Alien Earth Episode 1 Review

Alien Earth Episode 1 Transcript

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DEREK - This is the Alien Podcast on TV Podcast Industries.

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DEREK - We're here discussing Alien Earth Episode 1, Neverland.

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SPEAKER_1 - You all good, Captain?

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SPEAKER_1 - Yeah, comms are down.

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SPEAKER_2 - Looks like the log files are corrupted.

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SPEAKER_1 - Well, it's probably just a glitch.

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SPEAKER_1 - I can have a look.

00:00:16.700 -- - 00:00:19.160
SPEAKER_2 - No, security will investigate.

00:00:19.160 -- - 00:00:21.840
SPEAKER_2 - We're also burning way too much fuel.

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SPEAKER_2 - I want you and Tang looking into what system we can shut down.

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SPEAKER_3 - Why don't we just shoot Tribusu's specimens into spears and shut down a little zoo?

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SPEAKER_3 - Okay.

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SPEAKER_1 - I think he means real suggestions.

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SPEAKER_3 - That's a real suggestion.

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SPEAKER_3 - Those things give me the creeps.

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SPEAKER_2 - Yeah, me too.

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MORROW - The specimens are the mission.

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SPEAKER_3 - Easy for you to say, cyborg.

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DEREK - Welcome, fellow Lost Boys and Girls.

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DEREK - This is TPodcast Industries, and we're discussing Alien Earth Episode 1, Neverland.

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DEREK - I am one of your hosts, Derek.

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JOHN - Yes, welcome to the Alien Podcast, fellow Lost Boys, or fellow Aliens.

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JOHN - I'm one of your other hosts, John.

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DEREK - Very excited about this one.

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DEREK - We are massive Alien fans, and we are so looking forward to talking about this.

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DEREK - We saw the first episode a couple of weeks ago when we were given as a preview, and the minute we saw it, we went, oh, we've got to podcast on this.

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JOHN - Definitely.

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JOHN - Absolutely adore Alien Aliens.

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JOHN - And to be honest, I can kind of watch any of them.

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JOHN - I'm not saying that they are the world-beaters, some of the ones in the franchise, but I mean, you know, controversial as it may sound, I do really quite like Prometheus and Alien Covenant.

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JOHN - And the latest one was really good, Alien Romulus.

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JOHN - And I think back in the day, I certainly didn't mind the first Alien vs Predator movie.

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JOHN - I thought that was quite good.

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JOHN - So yeah, I mean, I always like this scary, scary alien with its acidic blood, its two little mouths, its full set of tooth implants.

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JOHN - One day we will see an alien with gold teeth, I guess.

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DEREK - I think this one might have had some metal teeth, to be honest, in this episode.

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DEREK - But we will obviously be talking about major spoilers for this show.

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DEREK - We are going to discuss the first episode.

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DEREK - The first two episodes are available in Disney Plus.

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DEREK - We'd love you to join us for our coverage of Alien.

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DEREK - But as John mentioned, we are massive Alien fans.

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DEREK - I think I even was there opening day for AVP Requiem, John, in the summer.

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JOHN - Very interesting.

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DEREK - Yeah.

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DEREK - Like I just liked the idea of like setting off an Alien and a Predator on a group of teens.

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DEREK - I thought that was gonna be a bit of fun.

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DEREK - It wasn't as good as I thought it was, but I have watched it multiple times now, I'll admit.

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JOHN - Well, that's it.

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JOHN - I mean, it is just like, yeah.

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JOHN - I mean, it's one of those shows where those who've listened to our other podcasts, which may have an element of horror, they know that I love horror, I also hate it.

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JOHN - I mean, I really do get scared.

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JOHN - I really live it.

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JOHN - This is no exception.

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JOHN - It's superb.

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JOHN - I mean, I was really intrigued.

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JOHN - Okay, the Alien is coming to Earth.

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JOHN - It's set before Alien, Ridley Scott's Alien.

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JOHN - So it's a prelude in a sense to that movie.

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JOHN - I was like, how is this going to work?

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JOHN - And at least in these first two episodes, I am hook, lined and sinkered into this whole concept that is being brought to us by Noah Hawley, who of course brought us such gems as Fargo, the Tseries, based on the very famous Coen Brothers movie, as well as Legion, based on Marvel Comics.

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DEREK - Yeah, yeah.

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DEREK - He's such a great talent.

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DEREK - He really is.

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DEREK - We saw an interview with him, or we were at an interview with him a couple of weeks ago, where he was talking about the fact that this project, or this idea of a project, was brought to him while he was doing Legion.

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DEREK - So that long ago, that FX, the channel that produced this show and produced Legion, loved his work on Legion so much, they were like, can we keep you on board somehow?

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DEREK - Can we keep you working for a company?

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DEREK - If we happen to get the rights to Alien at some point down the line, would you have an idea of how you would like to turn that into a Tshow?

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DEREK - Apparently, even back then, Hawley had this idea, this concept, or a concept that he really was interested in working on for an Alien show.

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DEREK - As soon as they got the rights, they talked to him about it and he developed this idea.

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DEREK - We're seeing many years of work here.

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DEREK - It's been stalled a little bit, a bunch of things have happened, a lot of the usual stuff like COVID and the rider strikes and actor strikes that have delayed this stuff, but a lot of the casting was happening as early as 2020 on this.

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DEREK - Interesting to see where we are now with this cast and crew.

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JOHN - Yes, let us get into our spoiler-filled discussion of Alien Earth Episode 1, Neverland.

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JOHN - Derek, who gave us what, where, when and how?

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JOHN - This might be an easy one.

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DEREK - It is.

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DEREK - Well, as you mentioned, the show is set two years before the movie Alien from Ridley Scott, of course.

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DEREK - So it's based on characters created for that movie by Dan O'Bannon and Ridley Scott.

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DEREK - The executive producer of the show, as we already mentioned, is Noah Hawley, who writes and directs this first episode in the series as well.

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DEREK - So very cool to have him on board, really setting his stamp out on the series.

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DEREK - Yeah.

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JOHN - Yeah, absolutely.

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JOHN - I think such a good little stamp he does press onto this.

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JOHN - As we say, one of our rules, if the show runner is writing and heavily involved in the first episode as well as the last, that's usually a good sign because they're setting that standard moving forward.

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JOHN - So yeah, good to see Noah Hawley involved in literally all those three elements.

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DEREK - Exactly.

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DEREK - Exactly.

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DEREK - Yes.

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DEREK - This is his vision truly put on screen for that first episode, along with all the cast and production team and everybody behind it.

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DEREK - Of course, there's hundreds and hundreds of people involved in the show, but he's the guiding hand for this first episode.

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DEREK - John, do you want to tell us what he gave us with your synopsis for the first episode of Alien Earth?

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DEREK - Neverland.

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JOHN - Sure.

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JOHN - In 2120, five companies control Earth and the colonized solar system, including the recently founded Prodigy Corporation.

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JOHN - The USCSS Maginot, a Weyland-Newtani C-class deep space research vessel, approaches Earth after a 65-year expedition to obtain extraterrestrial specimens, among them facehuggers.

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JOHN - On Earth at Prodigy's Neverland Research Island, a terminally ill child named Marcy becomes the first hybrid, having her consciousness transferred into an adult synthetic, and renames herself Wendy after the character from Peter Pan.

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JOHN - Adjusting to her new body with the assistance of Dame Sylvia and synthetic mentor Kirsch, Wendy guides and oversees several other children who undergo the same procedure.

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JOHN - Meanwhile, out in space, a malfunction compromises the Maginot's navigation, placing it on a collision course with Earth.

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JOHN - Some of the specimens have gotten loose, and a grown Xenomorph kills most of the crew, with the exception of a security officer, Morrow, who sacrifices a member of the crew and uses Mother's impact room to survive the impending crash and the Xenomorph.

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JOHN - The ship crashes into a tower in Prodigy City, New Siam, where Wendy's human brother, Joe DiMaggio, works as a medic and corporate soldier with the tag Hermit.

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JOHN - CEO of Prodigy Corporation, Boy Kavalier, asserts the Maginot's contents now belong to Prodigy, and deploys Kirsch, Wendy and the other hybrids to assist with the search and rescue, and to test their enhanced capabilities.

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JOHN - Security Officer, Morrow, who survived the crash in the reinforced panic room moves to protect the cargo and go after the fugitive specimens.

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JOHN - He detains two Prodigy soldiers who are killed by a leech-like specimen.

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JOHN - As Wendy and Kirsch fly towards New Siam with the other hybrids, collectively called the Lost Boys, she remarks to Kirsch that she wants to save her brother from death.

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DEREK - An awful lot happened in this opening episode.

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DEREK - I must say, there was a point where I was going, this just really feels like a movie.

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DEREK - There's so much happened and we're only half an hour into the episode.

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DEREK - It's just really, really strong opener.

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JOHN - Absolutely.

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JOHN - But I mean, I think we should say, off the bat, there is this text up front that is basically saying, as the synopsis said, the Earth is controlled by five corporations, of which this series, heavily influenced by Weyland-Yutani, but also is based, at least on Earth, in an area that is controlled by this corporation with a boy wonder called Boy Kavalier, and the corporation is called Prodigy.

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JOHN - So that's there, and really what is sort of flagged from the outset is that these companies are vying for effectively immortality for the human race in various different guises, or themselves.

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DEREK - Themselves, like I think the opening information dump that's there on screen basically says there are three different types of creations now.

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DEREK - There's cyborgs, which are cybernetically enhanced humans, there's synths, which are artificially intelligent beings, and there's hybrids, which are synths with human consciousness inside them, and whoever wins in the battle between these corporations will control the universe.

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DEREK - So that's what they're doing, the corporations are trying to control the universe.

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JOHN - Yes, and the race for immortality.

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DEREK - Yeah, exactly.

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JOHN - It's that they can keep you going for longer.

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JOHN - Yeah, and ultimately, like the Duracell battery back in the day.

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DEREK - Well, absolutely.

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DEREK - Absolutely.

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DEREK - Will Duracell be one of those corporations when we get to this point in our future history?

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DEREK - And I feel like because that's in the opening text of the episode, that this is what the series is more going to be focused on.

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DEREK - Like I think the Xenomorphs and the aliens, of course, are going to be a threat.

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DEREK - They're going to be in the background for a lot of the episodes.

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DEREK - But I think we're going to get a lot more detail about these corporations and their battle for supremacy on Earth.

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JOHN - I guess so.

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JOHN - I mean, I just took it as really important context around how this universe operates.

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JOHN - And it's kind of, you know, it's a Blade Runner type landscape where it is the corporations that in essence run the world.

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DEREK - Not much different to today, to be honest.

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DEREK - We just hide it a bit more now.

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JOHN - I guess the state is still clinging on, but it's not like they're not lawless.

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JOHN - It's not a lawless place.

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JOHN - But the rules, I guess, are very corporate orientated.

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JOHN - So around proprietary information, all this kind of stuff.

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JOHN - And so really what you see is that, yes, these corporations are led by hugely rich, influential people.

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JOHN - I mean, for Prodigy, which is the main focus for this show, it is a multi-trillion young prodigy who has just come out of nowhere and shot to the top of, I guess, the pack.

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DEREK - Yeah.

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JOHN - And controls huge swathes of the Earth.

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JOHN - So particularly for Prodigy, it's around mid and southern Africa and southeast Asia, Australia.

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JOHN - There's Weyland-Yutani, which are in North and South America.

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JOHN - Threshold, which is in Europe.

00:13:03.833 -- - 00:13:06.433
JOHN - You have Dynamics, which is North Africa.

