Alien Earth Open Spoiler Thread

Waiting on the next Alien Earf like

My Hero Academia Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
 
I found ep5 enjoyable and moody. Consanguineous with previous films in the franchise in ways that I feel the creators of 'Romulus strove for, yet produced mere homage instead.

It unfolded like two different horror films of slightly different sub genres being told parallel to one another. Beautifully shot as usual. The acting was good all around. Morrow remains one of, if not the, most compelling and entertaining characters in the show.

And keeping with tradition, the needle drop at the end was a weird choice, but it had me bobbin' my head anyways.
 
RCX said:
It presents itself as high concept, upscale, thoughtful sci-fi. It invites criticism based on its detail and commitment to being authentic.

Then it populates its world with unbelievable morons and people defend it by telling you that you're "overthinking" it. :rolleyes:

It's absolute trash that has no business being spoken in the same breath as the first two movies. Those are art and entertainment combined beautifully. This is a burning turd that thinks its a Rembrandt.

You can absolutely enjoy something thats shite. I am. I'm really having fun watching and rolling my eyes at the next dumb thing it does each week. But its not a good example of cinema by any objective measure.
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This happens quite a bit, specifically with big franchises and popular I.P.

What's been happening lately is that the CGI and effects guys are outpacing the writing talent thanks to better and better tech, so we are getting shows and movies that are beautiful to look at, but the writing is just okay or subpar.

The issue is that the better writers out there are busy doing non-franchise stuff and indie films, leaving the cheap, mediocre, or by-the-numbers writers to fill the void. What they don't realize is by doing this, it creates the negative perception that all modern writing talent is bad, because in previous decades(especially pre-2010s) this wasn't happening as much.

tl;dr good Visual effects and good visual framing aren't strong enough to carry a show or movie, like usual.

I think the only part that separates me from the rest of the people here criticizing this show to the fullest, is that I have no actual nostalgia for this series. Maybe if Alien 3 and Resurrection were actually great movies I would have cared more or maybe even be upset about it like you guys are.

So far this show has been around 3/Resurrection-level in writing, but it has some cool new ideas and lore concepts being fleshed out, so that is a plus for me.
 
So on the podcast Noah says the 5th episode flashback was something they added after starting filming because he wanted something more alien-like. The Indian co-pilot lady was cast for that episode and they had to go back and reshoot whatever person was in that role for the ep1 meal scene.

Seems odd to me that after YEARS of work decisions like that would/could still be made, but that's TV i guess. The cast and crew seemed so focused on artistic and psychological details that they kinda missed on delivering actual interesting performances in favor of overly nuanced and subtle choices. The medic brother, for example, was so focused on calling the sister Wendy or her original name based on whether the actress seemed more childlike or synthetic that he kinda forgot to be an actual character that represents a combat trained medic with loads of experience dealing with stressful and dangerous environments.
 
I find the writing to be paced well and the out of order story telling worked well to tell this flashback episode. Morrow is the best character in the franchise since than Ripley, but admittedly the bar is pretty low. This show introduces so much more to the IP as world building that not everyone is going to like it. It's taking real chances expanding with new aliens and corpos and cyborgs, but they havent really "jumped the shark" with any of it to me. Feels like the first two movies in that they are capturing the "truckers in space" vibe that all the movies since completely left behind.

A lot of scenes are pretty laughable (why did they have her outrun the xenomorph just to be killed by it a few seconds later?) but the story is gripping with tension between Prodigy/Whelan Yutani, Boy Kavalier/his kid infused robots, humans/synthetics/parasites, etc. I find myself impatient about what comes next.

Wendy "alienwhispering" the chestburster is even more dumb than Chris Pratt's raptor whispering nonsense, but we can see where that goes. I'm willing to excuse some of that WTF stuff for now to see how the show ends its first season. Morrow's storyline is the most compelling and his motivation was solidified nicely in Episode 5.
 
