History Series / AlienNation

* AlienFoodIsEdible: The Newcomers may eat weird stuff, like raw beaver and wood chips, but it's all Earth-originated.

* NoBiochemicalBarriers: The Newcomers may eat weird stuff, like raw beaver and wood chips, but it's all Earth-originated.

* CultureClash: Much of th drama is produced by many differences Newcomers have with Humans. As just one example, they are very frank and open about sex (possibly because their reproduction needs a [[BizarreAlienReproduction third party catalyst]]) and have no homophobia (although it's more of an InformedAttribute as gay Newcomers only briefly appear).

** In ''Body And Soul'' George is a huge admirer of a Newcomer physician who created a cure for diabetes and gushes on meeting with her. [[spoiler:Then it turns she's a notorious Overseer who performed all kinds of experiments on the slaves as assistant to an even worse MadDoctor. Her daughter says she became [[TheAtoner remorseful and this is why she created the cure]], but George says he would have strangled her if he'd known.]]

** In ''Body And Soul'' George is a huge admirer of a Newcomer physician who created a cure for diabetes and gushes on meeting with her. [[spoiler:Then it turns she's a notorious Overseer who performed all kinds of experiments on the slaves as assistant to an even worse MadDoctor. Her daughter says she became [[TheAtoner remorseful and this is why she created the cure]], but George says he would have strangled her if he'd known.

** Purists who meet similar unfortunate ends at the hands of other humans, former slaves, or Kleezantsun also engender little sympathy from others.

* AssholeVictim: Many of the Kleezantsun (Overseers) who survive and meet an unfortunate end of some sort on Earth at the hands of the people they enslaved qualify for this.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Betsy Ross is a successful entrepreneur and pillar of the Newcomer community. In fact, she's a ruthless drug kingpin. But the real kicker is that she's one of the Overseers.

* DeathWorld: Earth is practically one of these for the Tenctonese; see the explanation for Weaksauce Weakness.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: In ''The Udara Legacy'', the Udara, a resistance movement against the Overseers during enslavement, who used any means necessary, up to and including creating sleeper agents (many of whom were children).

* AssholeVictim: Many of the Kleezantsun (Overseers) who survive and meet an unfortunate end of some sort on Earth at the hands of the people they enslaved qualify.

* DrunkOnMilk: The trope codifier. Tectonese get drunk on sour milk (which is lactic acid), but not on alcohol, of any kind. Sikes always has sour milk on hand for George when he pops by (but Sikes being a bachelor its not very difficult). Since alcohol has no effect on Tectonese, they consider it more of a children's drink - with George and Susan suggesting Emily have a beer instead of sour milk.

* FinalSolution: ''Dark Horizon'', the first movie sequel, has a Purist group create a bioweapon to kill all Newcomers. Thankfully they only manage to infect a few (with all surviving) before they're stopped.

* DrunkOnMilk: The trope codifier. Tectonese get drunk on sour milk (which is lactic acid), but not on alcohol, of any kind. Sikes always has sour milk on hand for George when he pops by (but Sikes being a bachelor its not very difficult)

* NotImportantToThisEpisodeCamp: According to the producers Baby Vessna was at daycare after every film since Dark Horizon (except when we saw her in a kind of cocoon).

* BrokenPedestal: [[spoiler: The cop who taught Matt in the force]] frames George for stealing drugs. And of course, RedemptionEqualsDeath.

* DefusingTheTykebomb: Susan does this to [[spoiler:Emily, just in the nick of time]]

* AlienAmongUs: The Tenctonese[=/=]Newcomers are refugees and slaves. In this case it was over 100,000 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.

* AppliedPhlebotinum: Much of the show's resolutions depend on BizarreAlienBiology or the use of some forgotten bit of alien technology like the mind-control gas.

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

* DefusingTheTykebomb: Susan does this to [[spoiler: Emily, just in the nick of time]]

As the story goes, at some point [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture in the early 1990s]], a malfunctioning starship loaded with a population of 250,000 alien slave laborers landed in the desert outside Los Angeles. The Newcomers (their real name is the Tenctonese) were remarkably adaptable to new information and environments. They are extremely strong and can learn quickly. They become intoxicated from [[AlienCatnip spoiled milk]], and [[KillItWithWater their flesh burns when exposed to seawater]]. These ex-slaves were gradually integrated into human society (and the overseers were jailed).

