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[T8SC]

It was better than the other episodes but that's not difficult.

Overall, still poor.

Why does everyone keep acting childish? At the start they had two people on a table with facehuggers on them and the docs were acting stupid. The alien is also dumb and slow.

The reason this was a better episode is because it felt more like an Alien movie, focused on one specific story, had no kids and the sets looked decent. But it was still full of dumb decisions and weird writing choices.

 

[RCX]

1) People in serious jobs in very serious situations talking like immature teenagers. And they didn't even have the excuse of being kids in android bodies this time.

2) The science officer is retarded or dangerously incompetent. Either way how did she get what you can only assume is one of the highest priority posts that The Company has when she's this careless in the lab?

3) There's zero tension. There's an alien and a saboteur stalking the ship plus people keep randomly dying yet the crew seems to be utterly ignorant of the threats they face.

4) The alien is retarded. Again. It's not fast and it cant fight properly. Yet once it reaches earth its a hell-on-wheels murder machine killing groups of marines in seconds?

5) Security guy decides to swiftly kill the saboteur rather than incapacitate him to find out more information. He approached from behind and could've disarmed him. But no, fuck plot and logic, cool stabby hand had to be shown for some action.

6) Surgeon performs surgery without any kind of protective equipment. Even though the scan shows the patient is infected with an unknown parasite. He doesn't even wear a fucking face mask!

7) And once again they show an acid burn going through 3 thick metal deck plates but in the 3rd episode (or the 2nd, whichever one where the girl beheaded the alien with a butter knife) it could only get through the brothers jacket and was stalled out by his fucking shirt.

It's written by absolute bell-ends. However this was still the best ep so far. But thats like ranking the smell of different turds. This one was less putrid.

Back to idiot town next week, they wont have the nostromo sets to distract from the shit writing.

 

[AJUMP23]

Why was the Eyeball trying to warn the scientist? Did Eyeball like her, but want to kill everyone else?

 

[RCX]

Why was the Eyeball trying to warn the scientist? Did Eyeball like her, but want to kill everyone else?

It was distracting her while the tick was escaping the jar.

Kinda like eyeball TBH. Should be the headline star instead of the alien. I've said before that I think this was written as an original sci-fi show but disney wouldnt fund it without a recognizable IP attached. So they crow-barred the alien in to get the greenlight.

It should be called The Space Adventures of Enis the Eyeball.

 

[FatallyYours]

Why was the Eyeball trying to warn the scientist? Did Eyeball like her, but want to kill everyone else?

It's been confirmed its distracting the scientist, not warning her

 

[Sledge]

Realistically, if those containers weren't secured properly, there wouldn't just be 1 small red light to warn you, there would be other visual clues (blinking light, computer screens with warnings) and audio cues too

Not just that but, like, lady, there is an escaped alien creature in your sandwich, and our response is, uh, whoops, let's just pop it back in its vivarium then! There's no protocol, no incident procedure, no nothing, for a xenomorph breaking containment? Naaaah, ten second rule, innit. Just shrug and move on.

This is another example of the show writing itself into unnecessary corners. The crew is moronic and the containment procedures so woefully inadequate, I suspect, because if the opposite were the case it would be more difficult to devise a way for the xenos to escape. Except it wouldn't (you're in space where there's plenty of debris to punch holes through your ship, oh and there is a saboteur aboard) so what are we looking at here? What's the excuse for why the characters are written like this? Laziness? Lack of diligence? Why, in modern TV and cinema, is it so often the case that everyone brings their A-game except the writers? That seems awfully unfair on everyone else involved in the production. Not embarrassed? I'd be embarrassed.

"They're all dead." Good! I shouldn't feel like that. The crew should be competent, make all the right decisions, making me invested, and be wiped out anyway, underlining the extreme nature of the threat. But no just have the chief engineer standing around in a corridor sipping a drink when the ship is on a collision course with a planet and in dire need of repair. No rush. Something has broken out of a cryo-bed? Let's saunter down and take a squiz, oh look something's burst out of him aah well what are you gonna do? A big ol alien behind me? I'll just out-run it then we can all watch it do a funny little shuffle walk like it is in a musical or something.

