Disney did me a huge favor and sent me the first six episodes of their new Alien: Earth series to take a look at.

I only watched one.

And let me tell you, it’s not because I hated it. Oh no. I knew I could sit there and easily devour all six episodes that they had sent me. But then that would mean I would have to wait for the two episode conclusion of the series. And that wait would seem interminable.

I decided it may be better to savor each episode, to enjoy it as it drops week to week – the first episode, Neverland, drops tomorrow night, I can’t recommend it enough. And from week to week, I wanted to ruminate on the episodes, think about the imagery, the themes at work.

As I savored the first episode, written and directed by Noah Hawley, I had two conclusions. This guy gets it, and this may be favorite entry in the Alien franchise since Cameron’s 1986 opus, Aliens.

There are people who are going to worry about how the timeline is going to work in regards to the ill-fated Nostromo as featured in 1979’s Alien. You see, this series is supposed to take two years before that.

That is going to set off alarms for tons of people – the xenomorphs, as far as we knew had never gotten to Earth. They were discovered on LV-426 (at least originally). Still, with everything I saw in this first episode, I am more than willing to give Hawley the benefit of the doubt.

We learn that there are other companies competing with Weyland, including Prodigy. There aren’t nation states so much anymore as there are corporate cities. And each is trying to perfect their android, artificial person, droid, synth, replicant…

And some are trying to do more.

On a remote research station known as Neverland (in case you miss the lost boys, and unable to grow up themes that are at work here) something more is happening.

Wendy (Sydney Chandler) is our central character, who is stuck in Neverland. She is keeping an eye on her big brother, a medic working in a Prodigy city.

And crashing down into that city is the Maginot, a Weyland science vessel that is returning with specimens from across the cosmos. But one of them got loose. Can you guess which?

One of Maginot’s crew, Morrow (Babou Ceesay) is not only working to contain it, but also keep it out of the hands of competing corporations.

Hawley tells his story intelligently, and visually. He’s not spoon-feeding you, he’s expecting you to watch and pay attention. And that attention pays off. There are homages to classic Alien/Aliens moments, as well as a fantastic production design.

There’s a nice blend of things we have seen in the films before, sights, designs, sounds. It very much feels like it’s in the same universe. It fits visually. And Hawley’s story works on a number of levels, which will no doubt be explored as the series progresses.

Sure, first and foremost it’s an Alien story, so we can expect xenomorphs, but there are politics and character arcs at work as well.

And I like that Hawley, at least in this first episode, doesn’t show us things we’ve seen before. He gives us a visual shorthand for the things that happen on the Maginot. We saw it happen on the Nostromo, we don’t really need a new rehash of it. Hawley respects that, shows these moments in quick flashes, as a basis to set up his own story.

Despite what you think you may have seen in the trailer, it doesn’t give a lot away, and there are definitely some interesting ideas and character arcs (I want to know what the hell is up with Timothy Olyphant’s character) being set up. And a mini-series like this is a great way to do it. It will allow us to explore characters and themes while still letting the story operate in the xenomorph’s universe.

I was a little dubious but intrigued when I first saw the trailer. Now having seen the first episode, I am eager to see where the series goes; the exploration of the universe in a way we haven’t done before, and of course… aliens!

FX’s “Alien: Earth” lands tomorrow at 8pm ET on FX, and on Hulu and Disney+ in Canada!! Just remember, on Earth, everyone can scream!