War of the Worlds

This is one of those series that I caught in second run, and had to see all of. Rather than being cliched and boring, War of the Worlds managed to be trendy and dark, attempting to deal with mature themes and violence in an intelligent fashion all too rare today.

Perhaps the best season was the second, when the war becomes a drawn-out war of attrition, culminating in one of the most thought-provoking finales I have seen this side of Babylon 5. It is currently airing on Space in Canada, and is definitely worth seeing if you can.

The best thing about this series was that, in the first half of the first season, you never knew who was going to win the battles. An example plot would have the aliens trying to acquire a list of the locations of their canned (literally) comrades. The humans try to stop them but fail.

That's what I loved about the series: EVERYTHING was unexpected. Then late in the first season, you started having plots that were too obvious. (On TV in the 80s, there was no way aliens were going to detonate a nuclear bomb in the middle of the USA--especially with our heroes in the same city!) From that point on, the show settled for standard science fiction. It was still interesting, but it had lost its spark and never got it back.

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.

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.

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.