Resident Alien follows the story of a stranded space alien (Alan Tudyk) who poses as a small-town doctor in Patience, Colorado. Taking on the identity of Harry Vanderspeigle a vacationing physician whom his characters murders and assumes his identity this new Harry/Alien Tudyk, is tasked with helping the nearby townsfolk, as he’s the only physician standby. Having no choice but to try and maintain this false identity while secretly searching for pieces of his wrecked ship to rebuild and return home. What results is the budding of a procedural science fiction drama thatâs equally silly as it is serious, as Harry holds a pretty dark secret.Â
Produced by Amblin Television, SYFY s
Resident Alien puts a clever twist on the famous Elliot-E.T. dynamic that Steven Spielberg (founder of Amblin) established in his 1982 sci-fi classic,
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The only person in the small town of Patience, Colorado, who can see Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle s (Alan Tudyk) true alien form through his human disguise is young Max (Judah Prehn). But instead of forming a poignant bond with the cosmic visitor, the boy is scared out of his wits. Not only that, but the two characters form a hilarious rivalry as Max attempts to convince his parents of the truth, to no avail.
Read time: 2 minutes
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Resident Alien, 9pm, Sky One
Based on the Dark Horse comic series, Resident Alien is a murder mystery sci-fi dramedy, adapted for television by Chris Sheridan of
Family Guy. Alan Tudyk (
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Firefly) stars as Harry Vanderspeigle, an alien who lands to Earth with a mission to kill the human race, while disguised as a doctor in Patience, Colorado. When he gets roped into helping to solve a local murder, Harry begins to question the moral predicament of his mission on Earth.
My Favorite Martian, Mork & Mindy, ALF
and
:
1. Darker Take On The Main Character: This alien is assigned with destroying the human race.
2. Darker Premise: The alien in question has crash-landed near the tiny Colorado town of Patience, where he has secretly murdered and assumed the form of a reclusive doctor. He soon gets dragged into the town s business, however, when its local physician is found murdered. (Not the doctor whom the alien murdered, you follow? Entirely different doctor.)
3. Format: SYFY s
Resident Alien, based on a Dark Horse Comics series by writer Peter Hogan and artist Steve Parkhouse, is not a classic sitcom, but an hourlong comedy/drama. (This first season is made up of ten episodes, the first seven of which were made available to press.)