Man Who Fell To Earth, The [tv]
Entry updated 10 January 2023. Tagged: TV.
US tv series (2022). Production companies include CBS Studios, Timberman-Beverly Productions for Showtime Networks. Created by Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet. Executive producers include Rola Bauer, Carl Beverly and Francoise Guyonnet. Producers include Jon Dudkowski, Robyn Johnson and Adrian Kelly. Directors include Joss Agnew, Sarah Harding and Alex Kurtzman. Writers include Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet and Jane Maggs. Actors include Rob Delaney, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Naomie Harris, Kate Mulgrew, Bill Nighy and Jimmi Simpson. Ten episodes. Colour.
In this sequel to the original story by Walter Tevis – The Man Who Fell to Earth (1963) – set half a century later, an Alien (Ejiofor) from the dying planet Anthea arrives on Earth naked and disoriented. He has a mission to meet a former nuclear physicist, Justin Falls (Harris), who had tried and failed to create practical nuclear fusion (see Power Sources). He learns to communicate and manages to convince her to accompany him – reluctantly at first – as he contacts his predecessor, Thomas Jerome Newton (Nighy), the alien character in the original novel and the film The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) directed by Nicolas Roeg. They embark on a quest to acquire the plans for a cold fusion device that can save both his planet and the Earth. On the way they are joined by another scientist (Delaney), and are tracked by CIA agents (Mulgrew and Simpson) who also want the device.
Extremely well-acted and visually beautiful, this series continues the story in new directions, exploring such issues as Climate Change, societal acceptance of outsiders, and what it means to be human. [LW]
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