00:13:06.433 -- - 00:13:12.233
JOHN - And then you have Lynch, which is kind of Russia and sort of the Far East.

00:13:12.233 -- - 00:13:16.593
JOHN - And so that's really where we get to here.

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JOHN - But equally, I think that's the context for me.

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JOHN - And I do like seeing this because, I mean, I'm a huge fan of Ridley Scott and Philip K.

00:13:27.593 -- - 00:13:27.953
JOHN - Dick.

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JOHN - And I think, you know, Blade Runner or Do Robots Dream of Electric Sheep as the book, you know, that notion of that future landscape, that future society that's portrayed, at least in the Blade Runner movie, that it's in effect CEOs is just really sort of scary.

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DEREK - Yeah.

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JOHN - And here you have that evolution of it, where they really do control it for profit effectively.

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DEREK - Yeah.

00:14:01.333 -- - 00:14:01.453
DEREK - Yeah.

00:14:01.453 -- - 00:14:04.553
DEREK - And that's kind of the context of where the show is set up.

00:14:04.553 -- - 00:14:11.793
DEREK - But let's talk about some of our major moments from the episode, the major things that stand out to us from the episode, because that's kind of the corporate control element, which is fundamental to it.

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DEREK - I love how that's going to play out in the show.

00:14:13.913 -- - 00:14:19.213
DEREK - I'm really intrigued to see if we see representatives from each member of these organizations.

00:14:19.293 -- - 00:14:27.453
DEREK - Maybe they're all vying for a way to use these synthetics, or maybe they're all trying to get their hands on whatever is on the ship as it lands.

00:14:27.453 -- - 00:14:31.013
DEREK - Maybe we'll see each of them vying to get into that ship.

00:14:31.013 -- - 00:14:34.513
DEREK - Maybe that's going to be something that we'll see as the season goes on.

00:14:34.513 -- - 00:14:47.573
DEREK - But let's start out with the Maginot, this epically cool looking ship that reminds you so much of the Salaco and the Nostromo back from the days of Alien and Aliens, John.

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DEREK - What do you think of the visual of the Maginot and the crew here and Morrow being the major cast member that we see there?

00:14:55.933 -- - 00:14:56.673
JOHN - I just loved it.

00:14:56.673 -- - 00:15:03.153
JOHN - I mean, I think for me, you know, as soon as you're in space, you see those, that kind of spacecraft.

00:15:03.153 -- - 00:15:14.033
JOHN - And I mean, there's lots of different elements to this series, one of which is seeing the Maginot spaceship.

00:15:14.233 -- - 00:15:15.313
JOHN - I love the design.

00:15:15.413 -- - 00:15:22.553
JOHN - It's in keeping with the Nostromo and the other ships of the Alien Worlds and movies.

00:15:22.553 -- - 00:15:28.353
JOHN - But equally, you know, I like this notion that they're on a 65-year mission.

00:15:28.353 -- - 00:15:32.573
JOHN - You know, there are 805 million miles to go to Earth.

00:15:32.573 -- - 00:15:48.753
JOHN - You've got the crew waking up from sort of an initial kind of cryo sleep here and getting food into them so that they can then go back in to cryo sleep for a further three months on their final sort of return to Earth.

00:15:48.753 -- - 00:15:57.233
JOHN - And in some ways, that's the reason why you have such dated looking technology is that this is technology from 65 years ago.

00:15:57.233 -- - 00:15:59.953
JOHN - And it's such a great idea.

00:15:59.953 -- - 00:16:04.853
JOHN - I mean, it almost reminds me of the classic sci-fi movie around Forever War.

00:16:05.473 -- - 00:16:27.333
JOHN - And, you know, where there's a war in distant galaxy that is where soldiers are being sent off to it takes so long to get there and come back, that by the time they come back from ultimately a defeat, and the people of Earth that are kind of like, don't really care.

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DEREK - Yeah.

00:16:27.613 -- - 00:16:30.773
JOHN - And they're not hailed as heroes or anything like that.

00:16:30.813 -- - 00:16:32.033
DEREK - It's just, where were you again?

00:16:32.033 -- - 00:16:39.833
JOHN - It's moved on because it takes them so long to go into battle on the far sides of the galaxy.

00:16:39.833 -- - 00:16:41.653
DEREK - And that's a book called The Forever Wars.

00:16:42.033 -- - 00:16:42.713
DEREK - It's not a movie, is it?

00:16:42.713 -- - 00:16:43.253
JOHN - It's not a movie.

00:16:44.093 -- - 00:16:48.673
JOHN - And you know, it's kind of, it's a metaphor for the Vietnam War.

00:16:48.673 -- - 00:16:55.853
JOHN - The author, I can't remember his name now, it escapes me, but it was an American author.

00:16:55.853 -- - 00:17:01.193
JOHN - So, you know, this is the reason for the sort of the technology, but the technology is great.

00:17:01.193 -- - 00:17:03.693
JOHN - I love seeing this old technology.

00:17:03.693 -- - 00:17:09.853
JOHN - I mean, the design of it is right in the alien sort of wheelhouse.

00:17:09.853 -- - 00:17:16.133
DEREK - So even the sounds of when the computers turn on, you almost hear the reel to reel tapes sound in the background.

00:17:16.133 -- - 00:17:22.633
DEREK - You know, that sounds exactly like the noises you would have heard back in the 70s when when Alien first came to cinemas.

00:17:22.753 -- - 00:17:25.313
JOHN - And I mean, there's a lot of information here.

00:17:25.313 -- - 00:17:31.593
JOHN - I mean, as you say, the main person that we in essence get to connect with here.

00:17:31.593 -- - 00:17:36.813
JOHN - But you do have a good amount of connection across most of the crew here.

00:17:37.393 -- - 00:17:43.173
JOHN - And but the one initially is the security officer Morrow here.

00:17:43.173 -- - 00:17:53.953
JOHN - And he's really saying that their mission, which was the collection of specimens from around the galaxy, that is the priority.

00:17:53.953 -- - 00:17:55.193
JOHN - That is the mission.

00:17:55.793 -- - 00:18:08.773
JOHN - You know, a lot of the talk here in the spaceship is just really good because it's talking about these missions.

00:18:08.773 -- - 00:18:12.033
JOHN - And then you just kind of get flashes.

00:18:12.033 -- - 00:18:13.373
JOHN - So it's not flashbacks.

00:18:13.373 -- - 00:18:14.713
JOHN - You just get flashes.

00:18:14.713 -- - 00:18:26.233
JOHN - So it's almost like PTSD memories coming in at one point when you have, there's a guy who's teaching, you can tell he's down in the engine.

00:18:26.233 -- - 00:18:27.773
JOHN - He's one of the technicians.

00:18:27.773 -- - 00:18:36.813
JOHN - And he just says to Morrow, we lost a lot of good men to get these organisms and these specimens.

00:18:36.813 -- - 00:18:47.253
JOHN - And you just see a flash of the different organisms, you know, eyes and tentacles, the face huggers and so on.

00:18:48.093 -- - 00:18:54.193
JOHN - And this is the same guy who was in Spaced actually, which was a Channel 4 Tshow.

00:18:54.193 -- - 00:18:58.993
JOHN - And he's kind of the one that teaches you about the corporate control as well.

00:18:58.993 -- - 00:19:07.293
JOHN - He's kind of telling his apprentice about, I think he describes it as the social studies part of his teaching.

00:19:07.293 -- - 00:19:18.493
DEREK - And I guess when they arrive back to Earth, there's some kind of debrief when they arrive because the kid seems really nervous that he doesn't know all this information about the corporations that are in control of Earth, or maybe just everything's changed in the 65 years.

00:19:18.493 -- - 00:19:22.253
DEREK - So you have to have some kind of concept of what's going on back on your home planet.

00:19:22.253 -- - 00:19:24.233
DEREK - Maybe that's something that you have to do out there.

00:19:24.233 -- - 00:19:25.513
DEREK - But I do love that idea.

00:19:25.513 -- - 00:19:32.793
DEREK - It almost explains why the technology looks so much further backward than you'd expected to when everything on the planet is so far forward.

00:19:32.793 -- - 00:19:34.953
DEREK - That idea that it's 65 years back.

00:19:35.053 -- - 00:19:41.073
DEREK - And this introduction to all the cast, all the members of the crew here, the interplay between them is fantastic.

00:19:41.333 -- - 00:19:43.613
DEREK - There's some really good moments between each of them.

00:19:43.913 -- - 00:19:50.473
DEREK - And I was furiously taking notes about every single one of them and then realized they're not going to be a part of the show very much in the future.

00:19:50.473 -- - 00:20:00.653
DEREK - Unless, since we have got a full Tshow, unless we come back to what actually happened aboard the vessel in the future, which I kind of have a feeling that we might.

00:20:00.653 -- - 00:20:02.533
JOHN - I think we might because-

00:20:02.533 -- - 00:20:05.513
DEREK - There's a couple of questions about it that pop up.

00:20:06.133 -- - 00:20:07.713
DEREK - We have-

00:20:07.713 -- - 00:20:10.713
JOHN - We have Tang, who seemingly I think is a synth.

00:20:10.713 -- - 00:20:13.893
JOHN - So Morrow in the first instance is a cyborg.

00:20:13.893 -- - 00:20:25.353
JOHN - So he's a human, but he's enhanced primarily, I think, on his right arm with basically a Swiss army knife of an arm, and that can do all manner of things.

00:20:25.353 -- - 00:20:28.613
DEREK - Yeah, he's like Claw from Black Panther.

00:20:28.613 -- - 00:20:30.033
JOHN - Exactly.

00:20:30.033 -- - 00:20:33.833
JOHN - But then you have Tang, and there was another person sat with him.

00:20:34.733 -- - 00:20:54.253
JOHN - Effectively kind of been given out to because he was a bit creepy, very measured, probably a synthetic, like from the Alien movie played by Ian Holm, who went on to become the Hobbit in The Lords of the Rings, Bilbo Baggins.

00:20:56.253 -- - 00:20:59.313
DEREK - I bet you're going to say went on to be evil, but you went to a completely different movie.

00:21:00.113 -- - 00:21:01.293
DEREK - He did go on to be evil in Alien.

00:21:01.293 -- - 00:21:05.773
JOHN - He did go on to be evil, because he was everything for the company.

00:21:05.773 -- - 00:21:08.433
JOHN - And so that dynamic is very much brought here.

00:21:08.433 -- - 00:21:20.933
JOHN - I mean, the whole thing is imbued with Alien-esque things, a lot from the computers to that kind of tension between what the corporation wants and what the individuals or society wants.

00:21:20.933 -- - 00:21:27.213
JOHN - But you also get a glimpse of a ginger cat on board the ship as well.

00:21:28.253 -- - 00:21:42.593
JOHN - As they come out of Cryo Sleep, it's the classic Cryo Chambers from Alien, but equally one of the guys immediately lights up and has a smoke after he's out from Cryo Sleep, like you saw in Alien.

00:21:43.173 -- - 00:21:46.493
DEREK - A pwn taking his cigar out the minute he gets out of Cryo Sleep.

00:21:46.493 -- - 00:21:47.693
DEREK - Yep.

00:21:48.093 -- - 00:21:50.413
DEREK - That's really reminiscent of that.

00:21:50.453 -- - 00:21:57.933
DEREK - But there is that conversation like I know we were suggesting, definitely we watched the Tang looks like the synthetic.

00:21:57.933 -- - 00:22:08.053
DEREK - I mean, Morrow is a cyborg because he has the enhancements, but they have the interesting conversation just like the idea from Will and Utami and that everything is about their mission.

