Alien: Earth

 The latest in the Alien franchise, it doesn't take to the silver screen this time but comes as an 8 episode series.

 

And set about 2 years before the ill-fated mission of the Nostromo, it seems the beasties made it to earth already, tying up the plothole of how humans knew where to find the eggs.

 

The USCSS Maginot, a Weyland-Yutani deep space research vessel (and how the heck did some scientists and bluecoats managed to collect a menagerie of monsters) crashes on earth after a 65 year mission in space to collect alien specimens for biological warfare purposes.  

 

Meanwhile on Prodigy Island, Marcy Hermit, a terminal sick child, has her conscious transferred to a synthetic adult body, becoming the first hybrid made, and renamed Wendy.  Because the creator, Boy Kavalier, has a Peter Pan complex, and names all the children in the experiment after characters from that book.  The vessel crashes in Prodigy territory, and when seeing her brother Joe, she argues she must lead the rescue.

 

But a Xenomorph is on the rampage, responsible for crashing the vessel, and it hunts Joe who is saved by the cybernetic Morrow, the last survivor from the vessel and a Weyland Yutani agent.  Wendy saves Joe, as her team of hybrids collect the specimens from the vessel.  They monsters are transferred to Boy's headquarters on Neverland Island, where they operate on a Facehugger to insert the larva in a lung that was taken from Joe in his injuries, while Wendy picks up cries of pain from the alien eggs.

 

She discovers she can speak the xenomorph's language, as another monster, an eyeball with tentacles, implants itself into a sheep through it's eye socket, granting control of the beast.  Morrow contacts one of the kids, Slightly, and starts talking into on him that they must "do what is best", resorting even to blackmail as he traces down Slightly's mother.  Wendy observes the newborn Xenomorph coming from the lung, and bonds with it.

 

In a flashback, it is revealed what happened on the Maginot and how the crew was betrayed by one of their own, resulting in their deaths and a Xenomorph on the loose, as well as the other monsters killing members of the crew.  One of the hybrids, Isaac, is killed in the lab by flylike creaturs due to the machinations of the Ocellus eyemonster.  Slightly tricks one of the scientists, Arthur, in being latched on by a Facehugger, in the belief his friend will be all right as per Morrow's instructions.

 

Together with Smee they take him to the beach to meet Morrow and escape the island, as the hybrids start revolting against Kavalier's treatment of them, and Wendy sets the Xenomorph free to wreak havoc along the soldiers.  Arthur awakes, the alien bursting from his chest shortly after, as Kavalier wants to put the Ocullus in a human host to gauge it's intelligence.

 

The hybrids are confined, but outsmart the others and with the help of the Xenomorph lock them all in a cell, as the Ocellus escapes and latches itself into Arthur's body at the beach.  While Yutani forces arrive, Wendy, aided by the hybrids and the xenomorphs, declare that "Now, we rule".

 

It wasn't a bad series, but it is also not the hype that it all about honestly.  Entertaining, yes, action packed, also, and topped off with some thought of technology and existence.  But it isn't that 9+ rating it gets everywhere in my opinion though.  

 

Never the less, let's see what a possible season 2 might bring and hopefully conclude some open story arcs!