I'm going to miss this nonsense when it is over.

 

[Sledge]

for a xenomorph breaking containment?

For an alien breaking containment, I should say. Xenomorph is just the classic Geiger one, right? I'm a perpetual Neo Member despite having been on here for roughly 200 years so I don't get to edit my posts.

 

[Spyxos]

Great Episode. It would have been better to have that as the second episode.

 

[Sledge]

Anyone else shout out "Knife to meet you!" while watching this episode?

No?

Just me?

I'll get my coat.

 

[BadBurger]

I really enjoyed episode 4 for taking its time exploring not just the alien specimens but also many other themes.

I liked the corresponding episode of the official podcast for giving the actor who portrays Morrow lots of time explaining the hows and whys of how he approaches his cyborg character - of being only part human, and how he thinks he fits in the world.

so what the hell is the little octopus eyeball supposed to be doing exactly? it takes over the host via it's brain cord to the eyeball and then what?

It's merely a parasite, that's all. Many parasites in the real world do nothing but exist on or within its host and leach off of it. Not many take control of their host. This happens to be the latter kind, and an intelligent one to boot.

 

[jason10mm]

He was kind of correct !

Wiki:

"The English word derives from the French word saboter, meaning to "bungle, botch, wreck or sabotage"; it was originally used to refer to labour disputes, in which workers wearing wooden shoes called sabots interrupted production through different means"

You don't need wiki to know this......just be a NEEEERRRRDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jason10mm]

I'm starting to think that Yeutani can only convince ABSOLUTE MORONS to take on their dumb shit 65 year suicide missions. Who would POSSIBLY agree to leave their young wife or kids to do this job? How much is a 1/4 share?

It would have been one thing if these were ALL "space oil refinery workers" having to deal with orders to collect rando aliens and bring them back, then I could see why the novel concepts of masks, PPE, clean environments, careful records, securing areas, not sleeping near nude with her tits half out in a clear glass coffin when you KNOW some defective android is perving on you, maybe, I dunno, sealing off the 99.99% of that massive ass ship that no human should ever need to go to, etc would seem beyond them.

But they apparently just have worlds WORST scientists, doctors, engineers, and co-pilots. Though IIRC cyborg guy did say they lost crew getting those things, so maybe all the smart ones died on the planet. Though they don't seem to have a surplus of cryo pods, so I'm assuming they have been taking shifts with two alternating crew, maybe 3 shifts, ever since they left the planet, which means apprentice engineer must have been about 6 months old when he was recruited for this mission.

Fucking hell, who writes this shit?

It looks so good too, so you just KNOW there are entire teams of set design, costuming, special effects, and cinematographers that gotta stand around doing their best as they see this brain dead moron display unfold in front of them. I bet even the damned catering crew were poking holes in these scripts over bagels and vegan bacon wraps.

 

[Revolutionary]

Watching this episode just has me thinking of the Gordon Ramsey "finally, some good fucking food" meme.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

Why, in modern TV and cinema, is it so often the case that everyone brings their A-game except the writers?

So true. The sets, sounds, and visuals look awesome. The acting is pretty good in some cases. Writing & dialogue is treated like an afterthought. The spazzy nerd guy talking flippantly about dead fellow crew members and sex like he's a teenage boy had the opening lines to the episode, and it set just about the opposite tone I was looking for.

For an alien breaking containment, I should say. Xenomorph is just the classic Geiger one, right? I'm a perpetual Neo Member despite having been on here for roughly 200 years so I don't get to edit my posts.

Editing might be tied to the number of messages posted. Like being able to post an original thread was something around 50 or 100 messages before I was able to.

 

[Duellist]

Eye ball was the best in this episode. If it is a female it is now known as
EYEleen. Come on eyeleen

 

[Alex11]

 

[Ben87fr]

Next episode sheep controlled by eye-lien vs shitty xenomorph birthed from a lung, who ever wins we lose !

