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1988 film by Graham Bake

Alien Nation is a 1988 American science fiction action film written by Rockne S. O'Bannon and directed by Graham Baker. The ensemble cast features James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, and Terence Stamp. Its initial popularity inaugurated the beginning of the Alien Nation media franchise. The film depicts the assimilation of the "Newcomers", an alien race settling in Los Angeles, much to the initial dismay of the local population. The plot integrates the neo noir and buddy cop film genres with a science fiction theme, centering on the relationship between a veteran police investigator (Caan) and an extraterrestrial (Patinkin), the first Newcomer detective. The duo probe a criminal underworld while attempting to solve a homicide. The film was a co production between American Entertainment Partners and 20th Century Fox, which distributed it theatrically. Alien Nation explores murder, discrimination and science fiction. Alien Nation was released in the United States on October 7, 1988, and grossed over $32 million worldwide, becoming a moderate financial success. The film was met with mixed critical reviews before its theatrical release, although it has since gained a cult following. The motion picture spawned a short lived television series, five television films, a set of comic books, as well as a number of novels, all in an attempt to continue the character development surrounding its fictional alien culture.

In 1988, a spaceship bearing 300,000 enslaved aliens known as "Newcomers" lands in the Mojave Desert. By 1991, they have settled in Los Angeles and some of them have joined Los Angeles Police Department. Detective Matthew Sykes' partner is killed in a shootout while trying to stop a Newcomer robbery ending in the store owner's murder. Sykes' superior, Captain Warner, informs his squad that they will work with the newly promoted Newcomer detective Sam Francisco. Sykes volunteers to team up with Francisco to investigate the homicide of Newcomer Warren Hubley, hoping to also be able to investigate his partner's death, something he is officially barred from doing. The two do not work well: Sykes refuses to call him "Sam Francisco" and opts to call him "George" instead, and Francisco predicts Sykes will have difficulties due to his last name sounding like "sai k'ss" – "shit head" in the Newcomer language. While at a crime lab, Francisco detects an abnormality on the body of one of the Newcomer criminals who was killed in the robbery. This leads Sykes and Francisco to a nightclub to question Newcomer Joshua Strader, but Strader is murdered by a criminal ring led by Newcomer businessman William Harcourt and his henchman Rudyard Kipling. While investigating, the men find themselves becoming friendlier to each other. Francisco informs Sykes of a part of the Newcomer body to strike for maximum pain, which Sykes uses later; after discovering Newcomers get intoxicated on spoiled milk, they get drunk together, and Francisco confesses about not understanding the high ideals humans set without being able to attain them, and advises Sykes to reconnect with his estranged daughter. Harcourt is in the advanced stages of launching a scheme to exploit the Newcomers by mass producing Jabroka, a drug which was used to pacify Newcomers when they were slaves but has no beneficial effect on humans. The abnormality noticed by Francisco on the body of the Newcomer criminal turns out to be a visual sign of the drug's influence. The Newcomers Hubley, Porter, and Strader were involved in the planning phases of the operation, but were later murdered due to Harcourt's desire to exclude them from any future profits. When Sykes and Francisco locate the drug lab, Francisco displays a sudden fury at the thought of Jabroka being re introduced to his people and destroys the lab. Francisco explains that it must be destroyed, and the mere existence of the drug must never be revealed, as it would risk the tenuous existence of every Newcomer on Earth. Ultimately, Sykes and Francisco track down Harcourt, who is negotiating a timetable for the release of Jabroka. The detectives engage in a car chase with Harcourt and Kipling, ending in a head on collision that leaves both parties injured. Harcourt escapes on foot; when cornered by Sykes, he takes an overdose of Jabroka that causes him to collapse, seemingly dead. The remaining Jabroka is destroyed, but Francisco reacts in shock when Sykes reports he overdosed; he explains that an overdose would cause a Newcomer to mutate in a larger, more dangerous form, and that humanity must never know Newcomers are capable of this. Sykes and Francisco pursue Harcourt after he escapes from the coroner's vehicle, catching up with him near a fishing pier, and Sykes fights him hand to hand on the open sea, eventually knocking him into the water; however, Sykes is pulled into the water as well. Harcourt's body disintegrates due to direct contact with salt water, which is hazardous to Newcomer physiology. Francisco commandeers a police helicopter and rescues Sykes even though his arm suffers damage. When the pilot asks what was in the water with Sykes, Sykes responds that it was "just another Slag" a pejorative term for Newcomers protecting the secret. Sykes and Francisco, now friends, attend Sykes's daughter's wedding together. Sykes has accepted Francisco as his partner and asks him to forgive Sykes for all the stupid things he will do and say in the years to come. Francisco reassures Sykes that he will "After all you're only human."

