Does anyone else feel this way? I didn't exactly hate the movie the series was based on, but I didn't understand the thrill. I'm a big sci-fi fan, but even I'll admit when a movie is boring or shallow. The series did what the movie couldn't, for me at least.
***"My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right."-Ashleigh Brilliant***
I loved the series but didn't like the movie as much either.
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Come ON, people!
The series didn't have anywhere near the same polish or depth that the movie had. I remember watching the series with shock and dissappointment. The interesting insight into discrimination was turned into a run-of-the-mill cop show. I've recently rewatched the movie and it has held up fairly well over the years.
Love the movie, hate the series.
That's where it's at!
Umm, aren't you getting it mixed up? The movie started out as a relatively interesting take on racism, then descended into a "run-of-the-mill cop" movie. The series managed to not only have some exceptional things to say about racism but also about sexism and the concept of "masculinity". George and Susan's pregnancy was one of the most audacious and fascinating things ever screened on network television. However, that was just *one* of the marvellous themes/plotlines explored by the TV series.
Alien Nation: The Series is one of the first of a long list of brilliant TV shows cancelled prematurely by Fox. One can only wonder how The X Files, Buffy, and Angel managed to survive their first years on the box.
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suffer-smart-magnet,
Do you live in the Bizarro World or something? Like the others in this thread pointed out, to most people it was the other way around.
The movie wasn't bad, but quite frankly, like others in this thread have also said, the TV series opened doors that the movie didn't. The best thing about the film should have been the social commentary but it didn't have that. The best thing about the movie, was in fact, the performances of James Caan and Mandy Patinkin.
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I love 'em both. (For differing reasons.)
shareIt took some time for me to warm up to the series for the simple fact that I disliked the movie. Remove the makeup from the actors playing aliens in the film and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between it and a hundred other bitter cop/new partner/drug kingpin movies. I'm a huge fan of both the stars of the original Alien Nation, as well as a fan of [good] sci-fi, but I thought both the talented performers and a rich-with-possiblities premise were wasted on what seemed like a photocopied script.
Much to my delight, the television series veered off into the territory I had wished the film to explore in the first place. Good science fiction is never really about aliens and spaceships, it is about us. It's a lens through which we can examine ourselves, our society, our prejudices and preconceptions from a distance that will [hopefully] provide some insight. The Alien Nations series and subsequent TV movies fulfilled this role admirably. The writing was topnotch and the actors (particularly the excellent Eric Pierpoint) really seemed to 'get' the material.