00:22:08.053 -- - 00:22:10.093
DEREK - That's it.

00:22:10.093 -- - 00:22:19.293
DEREK - It's effectively the reason why they've been woken up, I think, is because they don't know whether they have enough fuel to get them to Earth and they have to make some adjustments to get them back on track for the trip.

00:22:19.353 -- - 00:22:22.013
DEREK - That's why they've been woken up out of their cryo-sleep at this particular moment.

00:22:22.013 -- - 00:22:22.833
JOHN - That's true.

00:22:22.833 -- - 00:22:25.993
JOHN - The captain says that they need to close down systems.

00:22:25.993 -- - 00:22:26.513
DEREK - Yeah.

00:22:26.513 -- - 00:22:33.953
DEREK - What we have is the mechanic character coming over and saying, well, throw out the menagerie that's down in the zoo that's down there.

00:22:33.953 -- - 00:22:36.133
DEREK - Then he's told, no, no, that's the mission.

00:22:36.253 -- - 00:22:45.973
DEREK - Almost tacked on to the end of that, invisibly put there by Morrow is, every single member of the crew is expendable, especially when told we've lost a lot of good people filling up the menagerie.

00:22:45.973 -- - 00:22:47.433
DEREK - Well, he's going, it doesn't really matter.

00:22:48.113 -- - 00:22:52.953
DEREK - If all of you die, as long as the menagerie gets back to Earth, which is what plays out later on in the episode.

00:22:53.633 -- - 00:22:57.253
DEREK - So Morrow seems to be the one following the company line here.

00:22:57.253 -- - 00:22:58.413
JOHN - Yeah, absolutely.

00:22:58.413 -- - 00:23:10.853
JOHN - There's also, I think, to the point that we'll get a flashback or see actually what happens, because we see the Maginot on its collision course, which is an absolutely cool sequence.

00:23:10.853 -- - 00:23:12.213
JOHN - I will come to that in a second.

00:23:13.393 -- - 00:23:19.673
JOHN - But you do hear Morrow saying to Teng, wake me up a week out.

00:23:19.673 -- - 00:23:25.073
JOHN - So that's interesting, because literally they're crashing.

00:23:25.073 -- - 00:23:43.993
JOHN - And then in this sequence of them approaching one of the satellites around the moon, which they clip a number of the pylons on it, you have utter chaos taking place on the Uscss Maginot.

00:23:45.013 -- - 00:23:54.013
JOHN - Because you have some of these specimens, in particular a Xenomorph having escaped.

00:23:54.573 -- - 00:24:06.193
JOHN - And it's interesting, just before they go to sleep, back into cryo-sleep, all these, again, you get these flashes of what's to come.

00:24:07.653 -- - 00:24:12.193
JOHN - Just really briefly, and I just thought it was a real cool way of handling it.

00:24:12.873 -- - 00:24:13.973
JOHN - It is, pretty creepy.

00:24:13.973 -- - 00:24:41.813
JOHN - And then you have effectively Morrow sat in the operations room with Weyland Yucatani's mother computer, where he's typing out specimens loose on a collision course with Earth, and it comes to status of the crew, and one of his crewmates is battering on the door, saying, let me in, Morrow, the thing's coming this way.

00:24:43.453 -- - 00:25:06.033
JOHN - And he gets up, very cool, his arm pulls out sort of a bunsen burner type attachment, where he then torches up and ignites it, and soldiers himself into the room, and you have the alien take out this poor woman.

00:25:06.033 -- - 00:25:09.273
JOHN - Again, kind of very brutal.

00:25:09.453 -- - 00:25:18.453
JOHN - You know, a lot of times in the Alien movies, it was that the tail would come and get them, or you didn't necessarily see it.

00:25:18.453 -- - 00:25:23.773
JOHN - This you kind of see it scratching at her, shaking her around, and so on.

00:25:23.773 -- - 00:25:39.453
JOHN - So it's very visceral, but it comes back, as it notices there is another piece, there is another prey item available to it in the form of Morrow, so it starts to go at the door.

00:25:39.453 -- - 00:25:46.153
JOHN - And as Morrow has typed in, crew dead.

00:25:46.153 -- - 00:25:47.233
DEREK - Yeah.

00:25:47.233 -- - 00:25:54.873
JOHN - And I just love the line, Mother, I need your impact room, or something to that effect.

00:25:54.873 -- - 00:26:23.753
JOHN - And opens up to get in for both the crash, but the alien is also pretty much through the door, and he manages to get safely stowed away in the impact room, the panic room, whatever you want to call it, just in time, but a little bit of the sliver from the alien gets on to him, and then the alien does start battering the floor, but it is too strong for it to get into.

00:26:23.753 -- - 00:26:27.233
JOHN - That whole sequence to me was fantastic.

00:26:27.233 -- - 00:26:28.093
DEREK - It was brilliant.

00:26:28.093 -- - 00:26:28.953
JOHN - I loved it.

00:26:28.953 -- - 00:26:31.153
DEREK - It felt like a statement of a tent as well.

00:26:31.313 -- - 00:26:38.613
DEREK - As you say, the gore that is included in that scene where he is killing the member of the crew that is outside of the room.

00:26:38.613 -- - 00:26:45.293
DEREK - The amount of gore that is there usually in your first kill of one of the Alien movies, it would be done in darkness or done in shadow or something like that.

00:26:45.293 -- - 00:26:47.113
DEREK - You leave the gore for later on in the movie.

00:26:47.113 -- - 00:26:55.453
DEREK - In this case, you are starting off your series, you want to show a bit of Xenomorph gore in your opening because you are laying out the statement, you are going to see lots of this throughout the season.

00:26:55.453 -- - 00:26:57.133
DEREK - So what a cool way to do it.

00:26:57.153 -- - 00:27:01.393
JOHN - Yeah, and just the brutality of the attack.

00:27:02.173 -- - 00:27:08.753
JOHN - I don't know whether you see that, you don't see that in the original in Alien.

00:27:08.753 -- - 00:27:17.053
DEREK - Yeah, I think there's a big difference with Alien, certainly because the Xenomorph wasn't on screen very much because it was very difficult to build and very difficult to operate.

00:27:17.053 -- - 00:27:23.873
DEREK - So, you know, similar to the Jaws example back in the 70s, you know, they hid it in the background and in corners.

00:27:23.873 -- - 00:27:30.653
DEREK - So you didn't see very many physical kills, but the terror was there by the time it got to Alien's technology had advanced quite a bit.

00:27:30.653 -- - 00:27:35.713
DEREK - So you could actually show a bit more one on one action between them.

00:27:35.713 -- - 00:27:44.433
DEREK - And now you've got to the point where you have an actor in a suit playing the Alien, and they're having a lot of fun with being able to show it on screen now as well.

00:27:44.433 -- - 00:27:45.273
JOHN - Well, indeed.

00:27:45.273 -- - 00:27:46.173
JOHN - Yeah.

00:27:46.173 -- - 00:27:48.073
DEREK - It's fantastic and so reminiscent of that.

00:27:48.073 -- - 00:27:50.593
DEREK - What a great way to drop you into this world.

00:27:51.173 -- - 00:27:53.153
DEREK - From this point onwards, I think I was in already.

00:27:53.313 -- - 00:28:00.533
DEREK - So they would have had to do some major missteps to lose their grip on me for the rest of the series, the rest of the episode anyway.

00:28:00.533 -- - 00:28:01.733
JOHN - Yeah, no, I agree.

00:28:01.733 -- - 00:28:04.193
JOHN - I think this is really good.

00:28:05.493 -- - 00:28:18.813
JOHN - But it does cut back to Earth, where we then get to glimpse the Boy Kavalier, this kid trillionaire, and his Neverland research facility.

00:28:19.173 -- - 00:28:24.113
JOHN - He's usually pulling from Neverland, Peter Pan lore.

00:28:25.133 -- - 00:28:27.133
JOHN - It's not that he's trying to hide any of that.

00:28:27.133 -- - 00:28:28.853
JOHN - It is to live forever.

00:28:28.853 -- - 00:28:32.873
JOHN - It's the intent for this race for immortality.

00:28:32.873 -- - 00:28:36.753
DEREK - Yeah, but it does a few extra touches to add to that as well.

00:28:36.753 -- - 00:28:48.933
DEREK - The idea that the only people that can become the hybrids that he's creating are kids because adults' minds are unbendable.

00:28:48.933 -- - 00:28:50.433
DEREK - They won't be able to fit into the body.

00:28:50.433 -- - 00:28:55.293
JOHN - He says they're too stiff to be able to handle this transition.

00:28:55.293 -- - 00:29:02.213
DEREK - Which is interesting when you think about the fact that he calls himself Boy Kavalier and he is this child prodigy.

00:29:02.313 -- - 00:29:08.553
DEREK - You wonder how long left he has before his mind becomes fixed and is unable to be put into the body.

00:29:08.553 -- - 00:29:16.213
DEREK - Is that why he's in a rush to get this done and create this other, I guess, race of synthetics?

00:29:16.213 -- - 00:29:17.673
DEREK - This is his idea.

00:29:17.833 -- - 00:29:18.933
JOHN - It's the hybrids.

00:29:18.933 -- - 00:29:19.193
DEREK - Yeah.

00:29:19.193 -- - 00:29:23.473
DEREK - So you wonder whether that's part of it as he's trying to create all this for himself.

00:29:23.473 -- - 00:29:28.233
DEREK - He's certainly got the ego to spend all of his money to make sure he can live forever, doesn't he?

00:29:28.233 -- - 00:29:28.393
JOHN - Yeah.

00:29:28.393 -- - 00:29:29.993
JOHN - And I think you're right.

00:29:29.993 -- - 00:29:33.873
JOHN - You definitely get this sense of ego from the Boy Kavalier.

00:29:33.873 -- - 00:29:42.713
JOHN - I mean, even when the ship crashes to earth is like, that's mine now, but he's imbued with this playfulness to Marcy.

00:29:42.713 -- - 00:29:56.473
JOHN - But it's almost like he's doing that to get what he wants, which is her to go through this process of having her memory transferred from her effectively terminally ill body into this synthetic.

00:29:56.473 -- - 00:30:01.373
JOHN - And he kind of comes down from his little cockpit in the room where they do it.

00:30:01.373 -- - 00:30:04.553
JOHN - It says, do you know who Neil Armstrong is?

00:30:04.553 -- - 00:30:08.613
JOHN - And she says, yes, he was an astronaut, Marcy says.

00:30:08.613 -- - 00:30:13.173
JOHN - He goes, he was, but he was also, he was the first to go to the moon.

00:30:13.173 -- - 00:30:18.613
JOHN - And you're going to be the first person to transfer from a human body into a synthetic.

00:30:18.613 -- - 00:30:29.953
JOHN - But this is all for his good, the company, the corporate good, not as such her good, even though that is a side effect.

00:30:30.313 -- - 00:30:32.553
JOHN - You know, so I kind of really like that.

00:30:32.553 -- - 00:30:37.773
JOHN - And you get that sense that everything to do with his ego is actually quite selfish.

00:30:37.773 -- - 00:30:40.753
JOHN - He's quite petulant, a bit insufferable.

00:30:40.793 -- - 00:30:42.133
JOHN - Oh, absolutely.

00:30:42.133 -- - 00:30:53.593
JOHN - And it's just really well imagined and plays by Samuel Blenkin, who is the actor playing Boy Kavalier.

00:30:54.093 -- - 00:30:55.233
DEREK - And he's just he's Rysdahl.

00:30:55.233 -- - 00:30:57.513
DEREK - You just want to give him a bit of a slap.

