As a huge fan of the movies, I'm loving Alien: Earth – but as a home cinema nerd, I'm disappointed

I first watched Alien 32 years ago. I'm 43 now, which means that, yes, I was indeed just 11 years old when I got my first horrific taste of H. R. Giger's glorious xenomorph.

I blame my school friend Owen and his mum's very relaxed approach to parenting.

But despite (or perhaps because of) the nightmares, I was instantly obsessed with the series, and I think I must have watched Aliens at least once every year since then.

It's that second movie that's my favourite. I appreciate that Alien is more worthy, and objectively probably the better movie, but Aliens is just more fun and faster-paced, and that makes it more rewatchable, at least for me.

I actually like all of the movies, with the exception of Alien 3, which is just so infuriatingly dull. Yes, I have seen both cuts, and I maintain that they're both pants.

The others are all flawed. Very flawed in the case of Resurrection. But they each also have strengths, from Resurrection's high-octane action scenes to Prometheus's fascinating world-building and Covenant's creep and gore.

And I love Romulus. I could absolutely do without some of the more overt callbacks (I physically squirmed when android Andy said that famous line of Ripley's), but it's a lot of fun, and that finale is so incredibly tense.

Needless to say, I was very excited about Alien: Earth, the very first Alien TV show, which is available through Disney Plus in the UK.

Well, three episodes in (I'll be watching episode four tonight), it's delivering on almost all counts.

There's the gore (the eyeball alien-infected cat, the costume party rampage) and the stressful intensity (Morrow's escape in episode one, Joe being stalked by the xenomorph) for which the franchise is renowned, but there are also new concepts, such as the new hybrids and cyborgs, and we get to see how Earth became the "sh*thole" that Ron Perlman told us about in Resurrection.

But while I'm very much enjoying the content of Alien: Earth, I'm finding the presentation a bit of a letdown.

I've got no complaints about the picture, which is delivered in Dolby Vision in crisp, contrasty and detailed fashion, at least by the standards of streamed TV.

But the audio is lacking. Firstly, and most obviously, the soundtrack is delivered in Dolby Digital 5.1 rather than Dolby Atmos.

For a flagship, blockbuster sci-fi show in 2025 to be delivered without Atmos is baffling, and we know from experience that the threatening atmosphere of the Alien movies is vastly enhanced by 3D audio.

5.1-channel audio can still sound great, though, and the sound designers have done a good job of delivering an atmospheric surround sound experience, with creepy effects coming at you from all angles.

The problem is that there's a distinct lack of dynamics.

This is most noticeable in the series' trademark screechy soundtrack moments, which leap from the score in the movies and make your heart stop for a second.

They have, of course, been deployed for the TV series, but they don't so much leap from the score as blend into it, to the extent that you barely notice them.

This lack of dynamic range obviously affects the action sound effects as well, from the alarms in episode one to the pulse rifle fire in episode two. It's all just a bit flat.

The dynamic range isn't stunted enough to entirely spoil my enjoyment, but it combines with the lack of Dolby Atmos to create a sense of missed opportunity.

So much of the fear and intensity of the Alien movies comes from the sound design – the surprising, jarring strings and the feeling that the xenomorph could be anywhere – and the TV show isn't quite on a par in this regard.

One suspects that a decision was made to compress the dynamic range for TV viewing, in much the same way that songs are compressed for the radio, but that would be a real shame if so.

It does perhaps suggest that the eight-episode series will be released on 4K Blu-ray after its run on Disney Plus. Maybe then we will get the dynamic Dolby Atmos soundtrack we deserve.

I should probably wait for that before I finish the series, but I'm afraid there's not much chance of that – I'm just too invested at this point.

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