What is The Man Who Fell to Earth about?
Quick answer
The Man Who Fell to Earth is a 1963 science fiction novel by Walter Tevis about an alien who comes to Earth to save his dying planet. It’s best known as the 1976 film directed by Nicolas Roeg, starring David Bowie as the alien, Thomas Jerome Newton. A 2022 TV series continued the story.
The story
An alien from a drought-stricken planet, Anthea, arrives on Earth disguised as a human and calls himself Thomas Jerome Newton. Using advanced technology from his world, he patents inventions and builds a huge company, planning to fund a spacecraft to bring water and his family to Earth. Along the way he falls in love, becomes addicted to alcohol and television, and is eventually captured and studied by the government. It’s a melancholy story about loneliness, alienation and lost hope.
The three versions
| Version | Year | Key people | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Novel | 1963 | Walter Tevis | Tevis also wrote The Hustler and The Queen’s Gambit |
| Film | 1976 | Director Nicolas Roeg; David Bowie, Candy Clark, Rip Torn | A cult classic; Bowie’s first lead film role |
| TV series | 2022 | Chiwetel Ejiofor, Naomie Harris, Bill Nighy as Newton | Showtime; a sequel set decades later; one season |
Why the Bowie film matters
Bowie was at the height of his “alien” rock star image, and many critics feel he was perfectly cast. Images from the film appeared on the covers of his albums Station to Station and Low. The film’s dreamlike, fragmented style divided audiences at first, but it’s now considered one of the most influential science fiction films of the 1970s.
It also inspired a stage musical, Lazarus (2015), co-written by Bowie shortly before his death in 2016.
Similar stories
- Doctor Who, with another lonely alien who loves Earth
- Starman (1984), about an alien who takes human form
The search spikes for this title often come from TV screenings and anniversaries of Bowie’s life and death.
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