Streaming outlook: “Alien: Earth”-Science fiction cult is in series

The eerie science fiction thriller “Alien-the uncanny being from a foreign world” by Ridley Scott marked the beginning of a successful franchise world in 1979. This cosmos now comprises nine cinema films if you count the two “Alien vs. Predator” branch. Not to mention video games, comics, novels and short films.

Finally, “Alien: Romulus” delighted the fans last year. Now the story is expanded to include a TV series that has now started at the Disney+ streaming service. This Wednesday (August 13) “Alien: Earth” starts in Germany.

Series plays before the first “Alien” film

“Alien: Earth” is designed as a prehistory for the first “Alien” film. In 2120, the world is dominated by five competing groups. One of them is prodigy. Its spaceship, the USCSS Maginot, has collected copies of an extraterrestrial species. Anyone who saw an “alien” film suspects that it was not a good idea. The fearsome beings – including some that are not yet known – do not stay in the containers intended for them.

The Prodigy group belongs to the young tech genius and billionaire Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin). He has transferred the awareness of six super -intelligent, but seriously ill children in adults -looking, synthetic bodies. The result is hybrid, robot with a human consciousness – like prototype Wendy (Sydney Chandler). When the maginot over the Megastadt Neu-Siam controlled by Prodigy crashes on Earth, Kavalier sends his hybrid.

“Alien” director Ridley Scott is on board

Creator and showrunner Noah Hawley has already made a name for itself with the “Fargo” series. From the classic film of the Coen brothers, he made a series praised by critics and audiences, which now already includes five seasons.

Ridley Scott, who, after his first “Alien” film, also directed “Prometheus-Dunkle Sign” (2012) and “Alien: Covenant” (2017), is a producer. No wonder that the series of Scott’s masterpiece “Blade Runner” can also be seen in the series.

In addition to Sydney Chandler (“Pistol”) Timothy Olyphant (“Hitman – everyone dies alone”). Chandler’s Wendy is named after the figure from the novel “Peter Pan”, as is all the other children in adult robotic bodies, which are played by Adarsh Gourav, Kit Young, Erana James, Lily Newmark, among others. Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) is a sociopath who thinks is for Peter Pan – and reads the hybrid from the book.

First episode awakens memories of the nostromo

In the first few minutes, as a spectator, you get the feeling that you are back on the USCSS Nostromo, the spaceship on which Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley for the first time with one of the terrifying so -called Xenomorphs. The makers of “Alien: Earth” have the look and the atmosphere of “Alien – the eerie being from a foreign world” perfectly recovered and thus immediately create the right mood. Even motifs from Jerry Goldsmith’s magnificent film music are clearly recognizable.

As expected, there is no shortage of extraterrestrial creepy moments in “Alien: Earth”. However, the plot of the series – at least after the first episodes – focuses not so much on the black -shiny aliens with their nasty double pine, but is dedicated to complex topics. The constant threat from the Xenomorphs and other beings is the background for an exciting story about identity, humanity and artificial intelligence.

The first two episodes of “Alien: Earth” will be available at the paid streaming service Disney+ from August 13th. Another six episodes are published on Wednesdays.