Episode Transcript
[00:00:09] Speaker A: Welcome to the Daily Review with Brad Munson. And join me in celebrating the long awaited return of resident alien on the Sci-Fi network. And with it, the return of Alan Tudic.
Alan Tudic. I've been watching this guy, enjoying his work over and over since we all first encountered him in the legendary single season of Firefly Way back in 2002. Could you imagine that more than 20 years ago? I don't have to go on and on about Firefly. Any fan of science fiction on tv has seen all 14 episodes by now, probably multiple times. But it single handedly launched the careers of, what, half a dozen stars that are still working hard and well today, including Nathan Fillion, Angina Torres and Morena Baccarin. And, of course, Alan Tudic. Tudic always stuck with me more than the others, though, because the character he played, wash, and Tudic himself, looked like a regular guy. I mean, I love Nathan Fillion. Who doesn't? And I still do, but he's damn near movie star, handsome as he is. Want to remind us at every opportunity? And Gina Torres and Morena Baccarin? Come on, they're gorgeous and they haven't aged a day in 20 years. Tudic, on the other hand, looks like us. His jaw is a little too wide and one eye is a little bigger than the other. And even though he's five foot eleven, I mean, inch taller than me, he's just kind of a regular build. He's a little thick in the middle. I mean, he's just a guy. He's also one of the funniest, fastest, and most talented guys you'll find. I mean, comedic and dramatic voice work and live action, and he's shown it over and over in the last two decades. I'm not going to go through all his work. You can look him up, and you should, but look at it this way. When he was working on Trombo back in 2015, a very serious drama with major stars like Brian Cranston and Diane Lane and Helen Mirren. Alan entertained the kids on the set by doing know bits from Frozen and ice age and wreck it Ralph. Because he was in those movies. He was a legend already. And even now I remember him so well. Not just as wash, but as King Candy in wreck it Ralph or Noah in suburgatory or the joker. I mean, one of the best Joker voices ever, right up there with Luke Skywalker in the Harley Quinn animated series, which he's still doing. And my favorite role of all, Mr. Nobody on season two or three of the Doom Patrol. An incredible piece of work all that ton.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: More.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: And now for a while now as Harry Vanderspiegel in Resident Alien. So Resident Alien is just now entering its fourth season after a very long wait. And you know what? It's been worth it. It is a very funny and weirdly touching show about a real life, big eyed, ugly as hell alien sent to Earth to destroy it, who crashes here instead, is stranded for a long time and takes on the identity of a small town doctor. He can shapeshift, you see, and he ends up caring about these awful earthlings so much that he protects them from destruction by his own people, even as various earthlings are out to find him and destroy him. The story, as it twists and turns, never gets boring or predictable. The characters of this small Colorado mountain town, including everything from Native Americans who've lived there forever and burned out olympic skiers and former big city cops, they just roll through this thing fast and furious, so much so that sometimes you forget about the elaborate science fiction premise and just enjoy it. Resident Alien was about to start production on its fourth season back in the winter of 2019, when this whole Covid thing, you may have heard about it, came around. And of course they shut down. But it took them a very long time to pull it all back together. And now, more than two years later, we finally get to pick up where we left off with Harry and his people. And thank God they haven't missed a beat. There is one funny bit in here, however. Two of the major supporting characters, a young boy and a little girl who totally have Harry the aliens number. From the very beginning, they made the poor choice of growing up during this long, long break, kind of, you know, that Harry Potter syndrome. But it's a problem here since the new episodes pick up in the timeline, just a couple of weeks at most after the end of the last one.
Now the boy has grown, like six inches, and the little girl is not a little girl anymore. Now there's absolutely nothing you can do about it, and no mention's been made of it, at least not yet. I don't know that it can. But it is one blinding reminder that we have waited a long time to see resident alien come back to us, and now, finally, it has. I won't say it's the best science fiction on television right now. I probably still give that to strange new worlds now that the expanse is over and very little else, especially in live action, is making much of a mark. No, not rebel Moon.
[00:04:51] Speaker B: Stop that.
[00:04:52] Speaker A: So, hey, you can catch past seasons on Amazon prime or YouTube, and you can catch new episodes on Sci-Fi every Wednesday for the next few weeks. It's probably worth starting from the beginning, if you haven't already. I mean, there's a lot of continuity in here, but I don't think you'll be disappointed. Not in resident alien, and certainly not in Alan Tudic. That guy is amazing.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: And that's it for today's daily review. I'm here with something new every day, Monday through Friday, every damn week. So come on back whenever you can stand it. There are links to what we've been talking about in the show notes and in the accompanying blog on thebradlinson.com. Take a look and please do all the normal stuff, like rate, review, and subscribe on iTunes or any podcaster of your choice. Tell your friends, invite your know, spread the word, and let me know what you think. You can also follow me for more and different stuff on Instagram or threads at at thebredmunson and on my website, weirdly enough, called.
So until next time, I'm Brad Munson, and that's the Daily Review.
