1 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:06,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamman. This is the Monster Fact, 3 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 2: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, 4 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:23,560 Speaker 2: focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time. The 5 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 2: FX series Alien Earth just wrapped up what is presumably 6 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:30,440 Speaker 2: its first season, though at the time of this recording, 7 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:33,680 Speaker 2: no official renewal has been announced for this Noah Hawley 8 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:38,040 Speaker 2: filmed Ridley Scott produced series. First, I want to stress 9 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 2: that I really enjoyed Alien Earth. My one true complaint 10 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 2: is that I wish it had wrapped its story up 11 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:47,239 Speaker 2: in a single season, and it felt like all the 12 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:49,520 Speaker 2: pieces were on the table to do just that going 13 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:52,480 Speaker 2: into the eighth episode. But all of this being said, 14 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:56,520 Speaker 2: I love the performances. Timothy Oliphant as a synthetic person 15 00:00:56,720 --> 00:01:00,680 Speaker 2: wasn't something I knew I needed. He's terrific. Adrian Edmondson 16 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 2: of The Young Ones and Bottom Fame was a fun 17 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:07,760 Speaker 2: bit of casting, and Babu Sisey's Cybord character was terrific. 18 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:10,800 Speaker 2: The rest of the cast excelled as well. If you 19 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:13,320 Speaker 2: were hesitant about watching the whole series, I'd at least 20 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 2: urge you to watch episode five, which can be viewed 21 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 2: as a standalone or a key piece of the series. 22 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:22,399 Speaker 2: But this is the monster fact, so I want to 23 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 2: discuss the creatures of Alien Earth. I won't say much 24 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:30,759 Speaker 2: about the Xenomorphs. We certainly get them. Sometimes they're absolutely terrifying. 25 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:33,039 Speaker 2: Sometimes they're a little lost in the shuffle, but that's 26 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 2: kind of par for the course. With the Alien franchise. 27 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,040 Speaker 2: On top of the title Aliens, however, we also get 28 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 2: a number of other extraterrestrial specimens. The existence of other 29 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 2: non xenomorph and non engineer extraterrestrial life forms is of 30 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 2: course alluded to in nineteen eighty six's Aliens. The Alien 31 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 2: RPG from Freely throws in some additional supporting bugs for 32 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 2: players to hunt, and of course the various Alien books, 33 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 2: comics and crossovers over the years have introduced others, including 34 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 2: the famous Kryptonian himself. In the mid nineties Superman Aliens 35 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 2: limited series. Noah Holly does not give us DC Superman, 36 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 2: or even Marvel's Legion for that matter. We don't get 37 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:17,079 Speaker 2: the Fargo Alien crossover that I think a lot of 38 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 2: us were pining for, but he does introduce no fewer 39 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:25,119 Speaker 2: than four new extraterrestrial organisms. Let's run through them. There 40 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 2: will be spoilers from here on out. First up, we 41 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 2: have the parasitic species nineteen, a leech like organism that 42 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:35,640 Speaker 2: drains a fatal amount of blood from its host, filling 43 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 2: up like a balloon in the process. We also observe 44 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:42,080 Speaker 2: that it reproduces by spewing its larval young in whatever 45 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:46,919 Speaker 2: fresh water is available. On the reproduction front, various organisms 46 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 2: of the natural world do seek out water for reproduction, 47 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 2: including some notable parasites. Mosquitoes famously lay their eggs on 48 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:56,520 Speaker 2: the surface of the water, and their larvae and pupe 49 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:00,400 Speaker 2: are fully aquatic. The horsehair worm also has a rizzly 50 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:04,040 Speaker 2: reputation for hacking the brain of its host grasshopper or cricket, 51 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:07,160 Speaker 2: and then forcing that organism to drown itself in a puddle, 52 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 2: so the noumautomorph might burst forth and wiggle free into 53 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 2: the water to complete the life cycle. As for the 54 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:17,280 Speaker 2: blood ballooning, certain parasites, such as ticks and leeches, do 55 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 2: expand as they feast on the host blood, filling up 56 00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:23,079 Speaker 2: like a balloon in the process, though these organisms are 57 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 2: generally incapable of individually draining a lethal amount of blood 58 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:30,920 Speaker 2: from the host. We might presume then, that Species nineteen 59 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:34,120 Speaker 2: hails from a world where they depend on some form 60 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 2: of suitable megafauna that can sustain them without succumbing to 61 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:41,760 Speaker 2: blood loss with each feeding. Up next, we have the 62 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:45,760 Speaker 2: species referred to informally as the fly, a fairly large 63 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 2: winged insect creature that feeds on minerals and of course, 64 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 2: synthetic flesh. Obviously, the creature exists as a nasty foil 65 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 2: for the show's many synthetic characters, but it also plays 66 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:03,320 Speaker 2: on a very real zenobiological consideration. Chemo lithothrops actually exist 67 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 2: on Earth in the form of certain bacteria and microbes 68 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 2: that feed on inorganic compounds and minerals. We don't have 69 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 2: anything as big as the fly, but it's proof that 70 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,839 Speaker 2: such forms of life are possible, all right. Up next, 71 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 2: we have the specimen d plum the kyrie, which presents 72 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:24,359 Speaker 2: itself essentially as a kind of carnivorous plant, but also 73 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:28,599 Speaker 2: proves itself capable of fairly speedy movement when necessary, and 74 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 2: ultimately conducts itself more as an ambush predator than a 75 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 2: passive trap. We might think of this one as a 76 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:37,599 Speaker 2: cross between a venus fly trap, which is capable of 77 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 2: rapid plant movement, a walking palm tree which carries out 78 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:45,800 Speaker 2: a slow repositioning that I should flag may seem to 79 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 2: be exaggerated at times in reporting, and the barnacle enemies 80 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:52,720 Speaker 2: from the Half Live video games. You remember these. They 81 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 2: dangle down, you walk into the dangling bits, and then 82 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 2: you get sucked up. Finally, we have the show's most 83 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,200 Speaker 2: fascinating non zenom or alien life form, and that is 84 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:09,040 Speaker 2: tripanohica ocellus or t ocellus, a crawling, tentacled eyeball creature 85 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:12,240 Speaker 2: that affixes itself to the face of another organism, gouges 86 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:14,599 Speaker 2: out one of the eye sockets, and then takes that 87 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:18,880 Speaker 2: eye's place, taking over the organism in the process. Living 88 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:22,360 Speaker 2: or dead, the creature is all the more fascinating because 89 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 2: it seems quite intelligent and may have an agenda all 90 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,360 Speaker 2: its own that goes well beyond reproduction and acquiring food. 91 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 2: It's an inventive creature design which calls back to various 92 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:35,919 Speaker 2: crawling eye monsters, especially nineteen fifty eight's The Crawling Eye, 93 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:40,600 Speaker 2: and also perhaps plays with accounts of the isopod Simonthoa exagua, 94 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:44,920 Speaker 2: which has been observed to seemingly replace a fish's tongue. 95 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 2: And then, of course we're also playing on general brain 96 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 2: hacking parasitic abilities that we see in multiple instances throughout 97 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 2: the natural world. I suppose we'll just have to find 98 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:58,159 Speaker 2: out more in a possible second season of Alien Earth, 99 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 2: or perhaps in supplemental alien Fiction. Tune in for additional 100 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 2: episodes of The Monster, Fact, The Artifact or Animalist at 101 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 2: Pendium each week. As always, you can email us at 102 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:19,839 Speaker 2: contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 103 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,480 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio. 104 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:26,800 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 105 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:28,680 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.