# Falling Skies premier



## Wycen (Jun 20, 2011)

This new sci-fi show aired on TNT last night.  I liked the opening with a child's point of view of the invasion until I realized it was starting en media res and we weren't going to see the actual first attack.

Falling Skies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hope to see more alien stuff soon.


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## Umbran (Jun 20, 2011)

Yes, the show starts 6 months after the invasion, when the people are in survival, recovery and resistance activities.

I believe the period before the show's start is covered by a webcomic available at the show's homepage.


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## Fast Learner (Jun 20, 2011)

Some discussion of it in its other (slightly confusingly-named) thread here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/media-...rnal-1-2011-1-2-live-learn-falling-skies.html


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## NewJeffCT (Jun 20, 2011)

Wycen said:


> This new sci-fi show aired on TNT last night.  I liked the opening with a child's point of view of the invasion until I realized it was starting en media res and we weren't going to see the actual first attack.
> 
> Falling Skies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> Hope to see more alien stuff soon.




Looks like it has potential - and, it has Moon Bloodgood, who obviously does have some good blood.


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## Crothian (Jun 20, 2011)

For a pilot I thought it was pretty good.  It established a lot of things and we got to see cool alien fights.


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## Hand of Evil (Jun 21, 2011)

I enjoyed it and thought it was a good start, very good cast chemistry.


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## Janx (Jun 21, 2011)

I really wish DVRs would take an advance notification to record something.  Because I missed the dang show because I knew about it 2 months ago, rather than 1 week ago when the DVR will let me flag it to record.


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## Hand of Evil (Jun 21, 2011)

I just hope the show does not become a running away show.  I would like to them start Ewoking the aliens...traps are your friends.


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## Krug (Jun 21, 2011)

Yeah a good start. At least it didn't try to do the whole 'hide the aliens' thing.


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## Tyranthraxus (Jun 23, 2011)

So the kids/teenagers being taken by the Skitters and having the control devices put on their backs ARE the Pilots of the Mechs right? Well grafted into the Mechs. I was looking at the size of the mechs and then thinking again that they are 2 legged and arrived at that conclusion.  It was interesting to see a character like Pope.. Im trying to put   a finger on where Ive seen that actor before.. I was thinking Stargate but im not sure.


Question: The 'general' we see in the first episode. The one that divides up the groups and who we dont see again. He seems to play an awful lot of high ranking military roles.. I think I remember him back in Undersiege. Has he ever been a regular in a tv show? 

Matt


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## Fast Learner (Jun 23, 2011)

Tyranthraxus said:


> It was interesting to see a character like Pope.. Im trying to put   a finger on where Ive seen that actor before.. I was thinking Stargate but im not sure.




Easy enough to check in IMDB. The actor, Colin Cunningham, has been in a lot of stuff, including a stint as Major Paul Davies in Stargate SG-1 and single appearances in the Stargate: Continuum video and Stargate: Atlantis:







Other genre shows where he's appeared in an episode or two include Dark Angel, The Twilight Zone, Smallville, Andromeda, The Dead Zone, The 4400, Eureka, Sanctuary, and even more.


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## mac1504 (Jun 23, 2011)

Tyranthraxus said:


> Question: The 'general' we see in the first episode. The one that divides up the groups and who we dont see again. He seems to play an awful lot of high ranking military roles.. I think I remember him back in Undersiege. Has he ever been a regular in a tv show?
> 
> Matt




That's Dale Dye. Besides his numerous war movie credentials (Platoon, Saving Prive Ryan, Band of Brothers, etc.) it seems he has appeared in a couple of TV shows, but none that he was a "regular" on (mostly just minor characters). I recall reading an interview with him about the 30th anniversary of Platoon, and I believe he was also involved in the production of Falling Skies.

By IMDB, it appears he will have more scene time in the series as well.


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## Tyranthraxus (Jun 24, 2011)

Thankyou.

My apologies. I always seem to forget IMDB.


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## Kzach (Jun 24, 2011)

My theory is that the kids get turned into the skitters, not the mechs. The reason being that death scene where it looked up at all of them. It seemed... child-like. That, and regardless of the mech's having two legs, the design of them seems like a person couldn't fit inside.