** The kicker of the pilot is that an Overseer conspiracy is responsible for the death of Sikes' previous partner. While the Overseers do show up later in the series, they have nowhere near the level of power implied by the pilot, nor is murdering Sikes' partner ever brought up again.

* ChildSoldiers / {{Tykebomb}}: The Udara "seeded" sleeper agents to fight the Overseers during slavery, many of whom were children, including [[spoiler: Emily]].

As the story goes, at some point [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture in the early 1990s]], a malfunctioning starship loaded with a population of 250,000 alien slave laborers landed in the desert outside Los Angeles. The Newcomers (their real name is the Tenctonese) were remarkably adaptable to new information and environments. They are extremely strong and can learn quickly. They become intoxicated from [[AlienCatnip spoiled milk]], and [[KillItWithWater their flesh burns when exposed to seawater]]. These ex-slaves were integrated into human society (and the overseers were jailed).

The Newcomers had two personal names, the one that they were given by their parents or former masters, and an "Earth name" handed out by the immigration service. With 250,000 names to distribute, and some of the officials apparently acting out of petty malice, some of the names are demeaning jokes at the Newcomers' expense. George's name was originally "Sam Francisco", but he changed it at Matt's request. Other odd Newcomer names: "Dallas Fort-Worth", "Amos N. Andy", "Polly Wannacracker", "Thomas and Alva Edison".

Matt himself is initially very bigoted towards Newcomers, but as is typical for such a plot, he learns to accept his new partner. He even ends up in a [[InterspeciesRomance serious relationship with a Newcomer woman, Cathy Frankel]].

As the story goes, at some point [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture in the early 1990s]], a malfunctioning starship loaded with a population of 250,000 alien slave laborers landed in the desert outside Los Angeles. The Newcomers (their real name is the Tenctonese) were remarkably adaptable to new information and environments. They are extremely strong and can learn quickly. They become intoxicated from [[AlienCatnip spoiled milk]], and [[KillItWithWater their flesh burns when exposed to seawater]].

* CharacterDevelopment: Sikes initially starts out with some pretty deep seated prejudice towards the Newcomers. Over the course of the series and movies he comes to understand them much better, overcomes his initial issues and eventually ends up in a relationship with one.

* DrunkOnMilk: The trope codifier. Tectonese get drunk on sour milk (which is lactic acid), but not on alcohol, of any kind.

* ButICantBePregnant: In the ExpandedUniverse novel ''Cross of Blood'', Tenctonese Cathy Frankel turned out to be pregnant. This came as a shock to her human boyfriend Detective Matt Sikes, because among the Tenctonese, pregnancy can only occur when the female is inseminated by a "third" gender or "catalyst." It is later discovered that, due to their genetic adaptability, a Human/Tenctonese pairing can result in pregnancy. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, [[TearJerker Matt and Cathy's child was unable to survive after being born, due to her mixed genetics]].]]

** The Tenctonese aren't necessarily any better and [[NotSoDifferent the racism not only goes both ways, but exists within their own species.]]

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Although they don't wear [[PuttingOnTheReich Nazi-style paramilitary uniforms]], Purist rhetoric is very reminiscent of Nazism. They express fear of being outbred by the Newcomers (given their far shorter reproductive cycle), start with "only" demanding they be kept separate from humans and denied all civil rights (as the Nuremberg laws did to Jews, although it invoked Jim Crow legislation as well, which inspired them) before soon graduating into attempting genocide by creating a bioweapon. In one episode when they George goes to a Purist group's headquarters, they have flags hanging in a very similar manner to the Nazis'.

* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: The Overseers have ships capable of interstellar flight plus some communications crossing an equal distance and weaponry which judging by their discussion dwarfs modern humans' capabilities. However, they still use slaves for things like mining and domestic work. They genetically engineered slaves for strength, but still apparently didn't realize that investing in unthinking automated machines to do this might be a better idea, as there are explicitly slave revolts/resistance despite a mind control gas they use.