 

[RCX]

So true. The sets, sounds, and visuals look awesome. The acting is pretty good in some cases. Writing & dialogue is treated like an afterthought. The spazzy nerd guy talking flippantly about dead fellow crew members and sex like he's a teenage boy had the opening lines to the episode, and it set just about the opposite tone I was looking for.

I watched the original film again last week and the difference is staggering. Same quality of sets, same production values but the writing and characterization is worlds apart. Actual adult humans behaving with maturity and purpose. Makes it all so much more immersive.

This shit is like getting drunk and going on a rollercoaster. Kinda fun, but inevitably a mess.

 

[AJUMP23]

It was distracting her while the tick was escaping the jar.

Kinda like eyeball TBH. Should be the headline star instead of the alien. I've said before that I think this was written as an original sci-fi show but disney wouldnt fund it without a recognizable IP attached. So they crow-barred the alien in to get the greenlight.

It should be called The Space Adventures of Enis the Eyeball.

And FatallyYours

I know what I saw, and it was a warning. Eyeball is good.

 

[Liljagare]

Shoulda kept episode 1 and 5 so far, ditched the rest. EP 5 was pretty good IMHO.

 

[jason10mm]

Shoulda kept episode 1 and 5 so far, ditched the rest. EP 5 was pretty good IMHO.

I wonder if they had like 10 scripts, then Fox/Hulu got cold feet and told them to trim to 8. That whole spaceship sequence feels very disjointed and overstuffed, loaded with relics they had to cut around but never completely removed. But the earth stuff feels so languid and drawn out.

And really, we have how many sequences of these alien critters breaking containment, yet be left in sketchy lab conditions virtually unobserved?

"Hey Bob, what can this alien thing do?"

"I have no idea, but this thin panel of plexiglass sure is tough, so I feel totally safe!"

"Shouldn't we at least have continuous monitoring and security, don't we have an army of sleepless androids for stuff like this?"

"Nah man, lets just set them all on these tables, turn off the lights, and leave the door cracked, totally safe!"

"Hey you know there is talk of starting up a maternity ward and toddler daycare in this island!"

"Cool, lets STRONGLY consider putting them RIGHT NEXT DOOR to this alien containment closet, that way the doctors won't have to walk so far to go between patients. I learnt about this in my lean six sigma seminar!"

"You are so smart, Bob, like the smartest. That prodigy kid should be working for you!"

"I know, right? Now let's listen to some 150 year old nu-metal as we walk away, leaving half of these crates ajar behind us."

Cue Aerosmith/Run DMC's Walk this way

 

[Insane Metal]

I don't think I can keep watching this =(

Severely disappointed.

 

[Revolutionary]

I have a strong suspicion that this episode was originally the pilot episode, because there's no story justification as to why this episode would be the 5th. I think they knew the rest of the show was a stinker so they took the best episode and moved it to the 5th week, because that's when people would have to decide if they want to resubscribe to Hulu to watch the last 4 episodes. I know this sounds a little tinfoil hat-y but this is how the bean counters think lol

 

[FatallyYours]

And FatallyYours

I know what I saw, and it was a warning. Eyeball is good.

Well, its ok to be wrong

I have a strong suspicion that this episode was originally the pilot episode, because there's no story justification as to why this episode would be the 5th. I think they knew the rest of the show was a stinker so they took the best episode and moved it to the 5th week, because that's when people would have to decide if they want to resubscribe to Hulu to watch the last 4 episodes. I know this sounds a little tinfoil hat-y but this is how the bean counters think lol

I'm pretty sure you're right. This episode should have been first, leading into ep1, the best 2 episodes, and then someone realised how slow, and unexciting the rest of it is, and decided to use it as a flashback instead of an intro

We've been away from the ship for 2 episodes now, there's nothing linking ep4 to ep5. Its very disjointed. Its like no one watched all 8 episodes back to back to see how the whole series flows. Different episode writers/directors filming their own individual episodes, rather than 1 person, with 1 story constantly moving forward

 

[Liljagare]

I wonder if they had like 10 scripts, then Fox/Hulu got cold feet and told them to trim to 8. That whole spaceship sequence feels very disjointed and overstuffed, loaded with relics they had to cut around but never completely removed. But the earth stuff feels so languid and drawn out.

