Did A Space Alien Really Visit Port Charles On General Hospital?
In an eternal effort to remake themselves, soap operas, including "General Hospital," have had some bizarre plot lines. Stories span everything from megalomaniacs trying to freeze the world to memory mapping and children born of stolen frozen embryos. Shows like the gothic, horror-oriented "Dark Shadows" and the paranormal-esque "Passions" were once soap operas with full-time occult themes. Mainstream shows have also dealt with arcane topics, such as the "Days of Our Lives" demonic possession storyline. "General Hospital' pioneered action and adventure on daytime TV in the early 1980s and has also been known to delve into offbeat subjects, including science fiction.
From the 1980s and into the 1990s, several "GH" characters were caught up in major adventure storylines, including former World Security Bureau (WSB) agent and police commissioner Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers), WSB agent Anna Devane (Finola Hughes), former head of the WSB Sean Donely (John Reilly), and Frisco Jones (Jack Wagner) and Felicia Jones (Kristina Wagner). Pesky villain Cesar Faison (Anders Hove), who seemingly had nine lives, was always on hand to torment the citizens of Port Charles, especially the object of his desire — Anna. Robert and Anna's daughter, Robin Scorpio (Kimberly McCullough), was often at the center of these stories, full of intrigue and espionage. However, none of these characters were prepared for an encounter with a being of another world.
An alien arrives in Port Charles
In 1990, Anna Devane and Robert Scorpio's daughter Robin Scorpio found a strange crystal just off the shore of Port Charles on Spoon Island. The young girl didn't know it contained unimaginable power, and soon an alien being appeared in Anna's garage, took on a human form, and set off to find the crystal. Played by Bradley Lockerman, the alien quickly befriended Robin and took on the name of security system repairman Casey Rogers.
While many of the people in Robin's life thought he was, in fact, a repairman, Casey revealed to the girl that he had special powers and was from another planet. He explained that the crystal gave him energy and there were other pieces on Spoon Island that needed to be retrieved. Eventually, Anna and Frisco Jones began to suspect something was up with Casey and believed Robin was being disobedient by not sharing what she knew about the man.
Little did anyone know, the villainous Cesar Faison — whom Anna had previously worked with when she was a double agent — had taken up residence at the Wyndemere castle on Spoon Island and wanted the powerful crystal for himself.
As he was presumed dead at the time, Faison disguised himself as a writer named P. K. Sinclair and wrote a book called "The Alpine Express," based on Anna Devane's life as a spy. Meanwhile, Sean Donely knew Faison was alive and had secret dealings with him.
Anna and Frisco agree to help Casey
When the crystal accidentally switched hands and ended up being unwittingly moved around Port Charles, Casey started to grow weaker. He'd gone to the island to find the other crystals, only to pass out and have Faison's minions drag him back to the mainland. Robin found him in the catacombs, and Anna got involved, bringing Casey to General Hospital. Robin explained everything, and Frisco Jones also became entangled in the mystery of who Casey was. Frisco didn't believe Casey was an alien, even when he witnessed Casey recharging from the crystal, which also had a mysterious magnetic effect on the hospital's lab.
Per Muncie Evening Press, Anna wanted to keep Casey's existence quiet but also began to suspect that P.K. Sinclair was actually Faison. Frisco decided to investigate Spoon Island personally and returned with no answers, only seeing a strange man with long hair and a cigar. Anna knew that was Faison but kept that fact from Frisco to protect him.
Anna had sent Robin to stay with friends while she and Frisco took Casey to a cabin to hide. A doctor at GH, Harrison Davis (Kevin Best), had figured out that Casey was not human, and when Anna wouldn't deal with him, he went to the press. As news got out about an alien living in Port Charles, US Air Force officers got involved, tracking them to the cabin.
Faison has a change of heart
Anna and Casey escaped while Robert showed up at the same time as the Air Force soldiers, per The Evening Sun Monday. Robin told Robert who exactly Casey was, and Frisco ran interference for Anna and Casey. Eventually, Anna and an ever-weakening Casey ended up at Wyndemere. Faison had acquired all three pieces of the crystal, intending to harness its power, and Anna begged him to let Casey use it to get back to his home planet. Casey warned everyone that if all the parts of the crystal were put together, it would explode and destroy the Earth. The power-mad Faison didn't care, assembling the crystal, causing an intense blast of light that knocked everyone out.
When they came to, Casey realized there was probably a fourth, smaller piece missing from the crystal. It turned out that the piece was hidden inside a small statue called The Wellington Dog, which was a valuable item that Sean was bartering with Faison. Casey had managed to send a message back to the mainland via a dove that he needed the crystal within to save his own life. When Faison's lackey Desiree (Chi-en Telemaque) confronted Sean and Frisco about the valuable statue — after learning that Faison didn't love her and had double-crossed her — she shot both men, dropped the statue, and escaped (via San Angelo Standard Times). Robin happened to be there and grabbed the final shard of crystal, absconding to Wyndemere.
Casey returns to his home planet
At the mansion, Anna convinced Faison to let Casey go home when Robin arrived with the final piece of the crystal. After a bittersweet moment in which Casey thanked Anna and Robin for teaching him about love, which was heretofore unknown on his planet, they said their goodbyes. Casey added the final piece to the crystal and, in a dazzling display of light energy, was transported back to planet Lumina. Later, Anna was shocked to see a news reporter on TV named Shep Casey, who looked identical to alien Casey (via Dayton Daily News).
According to the Vancouver Sun, in 1990, then-executive producer of "General Hospital" Joe Hardy came up with the concept of having an alien on the show and cast Bradley Lockerman — who formerly played Zed Diamond on the sudser "Capitol" — in the role. When told that he would be playing an alien, Lockerman seemed unsurprised, saying only, "Really." The Shreveport Journal quoted Lockerman as saying, "I never in my life thought I'd have this kind of part, but I love it." He also noted that the skepticism of Finola Hughes and Jack Wagner's characters added a "believability quality to the story." The alien plot was nevertheless successful, as the story was nominated for a Soap Opera Award, according to the Sacramento Bee.
In 2019, Soap Opera Spy reported that Casey might return to "GH" to help Anna. Sadly, that didn't happen. But some fans hold out hope that he might one day return.