Alien Nation

1988
R
1h 31m

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

17K

YOUR RATING

Home Video Trailer from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

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1 Video

63 Photos

Dark Comedy Action Sci-Fi

In 1988, Earth makes the first contact with an alien civilization. In 1991, these aliens, known as Newcomers, slowly begin to be integrated into human society after three years of quarantine... Read allIn 1988, Earth makes the first contact with an alien civilization. In 1991, these aliens, known as Newcomers, slowly begin to be integrated into human society after three years of quarantine.In 1988, Earth makes the first contact with an alien civilization. In 1991, these aliens, known as Newcomers, slowly begin to be integrated into human society after three years of quarantine.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

17K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 4 nominations total

Trivia
Sam Francisco (Mandy Patinkin) was originally going to be named George Jetson, but Hanna-Barbera wouldn't give the rights to the name. The decision to call his character "George" in the movie was kept as an in-joke to the George Jetson character name.

Goofs
When George is hanging outside the helicopter, above the water surface, he should be screaming in pain since the rotor-blades would whip up a pretty dense cloud of seawater, thus he would be injured since his race is extremely sensitive against seawater, as pointed out by Joshua Strader, and William Harcourt in the end scene, their bodies react to it as we would to sulfuric acid, as referenced in the movie.

Quotes
[after hearing some derisive comments about Sykes partner avoiding the beach]
Det. Sgt. Matthew Sykes: Why don't you try standing next to an ocean of hydrochloric acid and see how well you surf.

Alternate versions
In UK cinemas, 2 versions were shown in different cinemas. In some cinemas, certain Newcomer native dialogue was subtitled into English and in others it was not. This happens most notably in the scene where George and the morgue attendant discuss the Newcomer corpse and recognise aspects of the body as representing the drug addiction. Also a short dialogue between Harcourt and Kipling after Harcourt first meets George and Matt where Kipling tells Harcourt that Sykes was the policeman in the shootout at the film's opening.

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Alien Nation/Elvira: Mistress of the Dark/Imagine: John Lennon/Salaam Bombay/Track 29 (1988)

Soundtracks
You've Really Got a Hold on Me
Written by Smokey Robinson (as William Robinson)
Performed by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (as Smokey Robinson and The Miracles)
Courtesy of Motown Record Company, L.P.

User reviews73

Review

Featured review

7/10

Caan

I just love anything James Caan is in so I decided to give this one a try, and boy was I glad that I did. Mandy Pantikin also did a nice job on the film,, and i'm a big Terrence Stamp fan so I enjoyed the acting,, the premise was excellent to,,, I graduated the year this came out but never got around to seeing it till much later., so the story goes that Caan has to take on a partner,, well he's sorta an alien and Caan resents that and has arguments and bickers with him constantly but eventually the learn to work together get along and eventually become good friends, they go up against some bad guy aliens who wish to do harm to the human race as they are selling some kind of drug that has deadly outcomes for those that inject it,, I think that this movie was ahead of it's time.. a great movie for sci fi lover's and James Caan as well. I was not disappointed whatsoever.