Source: Variety
Looks like Battlestar Galactica isn’t the old series to be remade for the Sci-Fi Channel (soon to be renamed “Syfy”). Alien Nation is now getting the reboot treatment!
Tim Minear, who wrote many episodes of Angel and Firefly, and even a couple episodes of The X-Files (the greatest sci-fi TV show ever), will be penning this new take on the original cult movie and TV series from the late 80s.
Variety had this to say when describing what the show would be like:
The new “Alien Nation” would include a mythology that evolves over time and will also touch on some of the issues of the day, such as the immigrant experience and how society integrates an incoming culture.
Minear is currently busy outlining the “Alien Nation” script and mapping out the project’s mythology. The new “Alien Nation” will likely take place in the Pacific Northwest, and will take place about 20 years after the first ship of aliens – who have been banished as slaves – crash lands into Earth.
By the time the show begins, some time in the 2020s, the alien population has multiplied from a few thousand to 3.5 million. And much of the “newcomers” live their own segregated existence, in what Minear compares to the North African ghettos in France.
Minear also had a couple of comments regarding the feel of the new show:’
“It’s genre mixed with procedural mixed with funny and mixed with big, giant scary,” Minear said. “I love serialized stuff, but this is also a cop franchise. That ‘Starsky and Hutch’/'Lethal Weapon’ buddy cop comedy is absent from TV right now.”
“You can take (the original ‘Alien Nation’) a step forward and really do a show that encompasses the clash of civilizations, and the idea of a ghettoized minority,” he said. “You can touch on racism, terrorism, assimilation, immigration. And there’s room for satire.”
The article goes on to say that this won’t be just a complete rehash of what has come before. They are intending this to be a new and fresh take on the series.
What really has me excited is the idea of a mythology storyline for the series. The X-Files did this in having a storyline about aliens, government cover-ups etc. that was not dealt with every week but rather in just a few episodes per season, having the rest of the episodes be individual stories that don’t necessarily have anything to do with the overall “mythology.” The mythology episodes were what I always looked forward to with every season of The X-Files, so this news gets me very excited for this new take on Alien Nation. The overall concept for this new series seems rather intriguing.
Alien Nation originally was a movie that came out in 1988 that later was developed into a TV series that only lasted one season from 1989-1990. It did, however, spawn five “made-for-TV” movies as well as books and comics. Hopefully this will follow in the footsteps of Battlestar Galactica and give us a riveting new sci-fi TV series.
Lee Sherman said
July 5 2009
This is one of my favorite T.V. shows, and the books are what got me back into reading when I was in middle school. On the one hand I feel sad that such a viable science fiction universe is going to be replaced by a new one, I’m also excited about this reboot. I hope it does it justice.
Dan Geer said
July 5 2009
I actually didn’t watch the movie and only saw the series a few times (or maybe it was the TV movies I saw?), but I remember quite a bit for some reason! Perhaps I should go back and re-watch the movie.
I’m excited for this and the new “V” Series (and also Kenneth Johnson’s new movie version of “V”).
Lee Sherman said
July 6 2009
I don’t think you’re missing much by not seeing the original movie with James Caan and Mandy Potempkin. It’s a textbook example of a great idea poorly realized. The quasi-remake with Gary Graham and Eric Pierpoint (which served as the pilot for the series) retains the best material of the original while adding its own concepts and a mostly original plot. The whole series and the T.V. movies are available in 2 separate D.V.D. sets, which I highly recommend. I don’t know if I can say the same about the books. I loved them when I read them, but I was fairly young at the time, so I don’t know how good they actually were.
Robert Laity said
October 18 2009
Alien Nation is my favorite tv show and i think that bringing it back for a new generation of people is a great idea. Its just a shame that the old cast wont be there but its ok. This show did not get the respect it need years ago.Maybe in todays society it will. Maybe ill start watching tv more.