Television Preview: Alien Nation: The Enemy Within
Video: The X-Files Squeeze/Tooms
Anime: Burn-Up W: Search for the Virtual Idol

Even slaves have a lower class...

Our pick:
1 2 3 4 5

• Alien Nation: The Enemy Within
• Starring Gary Graham, Eric Pierpoint
• Fox Tuesday Night Movie
• Nov. 15, 8 - 10 p.m. ET/PT

olice detectives Matt Sikes and George Francisco are an interesting, almost typical, law enforcement team: Matt is earthy and shoots from the hip, while George is wise but tough. They are typical, almost. While Matt is human, George is a newcomer, an alien who was marooned when the extra-terrestrial slave ship he was on veered off course and broke down over Los Angeles. (Read about the characters in Alien Nation.)

As slaves, the newcomers were bred to be extremely adaptable to harsh environments, and they are generally stronger than humans and have sharper senses. The most difficult challenges that face them, however, are not environmental, but cultural. Racism and prejudice assail them from without and within, and detectives Sikes and Francisco encounter both when they investigate the death of a newcomer, an Eeno. When the usually kind and level-headed George rudely snubs the case, Matt is stupefied. He discovers that George, like most newcomers, reviles the outcast Eenos because they were forced to do the most dangerous and dirty work aboard the slave ship.

The mysterious death of the Eeno is the main plot, but other subplots revisit familiar themes from the television series. Matt and Cathy, his newcomer girlfriend, decide to move in together and encounter difficulties. In another, George is asked to assist in a conception, which upsets his wife Susan (newcomer biology requires three participants). Lastly Buck, George's eldest child, still doesn't have a job or purpose, which is a source of conflict between father and son.

Under the tutelage of creator/executive producer/writer, Kenneth Johnson, the Alien Nation series excellently descried our culture and our humanity from a fresh, sympathetic, but not overly-sentimentalized perspective. The Enemy Within, however, is handicapped by trying to both play to its established fan base and attract new viewers. Many of the important insights of the series are over-hurried and over-simplified in this telefilm. Worse yet, The Enemy Within more foolishly concentrates on an over-blown apocalypse plot surrounding the Eenos rather than the obvious parallels between the newcomer experience and the Holocaust, immigration and slavery -- parallels which made the groundbreaking series great.

Although there are several plot resolutions -- Buck bonding with his father after becoming an action-hero -- passed off as revelations, they will likely disappoint (but should not deter) loyal fans, while new audiences will largely be unaffected. These tropisms fall short of the level of excellence set by the series, which knew that the price of survival and the simple, but reverberating choices of daily life are the most compelling and terrible issues of an individual's existence. This is why the scariest thing about this film is not a mutated alien bogeyman, but that Susan finds a man other than George attractive. Even so, this franchise always has something to offer, and even this average effort is superior to the standards of regular television.

A should-see for Alien Nation fans. -- Tamara

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The X-Files -- the best creep show around

Our pick:
1 2 3 4 5

• The X-Files
  Squeeze/Tooms
• Starring David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
• MSRP $14.95

xecutive Producer Chris Carter offers up two more classic episodes from the first season in this new X-Files video. Featuring one of the most popular human mutant monsters to appear in the series, the episodes Squeeze and Tooms fall squarely on the "spooky" side of the fence rather than the "alien" side.

In the episode Squeeze, a grisly serial killer has the seemingly inhuman ability to attack victims in a locked room and escape without leaving a trace. FBI agents Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) quickly realize that Eugene Victor Tooms is the murderer and that he may not be quite human. And unless they can stop him, Scully may become his next victim. In the episode Tooms, several months have passed since the events in Squeeze and Eugene Tooms is about to be released from a mental institution. Mulder knows that Tooms is on the lookout for one last victim, and only he and Scully can stop the killing.