00:30:57.513 -- - 00:30:59.013
DEREK - Then you go, God, this guy's a trillionaire.

00:30:59.013 -- - 00:31:04.953
DEREK - He could buy and sell my entire, I don't know, my entire genealogy, not just my family.

00:31:04.953 -- - 00:31:09.073
DEREK - But there is just a little touch in a moment where he's talking and trying to convince Marcy.

00:31:09.333 -- - 00:31:09.853
DEREK - She's fine.

00:31:09.853 -- - 00:31:11.813
DEREK - She's going to go through the procedure at this stage.

00:31:11.813 -- - 00:31:16.373
DEREK - But there's just a moment in the way that he says it to her about her being the first.

00:31:16.373 -- - 00:31:18.773
DEREK - She's going to be the new Neil Armstrong.

00:31:18.773 -- - 00:31:20.273
DEREK - And she says, because I'm special.

00:31:20.373 -- - 00:31:30.973
DEREK - And he kind of repeats it with a little bit of a laugh, as if you think we're doing this because you're terminally ill and we're rewarding you by giving you a body that will allow you to last forever.

00:31:30.973 -- - 00:31:35.553
DEREK - But actually, you're doing this to further me, my company, my interests.

00:31:35.553 -- - 00:31:39.753
DEREK - You know, he almost laughs because she's convinced herself that they're doing it for her.

00:31:39.753 -- - 00:31:45.733
DEREK - Yeah, that's the feeling I got because he's not that interested in her.

00:31:45.733 -- - 00:31:49.573
DEREK - And it leads to this discussion that I think will last throughout the series as well.

00:31:49.773 -- - 00:31:58.853
DEREK - This idea of once her consciousness, Marcy's consciousness is put into the body of Wendy, if she names herself, is she no longer human?

00:31:58.853 -- - 00:32:06.113
DEREK - You know, there's always been that discussion throughout, you know, the idea of the synths within the alien world.

00:32:06.113 -- - 00:32:07.353
DEREK - Are they human?

00:32:07.353 -- - 00:32:09.073
DEREK - Are they humankind?

00:32:09.073 -- - 00:32:10.613
DEREK - Are they similar to humans?

00:32:10.613 -- - 00:32:12.673
DEREK - Do they have the same feelings and emotions?

00:32:12.673 -- - 00:32:19.393
DEREK - You know, we've had it all the way back to the beginning and right the way through to Alien Resurrection with Renona Ryder being built by other synths.

00:32:19.393 -- - 00:32:21.453
DEREK - So she's the first synth created by synths.

00:32:21.453 -- - 00:32:23.413
DEREK - You know, there's a whole idea of them.

00:32:23.413 -- - 00:32:27.353
DEREK - Now, are they equivalent to humans?

00:32:27.353 -- - 00:32:28.693
DEREK - So it will be a concept.

00:32:28.693 -- - 00:32:30.033
DEREK - I think they're going to talk about quite a lot.

00:32:30.033 -- - 00:32:43.553
JOHN - And I mean, you get that sense between the crew with Teng and he's othered, and even from Morrow as a human, but with cybernetic enhancements.

00:32:43.553 -- - 00:32:58.533
JOHN - And the great thing here is that actually we're experiencing a first here and the rest of this universe has no idea about hybrids because you have this whole thing afterwards.

00:32:58.533 -- - 00:33:12.413
JOHN - With Dame Sylvia, one of the scientists and Kirsch who is played by Timothy Olyphant, who is a synthetic, where they're having in miniature that kind of conversation with her.

00:33:12.413 -- - 00:33:19.893
JOHN - She's kind of, not only does she have the memories of Marcy put in, she's chosen the name Wendy.

00:33:19.893 -- - 00:33:25.233
JOHN - As she's having that transfer done, she says she looks like a Wendy.

00:33:25.233 -- - 00:33:27.653
JOHN - I want to be called Wendy.

00:33:27.653 -- - 00:33:42.453
JOHN - But the next time we see her, she's also physically enhanced in that not only is she now in an adult synthetic body, but she is both strong, fast, and highly durable and resilient.

00:33:42.453 -- - 00:34:09.253
JOHN - She jumps down from a cliff ultimately, and you have this great moment where you have Dame Sylvia saying, the human body has cortisone, testosterone, estrogen, and all these different hormones acting on the experience of being human.

00:34:09.253 -- - 00:34:12.673
JOHN - We're trying to replicate that as best we can.

00:34:12.673 -- - 00:34:16.553
JOHN - They're talking about different doses because she's saying, she's just discovered breasts.

00:34:16.553 -- - 00:34:18.473
JOHN - It's like, what are these for?

00:34:18.473 -- - 00:34:24.153
JOHN - Because she's still got the mind of a child, but the body of an adult.

00:34:25.153 -- - 00:34:27.093
JOHN - They're having this question, well, what is she?

00:34:27.813 -- - 00:34:34.953
JOHN - And Dame Sylvia is like, this vessel is the body for the human mind and the human experience.

00:34:34.953 -- - 00:34:46.133
JOHN - So this adolescence, these hormones, are critical to Marcy slash Wendy's development here, even though it's in a synthetic body.

00:34:46.133 -- - 00:34:49.193
JOHN - And you have Kirsch kind of saying, well, no, it's not anymore.

00:34:49.193 -- - 00:34:54.713
JOHN - Why are we pretending that she's anything other than really a synthetic?

00:34:54.713 -- - 00:34:55.593
JOHN - She's not human.

00:34:56.413 -- - 00:34:58.553
JOHN - That's kind of his perspective.

00:34:58.553 -- - 00:35:01.793
JOHN - And they've discussed this and talked about this.

00:35:02.013 -- - 00:35:06.453
JOHN - And Dame Sylvia says, but she's right there.

00:35:06.453 -- - 00:35:09.553
JOHN - They're also all being watched by the Boy Kavalier.

00:35:09.553 -- - 00:35:14.953
JOHN - So I kind of really like that awkwardness of, well, what is she?

00:35:14.953 -- - 00:35:16.853
JOHN - And she asks the question, well, what am I?

00:35:16.853 -- - 00:35:17.513
JOHN - Am I human?

00:35:17.513 -- - 00:35:20.433
JOHN - And it's like, well, you can be whatever you want to be.

00:35:20.793 -- - 00:35:21.993
DEREK - Says Kirsh, yeah, exactly.

00:35:21.993 -- - 00:35:26.073
JOHN - Again, very much in the spirit of Neverland as well.

00:35:26.073 -- - 00:35:26.933
DEREK - Yeah, absolutely.

00:35:26.933 -- - 00:35:30.233
DEREK - And I think also, you know, Kirsh has his own ideas behind it.

00:35:30.653 -- - 00:35:31.753
DEREK - He's a saint himself.

00:35:31.753 -- - 00:35:53.413
DEREK - So him having the discussion with the scientist who did all the work to extend her life and to create this body and set it all up, you know, there's a great three-way conversation there, even though Wendy doesn't get to give her opinion at all, you know, so it's all about what Kirsh says and what Dame Sylvie says, so in that moment.

00:35:53.413 -- - 00:35:54.993
DEREK - So really good, really good.

00:35:54.993 -- - 00:35:59.933
DEREK - And we do get the creation of more people like her.

00:35:59.933 -- - 00:36:03.633
DEREK - Don't know how long she's in Neverland itself after she's done the transfer.

00:36:03.633 -- - 00:36:13.973
DEREK - It seems to be a while because they're still doing tests and still figuring out, but she seems so relieved when she learns there's going to be other kids coming along who will be also going through the same procedure that she is.

00:36:14.513 -- - 00:36:33.733
DEREK - But she's asked by Dame Sylvie to usher them and guide them through the procedure as their big sister effectively, because she's gone through it before, which leads to another one of the best filmed moments in the episode, where we have her showing then the magic trick as each of the young kids who are also terminally ill are transferred into their new bodies.

00:36:33.733 -- - 00:36:42.713
DEREK - It's fantastically done just as the camera goes around the table and each of them are transferred into their bodies and then their body joins.

00:36:42.973 -- - 00:36:43.553
JOHN - It's really cool.

00:36:43.553 -- - 00:36:45.033
DEREK - The circle around the table, yeah.

00:36:45.033 -- - 00:36:47.213
JOHN - Yeah, it's very, very cool.

00:36:47.213 -- - 00:36:51.693
JOHN - I also kind of like the questions that the kids ask her as well.

00:36:52.213 -- - 00:36:54.593
JOHN - Or not, like, she goes, she can ask me anything.

00:36:54.593 -- - 00:36:56.473
JOHN - And one of them says, I want to be a scientist.

00:36:56.473 -- - 00:36:59.913
JOHN - And she's like, that's not a question, but okay.

00:36:59.913 -- - 00:37:07.333
JOHN - And then the other one, which, you know, starts to make it a bit more sort of dark is, and when do we get to go home?

00:37:07.333 -- - 00:37:10.273
JOHN - And she says, well, you don't.

00:37:10.273 -- - 00:37:11.813
JOHN - So like that's the other side of it.

00:37:11.873 -- - 00:37:20.213
JOHN - So she very much seems to know why she's there, that it was a deal with her father.

00:37:20.213 -- - 00:37:31.733
JOHN - She knows that her brother that we see she's looking at, and even though, you know, the scientists think maybe she's having too much contact, he thinks that she is dead.

00:37:31.733 -- - 00:37:43.133
JOHN - She knows she has to stay away, and at least at the Neverland Research Station, that there is this separation, at least to some degree.

00:37:43.133 -- - 00:37:45.393
DEREK - But they're allowing her to watch him.

00:37:45.393 -- - 00:37:48.973
DEREK - They are fully aware of what she's able to see and what she's not able to see.

00:37:48.973 -- - 00:37:51.073
DEREK - They're able to see that she is following Joe.

00:37:51.073 -- - 00:38:00.493
JOHN - But I think that some of the, the Arthur the scientist is saying, is this, in a sense, he's nuancing or he's inferring, is this going to be a problem?

00:38:00.493 -- - 00:38:02.633
JOHN - She's seen too much of him.

00:38:02.953 -- - 00:38:06.093
JOHN - She's getting way too obsessed with it.

00:38:06.593 -- - 00:38:12.233
JOHN - And so is this going to be a problem for effectively trying to forget him?

00:38:12.233 -- - 00:38:12.793
DEREK - Yeah.

00:38:12.793 -- - 00:38:12.953
DEREK - Yeah.

00:38:12.953 -- - 00:38:13.173
DEREK - Yeah.

00:38:13.553 -- - 00:38:23.013
DEREK - I love that moment where we see that she's got every single one of her teddy bears in her bedroom focused on the screen to watch Joe while he watches Ice Age in his room, you know?

00:38:23.013 -- - 00:38:26.653
DEREK - And she's telling the story of who Joe is to these teddy bears.

00:38:26.653 -- - 00:38:34.653
DEREK - And there's one thing about that, though, the story where she says, specifically, she calls out her brothers called Joe DiMaggio like the baseball player.

00:38:35.693 -- - 00:38:48.173
DEREK - So, I don't know whether her surname is DiMaggio, and his surname was DiMaggio, but everybody seems to be calling him Joe Hermit, and therefore they're calling her Wendy Hermit, I guess.

00:38:48.173 -- - 00:38:48.653
DEREK - Yeah?

00:38:48.653 -- - 00:39:02.833
DEREK - So, I don't, I just don't know what her, what the actual surname is, because she specifically says, he is Joe DiMaggio like the baseball player, and then we see that he's, he's so into baseball, that he's listening to it, to old games when he's, when he's walking, when she's watching him.

