Just finished watching the first two episodes of falling skies. Theme wise It's pretty much the same as walking dead. for zombie haters out there, the story is about group of humans (call themselves MASS -2) surviving in the aftermath of alien attack. Will patton is commander of MASS-2 and noah wyle is 2nd in charge. The show starts with child's crayons drawing, showing alien invasion and bits of aftermath. The good thing about the show is, It is told from human's perspective. It doesn't show aliens plotting their next move secretly in their 7 star spaceship talking in English like V.
The writers showed their intent to explore all the angles and backstory on the ALIENS. The discussed the idea that how their bodyguard robots have two legs even if the aliens have six legs, so aliens must be watching us for long and learnt it from us. and i am sure in future they will explore Why did they come to earth, What do they want and how did they find us? But the problem is, these form a very small part of the whole series. Rest of the story is centered around mason family. I don't like watching a sci fi series with people discussing about the feelings in 90% of the show, that too in pilot. Don't get me wrong, i am not against this family angle but after some time it becomes plain boring. The living dead managed to do it in good way. Here the acting is wooden and characters are stereotyped. A supposedly hard boiled commander (will patton), a troubled father noah wyle, a son who will always disobey his father doesn't matter how dangerous or stupid the circumstances are, and a good natured lady doctor who will always treat everyone even the villains because it's her "job". I never understood why writers can't come up with something intelligent to move forward the story rather than falling on drama and interpersonal relationships. On top of that they added outlaws, what the h***, now i am watching some usual rescue story in between an alien invasion. At least for pilot episode you need to have lots of action and story arc which grab holds of your attention, unfortunately falling skies fa(i)lls in that. there is just too much of clichéd story and not a lot of action.
Special effects are great for a low budget series (although i hate all the action happening in the night). The alien's plane look different than the normal saucer based UFO. The series premier lacked flow and cohesion. they need to step up the momentum otherwise i give it a season at best.
The writers showed their intent to explore all the angles and backstory on the ALIENS. The discussed the idea that how their bodyguard robots have two legs even if the aliens have six legs, so aliens must be watching us for long and learnt it from us. and i am sure in future they will explore Why did they come to earth, What do they want and how did they find us? But the problem is, these form a very small part of the whole series. Rest of the story is centered around mason family. I don't like watching a sci fi series with people discussing about the feelings in 90% of the show, that too in pilot. Don't get me wrong, i am not against this family angle but after some time it becomes plain boring. The living dead managed to do it in good way. Here the acting is wooden and characters are stereotyped. A supposedly hard boiled commander (will patton), a troubled father noah wyle, a son who will always disobey his father doesn't matter how dangerous or stupid the circumstances are, and a good natured lady doctor who will always treat everyone even the villains because it's her "job". I never understood why writers can't come up with something intelligent to move forward the story rather than falling on drama and interpersonal relationships. On top of that they added outlaws, what the h***, now i am watching some usual rescue story in between an alien invasion. At least for pilot episode you need to have lots of action and story arc which grab holds of your attention, unfortunately falling skies fa(i)lls in that. there is just too much of clichéd story and not a lot of action.
Special effects are great for a low budget series (although i hate all the action happening in the night). The alien's plane look different than the normal saucer based UFO. The series premier lacked flow and cohesion. they need to step up the momentum otherwise i give it a season at best.