RCX said:
It presents itself as high concept, upscale, thoughtful sci-fi. It invites criticism based on its detail and commitment to being authentic.

Then it populates its world with unbelievable morons and people defend it by telling you that you're "overthinking" it. :rolleyes:
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That's the best adjective to receive when you critique something. Most of the time you're called a hater, troll and whatnot, regardless of whether you present valid critique.
And it's a misconception that critiquing something is viewed as pessimism or hatred, far from this.
RCX said:
It's absolute trash that has no business being spoken in the same breath as the first two movies. Those are art and entertainment combined beautifully. This is a burning turd that thinks its a Rembrandt.

You can absolutely enjoy something thats shite. I am. I'm really having fun watching and rolling my eyes at the next dumb thing it does each week. But its not a good example of cinema by any objective measure.
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Of course, it depends on the genre, also this show has the weight of the first 2 movies and it's only natural you expect at least the same and comparing them, simple.
 
poppabk said:
Or just waiting for that plant pod alien to reveal whatever fucked up thing it does. Thought the last episode would have been the one but nope. Maybe it is completely benign - but I doubt it.
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I just want to know whether the eye thingy is actually intelligent and not necessarily a "bad guy" or if it's just an animalistically intelligent predator. I like that they depicted it as contemplative when it was in the sheep, but we'll see where it goes. It's one of the things keeping me interested in the show.
 
Trilobit said:
I just want to know whether the eye thingy is actually intelligent and not necessarily a "bad guy" or if it's just an animalistically intelligent predator. I like that they depicted it as contemplative when it was in the sheep, but we'll see where it goes. It's one of the things keeping me interested in the show.
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On the podcast they say the "eye-midge" is highly intelligent and aggressive. So it is a predator animal, not described, so far, as being sentient with a willingness to communicate.
 
MSduderino said:
Wendy "alienwhispering" the chestburster is even more dumb than Chris Pratt's raptor whispering nonsense, but we can see where that goes. I'm willing to excuse some of that WTF stuff for now to see how the show ends its first season. Morrow's storyline is the most compelling and his motivation was solidified nicely in Episode 5.
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See, I disagree here. He is leaving his young child for SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. Clearly anything he does while in space is totally irrelevant to her and their ability to communicate is severely limited. Now maybe she is getting paid a stipend while he is away but they don't mention that. The reluctance of this show to really drive down and talk specifics about ANYTHING is one of the more infuriating aspects of it.

They show us scenes of him and his daughter, we get that he loves her and they seem to have a strong relationship, but then her death is just a telegram and by the time we see Morrow he has almost totally internalized it. If he is going to project his paternal nature on to one of the lost boys, Slightly probably, they are dancing around it. As it is, his "backstory" is hollow because they breezed right by it. He is ruthless and immoral, sworn to a cause that is hopelessly outdated because the stakes of this trip were never set out. Was it the adventure of a lifetime? A historic journey to the only planet with life humans knew about? A generational wealth making trip that he sacrificed his family for? Or was the whole thing just so he could get a better arm and a promotion within yutani?

Whatever was being offered, Prodigy could flip someone from it at the very last minute, making a simple landing into a perilous crash landing and presumably having Yutani as an enemy for life.

Sadly, for me, most of these issues could have been addressed purely with dialogue. The actual events could have largely stayed the same, just about 30 different lines could have given a sense of concrete reality to this world, the nature of interstellar crew, and the risk:reward calculation.
 
jason10mm said:
See, I disagree here. He is leaving his young child for SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. Clearly anything he does while in space is totally irrelevant to her and their ability to communicate is severely limited. Now maybe she is getting paid a stipend while he is away but they don't mention that. The reluctance of this show to really drive down and talk specifics about ANYTHING is one of the more infuriating aspects of it.

