Alien: Earth is no chest burster

Now on Disney+, the TV version of the Alien franchise is hit and miss, with excellent body horror episodes and brilliant CGI but an overall half-baked arc. In your lounge, no one can hear you scream...

- By Noelle Adams

FX's Alien: Earth, the first live-action television production in the franchise, goes back to nostalgic basics, although it's less locked to retreading familiar beats than Alien: Romulus as indicated by an upsetting episode-two moment with a cat.

With Fargo and Legion's Noah Hawley serving as showrunner (while original movie director Ridley Scott is still around as an executive producer), Alien: Earth has its own slightly off-kilter identity, and isn't afraid to add to the greater Alien mythos. It's just inconsistent in its execution.

What's the story?

Alien: Earth is set in 2120, two years before the events in the 1979 Alien, and almost 30 years after Prometheus's expedition. The series takes place predominantly on our Earth for a change, and a century from now national governments have given way to corporate control. Five companies have divvied up the planet, with the two most important for Alien: Earth's narrative purposes being Weyland-Yutani and Prodigy Corporation.

While Weyland-Yutani has pioneered synthetic beings (androids) and continues to look to the stars to extend human life and its own power, Prodigy, under techbro genius Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), is experimenting with hybrids: transplanting human consciousness into synthetic bodies.

Just as Prodigy's first batch of hybrids are starting to explore their capabilities, a Weyland-Yutani deep-space research vessel crashes out of the sky, straight into Prodigy's Southeast Asian territory. On board is a dangerous cargo.

Good and bad

Alien: Earth is clearly an expensive production and it shows.