And really, we have how many sequences of these alien critters breaking containment, yet be left in sketchy lab conditions virtually unobserved?

"Hey Bob, what can this alien thing do?"

"I have no idea, but this thin panel of plexiglass sure is tough, so I feel totally safe!"

"Shouldn't we at least have continuous monitoring and security, don't we have an army of sleepless androids for stuff like this?"

"Nah man, lets just set them all on these tables, turn off the lights, and leave the door cracked, totally safe!"

"Hey you know there is talk of starting up a maternity ward and toddler daycare in this island!"

"Cool, lets STRONGLY consider putting them RIGHT NEXT DOOR to this alien containment closet, that way the doctors won't have to walk so far to go between patients. I learnt about this in my lean six sigma seminar!"

"You are so smart, Bob, like the smartest. That prodigy kid should be working for you!"

"I know, right? Now let's listen to some 150 year old nu-metal as we walk away, leaving half of these crates ajar behind us."

Cue Aerosmith/Run DMC's Walk this way

Noticed that they are also referring to events we haven't been shown, at all.. Hopefully one remaining episode will be about how they found/harvested the aliens.

But, regardless, loving the stuff, despite all the flaws, just wish they would have skipped the kids, that entire story could have been mentioned in passing...

 

[jason10mm]

Noticed that they are also referring to events we haven't been shown, at all.. Hopefully one remaining episode will be about how they found/harvested the aliens.

But, regardless, loving the stuff, despite all the flaws, just wish they would have skipped the kids, that entire story could have been mentioned in passing...

Someone on that writing team is REALLY invested in that "Through the looking glass" metaphor and must have clung to it no matter what else changed. It's totally nonsensical, pandering, 'prestige TV' bait, and has no place here. There are lots of disjointed elements, a common thing in TV these days where it feels like there are three different shows being edited together. Some folks never seem to have a scene with others, there is little sense of movement between places, scenes just happen and abruptly transition to another.

 

[Liljagare]

Someone on that writing team is REALLY invested in that "Through the looking glass" metaphor and must have clung to it no matter what else changed. It's totally nonsensical, pandering, 'prestige TV' bait, and has no place here. There are lots of disjointed elements, a common thing in TV these days where it feels like there are three different shows being edited together. Some folks never seem to have a scene with others, there is little sense of movement between places, scenes just happen and abruptly transition to another.

I felt this was way better in ep 1 and ep 5 though, apart from the end of ep 5, where the cyborg all of a sudden did show up at Yutani?? From 1-4, you get the sense that he is hiding out in the city he crashed in..

Though, must have been fun to be hired for the show, and all you do is lie in a cryopod.

 

[jason10mm]

I felt this was way better in ep 1 and ep 5 though, apart from the end of ep 5, where the cyborg all of a sudden did show up at Yutani?? From 1-4, you get the sense that he is hiding out in the city he crashed in..

Though, must have been fun to be hired for the show, and all you do is lie in a cryopod.

I felt like he was in a tropical coastal tiki bar almost, which makes sense because those scenes with his daughter were on a coast in some semi-rural area. But any sense of space is wasted on this show. How close is that lush tropical island such that a crack team of robot kids can fly there in a few hours? Common problem with sci-fi shows especially, but tv in general with writers that give no shits about time because there are no (predictable) commercial breaks to do it for them.

 

[jason10mm]

I felt this was way better in ep 1 and ep 5 though, apart from the end of ep 5, where the cyborg all of a sudden did show up at Yutani?? From 1-4, you get the sense that he is hiding out in the city he crashed in..

Though, must have been fun to be hired for the show, and all you do is lie in a cryopod.

That casting couch still in operation, I guess

"Hello sweetie, come back to my hotel room, I have a TV part I want you to read for....."

 

[Denton]

The episode was fun and quite atmospheric, but the writing really does drag it down. Fargo S1 and S2 were masterpieces but other stuff by Hawley was not as good. Legion was interesting but messy and often boring, which is the same issue with Alien Earth. So many strange writing decisions here. He was a bad pick for this, I guess.