They show us scenes of him and his daughter, we get that he loves her and they seem to have a strong relationship, but then her death is just a telegram and by the time we see Morrow he has almost totally internalized it. If he is going to project his paternal nature on to one of the lost boys, Slightly probably, they are dancing around it. As it is, his "backstory" is hollow because they breezed right by it. He is ruthless and immoral, sworn to a cause that is hopelessly outdated because the stakes of this trip were never set out. Was it the adventure of a lifetime? A historic journey to the only planet with life humans knew about? A generational wealth making trip that he sacrificed his family for? Or was the whole thing just so he could get a better arm and a promotion within yutani?

Whatever was being offered, Prodigy could flip someone from it at the very last minute, making a simple landing into a perilous crash landing and presumably having Yutani as an enemy for life.

Sadly, for me, most of these issues could have been addressed purely with dialogue. The actual events could have largely stayed the same, just about 30 different lines could have given a sense of concrete reality to this world, the nature of interstellar crew, and the risk:reward calculation.
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I was talking about his motivation to hate prodigy/kill Boy Kavalier, but these are some good points. To me, not every plot point needs to be explained and there's still plenty of time for what's missing that you mentioned too. I think Morrow is on the expedition to pay back his debt to WY for saving his life with Cyborg implants? I thought they mentioned it but I could be wrong. Either way, nothing wrong with leaving this to imagination/wonder and it could come back up as a plot point later.

The motivations for the crew members to go on expedition on the Maginot are not completely clear, but they all must be completely desperate to agree to such a bad deal, even if generational wealth is offered. The world in the show portrays unfettered capitalism with extreme wealth inequality which roughly explains it.

Others have complained that the crew is too incompetent to make sense but to me that would make sense because society's brightest would have little reason to agree to such a mission because they are not poor.
 
Episode 6

Xeno is caught offscreen and back in containment 🙃 and they've built it a play room with blocks and hanging bars. Awwwww. Cute ❤️

With time and therapy...for a fucking robot! Loool. Fire her. Get some competent scientists in for fuck sakes

So it's confirmed, Wendy is talking to the xeno, not just repeating sounds. Having no prior language skills, or reference point or rosetta stone to start a translation.... she can speak xeno

Fuck off...."i think this one's good" 🤣 it's going to be a Jurassic World Raptor isn't it. Wendy is Chris Pratt

The lift scene was good

What's the point of wiping ginger synths mind if you don't fucking tell the other synths to not mention the crash. Absolute trash

I can not wait to see those 2 kid synths get killed off. Trash characters, trash storylines. Kill them off

They don't have group calling in the future. Lol, fucking pathetic

You've literally just shown us the strength of that synth, but he can't open that door and walk in frontways with his synth strength 😐 terrible writing

Finally, the fly is shown off and a character is killed! Now keep going! The eye-sheep is menacing! No one monitoring the sythns though...obviously

No keylogging software in that science lab then I'm guessing!

For an island full of scientists, there sure is a lack of scientists on the island

Why does the lab not have big fuck off red alarm buttons everywhere to alert the whole island that there's issues, that anyone can press on emergencies? Because its trash 🫤

Convenient man sized vent for hiding bodies and moving around in is convenient! Aren't air vents usualy on the ceilings? So what's this vent for?

Fly who eats metal (as shown on the tray being brought in by science synth- and eating sci synth), can't eat the metal of the vent. That's Futuristic science metal©️ obviously

Kirsh/Timothy Olyphant is playing his own game, actively choosing what to report, lying, letting things go to hell

Was that godsmack at the end? Not listened to them for years!
 
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Jesus Christ, this is the worst scientific facility ever. Lol, they throw billions around like nothing and no one is guarding the specimens, 3 man patrol on the island, this is like a show that ran out of budget.
The amount of imbeciles that populate this show's world is really impressive.

That whole section of the facility with the lab was more empty than an abandoned hospital in a post-apocalyptic world, it's like they are being idiots on purpose.
It would be something at the end they break the 4th wall and like "You really thought everyone was this idiotic, huh?"

