Product Description

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 04/15/2008 Run time: 447 minutes Rating: Nr

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9725 in DVD
• Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
• Released on: 2008-04-15
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 4755 minutes

Amazon.com
It lasted just one season (1989-90) as a television series, but Alien Nation lives on in the five full-length films released here under the Ultimate Movie Collection banner. Produced between 1994 and ’97, the five made-for-TV movies, all directed by Kenneth Johnson, take up where the series (and the 1988 theatrical feature) left off. A brief preamble provides the backstory: Following the crash of an alien slave ship near Los Angeles, the survivors, a race known as the Tenctonese, have endured a lengthy quarantine and are now assimilating into human society. While these "Newcomers," as they’re known, are essentially humanoid in appearance and behavior, they also have two hearts, remarkable strength, and other characteristics that distinguish them from Earthlings; and like any minority, they suffer the slings and arrows of racism and discrimination, principally at the hands of "purists" who’d like nothing better than to send the alien "slags" back to wherever they came from. Take away the sci-fi trappings, and what we’re left with is a fairly standard police procedural in which human Detective Matt Sikes and his Newcomer partner, George Francisco (with Gary Graham and Eric Pierpoint respectively filling the roles played by James Caan and Mandy Patinkin in the original feature), battle a Tenctonese "overseer" intent on returning his race to slave status ("Dark Horizon"), attempt to sort out the identities of two creatures who appear to be half-human and half-alien ("Body and Soul"), investigate George’s son’s involvement in a criminal cult ("Millennium"), and so on. What distinguishes Alien Nation is its exploration of the various manifestations of human-alien interactions. This is often played for laughs; the Newcomers are given names like "Kenny Bunkport," ""Douglas Fir," and "Carrie Onbag," they dine on such delicacies as "bladder and ligaments," and they have certain sexual proclivities that are decidedly different from ours (Sikes’ romantic involvement with a fetching Newcomer is fodder for misunderstandings that are often amusing and occasionally quite touching). Director Johnson and his cohorts also seem intent on making a Big Statement about race relations, and although the results are sometimes a bit clunky, the set makes for consistently compelling viewing. Extensive bonus features include audio commentary, "making of" featurettes, gag reels, and more. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

Here are the details--
Dark Horizon is on its own disc. The other four movies are on 2 flipper discs--one movie per side. All the movies have a Ken Johnson commentary track. The first four movies have "Making of" featurettes that are a bit dry, but have some great nuggets. The first four also have gag reels. All the movies have a wide of array of stills in a photo gallery.

The last movie's disc side includes a 25-minute reunion taped at Johnson's home in January 2007. Everyone's there except for Sean Six/Buck. It's amazing! I got a warm feeling just watching! It opens with candid meet and greets and sitting down to a meal. They gather in a circle next, and really start to talk. The actors talk about being cast, about make-up, about the movies, and about the reaction from various ethnic groups, among other things. There are some great behind-the-scenes shots from the original series that I've never seen anywhere else.

Dark Horizon is fine, but man, were they hitting on all four cylinders for the second movie--Body and Soul. It features an excellent story and script, a satisfying Matt and Cathy story, and a few twists and turns that you won't expect. Everything that made the series great is on display in the second movie--the comic timing, the chemistry between the actors, the jokes, the names, you name it, it's there--it's like a time machine back to the good old days of the show's weekly run. The last three are just as good--the atmosphere and feeling of the season is there in full force. I wasn't crazy about George's promotion at the end of the original series because it wrecked the detectives' dynamic, but found that they dealt with it very well in the movies for both characters.

Buck and Emily don't have much to do in the first two movies, but they come into their own in the last three. Cathy and Matt's romance evolves beautifully throughout. If you think of the five movies as 10 episodes of Alien Nation--it's like a whole half season.

Pocket put out 8 Alien Nation novels and novelizations back in the day, so we had those to get over the cliffhanger when the complete series set came out a couple of years ago. But that wasn't good enough, frankly. Thank goodness these are on dvd at last! Now we really have the complete series available on dvd.

FINALLY! AS IF WE HAVEN'T WAITED LONG ENOUGH!
I feel that this was another great foul-up on 20th Fox' part, right up on the level of the demise of Joss Whedon's "Firefly", especially Fox leaving A N fans hanging for five years for the resolution of the end-of season cliff-hanger. As "Firefly" has justified its' popularity with the release and massive success of "Serenity" (over a month in the Top Ten), Alien Nation proved itself through the production of FIVE (count 'em, 5) made-for-TV movies that followed.
1. "Dark Horizon"- 1994
2. "Body and Soul"-1995
3. "The Enemy Within"- 1996
4. "Millennium"-1996
5. "The Udara Legacy"-1997
With the industry wasting production resources on so much other second- & third-rate crapola as fills the store shelves these days, I'm glad SOMEONE in the front office at FOX has taken notice and put forth a little effort so all the "Alien Nation" fans haven't had to wait as long for the TV movies as we had for the series.
As with "Firefly", FOX is missing out on a sure thing by not putting both these great programs back into production, instead of wasting resources on so much of the second- & third-rate drivel they are so famous for!

The Alien Nation made-for-TV Movies
This collection can also be referenced on Amazon as: "Alien Nation: The Ultimate Movie Collection [5 Films / 3 DVDs / Television Series]". (I don't know, I'm just trying to find out about this new release.)

Apparently, this is the release of the 5 made-for-TV movies, half of which I missed when they were first aired because Fox doesn't bother to advertise their own productions. (Wonder why Doctor Who failed on Fox?) Anyway, those 5 movies are as follows:

1. Dark Horizon aired 10/25/1994
2. Body and Soul aired 10/10/1995
3. Millennium aired 01/02/1996
4. The Enemy Within aired 11/12/1996
5. The Udara Legacy aired 07/29/1997