New Horror Movies Ep. 155: Alien: Earth (2025) - Episodes 1 and 2

and welcome to Jay of the Dead's new horror movies. In 1979, we discovered in space, no one can hear you scream. In 2025, we will discover on Earth, everyone. can hear you scream. This is our weekly coverage of Alien Earth, the first television series in the Alien franchise. Each week we're going to bring you spoiler-filled discussions of the Alien Earth episodes, so watch along with us. This week we'll be covering Episodes 1...

Neverland and episode two, Mr. October. And I'm your host, Jay of the Dead podcasting from Pleasant Grove, Utah. And I'm so honored to have another huge alien fan with me. who is podcasting he's in route he's traveling and hurling through space in time actually and it is macula welcome i actually love driving at night for that reason because it does feel like you're in your little spaceship you know yes traveling through space but jason i'm traveling you

I got to thank you because I have to thank you because you had this awesome idea to hit the theaters before I went home, even though, you know, I'm going all the way up to. I'm traveling to a different house tonight. But when I was at the theaters, though, they played a trailer for Alien Earth. Nice. And I've got to crack up just a little bit because.

When they were shown the trailer, they said like one of the characters is saying something during the trailer. Right. And this is what they're saying. There is a feeling you get when the monsters come and all you can do is. and now here's why i pause yeah because there's a feeling you get when the monsters are coming all you can do is scream right right that's what you think no no

That's not what they say. They say all you can do is save yourself. What? But I guess they do have, like you just quoted, They do have, where was that tagline that you're reading from? Is that on the poster then where it says like, well, I'm glad you asked. That tagline was originally going to be the tagline for Alien Cubed when Fincher, instead of having the prison planet. Oh, yeah. Yeah, instead of the prison planet, it was going to be Earth, right? But.

They couldn't really use that. And so I have adapted it to our purposes this evening. So they didn't ever use that. You're just being cool. Is that correct? Brother, as usual. That's what I do.

That's crazy, though. Don't you think that's amazing? Because all you can do is save yourself. Who has ever saved themselves from an alien? Well, I guess... ripley you know but but but what i mean is like most people when when they go toe-to-toe against these things and i guess we'll get into it here in a second but like these things are fierce yes these are not you know like mars attacks aliens with blasters or whatever of course these things are serious brother yeah anyway

Where do you want to start? Just right in the idea of all this? Oh, yeah. I've got a setup for you and everything. But real quick, so were you at the theater? Did you go see a movie tonight? I just went and saw a movie. Yes. What was your recommendation? I saw weapons, brother. You make me so happy. Why are we talking about alien earth? Then we need to be talking about weapons right now.

Oh, I would love to give like, do you want me to give you kind of like a mini, not a review, but let me just tell you this. Can I tell you this, Jason? Well, I'm actually anxious to get a take. three or whatever. I want your whole full review of weapons for the show. Um, so if not tonight, we, we need to do this very soon. Well, let me just tease it like by saying this, that, okay.

But, you know, I showed up at the theater and everyone was relatively quiet. You know, we did the typical thing of, hey, are you sitting here? Oh, let me move my popcorn, that kind of thing. Yeah. But as the movie started going. My theater was pretty full and people were talking, but like in a good way. You know, they weren't like, hey, did I leave the iron on? Or they're gapping about dates. We're all kind of like, what? So there was buzz.

We're laughing because there's some crazy, creepy, but kind of bizarre, hilariously weird moments. Yes, yes. And by the end, my theater was... like just talking and talking and talking to each other. And, and I remember podcasting with you years ago and thinking, you know, I was just like, man, sometimes I don't want to talk about movies. I want to go and watch a movie, but I really do think that

Part of the movie experience is this concept of like when the movie ends and the credits are rolling, we're like talking about, can you believe? Oh my gosh, that part when this person said this or he did this. yes and that's the experience i just walked out of so i'm really pumped but i'm also fresh you know we uh we were getting ready to do alien stuff

I think you've been texting all the horror podcast guys. Yes, harassing him. And saying like, yeah, harassing him. Yes, I've been harassing everyone about alien earth.

You were just excited about like, hey, it's coming out, it's coming out. And so, yeah, and I remember getting a text message from you and clicking on Alien Earth, and it was still too early. It was too early to... to hit play on that first episode but the first two episodes just released i watched the first one yesterday and the second one today so it's fresh in my mind nice

And yeah, I'm just excited. Okay. Well, good. Yes. And I like to timestamp things in a special way. I love that you were talking about weapons that kind of timestamps this. We're recording this. the middle of august uh 2025 august 14th to be exact and uh I love that you're in route. You're podcasting from an unusual place right now while you're driving. So yeah, Max is actually driving like 70 plus miles an hour. So please be careful. This probably is not... Not advisable, but... I'm trying.

If people haven't heard your episode where you're driving around and stopping at gas stations, I wish I could do that mid-episode this time or something. That was one of the coolest little podcast things I've ever heard. Thank you. That's what I'm saying, Jason. Yeah. The I-80 tapes. And that's what I'm saying is like, we're recording on the 14th and.

These episodes became available on the 12th, right? That's right. That's right. In the United States. We're not wasting any time. We are huge Alien fans. In fact, I think we've said before, Jason. We did something fun not that long ago, but where we took like all the hosts and we just kind of asked them, what's your favorite horror movie franchise? And you and I came out with Alien as like our top. Yes, yes, that's true.

