It started life as a movie starring James Caan in 1988, and from there, a spin-off series was generated. But as the Sci Fi Channel scouts for new ideas to fill its Battlestar Galactica-less schedules, it's now pointed its tentacles in the direction of an Alien Nation reboot.

The Sci Fi Channel's latest attempt at a reboot of sorts, Flash Gordon, it's fair to say, wasn't hugely successful, but Variety reports it's pulled in Tim Minear (a veteran of Firefly, The X-Files and Angel) to pen an update.

The plan is for the new version of the show to focus on a few more contemporary issues, although it'll once again be centred around the idea of a veteran cop and an alien joining forces. According to Variety, "The new 'Alien Nation' would include a mythology that evolves over time and will also touch on some of the issues of the day, such as the immigrant experience and how society integrates an incoming culture."

The show is to be set some 20 years after the first aliens have crashed on Earth, and been treated as slaves. And thus the population of said aliens will have sprung up to 3.5 million.

Incidentally, Variety also notes that next week sees the Sci Fi Channel rebrand as SyFy. You can see what we thought of that right here.

Variety