Syfy’s new series “Resident Alien” is based on the Dark Horse comics series by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse. The Universal Content Productions, Dark Horse Entertainment and Amblin venture was adapted for television by Chris Sheridan (Family Guy). We checked out the first four episodes of Resident Alien and found it delightfully weird.
Resident Alien stars Alan Tudyk as Harry Vanderspeigle, an alien who crash-landed in a small Colorado town. After assuming the life, and looks, of a visiting doctor. Harry gets drawn into life of the town when the resident practitioner is killed. Harry must learn to be human and doctor enough to trick the humans so he has time to find missing pieces of his ship. But human experiences come with human emotions and Harry begins to wrestle with doubt about his mission on this planet. Such as: “Are human beings worth saving?”
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Alan Tudyk and his deadpan abilities were made for the role of the apathetic Harry. Not only does he perfectly nail the awkwardness of human situations with stunning ease. He also can jump right into body comedy when the moment calls. After all, learning to command a human takes time. More than just comedy, he also brings an intensity that expertly comes across as being unknowingly deep.
The town of Patience, Colorado is a full of people attempting to hide their own secrets. Among them is Asta (Sara Tomko) who feels like an outsider of her small little town as Harry. After a murder of the town doctor forces Harry and Asta to work together, they develop a mutual friendship. The rest of the town has more than enough human stories to keep our Resident Alien from completing his mission. Including one child who can see Harry in his true form.
The dramedy definitely is found in the human stories and in how Harry has to figure out how to react appropriately. The human stories bring out the comedy, awkwardness, and highlight the flightiness of human emotions. There are also great moments of body horror and comedy as Harry finds it difficult to keep his secrets under wraps. Including when the human body of Harry, who the alien killed by throwing him into the lake, washes up on shore. Overall Resident Alien is a fun, odd comedy that is more than worthy of your time. 4/5
You can check out the first four episodes of Resident Alien on Syfy OnDemand and new episodes air every Wednesday. Be sure to follow ScaryNerd for more of all things horror sci-fi and more.