Liked the Yutani and Kirsh-Morrow exchanges, also the gory stuff and the other aliens, but damn gives some brain and love to the xeno, hope the last 2 episodes have it in full force and center stage.
As it is now, it's a sci-fi show that happens to have a xeno, should be called Eyeball:Earth.

ALso, what is with Boy Kavalier's feet, do I have to look at those dirty fucking things in every episode? Is this some artsy niche thing and I'm an idiot and can't comprehend?
 
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It was more or less the spaceship scenario repeated with the specimen's getting out again due to the worst scientist's ever, all that money in those companies and they have the security of a scrapyard lol, you could see what was going to happen anyway, i suppose it will be Aliens like next (2nd film) but without the great writing, i'm now watching to see how bad it gets lol.
 
I am pretty sure it would be against protocol to open any dangerous animals cage alone in a lab. That is how you get eaten by acid.
 
So it's still dumbfucks vs alien ? I want to watch the sixth episode but i did not find it on the sailing seas, yeah i don't pay to watch that shit sue me, i guess i'ts just only my time but damn is this considered good ? Is this as good as what's considered great like "The Wire" or "The Sopranos" and many more great tv shows like i don't know "Better Call Saul" or mini series like "Chernobyl" or "Give Me A Hero", what the fuck ???
 
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1) they retconned Vasquez' line from Aliens. Absolutely fucking unreal

2) this state of the art lab bought its secure doors from Temu

3) They fired the low-sperm scientist but didn't immediately revoke his access to company systems, which he promptly sabotaged. Instead they just said: "hey sort out a ride home. See ya later"

I'm sure I'll think of more over the next day or so but holy hell, this thing is finding new levels beyond "full retard"
 
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"This is a 'Yes' place."

No.

Is anyone actually enjoying this (and not "hate-watching" it), six episodes in? I really want to know. I previously claimed to be a masochistic completionist (and intended to finish the season), but, after this last episode...as the internet, or a social-media diva, is wont to exclaim, "I can't even."

I'm out. I have resigned to observe you guys watch and comment and will ultimately derive some semblance of an opinion as to the entirety of the season accordingly. I simply don't have the time for trash. I would imagine you don't, neither.

What is this fucking show?

Peter Pan, Peter Pan, Peter Pan.

At least the ending of the latest Star Trek episode had me laughing out-loud. If you're not watching it, I highly recommend Strange New Worlds' "Terrarium." That show has gone "full retard," as well, and the conclusion of the aforementioned episode is, at least, entertaining in an unintentionally funny sort of way.

Also, like, why was the xenomorph (the now-dead one) killing everyone when there were eggs which required hosts? Pretty sure that's like xeno-drone truth, rule no. 1: "I have to get some hosts for these eggs..."
 
The Goddamn Mike said:
"This is a 'Yes' place."

No.

Is anyone actually enjoying this (and not "hate-watching" it), six episodes in? I really want to know. I previously claimed to be a masochistic completionist (and intended to finish the season), but, after this last episode...as the internet, or a social-media diva, is wont to exclaim, "I can't even."

I'm out. I have resigned to observe you guys watch and comment and will ultimately derive some semblance of an opinion as to the entirety of the season accordingly. I simply don't have the time for trash. I would imagine you don't, neither.

What is this fucking show?

Peter Pan, Peter Pan, Peter Pan.

At least the ending of the latest Star Trek episode had me laughing out-loud. If you're not watching it, I highly recommend Strange New Worlds' "Terrarium." That show has gone "full retard," as well, and the conclusion of the aforementioned episode is, at least, entertaining in an unintentionally funny sort of way.

Also, like, why was the xenomorph (the now-dead one) killing everyone when there were eggs which required hosts? Pretty sure that's like xeno-drone truth, rule no. 1: "I have to get some hosts for these eggs..."
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I'm riding this moron train all the way to the end! Gotta see if they shoehorn a Predator in before its over. Get some synergy for the upcoming shitbox movie.