That is absolutely true, brother. We love it. And in fact, just so everybody knows,

Greg Amortis, the Southern Gentleman, will typically be joining us for the rest of these episodes. He can't join us tonight. He's recording Land of the Creeps this evening, but he will be joining us. And our buddy Gilman Joel... was going to join us. But after seeing these first two episodes, he was not impressed. He said life is too short. And so I think he's out for this series, but he did give props to the production design. So I just wanted to...

put that out there. So it's just going to be me and you and Greg Amortis on this little journey, I believe. If only we could put Joel in some cryo chamber or something like that and just send him hurling out into space. But, you know, we love Joel. And I'm glad that makes me feel a little bit better what he's saying about. like the production design and again we'll get into it here in a minute but it's just like

I've noticed that I kind of have this weird thing, Jason, where it's not that I like to be controversial or argumentative, but when people praise a movie or a TV show too much, I kind of feel like it's my job to rein them back a little. Yeah. But and then there are other times when people are talking down about a movie that I really want to like boost it up. And I think it's because I have this idea like.

i think i want balance in my life or something yeah of course but i am allowing myself to just feel the way i feel about these episodes so good um yeah where do you want to start okay yeah and the last thing i was going to say sorry about all the preamble is um you mentioned i80 tapes It might not seem like it now, but tonight this recording is very special, Mac, because this is essentially your version of Horror Movie Weekly episode 80. So one of these days.

coincidentally it was 80 as well but one of these days that'll mean more to you but anyways let's do this so

Listeners, these are typically going to be just one hour episodes, much like our coverage of The Last of Us. So watch along with us. And this week we get to discuss two episodes. or we get to discuss too. So we're only going to be about doing 30 minutes each approximately. So we're going to jump in. I'm going to set the table Mac pretty fast and I'm going to set you loose, turn you loose on this thing. Just as far as setup, Alien Earth 2025 is a brand new series created by Noah Hawley.

who's probably best known for creating and writing the Fargo series, which is quite good. Those are amazing. I don't know if you've seen the Fargo television series. No, I've only ever seen the movie. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So the series are good as well. He also did Legion and some other notable stuff, but... This is rated TVMA, mature, so it's R-rated equivalent for language, violence, gore. Stars Sidney Chandler, Alex Lothar, and Timothy... Oliphant just to name a few.

And each episode is about an hour in length and they're going to be eight episodes. And what I hope is a successful first season, Mac, my fingers crossed, you know, you never know with things like this, but. They sure have invested a lot into it. Now, Mac, you and I are super big alien nerds. No, Jason. What? I got something on the wrong side of Jupiter right now or something, but you're breaking in and out. Oh, no. I hate that. Okay.

But I heard you talking about the cast. Yes. And then what else were you saying, though? Yeah, I'm just kind of giving people the basics in case they're listening along first with us. Just kind of setting it up. And we're not going to get too nerdy about minutia here, but just in terms of timeline, Alien Earth is set just two years before the events in the original Alien film. So this is the year.

21-20, whereas the Ridley Scott 1979 was 21-22. You know, that's so weird. Okay, because, all right. Go ahead. Well, I was just, I wasn't sure where it fit into the timeline, and I don't know why I was thinking that, because I've seen all the movies multiple times, and for some reason I was questioning whether... Alien even takes place in, you know, quote unquote, our dimension, if you will. You know, it's like, is this supposed to be our future? Right. Or is this just sort of, you know.

I don't know, but that's interesting that it's supposed to be that because, you know, there's a deleted. or extended edition scene where in Alien Resurrection where they make it to Earth, you know, and it's definitely not sidewalks and popsicles. Yes. but yeah that's interesting okay so that's the timeline here that's yes that's really weird and and yeah but i guess go ahead i was just gonna say a couple other nerdy little facts

Because I actually did a good bit of work in researching the whole timeline where things fit. And I know you can find that pretty easily on the internet, but I wanted to double check it all and I did. But this is not the first alien story. that takes place on Earth, nor is it the earliest. See, initially, Mac, I was going to set aside those crossover movies, Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator Requiem. But I had to include them just to note that Alien vs. Predator was set in...

2004 which is the year it came out so it was present day but it was on earth in antarctica and then yeah yes and in 2007 we got um and this movie sucked but aliens versus predator requiem But it was also set in 2004, but that took place in Gunnison... Colorado, not Gunnison, Utah, Colorado. And so it did take place on Earth as well. But what's kind of interesting and maybe another reason why these crossover movies with the Predator are.

are problematic is because you know these damn xenomorphs, once they get on Earth, we're doomed, right? Well, that's what I loved about Alien Covenant is when they first land on that planet, they're like, do you hear that?

no birds no animal like nothing nothing and also i'm glad you mentioned the crossovers because i guess that's why i'm like that's why i think i feel like the aliens and like alien and aliens and and alien third the cubed it almost takes place in like a different dimension if you will because though the alien versus predator and stuff that feels like something else you know but you know what

was bizarre speaking of me being at the movies i was watching a trailer and here's uh i want to say it's dakota fanning which i'm actually really excited about she's this like turned off synthetic whalen robot and she gets plugged in and wakes up and i'm like wait what am i watching here because there's no way they're making another alien movie and i don't know about it but then that turned into the trailer

for Predator Badlands. Yeah, I just wanted to like kind of mea culpa here about that because the initial trailer... For Predator Badlands, that first trailer, I was very discouraged. But I've seen a more recent trailer. I think it's trailer two or whatever. And it looks very promising. So it sounds like you feel the same.

Yeah, yeah. And I was just excited to see like Waylon, you know, in it. Yes. And to speak to your earlier comment about timeline and universe, I just think that the crossover films... They did end up taking place here on Earth, but it was way before.

you know, these other alien movies. But anyways, yeah, so we could nerd out a bunch about timelines, but I'll just spare people. So this is the very simple premise for episode one. Episode one's called Neverland. Here's just... overview. When a spaceship crash lands on Earth, a sister searches for her brother. amidst an unexpected alien threat. So yeah, like I said, very reductive. But Mac, I'm going to give you the honors, brother. Tell us what you thought of episode one.

alien earth and feel free we're in full-blown spoilers so discuss anything you want okay yeah i was wondering about that you know if we're doing spoilers but yes yes yeah for people who've seen it I guess I'll just talk about I feel then because maybe people who are listening should have watched this already I will say let me just start with that then so if someone is listening to this

And they're like, I don't really want to be spoiled. For me so far, Jason, I do think these are worth it. Like it actually really made me sad that Joel tapped out because I do want to see what happens next. And so if people haven't seen them, I think it is worth seeing, you know, now I will, I will say I've got all of my alien movies. And in many cases I have like three or four copies. Cause I have the DVDs and the blu-rays, the four cases.

