Good catch, that totally tracks and I love the idea.

fig96 said:

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Quote:

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'Curly' #2 wants the adoration of her 'father', Kavalier. While they're extremely intelligent and powerful, these synths are still just KIDS - and Kavalier fed into that by giving her a challenge.

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To this point I was like "why use kids?" but his explanation of prodigies was the perfect exposition. Children have unlimited potential, and he's also hoping to eventually encounter someone who's close to his intellectual equal.

That said it's beyond dumb that Prodigy would send billions of dollar of untrained tech into this situation, but the world of Alien has never been known for its good decisions.

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I gotta to be honest... I thought this show was pretty terrible throughout the majority of the first three episodes...

- I didn't care about a single character's plight.

- The kid thing wasn't working at all for me.

- Sending brand new billion-dollar experimental kid/synthetic hybrids into what essentially amounted to a ship wreck, alien-infested war zone was an incredibly stupid plot point.

- Hawley somehow made the main alien un-scary, easily beatable, and inconsistent. There's been zero respect/reverie for it from a filmmaking standpoint.

- I realize it's been a small part of past movies, but the 20th-century navel gazing is ridiculous.

That said, with about 15 minutes left in the third episode, at least a compelling reason was finally given as to why the focus on kids (the prodigy angle), and I do now like Morrow's rogue mission of sorts to get the specimens back. It took way too long, but it finally feels like the real plot of the show has at last clicked into place. We'll see how it goes from here, though...

In the first two episodes we had...

- 22nd century characters referencing Peter Pan.

- 22nd century kids watching Ice Age.

- A 22nd century medic pontificating about Reggie Jackson.

- Multiple songs on the soundtrack from the 20th century.

The Peter Pan stuff is fine, as is the soundtrack, but the Ice Age and Reggie Jackson references just felt so forced and out of place that I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

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TCTTS said:

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In the first two episodes we had...

- 22nd century characters referencing Peter Pan.

- 22nd century kids watching Ice Age.

- A 22nd century medic pontificating about Reggie Jackson.

- Multiple songs on the soundtrack from the 20th century.

The Peter Pan stuff is fine, as is the soundtrack, but the Ice Age and Reggie Jackson references just felt so forced and out of place that they were almost eye-roll inducing.

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Ok.

But how is that different than someone in 2025 listening to music composed 400 years ago? Or reading a book, story, or poem written 500 years ago? The sports reference can't apply since we didn't have MLB or similar professional sports leagues a comparable number of years in the past, but I would imagine there will be people interested in reading of the exploits of someone like a Reggie Jackson, Nolan Ryan, or Tom Brady, or watching their game footage, 200 years from now. I wonder if someone 200 years from now might study Texas A&M @ UCLA to explain how the Aggies gakked up that lead.

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I'm not saying it's not possible. I'm saying that, from a narrative/story-telling standpoint, it feels forced to shoehorn so many 20th century references into the first two hours of show like this.

YouBet said:

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TCTTS said:

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In the first two episodes we had...

- 22nd century characters referencing Peter Pan.

- 22nd century kids watching Ice Age.

- A 22nd century medic pontificating about Reggie Jackson.

- Multiple songs on the soundtrack from the 20th century.

The Peter Pan stuff is fine, as is the soundtrack, but the Ice Age and Reggie Jackson references just felt so forced and out of place that they were almost eye-roll inducing.

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Could be just the creators being prescient. The 20th century (specifically from post WWII up until somewhere around now) will be looked upon as the Golden Age for the planet. We are about to start a global population collapse in real life which is going to destabilize the hell out of almost every country. In this world, corporations have taken control which is seen by many futurists and sci-fi writers as one of our likely outcomes from all of this.

Thus, the people of the time maybe have some nostalgia for 20th century culture.

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First, I could argue just as convincingly that with AI's inevitable advancements - via artificial general intelligence (AG), following by artificial super intelligence (ASI) - we're potentially, if not likely, heading toward an age abundance, curing of all diseases, de-aging, etc - all over the next 15 years or so - rendering the global population collapse moot.

Secondly, while it's obvious that none of that happened in the world of the show, they should at least give us some better hints/indicators as to why all the nostalgia for the 20th century. I'm not asking to be hit over the head in that regard, but when a medic, while in the middle of evading a killer alien, is suddenly going on and on about a 200-year-old baseball player that most Gen Zers couldn't even name today, and the showrunner has cast himself as that medic's dad in the flashback, I'm sorry, but I can't help but think "What in the hell is happening right now?"

TCTTS said:

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Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

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TCTTS said:

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In the first two episodes we had...

- 22nd century characters referencing Peter Pan.

- 22nd century kids watching Ice Age.

- A 22nd century medic pontificating about Reggie Jackson.

- Multiple songs on the soundtrack from the 20th century.

The Peter Pan stuff is fine, as is the soundtrack, but the Ice Age and Reggie Jackson references just felt so forced and out of place that they were almost eye-roll inducing.

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Ok.

