Review by C.J. Bunce
It seems like every television series that begins with a bang and charges ahead with incredible momentum… is suddenly ground to a halt by a flashback episode. Until now. During the first minutes of the first episode of Alien: Earth, viewers discover that the iron ore hauler space vessel S.S. Maginot has been invaded by aliens of different varieties–among other elements–that cause it to barrel ahead on a collision course toward Earth. My initial thought was that it was a shame the story started at the end of this crew, because the vessel looked as good, maybe even better, than the vessel designed by Syd Mead and Roger Christian in Ridley Scott’s original Alien movie. The fleeting images of the cast begged for some kind of prequel story–it just looks that good, like futurist wizards Mead and Christian had created it. Who knew I’d get my wish so quickly? This week’s episode “In Space, No One…” is a master class in storytelling, delivering a flashback episode that deserves to be screened in a theater, a tightly written, craftily directed hour that revs up the action that was already propelling us forward like a freight train–or a ship careening toward Earth. And viewers learn something critical: Who was really behind it all.
What was the best movie I’ve watched this year? So far I’d say this week’s episode of Alien: Earth. It’s that good, that cinematic, with a thrilling story, settings, costumes, cinematography, music, writing, acting, casting, action, suspense, all the sci-fi with 1970s retro future influences, and even more suspenseful aliens than we’ve seen before in the franchise. Never before has a writer gotten into the head of an alien like Noah Hawley did with this episode.
In the first four episodes viewers have followed the actions of the next heroine of the franchise, the “human mind in a machine,” a human/Synth hybrid called Wendy. We met her brother, played by perfect everyman Alex Hawther, whose lost lung from battle gets its own side story. We met a group of a new kind of human like Wendy, all very different, all encountering new conflicts as they find their places. And we met Samuel Blenkin’s Kavalier aka Prodigy, a mad scientist like we’ve never seen in the Alien movies or read about in the tie-in novels. Kavalier is a power-mad psychopath who looks like a combination of Frodo and Pan.
Sydney Chandler’s Wendy has superhuman talents, but nobody could have guessed she can communicate with at least one type of the new visitors from another world. Are we going to witness some sympathies for the aliens, a la E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial? We at last meet one of the Yutani family leaders (played by Sandra Yi Sencindiver) of megacorp Weyland-Yutani infamy. Why does Lily Newmark’s hybrid/Synth Nibs think she is pregnant? Why is she so threatening to the mother of the team, Essie Davis’s Dame Sylvia? And how do we all just know Timothy Olyphant’s more traditional Synth Kirsh has secrets of his own he’s holding back? No answers yet–Hawley’s going to put that on hold a minute.
With the fifth episode it’s Babou Ceesay who takes the lead as Morrow, a classic cyborg (a human with some prosthetic appendages and maybe a neural link who describes himself as the “worst parts of a man”). Once the mysterious surviving member of the Maginot, now we get to see what happened to the ship and why. You’ll probably pant and sweat along with him as you make your way through this episode. From beginning to end he is superb. Emmy Award voters: ignore that typical drivel you vote for and pay attention. We also meet the ship’s interim captain, played by Richa Moorjani (illustrating the challenges of decision-making when lives are at stake), Karen Aldridge’s ship doctor (illustrating the dangers of getting too close to your subjects), Michael Smiley’s rough-on-the-edges engineer, Amir Boutrous’s Rahim (who delivers the franchise’s theme: “This space bug is proof of how stupid smart people can be—smart enough to build ships capable of space travel, of splitting the atom, and decoding the genome, but too stupid to realize you don’t bring parasites home with you”), Jamie Bisping’s young newbie-cabin boy (illustrating why you don’t swap years of your life for shares in Weyland-Yutani), and Andy Yu’s Mr. Teng (who could have any clue what the backstory on this loony guy could be?) As a bonus, Hawley enlists Enzo Cilenti as a crewman for his homage to a well-cloaked sci-fi masterpiece from the past, The Hunt for Red October (and a lesson in the perils of being greedy).
Horror fans will marvel at the creature creations. The octupus-esque all-knowing eye (Hawley calls it the “eye midge”) ups the ante on anti-Xenomorph hatred in this week’s episode, and we see a battle as masterfully choreographed as anything in the history of alien invasion movies. The other bugs are creating their own thread of the story, something straight out of Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers.
