Resident Alien: I Finished All Four Seasons And Alan Tudyk Is Still My Hero
How's my Alien language? BUNDUU KR'SK CNAA MAAACKKKKK SNOR'RT CULLAARRRGGGGH
Alan Tudyk is one of the best character actors in the business. I've seen him play a married (to excruciatingly beautiful Gina Torres) pilot in Firefly, a man who thought he was a pirate in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, and 44 episodes as an alien in Resident Alien. That's the best character acting since Stephen Root (Milton a.k.a. Stapler Guy from Office Space). Fun fact, Stephen Root also plays Harry Vanderspeigel's (Alan Tudyk) father in Resident Alien, and Bill Dautrieve in King of the Hill.
It all comes back around like namana.
Resident Alien was on my list after someone mentioned it to me. I'm not sure who they were, but one of the most fun things about this program was finding out how many people had been watching it already. It didn't take me long to find out why.
What Is Resident Alien About?
The removal of the human race from Earth…
At first.
That's what Alien Harry Vanderspeigel has come to Earth to do. He, like many aliens, thinks humans are ruining the planet. They think Earth would be better if it were devoid of human beings. I don't know why the alien species would agree on that? It can't be the scores of dictators, evil presidents, and genocides we've had, can it? It doesn't make sense because its the aliens seem to love casual killing.
After the Alien Harry’s ship crashes in a lightning storm, he's forced to wander the Earth, scaring cowboys as he learns the lay of the land. Eventually, the Alien finds Human Harry in a cabin near Patience, Colorado, fights him, and uses his extra arms to drown him in a nearby lake. Then the Alien becomes Harry Vanderspeigel.
Alien Harry learns English and some of how to be human from Law & Order episodes (good thing there are so many). What Alien Harry doesn't know is that after the town doctor dies, the Mayor of Patience will ask him to fill in, as doctor for the whole town!
All of that is basically the first episode.
In every episode, Alien Harry slowly becomes more human. The form of the doctor he is in most of the time starts to give him a more human perspective and bigger feelings. His Alien species does not need love or connection. So Alien Harry is surprised when he forms a very close relationship with his nurse at the clinic, named Asta Twelvetrees (Sara Tomko).
Asta is a member of the Ute Native American tribe. She ended up having her first child at 16 and was "encouraged" by her (violent) biker boyfriend to give the child up for adoption. She listens to him and tearfully gives up her baby, and immediately regrets it.
All the music and videos are on my website!
If you like it, share it.
If you love it, subscribe.
If you can't live without it, put a few dollars down.
Keep going to learn more!
Asta is best friends with D'arcy (Alice Wetterlund), a former ski prodigy who blew her leg out at the Olympics. We also see Sheriff Mike Thompson (Corey Reynolds) a.k.a. "Big Black" (a name he introduces himself with), along with the ill-respected Deputy Liv Baker (Elizabeth Bowen). We also spend a lot of time with Mayor Hawthorne (Levi Fiehler), Kate (Meredith Garretson), his wife, and their kid, the only person in their small town who can actually see aliens through their human disguises, Max.
Should I Watch Resident Alien
I heard I should have checked this show out a year or two years ago. I put it on my list but never prioritized it. There is always another movie to see or game to play.
My bad!
I should have watched this show much sooner. There is something special about this odd show that takes place around a small town in Colorado. In the first season, watching Harry take on doctor responsibilities with YouTube and what he saw on television is hilarious. Watching him fall into that deep friendship was Asta, his kryptonite, is equally as funny.
In season two, after not destroying Earth and turning his ship around due to a space stowaway, he's being chased even harder by General Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and has to unravel the mystery of someone named Goliath in New York City.
In the third season, Harry is forced to work with General Sarah Connor, but falls in love with an alien bird woman. Alien Harry has finally become human enough to understand love, and like many of us, he can’t talk about the bomb he’s working on to stop the Grey Aliens that are abducting human babies.
In the last season, Harry has his alien energy stolen by the Greys and is stuck being an actual human. He (rightly) shat on humanity so hard upon his arrival, and now he's forced to live in Harry Vanderspeigel's body with none of his alien powers ... until his dad shows up
Resident Alien is fun. It's dangerous. People die. Some of them die twice. It deals with family, alcoholism, love, and deception. Part of what I found to be the coolest thing about the show was how undecided things are. We watchers know Harry is an alien who murdered his human self, but the Sheriff and Deputy are trying to solve that exact case around his cabin. It takes a glacial disaster before Asta finds out Alien Harry. One of General Sarah Connor's agents has no problem killing people as she does with the cowboy, Alien Harry scared in the first episode. Like all members of Harry the Alien's uncaring species, Harry the Alien's dad is an asshole and demands a kid to prove his worth.
Resident Alien was fun, funny, and filled with the unexpected. It takes a lot for a television show to surprise me, but this show pulled it off in all four seasons. I wish I had started it sooner. When someone asks what my favorite show is, I might just mention this little piece of sci-fi and it’s 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.