History Film / AlienNation

* BerserkButton: When George finds out a certain FantasticDrug is involved, he goes into full CowboyCop ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight because [[AnythingButThat there no way in Hell he's going to allow]] ''[[AnythingButThat that]]'' [[AnythingButThat drug to resurface]], ever.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
** Like ''Film/{{Coneheads}}'', ''Alien Nation'' is a parable for the immigrant experience.
** There was a lot of mystery about the race that kept the Newcomers enslaved. Eventually, we finally find out who the Overseers are [[spoiler: and they're just a race of Newcomers that enslaved the rest of them, physically identical and presumably from the same planet.]]

''Alien Nation'' a 1988 Neo-{{Noir}} ScienceFiction film, written by Rockne S. O'Bannon (''Series/{{Farscape}}'', ''Series/SeaQuestDSV'', ''Series/{{Defiance}}'') and starring Creator/JamesCaan and Creator/MandyPatinkin.

%%* AlienLunch
%%* AppliedPhlebotinum

%%* BrakeAngrily
%%* BuddyCopShow

* DeadPartner: Bill Tuggle.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Like ''Film/{{Coneheads}}'', ''Alien Nation'' is a parable for the immigrant experience.
* DrugsAreBad: The Newcomers' former alien overlords kept them under control by feeding them a blue substance. Sam/George Francisco keeps this a secret from his human buddy-cop partner because he fears what humanity would do to the Newcomers if we ever found out they were a bunch of drug addicts. Near the end of the movie, a rogue Newcomer consumes an entire giant tube full of the concentrated drug and [[spoiler:turns into a mutated rampaging monster.]]

* WeddingFinale: The movie ends with the protagonist walking with his bridge to the altar.

It's essentially a [[BuddyCopShow Buddy Cop movie]] with a {{Sitcom}} twist: the minority partner is a space alien, part of a ship of "Newcomers" who ended up on Earth when the slave ship they were being transported on crash-landed. After Det. Matthew Sykes' (Caan) partner is killed in a shootout, he is partnered with Sam Francisco (Patinkin), the first Newcomer detective (whom he insists on calling "George"). While investigating the death of Sykes' partner, they uncover a dangerous Newcomer drug.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alien-nation-movie_9098.jpg]]

It's essentially a [[BuddyCopShow Buddy Cop movie]] with a {{Sitcom}} twist, : the minority partner is a space alien, part of a ship of "Newcomers" who ended up on Earth when the slave ship they were being transported on crash-landed. After Det. Matthew Sykes' (Caan) partner is killed in a shootout, he is partnered with Sam Francisco (Patinkin), the first Newcomer detective (whom he insists on calling "George"). While investigating the death of Sykes' partner, they uncover a dangerous Newcomer drug.

''Alien Nation'' (1988) is a [[BuddyCopShow Buddy Cop movie]] with a {{Sitcom}} twist, written by Rockne S. O'Bannon (''Series/{{Farscape}}'', ''Series/SeaQuestDSV'', ''Series/{{Defiance}}''): the minority partner is a space alien, part of a ship of "Newcomers" who ended up on Earth when the slave ship they were being transported on crash-landed. After Det. Matthew Sykes' partner is killed in a shootout, he is partnered with Sam Francisco (whom he insists on calling "George"), the first Newcomer detective. While investigating the death of Sykes' partner, they uncover a dangerous Newcomer drug.

The film was adapted into the 1989 TV series ''Series/AlienNation'', which lasted for one season and five TV movies.

* ForeignCussWord: Inverted, in that in the Tenctonese language, "Sykes" roughly translates as "excrement cranium" ("shithead"). However, it's pronounced differently ("see-ikes") than his name is normally pronounced ("sikes").

* NoBiochemicalBarriers: The Newcomers may eat weird stuff, like raw beaver, but it's all Earth-originated. Played straight with intoxicants - while humans and Tenctonese can attempt to ingest the others' intoxicants, the intoxicating effects only work on one species. (Obviously, humans have sampled sour milk before and want no part of it.)

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Released in 1988, it takes place in 1991.

* GagPenis: When Sam encounters a condom and learns its function, he asks quizzically twice "And it still fits?". Apparently the aliens have BiggusDickus (or TeenieWeenie).

* GagPenis: When Sam encounters a condom and learns its function, he asks quizzically twice "And it still fits?". Apparently the aliens have BiggusDickus.

''Alien Nation'' (1988) is a [[BuddyCopShow Buddy Cop movie]] with a {{Sitcom}} twist: the minority partner is a space alien, part of a ship of "Newcomers" who ended up on Earth when the slave ship they were being transported on crash-landed. After Det. Matthew Sykes' partner is killed in a shootout, he is partnered with Sam Francisco (whom he insists on calling "George"), the first Newcomer detective. While investigating the death of Sykes' partner, they uncover a dangerous Newcomer drug.

* GagPenis: When Sam encounters a condom and learns its function, he asks quizzically twice "And it fits?" This can either mean aliens have BiggusDickus or TeenyWeenie.

* WeaksauceWeakness: Newcomer flesh dissolves on contact with ''[[KillItWithWater salt water]].''

* BulletProofVest: Subverted- Sykes' partner has one, but leaves it in the trunk of their car. As such, it doesn't help at all during the armed robbery.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Released in 1988, it represents the 1990's.

* BiggerIsBetterInBed: Sam expresses amazement that human condoms are so small, implying that males of his people are on average far more well-endowed.

* AlienLunch
* AppliedPhlebotinum

* BrakeAngrily
* BuddyCopShow

** Obviously, some humans resent the Tenctonese. Some of them are called Purists and untertake militant actions and political subterfuge against the aliens. But the Tenctonese also harbor FantasticRacism against the Eenos, a caste of waste extraction workers whom they consider a subspecies. Even on Earth, the Eenos continue to work in sewage processing.

* MadeASlave: One of the big reveals in the last TV movie. [[spoiler: The Tenctonese are not a SlaveRace, but a race that has a slave caste. The vast majority of Tenctonese who became Newcomers on Earth were part of the slave caste... but not all of them.]]

* {{Novelization}}: By Creator/AlanDeanFoster, and expanded on the BackStory.

* PoliceProcedural: With a twist.

* {{Weird Crossover}}: The {{Expanded Universe}} comic miniseries ''Ape Nation'' is a crossover with ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes''. The premise is that the Tenctonese slave ship was sucked into a black hole and arrived on the ape-dominated Earth in the future, landing in the Forbidden Zone. Caan, the captain of the Newcomer ship, has conquest in mind and is opposed by his brother Danada who enters into an alliance with the gorilla General Ollo and a human named Simon, who has the ability to speak. Another major character in the miniseries is named Heston.

* GodzillaThreshhold: InUniverse, the BigBad overdoses on the FantasticDrug intentionally. He's quite pissed off, explaining that he had no choice. (In the film, he's unable to speak.)

* AlienAmongUs: The Tenctonese[=/=]Newcomers are refugees and slaves. In this case it was over 250,000 aliens, who form their own community in Los Angeles. Therefore the cultural misunderstandings went both ways, as humans learned to deal with odd newcomer traditions.