ALIEN NATION: THE ENEMY WITHIN (TV)
Summary
One in a series of television films following the television series of the same name, about a race of extraterrestrials living in Los Angeles as a minority group. A pair of Newcomer women flee through the sewers, chased by another pair of Newcomers. One escapes to street level while the other, frightened, stays below. She flees through the streets of a neighborhood filled with Newcomers, who all refuse her pleas for help and are visibly disgusted by her presence. The pursuers tranquilize her, and she accidentally stumbles into an oncoming vehicle. The human driver panics and begs the bystanders to call for medical help, but they do nothing and the Newcomer woman dies; the human is angry and confused as to why no one tried to help her. Cathy prepares to move in with Matt, and Albert tells George that he and May plan to have children, asking George to “fertilize” May for him as part of the Tenctonese three-person reproductive process. Matt advises George to ask for Susan’s permission before he does so. They investigate the death of the Newcomer woman, but George immediately identifies her as an “Eeno,” and wants nothing to do with the case. Susan is passed over for promotion, making her upset. Additionally, she feels that George is no longer as attracted to her as he used to be. Cathy is called in to perform an autopsy on the Eeno woman, and George continues to voice his distaste for Eenos, which Matt feels is racist. Cathy discovers that the Eeno was pregnant and close to transferring the child to a male. The Newcomers who failed to capture her are bound and left to be killed by a monstrous gigantic Newcomer. The autopsy goes awry when Cathy makes an incision, releasing a gas which proves to be fatal to her human assistant. Cathy concludes that the gas was somehow emitted by the body’s amniotic fluid, puzzling her. George and Cathy finally explain to Matt that Eenos were the lowest caste aboard the ship, who were responsible for all waste disposal functions, including that of corpses. They were forced to derive sustenance from waste material and in times of desperation would consume the bodies of the dead. They are reviled throughout Tenctonese society for this fact, and not discussed among humans. George announces to his family his decision to fertilize May, and Susan does not take it well. She criticizes his recent shortcomings in bed and is bitter about the decision, seemingly confirming her concerns about his love for her. Matt helps Cathy finish moving her stuff into his apartment, although both of them have some difficulty getting adjusted. The next day, Cathy attempts another autopsy and removes the incomplete fetus from the Eeno woman’s uterus, discovering that it has an abnormally large abdomen. Susan’s co-worker Jessica advises her to “get even” with George by sleeping with Rick Shaw, another co-worker who is attracted to her. The amniotic fluid of the Eeno woman, named Gayle Warnings, is analyzed and contains hydrofluoric acid, which may have built up in her system since Eenos have been known to take jobs undesirable to others, such as toxic waste cleanup. However, Cathy suspects that she was deliberately injected with the substance. Cathy redecorates Matt’s apartment, much to his displeasure. Both of them express frustration at being unable to adapt to the other’s lifestyles. Susan attempts to seduce George to convince him not to fertilize May, but George plans to go through with it anyway and Susan gets upset, running off in tears. Matt tracks Gayle back to her place of employment, a toxic waste disposal plant. He and George visit the plant and meet with Terry Firma, the plant’s owner. He claims to have no knowledge of Gayle’s death, pregnancy, or the strange contamination in her body. Firma insists that the plant’s processes are safe, and that the employees don’t come into direct contact with any waste material. Cathy begins to feel that she’s made a mess of Matt’s life and arranges to take on extra work to excuse herself from the apartment. George experiences further problems with his family, such as Buck’s inability to get a job. Firma reports to the monstrous Newcomer, who commands him to keep the police out of their affairs. They appear to be growing a number of Newcomer fetuses in tanks for some unknown purpose. One of the Eenos from the plant, Carry Onbag, decides to visit the police station on the same day that George brings Emily there for father-daughter day. She speaks with Matt and explains that she is Gayle’s friend, and that she escaped the plant in order to avoid having her baby taken away from her. She explains that the plant undergoes systematic and involuntary impregnation of its female Eeno workers, and then take the babies away in mid-gestation. She also claims that the plant doesn’t dispose of the waste but actually stores it, and gives Matt information on where to find it; Matt promises to help her. Emily is moved by Carry’s plight and disgusted at her father, who dismisses Carry’s story due to his hatred for Eenos. Emily echoes Matt’s sentiments about Eenos before storming out. At an office party Rick expresses his sympathy to Susan for not getting promoted, and Jessica invites her out on the town with her friends. George admits to Albert and May that Susan is unhappy with his decision to fertilize May. Matt investigates further and discovers that Firma’s plant may be lying about their waste disposal methods, just as Carry reported. Emily tries to bring food and clothing to the now-homeless Carry, but the two of them are accosted by a gang. They are beaten and Emily is burned with salt water. Captain Grazer prevents Matt and George from investigating the plant due to political pressure; the city earns a great deal of money from the revenue the plant provides and the fees for foreign toxic disposal. George is informed of the incident with Emily and goes to visit her in the hospital along with Buck. Emily suffers no permanent damage, explaining how she couldn’t stand to see Carry assaulted. George feels responsible for the incident, realizing that his hatred for Eenos is unfounded. He apologizes to Carry and offers to help her find a new home. Matt, George, and Emily bring Carry to a remote clearing in the wilderness where Eenos are rumored to live. They wait until the middle of the night, when suddenly Eenos appear and accept Carry into their midst, thanking Matt and George for bringing her. They show them a