So I only watched Episode 01; I wasn’t impressed at all, I am debating whether to watch episode 02.
I don’t at all mind writers/authors developing new directions/concepts based on an existing franchise base. I really enjoyed Aliens: Phalanx, even thought it had massive flaws, but the world building was engaging and the pace was good.
That being said E01 comes off as a somewhat generic, “made for streaming” series adaption of the Alien world. Alien: Romulus on the other hand combined “modern sensibilities” with the classical retro-futuristic canon of the alien universe.
Perhaps it’s too early to judge, but I feel there is going to be a large YA-focus to this series (kids in adult bodies). Aliens: Phalanx was also very heavy on YA tropes, but IMO it had other things going for it to compensate.
I didn’t feel any tension or dread in the first episode. Some stuff was happening I didn’t feel like caring.
I will probably watch E02 to see if it gets better, but I am not getting my hopes up.
EDIT: E01 is 7.8 on and E02 is 8.0 on IMDB; no wonder I always got the feeling that series rating are always heavily inflated.
Hey, no argument needed, if it’s not reaching you that’s fine, I had people tell me Wheel of Time wasn’t an insult to the source material regularly and it didn’t move me at all.
I have a different take and that’s also perfectly OK and not an argument that should move you at all. I see from your other posts that you are going to try to lower your expectations and just see where it goes, that’s more or less how I took WoT, can’t say it worked out well in that case, but I hope for your sake Alien:Earth turns out far better.
I wonder if you would scoff that I find it more faithful to the setting so far than Alien:Resurrection?
PS I count myself as one of the apparently very few people who really didn’t mind Alien³ so much, and simply saw it as a real world example of executive meddling that wouldn’t be out of place in universe.
Alien3, even the theatrical version, was fine IMO (although the special edition is much better), I referenced Alien3 because it seems to often be particularly disliked (almost more than Resurrection or perhaps more passionately?).
I don’t know about setting per se, but IMO Resurrection is way better than E01/E02 with the Peter Pan stuff and Hermit the plot armour brother.
I thought Resurrection was fine too, weaker than Alien3, but a good experience overall. I liked Romulus more than Resurrection too, but that doesn’t mean Resurrection is bad.
We’ll see how it goes, I am going to watch E03, but I am not at all optimistic.
I still don’t understand how E02 has a 8.0 on IMDB. That’s higher than Cronenberg’s The Fly which has a 7.6 (The Fly is a classic of horror).