Tim Minear is penning the new Alien Nation for SciFi. I mean, "SyFy" - Cast&Crew

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July 01 2009

Tim Minear is penning the new Alien Nation for SciFi. I mean, "SyFy". Tim is working on the development of the series for Fox 21.

Tim on cable. Be afraid.

Allyson | Cast&Crew | 05:19 CET | 46 comments total | tags: syfy cracks me up, aliens, mpreg, tim minear

Awesome! I can't wait.

IrrationaliTV | July 01, 05:36 CET

Dude. This is beyond awesome. Go Tim!

electricspacegirl | July 01, 05:37 CET

I. Am. NOT. Afraid! Best thing I've heard in a while. Still, I hope there is some hope for Miracle Man, I LOVED the concept.

Vinity | July 01, 05:38 CET

What's wrong with the thread before this one? The one where I already commented, which of course is the key part. (Other than, you know, no period in the post title, no description, and messed up taggage.)

@theonetruebix | July 01, 05:38 CET

You only beat me because I needed to add MPREG to the tag list. Which, I believe, is a Whedonesque first!

Allyson | July 01, 05:42 CET

Tim Minear doing Alien Nation makes me kind of drool a little inside.

@theonetruebix | July 01, 05:44 CET

See, I think that's how MPREG happens.

Allyson | July 01, 05:47 CET

I don't get MPREG. I'm slow. Please explain.

Thanks, Allyson. Guess I'll have to get the DVDs and watch the previous seasons and movies to get familiar with the previous incarnation. :)

[ edited by TamaraC on 2009-07-01 06:09 ]

IrrationaliTV | July 01, 05:48 CET

It's a tag in fanfic for a story that contains a male pregnancy. Like if Justin had J.C.'s baby. N*SYNC slash shows my age, doesn't it?

For those unfamiliar with Alien Nation, it's the male aliens who get pregnant.

Allyson | July 01, 05:51 CET

Well Tim Minear at the helm is one of the few things that would get me to watch this. Admittedly, I haven't actually seen the original TV series but I saw the movie and it was horrendous

'Procedural sci-fi' doesn't exactly sound awesome but Tim's a good enough writer that I'm in for the ride

Let Down | July 01, 05:58 CET

It worked well for X-Files. I miss G vs E. Does anyone else remember G vs E? I need to find that on DVD...

Allyson | July 01, 06:09 CET

I liked the original series more or less, but it was an idea I always kind of wished they'd done more with. I hope Tim has figured out how.

(Although it does seem a little bit like Syfy is trying to cash in on the buzz around District 9.)

@theonetruebix | July 01, 06:17 CET

Very cool

Buffyfantic | July 01, 06:21 CET

I miss G vs. E too.

As for Alienation...the Movie was ok, but the series kinda sucked. Moreover I kinda see this 'reboot' as an attempt by Fox to cash in on the movie coming out next month called District 9.

[ edited by mangydog on 2009-07-01 06:25 ]

mangydog | July 01, 06:24 CET

I think I said that seven minutes previously. ;)

@theonetruebix | July 01, 06:25 CET

This is a terrible idea! If Kenneth Johnson was doing it maybe it could work but still. Its like remaking Buffy.

xerox | July 01, 06:33 CET

It's really not much like remaking Buffy at all. There's nothing about Alien Nation that's culturally iconic.

@theonetruebix | July 01, 06:36 CET

I pitched this to SciFi long before I even heard of District9, to be honest.

Tim Minear | July 01, 06:42 CET

Who is Kenneth Johnson? Never heard of him.

edited: Looked him up. He created V and Alien Nation. From his date of birth, I would guess he is retired at this point since he is almost 70.

[ edited by TamaraC on 2009-07-01 06:47 ]

IrrationaliTV | July 01, 06:43 CET

I pitched this to SciFi long before I even heard of District9, to be honest.

That's fair. But I suspect their decision to move forward might have been helped by the D9 buzz. (But, then, I'm a cynic.) Not that it matters, even if so. It hardly precludes making a good show, heh.

[ edited by The One True b!X on 2009-07-01 06:51 ]

@theonetruebix | July 01, 06:50 CET

Huzzah. Does this mean we get the feel good dead manbaby mini-series of the year, then?

By the way, Tim didn't copy this from District 13 (er, 9, whatever) - we all know everything he does is copied from Forever Knight. Ah, the Usenet memories.

gossi | July 01, 06:51 CET

I never watched the original Alien Nation but I'll definitely tune in for this.

Simon | July 01, 07:24 CET

It wasn't brilliant but at this point probably underrated.

@theonetruebix | July 01, 07:26 CET

I wonder if Tim gets to talk about this anywhere at Comic-Con at all.

@theonetruebix | July 01, 07:44 CET

The One True b!X, Actually its a lot like remaking Buffy because both of them started out as crappy movies then were remade into tv series. Remakes are okay, but reremakes are stupid. Right now those "weird people" are trying to reremake Buffy and nobody seems to think that's a good idea...

xerox | July 01, 07:56 CET

No one seems to think that's a good idea because Buffy is iconic and it's seen as Joss' thing, not because it's a "reremake". Alien Nation doesn't carry that kind of baggage with it.