And the VHS, thanks to you. But if this came out, I'm not sure if I would... buy it i think i'm happy just kind of seeing it one time through and having it count as a tv show because that's the other thing that i i am struggling with and we'll have to chat about that at some point i kind of

kind of want to fight with Kyle Bishop at some point about this because he kind of hurt my feelings when he was talking about the difference between TV and movies, but movies are amazing. Well, he was comparing TV to a novel. And I think it's much more realistic to compare a novel to a movie. They're even direct, you know, we hear that all the time. They're making this book into a movie. And so we'll have to talk about that because what...

TV does is it kind of keeps you watching and waiting for the next episode. But yes, anyway, he will. I just tell you right now, the Kyle Bishop, Dr. Walking Dead will probably get into the ring with you on that debate because. He teaches a class about adaptation, I believe, because for those who don't know, he's a literature professor. So, yeah, Mac, take him on. I think you should just go get him. Yeah.

But the first thing I noticed as, you know, it is a TV show, so it does have like a opening credit sequence, which I guess is normal for movies too, but. you know we do get like the building of the letter which was awesome but i also noticed a little nod to aliens do you remember how when the title aliens pops up there's like this flash of a line you know in the middle of the aliens and they do that in once the letters alien and earth you know build out then we get that little flash in the earth

the word earth which is cool yeah i noticed that and then i love it you know each time we get an alien movie like or it's you know adaptation I feel like everyone has got to work this balance between helping us feel like we're back in that universe and... putting their own special spin on things and when this tv this first episode started

I was like, oh my gosh, we are exactly like every noise, the look of the spaceship, which I guess if this is only a few years earlier, it really makes sense that it looks all like this. Two years. That's it. Yeah.

but like the first seven or eight minutes i thought oh my gosh we are this is the nostromo and we even had like the tough guy like down to like the characters almost i felt like everyone on this ship was you know similar and they were really paying some serious homage to that first alien movie and i just didn't know if that was the whole direction we are going or what but then we do get i noticed that

And I'm trying to think if the other movies were like this, and I want to say they're not, but we get this crazy, like, flashes a lot, which I guess happens in Alien 3. but these are really quick flashes but then there's a ton of dissolves and that's when you get like two images are on the screen at the same time on top of each other and typically what you'll do is you'll dissolve from one shot to the next but you can kind of linger on that dissolve yeah to emphasize you know like

This person is thinking about this. But that's one thing I've noticed is that is a huge visual for this director, you know, which I kind of didn't love, to be honest. But I mean, I guess it's his. it's his thing or whatever yeah but anyway once we get seven or eight minutes into it and we relive a lot of that nostromo and and everything then we do get to this island and meet this little girl who

Oh, and they had some explanation too, right? Because what's interesting about the Alien franchise is there's always robots, right? Yes. You know, once we find out Ash is a robot... then then we start to get robots and that's a huge ongoing you know aspect which i i actually like but this one introduces a new idea which is you know up until now we've got

robots that are 100 built yes that they are just they build a machine and they flip the on switch but these are like a combination of well what they are is they they build the machine And then they take a kid who's sick and dying and upload him into the machine, you know? Yeah, they transfer the consciousness. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. So...

Anyway, I guess I'm telling you what happened. Let me tell you more about how I feel. Yeah. I really did love Timothy Oliphant. Yeah, Oliphant, yes. I've seen him in a couple of other things, but I really like... the look of, cause they, they've got his hair all bleached. And, uh, he looks and acts like such a weirdo in this. Yes. Yes. But I was liking that. And, um, I don't.

love which i don't think you're supposed to but i definitely don't love like the world's youngest trillionaire dude but i i'm i think he's a bad guy on purpose so i think boy cavalier like him yeah yeah he's a little annoying yeah a little grating but i mean he's like wearing robes and walking around barefoot and i'm just like they're doing a great job of making me dislike him you know so i guess that's that's probably effective on purpose but there were a couple oh let me say this

When I was mentioning earlier, Jason, the fierceness of these xenomorphs, we really get to see that. And I appreciate that because... you know it just solidifies in our minds you know because when that first movie came out we did see some fierceness for sure but i think a lot of what was scaring us was just the look of this thing

It looks so bizarre and unnatural and alien, right? Yes. Not familiar to us at all. But what was great about this first episode are there are some freaky moments where we get to see like the... fierceness of these things going crazy you know and so yeah that was awesome yes a little nitpick though I mean I almost did you feel this way I felt like Because it's almost like they do shorthand. It's almost like they wanted to show the ferocity so much.

That instead of literally showing you attacks, it's like you hear a bunch of noise and then you look in the whole room is like has blood spray everywhere. It's almost that was almost a little overdone. to me and a little, I don't want to say cheesy, but it was kind of disappointing because I know it is difficult to show.

an alien attack unless they do the CG, but I wish they wouldn't have gone so overboard with the blood everywhere. Yeah, that's true. They do that a few times because... yeah the xenomorph does enter a room with 12 people in it from time to time and yeah it just like you said well one thing that caught me off guard was you know again those first eight

seven minutes are like nostromo exactly almost and a crew and they were showing just like like very very quick like split second of something like the alien loose right it's kind of like summarizing the first alien movie but i didn't know if those were flashes of what was to come but then it becomes clear that it's like no they're they're skipping over that you know they i guess they they figure we've seen the first movie

We know what that is like on a, you know, up in space. We got to get to earth, you know? So that's, that's like, like you said, shorthand, like super shorthand. Yeah. Yeah. They do a lot of shorthand in this.

