La nouvelle guerre des mondes

Very little is known of the alien invaders from Mortax and the series did not intend to explain much of them. In the original, "War of the Worlds", the aliens originate from Mars. Since Mars is a dead planet and presumably any presence of an indigenous civilization would be noticed from earth, it made sense to change the origin of the aliens to a faraway solar system.

It was a shame that the series did not capitalize on the episode, "Angel of Death". The unexpected, ironic, and somewhat twisted humorous ending would have made for a much more interesting second season had the original plot line been followed. As it was, some viewers, including myself, disliked the second season's post-apocalyptic setting and stopped watching the series.

I present here my own speculative analysis of the aliens from Mortax, for anyone curious enough to read on.

Most likely the inhabitants of Mortax originated from a tightly controlled, rigid, caste-driven society. The upper caste was smug in its superiority over the lower caste classes, even those presumably of a high class, such as scientists. The ruling caste or upper classes which ruled Mortax probably were probably a hereditary class which may or may not have included a military class as a subsidiary upper caste.

At some point in its history, the lower caste classes of Mortax gained political power enough not to overthrow the current ruling caste but enough to gain comparable political parity and most importantly, respect.

As a result of this paradigm shift in Mortax civilization, the upper ruling class now had to address the lower classes with respect. They now called the lower classes, 'comrades'. The lower classes could now address their heretofore upper caste rulers as, 'advocates', not, sir, ma'am, majesty, excellency, highness, lord, mistress, or any other such title conferring superiority over the claimant and inferiority over the one saying it. But it is very clear from the comments of the often frustrated Advocate triumvirate that the bigotry of the upper castes over the lower castes is still very much alive. But now it is politically incorrect to say so in front of them.

Mortax civilization was now unified and moreover, unified in its new, overriding goal, the salvation of its race, civilization, and culture. Unfortunately, the smug racial superiority and bigotry of the upper caste were now subsumed by all of Mortax society. The new inferior class fit only for extinction were the humans of earth. The invasion of earth is an invasion to humans. For Mortaxians, it is a 'colonisation' of a habitable planet regrettably infested with inferior biological sentients called humans whose existence is expendable. The invasion is a fight to the death for all of humanity.

The first season of War of the Worlds was groundbreaking and refreshingly innovative. In many ways, it was the predecessor of shows like "The X-Files". The first season was very much like a game of chess between the Blackwood Project and the aliens- led the triumvirate Advocacy (featuring the underrated actress, Ilse Von Glatz- who was chilling as an Advocate). Towards the end of the season, there was a mythology carefully being built with the introductions of new characters such as the renegade alien/human hybrid- Quinn and the Qar'To Synth, Katara. Also, the show was blessed with creative writing, excellent direction- and casting Ann Robinson as Sylvia Van Buren was a nice coup for the producers.

However, Paramount had plans to assassinate the show and installed Frank Mancuso Jr. as the new executive producer. He obliterated the first season storyline, continuity, most of the characters and killed the show in the process. But to many fans, the only real season of WOTW was 1988-1989.

Before the X-Files, before Millenium, Space Above and Beyond, before Nowhere Man and all of the other strange and paranoid filled shows on television, there was War of the Worlds. Set in modern times, this series employed so many disturbing images and stories, it genuinely gave me creeps at night. While the show bombed on many levels with viewers, I only remember it for being something different, out of the ordinary. While young kids were watching cartoons, I tried watching this show as often as possible, considering my parents cared little for it. Then, when it went into syndication, I watched it as often as I could. If you could ever find tapes for this series, and you like odd and unusual programming, then you will like this series.

First of all. Season 1: 10/10 Season 2: 1/10

This must be the creepiest sci-fi horror show/movie ever. I was 10 years old when I first saw it. Now, 21 years later, I still have nightmares.

The reason may be the complete lack of human emotions within the aliens. No empathy whatsoever for human life. The aliens are portrayed as total different from us - not "almost human/American" like in other sci-fi shows. These ones cannot be reasoned with. You cannot negotiate with them.

Three episodes moved me deeply.

1.Quinn. "no Harrison...you are the alien".

2.The abducted woman. The end scene when Harrison just being to late to rescue her. It gave me an incredible parallel with my own life. Being to late to save the most loved one person in my life.

3.The strong drug. The scene with humans collecting drugs from the floor. Acting as animals.

The only flaw with the show is its low budget. Imagine what it could have been with a modern show's budget.

And one more thing. WOW is no predecessor to "X-files". X-files is a cheesy, unrealistic show with vampires, werewolves, and baseball-loving aliens. YES! Baseball-loving aliens. Give me a break...

WOW is the real deal. With real human emotions. With real characters. With a real nightmare-plot. Great job! GREAT!

The idea of bringing back the aliens from War of the Worlds is simply great, especially for those who wonder "what if the aliens had attacked us with our technology today, instead of back in the '50s?" The answer is clear; they would STILL kick ass! The heat rays they used are just as unbeatable in the 80s as they were in the 50s, and the idea of the aliens going into hibernation to survive rather than just dying was a great plot device to bring them into the present. The spaceships, sound effects and sfx are lovingly recreated in the series. The show reminds me of Star Trek, in one respect only - both shows had great premise, but given too little backing by the studios that created them. Networks will never learn - if you're going to do a risky new sci-fi series, either back it all the way or don't bother. If the series had been given full support with and heavy advertising, and maintained the intelligence of the stories, this might have gone on for years. As it is, it's definitely worth checking out on the sci-fi channel. Now if there is ever a War of the Worlds/Star Trek crossover, that would definitely be worth seeing...(no matter how silly the idea is.)

Eight stars for effort on this series.