Falling Skies

Post apocalyptic shows are the best, its fascinating to see other people's takes on what they think the world will be like after a massive disaster/pandemic. Personally, I think this one (and Walking Dead) is amazing. Its the perfect combination of sci fi and family drama. The season finale was great, I just hope they don't go the same way V went, and have the aliens communicating with us and helping to 'save our future'.

I'm afraid I gave up on this one within the first couple of episodes. Too many things irked me. Firstly, it seems that when the world ends all the womenfolk go back to raising the kids and cooking the meals. Apart from one token female soldier. Secondly, aliens who arrive when the plot wants them to and pretty much vanish otherwise. Despite our heroes setting up a huge camp in a field and trundling down the middle of a main street complete with cars and tanks and other noisy engines - in broad daylight - it seems they were invisible to alien foot and air patrols. Thirdly, they tried to use the dog as live bait. Yes, I know the kid leapt out at the last moment to rescue it, but it was made pretty clear the adults took a dim view of him doing so and that the actual plan had been for the dog to die. Sorry, that was it - I was out of there!

But, you know, I'm always happy to see the fans of a show get more. I don't like it, but if you do - congrats and enjoy!

I love the post-apocalyptic, sci-fi shows, so I liked it from the start. This one kind of reminds me of Jericho ( aired on CBS for 1 season, viewers brought it back for a 2nd and eventually got a comic book ). Falling skies has a great storyline, characters, effects. And sense it is on a cable network it doesn't require as many viewers as other networks, some requiring as much as 10 million or nothing, and this show has alot getting as much as 6 million.

Post holcaust series are relatively cheap and easy to make - getting a good script together is the bigger challenge. Rocky in places, nevertheless, the characters are interesting (if a bit conventional) and the entertainment factor is there.

There are the usual plotelements of humans with varying points of view - defeatists, the vengeful, collaborators and some just simply caught in the headlights of disater - but at the heart of the series it is a family story - about a father trying to do his best for his growing sons under adverse circumstances.

Possibly one of the strongest points in favour of a second season is the fact that some of the characters are so sketchy and singular dimensionally that there is heaps of room for character development. For example - Weaver can develop a stronger leadership role as he opens up more - the young fighter he has taken a liking too being a plot mechanisim for this... and you can see the script writers doing this in the speech he gives acknowledging the vital role of the civilian survivors. Similarly the lead female character (the doctor) also has room for development within her capacity as a civilian touchstone and also within herself - gaining greater maturity in her abilities.

The aliens face a tough job impressing people as aliens have been done thru so many forms... the difficulty exists in resolving any sort of detante with a race that has just obliterated 90% of humanity and set out to enslave the children - yeah, lets sit down and talk this out...

However, the "out" here is the fifth column in the form of the similarly oppressed "skitters" who - to quote a line "have to make up the numbers" through their operations against humanity. If they can be liberated and/or turned then the masters behind this operation would face a serious threat.

So far the plot is proceeding fast enough to maintain interest - let us hope it does not get bogged down in "drama" as SGU did - such that missing an episode doesn't matter and the program falls off the "want to see" list and onto the "record and watch maybe later" list.

Best of luck and hope we see a season 2.

OH, COME ON PEOPLE! IT'S A FRIGGIN' SHOW ON TV! There are state-sponsored enemies of our country that have the capabilities of knocking out our telecommunications infrastructure. Undoubtedly some of the nay-sayers of this show will believe "reality" shows are just that- REAL. Get a life.



The characters' personalities are pretty much what you find in a war-time mode; there are people who will fight, there are those who won't, and worst of all there are people who will help the enemy. If you've never been to war (I wouldn't recommend it for the average person), you haven't seen this.



Bottom line: IT'S JUST A TV SHOW.

Chase,chase,chase - kill, kill, kill (on both sides yet)....is that all the writers can come up with? What a dissappointment, especially with actors and actresses showing great promise.

