The Change

Alien Nation #4

by Barry B. Longyear

"The Change" is one of a small number of scripts developed by the producers and staff of "Alien Nation" -- scripts never televised because of the show's early demise. A piece of history for "Alien Nation" fans, "the Change" provides an incredible glimpse at an "Alien Nation" story that never was. Critically acclaimed science fiction novelist Barry B. Longyear brings to life an exciting story in which Newcomer police detective George Francisco undergoes a startling metamorphosis that will either mean his death or the beginning of a new life. In the midst of this time of change, George must also face a vicious, unstoppable killer from his past who has sworn a deadly revenge on George and everyone he cares for...

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Media Tie In

309 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Barry Brookes Longyear was an American science fiction author who resided in New Sharon, Maine.

Reviews

[TammyJo Eckhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a huge Alien Nature series fan who has all the episodes and the movies, finding these novels has been wonderful. This one, The Change, i based on a script that was never greenlit for production. If this novelization is close to that script, I can see why. Normally, either the detectives follow the clues and get lucky or they find someone who has information they need. In this plot, the turn from "everything is doomed" to "we can beat this guy" was too fragile for my tastes. I don't think someone's worldview can be shaken so quickly or so easily. In fact, the foolishness of that idea is shown to be false repeatedly in the series and movies because Newcomers and humans alike struggle to make long lasting process beyond their earlier life and education. Toss into the sudden appearance of two new characters with about 20% of the book life and I felt the story had gone off the rails.

So why 3 stars? I'm a big fan.

[Matt Dykes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This instalment really has both a feeling of one of the episodes from the series and also something grander in scale. We get more insight into the Tenctonese culture and biology. Their version of the menopause is explored in this one. It’s quite fascinating. The cop storyline is also quite intriguing and we get a formidable foe for Francisco and Sikes to go up against.

[Cindy Tomamichel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting alien take on hormonal change and its effects. Great series.

[James Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story involves both present-day and past events, both on Earth and in the alien ship. It starts with a couple of Newcomers who are in prison putting a device into the warden and managing to control him so they can get out.

It's revealed that the main one is planning to kill George. Meanwhile, Matt is after someone called the Thunderbolt Poet Serial Killer.

Matt and Cathy have been having regular sex, and their relationship seems to be quite good.

The warden goes crazy in a restaurant and kills a bunch of people. One-by-one, other people get taken control of and kill others. It's revealed that this is all part of a process of a group that had been on the ship that was responsible for killing certain people.

George, meanwhile, is ill, suffering lapses of memory, visual hallucinations, etc.

The killer is after George and everyone who knew and liked George, in an attempt to erase any “memory of him.” (This is one spot in the book that has a problem; if the guy trying to kill George wants to kill the “memory of him,” he'd have to kill everyone who watched any of the various news accounts on TV that George was in.

The story goes on about George trying to find and stop his would-be killer. There's also a lot about Buck in the story, and a lot about the Tectonese elders and their philosophy, which is quite interesting.

As usual, the strength of the book lies in its anti-prejudice, anti-racism arguments.