Falling Skies on TNT - possible spoilers

So, anyone else watch the pilot last night? I watched it last night, after never reading the Dark Horse graphic novel, and I enjoyed it.

If you are going to talk about spoilers, please put a spoiler tag on it:)

Oh crap! I wanted to watch this, with The Killing ending, I have some schedule room for good TV, and I totally forgot to set up the DVR for the premeire. What was your take on it?

Acting seemed pretty solid(y.m.m.v), but it seemed like they were rushing through the plotline. Granted I have never read the graphic novel, so can't comment on how close to the story they were.

I don't have cable, but I'm interested in this series. Has anyone heard if it's going to be available to watch online (delayed episodes, etc.) ?

Have not seen or heard anything on it yet online. TNTs site and the official site for the show do not list the episodes as being available to watch as of yet, though only the pilot has aired so far.

Both the wife and I were looking forward to this, and we were both unimpressed. After 30-40 minutes she wandered off and started reading while I started dicking around with iPhone games. I continued passively watching, but replaying the same Angry Birds level over and over trying to get three stars was more compelling than what the show was offering.

It's not BAD, per se, just bland.

I don't know, I enjoyed it. It has potential and I was surprised by how much action there was. For whatever reason it gives me this Space Above and Beyond vibe, even though the two series have nothing in common. Well almost nothing. There is the whole, aliens attacking humans and we know nothing about them plot device.

Definitely going to keep watching it for now. I hope it gets better, but it's pretty interesting none the less.

Falling Skies is basically The Walking Dead with Aliens instead of Zombies. I don't know if there will be room for both shows. They both deal with people trying to survive in a post apocalyptic world. You get characters who are noble. You get characters that use the event to commit immoral/illegal acts. You get the guy that does things because they think it is for the greater good but really he is just a jerk.

I guess the only saving grace is that The Walking Dead isn't starting until the fall so maybe when one is done, the next will start.

This weeks episode had the worst background music. I hope they can get their act together because I don't know how much longer I can stand it. The show has such great potential!

It does, but ever after watching that episode I'm starting to lose interest. Ok, its based more around the family, but even the action seens seemed kinda blah.

I can't put my finger on it, but the story just seems so formula that I actually get a sense of deja vu. More sci-fi on TV is always good so I'm going to continue to watch and see if it picks up.

I just saw what I think is the season finale, and I have to say the ending was pretty cool, very eerie, and a hell of a cliffhanger. If they come back for another season and they can manage to improve, even more, on what they already have. The show could turn out to be really good. Which will than of course lead to it's cancellation.

So how many times is it now that Pope's left the group?

Anyone catch this past episode? Was it just me or was this just way better then anything else before it.

I loved the way they did the standoff between the front line of the hospital and Mechs. Great use of lighting to make it seem both overwhelming and ominous. I really enjoyed some of the father son scenes as well.

Here's hoping they can keep improving on the show, because I would hate for them to backslide after that big a leap forward in quality.

No sooner do I post this, I find this great review of the episode which is hilarious, and oh so true! It is spoiler ridden so watch the episode first.

I still really enjoyed the episode!

I watched the 1st season, but all that great hair, well fed, clean hollywood white folk silliness annoyed me. The sexual chemistry between the hot doc and bland as bland can be lead guy was non existent - i literally thought they were an old married couple until the 3rd episode.
should i bother with the 2nd season ?

Gaald wrote:

No sooner do I post this, I find this great review of the episode which is hilarious, and oh so true!

Aww, I liked Jamil a heck of a lot!

I did really like this episode though, although I agree with all of the flaws the review pointed out (except for Jamil). We'll see how they lampshade some of the stuff, especially the spiders. Maybe they are wild animals that the aliens can't actually control, so they only use them in very contained settings where they can be contained and gotten rid of afterwards.

Of course there is also the fact that with the Overlord captured the stakes for the aliens were higher than they've ever been. Makes sense that any tricks they have up their sleeves would come out for this.

Just watched the last episode off my DVR. Glad I stuck with the show. Not perfect, by any means, but the pace with which they're adding new plot developments works for me. Things could shape up to be very interesting down the stretch since it looks like the ratings are probably going to be good enough for TNT to go the planned 5 seasons.

Yeah I am really enjoying the series right now. It's not brilliant, and sometimes pretty melodramatic, but it's been fun this season.

Um, so the finale was OK. Decent cliffhanger and it's good that the plot is moving forward.

But really, how many times have we seen the boneheaded, bloodthirsty general character or the smarmy civilian leader character who's willing to break his principles to hold onto power?

And the two final episodes probably should have been drawn out to at least 3-4. I mean it seemed like the guest characters were abruptly going from sympathetic to total jerks and back within the space of a few minutes. And I lost track of how many times people were being locked up then let go only to have someone else locked up then broken out and so on.

Amazon has this on instant watch. I'm up to Season 2, Episode 4.

