SYFY’s Best 4-Part Comic Book Adaptation Is Quietly Making the Case for a Revival

The SYFY network has produced many classic science fiction shows, but few with as much heart and humor as Resident Alien. While it began life as an offbeat Dark Horse comic series by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse, the television adaptation captured the darkly comedic sensibility of its source material while building a new universe around its titular alien, played by Alan Tudyk. It’s one of the best sci-fi shows of Tudyk’s prolific career too (even compared to Firefly), in part by doing triple duty as a fish-out-of-water comedy, a small-town drama, and a murder mystery to begin with. Even as the alien invasion lore and serialization really get going in the show’s later seasons, it never forgets its original comedic, quirky instinct.

Even though he’s landed on Earth as a prospective destroyer of worlds, “Harry Vanderspeigle” (an identity stolen from the doctor he killed on arriving, in a scene straight out of an ‘80s horror movie) is ultimately good-natured and ready to warm up to the people of the small mountain town of Patience, Colorado. But he does have a humanity-destroying weapon somewhere out there, and his identity isn’t quite as secretive as he hopes, as various characters he encounters become aware of the truth. One of the best things about Resident Alien is its blend of serious sci-fi drama and more comical elements like a restaurant octopus, voiced by Nathan Fillion, that can communicate telepathically with Harry.

‘Resident Alien’ Is Alan Tudyk’s Best Work

A show like Resident Alien demands a fearless lead, and it also results in one of Tudyk’s best roles. Playing Harry gave the actor plentiful opportunities for physical comedy, similar to Jeff Bridges in Starman, in which the alien has to learn to adapt to humanity’s ways. Chances are there’s no other alien story that would include a sequence of its lead character attempting to drink cow’s milk in the most literal way possible. Between Tudyk’s general likability and the show’s more lighthearted tone, the alien threat dims, especially as Harry becomes more human himself. Luckily, the town of Patience can accommodate the odd doctor they’ve taken in, even if some characters are capable of seeing right through his facade.

Young Max (Judah Prenn) can see his true form, the archetypal “green guy with the big eyes,” and his insult-trading relationship with Harry is a series highlight. Meanwhile, alien hunting podcast host Peter Bach (Terry O’Quinn) shares Max’s ability while having a somewhat antagonistic dynamic with Harry, as his son Robert (played as an adult by Paul Piaskowski) was abducted years prior. But the most important human in Harry’s life is ultimately Asta (Sara Tomko), the assistant at Patience’s medical facility who feels like an outsider herself. She becomes key to Harry finding his own humanity while she grows herself, resulting in one of Resident Alien‘s best storylines.

‘Resident Alien’s Ensemble Is a Big Reason Why the Show Works

As Resident Alien progresses, more extraterrestrial characters are introduced. The villainous Grey aliens become folded more and more into the plot, with their schemes for humanity including infiltration and eventually extinction. Rather than a War of the Worlds-esque goal of mass destruction, their plan is more sophisticated and long-term. Yet the show’s ability to juggle the tone of a serious alien invasion with small-town drama is what makes it genuinely endearing. By the end of the series, Patience feels like a real place, like Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls or Parks and Rec’s Pawnee, thanks to the show’s richly developed characters and their growth over the years — some of them inspired by Harry, some not.

Sadly, Resident Alien wrapped up with its fourth season, which aired last year. By embracing the question of identity and what it means to be human, it delivered one of the most rewarding series finales of recent sci-fi memory. Series creator Chris Sheridan had a feeling the fourth season would be the show’s last and used that to its advantage, telling TV Insider that he found the finale to be his “favorite episode of the series.” There’s definitely a case to be made for a revival, however, and the slightly open ending of the series finale (as well as Resident Alien‘s continuing presence on Netflix’s streaming charts) makes it easy to hope for a little more.