Tomorrow, When the War Began

Despite only reading the book series for the first time when I was well out of the 'young' adult age bracket, I adore the books. I was so looking forward to this series but, having now watched 4 of the 6 episodes, I'm really disappointed. I get that things have to be changed to work on television and I get the inclusion of the events happening behind the fence with the families but there are far more changes made than were at all necessary. New sub-plots introduced that add nothing to the story and detract from the overall drama and suspense, as well as changes that would mean the rest of the story (as per the books) couldn't possibly pan out. Despite having the benefit of 6 episodes to work with, the characters aren't developed in a way that makes you empathise with them or care what happens to them and somehow, despite the visual medium, the pace and tension of the book is lost and each episode for the most part drags. Unlike some of the other reviews here, I don't think the acting is terrible, I think it's actually the directing that is at fault - the long, drawn-out shots held on a character are no doubt meant to seem poignant and convey the emotion the character is feeling but instead they feel staged, fake and stilted. Ultimately, this series had huge potential and I feel it failed John Marsden pretty badly.

A great story ruined by a terrible screenplay adaptation. I loved the books & thought that the earlier movie was a very good adaptation of the first book. But by the time I was watching the 4th episode I was laughing at the ridiculously far fetched alterations to the plot. Completely unrealistic scenes that at times reminded me of episodes of either Gilligan's Island, Skippy or even Hogans Heroes. What were the writers thinking?!! So much potential, so little delivery.

I am not sure what is going on with the complaints about this not being true to the book or 'things have changed' or perhaps the people reviewing it prior to me are expecting a continuation of the film or haven't read the books in years unlike me, but I don't see a massive deviation from the novels other than some modernisation of the tale.

When the books were written, it was a different political climate and youth culture, when the books were written it spoke to the teenagers of my time (90's) where mobile phones and social media weren't everywhere and the biggest threat was a far off distant war in Iraq.

In the movie, there wasn't even mention of The Hermit and yet, the kids mentioned him quickly as they went to enter Hell.

The relationship of the teens is presented exactly as I remember it and their discovery of the invasion feels like it came straight out of the books.

The highlighting of the joy these teenagers experienced in Hell is to prepare you for the stark realisation that these childish experiences are over before the teenagers are thrown into situations much more adult than they are, that their dreams and hopes are about to be shattered as much as their lives are.

I find it a wonderful updated, modern interpretation of a novel series I still read and adore even today.

Don't expect the movie here, whilst the movie was excellent and did take lines from the novel, the series has a lot more chance to play with the themes and events from The Tomorrow series and The Ellie Chronicles. It can take longer to reveal plot points and build the changing, growing nature of the kids relationships and how war will inevitably change them.

I look forward to seeing how it continues.

Since I loved the film, I thought I would absolutely love this series. I've never been so wrong in my life.

The plot was dull. I just forced myself to watch the next episode in the idle hope it would improve. Then it didn't. The characters were boring and one-dimensional with an acting talent that can barely rival with that of a sea sponge.

However, I do love the actual plot and I think that the story has the potential to become an awesome series in the hands of a great director

So please, have another go at it with a decent budget/actors without distancing it too far from the actual story.

Kind regards

I have read the books and seen the movie and absolutely loved them. When I heard that the series was coming out I was quite excited, I thought the void left by the lack of a sequel to the movie could finally be filled. Now after watching the first episode I'm beginning to think that that void will never be filled. I have found it quite utterly disappointing. Just seemed like the scenes of jubilation/slow motion happy happy joy joy were well overdone. Well i guess after hyping it up in my head it was always possible that it might not live up to my exceptions but i didn't think it was possible it would be this bad.

Anyway I will hang in there for the next few episodes *fingers crossed* Please get better.