The Hollywood Reporter just announced that Fox will be remaking Alien Nation, the 1988 sci-fi film with James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, and Terrence Stamp. The original film was about a species of bald, spotty-headed alien slaves called the Tenctonese, or “Newcomers,” who crash land on Earth, and who have to slowly integrate themselves into Earth society. Caan plays a human cop who is partnered with Patinkin, the first Tenctonese to become a cop himself. It’s a dark, gritty sci-fi race-relations allegory, and a pretty darn good crime drama. The movie led to a TV series that ran for only one season from 1989 to 1990, which, in turn, led to a string of five feature-length TV movies from 1994 to 1997.
Check Out: We Are Not Alone: Aliens on TV
Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, who most famously wrote the screenplay to Iron Man, but who also worked on the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as well as the upcoming Highlander remake, are currently working on a script, although the project still has no producer. All that is known about the story at this point is that it will reveal more about why Tenctonese were coming to Earth in the first place. It’s (all together now) a remake that’s also an origin story.
Alien Nation has a premise ripe for opportunities. Let’s hope this remake does the original justice. You should go watch that one now.
Witney Seibold is a contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. You can follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
