3rd Rock from the Sun

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3rd Rock from the Sun
3rd Rock from the Sun title card
Format	Situation comedy
Created by	Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner
Starring	John Lithgow Kristen Johnston French Stewart Joseph Gordon-Levitt Simbi Khali Elmarie Wendel Wayne Knight and Jane Curtin
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	139 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Marcy Carsey Caryn Mandabach Bonnie Turner Tom Werner Terry Turner Bill Martin Mike Schiff Linwood Boomer (executive producer) Bob Kushell Christine Zander David Sacks Danny Smith Joe Fisch (co-executive producer)
Producer(s)	Patrick Kienlen David Goetsch Jason Venokur David Israel Jim O'Doherty Andrew Orenstein Michael Glouberman Gregg Mettler (producer) Tim Ryder Aron Abrams Gregory Thompson (co-producer)
Location(s)	Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA[1]
Running time	22 minutes (per episode)
Distributor	USA: Carsey-Werner Distribution NBC Anchor Bay Entertainment Non-USA: TV6 (Hungary) British Broadcasting Corporation (UK) Network Sunfilm Entertainment GmbH (GER) TV6 (Estonia) Universal Pictures (UK) Veronica (Netherlands)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	January 9, 1996 – May 22, 2001
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

3rd Rock from the Sun is an Emmy Award-winning American sitcom that ran from 1996 until 2001 on NBC. The show was about a group of extraterrestrial scientists on an expedition of what they considered to be the least important planet, Earth (the "3rd Rock" from the Sun), posing as a "family" of four to observe human beings, while pretending to be humans.

The show aired in the United States on NBC during its original run, but reruns have not been shown in the U.S. for several years. In Britain, the show was originally broadcast on BBC2, later on ITV2 then ITV4, and currently on SCI FI Channel . In Australia, it was shown on the Seven Network and now on Pay-TV channel Fox Classics. In Egypt and the Middle East the show was broadcast on MBC4 and reruns have been shown several times. The sixth and final season, however, was never broadcast in the region. In Indonesia the show aired on Jak-TV, a local television station in Jakarta. Reruns also air on Subtv in Finland, on Kabel 1 in Germany and also in New Zealand on TVNZ's TV2.

Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Basic premise 1.2 Sources of humor 1.3 Typical episode themes 1.4 Common mythology 1.5 Relationships with humans 1.6 Plot twists 2 Cast 2.1 Main characters 2.2 Minor characters 3 Main crew 4 Series synopses 4.1 Season 1 4.2 Season 2 4.3 Season 3 4.4 Season 4 4.5 Season 5 4.6 Season 6 4.7 Series finale 5 Comic style 6 Awards 7 DVD releases 8 Other media 9 Nielsen ratings 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Overview

[edit] Basic premise

"As many intelligent people know, aliens are all around us. This is a story of a band of four such explorers. In order to blend in, they have assumed human form. This is the High Commander [Dick]. He has assembled an elite team of experts: A decorated military officer [Sally], a seasoned intelligence specialist [Tommy] and [Harry], well, they had an extra seat."^[2]

The premise of the show revolves around an extraterrestrial research expedition attempting to live as a "normal" human family in the fictional city of Rutherford, Ohio, where they live in a loft apartment. Humor was principally derived from the aliens’ attempts to study human society and, due to their living as humans themselves whilst on Earth, to understand the human condition. In later episodes, they became more accustomed to Earth and often seemed to be more interested in their human lives than in their mission. "Dick’s Big Giant Headache" insinuates that this may be due to the effect the frailty of the human condition has on them.

Dick Solomon (played by John Lithgow), the High Commander and leader of the expedition, is the family provider and takes a position as a physics professor at Pendelton State University. Information officer Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has been given the body of a teenager and is forced to enroll in high school (later University), leaving security officer Sally (Kristen Johnston) and communications officer Harry (French Stewart) to spend their lives as thirty somethings hanging out at home and bouncing through short-term jobs.

The family often communicates with their off world (and usually unseen) boss, "The Big Giant Head", (BGH) who apparently only got the job by kissing "The Big Giant Butt". When in human form, "The Big Giant Head" (William Shatner) is an arrogant, alcoholic sexual predator. His orders are received by Harry, who unexpectedly (and often in inconvenient circumstances) stands erect, his arms stiff (acting as the antenna), and proclaims: "Incoming message from the Big Giant Head" (originally, Harry did not have a purpose on the mission at all, but it was later revealed that he has a transmitter implanted in his brain which allows contact with the BGH. To make himself seem important, he subsequently described himself as the "communications officer").

[edit] Sources of humor

The show derived much humor from the contrast between the outward appearance adopted by each of the aliens and his or her actual, internal nature. Dick, far from being a wise and fatherly figurehead, is arrogant, self-absorbed, petulant, faddish, and often downright foolish. Inside Sally’s glamorous form lives the weapons and security officer: uncouth, swaggering, and macho. The oldest of the group was morphed into teenager Tommy, his former wisdom at odds with the strange and often humiliating life in which his teenage persona and raging hormones casts him. Only the oddball of the group, Harry, seems comfortable with Earth — yet he is the weirdest of them all, particularly when his built-in "radio" function takes unexpected control over his body, relaying orders from the aliens’ home world in an odd, booming voice (Harry’s title is never made explicit, but the other characters often refer to him as "Communicator" or "Transmitter", despite the fact that he almost always receives rather than transmits messages). Another source of humor in the show, once pointed out by the character Don, is that the names of the three male aliens, are Tom, Dick and Harry. (i.e Every Tom, Dick and Harry).

[edit] Typical episode themes

Almost all the episodes revolve around the Solomons’ difficulty integrating themselves into Earth culture and understanding human customs — often their view of Earth realities is distorted by the fact that almost all of their experience of Earth comes through the media, especially television, rather than firsthand experience. Details about their alien nature are rarely given and inconsistent, except to reinforce the idea that their former lives were almost barren of emotion and most of the relationships humans have with each other. Their original forms, for example, are described as asexual, with reproduction a matter of sending packets of genetic material to each other in the mail. Lying is almost impossible in their society because of the "Truth Belt". Leaders like The Big Giant Head are unelected and assumed infallible (in fact, it is stated that politicians on their planet are chosen by seeing which one can outrun the "giant fireball"). The upshot is that living in an Earth culture provides the Solomons with an almost intolerable degree of emotional stimulation and conflict, which they are very ill equipped to handle. Some of the episodes seemingly derive their comedy from affectionate send-ups of TV and films. For example, when Harry finds out he is a transmitter, he "goes off the rails"; complete with red jacket as worn by Jim in Rebel Without a Cause he yells "You're tearing me apart!" and goes off to play "chicken" with a tough guy in the bar. Both Dick and the Big Giant Head mention seeing something on the wing of the plane after having traveled by airline, a nod to both having played the role of the passenger who sees a gremlin on the wing in The Twilight Zone.

[edit] Common mythology

Occasionally references would be made to specific features of the aliens’ abilities and of the aliens’ experiences on their own world, which built up a common mythology for the show. The theme of the idiot savant repeatedly resurfaces, since each member of the family makes up for their extreme naïveté with some special skill owing to their alien nature.

Though Dick’s understanding of physics is weaker than his "son" Tommy’s, it is implied that even his basic scientific knowledge makes advanced Earth physics appear rudimentary, leading to his becoming enormously respected in his field despite his childish behavior. A well-known segment from an episode has him reading a passage from A Brief History of Time and laughing hysterically at Stephen Hawking’s description of virtual particles. Even so, he is often shown as the member of the family with the least to recommend him in terms of ability, leading them to question his right to his command. Sally, for instance, is depicted as not only having an attractive body (she is often described as being "Amazonian") but being amazingly physically strong and fit, able to fight and defeat large groups of men much larger than she (even when doing so is unnecessary and culturally inappropriate).

Tommy, similarly, has been trained with the ability of near-instant recall and has an encyclopedic knowledge about Earth society, which unfortunately seems useless in terms of helping him make appropriate decisions, but ensures that he remains a straight-A student and that in much of his dialogue he finds himself inadvertently quoting passages from literature or film at length.

Harry is most fascinating, since his behavior is bizarre, unstable and borderline mentally retarded even for a Solomon (a condition, it is implied, engendered by the chip in his brain that allows him to communicate with the home planet), yet somehow this mental condition gives him an inexplicable sex appeal for women and makes him the only Solomon with any talent in the arts — Harry often seems to have a knack for all fine arts, including music and theater, and is consistently shown as being an incredibly talented painter, especially as a portraitist and caricaturist, though his inability to verbally articulate his artistic ideas – or, in fact, any ideas at all – in an intelligent fashion sinks his efforts at making a living through his talent.

