Alien: Planeta Tierra

There have been plenty of Alien projects that have come out over the years since the original trilogy and while some have been watchable and the other down right awful, this is closer to the unwatchable ones than the watchable. Somehow, it's gotten nothing but great reviews from both critics and split from fans of the franchise. It actually currently has a fantastic 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. Alien: Earth is about when a mysterious spaceship crashes on Earth and a ragtag group of soldiers, led by a woman named Wendy, have to make the discovery that will put them up against the greatest threat the planet has ever seen. What follows is a series that looks like it was made for kids and not adults.

I'll start by saying the show looks really good. I also appreciate that it's a bit of a slower burn with not much actual xenomorph action, at least not in the way most audiences are probably expecting (or hoping). It's an interesting new angle on the Alien universe, where we get a better look at the corporate reality of Earth.

But it's held back by some weird creative choices that don't really work.

First of all, a good chunk of the main cast are basically children who have been given young adult bodies. This results in a lot of people acting much more childish than their appearance would lead you to expect. It's an interesting idea, but it mostly just makes a lot of scenes feel very awkward in a way that doesn't contribute any meaning.

The music is also really uneven. I won't say it's as bad as Disney's Willow series, but there's still a lot of rather out-of-place music here. I like Tool as much as the next guy but I don't know why 90s kids-turned-filmmakers are compelled toward this kind of anachronism.

Some of the dialog is just really disconnected, and seems like it's trying to build characterization without being properly thought out or connected to choice or action.

The result of all of this is a bizarrely disjointed show that at times feels like it could be really interesting but then veers sharply towards nonsense. There's something vaguely compelling about that, but it's also hard to say it's actually good.

I'll give it a chance but so far its very disjointed and feels like there is very little in the way of a plot.

The atmosphere, tension & suspense of the movies has been jettisoned and replaced with inappropriate syth music to "tell" you when you're supposed to be excited or scared when the filmmakers havn't earned any of that in terms of storytelling.

The series opens up with a throwback to alien which, I assume, we will revist as a flashback episode at some point. Its a nostalgia tip of the hat but it felt all surface level and rushed. I wasn't invested in any of the characters so far. There was no tension built at all. A series gives you the opportunity to explore the world with depth which so far seems to be a secondary thought here.

Many reviewers have mentioned the glaring issues in the first two episodes which I wont rehash here. Suffice to say it does raise a few questions in terms of writing and direction.

Allen: Earth is finally here and I have to say I was hoping it would be a lot better than it is. It almost feels like a teen CW version of Alirn and not the Alien franchise we all came to know and love. I was promised the show would be full of enough excitement and thrills that make the episodes feel like they fly by. It's not. The other thing I can't stand is that we have to wait to wait a week between episodes. I have come so used to binging series that that's how I like to watch my shows. I hate waiting a week when I enjoy a show. I admit I'm not the biggest or most knowledgeable Alien fan, the originals were made before I was born but I have watched them and enjoyed them. I am a big sci-fi fan though so that's why I was looking forward to this so much and why I'm disappointed. I did read that if you are a big Alien fan that this series will reward you with plenty of fun Easter eggs and the more you know about the franchise the more you're going to enjoy this series. That was a lie.

The production values are a solid 10. For better or worse, the target demographic is adolescents and mid-teens of median intellect. The writing and plot are at a level of a 1980s Saturday morning cartoon. Dumbness and plot holes ruin the experience virtually every 30 seconds. For example, a search and rescue team is dispatched to a spaceship crash: they look and act like a comic small town militia, sloppy, inept, no discipline, armed to the teeth, no rescue or search equipment. The WTF moments just keep stacking up until the irritation factor just turns you off.