History Series / AlienNation

* OddCouple:
** Matt and Cathy.
** More traditionally, Matt and George.

** After Emily had to give up her TV set, she gives her parents some mouthfuls of explicit stuff (It was not translated from Tenctonese and the subtitles contained [[SymbolSwearing random punctuation characters]] instead).

** The Newcomers have great strength, stamina, durability, ability to survive in environments humans can't, extra hearts, and if they overdose on an [[FantasticDrug extraterrestrial]] [[PsychoSerum narcotic]], they transform into [[AxCrazy murderous, supercharged berserkers]]. But they do have a [[WeaksauceWeakness strange weakness]] or two: [[KillItWithWater Water with high salinity burns them like sulphuric acid burns naked mole rats]] and they get [[AlienLunch stinking drunk from sour milk]].
** And in the books it comes up they don't handle cold well at all: evidently their common buyers favored hot, dry worlds and they've been adapted to deserts. This is a minor factor contributing to their continued concentration in Los Angeles.

** In the transition from Movie to TV Series, the actors were recast and the relative ages of of Matthew Sikes and his daughter were changed. George's family grew and his children were aged up with Matt's daughter was aged down to a teenager for the series. Events from the movie, however, were referenced several times in the two-hour Pilot Episode, and some footage was reshot and spliced with footage from the movie for flashbacks, now featuring the younger Matt Sikes of the series in place of James Caan, who played the character in the original movie. When the series was revived in the form of TV Movies, CanonDiscontinuity was again selective: Emily, George's young daughter, was aged up to a teenager while Buck, the older son, didn't seem to age between the series and the first TV movie, nor did Baby Vessna. Additionally, the "bacteria" of the series finale was recast as a virus for the first TV movie. Also, the color of Tenctonese blood was made pink in the TV show and the TV movies, probably to appease censors, whereas it was the same color as human blood in the original movie.

* RussianRoulette: Tenctonese style (George explicitly referred to RussianRoulette, when he described the "game"). In "The Game", they reveal a gruesome "game" from the time of slavery: two Tenctonese sit at opposite and of a rotating machine, that either sprays normal water... Or salt water (which is like hydrochloric acid to the Tenctonese).

* TeacherStudentRomance: Buck and his English teacher start making out near the end of the last episode of the series. This storyline is not continued in the TV-Movies. (It ''is'' addressed in the novelization, however.)

* TitleDrop: When a Tenctonese stole an Overseer mind control gas, she said that "with this, I can control an ''alien nation''."

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The series (1989-1990) takes place from 1995 to 1996 while the TV movies (1994-1997) take place from 1999 to 2000.

** Uncle Moodri accelerates this adaptation until he can ''stand in the ocean'' via his spiritual powers. It is mentioned that all Newcomers (everyone younger, at least) was born on the ship and that they were genetically engineered, except elders like him, who were born on the home planet. So it can very well be, that this weakness to salt water was put into the genome of the slaves to keep them under control, since, probably, there was not much salt water on the ship, so they still could work efficiently as slaves.

* WickedCultured: In ''Dark Horizon'', Ahpossno, the Overseer scout, who wants to bring back the approximately quarter-million Tenctonese to slavery and also enslave all of humanity, likes music and nice house decoration and is highly knowledgeable in his culture.

* InnocentInnuendo: Susan gives George a "hummer", which simply involves her making a humming noise over his back.
** This might be GeniusBonus; as the GRatedSex entry shows, the Tenctonese consider the shoulder blades - on the back - to be an erogenous zone.

* KnightTemplar: a few, such as [[spoiler: the old Newcomer man who hunts down Overseers and kills them]] and [[spoiler: the leader of the binnaums who has those who leave his order killed]]

** "Chekkah" (from the Russian abbreviation "chekkah", a colloquial name for one of the forerunner-organisations of the infamous KGB), an elite Overseer reconnaissance unit. Ahpossno is a memeber of this unit.

** The word word 'miliciya' and means in Tenctonese, like it meant in Russian, "police".

* HalloweenEpisode: A surprisingly scary one. "Tagdot is among us."

* CloudCuckoolander: Albert Einstein.
* ConLang: Tenctonese (in reality, not in-universe).

** Prejudice toward Newcomers is quite like the experience of Human immigrants, alongside general difficulties they have in US society assimilating. Matt compares the Purists objections to Newcomer children in US schools with racism toward black people openly and shames them. An African-American scholar is also writing a book on the Newcomers' experience as slaves before, precisely because it reminds him of black slavery.

* BizarreAlienBiology: The basis for 1/4 of the show's humor. Newcomers can't get near saltwater, it's like taking a bath in battery acid for them. They blink when they sneeze. Partway through a pregnancy, the female transfers the natal pod to the male. Instead of getting headaches, their feet swell when under stress. Their bodies cannot process cooked meat proteins (they can eat it, but they don't get anything out of it), so they eat their food raw. The also have a nerve cluster under their arms that produces the same effect as a GroinAttack on a human.

%%* AlienLunch

%%* AppliedPhlebotinum

%%* BuddyCopShow

%%* ByTheBookCop: George Francisco.

%%* ComeAlone

%%* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Buck. So much.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Prejudice toward Newcomers is quite like the experience of Human immigrants, alongside general difficulties they have in US society assimilating. Matt compares the Purists objections to Newcomer children in US schools with racism toward black people openly and shames them. An African-American scholar is also writing a book on the Newcomers' experience as slaves before, precisely because it reminds him of black slavery.

** In the transition from Movie to TV Series, the actors were recast and the ages of relative ages of Matthew Sikes and his daughter were changed. George's family grew and his children were aged up with Matt's daughter was aged down to a teenager for the series. Events from the movie, however, were referenced several times in the two-hour Pilot Episode, and some footage was reshot and spliced with footage from the movie for flashbacks, now featuring the younger Matt Sikes of the series in place of James Caan, who played the character in the original movie. When the series was revived in the form of TV Movies, CanonDiscontinuity was again selective: Emily, George's young daughter, was aged up to a teenager while Buck, the older son, didn't seem to age between the series and the first TV movie, nor did Baby Vessna. Additionally, the "bacteria" of the series finale was recast as a virus for the first TV movie. Also, the color of Tenctonese blood was made pink in the TV show and the TV movies, probably to appease censors, whereas it was the same color as human blood in the original movie.

* ShamingTheMob: In the pilot, when a group of 'concerned parents' tries to keep Emily out of her school, Sikes lets them all have it. This may be one of the first times Sikes himself treats a Newcomer with any respect, but he does have limits. The video is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0tqK8DDjGU here.]] Following the verbal smackdown, Sikes asks them all, "Aren't you ashamed of yourselves? Aren't you?" [[spoiler: A black protester, of age to have seen racial integration of public schools first hand, can't answer.]]

* HollywoodLaw: Buck gets probation for killing someone in self-defense, as part of a deal where he pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter. However, the judge's voiceover states the ''prosecution'' presented evidence he'd acted in self-defense. If that was the case, they shouldn't have pressed charges at all, since it's an affirmative defense (i.e. one which shows the alleged act was not criminal) and if they still did the court shouldn've dismissed the case or refused to accept the deal.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: During a crisis (Purists trying to annihilate the Tenctonese with a bio-weapon), George says, that he "can't sit around in the hospital [where his wife and daughter are, due to said virus] with Moby Dick in his hand". [[DontExplainTheJoke Sikes doesn't need an explanation.]]
** Susan once said, that she 'feels like an old screw' [[BluntMetaphorsTrauma (the right expression would be "like an old shoe")]]. In the same TV movie, Emily said "no duh", after her mother stated something extremely obvious.

''Alien Nation'' is a BuddyCopShow with a SitCom twist: the minority partner is a space alien. A human detective named Matthew Sikes is partnered with an alien immigrant named George Francisco to solve crimes arising from the uneasy relationship between the "Newcomers" and their human neighbors. The television series, based on the film ''Film/AlienNation'', lasted for 22 episodes from September, 1989 to May, 1990. Five television movies were later produced, released between 1994 and 1997.

* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Buck. So much.

* DontYouLikeIt: Inverted: If you give flowers to the Tenctonese make sure the roots are intact. Dying flowers are unpleasant.

* ExoticEquipment: Newcomer genitals.

* FauxAffablyEvil: [[spoiler:Jennifer]] in the third TV movie.

* GratuitousRussian: A few "Tenctonese" words are obviously derived from Russian, such as
** "jabluka" (after the Russian word "jabloko", meaning "apple"), the horrible Tenctonese drug from the pilot movie (It is spelled ''jabrokah'' in the novels, though.)
** "Gruza", the name of the slave ship (after the Russian word "gruz", meaning "cargo". "Cargo" is an Overseer slur referring to Tenctonese under their control)
** "serdso" (after the Russian word "serdcе", meaning "heart"), a religious object of the Tenctonese. Tenctonese believe that their souls leave their bodies in their sleep and that a serdso guides them back.
** "bardok" (from the Russian word "bardak", meaning "disorder"), rosto (from the Russian word "rost", meaning "growth [in height]") and "yunost" (from the Russian word "yunost'", meaning "youth", probably a nod at the fact, that a certain Tenctonese organ has an rejuvenating effect, when implanted in humans), enzymes from the Tenctonese metabolism.

** The word word 'miliciya' and means in Tenctonese, like it meant in Russian, "police"

* HappilyMarried: George and Susan

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: A lot of them are racist towards the Newcomers.

* LovePotion: The Sardonac drug.

* RidiculousFutureSequelisation: A common gag.

* SuperStrength: The Newcomers were bred for it.

* TheDreaded: [[spoiler:Chorboke]], who was thought to have died on Earth.
* TheyWalkAmongUs

* MulticulturalAlienPlanet: The Tenctonese don't have a single all-encompassing culture. In the pilot, for example, Matthew Sikes is initially shocked to discover that his alien neighbor Cathy follows a different religion than that followed by his alien partner George (and George's family), even asking, "You mean you all have different religions?" To the credit of both the character and the writers, Sikes '''''immediately''''' lampshades how ridiculous that question is by saying, "Well, of course. Why not?"