One of Dick’s driving motivations becomes his desire to master drawing, acting, music, or other pursuits - all of which he fails at miserably - due to his lack of understanding of how the clearly less intelligent Harry could possibly possess talents he does not.

[edit] Relationships with humans

Each alien became involved in various relationships with humans throughout the course of the series, primarily focusing on Dick’s infatuation – at first met with disgust and then, finally, reciprocation – with anthropology professor Mary Albright (Jane Curtin), who shares an office with him. Much is often made of Mary’s angst, insecurity, and neuroses brought on by a lifetime of studying the human condition as well as an unstable relationship with her parents, and the cheerful, childlike naïveté displayed by Dick, the primary factor in him that attracts her.

Sally similarly acquires a long-term boyfriend, Don Leslie Orville (Wayne Knight), an overweight and incompetent police officer who becomes attracted to her after several incidents in which he is forced to confront or arrest the Solomons for various crimes. The two generally have conversations while speaking in a manner similar to an old 1930s crime drama.

Tommy manages an on-again/off-again relationship with August Leffler (Shay Astar), a reserved "ice queen" teenager and later the more bubbly Alissa Strudwick (Larisa Oleynik).

Harry has a relationship with his landlord Mrs. Dubcek’s daughter (played by Jan Hooks ), in an on-screen relationship that often features overly melodramatic scenes. Harry, despite no apparent skills in the art of seduction, also manages to foil a plot to dissolve the Earth by seducing Cindy Crawford.

Some humor comes from the fact that at some point in the show most of the character relationships have been "mixed up" — a strange attraction is briefly shown between Mary and Tommy due to their similar passion for the social sciences and the study of humanity, in which Tommy disturbingly chooses to "step aside" and let Dick pursue her instead. Nina (Simbi Khali), Dick’s assistant who primarily serves as his straight man and comic foil, is seen briefly having a fling with Harry. Mrs Dubcek (Elmarie Wendel), the Solomons’ landlady, who is at first merely a source of comic relief, her own bizarre foibles and imperceptibly causing her to be a terrible role model for proper human behavior to the Solomons, ends up becoming an important character who eats Thanksgiving dinner with them annually and whose daughter, Vicki (played by Jan Hooks), becomes one of Harry’s love interests.

[edit] Plot twists

As time went on the show began to intersperse concrete references to the aliens’ nature and their home world which played a role in affecting the show's plot. They usually described their original bodies as "gelatinous purple tubes" that lacked sex organs or most of the forms of physical definition that humans possess. In fact, when Sally asks why she had to be "the woman," Dick reminds her that she lost (the draw). Evidently, individuals in their species are so near-identical to each other that the Solomons were unaware of the concept of race or ethnicity and had never invented one for themselves, leading to them to attempt to "choose" one (a source of humor since the Solomons all appear quite white), eventually deciding that they are Jewish because of their surname, which they had taken from a trucking company.

At one point, because Dick shares the same name as a distant relative of some family with the Solomon surname, that hasn’t been heard from in years, when he mistakenly gets an invitation in the mail to a family reunion, Dick and family decide to go and not only does no one notice that Harry is not really who he says he is, but Dick resumes the family dynamics and bitterness that was carried over from the previous "Richard Solomon."

Occasionally the Solomons would encounter or think they encountered other extraterrestrials — Dick once becomes frantic when he misidentifies snowflakes as "brain-sucking parasites" (which Harry calls "Albino Brain Chiggers" in a fit of hysteria), for instance, but the most long-lasting such gag was the Solomons’ belief that Jell-O is an offshoot of a hostile amorphous carnivorous species they have often encountered, prompting them to go into hysterics whenever they see it served and attempt to destroy it. The name of the Solomons’ home planet (if they indeed have one) is never revealed throughout the course of the series, in the show’s dialogue it is referred to as simply "The Home Planet." It is located in a Barred Spiral galaxy on the Cepheus-Draco border.

Major twists in the plot, often shown in the various season finales, tended to involve contact with the Solomons’ home planet, involving their superiors’ ongoing disapproval at the Solomons’ antics and their becoming a "laughing stock" among their peers.