@theonetruebix | July 01, 08:13 CET

I have no idea what Alien Nation is, but if Tim's on board then so am I. The man's never written an hour of TV that I didn't enjoy on some level.

Unless he wrote some Angel episode that I've forgotten I hate.

sumogrip | July 01, 08:16 CET

So, when's production going to start on this? And how does it interfere with Le Dollhouse?

But sounds interesting, I'll definitely look into it.

wiesengrund | July 01, 08:41 CET

I will be looking forward to this. Anything Tim writes works for me.

samatwitch | July 01, 08:48 CET

Never was interested enough to watch the original series but I'll watch Tim's take on anything at least once.

cabri | July 01, 09:46 CET

I love Alien Nation and am resistant to change. Maybe if they're new characters, rather than Sykes and George...

You remember me. I'm the one who didn't like the new Star Trek movie.

I like series based on films, but other than that, I'm a negative kinda girl. Took me ages to watch BSG, and that's just because the original series was, um, not good.

redeem147 | July 01, 10:40 CET

Tim on cable! Even though it's Sci Fi (instead of f.e. Showtime), that's brilliant news.

I don't know anything about the original, but the way Tim's show is described in the article sounds awesome. Certainly something I'd be up for, even more certainly with Tim at the helm. The downside of course is less Tim on Dollhouse. I hope this doesn't mean he's leaving all togheter.

To bad Nathan already has Castle, if he had to do a cop procedural, a sci-fi/Tim Minear one would have been the one for me.

the Groosalugg | July 01, 11:50 CET

Liked Alien Nation a lot (& coincidentally caught Eric Pierpoint in an indie movie The Movie Hero on DVD last night--yes, that's kind of off-topic) but not so much that I don't think it can be revived and/or revised; big fan of Tim Minear. Put the two together and I'll definitely check it out.

Maeve | July 01, 12:27 CET

I was thinking about the same than Wiesengrund. I'd be sad to me that Dollhouse loose Tim Minear, specially in this so capital Season _the show's future depends on every single episode.

Small Blue Thing | July 01, 13:06 CET

Aww man, what happened to "FIRST!" As in, I posted the story first, just because I didn't add "mpreg" it gets deleted?
Lame.

And yes, I'm cranky this morning ;) All good tho, all that matters is Tim is on a new show---looking forward to it! :)

nakedandarticulate | July 01, 13:58 CET

If anybody can revive Alien Nation, it's TM. I wasn't much a fan of the film, but the TV series was a guilty pleasure, despite all its many problems. (I just hope they keep the latex to a minimum in the alien makeup.)

palehorse | July 01, 14:09 CET

"It's very much in keeping with what we've been looking to do -- find themes that are more than just hard sci-fi, something that feels contemporary and relevant and invites a broad audience in," said Sci Fi original programming exec VP Mark Stern.

Thank god. SciFi is finally gonna get away from broadcasting all that hard sci-fi like Ghost Hunters and ECW.

Principal Snyder | July 01, 16:56 CET

Sounds really interesting. This better not take long to get made. ;p

Jaymii | July 01, 17:15 CET

Never watched the original. But the way Tim is describing his vision sounds pretty good to me. I'll watch anything TM writes. :-)

Still hoping for The Inside on dvd (I only saw the episodes that aired in the US). Oh, an while I'm at the wishing well, how about getting The Moon is a Harsh Mistress made, as well?

AnotherFireflyfan | July 01, 17:16 CET

Ah, yes - aliens, cops and Tim Minear on cable. Sounds like a killer combo to me! I'm expecting something somewhere between The Wire and BSG. But with aliens. In other words, I'm very excited!

Doesn't sound like Tim feels too tied down to the original incarnation, so its quality shouldn't be much of an issue. The concept definitely has legs.

Gil-Martin | July 01, 17:38 CET

I'm only in favor of this if it means reuniting James Caan and Mandy Patinkin.

Principal Snyder | July 01, 18:00 CET

I think SYFY would have to film in NY (and doesn't have the money) to get either Mr. Caan or Mr. Patinkin to do a reboot of the original movie. But I say a big "YES" to Tim Minear doing a reboot of the series. Casting suggestions: Kirk Acevedo for the lead (human). Pretty please!

Little Green Kid | July 01, 20:12 CET

I caught parts of the TV series, which I thought of as "Commie Lizards from Mars." IOW, a guilty pleasure as palehorse wrote. I was already looking forward to the remake before Mr. Minear's involvement, which can only make things better.

"On cable, you can play with ambiguity." Sounds good to me.

janef | July 01, 22:57 CET

Commie Lizards from Mars was probably V, not Alien Nation. If for no other reason than they were lizards in V, but not in Alien Nation.

@theonetruebix | July 01, 23:32 CET

I'd have never of pegged Tim Minear for the Syfylis type!

Aidan W. | July 01, 23:52 CET

It wasn't brilliant but at this point probably underrated.

Perfectly surmised, b!x. I agree palehorse, if anyone can revive it, it's Tim. YAY TIM! I really enjoyed the film, but maybe that's because I don't remember catching the series. Can't wait to see your improvements, Tim. :)

I wouldn't put "Ghost Hunters" into the same category as ECW, Principal Snyder.

WhoIsOmega? | July 02, 02:12 CET

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