Alien Nation (1 Viewer)

[84lion]

My wife is a fan of the Alien Nation TV series. From what I read in a review, the video quality seems acceptable if underwhelming. Anyone have any comments about the set and/or the series itself? Alien Nation was one of those TV series that I missed for some reason, so I have no experience with it.

I also notice that there exists a rather expensive post-series 5-movie set. Any comments about this set, video quality-wise, and/or the movies themselves?

The TV series is available for streaming on Amazon; full series is just a bit less cost-wise than buying the DVD set. I didn't see that the post-series movies were available for streaming anywhere.

 

[The Drifter]

Just saw this post. I don't have a response to the question in the OP, but would also be interested in an answer to this - given that I also have an interest in buying the Alien Nation TV series DVD set as well. However, it is disappointing that the set doesn't include the 5 later made-for-TV movies.

Though I saw very little of the TV show, I did really enjoy the 1988 Alien Nation film, starring James Khan & Mandy Patinkin.

In a perfect world, they would produce a Blu-ray set that included the '88 film, the entire TV series, and the 5 TV movies. Heck, I would settle for a set like this on DVD only. However, I don't see either option ever occuring. I.e., I suspect that there are rights issues that probably prevent a set like this from happening - maybe.

 

[smithbrad]

I recall the film and TV series. Just because of different actors I wouldn't personally associate the two together for watching. To me, it's like "Cagney and Lacey", I have no interest in watching the made for TV movie or short first season since there is a different actress for Cagney in each then the remainder of the series. But that may be just me. I guessing there is no reason they couldn't release them together.

I don't think it is a right issue, my guess is that they just didn't sell well on DVD. You have a one season show and then 5 movies to try and end the series. The ratings weren't great, from what I recall, which is why it was cancelled. The 5 movies were due to many writing in to bring back the series. I just think it is a fairly forgotten show with limited long-term appeal to justify another physical media release. Streaming is easy since they already have digital copies. Maybe they will stream the 5 movies at some point.

The video quality of the DVDs (SD), from what I recall, was decent enough.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I don't think it is a right issue, my guess is that they just didn't sell well on DVD. You have a one season show and then 5 movies to try and end the series. The ratings weren't great, from what I recall, which is why it was cancelled.

I think that is absolutely the most likely answer - of all the physical media categories, catalog television on disc is the worst selling category.

As for why not Blu-ray, it’s a show from the era of “shoot on film, edit on standard definition tape” and they’re not going to spend six or seven figures to put this back in post production to upgrade it to HD. There would be no way to recoup that investment.

 

[ScottRE]

It's a shame, the series was one of Kenneth Johnson's most mature and best efforts. I kind of consider it what V could have eventually have been like if he had full control and stuck with it. The series was popular and, from what I recall, it was the highest rated hour drama on Fox at the time. Nobody expected it to be dropped and the cliffhanger story ("will they all die?") was reported to be a network request, because the staff wanted it to end on a much quieter note. Yet Fox still pulled the plug. The response was so strong, they made 5 TV movies but by the last one, audiences were done (I know I was). A show like this either survives as a series or it doesn't and Fox really should have kept it on. The two hour films had to be Big Events but a series could be more intimate.

Like Firefly, it has a decent cult following but not enough to generate a strong afterlife because of it's brevity. Also, unless I'm mistaken, since it's a Fox production, it's now owned by Disney and the prints may as well have been shredded for all of the interest the Mouse has in its acquired back catalog. I'm frankly surprised you can stream it.

 

[84lion]

Drifter, I decided to buy the series and the post-series movies DVD sets. Here's my take:

The series DVD set is three separate keep cases with two discs each, total of six discs. All discs are double sided (typical Fox treatment). I didn’t have any trouble with mine, but sometimes the double sided discs can be finicky if you want to rip them to put the episodes on a server (e.g. – Plex). The video quality is, as Josh notes, from videotape, meaning it’s not sharp. My process for these shows on DVD is to rip them to MKV using MakeMKV, then upscale the resulting file to 1080p HD using Topaz Video AI. Generally, I get excellent results. This process at least makes the end result watchable on a 70” 4K TV.

The post-series movie set is two keep cases with one dual layer single-sided disc in one case and two dual-sided single-layer (each side) discs in the other keep case. I have not had a chance to view these in detail (or upscale them), but from a cursory look at the first movie, the overall quality appears better than what’s on the series DVD set. I am hopeful that upscaling these movies will provide good results.

I bought these mainly for my wife, as she’s more interested in the series than I am, so I really can’t comment on the content of the series. I did watch a bit of the first series episode and it seemed reasonably engaging. This seems to be a good "period piece" on par with "out there" sci-fi like Farscape. The upscaling I did does make the picture much better/watchable, but it also makes some minor issues with the prosthetics/makeup obvious sometimes. It’s not really enough of a problem to detract from the overall quality of the presentation (I think Farscape had similar issues).

The series DVD set appears to be running about $15-20 right now. The movies set is about $90. With shipping, I paid about $100 total for both sets. Given the interest in these sets, I figured that I could eventually sell them when I'm through with them and recoup the majority of the cost at least.

Hope that helps!

 

[The Drifter]

84lion, Thanks very much for the detailed review of the Alien Nation TV Series & the TV movies.

Sad news - Gary Graham (Lt. Sikes on the Alien Nation TV series) recently passed. When I first saw the show back in the day, I briefly thought he was Mick Jagger - the resemblance was fairly striking:

Gary Graham, ‘Alien Nation’ and ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’ Actor, Dies at 73

In a 50-year acting career, Mr. Graham appeared in several shows, including “Starsky and Hutch” and “The Incredible Hulk.” But it was in science fiction where he made his biggest mark.

www.nytimes.com

 

[John Sparks]

I have all the DVDs. Guess I'll have to start watching them again.