 " Brother from the Same Planet " was written by Jon Vitti and directed by Jeffrey Lynch . It originally aired in the United States on February 4 , 1993 , on Fox . The writers wrote the role of Tom for actor Tom Cruise . However , when offered the part , Cruise repeatedly turned it down , so the producers used Phil Hartman instead . The writers based the Corey character on the actors Corey Feldman and Corey Haim , known as The Two Coreys . Pepi was based on the fictional character Dondi from the daily comic strip of the same name . 
