Alien Nation

Alien Nation #Movie adaptation

by Alan Dean Foster

In the not-too-distant future, a spaceship crashlands in Los Angeles, and aliens infiltrate the city's crime fighting force where only one tough detective sees the evil of these "harmless" creatures, one of whom becomes his partner

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Mystery, Media Tie In, Ebooks, Speculative Fiction, Adventure

217 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Bestselling science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster was born in New York City in 1946, but raised mainly in California. He received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1968, and a M.F.A. in 1969. Foster lives in Arizona with his wife, but he enjoys traveling because it gives him opportunities to meet new people and explore new places and cultures. This interest is carried over to his writing, but with a twist: the new places encountered in his books are likely to be on another planet, and the people may belong to an alien race.

Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux.

Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000.

Reviews

[Nathan Worthington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this has been a long, winding road. I have memories of watching the movie & subsequent TV show back in the late 80s & early 90s. But otherwise, I had really forgotten about it mostly due to the passage of time.

The other day while searching for another used book online I stumbled upon the continuation of the TV show in the form of an eight-book series. So, before rewatching the movie & TV show, which only lasted for one season, I thought I would read the novelization of the movie first. I am glad I did read it first.

The novelization has reignited my imagination in the possibilities of this setting. I am really looking forward to watching the movie again & the entire complete series, too.

I know there have been false starts over the years to restart this concept in some form or fashion. I think now is the time. I think it would be an excellent streamer show, even if it was just for a limited run (i.e. Watchmen - 2019).

The gist of the story - an alien race referred to as the Newcomers mysteriously arrive on Earth in the late 80s, early 90s. Their ship was populated by a slave class who did not know anything about the workings of their ship or how to return from their point of origin.

This novel tells of the unlikely pairing of two detectives: Matthew Sykes (Human) & Samuel 'George' Francisco (Newcomer). While it is a mystery novel centering around the death of Sykes' former partner, Tugs, it also a story of how this unusual pair work together to not only solve his murder but uncover a deeper conspiracy of great potential harm to the Newcomer's survival on Earth.

I really enjoyed this novel because I could feel the grittiness of early 90s LA. It is an interesting period piece, in a way, since it had hints of an alternate reality in some forms of dated technology. Sykes' car, in particular, the Slugmobile, was a fun character, in & of itself. It added a layer of depth to the storytelling's reality.

This book allows the story to breathe in a way that the movie, Alien Nation (1988), did not allow. Since this novel is based on the screenplay & also a novelization of Rockne S. O'Bannon's story, it includes scenes that were not included in the movie. This book allows the story to play out in real-time & makes a lot more sense overall as the puzzle pieces of the conspiracy start to fit together to form a coherent picture.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the better sci-fi movies of the 1980s, and it starred James Caan as LAPD detective Matthew Sykes and Mandy Patinkin as Francisco, a Newcomer (the nicknames of all the aliens) who team up to stop a new drug from hitting the streets. It's a buddy cop, neo-noir SF action film.

Alan Dean Foster is a great writer, and he's done quite a few novelizations of sci-fi scripts. Sykes is angry at all Newcomers, primarily because the book (and film) begin with the murder of his partner by a gang of Newcomers. Sykes is the renegade cop trope and Francisco is the by-the-book cop trope, and somehow it works. Book and movie are both highly recommended.

[Ian Banks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Foster expands the cliches of the buddy cop procedural sufficiently to create a quite gripping retelling of a film that is a lot smarter than it looks: even the regulation “why won’t he die?” climax fails to disappoint. The focus is mostly on Sykes, the human detective, as he deals with the murder of his longtime colleague and becomes saddled (by his own choice, unusually) with an alien partner in order to solve the case. Francisco, the alien, is portrayed as someone who is aware that his promotion to detective has come because of his history rather than his qualifications and is trying to live up to the expectations that arise as well as the hostility of his peers. Despite being an action flick that’s nearly 40 years old, it’s still a depressingly relevant, despite not being handled brilliantly - the short time after the arrival of the Newcomers that this story takes place in makes Francisco’s rise to detective not even realistic for movie purposes, while I don’t believe that there would be as much assimilation by them as is shown here. The racial slurs and discrimination are quite realistic, however.

I also like how Foster has done his homework and immerses the reader into the milieu of the genre: I’ve read quite a few of his tie-in books in the past and this one struck me as being stylistically different to many of them, in terms of how he creates atmosphere and develops character.

[R.C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read that's a good scifi buddy cop story both on its own and as a complement to the movie. A lot of the story and script is very similar, though it's clear that the movie tightened the story up some (particularly by shortening the chases, fights, and some of the detective work), which was probably a good choice. Francisco in the book is also a bit stiffer and less eager to please than movie!Francisco. Still, though, I like the extra bits of characterization and background that's in this book, and it's always interesting to catch bits that obviously got cut at the last minute from the movie (for instance, one scene in the movie makes more sense if it was meant to be in an ultraviolet-lit bar where the Newcomers could see but the humans couldn't.)

[D. E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A SyFy novel, which was excellent, that became a movie with James Caan.

[Ranette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will aliens be true to their country's laws? Two cops become friends when they follow the illegal drugs.

[Mitchell Stern · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid book, but a bit of a slow read. It’s largely sustained by its setting rather than its characters.

[Nick Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

As you might expect Foster does a competent job with a so-so, rather predictable screenplay adaptation.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan Dean Foster is one of my top 5 favorite writers. He does an excellent job of adapting the screen play into a great SiFi story. The tons of little details he adds really make you feel like you are getting the backstory on things. Very recommended

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the TV series too :)

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite of the series.

[Pylades · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked this as a kid, but haven't read it since. I wonder if it still holds up? I enjoyed the partnership between the human and alien cop.

[Ron Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

x

[Mark Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent.