The Man Who Fell to Earth

The Man Who Fell to Earth is a novel by Walter Tevis about an extraterrestrial who crashlands on Earth seeking a way to ship water to his planet, which is suffering from a severe drought. The novel served as the basis for the cult 1976 Nicolas Roeg film and a less-successful 1987 television adaptation.

Plot

David Bowie plays Thomas Jerome Newton, a humanoid alien who comes to Earth seeking a way to ship back water to his home planet which is experiencing a terrible drought.

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Newton uses advanced technology from his home planet to patent many inventions on earth, and rises as the head of a technology-based conglomerate to incredible wealth. This wealth is needed to construct his own space vehicle program. Along the way he meets Mary-Lou, a girl who falls in love with him. However, he does not count on the greed and ruthlessness of big business, and ultimately fails in his mission to save his dying planet, ending up trapped on earth; broken, lonely, and embittered.

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"We'd have probably done the same to you, if you'd come 'round our place"

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