Yeah. Right. Go ahead. If you were on a different topic, I was just going to chime. I wanted to say that Gilman Joel, going back to the production design real quick, if that's not off track too much for you. Don't quote me on this, but I'm in the ballpark. The number I found, you're not going to believe this. The number I found in my research for this whole...

this series of eight episodes was $250 million budget. So that's approximately $31 million per episode and it's all there on the screen. Now to give the listeners some idea, Mac the most expensive episodes of Game of Thrones which by the way was always celebrated for its like high production values

But the most expensive episodes, like season eight, they were 15 million each. And so this is a little more than twice what that was. So for a sci-fi horror series, we got a great production budget. So that was one thing. But setting that aside, Mac, I don't know about you, but what I'm most impressed with is the richness of the storytelling here because we've got so many subplots and threads kind of overlapping and coming together.

And maybe that's, maybe some people who don't love this, maybe that's taking a little extra patience for people to, because this is one of those series, I think they're going to weave it together. And I'll talk more about it here in a second. I didn't want to cut you off, but I just wanted to throw that in real quick about the production value before we got too far on. But anyways, I'm sorry. I feel like I interrupted where you were going.

no i'm so glad you said and i guess we can just keep chatting back and forth at this point yeah i'm really excited for you to jump in because i'm glad you said that because i've heard that before you know it's like you take your budget as a as a director or as a producer as a film crew and you want to put that money in front of the camera you know i mean you can You could have every single one of your cast members stay at the nicest hotel in the area. And I don't know, that's nice too, but...

To be able to, like you said, there are so many sets that they're on that just look amazing. Yeah, you're right. I do appreciate that. And I was even thinking, there are moments when the alien... has got to be cgi because i don't know how else they could show someone yes running around that fast you know or leaping through the air or whatnot right but there are definitely there is definitely an absolute 100 real you can touch

alien prop or several for this movie which i appreciate you know because nothing can quite replace those teeth that just drip you know that like absolutely metal water saliva from its mouth. That's exciting. I guess we need to talk about Neverland a little bit more. I didn't realize how intensely we were leaning into that.

you know i watched this on disney plus is where it's living now you know and yeah if you own aliens but you also own peter pan then i guess it's not that hard to get permission to use because there's some kids in this movie or in this uh episode

and we get some visualization of the original Peter Pan cartoon and all of these uploaded kids to robot forms are all... named after peter pan characters yes and which i wasn't sure if i loved but and speaking of um cartoons and horror movies which i love In addition to that, we see Ice Age, the cartoon movie there. Now, the thing with that, though, Mac, the thing that's really hard for me to swallow is I don't think anybody is still going to be watching Ice Age in the year like 20.

2120 because that franchise sucks. But anyways. That's amazing. That is hilarious. I mean it is. it is because yeah i they quoted it and i wasn't even sure if we were still talking about ice age because i've seen ice age and it just Didn't stick in my mind like other things have, I suppose. Yeah, they have multiple. Well, there are multiple of them. And there are like, I don't know, three or four of those movies. But OK, well, here's the thing. I have a few things.

that I'm going to tell you about. And maybe you can, like, for example, I do have some gripes. I think most viewers do. And I'll get, we'll get to those. But remember how Ridley Scott described Alien.

the original as a haunted house movie in space. And then in the film Aliens, the elite military team described their mission as a bug hunt. And so what I'm excited about here in alien earth is it's just it's far more than just a bug hunt or a preacher feature or a haunted house in space because these alien organisms are in the mix

But there are many other concurrent struggles happening as well. There are these science fiction subplots, Max. So, for example, if I recall correctly, I was trying to count it as I went. I watched this when I was in bed, so I wasn't like taking notes the way I... usually do. But I think we're dealing with at least like five different powerful entities.

And one of those is, of course, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. They're just one of the five interests. And then you got the young genius you referred to, Boy Cavalier. I don't love that name, but he's the CEO of Prodigy Corporation. He's the world's youngest trillionaire. He's in the mix and he's got things he's trying to accomplish. He kind of reminded me of a blend of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. That's what I was thinking. I think that's why I don't like him.

I hated that Lex Luthor who was that who played Lex Luthor in Batman vs. Superman but anyway oh yeah Jesse Eisenberg yeah I kind of felt like that a little bit when he was like Maybe it was the fact that he was like, do you want to see a magic trick? I was just like...

Okay, Joker. But what's cool about him, though, he's managed to complete this top secret, possibly illegal, revolutionary process where he can, as you described... take terminally ill children and permanently transfer their consciousness into a synthetic body, which essentially gives them... immortality and a physical body that has the capabilities of like super soldier level. Now it sounds a little fantastical, but the way it's done here, I think it's really done for a science fiction.

story i think it's done well yeah i thought so too that sort of dawned on me finally in the second episode where i kept because i i kept thinking why peter path You know, why are we making this connection? And I don't know why I was so silly, but it's like they mentioned it multiple times that they're taking these young kids and giving them adult bodies. Yes.

because they don't grow up right and that's that's what i was like oh peter pan right they're they're in neverland and they never grow up and um the the boy cavalier they even call him boy cavalier because peter pan is this boy that's like this magical person

takes the children away from their dismal lives, allows them to experience this magical rebirth in a faraway new life. So yeah, hence the name Neverland. Yes. And Jesus, can I say this? Because one thing I... thought was cool and clever was like because these are kids but they're they are now adults which by the way I love the implication of like okay but where's the kids body now you know

It was super dark. It was diseased. So I'm sure they just tossed it or burned it, whatever. Well, that's what I'm saying. Anyway, these adult actors are doing a great job at convincing. us that they're little kids because

Even the way they sit on the stair or move their bodies or things they say or how they interact with each other, you're like, these are little kids. But that's also one part that I wasn't necessarily buying in the... story because oh see jason there's so much to talk about here because that spaceship crashes into two buildings

by the way and so i was thinking we kind of have some a lot of them walking around the buildings trying to search and rescue people was giving me 9-11 like trauma and like thinking about these buildings are going to collapse any second we got to get in out of here yeah but it was sort of bizarre to me that this boy genius guy who he's wendy's the first one ever and you know he does like how many six more after that pretty quickly yeah and then

So these are going to be the most expensive things he's ever done and their little kids. And he just like, okay, is this search and rescue thing for them to go in this ship? Like, no problem. Yeah. Was that bizarre to you that, that, that they made that decision? Well, not overly, and it was somewhat credible because number one, when you have these entrepreneurial types, they're big risk takers and they're innovators. And so because these kids and their new super soldier type body

They have a lot of capacity to do things. And Timothy Oliphant, who is the lead cyborg guy, he is their mentor. And so he's kind of guiding. their team so they get this elite team to go through and because he he wants them to obtain all the various scientific goodies that are being studied on this ship because he knows that there are some some really sketchy, crazy things on the ship.

