Snapshot · Planet Money
The film Alien is set in the year 2122, 96 years in the future, where a single mega-corporation called Weyland-Yutani controls seemingly everything and employs virtually everyone.
Where this was said
At 2:26 · chapter starts 0:14
The episode kicks off with Kenny and Greg playing audio from a fictional Weyland-Yutani earnings call, which reads like a parody of corporate speak delivered by a supervillain. The CEO brags about exponential profits from 'deep space initiatives' and hints at a mysterious payload — which listeners and hosts know is a killer alien — being shipped back to boost profits. Kenny jokes that he'd coach the CEO to sound less cartoonishly evil. The bit establishes Weyland-Yutani as the episode's villain-in-chief, and the hosts introduce their thesis: that this fictional corporation is actually the perfect lens for understanding real-world labor dynamics. The Planet Money theme plays, Greg and Kenny introduce themselves, and they frame the film Alien as being set 96 years in the future — in 2122 — where one company controls everything and employs everyone.
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