The Aliens of Alien: Earth Are the Best Characters

     I am a little conflicted after finishing episode 5 of the Disney + series Alien: Earth. So far, the only human character I find interesting is the Chief Security Officer, Kumi Morrow of the Spaceship Maginot. That might be on purpose as he is probably the real protagonist rather than Wendy, the Android with the mind of a child. Or maybe that is a big fake out. None of the other humanoid characters really capture my attention. The aliens are the ones stealing the show for me.  I think this opens the world a little more and reminds me a little of Van Vogt's book The Voyage of the Space Beagle. 

  The Voyage of the Space Beagle follow the crew of men (there are only men) on their five-year mission to explore space outside of the Milky Way Galaxy. Along the way they encounter different aliens that threaten the crew in different ways like sucking the potassium out of their blood or laying their eggs in the men's stomachs. What makes the stories more interesting is that we are told the stories from the aliens' point of view so that we understand their intent. Some are hungry, some want to communicate and some want to procreate.  I noticed that the series Alien: Earth is also trying to develop the alien creatures beyond being simply jump scare monsters. The show sets up five of them.

    First, we have the Xenomorph, star of the previous Alien films. You can't have an alien film without it. It is a parasitic creature that goes through a lifecycle of egg, facehugger, embryo, chestburster and then giant bug looking monster with acidic blood that kills and looks for more hosts for its babies.  In Alien: Earth the crew of the Maginot stole Xenomorph eggs to bring them to Earth. We watch at least one Xenomorph go through its lifecycle and go on a killing rampage tp set up how threatening the alien is. Now we know there are other eggs on Earth waiting for a new host. The Xenomorphs in this series can communicate with an Android with the mind of a little girl named Wendy. Why does it have a special connection to her? Will we finally learn more about how the aliens think? It seems to ask for her protection from Wendy. As Wendy is an android, we know she cannot carry the alien's eggs. We also know it can communicate with another alien, the eye octopus alien also known as T. Ocellus.

    T. Ocellus is a giant eye with several pupils that moves around on tentacles. It attaches itself into a living creature by crawling through the eye socket, gouging out the eye and replacing it while also taking over its host's brain. It seems to also be parasitic. We learn that it is highly intelligent and uses its host to move and communicate. Once it becomes part of its host it shows strength and power but can also pretend to be gentle as it did when it was put into a sheep. We don't know its goals with the humans or if it can communicate with other aliens other than the Xenomorph.

    There is a scene where Ocellus seems to communicate with another alien species that I call the tick aliens, the third alien species. When the Maginot scientist forgets to secure the glass tube that holds the tick aliens, Ocellus thumps its tube to get the scientist's attention while one of the tick aliens escapes to lay its eggs in the scientist's water and then hides in her sandwich. Ocellus and the Tick Aliens seemed to be helping one another. The tick aliens are also parasitic and enter a host to suck its blood and then lays eggs to create more ticks that then try to find other hosts. If there is an attempt to pull the tick out of the body, the tick alien will release a poisonous gas that instantly kills humans. 

    The fourth alien is a plant like alien that attaches to the ceiling. Its pod opens up to catch prey like a giant Venus Fly Trap. We don't know much else about this alien or its relationship to the other aliens. 

    The fifth alien hasn't really been revealed. It seems to be some kind of beetle that will also be carnivorous and dangerous as the Maginot crew didn't seem interested in catching herbivores. 

    I don't care much about Boy Cavelier and his "Lost Boys", and I don't care about corporate intrigue, but I am curious about the aliens. I want to know why the eye alien and the Xenomorph can communicate with each other and why does the Xenomorph seem to be afraid of T. Ocellus, the eye alien? Does the eye alien hate humans or want to protect them? Will the other aliens play a larger role? Will T. Ocellus rather than Morrow or Wendy be the main hero of the show? That would be an interesting twist. More than likely Ocellus will end up being the predator of the Xenomorph.