Yeah. But yeah, it's intriguing. And that's what I love about this Mac is because there are a lot of people are coming at this from different angles. Everybody wants something different. Like Wendy, our main character, she had to sacrifice her old life. But she left behind this brother that she loves and misses dearly. And he is a medic.

Awesome. Yeah. And so because he's a medic, you know, she wants to go seek him out. And so like that, that's what she's looking for. Yeah. And then even we've got, as you mentioned, like hearkening back to the. Nostromo, we've got this evil cyborg security officer named Moro, and his mission is apparently to preserve and maintain the xenomorph, right? Which leads to the crash, the ship crash. Go ahead.

Just so people know how evil this guy is, there's a crew member locked outside the mother's room, which is hilarious, I guess, is the way to call that. Yes. And he's kind of preemptively putting in the crew's status as dead. Yeah. We've got one last person kind of banging on the glass saying, wait, wait, wait, wait, let me in. I just thought, I was like, this guy is evil.

Yes. How did you feel about his little nifty arm that does like Swiss Army knife tools? Yeah. That's one thing that bugs me about the Alien franchise is. I wish so much that knowing that they were writing this film to occur two years before what we see in the Nostromo.

I wish that they would stick to the same technology, you know, because sometimes they update things. The same thing happened in the Star Wars universe, right? Right, where we go back earlier and get better technology. Yeah, and the prequels. And so that kind of... of bugs me and um so you know that's just one of my my nitpicks but i i guess if you're bringing your own vision to this alien franchise everybody's gonna be

bringing new ideas. And I guess we can't gripe about that too much. But Max, the first episode, because just to kind of wrap up our thoughts on the first episode. Overall, I loved it. And when it was over, I was really impressed. I'm like, I'm on board for this. Episode one, Neverland is an 8.5 out of 10 for me. And thus far, if this series keeps up as good as it is,

I'm going to purchase it. But what about you? What do you rate this first episode? Well, I don't rate TV shows. I have a list of TV shows I really like and I can tell you I like this one better than I like that one. But I grasped onto this idea years ago that it's like a movie I'm going to rate out of 100, but a TV show, I just don't know where to begin.

with rating it but let me just do it this way then i am so glad i saw it yeah and i think people who are alien fans have got to see it and you know what on second thought You know, when you said you'd buy it, I'm like, man, wouldn't it look nice to just have all the alien Blu-rays and stuff next to each other? So I think I could see myself buying this.

You know, if they ever do release it, I could see myself getting it. Yeah, absolutely. I'm with you 100% on that. Okay, so episode two, I did sort of what you did where I watched the first one on...

Tuesday night when it released, August 12th. And then I was just kind of savoring it. We had an extra night before recording. So I'm like, you know what? I'm going to save... that episode for tomorrow night to have something special, you know, look forward to. And I did. So I watched the Mr. October and I'll tell you something, something kind of a bummer happened for me, Mac. And it's, wait a second. It's like.

They had the A team writers for the first episode and then like they gave them the week off and they put the B team writers. on this second episode and I'm like what is this cliche dialogue like this second episode starts really rough for me and i'm like i'm trying to remember where it started exactly i know it's these go together don't they i mean they really do because i felt pretty consistent between the first and the second one um in fact

I even felt the emotional connection when Wendy, I guess if we're talking spoilers here, Wendy does meet up with her brother. I was feeling that for some reason. Yeah, that part was good. But you feel like some of the dialogue was... was just like, I'm trying to think of what people were saying, you know? Yeah. I mean, if I had been taking notes, I would have written them down, but they're like...

They're like, roll your eyes dialogue. You've heard a thousand times in action. And I'm just like, what happened to the writing of the, I mean, because the first episode really blew me away. But anyways, the second episode, it does. get better, but...

You know, this is where I started getting concerns because, you know, the first night I was so pumped. And then I was, you know, in our Horror Avengers text group chat. You know, I'm like, you know, telling them, you know, people like Joel are like not. liking it and having concerns and saying they were hearing bad things and I'm like no no no this is good you gotta watch it and then I watched the second one and it's still good I'm still in

but it wasn't quite the same for me personally. But how did you feel overall about the second episode, which is called Mr. October? Go ahead.

I need to mention this because this happens in both episodes, a positive and a negative. So one positive is and I could I literally am thinking about making a documentary about this someday, but I love that. 2.35 aspect ratio. And so that's just like that cinematic wide aspect ratio and both episodes have it. So I love that. And it feels like a movie. I almost wish these were just.

you know just like let this be a movie or something but then one thing that blew me away jason in a negative way like it was bizarre just wasn't expecting it you know it's like At the end of the episode, they have these songs played during the credits. Yeah. And they are so 90s gangster pop rock and roll.

Yeah. What is that song at the end of each episode? Do you feel like that? Like, this is so bizarre. Yeah, I've heard a lot of complaints as well. I've been seeing a lot of complaints about the soundtrack choices. And I would agree. I mean, I.

I did find them not appropriate selections or they just didn't feel right during the episode. It's awesome. They do a lot of like, yeah like motifs to the original scores and that sort of thing yes just when the credits roll they hit it's like someone went through their cd collection that they had in high school and they're like limb biscuit or you know they're flipping through like uh and they're like, oh, look at this song. Let's play this song.

