Post by Scifishocks on Apr 4, 2008 23:04:51 GMT 1
... to watching this in full.
I found that watching the odd episode doesn't work and watching them as I did, in order, made it a whole lot better.
Thinking about when it came out, it really was quite bleak with lots of gruesome FX as the Blackwood Project team tried to foil the invaders at every dastardly scheme they came up with. I'm surprised they got away with it.
But there were some nice nods to the 53 film and Sylvia Van Buren even turns up in a couple of episodes.
Good storylines and passable acting made Season One great entertainment.
The last episode of Season One (with the alien cyborg) was brilliant. It really set up a new twist for Season Two...
Only it really didn't.
Somewhere in Paramount, in the break, they decided to take the show away from the creators and gave the Second Season to people who clearly didn't want to do it, or at the very least hadn't seen Season One.
I haven't seen all of Season Two yet (my TV blew up today
) but I've seen quite a few.
So what happened?
Episode one of S2. New titles for starters. It seems that society has all but collapsed and the reason is never given. Now it's all gone a bit Mad Max/Blade Runner/grungy with costumes to match.
Half of the original Blackwood Project team are killed off in the first episode and Harrison Blackwood himself magically transforms from a pacifist tee-total vegetarian scientist into a gun-toting beardy hard-drinking Rambo.
Suzanne McCulloch (microbiologist) now gets wardrobe tips off Madonna (80s 'virgin' period) and that bloke out of the Highlander TV series plays the new guardian type. With a gormless sounding British accent.
Also the aliens now come not from Mortax (as in S1) but are now from Morthren.
A new bunch of aliens have turned up (when I don't know) and put the original Advocacy (shapeless rubber suits and goggles) to death for constant failure (I was actually sorry to see them go) and seem to no longer need to take over human bodies. Because they look human anyway (the female on is quite foxy in a severe way).
Oh... and the aliens have now got a 'god' (jellyfish) called the Eternal that they answer to.
However, whilst this may sound like I'm sniping at the show generally... it's actually the suits who so royally fucked with a good formula I have a beef with.
Season 2 has had it's moments so far, though... Suzanne's daughter (now far less annoying than in S1) dancing like a demented dervish to early industrial choons (under alien control) in one was weird and the episode where they go back to 1953 just after the invasion was very interesting. Plus there's the severely foxy alien to look at. Kincaid (Highlander bloke) is basically like a looser Ironhorse with a drink problem. And it isn't really his fault.
But the Blackwood Project from S1 has disintegrated and the remainder are little more than 'freedom fighters'. And the aliens are still so bumbling (despite having tidy uniforms and weird organic technology) that they aren't really a major threat anyway. There is some governmental infrastructure left, that is made plain. But what are they doing? Why was Blackwood cut loose? I don't think we'll ever know.
There are plot holes you can drive the Nostromo (with refinery) through. So poorly thought out, too many questions, but the cast valiantly battle on. Bless them for that.
All in all, though, I've had fun watching it so far.
Never mind the new Battlestar Galactica. War of The Worlds was gritty, bleak and out there nearly 20 years ago.
A remake would be interesting.
I found that watching the odd episode doesn't work and watching them as I did, in order, made it a whole lot better.
Thinking about when it came out, it really was quite bleak with lots of gruesome FX as the Blackwood Project team tried to foil the invaders at every dastardly scheme they came up with. I'm surprised they got away with it.
But there were some nice nods to the 53 film and Sylvia Van Buren even turns up in a couple of episodes.
Good storylines and passable acting made Season One great entertainment.
The last episode of Season One (with the alien cyborg) was brilliant. It really set up a new twist for Season Two...
Only it really didn't.
Somewhere in Paramount, in the break, they decided to take the show away from the creators and gave the Second Season to people who clearly didn't want to do it, or at the very least hadn't seen Season One.
I haven't seen all of Season Two yet (my TV blew up today
) but I've seen quite a few.So what happened?
Episode one of S2. New titles for starters. It seems that society has all but collapsed and the reason is never given. Now it's all gone a bit Mad Max/Blade Runner/grungy with costumes to match.
Half of the original Blackwood Project team are killed off in the first episode and Harrison Blackwood himself magically transforms from a pacifist tee-total vegetarian scientist into a gun-toting beardy hard-drinking Rambo.
Suzanne McCulloch (microbiologist) now gets wardrobe tips off Madonna (80s 'virgin' period) and that bloke out of the Highlander TV series plays the new guardian type. With a gormless sounding British accent.
Also the aliens now come not from Mortax (as in S1) but are now from Morthren.
A new bunch of aliens have turned up (when I don't know) and put the original Advocacy (shapeless rubber suits and goggles) to death for constant failure (I was actually sorry to see them go) and seem to no longer need to take over human bodies. Because they look human anyway (the female on is quite foxy in a severe way).
Oh... and the aliens have now got a 'god' (jellyfish) called the Eternal that they answer to.
However, whilst this may sound like I'm sniping at the show generally... it's actually the suits who so royally fucked with a good formula I have a beef with.
Season 2 has had it's moments so far, though... Suzanne's daughter (now far less annoying than in S1) dancing like a demented dervish to early industrial choons (under alien control) in one was weird and the episode where they go back to 1953 just after the invasion was very interesting. Plus there's the severely foxy alien to look at. Kincaid (Highlander bloke) is basically like a looser Ironhorse with a drink problem. And it isn't really his fault.
But the Blackwood Project from S1 has disintegrated and the remainder are little more than 'freedom fighters'. And the aliens are still so bumbling (despite having tidy uniforms and weird organic technology) that they aren't really a major threat anyway. There is some governmental infrastructure left, that is made plain. But what are they doing? Why was Blackwood cut loose? I don't think we'll ever know.
There are plot holes you can drive the Nostromo (with refinery) through. So poorly thought out, too many questions, but the cast valiantly battle on. Bless them for that.
All in all, though, I've had fun watching it so far.
Never mind the new Battlestar Galactica. War of The Worlds was gritty, bleak and out there nearly 20 years ago.
A remake would be interesting.
