Mark's Best of 2025

Seasons greetings, faithful readers, and welcome to what could loosely be called my best of 2025.

Juliette's Best of 2025

I am writing this through a fog of flu, so here’s hoping it all makes some kind of sense! As ever, my body has reached the end of the year and given up, and there are some nasty flu strains around this year. But the big news is that I am going part time at my main job next year, to be available for school runs and teacher training days, and to spend more time on writing and content creation, so with any luck I might finish next year with a tiny bit more energy!

Anyway, on to the Best of 2025…

Alien Earth: The Real Monsters

"You better save the children because I'm going to burn this place to the ground."

I imagine this episode is going to be divisive. Not only did they leave things on a cliffhanger, they barely resolved any of the long running plots.

Alien Earth: Emergence

"We're not safe here. I don't think we ever were."

I think this episode frustrated me because it was incomplete, like the first half of a two-parter. A part of my frustration was due to the fact that despite being the penultimate episode, several long running plots were finally resolved. While perhaps momentarily satisfying, they felt more like inevitabilities rather than grand payoffs.

Alien Earth: The Fly

"I'll see you soon, old toy."

The characters on this show keep peeling back layers. Also, we finally have our first major alien action on the island.

This Week: A Change in the Fluffy

An Honest Fangirl: We haven't done one of these in a while, so let's throw out a broader question. What was your favorite tv/movie/book/etc that you consumed this past summer? Alternatively, is there anything coming up for this fall season that you're particularly excited for?

I had been looking forward to the latest FBI spinoff titled CIA, simply because it's starring Tom Ellis, but apparently it's been pushed back to a midseason premiere. The Pitt also isn't coming back until January so I'm mainly waiting for winter.

Alien Earth: In Space, No One…

"We were a spaceship, and now we're a missile, and we're heading towards Earth."

This episode was designed to give context to the events on the Maginot, and perhaps explain why Morrow appeared to be so cold and calculating. And boy, did we get a lot of context.

Alien Earth: Observation

"You work for me. Or should I say you work for a, uh, subsidiary of a subsidiary of a holding company of an LLC of mine."

So this episode took a step back from tension to truly examine the dynamics on the island... I mean, I guess that's what I asked for when I talked about character development.

Alien Earth: Metamorphosis

"When is a machine not a machine?"

This episode managed a bit of a magic trick, and I'm impressed with the storytelling so far.

Alien Earth: Mr. October

"Fear's for animals. You are not animals. Now move."

Now that we've spent more time with our main characters, I'm starting to get a feel for this show and it is definitely unique.

Alien Earth: Neverland

I'm not sure this was the next natural step in the Alien franchise, but I will say it is engaging, gorgeous and fascinating. Even if I'm not sure I even like any of the characters… yet.

Alien Earth

Season 1 |
Related Links |
Cast |

Alien: Earth is a spin-off/prequel to the long running Alien franchise. It features the titular alien in a completely new setting. The show focuses on Wendy, who is a new kind of Synthetic called a Hybrid, a human child whose mind has been transferred into a synthetic body. She sets out to search for her brother Hermit, who is directly involved with the situation surrounding the Alien arriving on Earth.

Season One

1.1 Neverland
1.2 Mr. October
1.3 Metamorphosis
1.4 Observation
1.5 In Space, No One...
1.6 The Fly
1.7 Emergence
1.8 The Real Monsters

Related Links

Alien movie review by Billie Doux
Alien: Covenant movie review by An Honest Fangirl
Alien: Romulus movie review by An Honest Fangirl
Aliens movie review by Billie Doux
Prometheus movie review by Samantha M. Quinn

Cast

Sydney Chandler (Wendy)
Alex Lawther (Joe Hermit)
Essie Davis (Dame Sylvia)
Samuel Blenkin (Boy Kavalier)
Babou Ceesay (Morrow)
Adarsh Gourav (Slightly)
Erana James (Curly)
Jonathan Ajayi (Smee)
David Rysdahl (Arthur Sylvia)
Diêm Camille (Siberian)
Moe Bar-El (Rashidi)
Timothy Olyphant (Kirsh)
Kit Young (Tootles)