[edit] Cast

3rd Rock maintained a constant ensemble cast, the four main characters – Dick, Sally, Tommy, Harry – with the exception of Tommy, all appearing on the show for all six of the seasons it ran. Several other main characters who left or joined the show through its original run supplemented these four, and numerous guest stars and one-time characters supplemented all of them.

[edit] Main characters

• Dick Solomon (played by John Lithgow)— Is the High Commander and head of the expedition to Earth and is often the most child-like member of the group, being, ironically, the youngest of the crew, despite being the oldest family member. Much of the behavioral or societal-based troubles faced by the crew in their mission whilst on Earth are frequently sourced out of some juvenile act perpetrated by Dick, troubles which in turn are forced to be overcome by the entire troupe with a great deal of reluctance.
• Sally Solomon (played by Kristen Johnston)— Rank is Lieutenant and she is the Security Officer and second in command. She has been called Dick’s "sister", but sometimes introduced as Tommy’s sister earlier in the series, and, on one occasion, claimed to be his "mother", although never Dick’s "daughter" and certainly not his spouse -- failure to clarify the exact relationship between Tommy, Harry and Sally led to humorous confusion whenever either Harry or Sally attempted to act as Tommy’s guardian. Sally was chosen to be "the woman" because she apparently lost some sort of contest and was not too thrilled about it; while the alien species is described as asexual, Sally seems to have a harder time trying to figure out womanhood than the others do manhood. She filed a request to be made male early in the mission, though later decided she liked being a woman.
• Harry Solomon (played by French Stewart)— Originally he was not part of the mission, but just happened to go for the ride because an extra seat was available. He at one time asked about his position, putting to light Sally’s and Tommy’s military positions. Dick responds by saying, "Well, eh, you’re, uh...you’re Harry!", in which Harry states "Oh, sure, I get the fancy title!". Later it became known that a chip was in his head and he became the "Communicator" or "Transmitter", completely unknown to Harry and was never mentioned to him personally. Occasionally, he will get a message from their leader, the Big Giant Head, shaking violently in the middle of a sentence and squats down, with his arms at 90 degree angles, declaring "Incoming message from the Big Giant Head!", before going through the motions of delivering the message. He posed as Dick and Sally’s "brother", and Tommy’s "uncle."
• Tommy Solomon (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt)— as Information Officer and next in command. Tommy plays the role of Dick’s adolescent "son", yet he is the oldest and smartest of all the aliens. Tommy, throughout the series, continually reminded the others of his superior intelligence and older age. Gordon-Levitt left the series (after the fifth season concluded) as a primary character, only appearing as a recurring character in about half the episodes of season six.
• Dr. Mary Albright (played by Jane Curtin)— Dick’s colleague and on and off girlfriend. Mary felt Dick was an insensitive idiot, but she could not avoid the infatuation of his quirkiness or child like actions.
• Nina Campbell (played by Simbi Khali)— Dick and Mary’s administrative assistant) (Only appears in the opening credits seasons 3 - 6). She considered Dick to be an idiot, a chauvinist, and a jerk.
• Mrs. Mamie Dubcek (played by Elmarie Wendel)— The Solomons’ loose, clueless, and carefree landlady. (Only appears in the opening credits seasons 3 - 6).
• Officer Don Leslie Orville (played by Wayne Knight)— Joining later in the season, Officer Don Leslie Orville plays Sally’s, at times, boyfriend. It is revealed that Don is a coward and only joined to the force to be around all the police where nothing would happen.

[edit] Minor characters

• Bug Pollone (played by David DeLuise) — one of Dick’s students
• Leon (played by Ian Lithgow) — one of Dick’s students
• Caryn (played by Danielle Nicolet) — one of Dick’s students
• Aubrey Pitman (played by Chris Hogan) — one of Dick’s students
• Dr. Judith Draper (played by Ileen Getz) — professor at Pendelton and colleague of Mary
• August Leffler (played by Shay Astar) — Tommy’s first girlfriend (seasons 1-4)
• Alissa Strudwick (played by Larisa Oleynik) — Tommy’s second girlfriend (seasons 4-6)
• Dr. Vincent Strudwick (played by Ron West) — Alissa's father and rival to Dick (seasons 2-6)
• The Big Giant Head/Stone Phillips (played by William Shatner) — The aliens' boss (seasons 4&5)
• Dr. Liam Neesam (played by John Cleese) — A professor who briefly has a relationship with Mary, and is later revealed to be an evil alien who wants to change humans into chimps (seasons 3&6)

In addition to the recurring characters, numerous other actors had recurring or cameo roles on the series such as John Mahoney, Bronson Pinchot (Roy, Mary's brother), Harry Morgan (Professor Suter), Mike Ditka (Coach Mafferty), Cindy Crawford (Mascha), Angie Everhart (Chloe), and Greg Gumbel (himself). James Earl Jones provided narration for the first season.