00:39:03.073 -- - 00:39:10.753
JOHN - And yet, on his uniform, when he's going to the search and rescue at the, at the ship, it has Hermit.

00:39:10.753 -- - 00:39:11.473
JOHN - It does.

00:39:11.473 -- - 00:39:18.233
JOHN - Which I guess, I think you see a lot of military uniforms, like sort of when they're at base with their name like that.

00:39:18.233 -- - 00:39:25.953
JOHN - So, whether that's his tag name, yeah, Hermit or his surname, I don't exactly know.

00:39:25.953 -- - 00:39:34.493
JOHN - But here we do get that, you know, as Wendy is watching him, that it's Joe DiMaggio, like the baseball player she says.

00:39:34.493 -- - 00:39:34.793
JOHN - Yeah.

00:39:34.793 -- - 00:39:40.553
DEREK - But I just, I don't know, maybe it's because we watched Top Gun a couple of years ago and everybody's got like Maverick written on there.

00:39:40.553 -- - 00:39:41.513
JOHN - Yeah, that's it.

00:39:41.513 -- - 00:39:44.413
DEREK - Maybe I was thinking, that's what Hermit is.

00:39:44.413 -- - 00:39:46.433
DEREK - Just because it comes out of her mouth and she says it that way.

00:39:46.433 -- - 00:39:47.753
DEREK - But it doesn't really matter.

00:39:47.753 -- - 00:39:49.513
DEREK - His name's Joe, we know that, right?

00:39:49.513 -- - 00:39:51.213
JOHN - Yes, exactly.

00:39:51.213 -- - 00:39:55.213
JOHN - So I think, I think it is, like you say, it's more Top Gun Maverick.

00:39:55.213 -- - 00:39:56.933
DEREK - Maybe that's, maybe that's what it is.

00:39:56.993 -- - 00:39:58.713
DEREK - But John, is there anything else about The Lost Boys?

00:39:59.213 -- - 00:40:00.293
DEREK - And when do we want to talk about?

00:40:00.293 -- - 00:40:06.513
DEREK - I love that they've all gotten the names of the Lost Boys from Peter Pan as they all transition over into their their new bodies.

00:40:06.513 -- - 00:40:09.453
DEREK - Is there anything else we want to talk about them in the first episode?

00:40:09.453 -- - 00:40:24.573
JOHN - The two things I kind of really want to kind of mention is I really love how Sydney Chandler here, who plays Wendy, has and gets the child's mind in an adult body.

00:40:24.733 -- - 00:40:25.073
DEREK - Yes.

00:40:25.293 -- - 00:40:32.253
JOHN - And even just the childlike approach to an adult's world.

00:40:32.253 -- - 00:40:42.053
JOHN - And I think that comes from where, you know, as we were saying, she does say, I want to get involved and rescue my brother.

00:40:42.053 -- - 00:40:43.313
JOHN - And there's two things like that.

00:40:43.313 -- - 00:40:50.733
JOHN - You get that epic, let's prepare for battle, like you get in Aliens, where they kind of get in all the guns and so on.

00:40:50.733 -- - 00:41:02.153
JOHN - Yet she goes and picks up her favourite toy, clips it to her belt, and then rips off the guillotine blade off the paper cutter.

00:41:02.153 -- - 00:41:04.053
JOHN - And sticks it to her back.

00:41:04.053 -- - 00:41:05.413
JOHN - And sticks it to her back, yeah.

00:41:05.413 -- - 00:41:06.773
DEREK - As if she's magnetised, isn't it?

00:41:06.773 -- - 00:41:08.973
JOHN - But she's enhanced.

00:41:08.973 -- - 00:41:13.393
JOHN - Certainly with physical attributes of speed and strength and resilience.

00:41:13.393 -- - 00:41:19.213
JOHN - So maybe she has a few magnets placed in the right place.

00:41:19.213 -- - 00:41:22.153
DEREK - Well, you see how the screen reacts when she puts her finger towards it.

00:41:22.313 -- - 00:41:23.513
DEREK - Maybe she's all magnetised.

00:41:23.513 -- - 00:41:27.113
DEREK - It's like a CRT screen when you put a magnet on it and destroy your TV.

00:41:27.113 -- - 00:41:29.413
JOHN - So I kind of really like that.

00:41:29.613 -- - 00:41:32.093
JOHN - And this comes through with all the kids.

00:41:32.093 -- - 00:41:42.033
JOHN - Certainly, you know, when she goes to tell them that they're about to go on a mission, you've got a number of them just fidgeting, being really childlike.

00:41:42.033 -- - 00:41:42.273
DEREK - Yeah.

00:41:42.713 -- - 00:42:05.353
JOHN - And, you know, in the end, they're going into this really incredibly dangerous situation, but don't really know that it's dangerous, because while she wants to go and help her brother after seeing him on the news footage of the crash, she wants to help him, help him search and rescue.

00:42:05.353 -- - 00:42:10.693
JOHN - She doesn't realise that she's going to have to help him and save him, ultimately.

00:42:10.693 -- - 00:42:20.953
JOHN - And neither do the other kids, because Prodigy don't even actually know exactly what's on this ship.

00:42:20.953 -- - 00:42:24.873
JOHN - So I like that kind of unknown element here.

00:42:24.873 -- - 00:42:31.333
JOHN - But I think moving to the crash site of the Maginot in New Siam.

00:42:31.333 -- - 00:42:32.033
DEREK - I love the scene.

00:42:32.573 -- - 00:42:36.053
DEREK - I would have loved to have seen this on a big IMAX screen in the cellar.

00:42:36.053 -- - 00:42:37.113
DEREK - It's so cool.

00:42:37.113 -- - 00:42:47.313
DEREK - But we have all of the team standing on the roof of a building, you know, chilling out, chatting with each other about the day's events and what's going on with each of them, working out, of course.

00:42:47.313 -- - 00:42:53.533
DEREK - And then we see the Maginot overhead as it's going in on its crash line.

00:42:53.533 -- - 00:42:55.173
DEREK - It just looks incredible.

00:42:55.173 -- - 00:42:58.033
DEREK - And it's like an instant switch in each of them.

00:42:58.033 -- - 00:43:03.313
DEREK - They all know that they are now required to click into search and rescue mode.

00:43:03.313 -- - 00:43:08.273
DEREK - We know Joe is a medic, as we heard from the voiceover from Wendy as he was introduced.

00:43:08.273 -- - 00:43:11.813
DEREK - So he is a center of this team here.

00:43:11.813 -- - 00:43:14.613
DEREK - Most of the rest of the team seem to be on the search and rescue part of it.

00:43:14.613 -- - 00:43:20.593
DEREK - But he is the person that is going into the field to help them with his medic abilities, basically.

00:43:20.593 -- - 00:43:22.473
JOHN - Yeah, absolutely.

00:43:22.473 -- - 00:43:24.833
JOHN - Yeah, no, it's really good, the crash.

00:43:24.833 -- - 00:43:34.553
JOHN - I think the other side of this I loved even more was, you know, after the ship has crashed, they've mobilized, they're in the search and rescue vehicles.

00:43:34.553 -- - 00:43:38.973
JOHN - And as they get out, the camera follows and you have the crash site.

00:43:38.973 -- - 00:43:40.813
JOHN - I mean, firstly, it's really epic.

00:43:40.913 -- - 00:43:45.733
JOHN - But the one thing I loved was that the spaceships' engines were still firing.

00:43:45.733 -- - 00:43:47.953
JOHN - It was so, so cool.

00:43:47.953 -- - 00:43:48.753
DEREK - It was.

00:43:48.753 -- - 00:43:55.933
DEREK - And then you have the full body burn, the stunt person that's running out and they're head to toe in flames as they're coming out of the crash site.

00:43:55.933 -- - 00:43:57.273
DEREK - Just incredible.

00:43:57.273 -- - 00:44:01.633
DEREK - And that, again, you can see they've all been involved in events like this.

00:44:01.633 -- - 00:44:18.853
DEREK - Maybe not spaceships crashing into the earth, but they've been involved in events like this before, because each of them knows their position, knows what they need to do, including Joe, who's sending people off to the medic tents, while he and the rest of the team find the people that need more help, I suppose.

00:44:18.853 -- - 00:44:29.973
JOHN - I think the other few little touches I really like about this is that at the end of the day, this is a Weyland-Newtani ship that has downed into Prodigy territory.

00:44:29.973 -- - 00:44:30.293
DEREK - Yes.

00:44:30.293 -- - 00:44:30.893
JOHN - Okay.

00:44:30.893 -- - 00:44:35.113
JOHN - So yes, they're there to search and rescue, but they're also there to secure the site.

00:44:35.573 -- - 00:44:40.213
JOHN - As we said before, Boy Kavalier goes, I want what's on that ship.

00:44:40.213 -- - 00:44:48.373
JOHN - The other thing I like is Boy Kavalier's advisor, Atom, played by Adrian Edmondson from The Young Ones, which is a British Tshow.

00:44:48.373 -- - 00:44:54.013
JOHN - He used to be married to Jennifer Saunders as well.

00:44:54.353 -- - 00:44:56.313
DEREK - He has absolute comedy royalty.

00:44:56.313 -- - 00:44:57.313
JOHN - Absolutely.

00:44:57.313 -- - 00:45:01.573
DEREK - Which really makes me think he must be something big in this show.

00:45:03.113 -- - 00:45:09.513
DEREK - He's the first ever Synthetic that Boy Kavalier built, and therefore now he's the right hand man.

00:45:09.513 -- - 00:45:11.053
DEREK - He's always around him.

00:45:11.053 -- - 00:45:16.573
DEREK - Very understated performance from Adrian Edmondson here, which is a real surprise when you cast him in the show.

00:45:16.653 -- - 00:45:19.593
JOHN - But it's really good.

00:45:19.593 -- - 00:45:24.193
JOHN - Boy Kavalier finds out that it's a deep space research vessel.

00:45:25.773 -- - 00:45:26.913
JOHN - I want what's in that ship.

00:45:26.913 -- - 00:45:28.453
JOHN - He says, it's ours now.

00:45:28.733 -- - 00:45:32.673
JOHN - And Atmos just says, she won't like this, Yutani.

00:45:34.153 -- - 00:45:46.293
JOHN - To me, I just thought that was brilliant because again, I've never picked up on the fact that Yutani, one half of Weyland Yutani was a female CEO.

00:45:46.313 -- - 00:45:50.593
JOHN - So I just really like that kind of, again, just world building.

00:45:50.813 -- - 00:45:52.273
JOHN - It's just a little touch.

00:45:52.273 -- - 00:45:54.613
JOHN - We don't see her or anything like that.

00:45:55.093 -- - 00:46:03.313
JOHN - But we know that Yutani is not going to like what Boy Kavalier is doing, the politics of it for sure.

00:46:03.313 -- - 00:46:09.213
JOHN - No one ever would expect that they would, but equally that it's a lady is really, really cool.

00:46:09.213 -- - 00:46:10.693
JOHN - I like this world building.

00:46:10.693 -- - 00:46:18.633
JOHN - It gets me really excited because I'm like all these names and things from the Alien movie just expanded out like this.

00:46:18.673 -- - 00:46:24.813
JOHN - I mean, it almost feels Dungeons and Dragons S taking a little thing and just building it out slowly.

00:46:24.813 -- - 00:46:27.993
JOHN - So that I loved about this show.

00:46:27.993 -- - 00:46:28.273
DEREK - Yeah.

00:46:28.413 -- - 00:46:38.833
DEREK - And I suppose, you know, it's obviously taking into the context that there's only five corporations that own the entire planet plus some of the moons and some of the planets in our solar system as well.