"This might be a good one" - We're now trying to deconstruct the personality of a sociopathic xenomorph. :rolleyes:

I think the first xeno was killing people and ignoring the "get people for the eggs" requirement because it was the alien equivalent of Simple Jack. I bet in the nest none of the other monsters wanted to sit next to him because he was retarded and dribbled too much. I'm rooting for eyeball to kill every living thing on Dumbass Island.

People who say this show is good have to be brain damaged in some way, right?
 
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RCX said:
"This might be a good one" - We're now trying to deconstruct the personality of a sociopathic xenomorph.
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I guarantee you that they are going to tie into the fact that the xenomorph was hatched from Wendy's brother's lung and use that as a reason why the Xeno won't attack Wendy or some similar BS.

RCX said:
I'm rooting for eyeball to kill every living thing on Dumbass Island.
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This would be the only satisfying ending for the show.
 
AJUMP23 said:
Maybe two smart people, They guy that wants to leave and Timothy Oliphants character.
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Oliphant only appears intelligent because he hasn't done anything at all during any episode. He just looks at everyone else in the scene and makes a flat expression with his face. I'm certain in his mind he's saying "What the fuck am I doing here. I was Raylan Givens!"

Guaranteed when he finally does anything at all the writers will ensure he'll be joining the idiot train too.
 
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RCX said:
Oliphant only appears intelligent because he hasn't done anything at all during any episode. He just looks at everyone else in the scene and makes flat expression with his face. I'm certain in his mind he's saying "What the fuck am I doing here. I was Raylan Givens!"

Guaranteed when he finally does anything at all the writers will ensure he'll be joinng the idiot train too.
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He told the one guy to follow protocols. Guy did not so he got Acid face. He is the only one with enough intelligence to keep organics away from eggs, and he sees the EYE is thinking.

The show is fair. But if everyone in every show was brilliant and had common sense, the show would go no where. "Ok so we have these creatures locked up, and I opened no doors by myself and when something broke I called maintenance and fixed it. We are all safe here.
 
AJUMP23 said:
He told the one guy to follow protocols. Guy did not so he got Acid face. He is the only one with enough intelligence to keep organics away from eggs, and he sees the EYE is thinking.

The show is fair. But if everyone in every show was brilliant and had common sense, the show would go no where. "Ok so we have these creatures locked up, and I opened no doors by myself and when something broke I called maintenance and fixed it. We are all safe here.
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In fairness I'm okay with suspension of disbelief. But this show goes so far beyond that as to become an actual comedy.

This is supposed to be one of the most valuable and successful corporations on earth but they cant buy functional doors for their isolation lab? They have a one-in-a-generation android/human project on the verge of success and they decide to house it in the exact same location as their dangerous and completely unknown experiment with alien monsters?

It's not just the premise, its the retarded writing, the bland characterization, the idiotic dialogue. Alien and Aliens had their fair share of contrivance but they had realistic people and believable situations that held it all together.
 
RCX said:
In fairness I'm okay with suspension of disbelief. But this show goes so far beyond that as to become an actual comedy.

This is supposed to be one of the most valuable and successful corporations on earth but they cant buy functional doors for their isolation lab? They have a one-in-a-generation android/human project on the verge of success and they decide to house it in the exact same location as their dangerous and completely unknown experiment with alien monsters?

It's not just the premise, its the retarded writing, the bland characterization, the idiotic dialogue. Alien and Aliens had their fair share of contrivance but they had realistic people and believable situations that held it all together.
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I find most horror comedic, so I understand. I watched the first SAW and laughed, people were frustrated with me in the theater.
 
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In fairness, they kind of baked in mistakes and incompetence by making the Synths have terminally ill children's memories and personalities. Slightly is also being manipulated by Morrow to find a target for the face hugger. I found this episode believable, albeit predictable. Cool to see the fly in action and I actually felt some fear for a synthetic for once after seeing his face melted. And now slightly is locked in with the fly and facehugged man. good stuff. Why does Yutani/Morrow to germinate xenos in the Prodigy facility? to ensue chaos or some more scienctific reason?

