It’s kind of crazy that they haven’t tried to adapt the Alien series into a TV show. We’ve had prequels, side stories, Alien Vs. Predator, and more, but never a TV show. Well, Alien: Earth tries to remedy that from showrunner Noah Hawley and Hulu. The new series takes place 27 years after Prometheus and two years before the events of Alien. However, for fans of Prometheus or Alien: Covenant, you might not enjoy this as much, as this show won’t be paying too much attention to the events of those films.

This is a story about contact on Earth with a Xenomorph. The opening moments of the series delve into what could be seen as a controversial new technique to put human consciousness into a synthetic body. Wendy (played by Sydney Chandler) is the first of a kind where they place the consciousness of a girl into a woman’s synthetic body.

The series also stars Alex Lawther as Wendy’s brother CJ, Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh, Essie Davis as Dame Silvia, Samuel Blenkin as Boy Kavalier a technological wunderkind, David Rysdahl, Erana James, Diem Camille, Kit Young, and Babou Ceesay. The series cast, at least for the premiere, all perform admirably. You get into what their characters are all about, quickly, and as an audience, you’re very quickly off into the meat of the story.

So the biggest question about this show is of course, is it good? That’s all that really matters for Alien fans after all, right? The first foray into episodic content, is in fact, at least for this premiere, very solid.

FX’s Alien: Earth — Pictured: Sydney Chandler as Wendy. CR: FX

There were two scenes in the opening episode of Alien: Earth that almost gave me panic attacks for very different reasons. One is basically a disaster zone that’s being worked on by emergency crews. The way its shot and edited is frenetic and really drives home the gravity of the situation. It’s interspersed with the clinical, corporate atmosphere of Boy Kavalier and his team, which really makes the disaster moments hit that much harder.

The other scene is much more simple and is basically everyone’s worst fear, being tied up, and a gigantic bug crawling on your face/body, and you can’t brush it off. Both are effective and frightening in their own ways. When you finally do see the Xenomorph, for a short moment in the first episode, it’s also thrilling. The thing looks fantastic, it moves like it should, it kills like it should. The thing is the apex predator of the universe, and for all the blood and gore that’s allowed on TV, we get to see it here.

FX’s Alien: Earth — Pictured: Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh. CR: Patrick Brown/FX

Overall, Alien: Earth is off to a shooting start with this premiere. The show looks fantastic, the visual aesthetic and set design are top notch. It really looks like they just plucked it straight from Alien, right down to the outfits everyone is wearing. It’s hard not to feel like there’s so much more bubbling under the surface with this show, but for now, these first two episodes are an excellent introduction.

Plus, any show that has a Ronnie James Dio needle drop over the credits is a good one in my book.

Alien: Earth premieres on Hulu and FX with two episodes on August 12th.

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