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Culturegasm: [Closed] The movie is 'Alien Nation'.

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      CommentAuthorMonk.Eastman
    • CommentTimeMay 25th 2008 edited
     (2360.1)
    1988.

    I am not discussing the TV show (which was a hot steaming pile of mediocrity).

    I am discussing the movie, which had a nice noir beat to it.

    I've not seen a first contact movie like this since it came out.

    Alternate history: some time during the Reagan era, an alien slave ship landed. They were taken in, and as the movie starts, largely live in a Los Angeles slum called 'Slagtown', as they have not normalized relations with mainstream American society. They are smarter, faster, and stronger than us. They get drunk off sour milk. They burn from salt water.

    Their first police office to make detective grade is named Sam Francisco.

    And his partner is James Caan.

    And they are hunting a cop-killer.

    And the main villain is Terrence Stamp.

    It's a good flick.

    And as far as speculative fiction, it is still a great piece.

    Thoughts?

    Parallel suggestions?
    • CommentAuthortmofee
    • CommentTimeMay 25th 2008
     (2360.2)
    I can't remember the movie, but I do remember an episode of the show where they played Russian Roulette with a salt water machine.
  3.  (2360.3)
    That movie had a great deal of potential. The concept, a highly adaptive alien culture as immigrants, was really fun. I'm recalling it kind of meandered a bit story-wise (superdrugs and James Caan shoulder-acting) but some of the imagery, alien hookers on LA street corners, was pretty damn cool.

    Neill Blomkamp did a short film called "Alive in Joburg" along simliar lines. Aliens land in apartheid era South Africa, become part of the community and a new kind of outcasts.



    Blomkamp is associated most with the Halo movie. Someone needs to give him a damn film contract.
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      CommentAuthoroldhat
    • CommentTimeMay 26th 2008 edited
     (2360.4)
    @Orwellseyes That was pure awesome.

    I remember flipping through the idiot box and coming across this movie. From what I saw, it seemed really interesting. What I remember enjoying was the alien immigration issue that the planet was having.
  5.  (2360.5)
    orweelseyes

    That was fucking nice.

    But kind of disturbing given the present climate in South Africa today.
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      CommentAuthorJoe Paoli
    • CommentTimeMay 26th 2008
     (2360.6)
    I have opposite impressions; I found the concept interesting, but the movie underwhelming and the TV show to be better.

    The film was a pretty standard buddy-cop action film with SF elements thrown in. It wasn't even an exemplary buddy cop action film. Without the SF it didn't really have much going for it IMO.

    In the show was where they got to explore the culture and a lot of issues about assimilation, other biology, and the like. I found the quality level of the writing and drama about the same as Star Trek: The Next Generation - which was still on the air at the time.
  7.  (2360.7)
    I have all of the movies and the series on DVD. It's probably some of my favorite SF.
    I almost wish they would bring it back, or remake it. It dealt with a lot of cultural issues, mainly racism, slavery and inter-species relationships.
  8.  (2360.8)
    Joe Paoli

    It was the first movie I saw that approached the metaphor of 'alienness' on such a street level—and so literally. The TV show was good for what it was, but it was somewhat toothless given the medium: no cursing, limited violence, limited impact.
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      CommentAuthorJoe Paoli
    • CommentTimeMay 26th 2008
     (2360.9)
    @Monk.Eastman
    It was the first movie I saw that approached the metaphor of 'alienness' on such a street level—and so literally. The TV show was good for what it was, but it was somewhat toothless given the medium: no cursing, limited violence, limited impact.
    I haven't seen the movie since I caught it during its theatrical release and could probably do with a rewatch, but after all these years, the impression I was left with was potential unreached.
    • CommentAuthorjohnmuth
    • CommentTimeMay 26th 2008
     (2360.10)
    I just remember that the aliens erogenous zone was the side of their hip, and once James Caan kicked and alien, where his balls ought to have been with no response, and his partner grabbed the guy's hip and he reacted appropriately...

    Not sure what that says about me.

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