I’ll watch just about any science fiction that doesn’t feature giant robots that turn into cars.
Falling Skies from TNT and Steven Spielberg is the story of Earth after the fall of humankind to an alien invasion. The aliens are called Skidders and most closely resemble one of the twisted toys from the original Toy Story. They have an upper body with a head and two arms, but then have a lower body composed of several legs. We learn that the key to killing them is to disable as many legs as possible.
Falling Skies is basically a post apocalyptic story that feels a lot like I Am Legend, lots of ruins, lots of looking for stuff, lots of encounters with Bad Guys. There is also that Independence Day bit where they are trying to talk to one of the Skidders and it’s not going the way they would like. And like Battle:LA the aliens have big structures that are just begging to be taken down by our rag-tag collection of rebel scum.
For all it’s lack of originality, I still like it. Maybe that whole familiar territory thing appeals to me. Here is the setup from Stargate Universe-a gruff tough military leader has to take over a band of civilans, he has to battle for control with someone smarter than he is, he has a doctor who isn’t quite a doctor, and he spends a lot of his time searching for stuff. This is also the setup for Falling Skies.
The CGI is pretty bad, but hey, it’s on TNT. Like all ensemble pieces, the key will be how long we have to get to know and care about the large cast of characters. Sci Fi fans are slow to fall in love with a show, but once we do, we really, really love it. Anyone else remember how horrible the first season of Star Trek The Next Generation was? But it ended up being one of my all time favorite shows.
Falling Skies just needs a chance.
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