The highly anticipated film District 9 is opening today, all set to make a killing at the box office (and it certainly deserves the reward. It’s a well-crafted film, both in tone and tale, and brings to the screen the most authentic-looking aliens I’ve seen in quite a while. The question remains, though: is District 9 truly the be-all and end-all of science fiction films that critics have been raving about for the past month? The answer, quite simply, is no. While being a highly original film for the most part, the story does closely resemble the 1988 sci-fi film Alien Nation, which starred James Caan and Mandy Patinkin, right down to one of its central themes. In fact, one could say that District 9 is in many ways just a more updated, adult version of Alien Nation, only with better effects.

District 9’s main premise is that nearly 30 years ago, an alien ship entered Earth’s atmosphere and took up a holding pattern above Johannesburg, South Africa. After three months without contact from the beings inside, a military force finally cut their way into the ship and searched, only to find hundreds of malnourished aliens living in squalor. At this time, humanity rose to the challenge of proving itself capable of displaying what’s best in our species by treating the aliens, caring for them, and providing shelters for them in a segregated area known as District 9, when it became clear the aliens were incapable of returning home. (more…)