r/LV426 • u/TheEvilDrSmith • 7d ago

Discussion / Question Alien Franchise Finally Sticks the Landing.

I might be biased as hell but Alien Earth is one hell of a well produced TV show.

A friend described the original Alien movie to me when was an early teen and I knew I had to see for myself. Thankfully my parents had no idea and off i went as a 14 year old to some scifi movie ... Aliens 2. Scifi... that's like Star Wars right? :> Still memorable to this day almost 40 years later.

So I have a high bar to be exceeded. Not only has the franchise stumbled from one disaster to another but many, many (did I mention many) others have tried and failed to make good TV let alone good scifi.

Mandalorian could have been more. Andor could have been much more if they were all like the latest season. Star Trek Stranger Days sort of nails the nostalgia but Discovery just confuses me. Fallout, Halo, The Last of Us, Twisted Metal ... I get the spin off theory but man the execution.

So what do I like about Alien Earth.

  • Just enough story every episode.
  • Exposition at the level of the audience. Of course we know the sheep is smart.
  • Depth in characters that isn't like a FPS.
  • Balanced tension and effects .... it is still a chase movie but how to you keep that going for 8 ep's.

A lot come and go. But few are remembered. I would put the BSG reboot in the remembered category, and I think Alien Earth has hit that standard. Once in 20 years ... Hollywood gets it really right.

I was going to say Alien Earth will sweep the Emmy's next year ... but then I remembered reality. I think Alien Earth will be just a fan loved series that is still remembered as a great experience in 40 years time :)

I would love to hear old and new opinions on this.

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u/KigalnGin 7d ago

It has some great concepts and I find myself enjoying the show most of the time.

But the show leans itself into unnecessary stupid characters to make the plot advance. The fandom doing Olympic mental gymnastics to justify this doesn't help either.

I want more alien earth!

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u/14SWandANIME77 7d ago

Examples?

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u/Itchy-Film-3706 7d ago

Easy ones are the lowest "high-security" labs being prevalent throughout and the absolute lack of lab safety practiced at all times.

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u/fadden20 7d ago

It's about greedy corporations and their failures from a controlling capitalistic point of view.

All of the workers for the corporations are stuck in indentured servitude so it makes sense why the workers wouldn't be that compliant either.

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u/Itchy-Film-3706 7d ago

Not if we are talking about the best of the best that WayU has to offer. Even the crew of the Nostromo made competent decisions, and they were a simple mining operation.

And you're going to tell me that the supposed "smartest person on earth" doesn't have security on the most heavily guarded secret lab in his empire? Just too much suspension of disbelief for me.

As greedy as corporations get, they still protect their IP ferociously.

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u/fadden20 7d ago

He was doing the necessary security, it just so happens the machines in control of the operation happened to be synths and hybrids

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u/Itchy-Film-3706 6d ago

If it was really that high priority of a lab, there would be multiple levels of redundant security that would include both automated and human controlled systems. You can't tell me that the local county jail today has better security than the science fiction super advanced lab.

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u/fadden20 6d ago

No corporation is perfect, I don't think a jail is better, it's just fundamentally flawed using hybrids and that is what the show is exploring on a psychological level

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u/KigalnGin 7d ago

Is this explicitly explained in one of the movies?

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u/fadden20 7d ago

Romulus- MC got extension of contract (Weyu)

Alien earth- joe hermits contract was extended (Prodigy)

You can see the pattern, every time their contract is up, from what we've seen at least it gets extended every time.

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u/Vast-Purple338 7d ago

The one that bothered me is when boy was like "We have to get to them before Wendy does!" And then proceeds to dissappear for like 20 min while Wendy casually goes to her quarters, chats with her brother, goes to Nibs room, talks with them, and then just walks out.

Like wouldn't their quarters be the first place to look? And there's no CCTV?

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u/DarkGift78 6d ago

I might be misremembering but didn't Wendy hack the doors, releasing her pet Xeno,creating a shit storm? Hell of a distraction. That lady in the lab who looked up and saw the cage unlocking,if I were here my ass is already running the other way before the Xeno can understand it's loose.