Forgotten Television: Alien Nation

In 1990, a flying saucer makes an emergency landing in the Mojave Desert and contained 250,000 aliens known as Tenctonese who were genetically created to be slaves for the cruel Overseer race.  They are humanoid in shape but with some anatomical differences and are smarter and stronger than humans which leads to resentment. It has been five years since the crash freed the “Newcomers” as they are called, and this new race of beings are trying to integrate into society but are mostly met with resistance and discrimination.  Detective Matthew Sikes (Gary Graham) is a human detective newly partnered with Sam “George” Francisco (Eric Pierpoint), a Newcomer.  Matt has his own issues with the Newcomers but is not a purist and will often defend them, and on the whole treats them well.  George has moved his family which includes his wife, son, and daughter, to a new upscale neighborhood after taking the detective job.  They are the first Newcomers in this particular area which ruffles some feathers.  Each week George and Matt must solve a crime, while also dealing with the societal issues that are facing a new minority.

Alien Nation is based off the 1988 movie of the same name which starred James Caan and Mandy Patinkin, and focused more on the mystery action elements of the story and less on the discrimination and upheaval caused by a new race being integrated into society.  The show was created by Kenneth Johnson who also created The Six Million Dollar Man, V, and The Incredible Hulk, originally was not interested in doing the series.  He agreed to watch the movie, which left him unimpressed, except for one scene, in which George leaves for work.  Johnson went back to the studio, who were expecting a more action-packed series, but offered them something akin to a social commentary.   The series premiered on September 18, 1989, and ran to May 7, 1990.  The series was actually performing quite well and was one of few hits for the fledgling Fox Network.  Unfortunately, Fox experienced a cash shortage due to lower advertising revenue than expected and cancelled all of their scripted dramas, ending the popular show too soon, after only one season.  A second season was expected, and the series ended on a cliffhanger angering fans.  Due to popular demand, Dark Horizon, the episode that would have started the second season was novelized and adapted into a comic book.  More novels followed.  In addition, four years later, with Fox under new management, five television movies were made with the original cast to continue the story, starting with the Dark Horizon storyline.

I was a big fan of the source material having really enjoyed the movie and am happy that while the series does capture some of the plot of the movie, it did not try to recreate it but instead did its own thing.  It goes deeper into the Newcomer culture and religions which was fascinating.   Having a new minority thrust into society gave the writers of the show a clever way of examining many aspects and kinds of discrimination. Racial inequality is the obvious and those parallels are overtly pointed out, but gender inequity and societal class distinctions are also explored. The performance of the cast is quite good, although I do prefer Mandy Patinkin’s George over Eric’s version of the character, I am once again glad that Eric did not attempt to mimic the movie and instead expertly creates his own version.  In 2013, Alien Nation was listed in TV Guide as one of 60 shows that were “Cancelled Too Soon” and I have to agree, especially since the cancellation had nothing to do with quality or ratings but with the studio’s own financial issues.