And speaking of Heinlein, in all five episodes Noah Hawley seems to have borrowed some of the coolest concepts from science fiction’s greats–the uncomfortable relationships found in Philip K. Dick stories, the cold technological terrors of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the incorporation of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and Wendy as a framework is straight out of Ray Bradbury’s fantasy playbook. And of course the new evolution of robots and interconnection with man is only the latest extension of what Mary Shelley began and Isaac Asimov polished.
The creepiest and most innovative offering in the series may be how Hawley shows us the vantage points from the different alien organisms. It’s chilling stuff. I’m certain the late H.R. Giger and Syd Mead would be in awe of what Hawley has created here. Sure, the gore, body horror, and monstrosities will not be everyone’s cup of tea. But it’s always been integral to what Alien is as a franchise–sci-fi horror.
If you didn’t imagine Alien could deliver a series on even footing with Star Wars, Star Trek, Blade Runner, Doctor Who, Dune, The Orville, Predator, Altered Carbon, Humans, Counterpart, or any other science fiction or space fantasy, you must watch this series. Alien: Earth has set a new bar for both television and theatrical presentations of science fiction. Everyone who is a fan of genre storytelling should be talking about this series.
In my review of the first two episodes I posited whether creator Noah Hawley could keep up the momentum he built in those two episodes for the entire eight-episode season. Well, he’s succeeded for the first five.
Jeff Russo, who delivered the sound of the future in Counterpart, Altered Carbon, and Star Trek, continues a century of science fiction, military, and horror movie sounds and music callbacks that sci-fi fans will be talking about for years to come. Wolfgang Metshan (Atomic Blonde, Beauty and the Beast) is responsible for getting Roger Christian’s lived-in world right again. And viewers get the privilege of seeing more details of the work of costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb (No Time to Die, Obi-Wan Kenobi). Add 2001: A Space Odyssey to The Last Starfighter and Outland, as movies from the era the series seems to be tapping into (the future from Ridley Scott’s 1979 vision).
What are you waiting for? This is big league science fiction television you won’t want to miss. It’s peak retro futurism. The first five episodes of Alien: Earth are streaming now on FX Networks and Hulu, and only three more episodes will follow each week until the finale September 23, 2025. Fathom Events needs to then book a theatrical screening of the whole series in theaters. I’ll be the first in line.
borg is your best source for Alien franchise news. Check out our reviews of books and tie-ins in the franchise:
Alien: Out of the Shadows by Tim Lebbon
Alien: Sea of Sorrows by James A. Moore
Alien: River of Pain by Christopher Golden
Alien: The Cold Forge by Alex White
Alien: Colony War by David Barnett
Alien: Inferno’s Fall by Philippa Ballentine
Alien: Prototype by Tim Waggoner
Alien: Into Charybdis by Alex White
Alien: Enemy of My Enemy by Mary Sangiovanni
Alien The Complete Collection: The Shadow Archive Collection by various
Alien The Complete Collection: Symphony of Death by various
Aliens: Infiltrator by Weston Ochse
Aliens: Bug Hunt by various
Aliens: Vasquez by V. Castro
Aliens: Bishop by T.R. Napper
Aliens vs Predator: Rift War by Weston Ochse and Yvonne Navarro
Alien3: The Unproduced First Draft Screenplay by William Gibson and Pat Cadigan
The Book of Alien: Augmented Reality Survival Manual, by Owen Williams
Alien Covenant: Origins, by Alan Dean Foster
The Making of Alien by J.W. Rinzler
The Making of Aliens by J.W. Rinzler
The Art and Making of Alien Covenant, by Simon Ward
Alien Covenant: David’s Drawings by Dane Hallett & Matt Hatton
Aliens: Bug Hunt, anthology
Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report, by S.D. Perry
Aliens: The 30th Anniversary Edition
Cinema Alchemist: Designing Star Wars and Alien, by Roger Christian
Aliens: The Set Photography, by Simon Ward
The Movie Art of Syd Mead, Visual Futurist
Jonesy: Nine Lives on the Nostromo
Find the Xenomorph: An Aliens Search-and-Find Book
H.R. Giger: Debbie Harry Metamorphosis
Tech Noir by James Cameron
Need to resupply your collection of Alien toys? Look at all that’s available here at Entertainment Earth.
Or go directly to the source, the movies themselves, all at affordable prices on Amazon, and even less with subscriptions to various streaming platforms:
Prometheus (reviewed here)
Alien: Covenant (discussed here)
Alien: Romulus (reviewed here)
Game over? Not even close. Keep coming back for more Alien coverage at borg.
