other than W-Y for a half century and don’t reproduce in any serious numbers.
- There’s a massive conspiracy and news on Earth flows poorly. The bosses involved with W-Y and the Marines in Aliens are deceiving Ripley, the Terraformers and the grunts about the threat. The population has somehow forgotten about the Maginot crash and its consequences.
If it ends up being 1 or 2, then it dramatically diminishes the threat of these Xenomorphs who we’ve been told over and over are Apex predators. If your average corporate dimwit or mercenary are able to find and eradicate these creatures without the general public being the wiser, should we really be that scared?
If it ends up being 3, well, that will fundamentally alter the meaning of all the events in Aliens and the subsequent films. W-Y is apparently willing to throw away billions of dollars installing a terraforming facility on LV-426 knowing that deadly xenomorphs are there. And when it goes tits up, no one connects Ripley’s story, the location of LV-426 and the records of what must have happened during this show together?
Unfortunately, I think when we come out of the backend of this show the general consensus will be “ignore that, it didn’t happen”.
Prediction, Wendy will eventually see the light and pied-piper these Xenomorphs into molten steel ala the T-800 and erase all the data about the Maginot and Neverland from the world’s computer systems.
- Earth is overrun by xenomorphs immediately after Nostromo leaves the Solar System* (perhaps it left before the season’s events took place - both 2120). The only conspiracy necessary is to keep Sigourney & Friends in the dark.
*Or is that theory precluded by revelations in the sequels I don’t remember?
Aliens begins with Ripley at Gateway Station, which is a space station orbiting Earth. She is treated by doctors and meets with a dozen or so corporate types who interrogate her story. They are all incredulous. They say she found “something never recorded in over 300 surveyed worlds.”
If Earth is an inhabitable hellscape overrun with Xenomorphs, you’d think they’d have mentioned it. And they’d all have to be participating in some industrial scale gaslighting .
2a. The someone is Wendy, ruling the world unbeknownst to almost everyone, prepping it (and the galaxy) to be populated by hybrids, synths, and aliens, oh my. Nothing to be afraid of.
If Neverland ends up getting nuked that would explain why Xenomorphs haven’t infested Earth by Aliens; they might by apex predators, but they’re not invulnerable. If Ms Yutani is unable to retrieve her creatures I can imagine her destroying them rather than letting someone else have them. Or she gets herself killed and someone else orders a nuclear strike.