Alien Nation: Dark Horizon (1994) (TV)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Kenneth Johnson

Writers (WGA):

Rockne S. O'Bannon (characters)
Diane Frolov (written by) ...

Release Date:

25 October 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Drama

Plot:

Alien life form comes to Earth to rescue his enslaved race.

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Sequel | Police | Detective

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 1 win

Cast

Gary Graham	...	Det. Matthew Sikes
Eric Pierpoint	...	George Francisco
Michele Scarabelli	...	Susan Francisco
Terri Treas	...	Cathy Frankel
Lauren Woodland	...	Emily Francisco
Sean Six	...	Buck Francisco
Jeff Marcus	...	Albert Einstein
Ron Fassler	...	Capt. Brian Grazer
Scott Patterson	...	Ahpossno
Jenny Gago	...	Detective Beatrice Zapeda
Michele Lamar Richards	...	Dr. Lois Allen
Dana Andersen	...	Mary O'Naise
Lee Bryant	...	Phyllis Bryant
David Purdham	...	Marc Guerin
Diane Cary	...	Penny

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Germany:12 | UK:12 | Iceland:12

Company:

Foxstar Productions

Trivia:

Resolves the cliffhanger ending of "Alien Nation" (1989) which had been cancelled unexpectedly after its first season. The success of this film led to several more Alien Nation telefilms over the next few years.

Movie Connections:

Follows Alien Nation (1988)

Continuity nitpicks aside, a great movie!

I just finished my DVDs of the first season of Alien Nation. It's really been years since I last saw the show, as Sci-Fi hasn't aired the reruns in quite some time and I have to say, it has really held up well. So I watched 'Green Eyes' yesterday, which as any Alien Nation fan knows ended in a cliffhanger that was left unresolved for five whole years. After 'Green Eyes' was over I went down into the basement and dug up my old VHS copy of Dark Horizon that I taped off of Fox 11 years ago (damn, has it really been that long!?)

Dark Horizon is a great movie that still hold s up well. If feels like a movie -- not episodic like the series. The scope and look of the film is better. My only complaints are continuity wise. The continuity between 'Green Eyes' and 'Dark Horizon' wasn't very good. Now I understand that seeing as five years had passed between the two that they couldn't simply "pick up where they left off" because new viewers would be confused BUT they could have re-shot past events from 'Green Eyes' in such a way that new viewers would be seeing it for the first time, and continuity would still be preserved. For example, when he flowers are delivered in 'Green Eyes' it is nighttime. George is home, and when Emily and Susan smell the flowers he lunges at them and screams, 'Noooooooo'. In 'Dark Horizon' the flowers are delivered during the day and George is not home. Now I understand that showing the flowers being delivered had to be re-filmed. You couldn't reuse the old footage from 'Green Eyes' again because Lauren Woodland had grown quite a bit in five years and it would have looked laughable as the scenes with her would not have matched. They could, however, have re-shot the flower delivery at night with George home so it wouldn't be all that off.

The other issue is with Matt and Cathy. In both 'Green Eyes' and 'Dark Horizon' Cathy comes to Matt's place to tell him what happened to the Franciscos. In both versions she finds him alone with Lorraine with his shirt off. In 'Green Eyes', however, it was shortly after he found her with a Newcomer man named Joshua Tree and she told him that she needed to be with an alien man, because she felt he (Matt) wanted her to be human. In 'Dark Horizon' the events seem reversed, as Matt later apologizes for being with Lorraine and says that he needed to be with a human woman.

And then there is the matter of the others infected with the disease. In 'Green Eyes' Matt and George were investigating several homicides of prominent Newcomers that had been infected by the disease. Susan and Emily were the third attack. In 'Dark Horizon', however, it would seem that Susan and Emily are the first attack as no one seems to have seen it before. Phyllis Bryant even tells the flower delivery guy that "now they know the virus exists" despite the fact they should have already known due to the two previous murders.

Now again, I do realize that due to the five year gap between 'Green Eyes' and 'Dark Horizon' that it couldn't pick right up as 'Green Eyes Part II' complete with a "Previously on Alien Nation" montage, but better care could have been taken to observe continuity and not had such glaring errors. Also, on a personal note -- Barbara (Bush) Tyson made a much hotter Lorraine then Dana Andersen in 'Dark Horizon'.

These continuity nitpicks aside, this is a great movie!