[edit] Main crew

• Writers: Bonnie Turner, David Goetsch, Terry Turner, Christine Zander, Bob Kushell, Bill Martin, Mike Schiff
• Producers: Marcy Carsey, Caryn Mandabach, Bonnie Turner, Tom Werner, Terry Turner, Bob Kushell, Linwood Boomer, Bill Martin, Mike Schiff, Christine Zander, David Sacks, Terry Hughes (Executive Consultant), Mark Brazill, Nastaran Dibai, Jeffrey B. Hodes, Danny Smith
• Directors: Robert Berlinger, Terry Hughes

[edit] Series synopses

For more details on this topic, see List of 3rd Rock from the Sun episodes.

[edit] Season 1

The first episode, "Brains and Eggs", depicts the Solomon family teleporting into the seats of a Rambler convertible - a 1964 Rambler American 440 - which becomes their primary means of transportation for the rest of the series. The alien's first reactions were that their human bodies were somewhat backward and limited, and they believed the planet to be unimportant, thus planning only a short term visit. However, as the season saw them begin to experience the emotions of human beings and discover such things as attraction to other humans, friendship with them, and even anger toward them, they realized that they would be unable to learn everything about Earth by simply visiting short term. As the season progressed, Dick sparked an on-off relationship with work colleague Dr. Mary Albright and Tommy began dating August Leffler, a girl at his high school, whilst Sally fell for Tommy's teacher Mr. Randall.

Phil Hartman made a guest appearance in this season, as a camp man working in a cosmetics store, who makes Harry over.

The end of the season saw the alien's mission deemed a failure by their overlord, the Big Giant Head, and they were told that Dick would be replaced by a more competent commander. The newcomer, also played by Lithgow, proved to be a criminal who falsified the message in order to gain control of the Solomons' mission and use his technology to conquer the planet.

[edit] Season 2

The second season opened with the conclusion to the cliffhanger left by the first season finale, and saw the family managing to finally fend off Dick's evil replacement, with the help of fellow-alien Dennis Rodman (whose appearance on the show capitalized on the then-joke comparing him to aliens commonly featured in comedy shows at the time).

The season then began to see the Solomon family undergo many struggles in order to further develop their skills as new human beings, and quickly began to stretch the limits of the show's humor, depicting the aliens in new and often problematic situations that were not simply related to their alien misunderstanding of something. Among the new things the aliens discovered were Christmas and Thanksgiving, two festivals which took them some time to understand. The season also introduced a love interest for Harry in the form of Vicki Dubcek, the landlady's daughter (Jan Hooks), and, at one point, Dick even experienced the pleasure and trouble of having two women fighting for him. Sally's relationship with Mr. Randall, however, fell through, and she soon began to take an interest in Police Officer Don Orville. John Lithgow and Kristen Johnston won Emmy Awards for their work in this season.

The season concluded with a two part 3D episode entitled "A Nightmare on Dick Street", in which the aliens experienced nightmares for the first time, before deciding that their brains were malfunctioning and that they must leave Earth for maintenance. Dick, however, opted to stay on Earth with his beloved Mary, a decision which saw the season end on another cliffhanger.

[edit] Season 3

The third season saw Sally, Harry and Tommy return to Earth, but with a twist - the Big Giant Head wanted Dick to have a wife (played by Roseanne Barr, whose appearance was an ironic take on her character in Roseanne, in that she portrayed a "perfect", subservient wife), so that he would no longer find himself distracted from his mission by his relationship with Mary. Despite Dick's best attempts to shake his new wife off, Mary soon found out and broke up with him.

The third season then, understandably, featured the repercussions of their break up, which saw both Dick and Mary begin to play pranks on each other in the office, out of anger, before later resorting to comfort eating. However, Mary was unable to tell her bitter, condescending parents that another relationship had failed and was forced to take Dick to meet them, something Dick saw as an opportunity to gain their trust and win back Mary's heart. Eventually he did, when the pair ended up locked in the university's library over the weekend and, during their solitary confinement, began to re-connect emotionally.