 

[Rat Rage]

I'm not watching the show, just the recaps on youtube. Total overexposure of the aliens. Are they not supposed to be highly dangerous? They are being killed by paper cutters and in episode 5 a human (say what?) fucking bites an alien, which then screams in pain - are you kidding me?! There are many more such stupid scenes.

The different creatures are kinda interesting, especially the eye-ball thing, but it's more like a monster variety show than "alien". The characters are stupid, the events are stupid. The overall idea had potential, but like so many countless times in the past, everything is so badly executed. The alien franchise has been truly cursed.

Over 40 years ago, film makers (writers, directors) were able to produce truly great alien movies (1 to 3) on very low budgets. It almost seems like nobody is capable of one single, simply good and coherent idea when it comes to the alien franchise. Or maybe the problem is that the producers are not able to select the right people for the job? Surely there must be people out there who are capable of making a good alien movie or show again?

 

[jason10mm]

I'm not watching the show, just the recaps on youtube. Total overexposure of the aliens. Are they not supposed to be highly dangerous? They are being killed by paper cutters and in episode 5 a human (say what?) fucking bites an alien, which then screams in pain - are you kidding me?! There are many more such stupid scenes.

The different creatures are kinda interesting, especially the eye-ball thing, but it's more like a monster variety show than "alien". The characters are stupid, the events are stupid. The overall idea had potential, but like so many countless times in the past, everything is so badly executed. The alien franchise has been truly cursed.

Over 40 years ago, film makers (writers, directors) were able to produce truly great alien movies (1 to 3) on very low budgets. It almost seems like nobody is capable of one single, simply good and coherent idea when it comes to the alien franchise. Or maybe the problem is that the producers are not able to select the right people for the job? Surely there must be people out there who are capable of making a good alien movie or show again?

For starters, yah gotta actually want to ALIEN to win, and then write is as the scariest motherfucker out there, THEN figure out how a mere human can defeat it.

That's what we got with Alien and Aliens. But by A4 and certainly by AvP the aliens were, like most zombie movies, just a vague background threat 'cause the REAL threat is other humans.

Almost every issue I have with the ship stuff could have been solved if the crew had been working class, minus maybe a few officers who were killed off securing the cargo, and they were basically listening to "Mother" and came to the realization that the AI was sacrificing them to propagate aliens and subvert the humans to deliver the ship to Prodigy. Then they would have to fight the ship as well as the aliens and could actually work as smart as capable, instead of being just brain dead as possible.

The earth stuff is essentially unsalvageable barring a tac nuke taking out the island.

 

[March Climber]

This was a great episode, but was almost ruined by a single issue. My one issue with it, actress Richa Moorjani:

She is good looking, but she can not act, especially in a horror film. She was mediocre in another series I've seen her in recently and that was because it was a disney channel-esque romantic comedy, which is a genre where someone could easily coast by on mediocre acting skills, especially since she wasn't the main character in that show.

I rarely, if ever, point towards an actor or actress as an issue.

However, this is one of those rare moments when an actor or actress completely takes me out of a scene or experience. She did multiple times in this episode. Lack of emotion in both facial expression and vocal tone (was waiting for an in-universe explanation for this, none given), lack of urgency when doing a running scene (so much so that the director had to do this weird slo-mo effect and cut away from her multiple times while the alien was almost running in place so that it wouldn't be too fast to catch up with her paltry effort), lack of showing fear when near death except for a half-assed final scream when the alien pounced on her (again, I was waiting for an explanation for this since episode 1, none given), and finally going through some of her lines way too fast thus adding to their lack of impact (which is also a sign of either a rookie actor or a mediocre actor).

In the future if she is going to be pushed on high profile/high budget properties, she needs to refine her skill in multiple ways. She needs a coach, and also to stop holding back or whatever the hell she's doing where you can tell she isn't going all-in on acting a scene.

Right now she is Tubi level. I don't mean to be mean. I'm just being honest.

