This was a pretty neat movie. If you haven't seen it, you should give it a try. The basic premise is this: a ship crashes in the Mojave Desert and its 300 000 alien occupants have to learn to live in human society. The alien "Newcomers" are incredibly intelligent and adaptive, which doesn't sit well with most humans (prompting the immigration officials to give the aliens ridiculous, demeaning names, among other things). It stars Mandy Patinkin as Samuel Francisco, the first alien to become an L.A. Detective, and James Caan as surly Detective Matthew Sikes, who refuses to call his new partner "Sam Franciso"... and thus names him "George" instead. Matt, like many other humans, has no love for the aliens, but slowly comes to appreciate "George" as a partner and a friend. It's a pretty good study of character and emotional development with an overly-healthy dose of car chases, explosions, shootings, and other related violent acts thrown in... (The movie carries an "R" rating.)
 

Born as a spinoff from the movie, "Alien Nation" the TV series furthered the adventures of these two unlikely buddies. It also delved into touchy themes of prejudice, slavery, society's hang-ups about "maleness" and "femaleness", what it means to be a human being, etc. It was all-to-soon yanked from the airwaves, a victim of poor ratings. Apparently, the show was "too cerebral" for mass audiences; not enough car chases and explosions -- so sorry we sci-fi geeks have brains! :^)
 

Meet the Franciscos. George and Susan, their son Buck, and daughter Emily. Baby Vessna not pictured, sorry.

Fear not, fans, "Alien Nation" has made its return in novel form and TV specials. The novels are pretty good and certainly entertaining. The authors have kept the characters true to themselves, which is nice. The TV specials are largely adaptations of the novels, so far. I'm hoping for another... :^)
 

                    

Matt Sikes and Cathy Frankel, who eventially become an item once Matt gets past his "inter-racial dating problems".

 

  Alien Nation
  Director: Kenneth Johnson (also of V fame)
  Major Cast:
  Matt Sikes -- Gary Graham
  George Francisco -- Eric Pierpoint
  Susan Francisco -- Michelle Scarabelli
  Buck Francisco -- Sean Six
  Emily Francisco -- Lauren Woodland
  Cathy Frankel -- Terri Treas

 
  Click here for a great interview with Kenneth Johnson and the Alien Nation cast.
 
  Visit Little Tencton, a fantastic Alien Nation site with great stuff to download, including a language dictionary!
 
 

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