Though he's the son of the owner of the local Holiday Inn, high-schooler Nicholas Strouse has a hard time making it in Sunnydale, Arizona, "The Prune Capital Of The World." Perhaps it's because he's been struck by lightning twice. Perhaps it's because he has an extra vertebra. Or perhaps it's because he's the type of person who subjects new acquaintances to slide shows detailing these physical oddities. The latter would seem most likely, after Strouse opens Doin' Time On Planet Earth by embarrassing his family in front of his brother's future in-laws, a Reagan-esque Washington couple in town for their daughter's wedding. Looking for a date to the happy occasion, Strouse turns his attentions to hot lounge singer (and future real-life CNN anchor) Andrea Thompson. "I think you remind me of The Beaver," she replies, prompting him to turn to a computer dating service for guidance. All seems to be going well, until the questionnaire takes a strange turn, asking such questions as "Can you breathe foreign substances?" and "Do you communicate with animals?" The next day, a Hawaiian-shirt-clad Adam West and a woman with a beehive hairdo crash the family dinner, taking Strouse aside and informing him that he's actually an alien leader, due to depart for the stars in the Holiday Inn's saucer-like upper floor. Intrigued, Strouse tries to confirm their hypothesis by prompting the "intense traumatic experience" that will reveal him as an alien: He hits a school bully, and once again vies for Thompson's attention. She begins to warm to his affections, an event which is apparently traumatic enough for him to think he might be an alien after all. A raucous finale reveals otherwise, however, which has its pros and cons: Sure, Strouse wins Thompson's heart, but what does it matter in a world where the words of Adam West can't be trusted?
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