Blu-ray Review: RESIDENT ALIEN: THE COMPLETE SERIES

Home » Blu-ray Review: RESIDENT ALIEN: THE COMPLETE SERIES

Mar 28 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

An alien is sent on a mission to drop a device on Earth that will ultimately eradicate all human life, believing this to be the best for the planet. However, his ship is struck by lightning and crash-lands in the mountains of Colorado. For the past four months, the alien has been stuck on earth, searching for the device so that he can go back home. He had found a cabin belonging to a human named Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk), and after disposing of the human’s body in a nearby lake, he assumes a human form identical to the deceased doctor. When the alien Harry not out looking for his deice, he is learning human language and customs by binging reruns of Law & Order. Though he hasn’t really encountered any other humans, living an isolated life in this cabin by the lake.

However, Harry soon finds this life upended, and his ability to assimilate put to the test when the town doctor in nearby Patience, Colorado is found murdered. As the only other doctor nearby, he’s asked to temporarily fill in as the Patience’s new town doctor. Harry is hesitant, but sees this as a chance to learn about humans direct from the source, and see if he can fake it. Harry’s bedside manner could use a lot of work, and people seem to write off his odd behavior as some kind of quirk. He’s not too familiar with human anatomy and initially has to check out YouTube videos to figure out what he’s supposed to be doing for his patients. As Harry interacts with the humans and sees how they behave and what makes them tick, he starts to change and experience feelings he’s never had before, particularly empathy, and starts to doubt the purpose of his mission.

Some of the quirky residents of the small town include health clinic assistant Asta Twelvetrees (Sara Tomko) and her friend, former Olympic skier-turned pub owner D’arcy Bloom (Alice Wetterlund); no-nonsense town Sherriff Mike “Big Black” Thompson (Corey Reynolds) and his underappreciated and ignored partner Deputy Olivia “Liv” Baker (Elizabeth Bowen); and naïve town mayor Ben Hawthorne (Levi Fiehler) and his wife Kate (Meredith Garretson). It turns out that Ben and Kate’s son Max Hawthorne (Judah Prehn) has the rare ability to see Harry’s true form, which quickly puts the two at odds, and puts Harry in a tough position, wondering what to do in order to keep his secret from coming out. Can he really kill a kid?

Meanwhile, there seems to be more going on in Patience. Harry might not be the only alien in town—another race known as the Greys have been bust there for decades, abducting and studying the humans. Also, a secret government agency, headed up by high-ranking U.S. military officer General Eleanor McCallister (Linda Hamilton), is actively hunting for extraterrestrials.

Resident Alien ran for three seasons on Syfy before switching to USA Network for it’s fourth/final season. Here is a brief breakdown of the seasons:

In the first season (10 episodes, 2021), an alien crash-lands on earth and assumes the identity of a new small town doctor and tries to assimilate as he determines if he should go through with plans to eradicate the humans. He strikes up a rivalry with a local boy Max who seems to be the only person who can see his true form, and who, along with his adventurous classmate Sahar Karimi (Gracelyn Awad Rinke) set out to expose the truth about Harry. Meanwhile, the police try to figure out who murdered the old town doctor; Harry tries to make sure the body of the human he’s pretending to be doesn’t resurface; a secret government agency hunts for signs of aliens in the area; and a new town doctor, Dr. Ethan Stone (Michael Cassidy) arrives, but Harry think’s he’s hiding something and is too good to be true.
The second season (16 episodes, 2022) really expands upon the alien mythology and lore of the series. It opens with Harry waking up with a bit of amnesia, Max suffering some aging after-effects from Harry’s tech; and Asta unsure of how to feel about Harry after learning the truth, and wanting to prove to him that the Earth is worth saving. During the season, Harry agrees to safeguard an alien egg, which leads to a fun new fatherly dynamic; Liv struggles with flashbacks that she may have had an alien encounter decades earlier; and General McCallister continues to investigate possible alien activity in Patience. We also see the introduction of some new characters, such as podcaster/”alien experiencer” Peter Bach (Terry O’Quinn) who also has the ability to see Harry’s true form; his son/alien abductee Robert Hutchins (Paul Piaskowski); a Grey alien-human hybrid named Joseph Rainier (Enver Gjokaj); and a Detective Lena Torres (Nicola Correia-Damude) from a neighboring town.
In the third season (8 episodes, 2024), Harry is trying to work with General McAllister in hopes of eliminating the threat from the Greys; and Ben and Kate struggle with visions from their abductions by the Greys. We also get the introduction of the Blue Avian alien Heather (Edi Patterson) from the Galactic Federation as a hilariously awkward new love interest for Harry, as well as a dangerous new mantis-like shapeshifting alien (voiced by Clancy Brown).
In the fourth/final season (10 episodes, 2025) Harry tries to come to terms with the fact that he may be stuck as a human. Things ultimately come to a head as a mysterious shape-shifting alien runs amok and people don’t know who they can trust. And FBI agent Jules Gardner (Jewel Staite), who grew up in Patience, returns to town.

Resident Alien is a thoroughly-entertaining series that finds this perfect blend of humor, drama, sci-fi, mystery and heart. Alan Tudyk is perfectly cast as this alien pretending to be human. He is an expert physical humor, and throws himself 110% into this role, never shying away from going way over the top. It’s this zaniness that makes Harry so much fun as well as endearing. Harry starts off as this alien who’s contemplating killing a kid in order to keep his secret, but as he spends time with the humans, he understands them and appreciates them and their emotions, and wants to help them. He becomes more human himself along the way, which at first he hates, but then embraces. This character really grows over the course of the four seasons. Though I must say I love his childish rivalry with Max right from the start.

