Each month, Raz Greenberg reviews an overlooked piece of science fiction, fantasy or horror – be it a film, a television episode, a comic or a game – one that should have gotten more attention when it first came out and should still be remembered, in his opinion. This month, he explores an episode from a one-season-wonder show which led to the career of one of the most talented writers on the Star Trek Franchise.
Science fiction television as we know it owes a huge debt to writer/director/producer Kenneth Johnson. His work in the 1970s on The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman and The Incredible Hulk TV shows paved the way for current sophisticated superhero shows as Jessica Jones. His expansive 1983 mini-series V about a dark conspiracy for a fascist takeover of Earth by aliens inspired key productions in the breakthrough era of genre shows a decade later, notably The X-Files and Babylon 5, and also provided the 1996 blockbuster Independence Day with one of its most iconic images. Somewhat overlooked in Johnson’s filmography, however, is his work on the 1989 genre drama Alien Nation.
The show was based on the theatrical film which came out a year earlier, written by the up-and-coming Rockne S. O’Bannon* and directed by Graham Baker. The film’s basic premise of a modern-day police procedural following a human cop and an alien cop from a community of extraterrestrial refugees (“Newcomers”) who came to Earth and established a large community in Los Angeles. Johnson did not particularly care for the original film, and upon taking over the production of the show he changed the focus considerably, highlighting the everyday lives of the Newcomers and tackling issues of race and immigration (O’Bannon had a retaliation of sorts years later, when he wrote an episode for the 2009-2011 re-imagined version of V, done without Johnson’s involvement).
Despite being something of a rating hit during its initial run, budget issues at the young FOX network prevented it from being renewed for another season. The network did follow the show with five TV-movies, all directed and produced by Johnson, but during the show’s original run he directed only the pilot episode, leaving writing and directing duties on the rest of the season for others. Some of them were his longtime collaborators (who went on to work on acclaimed productions as The Sopranos); others were up-and-coming talents, some getting their first chance. One such talent was Joe Menosky, who wrote one of the season best episodes, “Contact”.
The premise for “Contact” is routine enough – human detective Matthew Sikes (Gary Graham) and his Newcomer partner George Francisco (Eric Pierpoint) investigate the murder of a leading astronomer, and soon enough their investigation reveals a dangerous conspiracy. But the episode raised the stakes considerably – this time, the conspiracy actually had apocalyptic implications, giving the plot something of an edgier feeling compared to the episodes that preceded it.
The episode’s main focus, however, is not so much on the murder investigation but rather on the way that it reflects on the human/Newcomer relationship. Previous episodes in the show emphasized the hostile treatment of Newcomers as a metaphor for xenophobia and racism; “Contact” takes a more nuanced approach, showing the audience different sides of Newcomer culture and the Newcomers’ assimilation into human culture. One memorable scene features a party hosted by a Newcomer with seemingly-liberal human guests who only want a closer look at what they perceive as a foreign “exotic” culture, and their patronizing attitude makes them no better than that of the abusive treatment that Newcomers have to face from human authorities.
The episode also examines the relationship between humans and Newcomers from a more personal perspective: Francisco faces a family crisis, and while the scenes dealing with it aren’t particularly well-written where it comes to dialogue, they do reflect the hardships of the Newcomers in their new world, successfully building and expanding the show’s mythology. Even more interesting is the treatment of Sikes, who in this episode faces his own personal crisis related to the death of a relative, and discovers, to his surprise, that he has an easier time dealing with it with the help of his Newcomer neighbor (played by the talented Terri Treas).
“Contact” marked a change for Alien Nation – it was a point where the plot became a deeper affair and its characters and world became more convincing. The episode’s subtext about the dangers of xenophobia and racism remain as relevant today as they were when it was originally broadcasted (and it’s perhaps unsurprising that O’Bannon has revisited these themes in his more recent show, Defiance). While it remains the only episode Menosky wrote for the show, his subsequent career on Star Trek further demonstrated his talent, notably in the script he wrote for “Darmok” – considered by many to be the best episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Menosky also wrote for Deep Space Nine, Voyager and more recently Star Trek: Discovery. “Contact” is where it all began – the first genre script of a gifted writer.
Where to get it: the episode is included on all standard DVD releases of the show, and more recently also became available on Amazon Video.
* Read more about O’Bannon’s earlier television work in one of our previous columns.