What I didn't understand is why didn't Morrow present evidence of Boy Kav's sabotage of the Maginot to crash land on his property. The mediator would've quickly sided with Yutani rather than Prodigy on that one.
 
MSduderino said:
In fairness, they kind of baked in mistakes and incompetence by making the Synths have terminally ill children's memories and personalities. Slightly is also being manipulated by Morrow to find a target for the face hugger. I found this episode believable, albeit predictable. Cool to see the fly in action and I actually felt some fear for a synthetic for once after seeing his face melted. And now slightly is locked in with the fly and facehugged man. good stuff. Why does Yutani/Morrow to germinate xenos in the Prodigy facility? to ensue chaos or some more scienctific reason?

What I didn't understand is why didn't Morrow present evidence of Boy Kav's sabotage of the Maginot to crash land on his property. The mediator would've quickly sided with Yutani rather than Prodigy on that one.
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noticed that too , somethings up
 
The Goddamn Mike said:
Is anyone actually enjoying this (and not "hate-watching" it), six episodes in? I really want to know. I previously claimed to be a masochistic completionist
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I am enjoying it, but I also see the flaws in it. I am just not as upset as other posters here about them.

I think Dana Gonzales, Ugla Hauksdóttir, and Noah Hawley have potential as directors as I really like how they shoot scenes. The tension they manage to build from this mixed writing quality is incredible. In this latest episode, the few held camera shots back to two cages with the flying aliens and the eyeball creature are great. Even the moment where they show the Xenomorph sensing something off as small bits of chaos begin to unfold, and turns to react to it, was really good. They know how to let a scene breathe and feel unsettling at the same time. I think my only negative critique would be the over-usage of superimposition (crossfading of scenes over each other). I like some of them, but some of them felt unnecessary.

However, I think that the writing talent (which sadly includes Noah Hawley) has somewhat dropped the ball. Unfortunately, this show has 9 listed writers in the credits, so it is difficult to tell who's writing the good moments and who's writing the dumb moments. Again, to go back to my first post in this thread, this show constantly feels like there are clashing moments of great set up and then suddenly out-of-place dialogue which makes it feel schizophrenic/split in personality.

I think as of now this is firmly around a C-grade in rating for me.

Some here won't agree, but I like the idea of them introducing new species of aliens into the Alien I.P. I think it would have been a bad idea to just do "Just Xenomorphs again, but this time they're green!" or something similar. The movies and the show aren't called "Xenomorph", so I welcome the idea of other alien types and so far their individual reveals and mysteries have been great. I also like the idea of them attempting to expand the lore behind the corporations and flesh out the world. I like the concept of putting human minds into synths and then the ramifications of being able to rewrite their memories, which raises further questions. All of these things they're attempting at a conceptual level, along with it's interesting direction, is what brings it up to a C-grade so far.
 
March Climber said:
Some here won't agree, but I like the idea of them introducing new species of aliens into the Alien I.P. I think it would have been a bad idea to just do "Just Xenomorphs again, but this time they're green!" or something similar. The movies and the show aren't called "Xenomorph", so I welcome the idea of other alien types and so far their individual reveals and mysteries have been great. I also like the idea of them attempting to expand the lore behind the corporations and flesh out the world. I like the concept of putting human minds into synths and then the ramifications of being able to rewrite their memories, which raises further questions. All of these things they're attempting at a conceptual level, along with it's interesting direction, is what brings it up to a C-grade so far.
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Agreed on this front, but the key word is "conceptual." I'm into expansion of the lore in regard to other creatures, etc. and I don't, in any way, believe Alien Earth needs to focus on the xenomorph. I actually like Prometheus (which obviously did not center on the other films' lead creature) - despite its dopey characters, which don't get as stupid as this crew, but nonetheless.

