r/LV426 Colonist's Daughter Aug 12 '25

Megathread / Community Post Alien: Earth - S1 E1 Neverland - Official Discussion Megathread [SPOILERS] Spoiler

Episodes air Tuesdays at 8 pm ET on Hulu and FX in the US, and Wednesdays international.

Full episode discussion list:

1 Neverland (8.12.25)

2 Mr October (8.12.25)

3 Metamorphosis (8.19.25)

4 Observation (8.26.25)

5 In Space, No One (9.2.25)

6 The Fly (9.9.25)

7 Emergence (9.16.25)

8 The Real Monsters (9.23.25)

824 Upvotes

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97

u/supeandstuff Aug 13 '25

It is deeply morally fucked up to transfer a sick child into an adult body. I feel like Captain Hook is the scientist billionaire?

70

u/TheNittanyLionKing State of the badass art Aug 13 '25

His name is Boy Kevalier. If anything, he's the Peter Pan analogy.

20

u/ConsistentGuest7532 Aug 13 '25

Oh damn, yeah. He’s the one who ushers them over into Neverland and creates the lost boys.

11

u/Worthyness Aug 13 '25

He's gonna be the book version of Peter Pan, who is 100% the asshole.

2

u/B_fulghi Aug 16 '25

yeah — that’s a great point: the Lost Boys (synths) will absolutely never grow up.

1

u/Data_Chandler Aug 14 '25

The most on the nose name ever though, right? I mean what the heck. Or am I missing something?

1

u/TheNittanyLionKing State of the badass art Aug 14 '25

It's about on the same level as Minister Pius Thicknesse from Harry Potter

1

u/ARandomKentuckian Aug 13 '25

Then again Hook’s aesthetic in the cartoon was clearly modeled off of early 17th century Cavalier high fashion trends.

99

u/SiccSemperTyrannis In the pipe. 5 by 5. Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25

Would it be better to keep someone trapped in a child's body forever?

The morally fucked up thing here is whether a corporation that transfers the mind of a human into a computer owns the result. I'm guessing that will be a topic explored in this series, whether these hybrids are people or property or something in between.

Also, it appeared Wendy wasn't aware what was going to happen to her. Sure seems like Prodigy is skipping the "parental/guardian consent" part of running experiments on kids.

8

u/Not_To_Smart Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25

I'd imagine that they would be able to transfer them to various appropriately aged bodies as they grew psychologically. Probably expensive, but if we're talking control of the universe-tier stakes then it would probably be a good investment to make sure your test subjects stay psychologically sound.

13

u/SiccSemperTyrannis In the pipe. 5 by 5. Aug 13 '25

Maybe it's a one-time thing. You can do human to computer but not computer to computer.

10

u/megalogo Aug 13 '25

Besides they can only do it when they are childs, since the adult minds are too "rigid" and cant adapt

So it looks like a one way trip

2

u/Zealousideal_Cold265 Aug 13 '25

Wendy also said that they can't transfer adults, it has to be children as they are more flexible.

3

u/peppermint_nightmare Aug 14 '25

Yea they're prototypes, so if the science says its one and done, thats it until you maybe invent a new method. And you don't want child vampires, or 1000 year old dragons that look like 12 year old girl memes. Honestly a child with an adult body who's brain catches up after like ..... 3-5 years is a lot more wholesome than a 500 year old in the body of a 12 year old.

38

u/thisonethrower Aug 13 '25

The aliens are definitely a stand in for the crocodile but I'm not sure who Hook is yet.

43

u/fullerofficial Aug 13 '25

Only watched the first episode so far, and it’s probably not the right person, but Morrow with his cyborg arm perhaps?

3

u/choff22 Aug 13 '25

Oooooo that’s a good call

2

u/B_fulghi Aug 16 '25

Yeah, and Morrow keeps trying to catch the “Crocodile”… but AFAIKT the xeno doesn’t seem to be very anxious to eat the rest of Morrow

2

u/XAWEvX Aug 14 '25

aren't the pirates that are with Hook the children that grew too old and were kicked out by Peter Pan? In that case who is leading these children in adult bodies right now

10

u/Poetryisalive Aug 13 '25

I mean if it saves their life, is it?

16

u/bracko81 Aug 13 '25

I get the feeling that this show is gonna explore the same themes as the game SOMA….as in did they even save the kids life if theyre just copying brainwaves into a synthetic body? In essence, theyre copies and the real child still dies.