When does this show get off the "chase" racetrack and into the "lets create something good" construction phase? When do these people either find out these aliens are potential friends and start learning to live with them (interaction on more than a "shoot-em-up" basis while building a dual-race society would bring some interest to the show) or finish the aliens off and start rebuilding their world (reconstruction of a society with some common sense - like energy and product containers and fertilizers, etc., that don't destroy the ecology and learning to live lovingly and respectfully with each other - like teaching children to love each other and help others - would make a GREAT thought-provoking show out of real "snorefest"). The show could demonstrate how energy and resources now going to war and hatred all over the world could be given over to building a healthy society in which no one starves and scientists are allowed the time and funds to create new inventions useful to building an ecologically clean society rather than turning everything toward war.

With the Dead numbering in the hundreds of millions and countless children enslaved to work for the invading forces we are faced with a world without hope.

The story of the 2nd Massachussets is told primarily through the eyes of Tom Mason (Noah Wyle), a professor of military history and the now 2nd in command of the 2nd Mass.

Mason has lost his wife and one of his three sons in the conflict, but it is Mason's knowledge & beliefs that fuel the motif. He constantly reminds us that guerrilla tactics have succeeded in the past and thus, there is hope.

I've found Falling Skies impressive for the most part, in painting a realistic picture of an alien invasion aftermath. This series reminded me of the original V miniseries, with focus on the individual struggle and human weakness.

Cerebral, dramatic and low budget (just like ST:TOS) we are given very little in the way of special effects but the plots and scripts are great.

*Spoilers ahead*

Of note is the several different types of aliens; Skitters, eight legged minotour like creatures. The Harness, a symbiotic & possibly sentient creature. Walkers, mechanical bipedal machines and The Skinnys - of which little is known.

Light years ahead of the new V (god bless Morena B) this show is bare bones - but we really cant expect much more these days (Terra Nova being the rare exception) - what it lacks in CGI it more than gains in grit.

With that said the final scene of the finale was wrong on so many levels. We are told that the Aliens cant locate numbers less than 300 yet they pinpoint Mason. I'm not entirely sold on this.

The final battle at the school with the radio frequency weapon seemed contradictory and rushed. It was cool but poorly edited. I didn't understand why none of the robots shot at the flag pole. They are an advanced race.???

This is the new type of show we are being offered, 65% drama, 25% action and 10% scifi. It seems to have the same treatment as SGU and the same poor reaction from scifi fans.

Well worth an hour a week.

An alien invasion. Hell, it could have been the best tv show ever, after Star Trek that tries to explan how other beings think, but it's a big fail. You see... if I were to attack the Earth I'll spend 2-3 years just scouting the planet, thinking and panning how to take over it. But no... these aliens are dumb. They just attacked with ships, they killed all the army and strange they can't kill some lame humans that have no idea how to fight them. Lame isn't it? Well listen to this, a smart people will think this and find the best plan. But the human race is made of retards, as they can't work together to save their only planet they have. Nope... they just fight with each other and do the alien's job easier. I watched the 1st episode, then the 2nd then I got bored. I can write a better story in 2-3 days. But others can't do the same as they can't think like aliens will think. To take over a planet takes more than Ak 47s, and takes more than some retarded soldiers who think that killing 1-2 aliens makes any good for anyone. The fun part is that an alien invasion will happen, at least 90% of the human population will die in an instant because they can't think what must be done and what's the best course of action. They will think that there is a race of good aliens that will come and help us because they saw StarGate (LOOOOOOL, I am laughing now :P). Or they will fight the war for us, because we are weak and we think that the american people has the most advanced technology... let me laugh here more LOOOOOOL. People don't understand one thing and this is the most important thing for us, humans.. from Terra. We don't have warp engines, we don't have FTL drives, we don't have a StarGate, this is all Sci Fi. What we have is some retarded leaders that can't solve anything and if case of a war... they will run the 1st. We have only 1 planet, this is the most important thing for us (place). We have the Earth, this wonderfull planet, we have the most amazing planet in this part of the galaxy. And we can improve, we can adapt and we can think and work together. What we need is a leader that know what must be done if an alien invasion will happen. Well not to worry, that's me. Running a country is the easist thing ever, you don't even need to think or use your brain for that. You have only to wave the hand and advisors will come and distroy everything because they have no idea also about running a country also. But... what we have is me. I know how to fight an alien invasion but I can think ahead of them. I can put aside my feelings and fight for the only thing that's important for us: the Earth. Without the Earth we are nothing. Family is not important, life is not important, without the Earth we are nothing. No future, no past, NOTHING. When you'll understand that you'll grow and you'll see that our duty is to defend this planet. Our greatest asset is our teamwork. We can put our diferences behind and work together to defend this planet, because this is all we have. But to do that... we need courage, honor and most of all... the will to fight. Think about this. In the future... we might need to think more than you'll imagine. People are pathetic but some are awesome. You'll manage the rest alone.

