The enduring appeal of the Alien franchise is not only its drooling Xenomorphs, but its intoxicating dread.
From the parasitic chest-bursting horror, to its impassive artificial humans and callous corporations, the paranoia - both bodily and societal - burrows deep, and leaves you questioning where the true evil lurks.
It's closer to home than ever before in Alien: Earth, the new FX series from Fargo and Legion mastermind Noah Hawley. When Weyland-Yutani’s Maginot ship crash lands its goopy creature cargo onto our little blue dot, a far more sinister, corporation-ruled universe comes into view.
The year is 2120 and we’re in Prodigy City, founded by sanctimonious trillionaire Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), who goes by the name ‘Boy Genius’ and answers calls with his bare feet. Never trust a person that doesn’t wear socks.
In the race for immortality, he’s developed hybrids - synthetic, superstrength bodies that have downloaded the minds of terminally ill children. Marcy, under the moniker of Wendy (Sydney Chandler), is the first to undergo the procedure, with the other children that follow known as Lost Boys.
And so begins an intriguing exploration of Alien’s universe away from deep space, as we learn of the events and corporate rivalries that led to the original 1979 film. In our world of AI advancements, ego-maniacal tech lords and widespread misinformation, it all feels more depressingly resonant than ever.
“It’s not about money, it’s not about ego,” proclaims Kavalier of his hybrid creations. “What I really want is to talk to someone smarter than me.” Shouldn’t be hard, because this is a man dumb enough to send his crew of completely unprepared, child-brained bots to steal whatever’s on Weyland-Yutani’s crashed ship - encouraged by Wendy, who’s eager to save her medic brother CJ (Alex Lawther).
The first two episodes of Alien: Earth feel like a fever dream: a little bit Alien, a little bit Die Hard, and even a little bit Stranger Things. Appropriately claustrophobic, the spaceship-within-a-skyscraper setting works well, but is never utilised in a way that feels genuinely tense. Instead, we spend a lot of time watching supposedly trained safety personnel getting splattered into bloody puddles by a Xenomorph with zoomies. Seriously - dude needs to chill.
There's a lot of fun gore, with the introduction of a terrifying tick-like bug that latches onto people’s faces, and an eyeball arachnid that should come with a trigger warning for cat lovers. But for the most part, any scares feel rushed and muddled in their execution - almost gimmicky in their shock factor.
Nobody seems particularly phased by the aliens. After being attacked for a second time - and watching a man in a Renaissance costume drag his bloodied limbs across a room - CJ takes a moment to lose himself in a gentle, familial flashback about baseball. In another scene, a Maginot crew member, facing certain death, turns to look at a Xenomorph with the mild frustration of losing a pen.
Especially disappointing is the opening, which promisingly attempts to recreate elements of the original’s, but then descends into a frustrating series of flashbacks from the crew being attacked. You’d have hoped, in a TV series format where there’s plenty of time to play with, they’d slow things down. We all know what’s coming when we see those pulsating egg sacks, but it’s the human character's own gradual, gruesome revelations that spark the terror.
Maybe the problem is me - like many Alien fans, I still cling to the mystery, suspense and isolation of the first two films. As the franchise has expanded, the lore has become increasingly convoluted and its creatures transformed into invincible baddies when they should be ominous side characters. The less said about the tonal discordance (and slender-limbed hybrid nightmares) of Alien: Resurrection, the better.
While Fede Álvarez's fun, if fan-service heavy, Romulus went some way to rectify this by returning to the claustrophobic tension of its roots, Alien: Earth seems more interested in maximising its action. This wouldn't be such an issue if the characters at least felt more engaging. Aside from a few Ice Age: Continental Drift quotes between Wendy and CJ (“Have a heart or face my fury!”), their dynamics fall emotionally flatter than a face-hugger's husk.
Disney are in the business of milking IPs, turning once iconic franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones into playgrounds for diluted reenactments. Whether Alien will suffer the same fate under their ownership is yet to be seen - we're only two episodes in, after all. Maybe the Xenomorphs will venture out into the rest of the world, discover the joys of big supermarkets, and end up with a spin-off sitcom called the Queen of New Siam?
For now, one thing's certain: In space, nobody can hear you scream - and watching Alien: Earth, nobody can either.