The issue is: For a concept to be worthwhile it has to be executed well.

Take "the company," the previously-vague, underlying villain of the Alien story. In the first film, the talk about "the bonus situation" and "shares" is presented in dialogue economically; it serves a purpose. The filmmakers need to communicate: These (the Nostromo crew) are "space truckers" and are being paid to do a job for Weyland Yutani. The implication is: they're each receiving some portion of the payload's value upon completion of the work - or, at least, this is what I understood to be the case while watching. The haul is ore of some kind - which has a value. The conversations are organic and inform the viewer.

For episode 5 of this thing, it seems one of the writers heard the word "shares" and decided to put it in the script because...this must be what everyone talks about on a ship. So, stupid engineer kid gets docked a portion of a share by stand-in captain. It serves no purpose other than to parrot the original film. A share of what? Eyeball creature? It's discipline time: you will only get 15/16 of an eyeball. I'm getting into the weeds, but, on a biological research mission, in a rational scenario, no one is receiving "shares." Also, it's been brought up previously, but Morrow just...left his fucking kid? I wouldn't be surprised if Cameron cut the "Ripley's daughter" stuff from the theatrical release of Aliens because he, at some point, realized: "Oh, yeah...it doesn't really make sense for a person, regardless of how desperate she/he is, to effectively abandon her/his child." Have fun at football practice...I'll see you when you're 62.

The concept (again, using that word) of "The Five" is also, as John Spartan says, "Really fucking stupid." From a "show, don't tell" perspective (which is the cardinal rule of film), expecting your audience to just accept the idea of corporate control and no government oversight (which is elemental to the plot) needs to be handled more competently. The exposition-dialogue bits, in which the children androids and others, list the five companies, are not acceptable. I will also bet real money "The Five" and its manifestation in this show is not what was intended in the original films. Burke goes on a rant in the second movie about getting specimens past quarantine - there wouldn't even be a fucking quarantine if corporations controlled everything and there was no government. This (Alien Earth) is a childish interpretation of minutiae from better stories (the films).

Having expressed all of that, this show does LOOK great (mise en scene) - no argument there. The plot and characters (the writing) kills it for me, though. I'm not upset - to use that word; I'm disappointed...which is why on an A-F scale, I can't give this a C. This is DNF for me.
 
Just finished Episode 6, and before reading anybody else's opinion, I want to say that I enjoyed it more than the past few, given that A) my expectations have been lowered and B) it was mostly doing its own thing and not really aping Alien or Aliens.

Looking forward to see what Kirsch's whole steeze is. He just wants to see how it all plays out?
 
FatallyYours said:
So it's confirmed, Wendy is talking to the xeno, not just repeating sounds. Having no prior language skills, or reference point or rosetta stone to start a translation.... she can speak xeno
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Hang the fuck on..

Are you telling me, that after 40 years, Ripley was just being a stubborn bitch and just not conversing with the Aliens?

What a bastard

lwXxV2w3mgTRTuvg.gif


#Xenosdeserveunderstanding
#Freexeno
 
There's a term that escapes me right now, which is typically applied to theater but I think works for literature or film as well - in which so much happens during a short period of a play that the audience ends up feeling like nothing much happened at all. That's how this episode felt. The writing duo stuffed the narrative with plenty of plot turns and advancements, but it was so much that it ended up, to me, feeling like they skipped ahead too quickly, with some of the events losing their intended level of impact.

Even though I think it was all heavily foreshadowed. For example: Kirsch has been outright stating and conveying via axiomatic emotive giveaways that, perhaps because he's a synth, he has absolutely no compassion for any of the people surrounding him - be they human or hybrid. He simply does not care about what may happen to any of them, their companies, humanity at large, even himself. He doesn't truly have any allegiances, even if he appeared to show a brief moment of affinity towards Wendy. All that he does possess is curiosity along with, for reasons I am sure will be elucidated later, malice for cyborgs. So his heel turn was loudly signaled a mile away. And yet (or perhaps thus), it still felt like it lacked impact once the moment arrived.