But about the show... it's beyond pathetic. Sadly they never bother to think that united we are stronger, that we can beat the enemy very very fast. But well... the writters never bother to think that... the story might end badly for us. They thought that in the end, the enemy will let us leave because well... they have feelings. If I were to invade a planet... I won't stop at anything. I'll invade a planet not only for the resources but something else also: the planet itself :P

Have fun watching this lame show. If you're smart you'll ignore it. If you're stupid you'll think that it's awesome. In the end... it's a story that will teach you that the american people think they can beat an alien invasion with... a flag. Trust me, they can't. They'll just doom us all and waste this planet we call our home.

I saw the first five minutes of this show and it is basically the exact same thing as War of the Worlds was... C'mon Spielberg, really?

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For a Spielberg produced show this is a pretty lame excuse for exciting sci fi. Its not even particularly thought provoking like Caprica, Battlestar, and other recent sci fi. I have stuck the series out, and the last four episodes have improved in action stakes, but will not be surprised if this does not get a season two. If it does - they could do with a dose of branon bragga or stephen moffat writing to inject some intelligence and genuine suspense into it. And get some decent directors - the cast have the aptitude - but are being very poorly directed which is coming across as poor acting.

After "The Walking Dead", I thought it would have gotten to writers that viewers are more than fed up with characters that don't show any depth at all and that don't develop. Yet while technologically our movies are going three-dimensional, characters on TV aren't even complex enough to fill in the two dimensions they already got. Sadly, "Falling Skies" doesn't make a difference.

Especially in SciFi, there's a desperate need for well-developed characters, for people who defy cliches and who bear in them at least part of the complexity life just has. It's been done in drama series all over - think Six Feet Under, The Wire or Breaking Bad. In "Falling Skies", actors are assigned roles as solid as thin air - you've got the Vietnam, sorry Iraq Veteran who has his blind spots written on his forehead. There's the history professor teaching military lessons without ever using them at all - I mean it would've been nice having the guy actually employ any tactics that were brought to good use during the Roman times or whenever. Yet all he does is telling people they should keep going because it has happened before that more powerful invaders were driven back by inferior defenders. Good job, professor! There's the inevitable friends and familiy drama stuff ("my son has been kidnapped by aliens!" / "he ran away when my wife died!" / "I want to fight!" - "But you're only 16 years old!") - shocking tragedy stuff I care so little about.

That all said, the basic premise sounded interesting, and it was basically this setting that kept me watching. Jumping in 6 months after the invasion from outer space offers a whole universe of potentially interesting things to endeavour. But to do that, the show's inventors would have to think about them first. They could make it interesting in military terms - who's using what tactics, maybe the aliens have a problem with their resource base (they can't have brought everything they possibly need with them, space travel is expensive), how are they actually organised? There's been some very brief signs of it, but making the Skitters something like soldier-slaves to the "real" aliens does not make it as thrilling as the borg stuff from Star Trek did. It makes the Skitters more boring, not less, because now I don't care about them at all. Watching six-legged mindless alien cannon fodder is just not my idea of engaging entertainment. There's just too many things like this, where I think a good opportunity has been wasted. It's even more annoying since a lot of things indeed do work in this show,and it's solidly produced in technical terms. But please - get some good writing for this show!

What can I say I like this kind of show. It has a good story, solid characters and the action is good enough for someone like me...