One out of twenty to twenty five stories received each week by 20th Century Fox in 1988, Rockne S. O'Bannon's original screenplay for Alien Nation was submitted as a spec–script to producer Gale Anne Hurd. The agency representing the storyline asked the production staff to view it as quickly as possible due to it also being submitted to other film studios. Both Hurd and her director of development Ellen Collett had the same initial response, seeing the script as a real page turner. According to Hurd, what really interested her about the film's story was the whole approach to the immigrant setting and the extrapolation of that to a science fiction setting. The genre of science fiction, in regards to representing aliens, tends to usually be in the form of one or two beings as shown on network series like Star Trek. Typically, large numbers of stand ins were not common in film since Planet of the Apes twenty years earlier. Working with co producer Richard Kobritz, Hurd secured funding from Fox Studios and began casting an experienced makeup team for the creation of the alien society. Later, Hurd contacted cinematographer Adam Greenberg at his home in Israel to work on the production. Caught by surprise, Greenberg recalled, "I was vacationing on the Dead Sea in a kibbutz (it was 125 degrees) and I got a call from Gale. That was the last thing to expect there." Within a five month shooting schedule, three weeks were spent shooting at studio locations. One conceit of the script was that immigrations officials ran out of names for the 300,000 aliens, and began to name them after familiar appellations of the past. Actor Mandy Patinkin's original name for his character was set to be George Jetson. However, three days before the start of shooting, Hanna Barbera wouldn't allow the name to be used.

Cinematographer Adam Greenberg, whose previous film credits included Three Men and a Baby, La Bamba and Near Dark, approached the film with a unique documentary style technique. Commenting on the initial photography lighting tests, Greenberg remarked, "The first ones were a disaster. They didn't look good at all. I didn't know how to photograph these aliens. It was the first time I had to deal with this kind of thing. But I have an eye and I learned from these tests." Goldsmith's score was however used for the film's theatrical trailer. The sound effects in the film were supervised by Mark Mangini. The mixing of the sound elements were orchestrated by David MacMillan and Charles Wilborn. The film's revenue dropped by 49% in its second week of release, earning $4,252,252. In the month of November during its final weekend showing in theaters, the film came out in 10th place grossing $1,306,849. The film went on to top out domestically at $25,216,243 in total ticket sales through a 5 week theatrical run. Internationally, the film took in an additional $6,938,804 in box office business for a combined total of $32,155,047. For 1988 as a whole, the film would cumulatively rank at a box office performance position of 41.

Alien Nation was released on VHS by CBS/Fox Video in 1989. One currently available VHS version of the film was originally released on September 10, 1996. The Region 1 Code widescreen edition of the film was released on DVD in the United States on March 27, 2001, and includes a narrative and interview filled Featurette, a Behind the Scenes clip featuring director Graham Baker, a TV Spots special, the Theatrical Trailer and Fox Flix theatrical trailers for The Abyss, Aliens, Enemy Mine, Independence Day and Zardoz. Currently, there is no exact set date on a future US Blu ray Disc release for the film. The film was released on blu ray in Australia in April 2016 and in Europe (Region B locked) in March 2017.

