Hopeless "alien invasion" TV series...

[Anthony Sabre]

Hopeless because they rarely seem to last past 1-2 seasons. But I have a soft spot in my heart for these kinds of shows. The looming threat of alien invasion, combined with the looming threat of cancellation, made for some exciting television. I went to Amazon recently and loaded up on these types of shows. Some I had seen as a kid and some will be my first viewing:

War of the Worlds - I loved this show as a kid. The special effects were campy at times but the stories always gripped me. Bought season one last year and watched it straight thru in about two weeks. I don't remember season two but it was apparently pretty bad.

V - This show premiered when I was about 6 years old and it used to scare me to death. I bought the mini series, the series and the movie. Can't wait to watch it again. Heard it's coming out as a new show this year? Sweet!

Alien Nation - Watched this show as a kid and loved it too. Bought it last year and am now watching it. My one complaint is that they resolved very complex issues in child like manners. Guess they were still hung up on "good" endings back then.

Invasion - Never saw this show while it was on the air. Had good reviews with the one complaint that the story lines were kind of drawn out. But I love shows like that.

Surface - Never saw this one either. The premise caught my attention more than anything.

Invaders - I wasn't even born when this show premiered in the 60's. From what I read about the show, the WOTW series was very much inspired by it. In fact it seems to have had more influence than even the WOTW movie. Thinking I'll like it.

I'm going to pick up Threshold eventually but $35 for 12 episodes is a bit steep, so it's not high on the list right now. Feel free to add any others that are worth checking out.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Most shows get cancelled, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with this premise. The V remake might have a hope in hell of succeeding so let's not sell it short prematurely.

 

[Harvey]

I don't think Alien Nation was an "alien invasion" series. There was always a threat of alien invasion hanging over events, but it was much more of a racial allegory than anything else. And I'd dispute that events were always tied up in "child like manners." Much of the series is surprisingly adult, even now, and especially for its time. A shame it only ran a single season (plus the television movies).

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Invasion tried to slowly reveal what was going on instead of laying all its cards on the table but I think that may have turned people off thinking the show was going nowhere. I remember in the review threads here at the time I expressed those same feelings which I regret because it looked pretty interesting by the end of the season.

I think part of the problem was getting burned in the past by shows that didn't seem to go anywhere ultimately really *not* going anywhere that I didn't trust it was ultimately leading somewhere. Or maybe it was simply an immature impatience in an immediate gratification culture but I won't cop to that one...

 

[Guy Gardener]

Assimilation is just a polite way to invade. I remember some of the commentary by drunk racists in the movie talking about how the new Comer children were too smart and strong for their age, and how there wouldn't be a place for his own children in the future because there was no level playing field.

Earth Final conflict went on for YEARS... But one might have to wonder why?

I really enjoyed First Wave.

The 80s War of the worlds was spectacular at the hind end when they finally got around to justifying the mulch at the beginning.

The classic 60s series Invaders was just marvelous

 

[Chris_Johnston]

Add Threshold to your list.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

He already has Threshold on his list.

 

[The Stoic]

Curious. Who is that in your avatar, Out Of My Vulcan Mind?

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Curious. Who is that in your avatar, Out Of My Vulcan Mind?

The lovely Yvonne Strahovski from Chuck.

 

[archeryguy1701]

Invasion is a good series, and I just got done rewatching it for the first time since seeing it on TV. My only real complaint is that it took so long for the series to get rolling. I'm fine with shows doing story lines over an extended period, but it felt like the story was standing still for the first half of the series.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

I'm in the minority with Invasion in that I really liked the slow burn start, but was disappointed that it didn't lead to something more interesting once the plot started heating up. The series seemed a bit muddled, a bit unsure of what it wanted to be.

Surface was a lot of fun (although not an alien invasion series, by the way). I wish it had continued. Same goes for Invasion - even though I had some problems with it, there was a lot of potential there.

Threshold had a good cast and an interesting premise, but it was let down by weak writing. I wasn't sorry to see that one go.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I know why people complained about Invasion. It was unfocued because it took the writers too long to admit that Sheriff Underlay was the natural main character - the story should have been told from his POV.

The hunky park ranger wasn't centrally involved in the drama like Underlay was. He could have been a good secondary character but they wasted too much time on the interpersonal drama with his ex-wife being married to Underlay.

Just get right to the point, there are frakkin' aliens in your midst who don't even know they're aliens and when they find out, what do they do about that?!?! And a soap opera steals screen time from that? Where were their priorities?

Also, I loved the Florida location, not a common place for TV sci fi but very nicely used, all oooky and slimy and hard to see what's growing down there under the murky waters... I also approeciated that it was never entirely clear the "aliens" were from anywhere from Earth. They might have evolved in the swamps and only now made their presence known.

Surface was just dumb fun, what a hoot. The discussion threads were hysterical. I miss them more than the show.

Threshold, hmmm. The premise had potential and I did like the cast. Hard to know how that one could have turned out.

 

[Anthony Sabre]

The classic 60s series Invaders was just marvelous

Looking forward to watching this one, along with V, the most.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Actually, I think the POV characters in Invasion should have been the kids. The strongest subtextual underpinning for the series at the beginning seemed to be that it was about how people and places you've known your whole life can suddenly seem, well, alien (through divorce and remarriage causing pesonal relationships to dramatically alter and through a community being devastated by a natural disaster). That's the idea that I think should have been central to the series. But that got lost as they unfortunatly branched out into some pretty tired sci-fi tropes.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

If they made one of the kids an alien, sure, they could have used the kids' POV. But they have to establish the literal basis for the metaphor before they can start in with the abstractions that half the audience isn't going to get, anyway.

 

[FlyingLemons]

I can't believe no-one has mentioned Dark Skies! That was one of the better alien invasion shows produced in the 90s, right around the height of X-Files mania. It was set in the 60s, and portrayed a sort of "secret history" as how famous events from our history were influenced by the intervention of a race of alien parasites called the Hive.

I found the whole concept quite intriguing, and they had a five year plan which was that each season would move up a decade to the early 2000s, taking in events like the First Gulf War and the end of the Cold War along the way.

Sadly NBC killed it off, though, and the studio, Sony Pictures has always put off releasing it on DVD due to "prohibitive licensing costs" for some of the music used during the series. Bit of a shame really.

 

[Anthony Sabre]

I can't believe no-one has mentioned Dark Skies!

Thanks. Adding to my wish list on Amazon but it doesn't look like the show has been released on DVD yet.

 

[Vendikarr]

I can't believe no-one has mentioned Dark Skies!

Thanks. Adding to my wish list on Amazon but it doesn't look like the show has been released on DVD yet.

Dark Skies is another music rights hostage. It was a period piece that used period music. Now the studio has to either get the rights to the music, or substitute.

Getting the rights is expensive, and substituting is unpopular. A short run show like this one may never come out because of this issue.

 

[theenglish]

A little off topic, but with regard to Surface, didn't it start out as an alien invasion story and get changed around when its story got truncated.

BTW, I think many of these shows would work as limited series. Surface, Threshold, and Invasion could all have been planned as 15 episode story arcs from the beginning (and then picked up for longer if they turned out to be popular).

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Surface was originally described as an alien invasion series in the early press materials, although I'm not sure of whether those plans were changed in reaction to the cancellation notice or whether they had already been changed prior to that.

The approach of producing a limited series that could continue if the ratings are good enough is the approach they're taking with the new V series, as well as with Day One.