This small-screen prequel to "Alien" "should not be as good as it is", said Rebecca Nicholson in the FT . Ridley Scott's 1979 classic spawned "a sprawling franchise" of sequels and spin-offs, mostly offering "diminishing returns". But "Alien: Earth" (shown on Disney+) is a genuinely "bold and imaginative" effort that ranks among "the most enjoyable TV series of recent years".

Set two years before the original, it pays "homage" early on, when the cargo of alien life runs amok on a space vessel – which crash lands in a futuristic Bangkok. Thereafter, though, the series enters new territory. It imagines an Earth divided between rival tech corporations. The boss of one, Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), a magnate obsessed with eternal life, seizes the aliens for research purposes.

The nightma

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