I think people are more important then aliens getting blown up!Don't get me wrong i like that too and for me it's has it's fair share of blowing up skitters and macs!

I think it has a perfect balance!!

after watching the first episode I gave up on the show. Terrible acting and lack real excitement. I have no clue how this show gets ranked 2 on this website. My choice of top shows atm are True Blood and Game of Thrones. This show is not even close to how great Game of Thrones is, not even 1/10 as good.

I recently received the Falling Skies press kit in the mail. In preparation for discussing the episode on the Falling SkiesCast, I have had the privilege of watching the two part series opener that will air June 19, 9 pm - 11pm, and the following episode that will air June 26, from 10 pm - 11pm (the regular time slot).



I thoroughly enjoyed these first three hours of the show. I have watched many sci-fi shows and movies and I feel this version of an alien apocalypse is off to a great start and is thus far better than most others in the genre. In many ways the story is a familiar one; however the team behind Falling Skies has done some amazing things. This is definitely a different take on the similar storyline that you have probably seen elsewhere. There are some twist and turns through this first part of the series. There are some unanswered questions from the beginning, but we are given most of what we need to know about the events leading up to then series with the opening voice over.



The acting is top notch, even from the child actors. I think one of the most important aspects of these episodes is that I felt a connection to these characters early on. The characters are fleshed out, they feel like real people which makes the various dangers they face have added tension.



This show has the look and feel of a major motion picture. The CGI looks really sharp for a TV show, but is not over used. The score adds depth to the stunning visuals.



If you are a sct-fi fan or not, I think that you should check out this series. Many non-horror fans were rewarded with great television by watching the Walking Dead, and I think the same will be true of Falling Skies. This story takes place during the alien invasion of the earth, but it's really about the characters and their story of survival, much like the Walking Dead.



One small thing that reminded me of the Walking Dead is that different people have different names for the aliens, much like different people had different names for the zombies (walkers and geeks).



I know this article is broad without much details about the storyline. I was instructed in the press kit to be sure not to spoil any of the surprises of the show due to the mysterious nature of Falling Skies. On my site and in my podcasts, I will not seek to spoil anyone on these episodes or for future episodes of Falling Skies.



Thanks,

Jimmy in GA from the Falling SkiesCast - The First Podcast Dedicated to Falling Skies

Well gave this show a try not because it was written by "time to retire" Stewie Spielberg but because Sci Fi shows on TV these days have become a rarity. Everything is getting mostly cancelled in that department and i can say...can you blame them for that. Sci Fi shows are not original at all and seem to be an elongated Stigma of a movie or the same old idea retold again.



This show is the same, nothing new and everything old about it. Been done and you can even anticipate the ending. Question is: why watch it? Seriously, may be because of Sci fi elements and something new. Sorry to disappoint but same old story on that too: aliens come, aliens invade, aliens harvest and human survive , do resistance groups and fight. The rest well will be more the lines of Independence Day...yup we will win at some point but in the mean time lets go the Battle LA way...small fights and small victories to build to the big ones over the course of may be 6 or 7 seasons. If we had only that to consider, may be we could say: yup ok we'll take the dog fights and the outnumbered sieges that somehow let our heroes come unscratched but we all know that something else is in the lurking for this one. What is sadly annoying is the time they spend on useless hubby dubby drama. If i want a show to center around emotions, i catch a melodrama not a sci fi show. I did not really know what i hated more, the professor who is still stuck in university trying to be a second in command or the knowledgeable freedom ace fighting kid trying to save his dog knowing that he could get killed.



This show is certainly not out to bring in some coherent realism in although it tired to input it for connection to its audience but sadly it is too tame. Where are the bodies by the thousands in the streets, gore blood and people brought down to the basic survival instincts. Oh…. they do cover that but it is done in such a civilized way that you would think that this is a children's' story or something. Anyway, since it has Senior Spilbergo attached to it, i give it 2 seasons at least on TV but will it be a hit.....nope. Probably the show will try to infuse some more sci fi elements to stay afloat and realistic characters of primal human elements in it but any idea exploited will prove too redundant in the end.