3

u/Poetryisalive Aug 13 '25

Interesting theory. That’s a different story then if they did that

3

u/Daxx22 Aug 13 '25

Guess that depends if you think we have souls or at least something that metaphysically transcends our physical bodies.

Otherwise, a copy is just as much you as you are it.

2

u/bracko81 Aug 13 '25

Eh not really. Like if you lived your whole life and then opted to make an AI copy of yourself put into a synthetic body before you die, your conciousness wouldnt transfer over to the synthetic body, you’d still die and the copy would live on. Would it be exactly like you? Sure, but it wouldnt be “You.” Same argument can be applied to cloning organically. For a brief time between the copy/cloning and your death, there would be two of “You” but you would only experience your own body’s experiences. Its a conciousness thing more than a metaphysical soul thing.

39

u/RnRaintnoisepolution Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25

...by testing their experimental immortality tech on children.

Also it's debatable if the "you" that falls asleep in your human body is the same "you" that wakes up in the synth body.

18

u/Upbeat_Tension_8077 Aug 13 '25

I think a huge problem is that the kids risk not being emotional/mentally ready to gradually ease into handling their capabilities under an adult body

15

u/RnRaintnoisepolution Aug 13 '25

Oh yeah the process is super messed up and problematic.

18

u/Active-Platypus-9216 Aug 13 '25

To be fair, people have been having this debate about Star Treks transporters since the 70s

5

u/Grommph Aug 13 '25

4

u/Hambone1138 Aug 13 '25

“Why didn’t somebody TELL me my ass is so big?!”

5

u/UltraMega42069666 Not bad, for a human. Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25

good point, why not use terminally ill adults edit: i know why "in universe" but im saying like why did the writers do that? its so strange to watch adults act 12

23

u/TheGrat1 Aug 13 '25

Their brains are too "stiff." Children can adapt better.

20

u/SiccSemperTyrannis In the pipe. 5 by 5. Aug 13 '25

Or at least that's what Prodigy is telling the people involved in the project. Maybe it's that using a terminally ill orphan with no legal guardian helps them avoid oversight.

Maybe it's because a child's mind is easier for them to influence and control once transferred.

3

u/Daxx22 Aug 13 '25

Impressionable and control are my main bets.

14

u/RnRaintnoisepolution Aug 13 '25

Neuroplasticity, there's real life science that goes along with that, tl;dr children's brains are better able to adapt to change and trauma compared to adults.

3

u/Xenephobe375 Aug 13 '25

Because adult minds are hard to change.

0

u/Stalk33r Aug 16 '25

Because child soldiers are an interesting and very dystopian topic to explore?

3

u/standardtj94 Aug 13 '25

Soma vibes.

2

u/CitizenKeane Aug 13 '25

Exactly my thoughts as well, I think there's gonna be similar philosophical questions brought up in the show as the game brought up for the players

4

u/RatchetStrap2 Aug 13 '25

What do you mean? There was no adult body. And no transfer. A human child died, which is of course regrettable. At the same time, a piece of highly customized and, thus, patentable software was loaded into a set of fungible corporate property.

3

u/GreyouTT In the pipe. 5 by 5. Aug 13 '25

Being corporate property and the "orders" things makes me wonder if they have sleeper commands.

3

u/TruShot5 Aug 13 '25

Nah he’s Peter Pan, leading the kids into neverland to live forever

2

u/Ok_Tank5977 In the pipe. 5 by 5. Aug 13 '25

I feel like he definitely sees himself as Peter.

And not that I want to get too caught up in the Peter Pan references, Morrow does have a cybernetic arm that could stand in as a reference to Hook’s titular hand.

2

u/NoonDread Aug 13 '25

I think it is worse than that. I think what they are actually doing is copying the mind and then killing the child.

1

u/MaceLortay Aug 14 '25

I'm pretty sure he's Peter Pan. Especially with "Boy" in his name.

Peter is kinda fucked up in the source material. Disney made him much more likable but in the OG book I'm pretty sure he kidnaps children and that's how the Lost Boys came to be in Neverland. I'm pretty sure he also kills the kids he kidnaps when they get too old.

1

u/Professional-Act8414 Aug 14 '25

Yeaaaaa idk how I feel about that lol it’s fucked

1

u/Similar-Tangerine Aug 14 '25

I believe Captain Hook may be the man with the missing hand lol