MovieChat Forums > Alien Nation (1989) Discussion > One thing I found unrealistic

One thing I found unrealistic


As indicated in the series and in Dark Horizons, there was a cognizable threat that the overseers (or whomever owned the slaves) would come in search of their property. It was obvious that these guys had superior technology to us earthlings, and could easily destroy and/or enslave us if they ever found earth.

I would think if an alien slave ship crash-landed on earth under these circumstances, the first thing the earth would do is devote a significant amount of time and resources to building technology and weapons to try and catch up to the alien's level of technology -- at least to the extent that we have at least a chance of defending ourselves from the alien threat. I know a few episodes touched on secret government experiments with newcomer weapons, but I would have expected this to have bene done on a vast scale, with entire cities of nations devoting the majority of their time, money and natural resources to further developing this technology out of fear that the aliens will show up. While doing this would significantly diminish our current quality of life, I imagine it would still have population's full support -- just like the way people war rationed during WWII.


Otherwise I think the series realistically touched on the xenophobia and cultural clashes that would occur if aliens were stranded on earth.

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i remember in one episode (at least i think i remember) something about the ship blowing up? maybe that has something to do with most of the technology not be expoilted

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They did say the ship blew up.

But my question is a little different. I'm wondering why they aren't expending vast resources to develop the new technology from scratch, so they have a shot in hell in defending themselves when and if the aliens come. For example, we originally never thought about developing the atomic bomb. But when we found out it was feasible, and that the nazis may develop one, we funnelled billions of dollars into the project to get it done first. I think if aliens really landed, and we found out that (a) the technology is possible and (b) we may need the technology to defend ourselves, we would do whatever it takes to at least try and develop the technology for ourselves, no matter what the cost.

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But I'm trying to point out the imminent threat the overseers pose to humanity, not the newcomers.

Sure, the overseers may just come, collect their slaves and be on their merry way. But we as humans have no way of knowing that. It's just as likely that they would either (a) enslave us or, even worse, (b) completely wipe us out so we won't be a threat to them in the future.

Since options a and b are viable and real, I just think humanity would not just go on its merry way when the newcomers showed up. Rather the planet would undergo a massive industrial, scientfic and economic transformation, where the majority of the planet would be devoted to either researching new technology to defend against the newcomers or manufacturing said technology.


And before anyone says it, yes, I realize it's just a show, and that the show was meant to explore the concepts of racism and bigotry, with a sci-fi twist.

The bleak industrial/scientific/hegemonic society that I envision arising following the newcomers arrival would be a boring and incredibly depressing show to tune into every week.

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I haven't watched the show for a long while, but isn't it possible that the research you are talking about is taking place, but just isn't the center of attention of the series? As you said this was mainly a buddy cop show with a twist, along with exploring racism and bigotry.

The same thing can be argued for shows like Stargate Sg1, where the emergence of alien technology in human society is only marginally touched upon, as that is not the main focus of the story. SG did do better than AN in this respect, but it had a lot more screen time to do it. The series ended after the first season and this sort of thing is best explained in the background, so tv movies aren't the best medium.

As for an in-show explanation, the planet wasn't then, and isn't still of one mind in matters such as these. In order for the global hegemony you talk about to come true, massive wars would first wipe most of us out to begin with. Can you imagine what the Bin Ladens of the the AN world would do?

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But why would the Overseers even bother come searching for, what may be for them, just a tiny amount of slaves?

The ship had like 250,000 slaves in it. For all we know the Overseers ruled a massive empire with tens of millions of slaves. So everyday dozens of ships filled with slaves probably travelled from one star system to the other. One of them got lost, ended up on Earth.

It's probable the Overseers don't even know the Ship ended up on Earth. For all they know it was lost in a black hole or something. And even if they did, they probably figure...why bother fighting an entire war just for a few measly slaves?

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Thats not what the OP was talking about. He claimed that the possibility of the Overseers coming there should have been a significant worry for humanity, and that we as a people ought to have made some contingency plans. After all as far as we know, this 'entire war' might be as easy for them as stealing candy from a baby.

My point was that this preparation may have already been happening, just not apparent from the viewpoint of two police detectives.

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That's what I always assumed. All that would be militery stuff, and not things they'd talk about on the news. 1- they wouldn't want to freak out the general public if most people aren't thinking that way... not many probably knew about the probe, or stopped to think it could be a threat. 2- There are lots of overseers still around, less than the ex-slaves, but still. If a ship were to come, they might try to send up a warning that we've been building up our weapons and tech if we were to make it known.

And, like you say- being a buddy cop show, showing us the military trying to pump up our defenses without it being something that paid off fairly soon- it would just be unneeded footage, and wouldn't fit in.

Nah, I always assumed that we, and other countries, would be working on tech to defend the planet should the need arise. Completely agree.

www.lost.eu/6e82c

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If you watch the pilot, the director of the series stated that originally the producers wanted it to more more SciFi shoot'em up, but he felt that would limit the series and wanted it to be more domestic, hence more focus on day to day living and interaction and not on scientific experimentation or war, etc. He grew up surrounded by bigotry and prejudice and wanted to explore these aspects of American society through the series as well.

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If I understood you correctly, you're saying that a possible/probable future threat (vs an immenient one) should drive the government to lowering the over all quality of life for the population in order to be ready at some unspecified future date.

Unfortunately, elected governments don't work that way. They work on a two-year cycle (the next election). If it ain't likely to happen before they start running for re-election, it ain't important.

For example, 90% of the world's scientists say that in 30-40 years (BTW: some scientists are now saying 10-20) enough glacial melt will have spilled into the ocean to trigger runaway climate change (starting with global warming but ending in a new ice age). The biggest problem is CO2. Whether it's caused by natural effects or whether it's man-made, is the argument they keep having. Unfortunately, that's not the issue. The issue is: can we fix it? Scientists say yes, but we have to start NOW. Politicians don't want to talk about THAT - they want to talk about who's gonna pay for it. (If I vote to raise taxes or vote to cut corporate profits, I ain't gonna get re-elected.)

Besides, in the show, we didn't have a problem with "conquering" a quarter million Newcomers, what politician is going to admit we might have a problem with a few more?

(Because I SAID so, that's why!)

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It cracks me up that you only found "one" thing unrealistic. the entire show is unrealistic! don't get me wrong. I love it and have watched it and the movies many times, but it's all fantasy. LOL

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