Okay, first impressions of Falling Skies...REALLY GOOD!!!! TNT premiered it's new series, Falling Skies last night and it's treading on territory seen many times before. Despite no shortage of shows that take place in a post-apocalypse world, Falling Skies seems to benefit from a few key things.



Camera work and pacing: A quick pacing that only lets up to focus on character development. Which turns out to be interesting surprisingly. The band of survivors is led by Noah Wyle who drew me to watch this show in the first place due to his work on ER and I found myself pulling for them in no time at all. A few times I noticed odd camera angles and thought they were creative and well timed.



Aliens/Alien Invasion: Despite invasions being done to death in television and film, Falling Skies brings Mechs and Skitters. Aliens and their robot cohorts have decimated earth's population and has survivors on the run. What I found especially interesting was the alien enslavement of children via a device attached to the neck/back. It seems that this plot line plays a huge part in the development of future episodes. I noticed this via comments made by the characters and previews of upcoming episodes.



A co-worker of mine said he watched the premiere and his reception was lukewarm. I really liked the first two hours although I would have to say it picked up in the second hour with the introduction of villian(?) John Pope. To those on the fence, I say give it a chance. I have high hopes that it will continue to improve all the way to it's tenth episode season finale on August 7, 2011.

I had high hopes for Falling Skies. Instead of seeing the sci-fi tv show void filled with something wonderful, I found a show that made me roll my eyes and groan more times than I could count.



This post-apocolyptic war show was completely unbelievable and it was painful to watch as they squeezed in every boring and seemingly, all too happy, aspect of these peoples lives.



Had I been drinking something when they showed the women standing smudge-faced in an assembly line in the river passing the laundry along to each other with great big smiles on their faces, I am sure I would have spit it out in laughter.

It felt as if every aspect of these peoples lives and society were thrown at me and squeezed into 45 minutes so that I would fully grasp what they were trying to build. Someone makes sure we know some of them still believe in God... someone else tells us the roles the civilains have, cooking, sewing and mending, and most importantly, hauling away trash. Hauling away trash? Have they looked at the world they are walking around in? The entire landscape looks like one big dumpsite. I think there are better things to do than haul away trash. They make sure we see there is still school, where kids learn and brainstorm as well as hypothesize about why spider-like aliens would create bi-pedal robots. (Come on, we all know it is to keep manufacturing costs down). I think they are building a society based on recycled corn and cheese, with a side of ham.



Minor spoilers and plot points follow...

This show has several ridiculous and unforgiveable scenes in it. Although i could really pick this show apart, it would be too simple to. Truthfully, i was barely paying attention anymore during the second half of the 2 hour premier.

Things are ridiculous from the beginning of the major split up of the city. They decide to split up into groups of 300 to make themselves less easy to find, yet they trapse en-masse down major roads riding motorcycles and the like while we see alien patrol ships flying in the air in the background, somehow completely unable to detect a group smaller than 500. This idea is only made more ridiculous by the fact that as soon as you get our hero's son, alone on a back road doing recon, he suddenly comes across several alien ariel scout craft, a few mechanized ground troops, and also, you guessed it, his missing brother, controlled by an attached alien slug, of course.

Also unforgiveable is the fact that they wait until they have gone far down the road and find no food to send the afore mentioned recon mission backtracking to get food. You know you are leaving town and may not find food, why wait until you dont find any to send people back to get more. Maddening! As if you didnt already see Weaver (played by Tom Patton, who seems to be unenthuiastically reprising his role of General Cunningham from the movie The Postman)possibly being killed and replaced by Noah Wylie, just for boneheaded poor planning. I know I know, blame poor writing yet again.



It makes you wish they had monkeys with typewriters in outer space.



They also throw in a bit of good old fashioned racism. Why not, we are being overrun by an alien horde, why should humanity unite? The antagonist John Pope, after capturing Noah Wylie's party, in yet another unforgiveable yet predictable boneheaded scheme, says he doesnt want to keep the black guy for his group.... but wants to keep the Asian man because they (Asians) are good at fixing things. My vote is then please have him fix all future scripts for this show. Did anyone actually read the final draft? I will say it again... Monkeys, typewriters, outer space.