Why would we ever do that? Yeah, I don't know. That is weird. Now, this is where the rubber meets the road for me, Mac. Now, remember, this is occurring two years before... the original Alien. And one thing that made me really sad in the Alien franchise, probably my biggest complaint with the entire franchise is...

The fact that we come to learn eventually, and this is major plot spoilers for the entire Alien franchise listeners, is that we come to learn that these organisms, these perfect organisms, end up being a creature. created bioweapon instead of a naturally occurring organic organism that was out there in the universe. And I just that makes me so sad. But anyways.

Why does that make you sad, I wonder? Oh, because it was freaking awesome that there was this scary as hell, destructive, devastatingly... Perfect predator and hunter killer. Whose blood even was acidic, you know, like that is incredible. I mean, just to think about something like that out there happening. Like when I see sometimes, you know, you be.

swiping through x you know and i see like um they'll show nature some pretty severe nature where like an animal a lion is like jumping on a zebra and eating it and i'm like wow it just terrifying because in nature nature is brutal and fierce there are like really scary predatory creatures and so

That's what makes it so awesome. But to me, and this is not a religious thing, but it's neat to think, okay, God made these killer creatures, whereas thinking of man making a perfect... killer organism it's like i can't see uh humans making anything perfect out of it but i thought you know with prometheus it was more implied that like a more advanced human-like uh made that but i was thinking about that in this second episode because you know if this thing was just hunting for like

You know, a lion is jumping on the back of a zebra, not because it's just like out for revenge. You know, it's going to drag its corpse over to its fellow lions and they're going to eat it. Yeah. Real quick. Are you are you touching your mic or something?

No, I stepped outside of my car and there's like 10 trillion crickets that are making noise, so I might have to step back into my car. That's what it is. It's amazing. Isn't that bizarre? Yeah, they're coming through just... yeah go ahead second is that gone now yes that's way better but in the second episode it is kind of it was a good reminder that these things are just out to destroy other living things because

Like you said, we get these cut scenes, but there are several cut scenes in this second episode where a whole group of people are just taken out. And they're not exactly you know, this thing isn't stopping to make a meal out of them or anything like that. It's just killing and moving on, which is what's so scary about this, you know, because.

I mean, with a lion, if he's full, he might just leave you alone. Yeah. But with this xenomorph, it's like it doesn't matter what time of day or night it is. Like you are in trouble. Yeah. Yeah. The ferocity is just. 10 level 10 because because what is it that um ash says it's um hostility is met only by is equaled only by its dang it i wish i should have had that i should know that come on you know it mac

Yeah, hostility is matched only by his. I'll find it in one second. I'm sorry. The listeners are screaming at us. He says. You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you? The perfect organism, its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. That's freaking awesome. Anyway, my whole point in bringing that up.

was. We get this scene and I love Alien Covenant and we do see different types of xenomorph creatures and xenomorph types, but, but. In this, we see that thing where the cat, you know, this cat has obviously been attacked and infected. And then its eyeball pops out. And then this eyeball with octopus legs. has multiple irises. I hated, hated that. I just thought it looked dumb and terrible. And I'm like,

What is this thing? Where does this come from? I mean, we don't even get things that look like this in Alien Covenant. I mean, how did you feel about that eyeball octopus cat iris thing? well i'm back outside for a split second but yeah well i was also kind of weirded out and didn't know how to feel about there's like these little they're pretty good sized bugs yes for sure but what's bizarre about them is they

They kind of leech onto you, but then they will become 50 times their own size because they do not stop drinking your blood or whatever it is they're doing. They're like wood ticks. They're like ticks, and they just fill up. grossly with. And I kind of like those because in Alien Covenant, which again, I love, we see how there were those little

granular, almost like dust particle that would go in your ear and get inside your body that way. So, I mean, I don't mind there being some sort of like, I guess, adaptive way for them to infect and become you know, a parasitic into its host. But the cat eyeball octopus thing just seemed like they were swinging for some kind of fence. And I'm like, oh, I hate that. Yeah, it does feel more like it belongs... than like a Hayao Miyazaki cartoon now that I'm thinking about it. Right.

If they make a plush toy of that or something, then we're in trouble, right? Yeah. And timeline-wise, I mean, Alien Covenant, I know I keep mentioning it, but Alien Covenant actually occurs in 2104. That's when that's set. So it is in the timeline of the Alien series. It actually precedes Alien Earth. So that that bothers me less as I'm thinking about it. But it's just I guess with the Nostromo, you know, they encountered the one.

xenomorph, basically, that they got from, you know, the facehuggers and all that. And that was it. And that's why we don't see much in that particular alien. So, you know, that's fine. Maybe I'm being nitpicky, but I don't know, Mac. Last couple things and then we can wrap this up.

We're very familiar as horror fans here on Jay the Dead's new horror movies. We're very familiar of the beloved horror conventions. But what I love and what I think makes this worthwhile, I think this series is worth checking. out for people is you actually have some, the characteristics of great science fiction, which is high stakes because it involves the future and the innovation.

that humanity is taking and the risks of it. And so because we have these various moral questions, like you're talking about, what do they do with these kids' bodies? I mean, and they're taking these kids away from their families, which I

I guess the families want the kids to live, so they agree to sort of donate them so they can continue on with their consciousness. But anyways, I mean, there are just always moral implications. And so I think that's really fun about this. I feel like Noah Hawley. the creator and director of these, I feel like he's put some interesting thought. There's a lot of creativity here. So I'm excited to see where it goes. And the way this second episode ends...

She's finally reunited. Wendy is finally reunited, you know, with her brother. And then a xenomorph snags him and takes him off. So now she's going to be pursuing. The xenomorph. And it's like, okay. So it's like a chase or a quest. But did she remind you, that actress, does she remind you of Amelie? Yeah, actually. Yeah, I think she did. Well, one thing I was going to tell you about as you were just talking about all these like, yeah, good science fiction makes you ask questions.