It keeps pulling me back, though I don't think I'd argue that it's great. It sort of feels like something made fifteen years ago, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I was rather impressed that they gave the ol' dirt nap to one of the whippersnappers; it's not that I *want* to see little smurgesons get the short end of the stick, but it's nice to know there's not an invisible protection bubble around them.

gewy wrote:

Um, so the finale was OK. Decent cliffhanger and it's good that the plot is moving forward.

But really, how many times have we seen the boneheaded, bloodthirsty general character or the smarmy civilian leader character who's willing to break his principles to hold onto power?

And the two final episodes probably should have been drawn out to at least 3-4. I mean it seemed like the guest characters were abruptly going from sympathetic to total jerks and back within the space of a few minutes. And I lost track of how many times people were being locked up then let go only to have someone else locked up then broken out and so on.

I would agree with your thoughts. I hope next season they can expand to a few different story lines.

I would be shocked if this show ever did anything innovative and ground breaking with character development and story, it's just not that kind of series, but I am fine with that.

I thought the season finale was a little bland, just like last year. That is of course until right at the end and I was excited all over again, which is exactly how I felt about last years season finale. Can't wait to see what they do.

I was expecting a further sup-blot where Majority Leader guy was secretly in cahoots with the aliens.

Oh yeah. The highlight for me was when Pope told off the Majority Leader guy instead of giving up the dirt on Dr. Carter (aka Mason). I actually think that Pope is my favorite character.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

I was expecting a further sup-blot where Majority Leader guy was secretly in cahoots with the aliens.

Yeah, his actions really seemed to be that sort of shady. I was continuously expecting to find out that Charleston was the human reserve the fishhead was telling Tom about on the spaceship.

Overall I liked the finale, but there were a handful of really annoying actions that didn't make sense. If I was Tom:

General: Yes, I agree, it's always important to attack targets of oppurtunity.
Tom: Please don't murder the skitter rebellion.
General: Why do you think I'm going to do that?
Tom: Seriously? It was just as obvious before Yonder italicized where you stressed that sentence.
General: Ok fine, but why not? The skitters are the enemy!
Tom: These skitters are enemies of the enemies, aka our friends.
General: How do you know that?
Tom: Listen to that... It's the sound of a hundred bombers not blowing the ever-loving sh*t out of what is probably the last concentration of armed humans within 2000 miles.
General: Oh, you mean because these guys came here, so they know where we are, so they could bring in the bombers to drop the bombs.
Tom: Yes.
General: Wow! You're really good at this war stuff aren't you?!
Tom: Be honest with me, you worked at a dry cleaners next to a military base before the aliens attacked didn't you.

I have a question for the folks who've stuck with the show: is it worth getting into?

I'm asking because I've never seen it, want a little scifi fix, and the Season 1 DVDs are sitting in my Nexflix queue. Is it good enough to invest the time in or is Season 2 turning into a stinker?

OG_slinger wrote:

I have a question for the folks who've stuck with the show: is it worth getting into?

I'm asking because I've never seen it, want a little scifi fix, and the Season 1 DVDs are sitting in my Nexflix queue. Is it good enough to invest the time in or is Season 2 turning into a stinker?

It's not a stinker, it's just mediocre.

Look at it this way, it's roughly infinite times better than any other scifi space alien television series going on right now.

Yonder wrote:

Look at it this way, it's roughly infinite times better than any other scifi space alien television series going on right now.

Thanks!

So season 3 premiere.

I was disappointed they wrapped up the cliffhanger by jumping forward 7 months. What a waste of a great entrance at the end of last year.

Seems like they are introducing a new character or two for this year. I wonder how many people recognized the power plant guy as the Cancer doctor and friend of House, on House. It took me quiet a while to recognize him. His voice was familiar right away but I couldn't place it for several minutes.

As per usual there was a lot of action in the season premiere, which I assume will not be the norm. Here's hoping for a less mediocre season.

Just started season 1. Somehow I missed this but seen a ad on youtube for it a few days ago. Seems ok so far. Luckily all the hot women made it to the resistance as usual.

Gaald wrote:

So season 3 premiere.

I was disappointed they wrapped up the cliffhanger by jumping forward 7 months. What a waste of a great entrance at the end of last year.

Seems like they are introducing a new character or two for this year. I wonder how many people recognized the power plant guy as the Cancer doctor and friend of House, on House. It took me quiet a while to recognize him. His voice was familiar right away but I couldn't place it for several minutes.

As per usual there was a lot of action in the season premiere, which I assume will not be the norm. Here's hoping for a less mediocre season.

Yeah, but didn't they jump ahead between season 1 and 2 as well? They skipped over all the time when Tom was being held by the aliens.

I went through the exact same realization process for power plant guy. Recognized his voice first, couldn't quite place him, then realized he was Wilson from House when he made some hand movements and I recognized the mannerisms.