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## Hand of Evil (Jun 24, 2011)

Think Skitters are th "dog/monkeys" of the alien race, basicly not as smart as humans but able to do task for their masters.   Mechs are mechs or drones, you can't have them be kids and then be killing them off, this is a rule; nazis, zombies and robots you can kill in mass and get away with it. 


As far as the masters?  I am leaning to lizards/human or as they have already gone puppet master with the kids, some prasite.  It would be cool if they went with Cthulhu/Mind Flayers but figure they will use history to say the aliens where here before as gods.


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## Felon (Jun 25, 2011)

This really hit the spot. I liked it better than Walking Dead. I'm not big on that comparison, mind you, but that's the one that keeps coming up.

I thought the reaction of the Maggie character was an especially sensible resolution to the conflict with the raiders. Stuff exactly like that would happen: YY-chromosome types just grab a woman, abuse her, and believe that with a firm hand applied she'll fall into line. Meanwhile, she's just waiting and praying for an opportunity to get away and maybe settle the score. Hope to see more of her.

And that thug leader guy seems like a prime candidate to become the "Sawyere" of this little shindig.


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## Tyranthraxus (Jun 27, 2011)

Ahh the sacred Rules of TV, Hand o Evil?


I would hope that a television show could challenge that. I dont see any problem with the kids being the forced against their will pilots of the mechs. 

If the resistance people are destroying the mechs,  they arnt seeing the children/kids die. We as the audience might know, but the characters dont. All they see is a 2 legged smaller mech with big guns get blown up. Could they work it out if they only partially destroy a mech? Sure they could, but that would add to the problem. These mechs are trying to kill them, yet are controlled by fellow humans who are just enslaved to the Machine/aliens. So kill or be killed.

MAybe if this was on a major network like ABC or CBS this issue might have more weight. Id hope TNT would be able to fight off such stereotypes.


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## Felon (Jun 27, 2011)

Tyranthraxus said:


> Ahh the sacred Rules of TV, Hand o Evil?
> 
> 
> I would hope that a television show could challenge that. I dont see any problem with the kids being the forced against their will pilots of the mechs. .



It may well be couched as the kids being harvested for components, a la Torchwood Children of Earth.

Or, maybe it turns out the "aliens" aren't aliens at all. They're actually from the future, like in The 4400, and they need kids to repopulate the world after they blasted the hell out of it...wait, that's no good.


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## Tyranthraxus (Jun 28, 2011)

*Episode 3*

Well having just seen episode 3  I found it interesting. Dale Dye plays authority figures so well, hes great to see

* Loved the 'fight' in the tunnel. Used Popes advice to a good extent. 

* Steven Weber!.. I remember him back in a show called Wings? I predict him going evil though and I always thought of him as a comedy actor


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## Fast Learner (Jun 28, 2011)

Tyranthraxus said:


> * Steven Weber!.. I remember him back in a show called Wings? I predict him going evil though and I always thought of him as a comedy actor




Since Wings almost all of his roles have been dramatic. He played could-be-evil-hard-to-say in Happy Town (mostly "hard-to-say" due to the show being cancelled) and was the antagonist in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, so there's some precedent.


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## Tyranthraxus (Jun 28, 2011)

I have not seen either of those shows.


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## Kzach (Jun 28, 2011)

I'm already bored of this series.

The aliens aren't using intelligent tactics. I find it hard to believe that they took over the planet and wiped out all the major civilian and military forces simply because they didn't know to shoot the legs. It's patently absurd. The mechs have no major advantages that prevent them from being destroyed by a competent platoon. Unless the 'mother ships' simply nuked every strategic location before even landing troops, which we know they didn't do, then the entire premise of the show is already on shaky ground.

I'll keep watching because it's sci-fi, but I expected a LOT better of Spielberg.


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## Fast Learner (Jun 28, 2011)

Tyranthraxus said:


> I have not seen either of those shows.



Obviously not, since you said you thought of him as a comedy guy. Nor would I expect you to have seen him in _Once and Again_ or _Brothers and Sisters_, for the same reason. 

Some folks here might have seen him in _Happy Town_ since it was a supernatural drama from last year. 

Either way, I'm simply noting that there are prior examples of places where he was a semi-villain.


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## Crothian (Jun 28, 2011)

Kzach said:


> The aliens aren't using intelligent tactics.




Without knowing what their capability is, what their true level of tech is, and what their goals are it is very hard to say if what they are doing is intelligent or not.