* PlanetOfHats: {{Discussed}} and {{zigzagged}}. The Tectonese all speak the same language and share some customs, though this isn't surprising since they all came from one ship. However, they don't all have the same religion. Matt was suprrised at this initially, though he then [[LampshadeHanging admits it shouldn't]]: after all, humans aren't monolithic.

* AlienLunch

* AppliedPhlebotinum

* BuddyCopShow

* ByTheBookCop: George Francisco.

* ComeAlone

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Sikes is killed by a Newcomer robbing a convenience store, but suddenly, after a vision of the robber touching his chest, Sikes comes back to life. George gives him an alternate medical explanation, but Sikes thinks the robber has some sort of mystical powers. When they catch the robber, he portrays himself as a combination Messianic figure/Robin Hood out to save the world, and offers to show Sikes his powers. Unusually for this trope, by the end of the episode one of the explanations is disproved [[spoiler: the robber had no mystical powers, he was just trying to get a chance to escape]] we aren't given any sort of conclusive answer, aside from the rather lackluster medical explanation.

* PoliceProcedural: With a twist.
* PowerOfLove
* PunBasedTitle

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: The Udara.

** In the transition from Movie to TV Series, the actors were recast and the ages of relative ages of Matthew Sikes and his daughter were changed. George's family grew and his children were aged up with Matt's daughter was aged down to a teenager for the series. Events from the movie, however, were referenced several times in the two-hour Pilot Episode, and some footage was reshot and spliced with footage from the movie for flashbacks, now featuring the younger Matt Sikes of the series in place of James Caan, who played the character in the original movie. When the series was revived in the form of TV Movies, CanonDiscontinuity was again selective: Emily, George's young daughter, was aged up to a teenager while Buck, the older son, didn't seem to age between the series and the first TV movie, nor did Baby Vessna. Additionally, the "bacteria" of the series finale was recast as a virus for the first TV movie. These discrepancies can only be solved by the application of the LiteraryAgentHypothesis. Also, the color of Tenctonese blood was made pink in the TV show and the TV movies, probably to appease censors, whereas it was the same color as human blood in the original movie.

* RubberForeheadAliens

* AlternateHistory: Because the aliens landed TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture when the original movie was made, by the time of some of the later episodes and movies of the series, technology has progressed very differently. In the most recent one, the internet and interaction technology have obviously taken huge leaps forward, but everyone was still using CRT monitors well after most of the "real" world had switched to flatscreen.
** Also, apparently the ERA passed at some point and Puerto Rico is a US state.
* TheAlternet: The Optinet in the TV movies that presumably take place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture from the 1990s, when more "futuristic" technology shows up. It looked like graphical MS-DOS.

* CardCarryingVillain: Many former Overseers were portrayed in the series as [[EatsBabies baby-eating monsters]], and few have regrets about their past (or present) misdeeds.
** While uncommon, penitent Overseers do exist. In one episode, George speaks with a penitent former Overseer who wears a headscarf to indicate her atoning status.

** Special notice must be given to "The Enemy Within," the fourth movie, which deals with the FantasticRacism the Newcomers feel towards the Eenos, an untouchable class of Newcomers. The Eenos were the ones given the most disgusting jobs on the slaveship, such as to do with wastes and the dead. The other Newcomers like to believe that there is something dirty about the Eenos themselves, rather than admit that they would have done the same things if forced to by their slavemasters.

* {{Retcon}}: In the transition from Movie to TV Series, the actors were recast and the ages of relative ages of Matthew Sikes and his daughter were changed. George's family grew and his children were aged up with Matt's daughter was aged down to a teenager for the series. Events from the movie, however, were referenced several times in the two-hour Pilot Episode, and some footage was reshot and spliced with footage from the movie for flashbacks, now featuring the younger Matt Sikes of the series in place of James Caan, who played the character in the original movie. When the series was revived in the form of TV Movies, CanonDiscontinuity was again selective: Emily, George's young daughter, was aged up to a teenager while Buck, the older son, didn't seem to age between the series and the first TV movie, nor did Baby Vessna. Additionally, the "bacteria" of the series finale was recast as a virus for the first TV movie. These discrepancies can only be solved by the application of the LiteraryAgentHypothesis. Also, the color of Tenctonese blood was made pink in the TV show and the TV movies, probably to appease censors, whereas it was the same color as human blood in the original movie.

* RussianRoulette: Tenctonese style (George explicitly referred to RussianRoulette, when he described the "game"). In episode 10, they reveal a gruesome "game" from the time of slavery: Two Tenctonese sit at opposite and of a rotating machine, that either sprays normal water... Or salt water (like hydrochloric acid to Tenctonese).

* TooDumbToLive: who tries to seduce Emily in ''Millennium''. This is idiotic to begin with, given that sexually experienced inter-species couples need months of classes to have sex safely. But wait, it gets better. After getting her to come to his house, he goes to the next room to have a phone conversation in which he brags about how he's going to "shag the slag". Emily, like all Newcomers, has superhuman hearing. Oops. But the kicker? After she finds out what he's up to, he assaults her, despite the fact that A: she has superstrength, and B: her ''father is a cop''.