Also in this season, the Solomon's began to worry that they were not 'normal' and attempted to be as average as they could, by moving into a new apartment and disposing of their old clothes for more fashionable styles, Tommy even cut his famously long hair short, and it remained so for the rest of the series. Dick also found competition when a brilliant professor (played by John Cleese) arrives at the university and proceeds to do everything better than he can. Dick later discovers that he is an alien too.

It was also in this season that the series featured as the lead-out show for Super Bowl XXXII. For this, a two-part episode was produced in which a group of Venusian women attempted to achieve domination over the men of the world by airing a lucrative commercial for beer, which featured very attractive women, during the tournament. John Lithgow and Kristen Johnston again won Emmy awards for their work in this season.

In the season finale, Vicki Dubcek returned, but a disgruntled ex-lover (second appearance by Phil Hartman) of hers showed up and kidnapped Harry. This was especially bad for the Solomons, since they had not sent their annual status report yet and needed Harry, as transmitter, to do so. Thus, the season ended on a third cliffhanger.

[edit] Season 4

In the opening of the fourth season, it transpired that Vicki's ex-boyfriend had taken Harry to a circus, where he had found popularity as the act 'Hargo the Alien'. The Solomon's eventually found him and persuaded him, with difficulty, to give up his new found fame, since his failure to file a status report had resulted in the Big Giant Head deactivating Dick's brain as punishment.

The fourth season saw the Solomons run into trouble when they faced a government audit for failing to pay any taxes during their time on Earth, and when a psychotic alien hunter (guest star Kathy Bates) discovers the Solomons and holds them all hostage. The family also managed to find some origins for themselves when they received a mis-posted letter inviting them to a family reunion with another Solomon family. There were also traditions to overcome, in the form of New Years, an event which Dick struggled to understand the importance of. Also, love lives changed when Tommy's relationship with August ended when he discovered that she was cheating on him, and he began dating Alissa Strudwick, the daughter of Dick's arch-enemy Vincent Strudwick, and when Sally finally lost her virginity to Don, despite having had a short fling with Mary's father.

The fourth season also marked the Big Giant Head's (played by William Shatner) first appearance on Earth. Upon his arrival, he makes reference to The Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", when he says that he looked out of the window and saw something on the wing of the plane. Dick then exclaims "the same thing happened to me!" which makes reference to Dick having played the same role in the the movie remake some twenty years later. During his time on Earth, the Big Giant Head creates havoc, ruining Tommy and Alissa's prom and briefly placing Sally in the role of High Commander. He also manages to accidentally impregnate Vicki Dubcek, but scarpers after learning this, whilst the baby, being alien, is born in just one day. The season therefore concludes on another cliffhanger.

[edit] Season 5

The Solomon's, being worried that Vicki might give birth to something other-worldly, were relieved to find that she had given birth to a totally human baby, but horrified when they learned that Vicki had told a reporter otherwise. However, after the Solomon's attempted to kill the reporter in order to stop him seeing the baby, he was ultimately unimpressed and did not believe Vicki's story.

As the season progressed, the Solomons were introduced to the concept of racism and Dick learned what it was to give to charity. Also, Mary made a documentary about the Solomon's home life and the family feared that they might expose themselves as aliens. Also in this season, Tommy planned to lose his virginity to Alissa, but ended up losing it to Mary's niece instead. The Solomon's also realized that they cared about their car, when they were faced with the possibility of losing it.

David Hasselhoff guest starred in this series as a plastic surgeon and Alan Cummings made a guest appearance as a hole expert, when Dick and Harry fell down a hole.

The Big Giant Head would return twice in the fifth season: The first time, he arrived to take his child back, but soon realized that he was in love with Vicki and persuaded her to join him in outer space. The second time was in the series finale, when the pair returned, now bored of each other. Having feelings for Harry once more, Vicki attempted to kill Harry's new girlfriend in order to get him back, whilst The Big Giant Head had suddenly become clingy toward Dick, not allowing himself a moment without him. He eventually revealed that this was because he was his father, and, after several disagreements, the pair ended up bonding like father and son. This was the first series not to end on a cliffhanger.