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## Steel_Wind (Jun 29, 2011)

Verdict: I'm liking the show so far. It is entertaining. The acting is decent, chemistry is mostly good -- and while the characters are still a little cardboardish and very TV-Tropey, it's not all bad.

Production values are pretty decent.  No significant complaints, so far.  

As for Alien Apocalypse or Zombie Apocalypse? I dunno. I think the aliens are more depressing. Zombies aren't likely to out-think us. Aliens? Different story. Long-term prognosis is not looking too good for us.  Mind you, that whole "one bite and you are infected" thing that's going on down in Atlanta really sucks too.

All-in-all, as  exciting as it might be for a few weeks? I'm in favor of NO Apocalypse at all, thank-you-very-much.


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## Tyranthraxus (Jun 29, 2011)

Thanks Fastlearner. I might check out Happy Town on Hulu via the VPN


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## Dog Moon (Jun 29, 2011)

Hand of Evil said:


> Think Skitters are th "dog/monkeys" of the alien race, basicly not as smart as humans but able to do task for their masters.   Mechs are mechs or drones, you can't have them be kids and then be killing them off, this is a rule; nazis, zombies and robots you can kill in mass and get away with it.




Or... Nazi Zombies.


And everyone in the show should be hoping that kids aren't piloting the mechs because if anime has taught me anything, it's that kids piloting mechs are badass and you don't want to mess with them.


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## Hand of Evil (Jun 29, 2011)

they even compared them to Nazis in this last one!  

What I am seeing, this is the story of Poland after the nazis invaded and moved on to France.  The aliens are not that much more advanced than anyone just better prepared for war.  

I am wanting to like the show, good cast and chemistry but not sure about it just yet.


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## Hand of Evil (Jul 5, 2011)

Still on the fence...


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## Kzach (Jul 5, 2011)

Predictable and already we've got people doing stupid things just for the sake of moving the story forward.

I don't mind when people in movies do stupid things. But these people are supposed to be the survivors. They've survived because of why? Sheer dumb luck? Because it certainly isn't because of their wits or survival instincts. I don't expect them to be tactical geniuses, but when things are so absurdly obvious that the only way they screw it up is by being completely retarded, then it ruins my suspension of disbelief that this person is a survivor in the first place, and I become fully aware that the character is in that position solely to help move the plot forward.

If it wasn't so badly done and so forced, I'd give it more of a chance to grow on me. But the seriously poor writing is just leaving me unsatisfied every episode. This has all been done before and it's been done better, so I need a reason to keep watching, and without gripping story-telling, there just isn't anything compelling me to watch another episode. I think I'm done with this series although I won't be surprised if it gets picked up for a second and third season despite it's poor execution; after all, Spielberg is attached to it.


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## Deset Gled (Jul 5, 2011)

I've been mostly enjoying it so far.  It's one of the better sci-fi shows I've seen in a few years.  The effects have been good for a TV series, the actions scenes have been handled well, and I like the cast of actors.  I've also been pretty pleased so far with the decisions they've made with character and plot focus (varied, but not fragmented).

Potential problems for me would be dragging out the "what are the kids being used for" plot line, or playing up mysteries about the aliens too much.  I get bored by simple questions that never get answered, and am turned off by mysteries that only get more complex, and never get any answers.


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## Tyranthraxus (Jul 6, 2011)

I really dont see why you expect a whole lot better of Spielburg, Kzach. I think hes the same as any director/producer really. A lof of them make good and bad movies. We like the ones that are good obviously and dislike the bad ones. Spielburg has made a name for himself A) Because he always used to wear a damn hat B) Has been around a long time which is a credit to anyone in a job C) Has made in quite a few peoples views more 'good' than 'bad'.

I like Falling Skies. Its got a nice mixture of action and moral. Do I like everything about it? No. I cant say Ive ever watched a show where I have liked every aspect of it. Ever. 

Will I continue to watch it? Yeah I will, I love seeing scifi concepts explored and executed. Even if they arnt particuarly good concepts. 

I love shows for instance which never answers the key questions. It lets me formulate an answer for myself which I try to draw from the facts presented in the show. I dont want to be given all the answers.. I want to be left wondering. Which I guess definetly puts me at odds with the previous poster.


