Alien Nation (TV and Movies)

[Connor MacLeod]

So I've been on a kick of watching older TV shows I remember from when I was younger (seeing if they stood up to the test of time and such.) One series I decided to pick up on was Alien Nation. I remember watching episodes of the TV series and its quirky nature and the idea of alien detectives, but I'd never caught the movies or watched the TV series back to back so it seemed like a good place to start. A synopsis of the movie plot can be found here I have to say I liked the movie and the pilot for the TV series both, although they seem to be self contained premises (not unlike the first Highlander movie and the TV series being somewhat separate.) I
I was actually curious if anyone else had watched it and what they thought, liked, didn't like, or otherwise found interesting about the series.

[FaxModem1]

I currently own the original movie, the TV series and the TV series five TV movies on DVD. Frankly, I think the TV show is much better than the movie ever was, and it's a shame it only lasted a season. However, I do enjoy how they resolved most of the plot with the five movies. It's also a rather good allegory show about what it's like to be the newest group off the boat coming into our society, and all the pitfalls that can come along with it.

The relationship between the two detectives was also a delight to watch, as they were a great buddy cop dynamic.

[Batman]

How in Valen's name did a TV series that lasted only one season spawn five movies?
That being said, I rather liked the original movie and what little I saw of the TV series. There's aliens among us, and other than being alien, they're like us. Learn to deal with it.

[Solauren]

I have to echo Fax Modem.

Oh, and Batman, for the 'World's Greatest Detective', you can't figure out why?

Same reason that Fyrefly got the Serenity movie. Fan demand. Except unlike Serenity, they kept the movies to TV show level budgets (or TV movie budgets), and the TV ratings for them warranted the sequels.

That, and probably actor contracts or something like that.

The Alien Nation novels pick up after the TV series/TV movies, and are supposed to be very well. I Believe the last novel (at least, last I am aware of), was the human detect and his alien wife expecting their first child.

[Broomstick]

I have the movie, the entire TV series, the post-series TV movies AND the novels... I guess that makes me a fan.

There is actually some overlap between the novels and the made-for-TV post-series movies, and both a couple of the novels and a couple of the movies were based on the same unused scripts for the TV series ("Dark Horizon" and "Body and Soul" if you're curious which ones).

Initially I like the interaction between Sykes and Fransciso, which is basic buddy-cop stuff with some comedic bizarre alien biology thrown in for laughs. However, over the entire arc of the series there is some nice character development, with Sykes in particular going from despising slags to having a relationship with a Tenctonese. With the passage of time some of it is starting to look dated (we're already years past the time of the Day of Descent) and some of the anti-prejudice stuff seems heavy-handed but what with recent events in Florida plus the usual daily bullshit maybe we still need that. There was some quite daring stuff for American prime-time broadcast TV, such as "Three to Tango" which not only had three people having sex to create one baby, but came damn close to showing simulated intercourse in prime time (no one was fooled by those damn veils, and the discretion cut was carefully timed). Trust me, the religious types were not amused.

I'm currently about halfway through re-watching the TV series/movies.

[mr friendly guy]

Ok, you guys have got me interested in this "Alien Nation." Yeah ok, I have heard of this before and I vaguely remember seeing commercials for the tv show in Singapore during the late 80s when I went back for a holiday. What is the best starting point. Because youtube currently has the television movie S01E01 on. Is there another movie preceding this.

[mr friendly guy]

Only 14 minutes in and I am liking this show so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMscYxGG ... ure=relmfu

The part at 4:05 where he looks into the eye of the African American and says "you should know better" (than discriminating against a minority group). Thats powerful stuff. Ahead of its time. Fast Forward to the 20 + years and its pretty obvious which group with substitute for the Newcomers.

[Broomstick]

What is the best starting point. Because youtube currently has the television movie S01E01 on. Is there another movie preceding this.

Yes, there is a movie proceeding it, with a different slate of actors for the lead roles. It's not necessary to see it to enjoy/appreciate the TV series, as you have discovered.

The 1988 movie stands on it's own. The TV series likewise stands on its own.

There have been rumors for a couple years of a revival of the franchise, sort of an Alien Nation: The Next Generation set 20 years or so after the TV series but I haven't heard of any real progress on it.