Complete speculation follows...My guess is that over the next few episodes the band of ragtag humans will find a way to either remove or override the control slugs and infiltrate an alien horde base so that they can somehow blow it up. We, in the process, will somehow learn the spiderlike aliens are merely foot soldiers also under control of the slugs, and the alien mother ships will return with the true invading aliens... perhaps Spielberg's greys or the like... all the while Noah Wylies character will non-stop be fighting and quoting history books. Yawn and fade out season one.... possibly forever. I do not know for sure, because I will not be watching. I will be waiting with bated breath for the third Planet of the Apes movie... hoping, just hoping.... you guessed it. Monkeys, typewriters, outer space.

I was really looking forward for a SCI-FI show to see, but Falling Skies does not fit for it. It`s a poor show, lacks action and tense situations, includes really plain and poor characters (the teacher who is the army leader, reminds me of a poor version of Saving Private Ryan`s Tom Hanks), there are also absurd situations (and scout who goes on a motocross making loud sound?), and the rest is all very predictable...it reminds me a lot to the remake of V, a show with nothing new to give. I did not even watch the second part of the pilot because the story does not make sense to me... mechs and aliens? hahaha

A pitty.

i never expected falling skies to be this good .

before i watched it i read the reviews here and i expected nothing less than a dissaster, it was not.

for a tv show that rquiers a huge budget they were able to make it very realistic , it feels like you the viewer are in a postapocolyptic time.



it could even be better than the walking dead.. could be. the acting is great , the directing is magnificent for a tv show also the aliens did not look as fake as i expected..

i only saw the first 2 episodes and they were great and they ended with a promise that this show is truly uniqe . if you haven't seen go see it. i highly reccomend it.

I was really looking forward to Falling Skies. It's a Steven Spielberg show starring Noah Wyle, Moon Bloodgood & Will Patton & there's an alien invasion. What could be better than that? Well, just about everything! There were no invasion scenes just a very brief description from a child. There was no fighting just a few little skirmishes. There was no action-dedicating the 1st hour to a real alien invasion might have made the whole premise of the show believable to begin with. There were no special effects-so many missed opportunities without the actual invasion. There was no character development. We didn't know who they were, therefore, I didn't care what happened to them after the fact. It was boring. The show had so much potential but totally fell flat in every aspect. A total disappointment.

i think that this may end up being one of those shows where you either hate it or love. I personally thought that the pilot was pretty good, and i think im gonna give this shows a chance, and probably watch for the season.



If this show is done good then, it had the potential to be a hit, because the idea behind it is great, but if it's done badly, it'll just turn into another action/drama about aliens attacking earth. But i think that it has a good cast, and strong characters, and the idea behind the show is good so i hope it ends up being a good show.

I have just seen Ep 1 of Falling skies (likely to be re-named Falling Ratings OR Failing Skies in around 3-4 weeks time the way it's going.)

Without jumping the gun, keep in mind that a big hollywood name is no guarantee of anything. Look at the mixed bag that was Boardwalk, and we all had such high hopes for that too. It just threw us in there, no proper intro....aliens came, most people now dead, now we're scavenging in 7-11s for twinkies (A nod to Family Guy?) I cannot see this reaching anywhere near the mindboggling delights and sheer drama of Battlestar Galactica, even if it does pick up a few notches. Few pilot episodes of any new drama were so lacking in sparkle and intrigue as this.

You wonder how they got this passed a test audience without giving out free adrenaline shots.. I'm reaching for one.

When will TV writers start writing believable dialogue? The only consistent thing, after watching the first two episodes, is that people just don't talk the way these people talk. They also don't act like these people act, they don't do the kinds of things they do. The back story setup is just fine and could serve as a compelling foundation, but the characters really ruin it.



