Anyone watching Alien: Earth? (hexbear.net)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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So far it is really nailing the vibes of the first two films. It takes place a couple decades prior to Alien and one of the new plot points is that an up and coming rival corpo city state to Wayland Yutani is porting the minds of terminally ill and disabled children into synthetic bodies.

The cast does a phenomenal job of portraying kids in adult bodies with their mannerisms, humor, and body language and it has all the clicky clack retro sci fi the series is known for an I fucking love it so far.

Definitely a mix of both films in terms of themes and action. There is clearly some Aliens feel with some military grunts investigating a crashed ship and also some Alien vibes with the slow burn of the first couple episodes. I highly recommend for fans of either of those movies.

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[-] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Overall pretty good, I like the lining up of some corp-on-corp violence which hasn't been seen in the franchise so far

One weird nitpick though

Her flashback where she's watching a movie with her brother... and it's fucking Ice Age, and not even the original but one of the sequels, took me out of it completely. One of the most crucial components to the identity of the series is the clunky 70s-style computer systems, which I just can't possibly imagine being able to produce CGI movies like that.

Like, is it suggesting that technology and culture in this universe matched the real world until at least 2012, and then just regressed back to clicky-clacky command line terminals everywhere? And also that kids would just be casually watching a movie that could have been over a hundred years old at that point? Peter Pan I get, cause it has a cultural position that's kind of timeless, but Ice Age?? It just doesn't feel like something that could exist in this universe, right?

Edit: Okay, I started watching the second episode and there's a callback?? Why would he say that? No one would say that! And then as she hacks the robot to deliver the response, Ice Age Sid fucking fades in to accompany the line???

How the fuck is this a real frame from the newest entry to Ridley Scott's Alien universe??? This is so jarring, it's like a parody except you couldn't make something this funny on purpose. There's obviously a narrative slot here for the 'shared media reference' that these two characters can use to communicate, but it should probably have been something with a little more, I don't know, gravitas or cultural permanence than the fourth entry in the Ice Age film franchise, and even then the execution didn't need to be THIS.

It's also making me notice how much of the rest of the script and scenario is really kind of contrived, when before I think I was blinded by the excellent production. But whatever, I'm sure I can ignore it and keep enjoying this slop.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

i do think the juxtaposition in technological style is weird at best. It's like Prometheus on one hand and Alien on the other. Perhaps the chunky retro tech is used for reliability reasons, like how XP is/was used on space stations for a long time. But I kind of wish they'dve stuck to retro if they were going to use it.

although now that I think about it, all of the high tech stuff is used by the corpo freaks + their forces and the worse tech is used for lower class things like that robo HR desk that used punch cards. So maybe it's intentional and hinting that the reason for tech regression is capitalist immiseration.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago

they made a new alien movie that doesn't suck? lets-fucking-go

[-] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago

so-far

[-] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

So far, pretty good. The sound and prop design are true to the original which is one of the best parts of Alien, the gritt. Overall it's possible that they actually did a good series out of it but I really hope they don't actually turn the synths kids into "teen superheroes/wizards/vampires" Marvel slop, but it looks like they will.

Still, the set design alone makes the whole thing better than 99,99% of the slop currently in the trough.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

I realized one of the reasons I liked 1-4 and especially 2 is because of my intense lesbian crush on Ripley. Noomi was cute in Prometheus but Romulus didnt quite do it for me, and I am skeptical about Earth despite your glowing review. I'm sure its probably good though! :)

[-] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

my intense lesbian crush on Ripley

SO real. Also same.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

When the scientist was sitting at the computer before the trillionaire walked in to give her backhanded comments about being smarter than her, was that a picture of a Yautja in the background or palm trees?

