Alien Nation: The Enemy Within (1996)

Fourth of Kenneth Johnson's TV movies spun off from the series spun off from the movie, this keeps up the trick of delivering a big plot – a mutation arises from a despised underclass of alien newcomers and could threaten all life on Earth – along with a bunch of soapy sub-plots which find something for all of the regulars to do.

Liberal alien cop Eric Pierpoint learns to address his own prejudices as his human partner Gary Graham is the reasonable one for a change, and also has a comedy bit as his agreement to take part in an alien fertilisation ritual for a friend (the aliens have three sexes) causes his wife (Michele Scarabelli) to get neurotic about their marriage and consider having an affair though (predictably) she doesn't. Meanwhile, Graham's alien girlfriend (Terri Treas) moves in with him and there's friction about territoriality, while Pierpoint's kids get to be liberal or heroic in solving the case.

As has been the case with this show from the movie on, the interesting detail and satirical jabs play much better than the upfront narrative, which devolves into direct-to-video Mimic / It's Alive stuff about mutated half-insect aliens in the old subway system, a hulking monster Queen Mother (Tiny Ron) that isn't up to much cop and a gush of salt water that gets rid of them. The aliens are an odd mix of biological weirdness on the Star Trek model with allegorical bits about their own castes and classes – the outcast Eenos were slaves forced into cannibalism and have a sort of Native American mysticism as their dreams reveal the plot.

First published in this form here.

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