'Alien Nation' [1988] - C.E. Garcia, Mike Cuevas, and Ben Gonzalez.

Travel with us back to 1988 as we examine Alien Nation, the high-concept sci-fi buddy cop film starring James Caan and Mandy Patinkin. Released during a boom of genre hybrids and high-stakes studio gambles, Alien Nation promised to be a bold allegory about race, immigration, and integration—but behind the scenes, it was plagued by rewrites, studio interference, and major third-act reshoots. In this episode we explore how director Graham Baker struggled to hold the project together, and how the original vision from screenwriter Rockne S. O’Bannon was reshaped in post, and how Alien Nation still managed to launch a a short-lived franchise legacy on television.