[-] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

Yeah, though I'm not married to it. Just another regular thing to watch

[-] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

I missed it, goddamn.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

I didn't know it was out! Gonna need to find it on a... streaming site... and give it a watch. I love the first two movies + isolation (+ romulus I guess) so if it's anything like that I'll enjoy it

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It's better than Romulus. One of my favorite subtle details is what I assume is an earlier version of the M41A pulse rifle that looks reminiscent of the difference between the M16A1 vs the M16A2 without the underbarrel grenade launcher from Aliens.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

yeah and there was a short barrel version too!

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

Also it's a bullpup and apparently built off the Steyr AUG

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

bullpups get a lot of crap but I think it does make total sense for a futuristic electrically fired caseless sci fi gun to be bullpup

[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

Seen up to episode two; On one hand great cinematography, set design and effects. On the other hand The whole "dollar store Pantheon", "Battle angel Amelieta" adults acting like kids is really turning me off. I also feels like the script is trying really hard to sound smart while delving on a bunch of platitudes.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

Eh sure some of it is a bit on the nose like the peter pan allegory it beats you over the head with but that was the only thing I thought was really tiring.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

i hated Kirsh's dialogue lol

[-] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

I have no idea what is going on with synthetic Sting

[-] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

It's Timothy Olephant and I kinda love him

[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

Yeah, it's good. Nails the vibe, the art style, the horror elements, the setting, etc.

It also feels like something new. Plenty of references to the rest of the franchise, but it isn't a remake or reboot or legacy sequel. It's a new story, new cast, new characters, new aliens. Noah Hawley has long-since proven he can handle this, I'm excited for the rest of the series.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

Noah Hawley has long-since proven he can handle this

Yeah Fargo is one of my favorite TV series of all time.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

Legion also criminally underrated

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

Yeah i am. I am not sure what to say about it

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

spoilers for episode 1

I'm going to have nightmares about that xeno tick thing omfg scared

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

my opinion after watching - I liked the horror aspects quite a bit and I thought they were well done, and the new creatures felt like they fit the series well. The orchestral sounds lifted from the originals were used very well to build dread. Not sure how I feel about the hybrids. Not a criticism, but I hated the trillionaire guy, what a jerkoff.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

"Boy Kavalier" is such a stupid on the nose name and I fuckin love it.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

How does it compare to Raised By Wolves? That show had one of the best pilots I've ever seen but the rest of the series never lived up to its promise.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago

I remember greatly disliking the first few episodes of that and dropping it quickly, but I don't remember exactly why

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

We'll have to wait and see. I like it a lot so far.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

It feels like Ridley Scott doesn't commit to lore and backstory in his franchises and just wings it as he goes along. That's why everything in the Alien franchise feels disconnected from each other aside from the two OG films.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

Just watched the first two episodes tonight. Overall I really like it but there are some glaring plot holes. Like, (spoilers sorry I am on mobile and I don’t know how to format it manually) why did they send the hybrids to the crash site unarmed? Like wtf are they even supposed to do? And also why did the medic leave the assault rifle behind after being attacked by the alien AND the synth? Is he stupid?

But other than details like that, I dig the vibe and look forward to watching the rest.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

Rifle I think was out of ammo and I think he didn't want to go looking for the body to find more.

But yeah they show the synths jumping down cliffs and running a thousand miles an hour but they just kinda saunter around? Like can't they just sprint up the stairs? Or outright jump? Not having weapons I can understand as them thinking they're going in as emergency responders, not walking into the den of an invasive species that has acid blood and dismembers people like it's nothing.

The soldiers initially sent are going in to steal and aren't sure how any survivors aboard will react. By the time the kids get there, they've confirmed there's no survivors (that they know of).

[-] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

I can forgive a lot of the mistakes cause they treats are made for us. The room full of literal bourgeois that get dropped because they are assholes was pandering and I appreciate it. I kinda think everything being stupid works for a failson Epstine island tech oligarch. I am sure in an early draft of the script there were child synths he was fucking. So far it has been slop that is just right

[-] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

oh yeah the literal french bourgeois cosplay group getting ripped apart immediately was so on the nose and so great.

this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2025

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