After years of rumblings, set reports, delays, and marketing lead ups, the day we’ve been waiting for is here, FX’s Alien: Earth releases tonight in the US on Hulu and tomorrow on Disney+ in the UK. I’ll be watching the pilot for my third time tonight, as I was fortunate enough to see it at its Hall H premiere during San Diego Comic Con, and again last week at a special theatrical screening that took place in a number of US cities.
If you somehow missed the headline, I’ll be going into spoiler territory about the pilot in this review, so if you’d like to go in fresh, go watch the Alien: Earth pilot and then return afterwards.
As the pilot episode “Neverland” begins, we’re shown some text setting up some primary technological elements for us. Synths – the artificial beings we know well within the Alien universe, Cyborgs – augmented humans who have been upgraded with synthetic elements, and now Hybrids – human consciousness transferred into a fully synthetic body. After this, the Alien title card appears with quick flashes of intense imagery as we begin to see a spacecraft traveling in the void. Dramatic music swells as we zoom past the front of the vessel and into the bridge. The year is 2120. This is the USCSS Maginot, and we’re given an introduction to her and her crew that feels straight out of 1979. Last year’s Alien: Romulus also had a very original Alien feeling intro sequence, but this one is even closer. Just like in Alien, the crew slowly awakens and then we transition into the mess hall.
While things have felt straight out of Alien until this point, as we get to know the crew… I noticed some different dynamics here. The cryosleep chamber has multiple pod arrangements, and one of them still contains sleeping crew members. Might this mean the crew works in rotating shifts? As the crew banters at the table, we’re introduced to Morrow, the ship’s chief security officer. I did have an issue here, and that’s how exposition-y some of the dialogue is between the crew about the ruling corporations of this setting. It seems overtly tailored to inform us, the audience, rather than feeling natural. Some of the engineers seemingly joke (unless they’re seriously suggesting) about dumping the specimens they’ve collected, and Marrow quickly makes it clear that the specimens are the mission and threatens to confine them to their quarters. The duo mentioned that they’ve lost crew members securing the specimens, so I’m wondering just how much of the Maginot’s mysterious journey will be revealed through the season. We can see various creatures kept in the lab aboard the ship, among them are facehuggers suspended in tanks.
The crew heads back to their cryo pods, and we start to see more mysterious flashes, telegraphing to us that something is about to go very wrong… There are also some truly impressive shots of this C-Class vessel flying through space.
Now we’re on earth, specifically Neverland research island. A scorpion is seen in a terrarium as a young girl, Marcy, comes into frame. Her caretaker, the synthetic, Kirsh, comes into frame. Kirsh questions her about what they should do with the scorpion that was found? Initially she suggests to kill it to stop it from stinging anyone. Kirsh challenges her, asking her what if another scorpion tries to sting her trying to protect its friend just like she’s trying to protect Kirsh. He continues that the scorpion must feel just as afraid under glass and “menaced by giants” as she is of its sting. Then a woman enters the room, Dame Sylvia, ready to collect Marcy for her procedure. Marcy is bald, in medical attire, and walking with a IV stand, it’s clear she has a serious condition.
Before Marcy leaves to make her transition, she asks if Kirsh is going to kill the scorpion, to which he asks “do you want me to?” Marcy considers this for a moment and then says “no.” This conversation makes me think this dilemma may end up returning before the season’s end…
Marcy meets Boy Kavalier, the CEO of the new Prodigy corporation. Boy talks to Marcy about how she is going to be a pioneer: the first human consciousness to be transferred into a synthetic body. As she lays down to undergo the procedure, she sees the new adult body she’ll inhabit. It’s clear Boy Kavalier has a thing for Peter Pan, as he presents to Marcy a large circular screen above playing the animated Disney classic.
