I will admit that I am NOT a huge fan of the Alien franchise. But this Alien Earth has me watching with interest. Here is my alternating mid-season take on the new series on Hulu

Sure I have seen most, if not all of the Alien movies at one time or another and I know what the Xenomorph and facehuggers are. But that’s about all I can say about it. 

I get the most basic ground level premise, or loose plot, but that’s as far as my Alien knowledge goes, and up till now, that’s all I needed

But this Alien Earth on Hulu right now, really pulled me in. The slow burn, the underlying tension, just as the original Alien did so well, keeps you moving forward.

I think what I’m liking about this so far is that it is not just about aliens taking over a ship or planet, (well it is,, but) but more of a corporate or business drama and the tools they use. 

It does tie in with the overall themes of Alien in being that there has always been a behind the scenes, corporate entity pushing ahead.

I am now into episode 4 and so far the pacing has been ok. From where I stood in the fandom, I almost gave up during episode 1. I just for whatever reason could not keep attention long enough to care about what was happening.

However, after watching episode 2, things made much more sense and made episode 1 watchable. Watching 1 as more or less a flashback just feels like the way it should have been. After that though, everything strings along pretty well. 

Even with my limited Alien exposure, Where this fits in, is fairly clear, so I feel like a brand new viewer could easily jump in the series (But maybe watch episode 2 then 1, or at least make it through episode 2) But I would suggest starting with the first “Alien” movie (and maybe “Aliens”) at least to get a baseline of what this franchise is kinda/sorta all about, THEN start this series. 

While they are similar in bleak-look palate and in underlying tension from the source movies, the whole direction it starts to move is completely different after the first few episodes, and starts really pulling in the Blade Runner feel.

Is it still an Alien monster movie? Yes, but it is certainly not a backstory for the Xenomorphs as that has already been established. The real story I thought was about the cyborgs, synths and hybrids, but then episode 4 took another turn twards the foundation, and its scientists. 

Yes. I think I need to know about all of this… the Xenomorphs, the “new” aliens, the Hybrids, the company involvement…all of it. But it’s swerving around too hard and is starting to detract. It’s like the show runner cannot decide on what the focus is really on. Why start a slow but steady buildup of tension, just to stop and forget about it, then later on try to jump back in with the same energy? It wears on you.

Now I just watched episode 5 and we have circled back once again. Back to where episode one was, and now the focus is on the aliens. And forget about the “underlying” tension,, this is full blown action now. 

THIS is what people who have limited knowledge about the franchise think the show is about. 

Did it take too long to get to this stage? I am going to say, probably. If you are a fan geeker for the whole Alien universe you might have given the slower paced, weirdly alternating backdrop storylines a slight pass as it being one of the trademarks of the franchise. 

But someone fresh into the world,, I dunno. Four whole episodes that although had lots of info and weight to them, most times dragged and dragged and dragged at the same time it was feeling out of sync, without much explanations until you made it to episodes like five and two. 

If you hung on this far, great!, but waiting four weeks is a lot to ask.

So, after five episodes, I can say that yes, I am into this show. I didn’t think that was going to happen at first, but here I am. 

This is one of those shows that WILL make much more sense, and be taken in much easier on a second complete watch through, Or,,,,,,,,, if it would have been a movie

Be that as it may, I’m in it to the end, but I think we already know where and how this season is going to end, and that really makes this series more suited for Movie format because now I have two weeks of watching and thinking about it,  while almost 100% sure of the ending and waiting for more oddball diversions to prolong it.