Invasion America

I remember when this was being touted and praised for being groundbreaking or lines along this on TV guide and that this was a work produced by the great Steven Spielberg. Hmmm. I was very excited about, 1. Evening Animation show! 2. Genre: Science-fiction, action and 3. Finally, variety of evening programs just like in Japan, where they have movies featuring live filmed actors and then there are the animation shows they have: So much variety, so much inspiration, all manner of quality.

So, when this American Invasion aired on Channel 4 or 5 here in California, my anticipation disappeared as the look of the dull animation combined with the familiar dull story and just the monotony of it, it no longer held my interest and it is a false hope. Nothing for me to see, moved right along. It isn't anything. Nothing innovative. Just big hype announcements and a name behind it, but for me, again, nothing there.

Invasion America was the first prime time animated dramatic mini-series, but set itself apart in more ways than that. Produced by Steven Spielberg (E.T., Jurassic Park) and Harve Bennett (Star Trek), and voiced by Timothy Daly (From the Earth to the Moon) and Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek) it set new standards in animation, science fiction, and dramatic story telling. In the six, forty-five minute episodes it takes time to tell the story from the first book (of five?) there are a few spots where the dialogue could be better, or where the plot could be stronger, but these are few and far between. The story ends strong with a few good strings where the next story will pick up. Overall an excellent mini-series!

Invasion America made its way to Australia in a post-midnight timeslot and I was keen to see this work of Harve Bennett (who was heavily involved with the Star Trek movies). For an animated series it was pretty good and kept up the interest factor for me. The best thing about the series were the visuals, with a lot of attention paid to small details and crisp, clean artwork (done on computers presumably).

It was probably aimed at a teenage audience, but for this type of show you can't ask for much more. I'm still surprised it surfaced here, with all the stuff that never makes it (and I consequently never hear of until browsing forums).

Invasion America was really great! I watched it thinking it might be alright. I thought it was going to be a tv video. Then they talked about the next episode, so I thought it was a series. I started to love the show, and then all of a sudden they say that they wrapping up the series, and I found out that it was actually just a miniseries. But anyway, it almost as cool as Star Wars. The story was ingenius. If you get the chance to see this, please do!

I love this mini series that was shown on The Warner Bros. tv network this summer. We, the fans, understand there are five books involved in the telling of this hero myth in space. I hope that DreamWorks can produce at least the second installment, Book Two. They have become a sufficient competitor of Disney in that field, with their two animated releases this summer, ANTZ and PRINCE OF EGYPT.

INVASION AMERICA prempted an established tv series the nights it aired and that may have hurt its' ratings, but an animated show on prime time is unusual anywhere.

It just shows that a dramatic story can be told in the animation format.