[edit] Season 6

In the sixth and final season, Joseph Gordon-Levitt left the series as a primary character and, instead, became a recurring character, only appearing in about half the season's episodes. To cover this, Tommy's character was sent to college. Also in the season, Dick briefly left Mary for her sister, and Sally got a job as a weather forecaster at a local news station, where the newsreader began to take a liking to her. This season also marked the second appearance of Mary's mother, who Dick accidentally ended up injuring in an argument.

The season finale consisted of a four episode story arc in which Professor Liam Neesam (played once again by John Cleese) returned and announced his plans to turn the earth's population into monkeys, so that the Earth could be an attraction for aliens. Dick worked hard to stop him and ended up, ironically, turning him into a monkey - just as Mary walked in.

[edit] Series finale

Main article: The Thing That Wouldn't Die

Dick reveals his true identity to Mary, who initially is shocked, but, after considering the past five years of their relationship, realizes how much sense it makes and comes to accept the news. Unfortunately, Liam complains about Dick's transgression to the Big Giant Head, who orders Dick and the family back to their home planet for taking unauthorized hostile action against a fellow alien. Dick, however, doesn't want to leave Mary and asks her to join them, so she agrees to come along.

Don, meanwhile, reveals to Sally that he is quitting his job as a police officer so that he can open a muffin store. Sally isn't happy, but Don tells her that he only joined the force in the first place so that he'd be safe amongst all the other officers. Still not pleased, Sally decides to turn Don into a ruthless powerhouse.

Harry and Tommy, meanwhile, set about arranging a party in their attic so that they can say goodbye to all of their friends. Realizing that they have no money, the pair decide to max out their credit cards and not worry about being around to pay for it. They even invite Elvis Costello to sing Fly Me to the Moon.

The Solomons and Mary head off to the spot on the hill that the aliens first arrived on and prepare to say goodbye to the planet. Mary, however, soon realizes that she cannot leave the planet for an alien environment, since it is her home, and where her friends and family are. Dick escorts her from the Rambler and performs a brainwashing technique on her that will erase her memories of him, but leave their love inside her. Harry then leaves his coat for her head to rest on until she regains conciousness, and Dick leaves the keys to the Rambler in her hand. The Solomons then join together in the car and perform their mission song a capella style before being beamed into space.

An alternative ending was later released, in which a confused Mary wakes up and gets in the car, before Dick re-appears and takes her with him.

[edit] Comic style

Third Rock uses comic elements which are strikingly unusual^{[citation needed]} in modern North American television comedy, yet drawn from established sources. Clowning techniques, all with a long pedigree in European theatre^{[citation needed]}, are employed throughout the several seasons of the show. Mime, slapstick, speaking in rhyme and role reversals are employed, giving this science fiction comedy a solid anchoring in more venerable clown traditions, such as the Commedia dell'arte. (One of the show's most famous moments is when Dick's evil twin traps him in an "invisible box" that Dick tests with his hands and finds to be seamless, leading him to the agonized cry, "My God! He's turned me into a mime!") In the well established style of clown parody, the aliens repeatedly ape the behavior patterns, mannerisms and speech style of humans in various walks of life and much humor is derived from their ability to be more like their target human than the original.

Indeed, this "Zelig"-like quality the family often exhibit is used to great effect in the series, such as in the episode Dick the mouth Solomon in which Sally and Tommy meet a Mafia-style mobster and almost immediately take on the roles of gangster's moll (Sally) and young wiseguy (Tommy). And in Dick Solomon of the Indiana Solomons, Harry mimics "Uncle Abe" to perfection, right down to the cigar, physical mannerisms, and speech patterns.

Relationships between the characters are similarly familiar from theatrical and circus comedy performed in Europe during the past few centuries. Usually, whenever Don and Sally are in the same room and speaking to one another, their conversations revert to a rather silly, pseudo-film noir dialogue.