00:46:38.833 -- - 00:46:44.233
DEREK - But this is like something falling in China that belongs to the US.

00:46:44.233 -- - 00:46:54.853
DEREK - You know, this is the kind of conversations that must be going on between current countries at the moment when, you know, an astronaut falls from space with all of the research that they've done for NASA.

00:46:54.853 -- - 00:47:00.633
DEREK - If they fall into an unfriendly territory, is there ever those discussions where the unfriendly territory goes, no, no, that's ours now.

00:47:00.633 -- - 00:47:01.733
JOHN - Yeah, exactly.

00:47:01.733 -- - 00:47:02.873
DEREK - Probably is.

00:47:02.873 -- - 00:47:06.913
JOHN - I think the other thing as well, you know, we mentioned about Wendy wanting to go.

00:47:06.913 -- - 00:47:23.573
JOHN - But given how important this proprietary sort of process is for him, as soon as he sees a response, I know we mentioned this before, and I would say like this desire to go, he just say it was almost human.

00:47:23.573 -- - 00:47:38.533
JOHN - And, but he's so dare I say it, Kavalier with a C about this, I guess, multi-million sort of dollar property that he has created in this synth.

00:47:38.533 -- - 00:47:43.133
JOHN - He goes, you know, off you pop to New Siam.

00:47:43.133 -- - 00:47:45.433
JOHN - Like as I say, just very Kavalier.

00:47:45.773 -- - 00:47:57.913
JOHN - Kavalier is very Kavalier about his proprietary hybrid, effectively going out as a first responder at a disaster scene.

00:47:57.913 -- - 00:47:58.653
DEREK - Well, absolutely.

00:47:58.653 -- - 00:47:59.693
JOHN - But it's interesting.

00:47:59.693 -- - 00:48:09.533
JOHN - He sends Kirsh, who I guess is kind of his right-hand man in the science world, with Arthur and Diêm, Sylvia.

00:48:09.533 -- - 00:48:14.013
JOHN - So yeah, I just thought this was really, really interesting.

00:48:14.013 -- - 00:48:18.073
JOHN - And then the crash site itself, as you say, really epic.

00:48:18.073 -- - 00:48:18.633
DEREK - Yeah.

00:48:18.633 -- - 00:48:19.353
JOHN - Yeah.

00:48:19.613 -- - 00:48:26.393
DEREK - It is really interesting that he's choosing to send out these hybrids that he's effectively just created.

00:48:26.393 -- - 00:48:27.593
JOHN - The Lost Boys.

00:48:27.633 -- - 00:48:28.473
JOHN - Yeah.

00:48:29.073 -- - 00:48:29.613
DEREK - It's interesting.

00:48:29.633 -- - 00:48:44.553
DEREK - I think there's a trailer for the new Tron movie where they talk about, you know, there's a creation of the best warrior on the planet and the person who's showing it off to the world is saying, and if they die, I'll just bring back another one.

00:48:44.553 -- - 00:48:45.473
DEREK - You know, it's no problem at all.

00:48:45.473 -- - 00:48:47.073
DEREK - It's really simple.

00:48:47.073 -- - 00:48:50.173
DEREK - And you kind of feel like that's Boy Kavalier's attitude here.

00:48:50.173 -- - 00:48:51.633
DEREK - What if Wendy does die in the field?

00:48:51.633 -- - 00:48:55.753
DEREK - Yes, OK, he's created a body that's stronger and faster than other human bodies.

00:48:55.833 -- - 00:48:59.753
DEREK - And we saw her make that jump a couple of hundred feet off the side of a cliff.

00:48:59.753 -- - 00:49:00.693
DEREK - And no issue at all.

00:49:00.693 -- - 00:49:02.053
DEREK - We saw her run at fast speeds.

00:49:02.053 -- - 00:49:07.633
DEREK - But if she encounters something that rips her apart and kills her, can he just recreate Wendy again?

00:49:07.633 -- - 00:49:12.333
DEREK - Can he just put her consciousness inside another body again?

00:49:12.893 -- - 00:49:14.393
DEREK - Is it as simple as that?

00:49:14.393 -- - 00:49:16.713
DEREK - We have loads of these bodies lying around.

00:49:16.713 -- - 00:49:17.373
DEREK - No problem at all.

00:49:17.373 -- - 00:49:19.773
DEREK - He can just keep creating, keep churning them out.

00:49:19.773 -- - 00:49:20.653
DEREK - No problem.

00:49:20.653 -- - 00:49:21.513
DEREK - We haven't heard that.

00:49:21.513 -- - 00:49:22.673
DEREK - We haven't seen that.

00:49:22.813 -- - 00:49:33.673
DEREK - We know that Wendy has the essence of Marcy inside of her, and that is the character, that is the person that Marcy is now.

00:49:34.213 -- - 00:49:37.333
DEREK - But that again changes that question as to whether Marcy is human.

00:49:37.333 -- - 00:49:44.193
DEREK - If there's a whole truckload of Wendy bodies available to just keep putting the consciousness into again and again and again.

00:49:44.253 -- - 00:49:45.273
JOHN - Yeah, absolutely.

00:49:45.273 -- - 00:49:45.613
DEREK - Absolutely.

00:49:45.613 -- - 00:49:47.293
DEREK - That's another interesting thing that may come up.

00:49:47.673 -- - 00:49:58.253
DEREK - But also, as you say, if his competitors get their hands on this hybrid that he's just created, does that not advance them in this race for control of the universe?

00:49:58.253 -- - 00:50:01.913
DEREK - So many interesting things can come out of what's happening here in this episode.

00:50:01.913 -- - 00:50:02.613
JOHN - Absolutely.

00:50:02.793 -- - 00:50:07.873
JOHN - And so, to the crash site, we have Joe going in with one team.

00:50:07.873 -- - 00:50:16.933
JOHN - But there is another team as well who are unfortunate, Hoyt and Anant, who actually come across Morrow.

00:50:16.933 -- - 00:50:18.693
JOHN - So Morrow has survived the crash.

00:50:20.053 -- - 00:50:31.653
JOHN - And he effectively ties them up as they have actually found the laboratory where all the specimens were being kept.

00:50:31.653 -- - 00:50:39.613
JOHN - And they find this specimen lab with a dead body, which has been shot, but also looks very drained.

00:50:39.613 -- - 00:50:51.993
JOHN - Which unfortunately is a precursor or foreboding element to how Hoyt and Anant are going to end up after Morrow has tied them up.

00:50:52.133 -- - 00:50:57.313
JOHN - I kind of like the notion that Morrow asks them, was Kavalier?

00:50:57.313 -- - 00:51:00.393
JOHN - And Hoyt's like, how the hell would I know?

00:51:00.453 -- - 00:51:01.673
JOHN - I'm like a soldier.

00:51:01.673 -- - 00:51:04.393
JOHN - I just work for the corporation.

00:51:04.393 -- - 00:51:09.833
JOHN - And like, it's almost as though Morrow seems to think that they know already.

00:51:09.833 -- - 00:51:14.653
JOHN - And maybe Atom, Kavalier's right-hand man, does know.

00:51:14.653 -- - 00:51:15.773
JOHN - Maybe Kavalier knows.

00:51:16.213 -- - 00:51:25.713
JOHN - Maybe it's all very sort of a lot of subterfuge at the moment and stuff that will sort of be unraveled and opened up as we move along.

00:51:25.713 -- - 00:51:27.853
DEREK - Like we said earlier on, it's a 65 year mission.

00:51:27.853 -- - 00:51:36.573
DEREK - Was there a point at some point in the last 65 years that someone learned that Well and Utani sends spaceships out into the galaxy to get specimens for their research?

00:51:36.573 -- - 00:51:39.593
DEREK - Is that, you know, something that the rivals know about?

00:51:39.593 -- - 00:51:46.073
DEREK - And that's why when one of their ships crash landed in his territory, it's like, oh, this is a total payload here for us, you know?

00:51:46.073 -- - 00:51:48.493
JOHN - Or the tech is 65 years old.

00:51:48.493 -- - 00:51:56.473
JOHN - The tech has moved on, that they can be intercepted much easier on the basis of those long range transmissions.

00:51:56.733 -- - 00:52:05.333
JOHN - You know, there is that element where not only do they have they carved up the Earth, they've carved up the solar system.

00:52:05.333 -- - 00:52:10.313
JOHN - And so different corporations own different planets in the solar system.

00:52:10.593 -- - 00:52:24.733
JOHN - So maybe those long range communications using 65 year old technology isn't as good as the new tech on the outer planet of the solar system.

00:52:24.733 -- - 00:52:25.853
JOHN - Absolutely.

00:52:25.893 -- - 00:52:31.813
JOHN - You know, I think we hear that Weyland-Yutani owns Mars and Saturn, you know?

00:52:31.833 -- - 00:52:36.173
JOHN - So who knows what Prodigy owns or any of the others.

00:52:36.173 -- - 00:52:44.753
JOHN - So I kind of like the fact that it's almost as though Morrow seems to think that they know what they're coming for, hence why they're in there.

00:52:44.813 -- - 00:52:53.533
JOHN - But actually, poor Hoyt and Hennant have just ended up there in doing a search and rescue mission.

00:52:54.053 -- - 00:52:57.593
JOHN - And, you know, pleasing with him, look, just let us go.

00:52:58.133 -- - 00:53:00.993
JOHN - We won't call this in.

00:53:02.333 -- - 00:53:04.433
JOHN - But he doesn't.

00:53:04.433 -- - 00:53:12.493
JOHN - And there is this kind of leech-like insect that has gotten on to Hoyt.

00:53:12.493 -- - 00:53:12.633
DEREK - Yeah.

00:53:12.873 -- - 00:53:27.413
JOHN - And so, effectively, this creature, a new one, thought up, developed by the team behind this show, is kind of like a leech.

00:53:27.413 -- - 00:53:29.573
JOHN - It sucks out and drains his blood.

00:53:29.573 -- - 00:53:31.313
JOHN - I love the fact that it's crawling on his head.

00:53:31.313 -- - 00:53:35.313
JOHN - And I was there going, oh, it's gonna get him in the eye.

00:53:35.373 -- - 00:53:46.213
JOHN - It's gonna go up his nose, it's gonna down in his mouth, which is kind of the usual thing that you'd think, or even when it went between his head and the helmet, oh, it's gonna bore into the brain.

00:53:46.213 -- - 00:53:53.013
JOHN - But actually, I love the fact it went straight for the jugular, like a vampire, and then inflated as-

00:53:53.013 -- - 00:53:55.073
DEREK - It just sucked every single-

00:53:55.073 -- - 00:54:16.893
JOHN - Well, it probably didn't even need to, so it just pumped into it, and it inflated like a big bloody balloon full of hoit's blood, and you've got Annet sort of, with his back to him, hearing the screams, the panic, and then slowly the silence.

00:54:16.893 -- - 00:54:20.713
JOHN - And then another one gets onto Annet, and it's just left with him screaming.

00:54:20.713 -- - 00:54:23.773
JOHN - You don't even see this one attack him.

00:54:23.853 -- - 00:54:25.213
JOHN - You just know it's gonna happen.

00:54:25.953 -- - 00:54:27.933
JOHN - But it was so good.

00:54:27.933 -- - 00:54:33.853
JOHN - And I like the notion that this show is also introducing new specimens here.

00:54:33.853 -- - 00:54:52.733
JOHN - It's just as the classic facehuggers, and we've seen at least in Flashes and in part the Xenomorph, but there are these other specimens on board, which are equally horrific.

00:54:52.733 -- - 00:54:55.073
JOHN - Certainly these ones are pretty horrific.