It shouldn't be possible that I felt more from these actresses in these scenes in a parody horror movie, than I did from what I saw from Richa this episode:

 

[roosnam1980]

great episode , show is so good

 

[roosnam1980]

 

[RCX]

great episode , show is so good

"I don't always do surgery on patients with unknown alien infections. But when I do I like to not bother with any protective gear"

Just as a reference this is Dallas and Ash in the original film

This characters in this show are immeasurably stupid

 

[RCX]

Theory: the alien inherits its characteristics from the host. Perhaps thats why its a slow idiot now?

 

[roosnam1980]

"I don't always do surgery on patients with unknown alien infections. But when I do I like to not bother with any protective gear"

Just as a reference this is Dallas and Ash in the original film

This characters in this show are immeasurably stupid

emergency surgery vs elective surgery
also stupid characters tend to die , they are simply a plot device

 

[RCX]

emergency surgery vs elective surgery
also stupid characters tend to die , they are simply a plot device

But what if every character is an idiot? I can't think of a single one so far that has displayed an IQ level above a 12 year old.

 

[roosnam1980]

But what if every character is an idiot? I can't think of a single one so far that has displayed an IQ level above a 12 year old.

morrow is logical along with kirsh (altho he aint human)

 

[T8SC]

emergency surgery vs elective surgery

How is the surgery scene in Alien Earth different from that in Alien, they're both emergency situations with alien creatures doing "unknown stuff" to the victim.

Alien Earth is dumb and basically a young adult novel made into a series for Disney.

 

[roosnam1980]

How is the surgery scene in Alien Earth different from that in Alien, they're both emergency situations with alien creatures doing "unknown stuff" to the victim.

Alien Earth is dumb and basically a young adult novel made into a series for Disney.

the guy is actively bleeding which means he is vitaly unstable , kane however is vitaly stable despite that face hugger attached to his face.

its what some surgeons do when they panic in an emergency , forget to put on their protective gear.

 

[T8SC]

its what some surgeons do when they panic in an emergency , forget to put on their protective gear.

Do they?

 

[roosnam1980]

Do they?

yes
sometimes they even remove/amputate the wrong organ/limb

 

[T8SC]

yes
sometimes they even remove/amputate the wrong organ/limb

But having an unknown umbilical down his throat doing 'things' which also could result in internal bleeding ... not an emergency. Definitely not enough of an emergency to break quaranti... oh.

 

[roosnam1980]

But having an unknown umbilical down his throat doing 'things' which also could result in internal bleeding ... not an emergency. Definitely not enough of an emergency to break quaranti... oh.

well , dallas was stupid .

 

[Vyse]

I really enjoyed this episode. Don't mind that they started the series with the crash and used this as the flashback. For a Disney show, I am really impressed and just going alone with the show.

 

[jason10mm]

the guy is actively bleeding which means he is vitaly unstable , kane however is vitaly stable despite that face hugger attached to his face.

its what some surgeons do when they panic in an emergency , forget to put on their protective gear.

I've seen countless emergency surgeries, NEVER seen a doc without protective gear.

Maybe in a battlefield situation, and yeah in an autopsy sometimes folks get lax, but a KNOWN infectious disease case? Nah, ain't buying it.

 

[The Pweep]

I think a main theme of the past few Alien films is in fact the human mental breakdown in stressful situations. From Prometheus to Alien Earth, there have been some really stupid, silly, full retarded actions on some of these characters. And some of these scenes are amazing. The scene in Covenant when the two female crew encounter the "neomorph" is actually quite a spectacle. (And honestly believable)

But who wins the full retard vote in this universe?

 

[jason10mm]

yes
sometimes they even remove/amputate the wrong organ/limb

See, THAT they could have run with. Arrogance. Had the scientist lady been commanding, overbearing, IN CHARGE, absolutely confident that she understood the leech/roach things, and then BULLIED the medical staff into trying to remove the leeches without proper isolation techniques.

But the show didn't do ANY of that. The relationships between characters is murky, the chain of command dubious. What are the roles of these characters, how well were they trained for this specific occurrence, why do they tolerate this lazy insolent android? Since the show doesn't really care to present a logical sci-fi narrative, instead prefers a more dreamy, philosophical, emotional 'experience', it's frustrating for those of us hoping for a Tremors type show versus what we are getting.