[edit] Awards

In 1997, 3rd Rock won the most Emmy Awards (5 from 8 nominations) for a television series:

• 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 — Outstanding Lead Actor — Comedy Series — John Lithgow
• 1996, 1997 — Outstanding Hairstyling For A Series — Pixie Schwartz
• 1996 — Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series — James Burrows
• 1998 — Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series — Terry Hughes
• 1997, 1998, 1999 — Outstanding Supporting Actress — Comedy Series — Kristen Johnston
• 1997 — Outstanding Special Visual Effects — Glen Bennett, Visual Effects Artists; Patrick Shearn, Visual Effects Supervisor; Chris Staves, Visual Effects Artists
• 1997, 1999, 2000 — Outstanding Sound Mixing — Comedy Series
• 1998 — Outstanding Sound Mixing — Comedy Series — "A Nightmare on Dick Street"
• 1997, 1998 — Outstanding Costume Design — Series — Melina Root
• 1997, 1998 — Outstanding Comedy Series
• 1997 — Outstanding Choreography — Marguerite Derricks
• 1998 — Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series — Jan Hooks as Vicki Dubcek
• 1998 — Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series — John Cleese as Dr. Neesam
• 1999, 2000 — Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing For A Series
• 1999 — Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series — Kathy Bates as Charlotte Everly; and Laurie Metcalf as Jennifer
• 1999 — Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series — William Shatner as The Big Giant Head
• 2000 — Outstanding Cinematography For A Multi-Camera Series

John Lithgow received an Emmy Award nomination for "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series" for each year the show was broadcast, winning in 1996, 1997, and 1999. Accepting the 1999 award he said "Many wonderful things have happened to me in my life, but the two best are '3rd Rock' and my family."^[3]
Golden Globe Awards

• 1997 — Best Actor in a Television Comedy or Musical — John Lithgow

Screen Actors Guild Awards

• 1996, 1997 — Best Male Actor - Comedy Series — John Lithgow

[edit] DVD releases

All six seasons of 3rd Rock from the Sun have been released on DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment in the US, and Network DVD in the UK. Ironically the sixth season was the first to be released in the UK, as early as 2002, but it was re-released when the fifth season was released.

Season	Release Date
	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
1	July 6, 2005	May 17, 2004	November 9, 2005
2	October 25, 2005	June 21, 2004	November 9, 2005
3	February 21, 2006	August 30, 2004	February 8, 2006
4	May 2, 2006	October 25, 2004	July 6, 2006
5	August 15, 2006	January 24, 2005	February 7, 2007
6	November 14, 2006	June 10, 2002	February 7, 2007
Complete Box Set (Seasons 1-6)	TBA	October 25, 2004	TBA

[edit] Other media

A tie-in book, 3rd Rock from the Sun: The Official Report, was released in 1997. Its pages are printed in black and white; however, there are several glossy colored pictures in the center pages featuring various cast members on the show.

The book is essentially a report of their findings during their stay on Earth (although in Dick Solomon's foreword, he states that the report has been requested too early). Primarily a source of humor, the book includes such features as "What to do if you encounter Jell-O", a fan biography of Katie Couric written by Harry, and Sally's version of a Cosmo quiz. Portions of the book are included in the Booklets inside each season set of the series

Despite the report's being set within the fictional world of 3rd Rock, there is a foreword written by Lithgow himself in which he explains how he was "abducted" by the 3rd Rock producers and forced to work on their production. There is a post-it note attached to the foreword, apparently written by Dick Solomon, stating that he doesn't know why the foreword is there, but that Lithgow is an Earth actor who appeared in "some helicopter movie". A black and white picture of the 3rd Rock cast and crew is also included at the end of the book.

[edit] Nielsen ratings

• 1995-1996 Season: #22

• 1996-1997 Season: #27

• 1997-1998 Season: #43

• 1998-1999 Season: #77

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• 3rd Rock from the Sun at the Internet Movie Database
• 3rd Rock from the Sun at the Open Directory Project
• 3rd Rock from the Sun at TV.com
• 3rd Rock from the Sun at EpGuides.com
• Official 3rd Rock website
• Information and Episode Guide at TV.Yahoo.com
• info at dvd.monstersandcritics.com
• info at dvdtimes.co.uk

Preceded by The X-Files 1997

Super Bowl lead-out program 1998

Succeeded by Family Guy 1999

Awards
Preceded by Cybill	Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series - Musical/Comedy 1997	Succeeded by Ally McBeal

v • d • e 3rd Rock from the Sun characters Solomon family Dick · Sally · Tommy · Harry Main supporting characters Mary · Nina · Mrs. Dubcek · Don · Big Giant Head Minor characters Judith · August · Alissa · Vincent Strudwick · Vicki · Dr. Liam Neesam Other characters Professor Suter · Coach Mafferty · Mascha · Chloe · Greg Gumbel · Narrator · Lucy · Elman · Leon · Bug Pollone · Mr. Randall · Caryn · Coach Strickland · Chancellor Duncan