00:54:55.073 -- - 00:54:55.793
DEREK - Absolutely.

00:54:55.793 -- - 00:54:56.133
DEREK - Absolutely.

00:54:56.133 -- - 00:55:00.233
DEREK - And that kind of comes down to what Noah Hawley was trying to achieve with the series.

00:55:00.233 -- - 00:55:03.593
DEREK - He did say that it was difficult to come into this series.

00:55:03.593 -- - 00:55:05.613
DEREK - We've had so many movies about the aliens.

00:55:05.613 -- - 00:55:10.013
DEREK - You know, when he was a kid watching it, there were four different states of the aliens.

00:55:10.013 -- - 00:55:15.093
DEREK - You know, you have the eggs, you have the facehuggers, you have the chestbusters, and you have the Xenomorphs.

00:55:15.093 -- - 00:55:18.593
DEREK - And they've all been used multiple times across multiple movies in loads of different ways.

00:55:18.713 -- - 00:55:27.153
DEREK - So he thought a great way into this was also to have other specimens of aliens that kind of fit the universe that can be absolutely terrifying as well.

00:55:27.153 -- - 00:55:30.573
JOHN - And see how their life cycle plays out.

00:55:30.573 -- - 00:55:31.613
DEREK - Potentially, yeah, yeah.

00:55:31.713 -- - 00:55:37.873
JOHN - Like these could be like little babies, and they've just gotten their first fill of blood.

00:55:37.873 -- - 00:55:40.993
JOHN - And they turn into something a little bit more menacing.

00:55:40.993 -- - 00:55:41.653
DEREK - Absolutely.

00:55:41.653 -- - 00:55:53.053
JOHN - Or maybe they die and then they start again, or reproduce and there's thousands of eggs that create thousands of these bugs, you know?

00:55:53.053 -- - 00:55:53.453
DEREK - Yep.

00:55:53.453 -- - 00:56:00.073
DEREK - The human race, especially in this area of New Siam, is screwed with all of these beings that are there.

00:56:00.073 -- - 00:56:02.433
DEREK - But it does provide that terror.

00:56:02.433 -- - 00:56:19.113
DEREK - It does provide those moments where you go, no, no, no, like when, as you were saying, as the bug is crawling around inside the helm, and I was getting flashbacks to Wrath of Khan, the Star Trek movie, the bug that crawls into the ear and kills the crew member there.

00:56:19.113 -- - 00:56:26.973
DEREK - So yeah, it definitely brought the element of fear, especially having the two of them tied up by Morrow, who leaves the room while this whole thing is happening.

00:56:26.973 -- - 00:56:28.793
DEREK - I don't think even Morrow knew what was going to happen.

00:56:28.793 -- - 00:56:32.173
DEREK - He probably just assumed he's almost letting them go.

00:56:32.173 -- - 00:56:35.333
DEREK - He's tying them up to the count, follow him.

00:56:35.333 -- - 00:56:39.153
DEREK - And then this attack happens and both of them are destroyed.

00:56:40.373 -- - 00:56:41.173
JOHN - Yeah, absolutely.

00:56:41.173 -- - 00:56:46.133
JOHN - And I mean, he looks around otherwise and says, the samples are secure in the lab.

00:56:46.133 -- - 00:56:47.573
JOHN - I'm going after the fugitives.

00:56:47.573 -- - 00:56:49.273
DEREK - Yes.

00:56:49.273 -- - 00:56:51.373
JOHN - Effectively, the Xenomorph.

00:56:51.373 -- - 00:56:52.713
DEREK - Well, he says fugitives.

00:56:53.233 -- - 00:56:54.773
JOHN - Yes, so multiple.

00:56:54.773 -- - 00:57:07.013
JOHN - And that's interesting because then the other search and rescue team, so that's made up of Wendy's brother, Joe, and another two of the search and rescue Prodigy people.

00:57:07.793 -- - 00:57:12.733
JOHN - They end up in the cryosleep room with all the chambers.

00:57:12.733 -- - 00:57:22.433
JOHN - And so you do see the chest buster out of one of the glass fronts of the cryo chamber.

00:57:22.433 -- - 00:57:24.773
JOHN - They say something crawled out of here.

00:57:24.773 -- - 00:57:34.573
JOHN - You then, as they're leaving, so they see the bloody trail of the chest buster going out of the room and they follow that.

00:57:35.093 -- - 00:57:43.493
JOHN - But I don't know whether it's a different cryo chamber, you see one of the facehuggers inside it.

00:57:43.493 -- - 00:57:46.813
JOHN - Out of the lab and so on.

00:57:46.813 -- - 00:57:56.713
JOHN - You also see a shadow of something move above Joe in kind of the void above the light in the ceiling.

00:57:56.713 -- - 00:57:59.113
JOHN - Don't know what that could be.

00:57:59.133 -- - 00:58:01.833
JOHN - It could be a facehugger.

00:58:03.133 -- - 00:58:05.613
JOHN - Don't think it was the Xenomorph.

00:58:05.613 -- - 00:58:08.733
JOHN - But equally, it's something.

00:58:08.733 -- - 00:58:12.173
JOHN - And I do like that background.

00:58:12.173 -- - 00:58:13.773
JOHN - Oh, what's that moving?

00:58:13.773 -- - 00:58:16.233
JOHN - That's always been great in Alien.

00:58:16.233 -- - 00:58:17.173
DEREK - Yeah, absolutely.

00:58:17.173 -- - 00:58:23.933
JOHN - And you're kind of thinking, you know, instinctively, when I first saw it, I was like, oh, that must be the Xenomorph.

00:58:23.993 -- - 00:58:26.073
JOHN - And it's and its tail.

00:58:26.073 -- - 00:58:28.793
JOHN - And then when I saw it again, I was like, no, it seems too thin.

00:58:28.793 -- - 00:58:34.653
JOHN - But maybe that's just the perspective through, you know, the light glass.

00:58:34.653 -- - 00:58:43.573
JOHN - And then I was like, oh, maybe it's the tail of the facehugger, or maybe it's one of the other specimens that Morrow is after.

00:58:43.573 -- - 00:58:50.193
DEREK - Well, you think if it was a facehugger, it would have just attached itself to to either Joe or one of the other two people that were there.

00:58:50.393 -- - 00:58:51.673
DEREK - So probably not that.

00:58:51.673 -- - 00:58:55.393
DEREK - But that's a really important thing that they found.

00:58:55.393 -- - 00:58:58.213
DEREK - They found a body of someone that was in cryosleep.

00:58:59.513 -- - 00:58:59.973
JOHN - Exactly.

00:58:59.973 -- - 00:59:02.433
DEREK - That has had a chest burst or come out of them.

00:59:02.433 -- - 00:59:12.133
DEREK - And we saw all of them get up and go back into cryosleep without any of the the stuff of going on to a planet and being and having a facehugger attached to them or anything like that.

00:59:12.133 -- - 00:59:16.633
JOHN - So and there was no talk about that having happened to anyone that was in there.

00:59:16.873 -- - 00:59:17.273
DEREK - Exactly.

00:59:17.273 -- - 00:59:24.133
JOHN - It was just simply the technician guy who says, I lost a lot of men.

00:59:24.413 -- - 00:59:25.913
DEREK - We lost a lot of good people.

00:59:25.913 -- - 00:59:27.113
DEREK - Yeah, absolutely.

00:59:27.113 -- - 00:59:40.293
DEREK - But that means very likely then Morrow who had that extra week or was asked for that extra week before they landed literally used a facehugger to impregnate one of the other members of the crew.

00:59:40.313 -- - 00:59:40.993
JOHN - Yeah, exactly.

00:59:40.993 -- - 00:59:41.753
JOHN - Did something.

00:59:41.973 -- - 01:00:00.733
JOHN - That's where my suspicion like really sort of heightened really around Morrow and what he said there in the opening of the episode was because, yes, you have the Chess Buster, but also then there's a facehugger.

01:00:00.733 -- - 01:00:05.373
JOHN - As I say, whether it's a different cryo chamber or the same one, but...

01:00:05.373 -- - 01:00:08.013
DEREK - See, I thought that was the storage of the specimen.

01:00:08.013 -- - 01:00:09.733
DEREK - I didn't think that was in another cryo chamber.

01:00:09.773 -- - 01:00:15.153
DEREK - I thought that was just the storage of the specimen, that you're seeing the facehugger through the glass in that.

01:00:15.153 -- - 01:00:17.333
JOHN - I thought it was in a cryo chamber.

01:00:17.333 -- - 01:00:19.213
JOHN - So who knows?

01:00:19.213 -- - 01:00:24.673
JOHN - Anyways, it just adds to the intrigue of how the disaster unfolded.

01:00:24.813 -- - 01:00:28.293
JOHN - Then to your point, yeah, we probably get some flashback.

01:00:28.293 -- - 01:00:32.453
JOHN - So yeah, the whole crash site is really tense.

01:00:32.453 -- - 01:00:39.713
JOHN - I mean, I'm wondering whether the whole series is actually going to be based on the crashed ship, rather than it getting out.

01:00:39.713 -- - 01:00:56.313
JOHN - But I do then, as soon as I was thinking along those lines, I went, oh, I remember there was in the trailer, there was this kind of picture or this image of an alien in a big cave outside of the city.

01:00:56.313 -- - 01:00:59.153
JOHN - I don't know if it was a still or part, but I think it moved.

01:00:59.153 -- - 01:01:01.413
JOHN - So I'm just not entirely sure.

01:01:01.413 -- - 01:01:07.533
JOHN - But for a split second, I thought, oh, is this kind of like the interesting thing is that it's on a spaceship.

01:01:07.893 -- - 01:01:09.333
JOHN - But it's just a crashed one.

01:01:09.333 -- - 01:01:10.033
DEREK - A crashed one.

01:01:10.033 -- - 01:01:10.353
DEREK - Yeah.

01:01:10.353 -- - 01:01:10.913
JOHN - Interesting.

01:01:10.913 -- - 01:01:11.073
JOHN - Yeah.

01:01:11.073 -- - 01:01:11.513
JOHN - But we'll see.

01:01:11.513 -- - 01:01:12.113
DEREK - We'll see that.

01:01:12.113 -- - 01:01:12.333
DEREK - Yeah.

01:01:12.573 -- - 01:01:13.593
DEREK - Yeah.

01:01:13.593 -- - 01:01:17.173
DEREK - Anything else about the episode that you want to talk about, John?

01:01:17.173 -- - 01:01:34.193
JOHN - The only thing I think that I want to mention is, at the start with Marcy and Kirsh, you have this little moment where they're viewing and talking about the scorpion in the big glass bowl.

01:01:34.193 -- - 01:01:36.633
JOHN - Marcy is saying she doesn't like it.

01:01:36.933 -- - 01:01:46.833
JOHN - There's that immediate similarity in that it's a black scorpion, but also the similarity to the Alien, Xenomorph and HR.

01:01:46.833 -- - 01:01:54.613
JOHN - Geiger's design, this notion of the armor, the heavy armor, and so on.

01:01:54.613 -- - 01:01:57.713
JOHN - But also, they have this conversation.

01:01:57.713 -- - 01:02:01.153
JOHN - It's about being top of the food chain effectively.

01:02:02.513 -- - 01:02:07.373
JOHN - Marcy doesn't like it and Kirsh asks, well, do you want me to kill it?

01:02:07.373 -- - 01:02:25.473
JOHN - Now, she says no, but as Kirsh points out, what do you think this scorpion feels having humans looking over it as it's under glass and having that power of life and death held in their hands?

