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| Images courtesy FX Networks |
A new name in prestige television is Noah Hawley, who spent a decade as writer/creator of many different shows on network TV. A decade ago, he seemed to find his place making shows for FX, starting with Fargo.
Hawley remixed the tone, tropes, and violence of all the Coen Brothers’ films masterfully for all five seasons of this show. He took creative risks, even using animation and marionette puppets to make his storytelling engaging and interesting. The showrunner did something similarly creative in the three seasons of Legion, a remix of X-Men comics, ‘70s art direction, psychedelic visuals, and literary influences.
Hawley performs a similar remix of lore, fan theories, Ridley Scott themes, and film tropes from the Alien franchise in this year’s 8-episode series, Alien:Earth. The result is a treat for fans of this showrunner, but slasher fans might have their patience tested.
The Maginot, a deep-space research vessel owned by the infamous Weyland-Yutani corporation, crash-lands into New Siam in 2120. This version of Earth is run by five conglomerate corporations, one of which, Prodigy, owns New Siam. Prodigy CEO Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) runs this company from his Neverland Research island.
This crash creates an opportunity for Kavalier, the world’s youngest trillionaire, to steal the deadly cargo that always seems to end up on Weyland-Yutani ships. In the timeline of the Alien franchise, this series takes place after Ridley Scott’s prequels (Prometheus, Alien: Covenant) but before the original film with Sigourney Weaver.
Hawley uses Neverland Research Island to incorporate new elements into the familiar Alien storyline. One of Kavalier’s experiments is transferring the consciousness and high intelligence of terminally ill children into newly created hybrid bodies. The first, named Wendy (Sydney Chandler), becomes a success beyond Kavalier’s expectations and becomes the default leader of six other ‘hybrids’, all also named after characters in Peter Pan’s Neverland.
These hybrids are a more advanced version of the android (synthetic humans), well-known to fans of the franchise. Fulfilling this android role with icy aloofness is Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh, head of the research lab at Neverland. The hybrids are also superior to cyborgs (humans with hi-tech augmentation who remain human for the most part). The sole survivor of the Maginot (a twist on the Final Girl trope) is Morrow (Babou Ceesay), a cyborg contractually loyal to Weyland-Yutani.
Alien: Earth also keeps the franchise new and interesting by having more creatures than just the Xenomorph on board the Maginot. There’s smart use of these creatures that follows Chekov’s gun principle in revealing more about them, like which kind of being or machine each might be a threat to.
The long-form storytelling here builds up some great tension as so many characters are fleshed out and franchise ideas are explored, but the magic wanes during later episodes. Wisely, the series contains a flashback episode of what happened on the Maginot before its crash. This delivers the bloody goods to keep slasher fans happy while also incorporating something new into a familiar story.
There is so much for fans here. Many, many Easter eggs litter every episode, and the production design incorporates all the best parts of the franchise. One element that may get repetitive is the set design, where parts of the ships/sets look similar to various parts of the Xenomorph. There is a scene or two where viewers can predict exactly where the frightening, 3-meter monster could materialize based on the set design.
One tradeoff for the engaging storytelling and world-building here is that the Xenomorph sometimes takes a backseat. So much in this series builds a world that could continue in another season (though it hasn’t been renewed as of the finale premiere). And to do that, the protagonists and other characters get more screen time. This means that the finale could be even more of a disappointment for franchise fans looking for some final confrontation.
So, Alien: Earth borrows some amazing aspects of the franchise for a new story and mixes in engaging themes from other Ridley Scott films (Blade Runner). But the final episodes, in spite of their interesting trajectory, could leave both fans and newcomers feeling disappointed.
- Eric Beach