Falling Skies 1.1 "Pilot" Discussion/Review/Comment **SPOILERS**
- Thread starter highlander
- Start date
It's S3.5 of V.
S2 of "V" left us with the cliffhanger of all those ships arriving and everyone hypnotized. in the next half season we didn't see, we were left in the position where Falling Skies started. That's how I choose to look at it
In away... yeah. There's been so many movies and a few TV shows dealing with the initial contact and us winning. This flips it.
No. It did.
I think this show is a great example of how to make a sci fi series for the general audience, that can maintain good ratings at least on cable and survive for years. Above all, you can't afford to bore or confuse people, and you need to provide hooks that set up dramatic tension and keep them watching.
So if that means you cut corners and do things that can be interpreted as poorly thought through or plot holes, so be it. Having the civilians living in tents vs. the military in houses might make no sense when you think about it, but most viewers aren't going to think about it. They're going to get the immediate message - a civilian vs. military confrontation is being set up - and keep watching to see that unfold.
Ditto with Pope's "smart" idea to shoot the aliens in the legs. It's not smart at all of course, if it's at the expense of just immediately aiming at the head. But again, the point here is to set something up that intrigues the audience. Pope is a scruffy loose cannon, but now he's been established as being "smart" about fighting the aliens so he has something the militia needs. Without that factor, why would they tolerate someone like him hanging around? He's bound to cause trouble. Keeping him around sets up tension - Pope becomes a ticking bomb because he's not going to behave himself forever.
Most of the other "dumb" things have similar purpose. The kid rode around on the skateboard while everyone watched to establish that everyone longs to return to a normal life, and makes the audience sympathize with him. The kid who "stupidly" tried to rescue the dog established that he's just a normal kid trying to play soldier and again sets up audience sympathy.
The doctor, Anne, leaving the civilians to rescue Tom and the others was very unwise. She's far too valuable to all those civilians and the militia, and the thugs would never have let a doctor leave. But that established her connection to Tom and her bravery, furthering her character development. The thugs were incredibly stupid to give weapons to a woman they raped (and even if Pope were the brains of the bunch, why didn't he at least predict what would happen?), but now that has created an interesting new character of a type we didn't have in the story before. And we don't know her attitude towards Pope, either. Even if he never touched her, she's gotta be bitter that he didn't protect her. Another dramatic-tension setup to keep people watching.
I'd rather have a show like this than a better one that gets itself cancelled by not being "strategic" about hanging onto an audience. The plotline itself may be dumb but the strategy behind it - providing hooks that keep the audience interested - is more clever than it appears at first.
The thing is the "action" was the professor and sons surviving the initial attack and then finding a AK-47 as the resistance comes into place. Maybe it will be a flashback later on? The BSG miniseries gave us the money shot even if the show dragged on for too many seasons.
TV Line review.
Not very forthcoming - of course they don't want to spoil anything - but it did make me consider that clues have been given for both the Skitters and Mechs that suggest something sympathetic about them. The Skitter that died looked tragic; the Mechs being bipedal might be humanoid.
I've been focused on deciding which are the "nice" aliens in the scenario, and which are the bad ones that are in charge. But what if all the aliens are just Pope, writ large? They are fighting their own hopeless battle against some larger force, and Earth represents a desperate last fall-back position. And like Pope, they weren't very fussy about who they had to tromp on in order to survive. They're building up Earth as a garrison, and the real battle probably won't even start till this season's finale cliffhanger.
Not very forthcoming - of course they don't want to spoil anything - but it did make me consider that clues have been given for both the Skitters and Mechs that suggest something sympathetic about them. The Skitter that died looked tragic; the Mechs being bipedal might be humanoid.
I've been focused on deciding which are the "nice" aliens in the scenario, and which are the bad ones that are in charge. But what if all the aliens are just Pope, writ large? They are fighting their own hopeless battle against some larger force, and Earth represents a desperate last fall-back position. And like Pope, they weren't very fussy about who they had to tromp on in order to survive. They're building up Earth as a garrison, and the real battle probably won't even start till this season's finale cliffhanger.
That would be Earth Final Conflict.
Look at the mech legs.
Lupine.
I'm thinking chipmonks or fawns.
The revenge of Mr-fricking-Tumnus.
Look at the mech legs.
Lupine.
I'm thinking chipmonks or fawns.
The revenge of Mr-fricking-Tumnus.
Not horrible but a little "nice" after watching a lot of recent cable shows. Like I don't think gang leader guy would amiably be escorted to a nice cell.
Also I think a couple of deer rifles with scopes would be welcome in their arsenal.
Also I think a couple of deer rifles with scopes would be welcome in their arsenal.
Pretty sure I remember them mentioning in the premiere that the main force had moved on and what was left was just a caretaking force. Doesn't really fit your idea here.
Remember those air drops in the first episodes of Jericho or into the first 1/4 of Lost?
After the army fell, while the Army was falling, what was left, their main job was probably to enlist civilians and disseminate weapons.
besides, I have a feeling that the Aliens don't use, pick up or clean up human weapons in the aftermath of their cullings.
Which is pretty silly.
Unless they assume that unarmed humans will hide more and better?
I guess I didn't remember seeing them but it seemed like a lot of ammo was being expended from automatic weapons not hitting anything.
All of the different hunting weapons work given the premise. However that all of the different illegal weapons owned only by gangsters and drug cartels should fall into the hands of the for lack of a better term rangers among the fighter class seems weird. You would think the professor and his kids would have gotten the army's or Boston PD SWAT guns and not some dead crip's.
Well, they were a small part of a larger group, since they were in the last three groups of 900 to leave the city (IIRC 9 others had already left before the pilot started). But they did have some Army weapons- the two black guys in the professor's group were carrying an M240 GPMG in their scenes. I figure the professor just got an AK for him and his son since he knew they were fairly reliable and simple to maintain, since I doubt that they had all that much experience with firearms (for example, he sprays full auto fire at the Skitter in the warehouse instead of using semi-auto to conserve ammo).
The weapons were a fine eclectic set, although with so many different ammunition types it'll be hard to keep them all supplied with bullets, lube and spare parts(if the show delves into that level of realism)
The only really glaring mistake was our heroes using a Russian PK machine gun at the end of the second hour of the pilot.
Similar to what is pictured at the wiki article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PK_machine_gun
There is really no way our heroes would have been given or stumbled across such a weapon. No government agency or branch of the armed forces use them in the US or Canada, and they are extremely illegal.
The only really glaring mistake was our heroes using a Russian PK machine gun at the end of the second hour of the pilot.
Similar to what is pictured at the wiki article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PK_machine_gun
There is really no way our heroes would have been given or stumbled across such a weapon. No government agency or branch of the armed forces use them in the US or Canada, and they are extremely illegal.
I have heard that some branches of the military have samples of foreign firearms on hand to train certain teams on how to use them in combat situations, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was how the PK got to America.