01:02:25.473 -- - 01:02:38.433
JOHN - I think there's a final moment as Kirsh and the Lost Boys are flying in to land at New Siam and he's having a conversation with Wendy.

01:02:39.553 -- - 01:02:44.533
JOHN - All of them saying, we were food, then we weren't, and then we stopped being food.

01:02:44.533 -- - 01:02:57.313
JOHN - Our brains developed, we have found tools, and we became top of the food chain, and we stopped being food or we told ourselves that you weren't food any longer.

01:02:58.353 -- - 01:03:00.273
JOHN - In a sense, it's that same conversation.

01:03:00.473 -- - 01:03:08.413
JOHN - It's that pretext to what the role reversal is with the alien Xenomorph and humans.

01:03:08.413 -- - 01:03:10.653
JOHN - Here is the top predator.

01:03:10.653 -- - 01:03:20.613
JOHN - It's the thing that Kirsh says to Wendy, there's always something out there that will be top of the food chain compared to you.

01:03:20.613 -- - 01:03:38.133
JOHN - It's a nice little mirror in the episode with that conversation that he has with her from the other side of humans being that top predator with the scorpion, with Wendy this time rather than Marcy.

01:03:40.033 -- - 01:03:50.573
JOHN - You have that interesting comeback from Wendy's, from Kirsh when he says, everyone will die, he goes, my brother won't die.

01:03:50.573 -- - 01:03:55.853
JOHN - And he's like, well, he will, they always do, old age, accidents and so on.

01:03:55.853 -- - 01:03:59.333
JOHN - And she's like, no, I'm going to save him.

01:03:59.333 -- - 01:04:06.893
JOHN - So this familiarity she's had with watching him, there is something going on there.

01:04:06.893 -- - 01:04:07.253
DEREK - Definitely.

01:04:07.253 -- - 01:04:11.733
JOHN - And it's more than likely I want to give him what I've got.

01:04:11.813 -- - 01:04:12.473
DEREK - Yep.

01:04:12.473 -- - 01:04:12.993
DEREK - Yep.

01:04:12.993 -- - 01:04:14.513
DEREK - She certainly doesn't understand the idea.

01:04:14.513 -- - 01:04:18.093
DEREK - If she can't give that to him, he will die.

01:04:18.093 -- - 01:04:18.793
DEREK - Yeah.

01:04:18.793 -- - 01:04:20.453
DEREK - She lives in an eternal life now.

01:04:20.453 -- - 01:04:27.973
DEREK - So effectively, at some point he will die and she won't, is kind of what Kirsh is trying to put into her.

01:04:27.973 -- - 01:04:34.253
DEREK - But I absolutely love that conversation, love the idea that humans chose to no longer be the bottom of the food chain.

01:04:34.253 -- - 01:04:36.013
DEREK - They're no longer food.

01:04:36.013 -- - 01:04:38.813
DEREK - And then they went out into space and started to find things that will eat them.

01:04:40.013 -- - 01:04:41.533
DEREK - And they have turned back into food again.

01:04:41.533 -- - 01:04:43.833
DEREK - You know, it's almost that, that cyclical thing.

01:04:44.093 -- - 01:04:55.033
DEREK - It's almost like he's admonishing the entire human race saying, well, you shouldn't have gone out to try and find things that are, that can eat you again if you felt like you wanted to stay, remain not food.

01:04:55.033 -- - 01:04:57.853
JOHN - Well, exactly, exactly.

01:04:57.853 -- - 01:05:00.733
JOHN - So yeah, really, really good.

01:05:00.733 -- - 01:05:05.493
JOHN - Derek, what do you think of Alien Earth Episode 1, Neverland?

01:05:05.493 -- - 01:05:10.293
DEREK - This is possibly the best opening episode for a Tshow, I've seen in years.

01:05:10.293 -- - 01:05:15.753
DEREK - I just was getting that feeling of every time I sit down and watch Alien and Aliens.

01:05:15.753 -- - 01:05:26.893
DEREK - I was just getting that feeling from the show, just the way it's been set up and the characters that are there, the performances that are there, you know, that we mentioned about the Lost Boys, each one of them is a distinct character.

01:05:26.893 -- - 01:05:31.073
DEREK - They're all playing really individual children.

01:05:31.073 -- - 01:05:37.373
DEREK - And the work that's going into that for some of them being background characters for a couple of seconds on screen is really intriguing.

01:05:37.373 -- - 01:05:39.233
DEREK - So I want to see loads more of them.

01:05:39.233 -- - 01:05:42.893
DEREK - I want to see loads more of what happened in the Maginot.

01:05:42.893 -- - 01:05:44.553
DEREK - Morrow is a fascinating character.

01:05:44.553 -- - 01:05:46.753
DEREK - Why is he doing what he's doing?

01:05:46.753 -- - 01:05:50.913
DEREK - The Battle of Weyland-Yutani and the Prodigy Corporation.

01:05:50.913 -- - 01:05:53.153
DEREK - Really intrigued by that.

01:05:53.153 -- - 01:05:59.353
DEREK - The Young Prodigy himself, Boy Kavalier, a character I already love to hate and it's only been one episode.

01:05:59.353 -- - 01:06:02.613
DEREK - So yeah, the structure of the show so far been really, really good.

01:06:03.513 -- - 01:06:12.273
DEREK - They've laid lots of groundwork here for a show that could, as you say, could all take place in this ship underground as they try and round back up the specimens.

01:06:12.273 -- - 01:06:14.933
DEREK - But I have a feeling it's going to go a bit wider than that.

01:06:14.933 -- - 01:06:16.093
DEREK - It will be really interesting to see.

01:06:16.093 -- - 01:06:18.213
DEREK - So I'm very excited to see the rest of the season.

01:06:18.213 -- - 01:06:20.373
DEREK - What a great set up in this first episode.

01:06:20.373 -- - 01:06:24.633
DEREK - And as I say, probably one of the best opening episodes I've seen in years.

01:06:24.633 -- - 01:06:25.513
DEREK - How about yourself, John?

01:06:25.513 -- - 01:06:27.273
DEREK - What did you think of this first episode?

01:06:27.273 -- - 01:06:30.853
JOHN - Absolutely really enjoyed this episode.

01:06:31.333 -- - 01:06:32.593
JOHN - Loved it.

01:06:32.593 -- - 01:06:37.973
JOHN - I would give this five bug-eyed Calamari's out of five.

01:06:37.973 -- - 01:06:41.933
JOHN - Yeah, I mean, I think exactly the same as you.

01:06:42.053 -- - 01:06:46.153
JOHN - I love all the different high level stuff going on.

01:06:46.153 -- - 01:06:50.373
JOHN - Whether it's about being top of the food chain and not, you know, your place.

01:06:50.373 -- - 01:06:55.293
JOHN - And the thing of, you know, corporate greed, corporate dominance, that.

01:06:56.733 -- - 01:07:04.773
JOHN - The thing around immortality, synths, cyborgs, and now hybrids.

01:07:04.773 -- - 01:07:06.873
JOHN - Just all really, really good.

01:07:06.873 -- - 01:07:17.773
JOHN - And also at the same time, you just have a great moment of this new bug sucking the life out of poor Hoyt and Anus.

01:07:17.773 -- - 01:07:20.013
JOHN - And going, okay, what's going to happen here?

01:07:20.013 -- - 01:07:23.353
JOHN - As well as that well-known threat of the Xenomorph.

01:07:23.493 -- - 01:07:29.493
JOHN - But it is just always so, so kind of cool.

01:07:29.493 -- - 01:07:41.813
JOHN - I mean, no matter how many times you've seen them, you know, predate and kill, use their tail, whatever, there's always just that.

01:07:43.953 -- - 01:07:52.433
JOHN - You know, uneasiness of seeing them in operation because of how powerful they are, and that comes across again.

01:07:52.653 -- - 01:07:56.273
JOHN - So for me, absolutely loved this opener.

01:07:56.273 -- - 01:07:58.953
JOHN - Five bug-eyed calamaris out of five.

01:07:58.953 -- - 01:08:09.413
JOHN - I really want to see what that multiple, multi-eyed octopus with an eyeball for a head.

01:08:09.413 -- - 01:08:11.853
JOHN - I really want to know what that's going to do.

01:08:11.853 -- - 01:08:12.513
DEREK - Absolutely.

01:08:12.513 -- - 01:08:13.973
DEREK - It'll be really interesting to find out.

01:08:13.973 -- - 01:08:16.953
DEREK - Yes, so much good stuff in this opening episode.

01:08:16.953 -- - 01:08:21.373
DEREK - We have got some feedback in, but most of it's on the first two episodes as both episodes are released at the same time.

01:08:21.493 -- - 01:08:25.113
DEREK - So we're going to hold it for our discussion on the second episode.

01:08:25.113 -- - 01:08:30.313
DEREK - We hope you enjoyed joining us for this chat about Alien Earth Episode 1, Neverland.

01:08:30.313 -- - 01:08:35.453
DEREK - We will be back later on this weekend with the second episode, Alien Earth, Mr.

01:08:35.453 -- - 01:08:36.833
DEREK - October.

01:08:36.833 -- - 01:08:37.873
DEREK - John, it's named after me and you.

01:08:37.873 -- - 01:08:38.933
DEREK - We're both born in October.

01:08:38.953 -- - 01:08:39.753
JOHN - It certainly is.

01:08:39.753 -- - 01:08:40.673
JOHN - We are Mr.

01:08:40.673 -- - 01:08:41.293
JOHN - October.

01:08:41.293 -- - 01:08:42.013
DEREK - Yes, we are.

01:08:42.053 -- - 01:08:43.133
JOHN - Excellent stuff.

01:08:43.133 -- - 01:08:53.973
DEREK - But if you want to send in any of your thoughts on the show, you can of course email us to feedback at tvpodcastindustries.com or pop on over to our Facebook group at facebook.com, slash groups, slash TPodcast Industries.

01:08:53.973 -- - 01:08:56.393
DEREK - And we hope you'll join us for the next episode.

01:08:56.393 -- - 01:08:57.913
JOHN - Yes, absolutely.

01:08:57.913 -- - 01:09:02.413
JOHN - Thank you so much, fellow Lost Boys and Aliens, for joining us.

01:09:02.413 -- - 01:09:04.773
JOHN - Can't wait to come back for Mr.

01:09:04.773 -- - 01:09:09.513
JOHN - October and discuss everything around Episode 2 of Alien Earth.

01:09:09.513 -- - 01:09:10.253
DEREK - Absolutely.

01:09:10.253 -- - 01:09:14.613
DEREK - Hopefully, we find our own Lost Boy, Chris was supposed to be on the podcast with us.

01:09:14.733 -- - 01:09:17.693
DEREK - Unfortunately, he got lost in the ether.

01:09:17.693 -- - 01:09:20.233
DEREK - So he might be back for Alien Earth.

01:09:20.233 -- - 01:09:21.233
DEREK - We hope he will be.

01:09:21.233 -- - 01:09:22.313
JOHN - Yes, let's hope.

01:09:22.313 -- - 01:09:23.873
JOHN - Fingers crossed.

01:09:23.873 -- - 01:09:30.793
JOHN - But in the meantime, fellow Lost Boys, keep watching, keep listening, and of course, keep screaming.

01:09:30.793 -- - 01:09:31.633
DEREK - Bye.

01:09:31.633 -- - 01:09:31.793
JOHN - Bye.

01:10:03.847 -- - 01:10:06.007
JOHN - Here is the top predator.

01:10:06.007 -- - 01:10:11.427
JOHN - It's the thing that Kirsh says to Wendy, there's always something out there that can top you.