K-PAX

A series of Science Fiction novels written by Gene Brewer, who also narrates the books in the first person as the protagonist, H. G. Wells-style. The books follow "Dr. Brewer"'s experiences with prot [sic, rhymes with "oat"], a supposedly delusional yet extremely convincing mental patient who looks like an ordinary, affable man but claims to be an extraterrestrial from a planet called "K-PAX".

The series contains four novels to date: K-PAX, K-PAX II: On a Beam Of Light, K-PAX III: Worlds of prot, and K-PAX IV: A New Visitor from the Constellation Lyra.

The first novel was adapted into a film of the same name in 2001, starring Jeff Bridges as the psychiatrist and Kevin Spacey as prot.

"Dr. Powell "What would you say if I were to tell you that I don't think you took any trip at all, to Greenland or Iceland or anywhere? That I don't believe you're from K-PAX? I believe you're as human as I am?" prot: "I would say you're in need of a thorazine drip, doctor.""
 * Aliens Speaking English: prot claims that English is easy to learn, at least when compared to his native language.
 * All There in the Manual: Aside from the alternate perspective of prot's true identity between film and book, the book goes much more in depth on the backstories of the other patients and Brewer himself.
 * Crap Saccharine World: Brewer considers K-PAX to be one. prot describes it as a utopia with no violence or war, no hunger, no crime, no government or currency, no pollution, everyone is a vegetarian, and everyone is a scientific genius free to travel the universe as they wish. Brewer sees this as meaning they're essentially wandering nomads with no sense of love or family structure.
 * Crazy Consumption
 * Crazy Enough to Work: prot's methods to cure Howie. At first Brewer muses that it makes sense to encourage an obsessive compulsive to focus on specific tasks over a long period of time. Then prot tells Howie to . His final task for Howie is.
 * Deadpan Snarker: prot in the film, snarky but not so deadpan in the novel


 * Demoted to Extra: The other patients in the film.
 * Driven to Suicide:.
 * Humans Are Special: prot subtly slips into this in the film as he prepares to leave, where he tells Brewer that no one ever misses him on K-PAX when he leaves, but he senses he will be missed when he leaves Earth, and realizes he'll miss them too.
 * Humans Are Bastards: In the book however he notes humans are ignorant of the damage they do to themselves, their planet and other animals, and writes in his journal that unless a radical society shift takes place he doubts the species will survive.
 * Law of Alien Names: Averted. The (uncapitalized) "prot" is a vowel shorter than its pronunciation would imply.
 * Literary Agent Hypothesis
 * Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The series and film revolve around the idea that prot could be alien or human, there's good evidence for both.
 * Meaningful Name: "prot" is derived from.
 * Human Aliens: Subverted. See Starfish Aliens entry below.
 * Schrodinger's Gun: The film and book both take different stances on their evidence that prot is human or alien. The book contains more in-depth hypnosis sessions that . The film leaves these two points out and has a greater focus on prot's inexplicable abilities, and twice when he would be "arriving" from his faster-than-light travel there's a glare of light and a quick cut away before he appears seemingly out of nowhere, giving a stronger implication that he's an alien.
 * Starfish Aliens: Subverted. prot claims that K-PAXians are this on their home planet, but look like the most efficient creature of the places they visit..
 * The Stoic: prot in the film is universally calm and collected. Not so in the novel.
 * Through the Eyes of Madness:.