The Journey of Allen Strange
The Journey of Allen Strange is an American television series that aired on Nickelodeon's SNICK block of programming for three seasons from November 1997 to April 2000.
Premise
The series follows the story of a young Xelan alien who is stranded on Earth, and meets up with a young girl Robbie Stevenson, her younger brother Josh, and their father Ken. This family eventually adopts him, giving him the name "Allen Strange". He has extraordinary powers, including the ability to turn into his alien form, which allows him to hover. He uses his abilities to bring a mannequin in a sporting goods store to life; this "animated mannequin" poses as his Earth father, Manfred, for events like parent-teacher conferences. He also possesses extremely high intelligence and can read incredibly fast by simply placing his hand on the cover of a book. He also seems to have advanced dexterity and athletic muscle memory, as he once observed a neighborhood basketball game and perfectly duplicated the trajectory of shots when he attempted this himself. He has an affinity for canned cheese, and lives in the family's attic in a strange alien cocoon. Allen's ultimate goal is to return to his homeworld of Xela, but he admits that may be a long time away as he stowed away on an exploratory ship which was studying Earth, which had to flee out of fear of discovery.Allen said he "chose" to disguise himself as an African-American boy as the first Earth people he spied upon were some African-American men playing basketball, and figured this was a way to acculturate. His naivety on the subject sparked a Black History Month episode, featuring him learning information about slavery and the Civil Rights Movement.
In the weeks leading up to the series' premiere, Nickelodeon ran a series of teaser ads which would at first appear to be promos for other shows, or for Nickelodeon in general, when a blue ooze would fill the screen as an announcer said cryptically, "Something strange is coming to SNICK. November 8". It would then clear out and the interrupted promo would conclude as if nothing had happened.
Characters
Main
- Allen Strange – A Xelan alien disguised as a human – all he wishes to do is to go back to his planet.
- Roberta "Robbie" Stevenson – A 15-year-old girl who enjoys surfing and helps show Allen how to fit in with humans.
- Joshua "Josh" Stevenson – Robbie's 11-year-old younger brother and a science whiz.
- Kenneth "Ken" Stevenson – an architect and Robbie and Josh's father who is unaware of Allen being an alien.
Recurring
- Gail Stevenson – a nurse and Robbie and Josh's mother who is separated from their father, but always comes to visit them.
- Manfred Strange – Originally just a store mannequin, but was brought to life to serve as Allen's Earth father. He often helps Allen out of dangerous situations and is a good friend of Ken who nicknames him "Manny".
- Latanya - Robbie's best friend who shares the same interests.
- Harold "Moose" Johnson – The captain of the high school wrestling team and also a bully. Allen tries several times to befriend him after he unintentionally upsets him, but his strange habits only annoy him.
- Erika - Robbie's other best friend.
- Hamilton Gerrigan - A close friend of Allen who hangs out with him and Josh, but is a little accident prone.
- Ms. String - The Dean of Delport High School and also one of Allen's teachers who praises his achievements and inadvertently gets caught up in his accidental alien activities.
- Talia - Another classmate of Robbie and Allen at Delport High who, though sometimes rude and entitled, is caring.
- Phil Berg – Allen's recurring arch-enemy, a crazed alien hunter and journalist who constantly tries to capture Allen and expose him for a top news story. He was later captured by the Xelans' enemies, the Trykloids, and used as a pawn for information on Earth.
- Shaw - Allen's second arch-enemy, another sinister alien hunter whose face is barely shown and appearance is hidden with a big black fedora and a trench coat. He is the leader of the secret government agency A.R.C.. He wants to capture Allen and lock him up to prove to the world that aliens exist. He sometimes teams up with Phil Berg to achieve this goal.