I kept rooting for the aliens to succeed since it might mean we'd get to learn more about them instead of this horrible mix-match of characters that failed to generate any connection or sympathy. Most of them are one dimensional stereotypes, particularly the grizzled old military commander and the hard, uncaring, militant guy leading the refugees. These are not real characters, they're cardboard cutouts.



The actions of the main character and those around him are unbelievable too. How many times are they going to have to stop someone who's emotionally charged from running headlong into certain death? If people behaved like this under such conditions, the human race would be doomed in no time.



Why do so many shows make this mistake? They overuse exposition and tweak otherwise mundane dialogue to amp up the "cool" factor. Like when the older son is looking up at the mothership and says something to the effect of "I'd like to go up there, find the head lizard in charge and kick his lizard butt!" Really... ...really?



I hope this show makes it, it's summer and there aren't too many good sci fi shows out there, so I'll keep watching. Lots of shows got off to a rocky start and evolved into something better.



A lot of comments mentioned Walking Dead. I drew a lot of parallels between the two. The main difference, WD got it better. They nailed the desperation and humanity of the survivors seemingly hopelessly lost in a sea of things beyond their understanding and control. We cared what happened to those survivors because their world was understandable despite the nature of the horror around them. That's what has to happen here or this show is lost.



It's not the CGI or the other effects that will make or break the show, heck, Doctor Who told fantastic stories in the 80's with what amounted to giant foam rubber "monster suits" and it's still hugely beloved.



I wish I could say this will last, and I very well hope it does come 'round. I'm reminded of Stargate: Universe in that I really didn't care for it at first, but then came to find it compelling as they found a way to make me care about the characters while weaving a great story before it was unceremoniously cancelled. If SG:U can't survive, I don't see how Falling Skies is ever going to stand a chance, which is a shame because they have the foundations of a great show here.

First of all if you do not like science fiction then why on earth are you watching this and second if you expect this series to have the budget of a movie that is produced for over a year by a large crew, just because Spielberg is involved than you are, well, dumb. This is a series people 40+ minutes every week, what do you expect? I think this is a very good show and I have enjoyed every single episode. The characters have developed since the pilot, the story is unfolding quickly enough, there is action there are some special effects... what else do you need?

I beg the writers to read this. Keep on keeping on. So, if a couple folks give you some thumbs down, you are making some pretty great art here. Your act breaks are tight and you are allowing your character's personalities, pasts, and motivations be revealed over time. Reviewers haven't you ever heard of story arcs before?! Give it time. Also, as a soldier/writer, I can write that you have the militia aspect of essentially Guardsmen soldiers down pat. You've got it. I thought this episode "Grace" was great. It moved the overall story forward and we learned more about the characters. Also, the eye candy explosions are awesome.

I give them credit for breaking from the same formula of similar shows. It is not bogged down by a quest to prove how much special effects can be squeezed in. We are also spared the ever-present 40 year old President personally battling aliens and visiting them in their holding cells to figure out the single Achilles heel that his best friend/high ranking government official can use to defeat E.T. in a mano a mano battle just before we all turn into zombies. I will keep watching.



What great series ever started out perfectly? Give them time to get into a grove. As long as they keep it moving forward with new answers every week it is worth watching.

1) Cheap - This show feels incredibly cheap, it feels like most of the budget went to secure Steven Spielberg's name and Noah Wyle Let me elaborate on that:



Exhibit A) The opening scene of Episode 1, the child describing what the Aliens did with colorful hand-drawn pictures.



I don't know about the rest of you but I sure as heck would have rather seen some impressive special effects of these attacks happening, rather than a kid talking about it "There were millions of em!" - See the very first few minutes of a serious plot like this is supposed to draw me in, not raise alarm bells.



Spending a big amount of money here would have not only secured my interest in the show but instead they decided to go the route which cost them virtually nothing to make and expect me to take it seriously.



Exhibit B) Just how often do we actually see Aliens on screen? We barely see them - judging by the first five episodes that I've seen thus far, most screen time is spent with the humans wandering around trying to get supply's and the very very rare alien attack.



It seems like they go out of their way to avoid using special effects in this series, something a Sci Fi show should NOT ever be ashamed to use.



