In forty-six years of existence, the saga Alien has known green and ripe steps (it was still said in 1979), passing through all hands, arriving recently recently in comics pages to face Spider-Man … And if there have been attempts to extend the universe with crosses with the Predator, we also know The difficulty of renewing the deductible in deptheven when it is the original creator.
Ridley Scott tried it twice with Prometheus and his suite Covenantwithout managing to really convince the public. As of Romulusthe most recent opus on the big screen, he was reproached for the opposite and his too great resemblance to the ancients. From there to think thatIt seems impossible to offer something new with our xenomorphic friendsthere is only one step that we will not take anymore after discovering Alien : Earth.
Alien : Earth is there Very first series of the franchise, written and essentially managed by Noah Hawleyresponsible for already quite crazy adaptations in this format as Fargo or Legion. A show in eight episodes serving as prequel to the original film – Events take place two years before Ripley’s first awakening – which situates its intrigue on our good old earth. Inevitably, curiosity was maximum.
We are in 2120 and the planet is divided into territories controlled by five corporations. The youngest, Prodigy, led by a young genius, has just developed a revolutionary process breaking the border between man and synthetic. The story begins when a spacecraft from Weyland-Yutani crashes in a city in Prodigy. A group of very specific beings is sent on site to search the wreck. They still ignore that his cargo is the greatest threat ever encountered.
Alien Heart
The ambition of the series is not so much to register in a chronology as to reach interest a new audience. If there is, as a ship model similar to Nostromo or, obviously, the presence of Weyland-Yutani, References are not invasive To the point of having to refrain from experience without preliminary revision. However, this does not mean that this Earth has nothingAlien. On the contrary.
The show respects the codes installed by the franchise over the works, in particular by retaining the claustrophobic atmosphere which is dear to it. We may browse new sets, those of a wreckage or a luxurious building, the feeling of confinement predominates. There will be no escape.
In terms of realization, Noah Hawley pays tribute to Scott’s work with melted transitions, not without bringing his touch of madness With some epileptic flashforwards. Its director of photography David Franco and have particularly worked on light and framing to maintain discomfort and our attention. Each scene tells something.
The A budget series and intends to show it. The special effects are neatespecially in the aspect of new creatures, while having at heart of Maintain a touch of practical effectslike a xenomorph ostensibly hiding an actor in a costume on the wide levels. In the line of Alvarez on Romulusbut with a very different approach, we feel that Hawley knows his subject and has not intention to disappoint fans of the first hour.
We do not do a xenomorph without breaking eggs
Which does not prevent him from daring. And maybe that’s where Alien : Earth most pleasantly surprised us. Hawley managed to find the right balance between fidelity and noveltywhere Prometheus had moved much further and Romulus Maybe too much glued. Not content with having the earth as a playground – after all, we had already had it in two opus ofAlien vs Predator – The showrunner reinvents the balance of powers while playing with the laws of nature like never before.
Whether on the side of the bipedal protagonists or the alien species in scene, Hawley uses the franchise for Putting reflection further on capitalist excesses, the need for control, human presumption … We constantly have the feeling of being in an official work of the saga where each episode comes to enrich the Lore more. To the point where the best asset ofAlien : Earth The xenomorph is as much as its fellows, affected characters and above all the engine of the scenario in its own right.
Prodigious series?
It is well known, hell is paved with good intentions. Alien : Earth is full of ideas to the point of overflowing too much for his own good. At the same time, difficult to do otherwise when you hear what is usually a feature film on eight episodes of almost an hour. There is therefore a profusion of everything, starting with a substantial casting.
The series swarms characters withinAn intrigue that intends to cohabit the horrific survival, transhumanist reflection, capitalist conspiracy and family drama. A mixture where everyone has their role to play, but where there are too many roles to play. We do not take the time to get attached to anyeven to those who should be, even the opposite with deeply annoying protagonists. A parity which even erases the value of the Xenomorph, which has become threatened among others, perhaps the most dangerous (and still …), but not the most interesting …
As for respecting certain saga codes, we are not convinced that the show swears loyalty to the best aspects of the franchise, especially on human greed. Unfortunately it gives More than a telephone twist, having already seen a similar action or behavior almost ten times Since The eighth passenger. A bit repetitive, knowing that his predecessors have already discussed the subjects, often better.
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Where you feel that The balancing concern has inhabited the entire design of the series with an assembly which sometimes cuts very frankly the moment of exhibition and horror gore. To the point of having very marked episodes in the genre or, more disturbing, two scenes attached to the same protagonists, but two opposite atmospheres.
We nevertheless appreciate that the show shows the same involvement in each and is not afraid to push the cursors. As such, episode 2 contains the most bloody scenes in the whole sagadaring all the drifts under acid. As it stands, it especially gives a Alien : Earth With which we sometimes do not know on which foot to dance, as she wishes to spare the goat and the cabbage without managing to decide who will eat the other.
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