War of the Worlds-1988 series...

[Christopher]

Nah, the thing about NYPD was that it was network TV, subject to FCC decency standards. WotW was cable, and cable was as full of nudity back then as it is now.

No, it was not cable. As Theonethatis said, it was a first-run syndicated program. It was released by Paramount as part of the same syndication package that included Star Trek: The Next Generation. As I stated in my previous post, my local station which carried the show declined to broadcast that episode, but the station that carried it in an adjacent city did air it. That should've told you right off that it wasn't a cable show, but one syndicated to different individual stations in different cities.

Also, the level of nudity in this episode was not as graphic as what you'd get on Showtime or Cinemax. There were no nipples, no full-on buttocks shots, no genitalia. It was within the FCC limits for broadcast television, but it pushed those limits farther than any other broadcast television show had ever done up to that point, as far as I know. Are we clear on this now?

 

[FordSVT]

Nah, the thing about NYPD was that it was network TV, subject to FCC decency standards. WotW was cable, and cable was as full of nudity back then as it is now.

No, it was not cable. As Theonethatis said, it was a first-run syndicated program. It was released by Paramount as part of the same syndication package that included Star Trek: The Next Generation. As I stated in my previous post, my local station which carried the show declined to broadcast that episode, but the station that carried it in an adjacent city did air it. That should've told you right off that it wasn't a cable show, but one syndicated to different individual stations in different cities.

Also, the level of nudity in this episode was not as graphic as what you'd get on Showtime or Cinemax. There were no nipples, no full-on buttocks shots, no genitalia. It was within the FCC limits for broadcast television, but it pushed those limits farther than any other broadcast television show had ever done up to that point, as far as I know. Are we clear on this now?

Sorry, perhaps I should have said syndicated television instead of cable TV, 20 years ago almost everything on cable was syndicated material or movies. But I think my point still stands. NYPD Blue was a first run, ABC television show that was only syndicated in foreign markets. WotW appeared on everything from the local network affiliate to specialty cable channels and the production team wasn't necessarily beholden to the same standards as a show that was produced by a network for a regular prime-time slot. I mean, they'd have to pay attention to them if they wanted to sell the show, but they took risks that no first run network show ever would have in the 80s.

I'm agreeing with you, it took risks, I'm just saying that, IMO, it wasn't directly comparable to what NYPD Blue did.

 

[Christopher]

^You would have a point if any other first-run syndicated show on broadcast television had pushed the envelope that far before that episode. As far as I know, none of them had. If anything, the fact that syndicated shows could potentially air in any market and any timeslot would make them less likely to push the envelope, lest they be shown at an early hour when children would be watching. The presentation of skin and sexuality in that episode was quite exceptional for network or syndicated shows at the time -- so much so that my local station pre-empted the episode, something I'd never known them to do with any other syndicated program. It was very, very much not a routine thing for syndicated TV at the time.

 

[Kegg]

As far as unnecessary sequels to Americanized versions of War of the Worlds go, I always felt that Edison Conquers the Martians had a better title.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The first season of the show was very funny - very arch, a lot of parody and some very sick humor. That's the main thing that I enjoyed about it and remember.

One director actually framed a two-shot of a couple of the aliens talking by shooting through the hole they'd just drilled in some poor guy's skull using an experimental weapon.

I think my favourite was when the Triad, or whatever they were called, tested a laser on a prisoner, then the camera moved behind him so we could see them through the steaming fist-sized hole in his head.

Yep, that's what I'm talkin' about - and there's no way in hell that any of it was unintentional. The folks behind the show were having a good time, and not taking it at all seriously.

Then there was the episode where the aliens were going to brainwash the science nerds of the world using subliminals hidden in new age music. Of course they very nearly got the series lead that way!

And then there was the episode where aliens needed human brains for something and they cruised around town in a van with a big plexiglass tank just filling it up. A couple of them take over a beauty salon and start "taking a little off the top" with buzzsaws.



The second season was just dismal, dark and stupid crud. No humor at all.

 

[Christopher]

Then there was the episode where the aliens were going to brainwash the science nerds of the world using subliminals hidden in new age music. Of course they very nearly got the series lead that way!

I assume we're talking about the first-season "subliminal message" episode, instead of the two or three "subliminal message" episodes in Season 2. In the first-season one, the show's actual composer, Billy Thorpe, guest-starred as the musician whose works the aliens were co-opting. I think he was basically playing himself, though with his surname changed. I don't think the music was New Age, though; I gather that Thorpe was more of a rock musician.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I remember this series. Yes, it was only on very late at night on ITV - too late for me to catch it on its original run, which was a shame as I had seen a repeat of the George Pál 1953 film, and loved it. A few years later I caught one full episode of the first season and remembered that while it was interesting in that it was pretty much a sequel to the 1953 film which I loved, nevertheless it was cheesy and awful but strangely compelling. I didn't catch any other episodes though.

A few years ago, I also caught a glimpse of a second season episode, remembering that it was nothing like the first season episode - but I couldn't get into that show at all.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

As far as unnecessary sequels to Americanized versions of War of the Worlds go, I always felt that Edison Conquers the Martians had a better title.

You mean Edison's Conquest of Mars. Or Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

 

[Kegg]

As far as unnecessary sequels to Americanized versions of War of the Worlds go, I always felt that Edison Conquers the Martians had a better title.

You mean Edison's Conquest of Mars. Or Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

I don't think Santa Claus Conquers the Martians is an unnecessary sequel to an Americanized version of War of the Worlds, so yes, I meant the other one.

Now, Santa Claus is of course a necessary sequel.

 

[Harry Palmer]

That's it I'm breaking out the DVDs.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Now, Santa Claus is of course a necessary sequel.

Agreed. I watch it every Christmas Eve.

I also have the novelization.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I don't think the music was New Age, though; I gather that Thorpe was more of a rock musician.

It was very new-agey, electronic art rock stuff. It was hysterically, stereotypically the kind of stuff that one would have expected Harrison to like: faux cerebral, trippy, no "guts."

 

[Joel_Kirk]

I don't think the music was New Age, though; I gather that Thorpe was more of a rock musician.

It was very new-agey, electronic art rock stuff. It was hysterically, stereotypically the kind of stuff that one would have expected Harrison to like: faux cerebral, trippy, no "guts."

^^

It was very.....80s!

There is this scene from one episode with Norton bobbing his head (in the team's van) to a simple keyboard track...and I put emphasis on simple.

I recall when I first saw it, I thought the scene was funny; after watching it again...it's an aspect that is a bit dated...

A minor nitpick, of course...

 

[Morpheus 02]

I proudly own a copy of J.M. Dillard's novelization of the premiere episode. I so wish that Pocket had done some original novels.

My other fervent wish from the time? I so wanted a TNG/War of the Worlds crossover episode. Either the TNG crew traveled back in time to the 1980s, or the Enterprise-D visited Mortax in the 24th-century. Something. Anything. I'd have eaten that up like mint chocolate chip ice cream. Oh, yeah, I would have.

Well they kinda did on TNG: The "Conspiracy" episode