Can you believe that Ridley Scott's original Alien movie is almost a full 46 years old? It's a landmark sci-fi horror that set a trend – and its legacy lives on.
Proof of the franchise's popularity is the brand new Alien: Earth series, which is now streaming on Disney+ (or Hulu in the USA), which Scott chaired as Executive Producer, rather than Director.
It's a show that any of the best streaming services would want to host, no doubt, with the first two episodes available now, with subsequent episodes added on a week-by-week basis. Check out the trailer below – it'll be sure to catch fans and newcomers alike.
Alien Earth trailer
What's Alien Earth about?
While the original Alien was very much set in space – "where no one can hear you scream" – the Alien: Earth series brings things back to earth. Quite literally: planet Earth.
As the trailer reveals, a ship crash-lands onto our planet, at a timeline in the future. But there's worse news yet: the vessel was carrying specimens from outer space and, well, they're none too friendly.
Cue humanity's greatest threat, right on our doorstep, with the show focusing in on the story of a sister, Wendy (Sydney Chandler), searching for her brother, CJ (Alex Lawther).
Wendy is no ordinary person, though, if she can be called a person at all. Her body is synthetic, her consciousness having been transferred across from her original body. How very sci-fi and how very Alien.
Is Alien Earth highly anticipated?
The anticipation around Alien: Earth has been high. Not even just because its budget was a reported $250-million. But because it's such an iconic sci-fi that people hold in high regard.
Previews of the show were screened to some press last week, which is always a strong sign of confidence from any publisher. And, thus far, it's good news. Aggregation site, Rotten Tomatoes, places the current critics' rating at a massive 91%.
While there are no viewer ratings at this time, those will no doubt grow over the coming weeks and months, as the show outputs an episode per week, through to its eighth and final show on 23 September (on Hulu; it's a day later on Disney+).
Sci-fi is big business across all the streaming services these days and it's quickly looking as though Disney+ just nabbed an absolutely huge one just in time for the retiring summer. Just wait for the kids to be in bed, as this one's sure to scare aplenty.