[mr friendly guy]

Any one know if there was a linguist who actually constructed the Newcomer's language? Or did they just make random sounds? It seems to utilise several clicking sounds like some African languages.

[Broomstick]

The language is usually credited to a Van Ling, who has an education in filmmaking as opposed to linguistics, and he incorporated various sounds from a number of languages, including those clicks, for the movie. The language was further expanded for the TV series, sometimes using English words spelled backwards or with scrambled syllables. The grammar is basically the same as in English. In other words, it's not as sophisticated in some ways as, say, Klingon but is certainly sufficient for TV purposes.

The written form is based loosely on Pitman shorthand.

[cadbrowser]

I remember seeing Alien Nation as a very young lad (early teens?) and I loved it. I had NO IDEA 4 more movies came out of it; let alone a tv series. Too bad it went the way of Serenity/FireFly (Josh Whedon's best work IMHO).

I also enjoyed the cop dynamic in the move...as well as the underlying "racial" story that was done. Very powerful stuff indeed.

[Connor MacLeod]

As I said I look at the TV series and the movie being two different things. The movie had some really good parts to it - Syke's transition from being how he is at the start of the movie, to how he gets at the end is one aspect, but it isn't confined to just him. It always felt like the ideaa was that Sykes and Fransisco (and the Newcomers and humans as a whole) were meant to be portrayed as being basically the same, down to the way they can treat each other. There are some obvious difference, but at least in the way they think and act and treat people is no different. Newcomers could have their own little secrets, prejudices and problems just like humans had.

The movie feels sort of like one of those 'buddy cop' movies from that same rough period (like Lethal weapon) mixed with that movie "Enemy Mine" which came out a few years earlier.

The TV show was a bit more direct in the racism angle in some cases (like with the pilot) but I liked that part too. What really carries the TV show is that it seems alot like X-files, you have a sort of 'detective' show element but you also have a much bigger, over-arching plot, which for me at least was an interesting draw.

The other strong aspect of both the TV and the movie where the character's relationships. In the movie it was Fransisco and Sykes, but in the TV series they expand that to a much broader scope (Fransisco's entire family, as well as Matt's developing relations with Cathy, etc.) Probably not surprising considering that poking around one of the writers involved on Farscape was also tied up in this series.

One of the downsides (and never addressed I thought) wsa the rather heavy handedness of the police (which was routine fro both Sykes and Fransisco) in dealing with criminals and such. However this could simply also reflect the 'un-realism' that was part of the series too (like with the language) - something it kind of shares with Farscape too I think.

[cadbrowser]

Wow, ok...now I want to check out the series. Gonna have to hit up FYE when I get some funds!

[Darth Lucifer]

One of things I liked about Alien Nation was that some of the subplots focused on Francisco's children and their issues with being teenaged aliens among humans. I think one of my favorites was when Buck decided to join a Tenctonese "purist" gang, but his uncle or grandfather set him on the right path.

I only wish they had this on Netflix

[mr friendly guy]

Someone has kindly uploaded some episodes on youtube, so you can get a feel for whether you will like it before splurging out on the DVDs. Obviously the video quality isn't exactly HD but its viewable and is sufficient for me to say I am enjoying it so far. As for the movies, it might be possible to find them on various sites despite the um attempt to target megaupload.

[Broomstick]

I saw the made-for-TV-movies on free Hulu - I don't know if they're still there, but if anyone is interested it might be worth looking for them there.

[Batman]

For those of us for whom Hulu works anyway.

[mr friendly guy]

Just a few tibbits I like about this show.

1. There was a scene where an African American woman talks about segregation and gives Susan the courage to stay on despite the bigotry. Also was a nice bit where she mentions that there will eventually be a black president.

2. Tim Russ aka Tuvok from Star Trek Voyager appeared in the first episode as a witness.

3. I find the theme song sung in presumably the constructed language of the aliens strangely engrossing.

4. You can see the theme appearing in the show about a decision to segregate and integrate. The former represented by Susan, and the later by George. I am impress by how George chooses the right path, because not all humans are bigots. I can also understand why Susan wants to give up and just isolate themselves for protection. Also we witness the scenes with the Newcomer youth. They cheer Newcomer NBA sports stars on one hand, yet deride them for being "sell outs."