What do you do? Because, well, one thing I wondered, too, is like, is the kid... like once the consciousness goes from the body of the kid does it go from the kid to the machine and therefore the kid immediately dies when it goes over like that body is just not functional anymore or is it a copy of their consciousness so what you end up with

is a kid who's still alive and their copy, but now we got to get rid of the kids. I don't know. That is a great question. I never thought about that. But the other thing is, one of the... And I guess I don't know exactly who she is. She's like the caretaker of these kids is talking to this CEO, you know, and she's like, yeah, Dame Sylvia. Dame Sylvia. Yeah. Yes. She's like, what's the point of this? Just to.

Create an eternal consumer, you know, because I mean, from a business standpoint, that's a great idea. Take all of the people who are buying stuff from you and grant them immortality. Well, now they're always going to be buying stuff from you. But he mentions like, no, no, that's not the point. The point is he wants to finally talk to someone who's smarter than him, which was sort of interesting. But it's just like those sorts of ideas.

are being presented and i think it's intriguing and yeah i wonder where these episodes will go so jason do you know because right now like imdb i think it lists like eight yes and you know i've seen a couple of tv series where they have eight planned episodes and it goes through those eight episodes and then they're finished but then there's of course tv shows that if this

season successful they'll do another one and then on and on and on so do you have any guesses then as to like is this going to is this has the potential for a season two and or is this supposed to be uh

we get the ride of these eight episodes. Do you know? Well, I don't officially know, but I'll just say this to the listeners in case they're disappointed in my lack of research. I was trying so... hard to be careful about not being spoiled on what this show is and what it's going to encompass so I've gotten some information on it but I've tried to be careful but my assumption is and I believe this is probably likely I think that Noah Hawley

and FX and Hulu and Disney. I think they're really hoping that this thing does well and then they can continue to milk it, of course. So I think that if... This first season goes well because they've invested a ton of money as we've discussed. So I think if it goes well...

I think they will give us a season two. I mean, I guess I just saw two. Where did I see? I could have sworn I saw a billboard or something like that for Toy Story 5. And so I guess the reality is. Yeah, exactly. But like, I guess the reality is. that's always an option, you know, even if you planned to only make one.

movie or one season i suppose there's always that chance that someone comes to you and is like hey this was successful let's keep going yeah you know but for me it's like the scary thing about hey let's keep going is it's like how many seasons of loss did we really enjoy you know when it was all the first one that was it and it go ahead no i'm just saying you actually brought up the perfect example of toy story because i don't know if you recall this but

When they finished the first three Toy Stories, the trilogy, they said... explicitly said, oh no, that's it. That's the end of this story. It's wrapped up. It's perfect. That's done. And then like within a couple of years, we had Toy Story 4 and I was ticked.

right yeah because and it's because you know that someone's like you know hey we've got to keep making this you know or whatever it is so i guess it will be interesting but it does just worry me though because yeah i could list more examples of i feel like of tv shows where you know it's like season one's great oh you gotta skip season two and just you know so many that sort of keep going

And then, you know, does it make sense to keep going? I don't know. But I guess, yeah, we'll have to see where this all goes. Yes. And the last thing I wanted to say before I, like, rate this second episode is the whole time the sub... plot of transferring a consciousness into a better body. I could not stop thinking of the 2015 film Selfless. It's like self forward slash less starring Ryan Reynolds. And that's that movie. I don't know if you saw that one. It's actually pretty. It's kind of.

of interesting. It's about a dying real estate mogul. He transfers his consciousness into a healthy young body. Yeah, because the dying real estate dude is played by Ben Kingsley. And then the young body, of course, is Ryan Reynolds. So he puts his consciousness in Ryan Reynolds' body. And it's actually really interesting. I like stuff like that. And so that totally, I was thinking of that film the whole time with this. Yeah.

Anyways, I guess that's neither here nor there. But, you know. No, no, I was going to say I thought you were going to say you're going to sign up for that process or something. Well, it's kind of sad on a poignant note. You know, my mom's. my necromama con her health is very poor right now and and i just i always tell her all the time

I wish I could just somehow transfer your consciousness into a new 20 year old woman's body, you know, so you can just be happy again and keep going and feel healthy. And so, yeah, Mac, I guess as I age, I would be.

signing up for that process. But what's cool about this is because they do mention AI in this series, and that is actually supposedly, and I don't know if this will ever be, possible truly but you know one thing that they the futurists speculate is that we will be able to at least copy someone's consciousness as you said and sort of put it into an AI

by being, which will just take all of the characteristics and just continue to build upon it as if it's that person. So in a sense, while in reality, you truly do lose an individual, the people... the surviving family members don't feel like they've lost anybody at all because it looks, sounds, talks, acts, and has memories of the original person who died. That's so messed up.

Yeah, anyways. That is so messed up. I am on IMDB looking at the rating for this. And I mean, of course, you've got a couple of people who are like... one out of 10, you know, but it seems like there's a lot of people enjoying this too. And I think that's, you know, where I'm ultimately at. But you said you had a couple of nitpicks. Did you mention all the ones that you wanted to mention?

Yeah, I mean, mainly, yeah, I think I've pretty much covered it. But yeah, the overall rating right now out of 9.3 thousand ratings overall so far, it's an eight. Out of 10, which is good, right? But then when you go down to the original, like, I mean, the individual episodes, I'm just trying to get to it here. Neverland has a 7.9 out of 10. And then the second one.

Mr. October is an 8.2. So actually people seem to like the second one better than I did. But for me, I'm rating the second one. I'm going to come in at like a... My first one was 8.5, right? So I'm coming in like a 6.5. I liked it a good bit less, actually. But anyways, so Mac, next week then, what we got for the listeners out there, I hope people watch along with us coming up on August 19th. FX and Hulu is releasing episode three.

titled Metamorphosis. And I haven't read anything about it except the title. So there it is. Are you going to be here next week with Greg Amortis and me? I'm going to be here every single week. Good brother. I love it. Yeah, Greg is really excited and I don't want to spoil too much, but I'll just say this.