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 53% of 32 sampled critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 5.4 out of 10. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average out of 100 to critics' reviews, Alien Nation was given a score of 45 based on 10 reviews. Among critics, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times, gave the film two stars in a mostly negative review, saying the film lacked a science fiction theme and was more akin to a police murder revenge flick, musing "they've just taken the standard cop buddy drug lord routine and changed some of the makeup. The Newcomers have no surprises." Regarding the fictional alien culture, he expressed disappointment saying "a feeble attempt is made to invest the Newcomers with interest, by having them get drunk on sour milk instead of booze, and depriving them of any sense of humor." However, on a slightly complimentary note, Ebert mentioned "the makeup took trouble, the photography looks good, the cast and technical credits are top drawer." But overall, he summed it up by declaring "Alien Nation feels like a movie made by people who have seen a lot of movies, but don't think the audience has." However, the more enthusiastic staff of Variety found originality in the extraterrestrial–injected plot, saying, "Solid performances by leads James Caan and his humanoid buddy cop partner Mandy Patinkin move this production beyond special effects, clever alien makeup and car chases" while also adding the film was a "compelling humanhumanoid drama." Another positive review centering on the science fiction elements of the film was relayed by Janet Maslin of The New York Times. She praised the theme, saying, "Alien Nation has the best science fiction idea this side of The Terminator." However, Maslin was quick to admit the film "settles down, with remarkable ease, into the routine of a two cop buddy film, extraterrestrials and all. Matthew and Sam (whom Matthew refuses to address that way, renaming him George) go through all the familiar stages of forging a friendship between partners: cool antipathy, exchanges of insults, growing mutual respect on the job and, finally, an all night drinking binge to solidify their buddyhood." On a negative front, author Jay Carr of The Boston Globe commented on James Caan's performance, viewing him as "Looking like a Paul Newman gone wrong, " He went on, further stating that "the film's air of enlightenment is only makeup deep. And while Alien Nation is no smarter than, say, a Lethal Weapon, it hasn't got the juice or the level of sensory jolt a Lethal Weapon supplies." Other critics such as Gene Siskel acknowledged the similarities between other police thriller movies, but still found the film to be a "Genuinely entertaining version of that old reliable; a cop buddy picture with two very different detectives." He explained, "Now this is an example of how you can put a nice twist on a familiar story, and it will work if it's been fully written. Caan and Patinkin have special characters to play." Compelled by the acting, he felt "The buddy combination here worked for me." He ultimately gave the film a "Thumbs Up" review. Not nearly as impressed with the film was author NF of TimeOut Magazine, calling it "worthy, predictable, and dull." A summation of the negativity was, "Played hard and fast, the film might just have worked, but the decision to soft pedal the violence merely emphasizes the obviousness of the liberal point scoring (parallels with Vietnamese or Nicaraguan refugees are so facile as to be crass)." Critic Leonard Maltin referred to the film as "a great concept that doesn't quite pay off." But in a hint of commendation, he remarked how the film contains "many clever touches and terrific performances by Caan and Patinkin."

The film won the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film of 1988, and received two Saturn nominations for Best Supporting Actor for Mandy Patinkin as well as Best Make Up for John M. Elliott Jr. and Stan Winston. The film also received two other nominations, among them for Best Dramatic Presentation from the Hugo Awards and Best Film for Graham Baker from the Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Awards.

The following year after the film's release, the extraterrestrial plot concept was used as the basis for a television series of the same name. The show attempted to move away from the original film's "Buddy Cop" premise, and delve more into the aliens' distinct culture and characteristics. Premiering on September 18, 1989, the series aired 22 episodes and ran for a single season, ending on May 7, 1990. Gary Graham played the lead role of Matt Sikes, while Eric Pierpoint was chosen to play the character of the Tenctonese newcomer George Francisco. Supporting acting roles were played by Michele Scarabelli, Lauren Woodland and Sean Six. Contributing directors to various episodes included Harry Longstreet, Stan Lathan, Lyndon Chubbuck and Kenneth Johnson. Writing credits were assigned to Steve Mitchell, Kenneth Van Sickle and Kenneth Johnson among others.

Following the demise of the television series in 1990, plans were devised to continue the popularity of the concept surrounding the race of the Newcomers through a string of television films. Premiering on October 25, 1994, the first of five sequels entitled Alien Nation: Dark Horizon, was released with a plot surrounding a distinct Newcomer arriving on Earth attempting to lure the aliens back into a life of slavery. The film was written on a screenplay conceived by Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov. Alien Nation: Body and Soul followed on October 10, 1995, with a story revolving around a slaveship medical experiment involving a child who appears to be part human and part Newcomer. A side plot also involves the character of Sikes and a female Tenctonese exploring a relationship. Harry and Renee Longstreet were credited writers for the storyline. The franchise saw two more sequels in 1996. Alien Nation: Millennium was released on January 2, 1996, and dealt with a mysterious cult that uses mind altering alien artifacts to lure Newcomer followers into a doomsday scenario. The film's plot was a tie in to one of the television episodes titled: Generation to Generation that premiered on January 29, 1990. Alien Nation: The Enemy Within was aired on November 12, 1996, and revolved around a story from which the detectives try to save their city from an alien threat originating from a waste disposal facility. Racism was a key theme encountered by the character of Francisco.

Between 1990 and 1992, Malibu Comics printed several comics adaptations.

On March 25, 2015, Fox announced a remake with Art Marcum and Matt Holloway writing. On September 9, 2016, Deadline reported that Jeff Nichols will write and direct the film. However, the film was later put on hold. On January 25, 2021, it was announced that Nichols would remake the film as a ten part television series.