As with all the X-Files videos, Carter discusses the ideas behind each episode during a special interview at the beginning of the tape. Both of these shows were written by Glen Morgan and James Wong. As played by Doug Hutchison, the liver-eating character of Tooms is as eerie as they come. The X-Files is always well cast, and Hutchison is a perfect example. It's hard to imagine him in any other role.

Right from the beginning, Squeeze is a spooky joyride. As is true with the best monster episodes, Tooms isn't just a stock movie monster. He was conjured up for the series and offers Carter and his writers plenty of fertile territory. This excellent episode holds together nicely, with plenty of fun touches (including bile). Squeeze is also notable as a pivotal show for Scully, as she must decide where her loyalties stand -- Mulder or the FBI?

Tooms, while a less successful episode than the outstanding Squeeze, still offers plenty of chills. No small credit has to be given to Hutchison. Luckily, the action leaves little time to reflect on the plot holes (why doesn't Tooms kill the sleeping Mulder to get that last liver when he has the opportunity?). Despite this episode's flaws, the ending is a blast. Of note is the introduction of Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) as Scully and Mulder's boss and future ally. It is also the first time the mysterious Smoking Man (William B. Davis), later known as the Cancer Man, speaks.

It's terrific to see Squeeze and Tooms together on the same video. For those who relish the predatory human monsters Carter is so fond of, this video is a must. -- Kathie

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Big guns, big breasts and big plot holes

Our pick:
1 2 3 4 5

• Burn-Up W: Search for the Virtual Idol
• A.D. Vision
• $19.98 dubbed
• $24.95 subtitled (reviewed)
• 30 minutes

hen a high-profile virtual personality disappears from her company's computer, the local police have some important questions to ask. Was the woman's program stolen by a hacker, or erased? Is the crime in question kidnapping or computer theft? Will there be a chance to bring out the really humongous robots and guns? Should policewoman Rio start selling her used underwear to supplement her meager income?

With only half an hour to develop a story, Burn-Up W doesn't go into much detail. It throws out scattered fragments of a lot of fascinating plots, including a bloody war between competing businesses over a virtual computer drug, a series of gorgeous new assassin androids, and the disappearance of Maria, a "virtual idol" who's abandoned her mainframe in search of a real body. But most of this material is left for the next installment to explain.

Of all the ideas crowded into this short tape, the only one dealt with in any depth is Maria's sojourn into the real world. An impatient, naive, excitable but friendly playmate in virtual reality, she's a little too strong and powerful for her own good in the real world. Her killer-android body, which she doesn't know how to use, makes her a menace to society. Her eagerness to prove she's a real person who's of definite value to her creators leads to some interesting twists.

But mostly, she's a huge-breasted babe in Spandex who provides a chance for the hyperkinetic Warrior Team to don their Spandex and bounce into action, blowing everything in their way into tiny shards. Any pretensions of plot are pretty much abandoned by the time Rio's protean battle suit malfunctions and leaves her dressed in a skimpy S&M outfit. This is mostly a breast-fest, despite the complete lack of sex of any kind.

Burn-Up W gets high marks for its intense animation and stylistic direction, which tends to focus on beautifully composed fragmentary images when it's not in dizzying motion. This installment is also hysterically funny, packed with unbelievably excessive visual and textual hyperbole. As Rio titters on about her underwear, her partners complain that they're going to quit if they don't get to do more shooting, and the department hauls out its obligatory giant robot, which takes half an hour to select a target.

But without a plot to pin all the giddy nonsense down, it's ultimately just gibberish. None of the characters except Maria are developed past their first line or two; most of them are lucky to even have their names mentioned on screen. And none of the stories come to anything. Even the climactic battle scene is cut short. Watching this tape is like watching a half-hour commercial for an episode to come. But what an episode it's apparently going to be!

This one seemed like it ended before the opening credits were even over. Too bad -- until they completely abandoned the plot, I was enjoying this more than anything else I've reviewed this year. -- Tasha

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