He is pumped about this. He's enjoying it. And I'll just give people the heads up on that. So yeah, I wish Joel would have stuck in there because maybe he could have been our foil. Yeah, and I'm trying to remember if he's like...

as big of a fan as we are of like the alien franchise. Yeah. He loves it. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. He's well, I know, I know too that Joel, you know a lot when i had lunch with him recently when he came to utah you know he talked a lot and he said stuff like this before where it's like there's something that eats

at him when speaking of a huge budget you know when people put this ginormous budget together it just seems like joel's getting more and more excited and interested in you know groups of people who don't necessarily have the endless funds, but they're still doing...

creative things yeah you know so i wonder if that's part of it or maybe that has nothing to do with it i don't know but it'd be interesting to maybe we need to come over to his house and you know tie his hands behind his back on a chair and tie his eyes open I love that you keep coming up with these like bondage ideas for Joel. I don't think he'll mind if I read this because he actually, let's see, he said...

Honestly, I'm not really feeling this show at all. And believe me, no one is more disappointed than I am about that. Unless I hear differently, I'm probably not going to watch anymore. I mean, the only thing that has going for it, in my opinion, is the production design. But the story, characterization... the music oh and he says oh gosh he didn't say gosh but he's like oh gosh the song choices he was hating that he said I just find it to be a total slog

Anyways, it's fun to look at, but nothing really going on under the surface. So I guess he's he's underwhelmed overall. And he's a busy man. And he's like, yeah, I just don't have time to invest in a show that I'm not loving. And he did watch the first two episodes. you know, fair enough. You know, that's, and I have a feeling with, I don't know if you've heard my Last of Us coverage with Dr. Walking Dead, but season one, I loved. It was good. Season two, I was griping and crying.

and whining the whole way through season two almost. So I might end up being the foil on this show. Who knows? So, yeah. See, like, not to...

jump into this conversation needs to be happening on another day but that this is why like i ultimately will always be like a movie guy and not a tv guy because even if i'm like hate watching a movie you know because it gets 20 minutes in and I and then I just like I just have to finish it then I can finish it and I can put my score on it and it goes on my list and then I've got this low score and I'll always remember not to revisit it but you know these tv episodes are so bizarre

you know because it's like again just like yeah i love the first one but the second season isn't great and and then what do you do with that you know do you know well I didn't buy the second season of The Last of Us and I immediately bought the first season. So it's just, it's a shame, but there you have it. Yeah, it kind of sucks. But anyways. For a split second, when you said The Last of Us.

I'm remembering now. Oh, yes, of course, the zombie thing. But I just heard this is us, you know, and I was thinking about that. Drama TV show. Oh, that show. Oh, my goodness. That makes me want to hurt myself. Yeah, I watched that show for a couple of seasons. You know, they call The Walking Dead misery porn, right?

It's just like more and more misery. And it's true. There's a lot of sadness in the walking dead, but, but I feel like this is us is like, the most the worst version of misery point it's just so sad all the time so it really is anyways brother any final thoughts before we close it out about alien earth anything you want to tell

the listeners i'm glad that ridley scott is i mean i don't know how much other than they're just maybe they're just using his name because they you know as an executive producer sometimes they'll do that you know i noticed that There's so many movies that are like Steven Spielberg executive produced, but that basically just means...

He was like, oh, yeah, that's a cool idea. And then they're like, oh, we can convince people to see our TV show or movie or whatever based on his name. But I'm still really sad that we'll never get... or I don't know if we'll never get, but I don't think we'll ever get Ridley Scott's.

final vision for he had two movies planned after alien covenant that would connect alien covenant to alien oh man and i just i just don't think we'll ever get those and that's one thing i appreciated about like prometheus and alien covenant Even though we do get some classic alien-like...

you know, moments, it's also very, very much its own thing, which I guess this is also doing, you know, but yeah. Yeah. I just, I wish the next episode was out so that we could watch one more tonight, but I, but it's, it's. going to come out next week is that the plan on tuesdays yeah every every tuesday everybody so yeah coming out now um but with respect to what you said i appreciate what you said because um that is a bummer but this might be Hopefully some sort of consolation.

Because Alien Covenant and Alien, the thing that occurs between that is Alien Earth. So maybe this is sort of what we'll get. This is supposed to be that. Not necessarily, but hopefully it'll scratch that itch and who knows. Maybe Ridley will be like, well, I was kind of thinking this. Why don't you do this? I don't know if he would, but that would be.

Hopefully we'll get something. But this is canon, right? I mean, this is definitely canon for the franchise. This is part of the franchise. Yeah. So... There you have it, listeners. That is our review and discussion of the first two episodes of Alien Earth. We hope you're having a good time. We hope you enjoyed it. We hope you'll continue watching along with us. And make sure you join us next week because we're going to have...

Greg Amortis as well. And, um, I tried to pull in, um, cause I know Ryan on movie podcast weekly and Carl was going to try it out tonight. We'll try to invite Ryan over and he's like, I gotta get up early. So he, he, said no, but anyway. Like, whatever. But who knows? We might have a special guest or something. But Mac, I really appreciate you being here for this. And I'm so excited that you got to see Weapons. And yeah, listeners, go see Weapons. That's going to be my plug, is go see Weapons.

If you haven't seen it yet and we got our new horror movies review of that, we've got an in-depth review coming out soon. In fact, we're going to have a couple of take two reviews. I know, um, by the way, Mac, I know Watson hasn't reviewed it yet. And I think Ron Martin is going to see it. I've been twisting his arm and harassing him. So at the very least, I bet you could maybe even connect with Watson and do a review together on it. I'd love to hear you two talk about it. But anyway.

Yeah. For what it's worth. So, listeners, thank you for joining us. On behalf of my good buddy here, the Count himself, Count Macula, I'm your host, Jay of the Dead, and thank you for listening to Jay of the Dead's new horror movie. the gold standard of horror movie podcasts.