Complete Monster: William Harcourt poses as a philanthropic businessman but is in truth a sadistic crime lord arranging murders on his partners as not to share the profits of his drug Jakorba, which he intends to distribute to enslave many of his own people as workers and steal their minds. Harcourt has one such businessman who won't assist him thrown into the ocean, a horrific fate he reserves only for his own race since saltwater is like acid to them. Later taking the drug to avoid capture, Harcourt murders several police officers before going on a violent rampage.
The TV Series
Adaptation Displacement: The TV series overshadowed the film, which was released a few years earlier and had an anonymous run in theaters.
"The Game": Koulak, a sadistic Overseer guard, is infamous for having created a special "game." Since salt is corrosive to the skin of his species, Koulak designs a device that randomly fires out steam, water or salt water, forcing "players" to press buttons that blast them, with none knowing what will hit them until it's too late. Reveling in his authority, Koulak frequently taunted the series's hero, George, then known as Stangya, with the knowledge his turn would come to join the game, even selecting George's brother to play, resulting in his death. Upon the arrival on Earth, Koulak becomes a crime boss who continues his game in illegal underground betting rings, forcing those who owe him money to play, or just abducting others off the streets. In a series focusing on tolerance and equality, Koulak stands apart as the darkest the Overlords had to offer.
Body and Soul: In this Made-for-TV Movie, Chorboke, The Keeper Of Hell or The Dark One, was a Mad Scientist who is sadistic, even by the standards of the Overseers. Seeking to create the "perfect slave", Chorboke killed thousands on his operating tables. After the Day of Descent, Chorboke was thought dead, but participated in a secret government program and escaped after murdering the head of the program and using plastic surgery to steal his identity. Continuing his surgeries, Chorboke murders any connection to him and attempts to test Tectonese weapons to sell them to the highest bidder, not caring that these could be magnitudes deadlier than the atomic bomb. When he and George end up in mortal combat, Chorboke sneers that his one regret is he was never able to subject George to his table like so many other innocent victims.
Fridge Horror: More than likely, the Overseers are going to come for their former slaves sooner or later. Who's to say that they won't decide to subject humans to the same fate as the Newcomers?
This was the plot of the first TV-movie, and was only averted when the advance leader, Ahpossno, realized that he had repaid kindness the Earth-bound Newcomers had shown him with treachery and deceit, and they had in turn ensured he would never live to see the enslavement of Earth.
In the series, there was an episode where overseers tried to contact a probe that came looking for them. They missed, but it was damn close. The overseer who tried to do this explicitly referred to the human population as cargo, just like to the Tenctonese, so the overseers WILL try to kidnap all the humans as slaves.
However, in "Dark Horizon," Ahpossno returns to the Overseers' fleet almost dead as a result of the disease George infected him with. He essentially does a Heel–Face Turn and with his last breath tells the Overseers to stay away from Earth because the Newcomers are all dead from the disease. So it seems unlikely they'll show up.
Even more so, one of the Overseers are shown picking up the item that had been infected after Ahpossno drops it as he dies. There's a good chance that it may in fact be still infected and likely to spread, and possibly leading to the Overseers being completely wiped out. So, dead or alive, they're not showing up to Earth.
Hilarious in Hindsight: In "Fifteen with Wanda," George tells Matt that he, George, is not doing well at parenting. He picks up a book and says, "And this 'Mister Spock' book is no help!" "It's Doctor Spock," Matt says. "Mister Spock is one of you guys." Gary Graham went on to play Vulcan Ambassador Soval in Star Trek: Enterprise, so Mr. Spock is actually one of his guys.
Speaking of Enterprise, both actors will appear with Gary Graham (Matt) playing the stoic Vulcan and Eric Pierpont (George) playing a rogue Section 31 agent.
District 9 can be seen as a Darker and Edgier take on the show — what if the aliens were insectoid, not humanoid?
Bright is a serious, Urban Fantasy version of the show, right down to the Los Angeles setting and the human/non-human buddy cop duo as the main protagonists.
Values Resonance: Given its immigration themes, the show would be more relevant than ever if it aired today.
Complete Monster: The self-proclaimed "Danada the Destroyer" is a treacherous and ambitious Tenctonese and the brother of Caan and Elysa. Danada starts a coup where he usurps his brother, locks him up, and plans to have him executed. Danada forms an unholy alliance with the vicious General Ollo and the traitorous Simon in a plot to destroy Ape City and conquer the world. He leads a murderous horde that wipes out countless villages and towns, slaying anyone in their path while scorching their home. Both Ollo and Danada betray Simon by ordering he be killed once he becomes a problem, and when Danada gets sick of Ollo's criticism and threats, he orders the latter killed as well. Once at the mercy of his sister and the ape Heston, Danada cowardly tries to claim Ollo is solely the one behind the invasion to save his own skin.
