Resident Alien - Starring Alan Tudyk

[TheVileOne]

About Resident Alien

I apologize if this thread is already active. If so, please merge or delete.

So, anyone watch this yet? While I'm hesitant to say the first episode has me hooked, I will definitely keep tuning in for more based on Alan Tudyk's performance and the premise.

Spoiler

I like the hook that Tudyk's "Harry" is there to destroy the human race. He's not traditionally likable. He even spends an entire sequence attempting to murder an innocent boy who can see through his molecular disguise.

I'm assuming over the course of the show, Harry will become more conflicted about his mission and might see humanity as worth saving, but we'll see.

My main concern is that SyFy tends to get trigger happy on cancelling new shows like this. Look at what happened to Happy.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I will likely wait for this to be on for 2-3 seasons because I dont trust Syfy so sadly I dont watch anything from them x amount of time.

 

[TheVileOne]

I will likely wait for this to be on for 2-3 seasons because I dont trust Syfy so sadly I dont watch anything from them x amount of time.

Understandable. I felt really burned after what happened with Happy.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Understandable. I felt really burned after what happened with Happy.

I havent trusted them since Alphas. Such a great show that had a refreshing look at powers and of course then practically every show aftr taht.

 

[Morg]

That poor kid going need so much therapy

 

[TheVileOne]

So after watching the first three episodes, I do feel like the writers are struggling a bit with the one-hour format. The show does feel over-written. Now it feels like there are too many subplots and too many characters.

I'm not sure we needed a season-long mystery on who killed the town doctor. Also, when it's not centered around Tudyk, I'm just less interested in general.

The show set up enough seasonal arcs in the pilot, now it feels like there are too many spinning plates.

 

[chamber-music]

This is one on the few shows currently airing that I actully find funny.

It is Syfy so it will probably get cancelled abruptly

 

[chamber-music]

This is one on the few shows currently airing that I actully find funny.

It is Syfy so it will probably get cancelled abruptly

 

[SPO2 Dalisay]

I guess because it is an hour long it got tagged as a dramedy. The sitcoms that I have seen sometimes have an interesting situation but the comedy has been deadly dull.

 

[TheVileOne]

I guess because it is an hour long it got tagged as a dramedy. The sitcoms that I have seen sometimes have an interesting situation but the comedy has been deadly dull.

Watching this show, I'm really not sure it needs to be a one hour "dramedy." Episodes of WandaVision are shorter. Now we have the little kid having a romance with another classmate at school and they can apparently both see Harry is an alien now. IMHO, it's a bit much. And now we also have a Twin Peaks murder mystery as well.

 

[Dave McFly]

I am a LONG time fan of Alan so I am loving this show his character is SO good in this. I wonder if him as the alien in some shots (him in clothes, in the mirror etc) is a mask on him or CGI.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I was very gunshy to even give this its day in court.

Not because of anything having to do with the series itself. Tudyk is a fave and the concept and the general vibe of the ad campaign suggested something I could get in to.

But it's on SYFY and I've been burned too many times with either getting into a series that I find compelling or entertaining only for it to be canned a season in... Or canned TWO seasons in with a cliffhanger ending (I'm looking at you ALPHAS) that leaves you twisting in the wind with no closure.

But in passing conversation with my mom she said it was really good and the first two episodes were put up on YouTube by SYFY.

And... What a great show so far and it's all on two things:

1. Alan Tudyk's immensely entertaining take on this role.

2. The incredibly sharp writing and dialog.

The concept I guess can best be described as Evil Martian Manhunter meets Monk meets Northern Exposure meets Scrubs meets Rick And Morty.


I can see that in conception they have covered a lot of bases and at least in the two episodes I saw so far they are balancing out all the elements in play very well. My worry would be that the show as it progresses might stray to far into it's own status quo and just come off like a watered down House with a Sci Fi gloss.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

So after watching the first three episodes, I do feel like the writers are struggling a bit with the one-hour format. The show does feel over-written. Now it feels like there are too many subplots and too many characters.