Before she falls asleep, Marcy looks over to her new form and remarks “Wendy… she looks like a Wendy.” And with that, she adopts a new name as well before falling asleep as the procedure begins. This idea of consciousness transfer has appeared a few times before in the expanded universe, most notably with the character of Dr. Eisenberg of AvP2, and also with Blue Marsalis of Alex White’s Alien: The Cold Forge novel. It’s a thought-provoking concept that feels at home in the Alien universe. The table and its components illuminate in rhythmic pulses during the transfer. It seems that unlike something like Ghost in the Shell, where a human brain is being implanted into a robot body, Marcy’s consciousness is actually being digitized, something that makes me think of the 2015 movie Chappie.
Wendy awakens. It seems like a bit of time has passed and she’s enjoying her new life and sense of power. One particular display of power felt a bit… super hero-ish for me, but it was short and not much of a distraction. Marcy has conversations with her caretakers Kirsh and Dame about adjusting to her new adult form. It’s explained that this was given to her because synthetic bodies do not grow, so she needed one that she could grow into. They’ve tried to simulate the feeling of adolescence for her so the transition is not so abrupt, and here we have a minor debate about the perspectives of these two characters. “She’s not human anymore, why are we pretending she is?” asks Kirsh. “This is a body for a human mind” counters Dame, arguing that the human experience is critical for them to give to Wendy.
“If I’m not human, what am I?” asks Wendy. “Whatever you want to be.” Kirsh responds.
Back aboard the USCSS Maginot, things are seemingly not going so well. We’re flying through the ship as alarms are blaring and the ship is moving violently. The specimens the crew have spent years obtaining have broken loose and the ship has become a nightmare menagerie. Morrow is in the MU/TH/UR room, consulting with her about their status. A crew member arrives at the exterior door to the MU/TH/ER chamber, pleading for Morrow to let her in. Morrow slowly walks to the door and welds it shut. A Xenomorph arrives from the corridor and kills her as Morrow hums to himself.
The Alien begins to break through the door and into the computer chamber. “Mother, I need the impact room” Morrow says. The Xenomorph is making short work of the door. Morrow climbs into a compact coffin-like space in the floor, it’s door closing right as the Alien breaks through. The call was close enough that the Alien drooled on him. The Alien continues to try and reach Morrow, denting the top hatch of the impact room. This scene is actually the only time we really see the Xenomorph in this first episode, but I really like how it was portrayed here as it broke into the room, as a force of nature that can be slowed, but cannot be stopped. While the Xenomorph is kept in the shadows in this episode, I’m really digging this new adult Alien design by Weta, and I can’t wait to see more of it in subsequent episodes.
Back at the Neverland research facility Wendy meets other children with terminal medical conditions. She takes on her role as a “big sister,” to prepare them for the same transition she underwent. This sequence where the rest of the children obtain their adult bodies and join her was really well shot with some dynamic camera work. It almost felt haunting, with Disney’s Peter Pan once again playing above them.
A new location makes its appearance: Prodigy City in the region of New Siam. Here we meet a new young man taking a boat ride before getting himself some lunch. This is Joe, as we’re told by Wendy. He’s being watched by her through screens in her room back on Neverland Island. Ice Age 4: Continental Drift happens to be playing, and both characters remember laughing together over a particular scene. It’s clear that Wendy and Joe are siblings from what we see in a quick flashback, Noah Hawley himself also briefly appears as their father within the flashback.
Joe is part of a Prodigy corporation military response team, he’s the medic of one of their squads. His callsign or last name is Hermit, which is on his uniform. As they are exercising and talking on a rooftop, a rumble intensifies. The USCSS Maginot swoops down right over their heads, sending them fleeing from debris. The unit then moves to the railing, looking ahead as the crashed Maginot slides to a stop and smashes into the base of three massive towers in the core of the city. The squad quickly mobilizes. The weapons they hold look like futuristic “bullpup” rifles with a recognizable red illuminated ammo counter on the sides. One of them also has what appears to be a smart gun.
The squad rides in their APC towards the chaotic scene, heading into the building and directing fleeing civilians towards medical tents. As they head deeper inside, they cross into the wreckage of the Maginot itself. Back at the Neverland research facility, Boy Kavalier is made aware of the crash. He’s informed by his right hand man, Atom Ein that it’s a Weyland-Yutani vessel and they’ll be wanting it back. Boy scoffs at this. To him, the ship coming down in his city means it’s their to loot.
