Exclusive Interview: Tim Minear Discusses the new New "Alien Nation"

Tim Minear, whose credits include The X-Files, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Angel, Firefly, Wonderfalls, The Inside, Drive and, most recently, Dollhouse, is currently developing a new take on Alien Nation for the SyFy Channel. What follows is Newcomers Among Us' exclusive interview with Minear conducted by Edward Gross.

NEWCOMERS AMONG US: What do you see as the difference between what you do with Alien Nation and what Ken Johnson did with Alien Nation?

TIM MINEAR: When Fox 21 approached me and said they had the property, they were really talking about the movie, and so that's what I returned to and concentrated on. Though Ken Johnson was one of those forces in my youth who was sort of quietly influential with things like Hulk and "V". When I went back and looked at the movie, it just felt to me like the central idea was very clear: oppressed minority. Racism. It seemed to be content to make that point and that was pretty much it, which was fine at the time. And great for my purposes, because in a post 9-11, post War On Terror world, it just felt like here was a concept that could really be used to explore so much more. It felt like there was a compelling reason to revisit this material.

NEWCOMERS AMONG US: So how does that impact Alien Nation?

TIM MINEAR: There is a way to do an alien invasion story that is not Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or gleaming metal ships hovering over cities with laser canons. There's a way to do an alien invasion story that's real, and creeping and complex, but totally recognizable. Because it's happening right now, more so in Europe than in the States. It's an alien invasion not through hovering space ships and laser beams but through birth rates and demography. Alien Nation would draw partly from that European clash of civilizations and drop it into the continental US. A French-like ghetto slum in Dallas, or a Gaza Strip in Seattle. The central thematic question is assimilation versus balkanization. To the wary humans, this fast growing alien population threatens to take over via demographics. To the newcomer species that fins itself in an alien world -- the more radical might feel they're being bullied inot assimilating, some feel the larger culture threatens to swallow them whole; to annihilate their identity.
    What the genre element allows us to do is say something -- about the world, about issies, about the human condition. And it also allows us to do what is done best on cable, which is to create a complex but recognizable world. This is the The Wire with aliens. It's taking elements of the slick, network "paranormal procedural" and dropping it into the streets of The Shield. Amd at the center of this you have this guy who is alienated from himself, from his life, from his humanity. And it takes an alien to help him start to appreciate his own species. The Sykes-Francisci relationship is the thing they got exactly right. The other thing I told Sci-Fi is the other thing I'm missing on television is a '70s cop show. What's not on television? Starsky and Hutch. It's not there. Lethal Weapon. It's not there. I think you can tale that sensibility, without it being kitschy, but in a post-modern, Tarantino kind of way and have that be a way in.

TM: Well, that's always going to be the trick with this concept. We know she's not really that person, so there is a distance there, for the viewer. One can only keep that element in mind when working out the story. So as I mentioned, the "miracle" is always double-edged -- they work on that level, but they also always must illustrate the show concept. Hopefully if that happens, then even with the emotional distance, it's compelling enough to hold interest.

J: The theme of identity was quite prevalent in The Inside and in many ways Echo's arc ins't dissimilar to Rebecca Locke's. Has anything from The Inside spilled over into your Dollhouse input.

TM: Uh, I'd say so, yeah. Writing the FBI stuff is pretty easy for me, because of The Inside. You may have detected a shout out to myself in there tonight. Also, I may have suggested the Elizabeth Smart thing to Joss in the hostage expert thing.

J: A ha, thought that plot seemed like a you-thing.

Who did you enjoy writing for in "True Believer"? I'm thinking it wouldn't be a stretch to suggest Topher?

TM: I think it took me as long to write the Topher/Saunders stuff as it took to type it. Kind of a snap, actually. I also like writing for Adelle. And I have an affection for Boyd.

J: The cast for "True Believer" feature a few Drive alums -- Brian Bloom and Mark Totty of the healing staple gun. Did you have a hand in the casting and were you writing with them in mind?

TM: Oddly, I wasn't really thinking of Brian when I was writing. I was kind of writing for Jeremey Renner (Penn from "Somnanbulist" [Angel]). When he wasn't available, I heard that Brian had been submitted. Joss and I both thought he would be great. In the back of my mind, I was kind of thinking of Mark Totty for Agent Lilly. And I asked for casting to bring him in. I cast the episode myself.

J: Aside from casting, how involved were you in the production and post-production of this episode?

TM: Pretty involved. I prepped it with my old friend Allon Kroeker, I was on set much of the time, and I was in the editing room until it was done.

J: What's it been like consulting on the show during episodes you weren't involved in? What duties did you take on?

TM: "Consulting" is just a title. I do the same thing I do on any show where I'm a producing writer -- when not the actual show runner. I'm in the wirter's room, breaking stories. Writing scenes when needed, writing episodes, going to casting, goofing off, making wisecracks and eating pie.

Lots of pie.

J: How have you approached the theme of exploitation on the show? Even though "True Believer" was bereft of some of the bra-shots of the last few episodes, how conscious do you have to be of causing offence when writing a show that is so near the mark?

TM: It's difficult. We are talking about a whorehouse on some level. Happily I've been able to skirt around it a bit on my episodes.

J: Finally -- now that the show's wrapped and the inroduction phase is over, what can we expect from the rest of the series? And what can we expect from you in a post-Dollhouse world?

TM: Well, you'll get juicy arc stuff coming up soon. We just ram headlong into it all by the end, and it's fun.

As for me, working on a few things. Two pilot ideas that I'm developing with the studio. One is science fiction -- based on an old title. And the other is a dark thriller. Also have some movie stuff going. And I assume before Dollhouse resumes, assuming it does, the studio will have me consulting on some other ongoing concern of theirs. I'm on an overall deal, recall.