wall painting they did depicting a dream shared by many of the Eenos, and George interprets the writing as mentioning a “queen mother” who will bring about “a new order” with Eenos in charge. The wilderness Eenos believe that the dream is a warning of things to come, and that the queen mother is already active and served by Eenos. Meanwhile, the queen mother orders that Carry be retrieved before she exposes their secrets. Matt returns home and sees a report on the news about an apartment building being mysteriously overcome with fluorine gas, the same kind that was found in Gayle’s body. Susan goes out to a club with Jessica, where she runs into Rick, who hits on her. Matt investigates the gas leak and finds that there have been a string of similar incidents over the past year and a half. He discovers that all of the incidents can be traced back to tunnels emanating from the toxic waste disposal plant. George realizes that the tunnel pattern matches the depiction that the Eenos etched onto the wall in accordance with their dream. Emily tells Buck about their visit with the Eenos and he resolves to do something on his own to save the Eenos working in the plant. Rick gets Susan to agree to come to his apartment after work, admitting that he’s been attracted to her for some time. Matt discovers that Cathy hasn’t been in to the hospital for several days, much to his confusion. He finds that she left a contact number and traces it to a hotel in Little Tencton. He tracks down the apartment and visits Cathy, suspecting that she is having an affair. However, she admits that she only wants to be alone, since she doesn’t feel at home at Matt’s place and can’t figure out how to coexist with him, afraid that she’ll do something that will drive him away. Matt forgives her and swears to work things out with her. Buck, posing as an architecture student, obtains the plans to the old subway terminal building that the toxic waste plant was built on top of. George and Matt infiltrate the tunnel system. Albert and May visit Susan at work, explaining that they have decided to seek other means of fertilizing May due to the stress that George experienced from Susan’s reaction to his decision. Susan hears about how George has agonized over the whole affair and this motivates Susan into rejecting Rick’s offer. Matt and George discover a gigantic hive-like structure in the tunnels housing tons of hydrofluoric gas, and believe that it is the work of the “queen mother.” They also find Buck in the tunnels, and he shows them what he discovered: a spawning pit of hundreds of abnormally large mutated Eeno offspring hatching out of giant eggs. George speculates that the mutants feed on hydrofluoric acid. He and Matt try to track down the queen mother but are captured by Firma and his men. Firma explains his plan in full to Matt and George: they steal and mutate the Eeno fetuses so that they can survive on hydrofluoric acid in hopes that they will adapt to survive in a heavily polluted world. The queen mother turns out to have been the first of these mutations, brought about by accident when a female Eeno was accidentally contaminated with waste and aborted her mutant fetus, only for it to survive. As they prepare to sacrifice Matt and George to the queen, they reveal that they are unaware of the eggs hatching and claim that the queen cannot lay eggs. Matt and George believe that the queen no longer requires them and will take over on her own with her legions of offspring. They try to escape the queen’s assault with Buck’s help, as the queen and her offspring pursue them through the air ducts. Firma and his men discover the spawning pit. George formulates a plan to reverse the water pumps beneath the plant, flooding the tunnels with salt water from the ocean and killing all of the mutants. Firma encounters them and offers to help them complete their plan. They try to escape the tunnels before the flooding completes, fighting off waves of mutants on the way. Everyone but Firma and Matt manage to escape before the tunnels flood completely, killing all of the mutants. Matt is cornered by the queen mother and tries to fight her off before the salt water rushes in, killing her as well. During the aftermath, George and an officer from the Bureau of Newcomer Affairs help to provide homes for the displaced Eeno plant workers. Matt rents out a single apartment next door to his own to provide Cathy with some private space should she need it. They attend a party at the Francisco house in honor of George fertilizing May; he invites some of the Eenos as well. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: FOX
- DATE: November 12, 1996 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:32:58
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:84043
- GENRE: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SERIES RUN: FOX - TV, 1996
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Kenneth Johnson … Executive Producer, Director, Developed by
- Tarquin Gotch … Supervising Producer
- Bob Lemchen … Supervising Producer
- Ron Mitchell … Producer
- Venita Ozols-Graham … Associate Producer
- Diane Frolov … Writer
- Andrew Schneider … Writer
- Rockne S. O'Bannon … Based on characters created by
- Steve Dorff … Music by
- Gary Graham … Cast, Detective Matthew Sykes
- Eric Pierpoint … Cast, Detective George Francisco
- Michele Scarabelli … Cast, Susan Francisco
- Terri Treas … Cast, Dr. Cathy Frankel
- Lauren Woodland … Cast, Emily Francisco
- Sean Six … Cast, Buck Francisco
- Jeff Marcus … Cast, Albert Einstein
- Ron Fassler … Cast, Captain Bryan Grazer
- Wayne Pere … Cast, Terry Firma
- Dana Anderson … Cast, May O'Naize
- Tiny Ron (See also: Ronald Taylor) … Cast, Queen Mother
- Bridgitta Dau … Cast, Carry Onbag
- Darin Heames … Cast, Saran Wrap
- Kerrie Keane … Cast, Jessica
- Joe Lando … Cast, Rick Shaw
- Susan Beaubian … Cast, Doctor
- Amy Bryson … Cast, Leader
- Jennifer Darling … Cast, Driver
- Brenda Griffin … Cast, Newcomer Mother
- Philip Maurice Hayes … Cast, Morris Code
- Mary Amadeo Ingersoll … Cast, Gina Rutenberg
- Michael Johnson … Cast, Waiter
- Lawrence Kennedy … Cast, Nurse
- Patrick Kerr … Cast, Pursuer #1
- Ben Martin … Cast, BNA Official
- Adelaide Miller … Cast, Wendy
- Ron Mitchell … Cast, Newcomer Man
- James Parks … Cast, Pursuer #2
- Dana Reed … Cast, Gayle Warnings
- James Sakata … Cast, Coroner
- Jason Squire … Cast, Bottle Thrower
- Clark Tucker … Cast, Tenctonese Teen
- James Vaughn … Cast, Daniel