Borrowing quite a bit from E.T., Nukie was an attempt from the South African film industry to target an international audience and... well, much like Space Mutiny, it wasn't well-received to say the very least.
Nukie provides examples of:
- Bulungi: Nukie lands near a village in Orapi, Central Africa, complete with a witch doctor who believes Nukie to be a "bad god". They are even explicitly stated to be paranoid and uninformed, compared to Sister Anne and Dr. Harvey.
- Deus ex Machina: At the end of the movie, Toki, having reached a low point, makes a wish to the stars to be reunited with his brother and the aliens Nukie and Miko. His wish gets granted.
- Disney Death: Nukie after surviving a drop down a waterfall and exhausting himself trying to find America.
- Dull Surprise: And how! A good example being Dr. Harvey's disinterested expression when phoned by the Space Foundation.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Corporal's actual name is never given by anyone who refers to him in the film.
- Flat Character: Pretty much everyone's character can be summarized in a short paragraph.
- Forgot About His Powers: Nukie at one point manages to regain the power to turn into a light ball to fly and gets excited like its his first time, despite have flown around in outer space in the beginning of the movie.
- Humans Are Bastards: Played with; although Dr. Glynn and Dr. Rhinestone have no qualms about performing medical experiments on Miko, at least a few other U.S. government officials strongly object. Not to mention Dr. Harvey, Sister Anne and the twins Tiko and Toki are on the side of good.
- Hypocrite: Sister Anne tells Dr. Harvey that she dislikes how Americans inject their culture into other people's. This is despite the fact that Sister Anne's entire purpose as a Missionary is to visit foreign lands and convince them to abandon their beliefs in favor of Christianity.
- Just Eat Gilligan: Since Nukie and Miko still have their abilities on Earth, including turning into shooting stars and flying, most of their troubles could've been prevented if they just did it and reunited in space.
- Mama Bear: Sister Anne tries to come to the twins' defense and dissuade Sangoma from exiling them but to no avail.
- Master Computer: E.D.D.I (Electronic Digital Data Intelligence)
- Mighty Whitey: Dr. Harvey
- Nice Guy: Dr. Harvey. He is stated to dislike experimentation on living things and even airlifts Tiko to the village hospital to get his snake bite treated.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The whole plot kicks off thanks to Miko's curiosity getting the better of him, sending both him and Nukie to Earth. Miko is kidnapped shortly after this.
- Say My Name: A significant chunk of the film consists of Miko and Nukie saying the other's name.
- Skyward Scream: "America! HELP US!"
- Show, Don't Tell: A pretty egregious case; a narrator explains most of what is going on whenever the film cuts back to the government headquarters and you very rarely see actual experiments happen.
- Talking Animal: A couple primates "speak" to Nukie because he can communicate with them... for some reason
- The Computer Is Your Friend: With Miko's aid, E.D.D.I becomes a lot nicer and refuses to assist Dr. Rhinestone towards the end, even going so far as tell her "You suck".
- The Power of Friendship: Nukie
- Would Hurt a Child:
- Sangoma banishes the twins from the village with the expectation that one will die.
- The Corporal also attempts to shoot Toki driving off with his truck.