At the core is this fis-out-of-water, quirky small town setting type of story, but it also gets much deeper than that. The series is so well written, making you constantly laugh out loud at these characters and ridiculous situations, but then also making you grow to love and care about these characters. There are some really heartfelt moments throughout the series in addition t the belly laughs. Each of the characters is given their own arc and personal journey to explore, and hurdles to overcome over the course of the four seasons. For every wild and hilarious moment like the birdlike Heather feeding Harry from her beak, or Mike or Harry making humorous one-liners, there’s also a lot of emotion, drama, mystery and action. Seasons often end with some big reveal or twist that keep you hooked and waiting for more.

For its fourth season, which nearly didn’t happen, the show moved from Syfy to USA Network. Knowing this would likely be the series’ final season, the creators treated it was. For fans this was such a gift as the final season holds nothing back. There are so many fun and exciting reveals, with more and more characters discovering Harry’s secret. This all culminates in what feels like a solid and satisfying ending to the series. Though it leaves things in a place that would allow a return to Patience down the road should USA choose to do a TV movie as they have for shows like Burn Notice, Psych and Monk. (Fingers-crossed that we get to revisit these characters in 5-10 years.)

Universal had been releasing the individual seasons of Resident Alien on DVD & Blu-ray and have also done so for the fourth/final season. They have also bundled all of these individual releases into into a Complete Series Blu-ray box set. We were sent the Complete Series Blu-ray release for review from AV Entertainment.

The video presentation looks nearly flawless, with clean, crisp and stunning picture that captures everything with amazing clarity and detail. Colors are also bright and beautiful, and darker scenes also look excellent. I can’t imagine the show looking any better. Dialogue is clear throughout, and the audio track makes excellent use of the stereo and surround channels to provide an immersive experience. Each season is presented on its own HD keepcase, which are collected in an outer cardboard box. Unfortunately, the bonus material is quite minimal, with just about 8 minutes of deleted scenes from seasons 2 & 3. I wish Universal had included some other behind-the-scenes material, or the show’s SDCC panel with the fourth season. But otherwise, the set is great.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (32:37:01)

All 4 seasons/44 episodes of the series on 10 discs.
- Season 1 (2021) – 10 episodes: (7:33:01)
  Disc 1 (3:45:00): “Resident Alien – Pilot Episode”, “Homesick”, “Secrets”, “Birds of a Feather”, “Love Language”
  Disc 2 (3:48:01): “Sexy Beast”, “The Green Glow”, “End of the World As We Know It”, “Welcome Aliens”, “Heroes of Patience”
- Season 2 (2022) – 16 episodes: (11:47:53)
  Disc 1 (2:58:35): “Old Friends”, “The Wire”, “Girls’ Night”, “Radio Harry”
  Disc 2 (2:56:15): “Family Day”, “An Alien in New York”, “Escape from New York”, “Alien Dinner Party”
  Disc 3 (2:56:24): “Autopsy”, “The Ghost of Bobby Smallwood”, “The Weight”, “The Alien Within”
  Disc 4 (2:56:39): “Harry, a Parent”, “Cat and Mouse”, “Best of Enemies”, “I Believe in Aliens”
- Season 3 (2024) – 8 episodes: (5:55:52)
  Disc 1 (2:57:14): “Lone Wolf”, “The Upper Hand”, “141 Seconds”, “Avian Flu”
  Disc 2 (2:58:38): “Lovebird”, “Bye Bye Birdie”, “Here Comes My Baby”, “Homecoming”
- Season 4 (2025) – 10 episodes: (7:21:15)
  Disc 1 (3:38:07): “Prisoners”, “The Lonely Man”, “Ties That Bind”, “Truth Hurts”, “The Human Condition”
  Disc 2 (3:43:08): “Soul Providers”, “Daddy Issues”, “Mine Town”, “Tunnel Vision”, “The End Is Here”
1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (Seasons 1-4), German 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (Season 1)
Subtitles: English SDH (Seasons 1-4), French (Season 1), German (Season 1)

Extras:

Season 2:
- Deleted Scenes (4:11)
  Collection of 2 deleted scenes from 1 episode.
  - “Harry, A Parent” (4:11) – 2 scenes
    Ben tries to talk to Mike about an argument he had with his wife, but Mike turns the discussion around on him; Sherriff Mike catches Deputy Liv sitting in his chair doing an expletive-laden impression of him.
Season 3:
- Deleted Scenes (4:32)
  Collection of 5 deleted scenes from four episodes. Select from:
  - “Avian Flu” (:32) – 1 scene
    Mike and Liv find a footprint in the snow outside of the cabin.
  - “Lovebird” (:47) – 1 scene
    Max video chats with Sahar about his school project.
  - “Bye Bye Birdie (1:52) – 2 scenes
    Asta tries to convince Harry to leave the house; Asta receives a visit from her daughter. who wants to go snowboarding.
  - “Here Comes My Baby” (1:21) – 1 scene
    Harry tells Asta how his son Bridget can look like anyone, only to have her be Bridget in disguise.

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Episodes:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Highly Recommended

Resident Alien is such a well-written and entertaining series, with a cast that not only makes you laugh at the antics of these hilarious and quirky characters, but also makes you care about them. The series finds this nice blend of sci-fi, action, drama and mystery along with the over-the-top humor. I loved revisiting the series on the Blu-ray setmdash;I had forgotten just how amazing the first few seasons were. The series also done a nice job of wrapping things up in the fourth season, making it feel like a completed series, instead of leaving fans on a cliffhanger with lots of open questions. Universals Blu-ray release looks and sounds stunning. The only disappointment is the minimal amount of bonus material. That said, this set is still a must own for any fan of the series/cast. Its so enjoyable and highly rewatchable!