‘Alien: Earth’ Screens Blockbuster First Episode at Comic-Con
The upcoming Alien television series crash landed into Comic-Con with a blockbuster Hall H panel that got thousands of geeks sitting on the edge of their seats to an encroaching otherworldly horror.
Alien: Earth, the FX series based on the classic 20th Century Studios science fiction horror movies, saw its first episode play on a giant screen in front of over 6,500 fans ahead of the show’s premiere on FX and Hulu on Aug. 12. It was an ear-splitting, body-shaking experience that showcased epic moments, intimate moments and icky moments.
“This is by far the biggest thing I’ve ever made,” said Noah Hawley, the showrunner who wrote and directed the pilot episode. “But I made it like I make everything else: By hand, and love for you.”
The series is ostensibly about a crashed spacecraft that brings the dreaded Alien xenomorph to Earth. But as expected, in Hawley’s hands, there is much more going on. There are themese of humanity’s quest for immortality, the greed of corporations (and inter-corporate warfare) and sibling love.
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Sydney Chandler plays a young woman named Wendy who is a first of her kind hybrid, a humanoid robot infused with human consciousness made by one of the mega-corporations who run the world. When a research starship owned by another mega-corporation crashes in a Southeast Asian metropolis, the childlike Wendy leads a rescue mission in order to find her brother. Unbeknownst to all, a xenomorph is on the ship… and so are a bunch of brand new alien creatures.
“Each hour has to have its horror elements but it has to be a drama,” explained Hawley. “It has to be a character journey and be themactically rich. You have to worry that I may kill one of these people. I just might.”
Timothy Olyphant, who plays a father figure of sorts to Chandler’s characters, concurred, adding that by the time audiences gets four episodes in, it will be the character moments they will remember.
But let’s get back to the new creatures. Hawley said that the idea behind that was creating new feelings of “genetic revulsion.”
“The one feeling you can’t get back is the discovery of the life cycle of this creature (we all know so well now),” he said. “How every step along the way is worse than the step before.”
That said, there is plenty of xenomorph action. And it was mostly practical effects. The xenomorph was a man in a suit, not CG.
“I almost peed,” Chandler said when she saw him on set for the first time.
Alien: Earth has a strong presence at Comic-Con as it also has an elaborate activation on the grounds of the convention center and nearby hotel. The interactive site allows guests to visit the crash site of the space ship holding the alien specimens and even allows for “missions” in the evening as well as giveaways.