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## catsclaw227 (Jul 7, 2011)

Fast Learner said:


> Since Wings almost all of his roles have been dramatic. He played could-be-evil-hard-to-say in Happy Town (mostly "hard-to-say" due to the show being cancelled) and was the antagonist in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, so there's some precedent.




He was also the lead in the made-for-TV version of The Shining that was closer to the book than the Kubrick movie.

He was very good as Jack Torrance, the drunken father that goes insane.


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## Fast Learner (Jul 7, 2011)

catsclaw227 said:


> He was also the lead in the made-for-TV version of The Shining that was closer to the book than the Kubrick movie.
> 
> He was very good as Jack Torrance, the drunken father that goes insane.



Oh yeah, I forgot about that! Definitely good crazy-evil.


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## catsclaw227 (Jul 7, 2011)

Fast Learner said:


> Oh yeah, I forgot about that! Definitely good crazy-evil.




I was actually awestruck, because I had only seen him in Wings when I saw that Shining TV mini-series (1997 or '99?).

He got very scary as the 270min play time wound down.  It was a long series, more than 4 hrs, so it had it's lag issues, but they were kind enough to develop the Jack Torrance character, via Steven Weber, over the extra time.

It is kinda late '90s cheesy, but the main character is good.  You should give it a watch.


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## Truth Seeker (Jul 8, 2011)

Good News---Falling Skies is renewed for a *second season.*

Bad News---returning in the summer of 2012.


That is all...


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## Kzach (Jul 8, 2011)

Kzach said:


> I think I'm done with this series although I won't be surprised if it gets picked up for a second and third season despite it's poor execution; after all, Spielberg is attached to it.






Truth Seeker said:


> Good News---Falling Skies is renewed for a *second season.*



Called it.


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## Hand of Evil (Jul 12, 2011)

my peeve with Sunday's 07/10 - skeeters can't count past 5!


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## Taelorn76 (Jul 12, 2011)

It seemed that the alien was actually motherly to the children that were harnessed. I am curious to find out more about the connection between Skitter and harnessed kids. 

It also seems like the harnessed kids are 'attached' to a particular Skitter, which is why I think that one they killed that Skitter the kids started to go into shock.


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## Tyranthraxus (Jul 13, 2011)

In many ways its akin to animals in the wild, If the Mother is killed, generally the kids will hang around the body 'protecting it' or if she is threatened they will attempt to defend her. 

In terms of the Skitter it just seemed logical that groups of 6 kids would be linked to the 6 legged skitters. I think we can notice some disparity between this weeks Skitter and one from some time back who showed Hal that the Aliens meant business when he pointed to the kids as the Mech opened fire on them. 

So Im not convinced that the Children are totally needed.

For me this episode was all about the strange Death of Harris. Supposedly the pre-eminent 'Scientist'/ Doctor and he gets close enough to get strangled? Although In a strange way Im not sure that he didnt actually not want to die. Perhaps Harris did have a death wish.


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## Hand of Evil (Jul 13, 2011)

Taelorn76 said:


> It seemed that the alien was actually motherly to the children that were harnessed. I am curious to find out more about the connection between Skitter and harnessed kids.
> 
> It also seems like the harnessed kids are 'attached' to a particular Skitter, which is why I think that one they killed that Skitter the kids started to go into shock.



which may mean that skeeters have class system, warriors and workers, like ants, and humans are aphid.  got to wonder what they are getting in return.

Why kids?  Still wondering why just kids as a slave force?  Leaning to the something that is produced at those ages.


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## Kzach (Aug 1, 2011)

Kzach said:


> My theory is that the kids get turned into the skitters, not the mechs.




Called it.


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## NewJeffCT (Aug 1, 2011)

Kzach said:


> Called it.




are the kids being turned into skitters, or is it that the skitters are a different slave race that was harnessed previously?

When the doctor first pulled the harness out of the skitter, my first thought was that they grow them organically inside the skitter & then implant them to the kids.


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## Crothian (Aug 1, 2011)

Kzach said:


> Called it.




That was the most common prediction I've heard people make about the show.  Even my Mom was wondering that after the opening show.


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## Kzach (Aug 1, 2011)

Crothian said:


> That was the most common prediction I've heard people make about the show.  Even my Mom was wondering that after the opening show.






Kzach said:


> *Predictable* and already we've got people doing stupid things just for the sake of moving the story forward.



Called it. Again


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