I have been a fan f the Alien franchise ever since I saw the Alien toy in the Sears Wish Book way back in 1979. I was only about 8 years old then so, luckily for me, I had not even seen the movie yet. But by the ripe old age of 11 I had seen Alien about 20 times (many of which I viewed while eating breakfast for some weird reason). But let's look past that bad parenting for a little bit and continue. When Aliens came out in 1986, I could not wait to see it. I saw it in the theater at least four times (it was very easy to sneak in to R rated movies back then). Since then I have watched it at least another 50 times. And that is no exaggeration. Aliens is the best sci-fi action movie of all time. I don't even know if there is a close second place.
Because I loved those first two movies so much, I have seen every installment in the Alien franchise. Sadly, most of them since 1986 have been terrible. Alien 3 on the prison planet? Terrible? Alien 4 with Winona Ryder and swimming Aliens? Terrible. Alien vs Predator? Surprisingly terrible. Alien vs Predator: Requiem? Terrible. Prometheus? Boring but not absolutely terrible. Alien Covenant? Also boring but not totally terrible. Alien Romulus? Not bad and pretty entertaining.
But now there is Aline Earth. Although there have only been two episodes, I can already say it is the best Alien content since 1986. Even though I have been burned repeatedly over the past 40 years, for some reason, I had high hopes for Alien Earth. The first two episodes far surpassed those high expectations. It is freaking awesome! Geiger's creation is back doing what it does back. She is hiding, scaring the shit out of me, and destroying everything in her path. It is simply incredible! My only complaint is that I didn't find a theater that was showing the first two episodes of the show on a giant screen. It would have been perfect seeing this in Dolby Vision with perfect sound.
Just like the first two, the story, action and sound is incredible. Jaws taught filmmakers that the score of a movie can create more terror than almost any visual and the original Alien proved this to be true. Even though no one can hear you scream in space, they can hear you scream in a theater with the right sound and visual effects. The creators of Alien Earth clearly remember this and have used this idea to create one of the coolest things I have ever seen on my TV screen. Where is the Alien going to come from? Who knows? Maybe she is right behind you right now! (Damn it. If I had some cool music I could have scared you).
To be honest, if the show had simply been an Alien makes it to earth and people run around trying to kill it for eight hours of television I would have been completely satisfied. But instead of just doing this, they actually wrote a story. And it is an incredible one so far. In the year 2120 (2 years before the original Alien movie) the solar system is run by four (or perhaps five) corporations that act like countries. They are competing to create the technology that will make them the ultimate force in the solar system. So needless to say, harnessing the power of an Alien would give them a huge advantage.
But these corporations aren't just waiting around for a win to fall in their laps. They are all actively competing to produce the next great thing in human/machine evolution. We learn in the first five minutes that one corporation has figured out how to transfer a child's mind into a robot's body. This sounds really cool but add in the fact that the writers saw the similarity between children living forever in a robot body and the lost boys who live in Peter Pan's Neverland and it becomes downright brilliant! All of the children/robots have names from Peter Pan. They also act like children in adult bodies. Imagine if Tom Hanks in Big had super powers and you can imagine these creations in Alien Earth.
I honestly don't want to say too much more as I try to avoid spoilers at all costs, but please know, Alien Earth is cinema quality and incredibly exciting. The special effects and action sequences are simply incredible. You won't see anything better in a theater. And this should come to no surprise. It has been said that Alien Earth cost $250 million to make. FX is not playing around. And it shows.
If you like Sci-Fi action, you simply must watch this show. I have never seen anything like it before on the small screen.
And for those of you who remember the Sears Wish Book...
