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Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He's also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock.
Hulu’s Alien: Earth did a much better job of bringing a classic sci-fi franchise to the small screen than most of the soulless Star Wars shows being churned out by Disney+. Star Wars still delivers the occasional gem, like the delightful coming-of-age tale Skeleton Crew, but they’re getting rarer and rarer.
After giving Star Wars shows to Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Tony Gilroy, and Jon Watts, Disney recruited Fargo and Legion’s Noah Hawley to create the first ever Alien TV series. With the stamp of approval from Ridley Scott himself, Alien: Earth brought the xenomorphs to humanity’s homefront for the first time ever.
Alien: Earth Is A Better Sci-Fi Show Than Most Disney+ Star Wars Series
As pure science fiction, Alien: Earth is a much more satisfying series than most of the Star Wars shows on Disney+. Shows like Ahsoka and The Book of Boba Fett have set out to recapture the feel of one of the pulpy old space serials that inspired George Lucas in the first place, like Flash Gordon, but the result has just been a string of mediocre, interchangeable action-adventure shows.
Alien: Earth, on the other hand, speculates on futuristic what-if scenarios. What if mega-corporations owned the world? What if the consciousness of a terminally ill child could be transferred into an android?
What Star Wars Shows Can Learn From Alien: Earth
Honestly, that storyline about putting the minds of dying children into adult bodies made me a little uncomfortable. But it’s something that the Alien franchise had never done before — and something that the science fiction genre had never done before, for that matter. Like it or not, it’s an original concept.
That’s what Star Wars should focus on: originality. Rehashing the most iconic characters and moments from the previous movies and TV shows isn’t a sustainable way to build out a cinematic universe. Star Wars needs to focus more on outside-the-box ideas like Skeleton Crew (a Goonies-style pirate adventure in a galaxy far, far away) than been-there-done-that ideas like Obi-Wan Kenobi (what was Obi-Wan up to during his years in exile?).
Star Wars' Best Live-Action Show Has Something In Common With Alien: Earth
The best live-action show in the Star Wars universe — and one of the greatest TV shows ever made — is Andor. Alien: Earth isn’t quite as incredible as Andor, but they have something crucial in common. Andor has a very unique vision from its creator, Tony Gilroy, just like Alien: Earth has with Hawley. Neither of them exists just to be another entry in a franchise; they feel like passion projects.
You get the sense that Gilroy would be telling a story about a revolutionary taking on a fascist empire whether he had the Star Wars brand attached to it or not, and you get the sense that Hawley would be telling a story about human-android hybrids whether he had the Alien I.P. or not. Star Wars could learn a thing or two from Alien: Earth.
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