I find Wendy's chats with the xenomorph creepy when she hits those skirls.

Morrow remains the most compelling character. He's the Captain Hook of this story. If his bladed hand wasn't clue enough, there's the suggestion that he has nothing left but to fill the voids in his life and past by potentially robbing these children of their eternal youth and immortality, of their potential as the greatest and most meaningful inventions of all of human history - vessels that allow one to live forever. Which makes it ironic that Kirsch was the one who ultimately got the first Lost Boy killed.

I think we can all guess where this is going. While I still enjoyed it, this is the first episode I would rate less than 3.5/5. A solid 3.
 
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The Goddamn Mike said:
Agreed on this front, but the key word is "conceptual." I'm into expansion of the lore in regard to other creatures, etc. and I don't, in any way, believe Alien Earth needs to focus on the xenomorph. I actually like Prometheus (which obviously did not center on the other films' lead creature) - despite its dopey characters, which don't get as stupid as this crew, but nonetheless.

The issue is: For a concept to be worthwhile it has to be executed well.

Take "the company," the previously-vague, underlying villain of the Alien story. In the first film, the talk about "the bonus situation" and "shares" is presented in dialogue economically; it serves a purpose. The filmmakers need to communicate: These (the Nostromo crew) are "space truckers" and are being paid to do a job for Weyland Yutani. The implication is: they're each receiving some portion of the payload's value upon completion of the work - or, at least, this is what I understood to be the case while watching. The haul is ore of some kind - which has a value. The conversations are organic and inform the viewer.

For episode 5 of this thing, it seems one of the writers heard the word "shares" and decided to put it in the script because...this must be what everyone talks about on a ship. So, stupid engineer kid gets docked a portion of a share by stand-in captain. It serves no purpose other than to parrot the original film. A share of what? Eyeball creature? It's discipline time: you will only get 15/16 of an eyeball. I'm getting into the weeds, but, on a biological research mission, in a rational scenario, no one is receiving "shares." Also, it's been brought up previously, but Morrow just...left his fucking kid? I wouldn't be surprised if Cameron cut the "Ripley's daughter" stuff from the theatrical release of Aliens because he, at some point, realized: "Oh, yeah...it doesn't really make sense for a person, regardless of how desperate she/he is, to effectively abandon her/his child." Have fun at football practice...I'll see you when you're 62.

The concept (again, using that word) of "The Five" is also, as John Spartan says, "Really fucking stupid." From a "show, don't tell" perspective (which is the cardinal rule of film), expecting your audience to just accept the idea of corporate control and no government oversight (which is elemental to the plot) needs to be handled more competently. The exposition-dialogue bits, in which the children androids and others, list the five companies, are not acceptable. I will also bet real money "The Five" and its manifestation in this show is not what was intended in the original films. Burke goes on a rant in the second movie about getting specimens past quarantine - there wouldn't even be a fucking quarantine if corporations controlled everything and there was no government. This (Alien Earth) is a childish interpretation of minutiae from better stories (the films).

Having expressed all of that, this show does LOOK great (mise en scene) - no argument there. The plot and characters (the writing) kills it for me, though. I'm not upset - to use that word; I'm disappointed...which is why on an A-F scale, I can't give this a C. This is DNF for me.
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The five is fine - it doesn't need explanation because it's just an extension of where we are at now. What I don't understand is where prodigy fits in. In my mind the pyjama guy created it, but then how could it be old enough to be part of the five? Maybe at some point that will be explained but as of now it doesn't seem to make sense unless the corporate take over of the world is super recent, but then Morrow should at least be slightly surprised that the corporations took over the world while he was away. I guess it could have been the four and then Prodigy became the 5th, but that wasn't really how it was explained.
 
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