Morrow emerges from his impact room, seemingly the only survivor of the USCSS Maginot. He tells MU/TH/UR to alert Weyland HQ and heads to the armory. As more of Prodigy’s forces make their way inside the craft, they start exploring the lab and see illuminated containers for all sorts of little critters. One of these creatures, which looks like a small insect, makes its way onto one of the Prodigy soldiers as he remains unaware. As they leave, Morrow gets the drop on them at gunpoint, he demands they disarm, and restrains them to pipes back in the lab. After Morrow leaves them the insect like creature returns. Now the soldier is aware of it, and telling his companion that it’s on him. The creature makes its way around his head before chomping on his neck, drinking his blood as its abdomen expands like a tick or mosquito. This is our first look at one of the horrifying fates for those who fall victim to the non-Xenomorph variety of Alien life we’ll be seeing during this season.
Back at Neverland, Wendy participates in further testing. During this test of hearing higher audio frequencies, she’s distracted by video on one of the monitors in the room. She sees her brother, and walks over to get a better look at the screens. As she manipulates them, the scientist Arthur (Dame Sylvia’s husband) seems impressed with her ability to interface naturally with tech. It doesn’t seem like these screens were designed to be touch based…
Concerned for her brother, Wendy knows she has to do something. Walking straight to the office of Boy Kavalier, she appeals to him to let her and her synthetic companions assist at the wreckage site. Boy seems intrigued by this suggestion and allows it, sending Kirsh with them as their handler. Wendy rounds up the Lost Boys to prepare them for their first mission. As they gear up, she breaks a piece of a paper cutter into a makeshift sword.
The Lost Boys load into their dropships and head towards the city. Wendy once again talks with Kirsh, this time on mortality. Our pilot ends here, on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I’m glad we’re getting to watch both episodes on the air date. We roll into the credits with the rock song “The Mob Rules” by Black Sabbath.
Alien: Earth is well executed, with solid production value, cinematography, music, characters, and sci-fi explorations. While the show is already getting rave reviews among critics and I expect audiences to be onboard, I suspect there may be more division among the hardcore fans of the franchise.
It can be difficult to review new media in this universe, given how passionate I am about it. How do I balance looking at something as a fan vs trying to be objective as a watcher? For fans, there will be questions here, I certainly have them. You can call them nitpicks, but I found myself wondering why the crew of the Maginot goes right back into cryo after waking? How did they keep all these dangerous species contained without cryo until they didn’t? Where is the Three World Empire or the United Americas? Governments may not have been explored in Alien or Aliens but they were still prominent background elements. Are the prequels no longer canon given when the crew of the Maginot retrieved the Xenomorph? Is this an entirely alternate continuity, even from the first two movies? Has this ship really been traveling from 60+ years? That’s before the Weyland-Yutani merger and yet the ship is branded with current timeline company logos. That’s also the longest on-screen space journey we’ve ever seen in the franchise but the crew are treating it like it’s Tuesday. It seems that with this series, we’re going to have to be willing to look over these nitty gritty wider universe and timeline details that Hawley seems less interested in. From what I can see, the show doesn’t really keep in line with established lore even outside of the prequels, and you’re going to have to be at least somewhat ok with that if you want to enjoy Alien: Earth. Surprisingly… for now at least, I am mostly ok with that.
Alien: Earth is weird, but it is wonderfully weird, and it leans into it. To take a thought expressed from community member “SizzyBubbles” who I saw it with in an early theatrical screening, it feels like almost like a dream, and I really want to see where that dream goes. This pilot does what a good pilot should, it got me onboard, eagerly awaiting the next episode. It can also be tricky to review an episode in the context of a wider story, but as a starter, this really hit the mark for me. It isn’t faultless, and perhaps my enthusiasm could change as the season progresses, but for now, I’m ready for this ride.
From RidgeTop at AvP Galaxy, I award the pilot of Alien: Earth a 9 out of 10.