But how is that different than someone in 2025 listening to music composed 400 years ago? Or reading a book, story, or poem written 500 years ago? The sports reference can't apply since we didn't have MLB or similar professional sports leagues a comparable number of years in the past, but I would imagine there will be people interested in reading of the exploits of someone like a Reggie Jackson, Nolan Ryan, or Tom Brady, or watching their game footage, 200 years from now. I wonder if someone 200 years from now might study Texas A&M @ UCLA to explain how the Aggies gakked up that lead.

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I'm not saying it's not possible. I'm saying that, from a narrative/story-telling standpoint, it feels forced to shoehorn so many 20th century references into the first two hours of show like this.

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All right, that's fair. The solution, since they wanted this imagery, was to create something clearly futuristic to 2025 but still in their past, but then your 2025 audience wouldn't know what that made-up imagery was. The Peter Pan thing works for the lost boys angle they have with the kid synths. I will have to rewatch to see what was said about Jackson but I thought I heard one of the characters talking about it. The Ice Age stuff was a huh moment.

Maybe in the dystopian near-future all entertainment options are recycled old ideas. We kinda that way now.

Maybe so but depopulation is already a fact and inevitable.

AI doing all of that is not although I'm sure there will be some advancements. Challenge there is AI advancement has already started leveling off.

It's just seems the director is doing what he wants to do as far as nostalgia and not overly concerned with it affecting the story he's telling.

Max Power said:

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YouBet said:

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aTmAg said:

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Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

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I was the right age for Alien to scare the crap out of me. 12. By the time of Aliens, I was 18 and was just not as susceptible to scary stuff. Having said that, I thought the sequence with the queen chasing Ripley/Newt to the elevator was pretty frightening.

Signs is a good example. My house at the time had a big window in the master bathroom that looked out at my back yard, and the house behind mine. I went in one night to do some business and happened to glance out the window. What I could see of the neighbor's house was a high pitched roof like the barn in the movie. I half expected to see a reptilian critter perched on that roof.

Back to Alien, Ridley Scott put on a master class on how to present a monster, much like Spielberg had done with Jaws 4 years before. The alien gets roughly 4 minutes of screen time with most coming in the last 20 minutes. You never see it clearly defined until it is 1-1 with Ripley on the escape shuttle. You really don't know what it looks like.

By the time that Aliens came out, audiences knew what it looked like. Cameron was still able to make use of lighting and camera angles to give it a scary appearance - like it running at full speed through the air ducts.

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I saw both as a kid. To me, The Thing is the best at it. Throughout the whole movie, you have no idea who is or who isn't a thing.

Another thing I didn't mention before is that the world A:E is basically irredeemable. It's gloomy and whatnot. That makes me sorta root for the aliens.

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Still the best horror movie ever made - Carpenters version that is.

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I'm still pretty sure that seeing that movie too early messed me up for life.

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I watched parts of it as a kid, but never got to see the whole thing (we had one household TV back then, and my parents stole it from me). As an adult, I was watching it casually as I was doing stuff. I was carrying a box when I stopped about 3 feet from the TV to watch the part with the guys chest cavity opens up, and holy crap that got me. I may have cussed really loud so that all my kids could hear, but I'm not confirming that.

TCTTS said:

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In the first two episodes we had...

- 22nd century characters referencing Peter Pan.

- 22nd century kids watching Ice Age.

- A 22nd century medic pontificating about Reggie Jackson.

- Multiple songs on the soundtrack from the 20th century.

The Peter Pan stuff is fine, as is the soundtrack, but the Ice Age and Reggie Jackson references just felt so forced and out of place that I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

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Ice Age came out in 2002. GOT YOU

aTmAg said:

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Max Power said:

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YouBet said:

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aTmAg said:

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Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

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I was the right age for Alien to scare the crap out of me. 12. By the time of Aliens, I was 18 and was just not as susceptible to scary stuff. Having said that, I thought the sequence with the queen chasing Ripley/Newt to the elevator was pretty frightening.

Signs is a good example. My house at the time had a big window in the master bathroom that looked out at my back yard, and the house behind mine. I went in one night to do some business and happened to glance out the window. What I could see of the neighbor's house was a high pitched roof like the barn in the movie. I half expected to see a reptilian critter perched on that roof.

Back to Alien, Ridley Scott put on a master class on how to present a monster, much like Spielberg had done with Jaws 4 years before. The alien gets roughly 4 minutes of screen time with most coming in the last 20 minutes. You never see it clearly defined until it is 1-1 with Ripley on the escape shuttle. You really don't know what it looks like.

By the time that Aliens came out, audiences knew what it looked like. Cameron was still able to make use of lighting and camera angles to give it a scary appearance - like it running at full speed through the air ducts.

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I saw both as a kid. To me, The Thing is the best at it. Throughout the whole movie, you have no idea who is or who isn't a thing.

Another thing I didn't mention before is that the world A:E is basically irredeemable. It's gloomy and whatnot. That makes me sorta root for the aliens.

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Still the best horror movie ever made - Carpenters version that is.

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I'm still pretty sure that seeing that movie too early messed me up for life.