I'm not sure we needed a season-long mystery on who killed the town doctor. Also, when it's not centered around Tudyk, I'm just less interested in general.

The show set up enough seasonal arcs in the pilot, now it feels like there are too many spinning plates.

I think that an issue is that outside of Tudyk... This is not a well known cast. No one is terrible but so far also I wouldn't say anyone is matching Tudyk for screen presence.

I do think that the season long arc makes a lot of sense given how the show does like to play with logical conclusions to things (Like "Harry" realizing he has a bloated corpse at the lake he's probably gonna have to swim down and retrieve...) as well as frankly, allowing for the story to branch out beyond just Harry treating patients each week.

 

[TheVileOne]

I think that an issue is that outside of Tudyk... This is not a well known cast. No one is terrible but so far also I wouldn't say anyone is matching Tudyk for screen presence.

I do think that the season long arc makes a lot of sense given how the show does like to play with logical conclusions to things (Like "Harry" realizing he has a bloated corpse at the lake he's probably gonna have to swim down and retrieve...) as well as frankly, allowing for the story to branch out beyond just Harry treating patients each week.

I think they have enough multiple season long arcs, they have a murder mystery, they have government agents trying to track down Harry and his tech, Harry trying to rebuild his device to destroy all human life or all life on Earth. I mean that's enough.

But now you have the kids trying to expose Harry, the nurse who gave away her daughter as a teenager. The yuppie mayor, the bumbling police officers trying to find the real Harry's dead body after that foot was discovered. It's overwrought IMO.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I think they have enough multiple season long arcs, they have a murder mystery, they have government agents trying to track down Harry and his tech, Harry trying to rebuild his device to destroy all human life or all life on Earth. I mean that's enough.

But now you have the kids trying to expose Harry, the nurse who gave away her daughter as a teenager. The yuppie mayor, the bumbling police officers trying to find the real Harry's dead body after that foot was discovered. It's overwrought IMO.

Can't argue that.

It is packed.

So far it's working for me, especially in terms of pacing. I get that having all those plates spinning can sap urgency. "Oh, I'm liking us getting into this now... But we've just taken a turn into one of five other subplots..." I can see that being an issue going forward.

In my eyes I would like to see that stuff getting a shifting spotlight than what I another (likely) possiblity... They neuter the show's black comedy streak and animated show styled quick cuts and just shift over into a comfortable "Case of the week" with this being essentially a more acerbic Scrubs or House with a sci fi bent.

 

[TheVileOne]

The main reason I'm watching the show is for Alan Tudyk playing an alien masquerading as a human in plain sight.I get you need a supporting cast and other stuff going on in a show like this, but the other subplots are flabby IMO.

What's weird is the first episode did kind of set up a case of the week format with the town doctor's death. But it culminated in the big reveal that he was poisoned and the stab wounds were him trying to give himself a tracheotomy. But Harry isn't even really interested in this murder mystery, so IMO, it's a pointless thing to try and drag out for the whole season. He really has no stake in resolving or figuring out the town doctor's murder.

Nurse Asta does, and that seems to be her main goal for the season. But then they have the subplot of her getting away from her abusive husband, and now we know who the daughter she gave up for adoption is.

Also, it kind of amuses me that the nurse's name is Asta since the main character on Black Clover is also named Asta. Totally unrelated, but I like Black Clover:

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

There was more entertainment value and quality tickling of the nostalgia impulse in the "Cheers theme" sequence that started the last episode than in the entire run of WandaVision up to this point after seven episodes.

 

[TheVileOne]

There was more entertainment value and quality tickling of the nostalgia impulse in the "Cheers theme" sequence that started the last episode than in the entire run of WandaVision up to this point after seven episodes.

You know I was thinking, one benefit to the shorter episodes of WandaVision, we don't have as many unnecessary subplots as this show has

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

You know I was thinking, one benefit to the shorter episodes of WandaVision, we don't have as many unnecessary subplots as this show has

See...