Its a very powerful theme. At what point do you just give up. But despite what Susan has been through, the worse she ever thinks about is just isolating themselves. She does not stoop to the same level of the bigots and become a racist herself. Which is waaaay better than some people I see on other message boards who allegedly experience racism and become blatantly racists themselves.

5. I like how they also made reference to contributions by the Newcomers. For example I am watching Alien Nation : Body and soul and George mentions that a Newcomer scientist won a Nobel Prize after curing diabetes in 1997. And here we silly humans are forced to take saliva from a poisonous lizard to help treat diabetes.

I am glad that I discovered this show as an adult. Because knowing how I was as a 10 year old kid, I would have gotten bored with the theme of bigotry even though I experienced it myself. I would have preferred the action back then. But seeing it as an adult, it really is a powerful show. It may have been sad in one way that it only lasted one season, but it was most probably a good thing that it ended still good unlike some other sci fi shows that outstayed their welcome.

[Ahriman238]

Saw the show pilot after seeing this thread. I liked it, it wasn't exactly life-changing, but a tolerable 2 hours entertainment.

Even with the Scooby Doo plot, which I thought was actually sort of clever. We, as a tv audience, see a man in a rubber suit and accept it as the alien monster it's clearly portrayed as. So it's shocking when it actually turns out to be a man in a rubber suit.

The expression of bigotry and the struggle for acceptance felt a bit ham-fisted at points, but much of it was damned good. Besides, in a sense it should be ham-fisted, because when you experience something like that sort of constant harrassment it seems to dominate your life.

Likewise, in a cop show or a murder mystery I can usually spot the red herring killer a mile off. When I see NCIS I always go 'see, they're pushing this one too hard, it's gonna be one of the incidental witnesses they interview.' Here, I was genuinely suckered by the identity of Tuggs' killer, so i applaud that.

[Slacker]

I actually used the series as a sort of springboard for a paper in political science one year. We were asked to pick any issue, real or imagined, and argue for or against it solely based on the political calculus of a political candidate. I tweaked a few things, but it was fundamentally the issue of 'should extraterrestrials be granted American citizenship'.

Got an A on the paper and I really enjoyed writing the paper as well, not often you can indulge yourself writing scifi for a term paper.

[Connor MacLeod]

One thing I enjoyed a great deal once I had realized it, Alien Nation is one of those sci fi series where humanity (as a whole) is not treated as some super-special wonder race. I mean the Newcomers are literally superior in both physically and mentally in numerous ways to humans (one reason for the discrimination in fact.) And Humanity's only advantages are 'there are more of us' and 'we've been here longer'. It creates an interesting sort of dynamic when it come to character interactions and suchlike.

Also it's not a series where you want to think too hard on things or worry about realism (esp the cop stuff, the languages, etc.) but the ideas and how they affect character interactions (like George and Susan having another kid - the entire 'plot arc' there is interesting for both how odd and different it is, but I'm not sure it makes much sense.)

[Broomstick]

And Humanity's only advantages are 'there are more of us' and 'we've been here longer'.

Well, that, and we don't dissolve like an Alka-Seltzer tablet when dipped in the ocean. Which really is a disadvantage for the Tenctonese given how much of the planet is covered in salt water.

[FaxModem1]

Or the fact that the majority of them live in Los Angeles, which is a stone's throw from the ocean.

[mr friendly guy]

Its been said that the Newcomers sometimes adapt over a generation to the planet's environment. So given say 1-2 generations, that disadvantage may not be there. Yeah, this smacks of saltations rather than neodarwinism, but still. To take it further, Moodri through his religious convictions waded into salty water with no problem. In the movie Dark Horizons the alien overseer sent to bring back the slaves developed a rash on his skin, which Cathy Remarked was related to the higher salty air in LA. She also remarked that Newcomers initially developed the rash when the ship crashed, but they don't have it anymore. This adaptation most probably isn't a genetic one per se, but more acclimatization.

[mr friendly guy]

The show started with the Newcomers being citizens but not able to vote. An entire episode was dedicated to this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUg4gvE8 ... ure=relmfu
According to the 15th Amendment, as citizens they should automatically be entitled to vote. I am surprise some smart arse lawyer in universe didn't try this.