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I watched parts of it as a kid, but never got to see the whole thing (we had one household TV back then, and my parents stole it from me). As an adult, I was watching it casually as I was doing stuff. I was carrying a box when I stopped about 3 feet from the TV to watch the part with the guys chest cavity opens up, and holy crap that got me. I may have cussed really loud so that all my kids could hear, but I'm not confirming that.

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I can remember just walking through the living room as a kid when the scene with the dogs came on and at four years old might have yelled "what the **** is that?"

To be precise, it was Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)

I agree about the Reggie Jackson and Ice Age parts. I can't remember the last time I thought about Reggie Jackson, and Ice Age was a pretty minor hit if you consider longevity.

Peter Pan is timeless though.

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I can't remember the last time I thought about Reggie Jackson

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Fair point, but I'll say I actually did think of him recently when I rewatched The Naked Gun (original). Other than that, yeah, I don't think about him. He wasn't an Astro that I idolized growing up.

Truer words have never been spoken about Peter Pan being timeless.

Loved the Ocean Size by Jane's drop. Chuckle at the song being off Nothing's Shocking considering the episode ending.

Odds of the eyeball alien killing Boy Kavalier are probably through the ceiling considering the way they foreshadowed it. BK tried to stare it down, crouched, and pointed at his own chest.

The focus on the kids (losing it, being manipulated, and terrorized) is grating. Still having fun though.

The interesting thing with eyeball alien is that it went after a synthetic in the ship. So when it gets out, it seems it could take over one of them and be more powerful. But you are probably right, it's BK it gets.

So next week's episode is just a flash back to the aliens getting out on the ship. I'm sure it will be entertaining but not advance the real story.

Think about what he said to Marcy when they were talking about the scorpion.

Good, not great episode. Enough to keep me watching for sure!
(Good catch on the Clarke/Asimov quote btw!!)

Things I liked:
*The eyectopus! What a viscous little muther! I wonder how smart it really is, and what on earth it does after it controls an animal. This dude is fun.

*Nibs character starting to go crazy. A little Westworld feel to this would be cool.

*Hermit getting blackmailed by Prodigy, Slightly getting blackmailed by Morrow.

*Wendy imprinting on the little Alien & communicating with it. My question is now how did the Xeno's "choose" to allow her to hear them? So far the show has been good at answering some of our gripes, maybe they are somewhat telepathic or communicate on another level?

*The music continues to be solid.

*I like the rift developing in the hybrids: Curly & (now Isaac) cozying up to the corporation; Nibs going BS Crazy; Slightly set to sabotage & steal; and everyone wanting their parents.

*The explanation of how corporations took over the world.

Things I didn't like:
*Hermit's acting is pretty bad.

*Inconsistencies with the intelligence of the Hybrids. I get that emotionally they are kids & that develops over time, but they can literally download info and shouldn't need to be told the meaning of words.

*How did Morrow locate Slightly's Mom? Is he now in India... but also close to the island? How did he get there? I'm confused.

*Bearded guy & the Counselor are married? Surprised me as she is like 20 years older than he is.


I'm looking forward to next week's episode. Initially I was pleased that they kinda skipped over what happened since we'd seen that movie before. Now I'm excited to see how this crew handles xenos, I have a feeling things will be vastly different since they were specifically sent out to find them and not just a salvage crew.

Quote:

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Morrow found his family bc the dumbass gave him his real name.

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I get that, but how did Morrow manage to evade the Prodigy team (presumably still looking for him) to get to her so fast? Where is she? Singh's family is from India, do they now live close to the island? Fun fact, the number of people named Singh in India is greater than the entire population of Texas.

It appears Kirsh is keeping everything to himself about Morrow at this time.

He probably looked up the kids obituary. As far they know. He died.

jeffk said:

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My biggest question is whether Kirsh is going to facilitate, try to stop, or stand back and observe the coming catastrophe.

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Observe and watch it all burn down. Boy K will get his comeuppance.

Good call on the parallel with Westworld regarding Nibs. Definitely feels like a few of the hybrids are on the edge bad things happening. I don't think Wendy is immune from being one that breaks bad. She's a kid who is communicating with something exceedingly dangerous and that sense of adventure, playing with fire, could be the first domino that falls on Prodigy island is by her hand. Kids make mistakes and there could be dire consequences to what she does or doesn't do. With the emergence of the xenomorph from Hermit's lungs it feels like everything is about to go haywire. Kirsh already exhibits similar behaviors to David from Prometheus and Alien: Covenant so I'm curious to see where his character goes.

MiMi said:

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Really enjoyed this episode. It seems to all be coming together now. The ending was very good. Can't wait for the next episode.

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I still have certain issues with the show overall, but yeah, this is the episode for me where everything finally started to snap into place, and we got multiple compelling storylines.

KidDoc said:

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I understand how people complain about the synth kids but man those actors are doing a great job of acting like kids. Very impressive

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I've had the opposite reaction, to be honest. Some of them have been great while others have been way over the top ridiculous, like the writers have never actually interacted with real kids. The black guy and the Indian guy are the two I'm thinking of in particular.