Pet Alien: Aliens Unleashed

To quote Pet Alien's main character, this computer-animated series is "mind-numbing TV entertainment without a shred of social value," which makes it—not surprisingly—one of Cartoon Network's most popular series. This is the least impressive retread of Gore Vidal's Visit to a Small Planet, which also inspired Mork & Mindy and 3rd Rock from the Sun: here, 13-year-old couch potato Tommy Cadle lives in a lighthouse that becomes a sanctuary for a group of alien creatures, none of whom are very memorable. It may be asking too much of a children's series to mine the rich comedic possibilities of making satiric observations about contemporary culture or to teach the inevitable life lessons (reaffirmations of friendship are at the heart of the four stories—“The Thing on the Corner,” “Pirate and His Dog,” “Stage Fright,” and “Horror Scope”—included in this volume), but ultimately Pet Alien seems as unmotivated as Tommy himself. Not recommended. [Note: also newly available in the series are Atomic Tommy, Lighter Side of Doom and Spaced Out.] Aud: P. (D. Liebenson)