Exhibit C) The Harnesses, another way to cut costs, just get kids and make them walk around with cheap props taped to their back, very expensive stuff- that.



2) Boring - So far the plots of all 5 episodes have been virtually the same thing, "We need X in order to do Y" - "we have to wait until X because we can go save Y" Too much of the screen time is also focused on Human Drama, like how the main character can get his son back - it seems very little of the plot is actually focused on actually doing anything about the aliens.



But then again theres always another Fetch quest that the characters need to do so they can even contemplate their next move, mark my words, episode 6 will have something like this "We need X to do Y then we'll do it" Not to mention, that the Aliens have absolutely zero personality, Sure they are different to regular Sci-Fi aliens but its hard to feel anything but "meh" when your main enemy is so 2 dimensional - basically just monsters that attack with energy weapons now and then. The most interesting thing that happened in the whole series so far was when the Bandits in episode 2 kidnapped the other characters, really shouldn't I feel more threatened by the Aliens?



In short, there are much more exciting Sci-Fi shows that actually feel like Science Fiction shows, this one feels like a glorified soap opera with a tiny bit of Aliens in it.



Watch only if you have absolutely nothing better to do.

An alien race has wiped out large chunks of mankind, and the survivors cope with this extremely traumatizing event by becoming the worst one dimensional clichés they could possible be. Luckily the alien race that was competent enough to destroy us when we were at our strongest has an extreme sense of fair play and thus decided to collectively lobotomise their entire race. So that's convenient.



I was hoping for a dark tale of the twilight of the human race as our knowledge slowly slips through our fingers and our chances of ever reclaiming our planet become a far away dream which we still cling to with a hysterical fanaticism, because it's all that stands between us and mental collapse.



Instead I got a bunch of one-liners thrown around by wannabe cowboys. A military leader that has the mindset of cardboard Vietnam vet. A civilian leader who is the 'wise and noble' counterpart to the vet who also teaches snippets of history in between battles. Naturally his extensive knowledge of battles fought by the ancient Greeks gives him the experience to become second in command. Plus the seeds of what I can already see will later become overblown relationships issues. Seriously, what the hell?



At the end of the pilot I was actively rooting for the aliens. I refuse to have those people repopulate the Earth. The only reason I gave it a 5.5 was because I only saw the pilot, but the thought of watching more of this causes me pain so Falling Skies lucked out there.

Seven episodes already. And seven episodes of cliches, of talks, of bad acting.

This alien species is supposed to have wiped out most of humanity. They are supposed to be good at what they do. And this show should be about survival: I mean, real survival. But no, people just walk in the middle of the road, they just talk like everything is normal, they walk at low paste. What about the skitters: we see only one or two per episode, like the meks. Don't they have communication ? Without communication, how can they manage to wipe out a whole population ?

One skitter and one mek attack the school. They are supposed to be coming to wipe them out ? Why only one of each brand ? They have flying aircrafts, why not using it ?

About the non sense. You meet a guy, who is alone, and he says: when the skitters attack, you want your children away: so i'll take them with me. And hop, all kids leave with the guy, nobody stops that. Is that really believable ? Who would do something stupid like that ?

The paste is slow. Since the beginning of the show, I have to say that I'm bored (this is of course personal). There is some action, but hey, all that talking, walking around, supposed emotional moments at the end of each episode. These supposedly emotional moments are a lot of crap. Talking in Games of Thrones serves a purpose. Here, it's looks like filling moments, to go for the 45 minutes show. About the acting: well, most actors are good. But the filming is bad: I can't get really into the story because of that.

I'm andry about this TV show, because the potential is so huge. Of course, I would do much worse, but this is not my job. I still give it a go until the end if this first season, but I doubt I'll go for season 2: will they be able to change things during these last 2 episodes ? Doubt it ...

I started watching this show a few days ago. So far I am at episoded 6. The aliens in this show are really well done. They have a lot of detail. I think the acting is fine. The characters are interesting enough. Each episode has gotten progressively better. I am really hoping they will renew this for a 2nd season.