I think this show gets on more solid footing each episode and ALL the sub plots and the performers attached were running on all cylinders this last episode and woven in very effectively.

The Asta family scenes all hit the mark and made me tear up something fierce. The scene where her dad confronts her was so good and came off genuine. I really felt something. Plus grandma was a hoot and I hope she and Harry get more scenes together.

They made the love interest more real along with the mayor and his wife and the kid and the little girl stuff was fun and had a hell of a finish followed by ANOTHER cliff hanger.

I'm still very lukewarm on the sheriff and the deputy. But even there the deputy was shown to have more depth along with the barmaid showing a glimmer that underneath is more than just a kookie, perpetually buzzed would be love interest for Harry.

Also we learned Harry had a "mate" back home that passed. Which I think speaks to why he was on this mission in the first place. I think even before absorbing human emotions he was... Depressed. Mission came up to destroy Earth and he was like "Yeah... I'll go... Throwing myself into work will distract me from my loss."

So... I don't know... Subplots are working for me and actually moving the show forward on multiple fronts and expanding the overall story, characters and relationships they have.

...
...
...

Which WandaVision can't seem to do with zero subplots, a half hour runtime and three more episodes under its belt.

 

[TheVileOne]

The stuff with the little kid having his own love interest and his own subplot is what's hurting the show for me. It's too much. Not everyone and everything in town needs a subplot.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

The stuff with the little kid having his own love interest and his own subplot is what's hurting the show for me. It's too much. Not everyone and everything in town needs a subplot.

The kid thing is one of the best aspects though and showcases the best elements that make the show so fun and compelling. The absurdity of the advanced alien having his "archnemisis" being a little kid and then shifting to Harry's cold blooded loyalty to his mission in a heartbeat by having a cavalier attitude on whether the child lives or dies.

I was SO worried Harry was going to find the kids in medical distress and then save them and thus now the kids and he have a "frenemy" relationship set up... Which is probably where they will eventually go but the burn is realistically slow and the fact he was upset that two kids WEREN'T dead is just so wonderfully true to the show's central concept.

And again... That all played so well into that cliffhanger.

 

[TheVileOne]

The kid thing is one of the best aspects though and showcases the best elements that make the show so fun and compelling. The absurdity of the advanced alien having his "archnemisis" being a little kid and then shifting to Harry's cold blooded loyalty to his mission in a heartbeat by having a cavalier attitude on whether the child lives or dies.

I was SO worried Harry was going to find the kids in medical distress and then save them and thus now the kids and he have a "frenemy" relationship set up... Which is probably where they will eventually go but the burn is realistically slow and the fact he was upset that two kids WEREN'T dead is just so wonderfully true to the show's central concept.

And again... That all played so well into that cliffhanger.

And the sitcom aspects overlaying the dark facade of WandaVision is one of the best aspects of the show to me. It shows that the perfect life Wanda thought she wanted is wrong and twisted.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

And the sitcom aspects overlaying the dark facade of WandaVision is one of the best aspects of the show to me. It shows that the perfect life Wanda thought she wanted is wrong and twisted.

See... I get nil out that. I don't see it in an iota of the hours that show has been inflicted upon me.

Here I am getting so much. I am actually learning about the cast of characters and things only within four eps are going someplace, not just regurgitating the pitch meeting.

 

[wwkirk]

I'm not generally a fan of child characters, but the kid in this show is an exception. It's hilarious how the super advanced, ruthless alien has a kid (or a couple of kids), as his archenemy! Plus I like how it evolved from Max just being terrified of Harry to taking the fight to him.

Maybe best of all, I find the verbal banter between them funny. Harry is super-intelligent, yet the kid keeps getting the best of him. Yes, yes, it's silly. But the show is a semi-comedy after all.

 

[TheVileOne]

I'm not generally a fan of child characters, but the kid in this show is an exception. It's hilarious how the super advanced, ruthless alien has a kid (or a couple of kids), as his archenemy! Plus I like how it evolved from Max just being terrified of Harry to taking the fight to him.

Last I saw, they made amends and they are cool with each other now.