Falling Skies Preview

[Mr. A]

If that is right (bolded), then it might be interesting. But if it immediately starts coupling up characters and starting love triangles we will see it right from the start. The tinkling piano and an alien invasion dont seem to indicate good things to come...

That piano and the violin starting were always my cue to fast-forward on SGU

 

[Rac80]

I really have high hopes for Falling Skies, will watch the first few ep's see how it turns out. If it goes the road of soap-fi then i'm done.

SOAP-FI!

Because it worked so well for Caprica & SGU... View attachment 4299

Yep down with soap-fi or a space-soap, space opera...or whatever you choose to call the dreck!

I fear this is the case. The first episode or so will be rife with spectacular CGI "wow"s but then it will devolve into a drama fest. There will be lots of naval gazing and cathartic moments between characters as they plod thru action-less episode after action-less episode.

And did they say in the clip that the aliens were there for the children??? Huh??? You're kidding, right? They want the brats of planet Earth? Fine, here ya go. No need to blow up the planet to get 'em. Geez.

LUNCH!!! a replay of we eat humans like V? I hope it's more than a cgi filled premeiere then a greenscreen soap after that!

I'm hopeful the showrunners did their homework, saw that soap-fi is unpopular with fans. They wrote the characters that will unite and overcome their petty differences and selfishness, the drama comes from the aliens, how to overcome them, not the alien invasion just being the back drop.

one can only hope...but then this is the so-called "enetrtainment inustry" that brought us the genius :frolleyes: of sgu and caprica!

That piano and the violin starting were always my cue to fast-forward on SGU

Ditto here too! hated the violins screeching in sgu!

 

[YoshiKart64]

Well I loved Caprica and SGU (well liked...I mean I love my cat (so cute!) so thats a bit extreme for SGU. Caprica was pretty unique though...ok going off track in brackets here) so if it's like them I should be ok.

Ironically I thought the show looked a bit naff from what I've seen.

 

[heisenberg]

Falling Skies' alien show that doesn't use gore to grab you

It isn't a stretch to say that plenty of TV shows and films have been released in the past two or three years depicting the "what ifs?" associated with alien life parking ships over major cities.
Everything from "V" to "District 9," "Battle: Los Angeles" and "Skyline" have shared similar stories of various encounters with aliens and motherships.

TNT is raising the bar on the genre with "Falling Skies," a post-apocalyptic, alien-invasion series that shows what life might be like after mankind is shown the door by creatures from space.
While a lot of the aforementioned shows have used much screen time to build up to attack, "Falling Skies" begins after the world has fallen to the alien invaders.

"It's sort of atypical storytelling in the sense that we don't start with everyday life going on as usual and then suddenly, everybody's eyes turn to the heavens as they say, 'What's that coming in towards our planet?'" said the show's star, Noah Wyle, in an interview with the Tribune.

"We pick up six months into what has been a devastating alien invasion and meet our characters already in a pretty high state of disarray, which is kind of exciting storytelling," he continued.

Wyle, who is recognized for playing Dr. Carter on the NBC series "ER" for many seasons, plays Tom Mason, a man protecting his sons while also serving as a leader in a group of rag-tag resistance fighters.
Being a post-apocalyptic story, the sets consisted of abandoned buildings and entire blocks of broken cars and burned out businesses. To pull off the illusion, the actors had to mentally put themselves in a world devoid of humanity.

"Sometimes the subject matter is heavy and there's lots of depth and weight and you have to be hungry and scared and you've lost your family," said co-star Moon Bloodgood, who plays the makeshift doctor, Anne Glass. "I looked into myself and my own pain and tried to use that as a cathartic thing when I was doing the role."


"From my own preparation, nothing could be more isolating than pulling a guy away from his family and sequestering him and throwing him into Ontario for five months," joked Wyle of the filming experience. "That's the tongue-in-cheek answer.


"The straight answer is, we watched a lot of movies, we read a lot of books, we passed stuff around from trailer to trailer trying to get everybody on the same page," he said. "We were all playing relatively the same stakes but individualizing them."

Read the rest below...

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20110617/LIFESTYLE/106170325/-Falling-Skies-alien-show-doesn-t-use-gore-grab-you?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Frontpage|s

 

[heisenberg]

'Falling Skies' First review: Intriguing TNT sci-fi

Science fiction series. Two-hour premiere 9 p.m. Sun., continuing thereafter at 10 p.m. Sun. on TNT. What would prompt a TV network to launch another series about aliens conquering the Earth in the wake of the demise of both "The Event" on NBC and "V" on ABC?
If you're TNT, the answer just might be attaching Steven Spielberg's name to the project, which is the case with the highly anticipated "Falling Skies," a series bowing on Sunday night.
......


"Falling Skies" may not hold a candle to J.J. Abrams' "Super 8," also produced by Spielberg, but it's better than either "V" or "The Event." The show's regular slot of 10 p.m. Sundays may be a problem going forward, but "Skies" has enough going for it to appeal even to those who don't think they like sci-fi.

Better than V eh...?Err....that last bold statement isn't very promising FAIL!


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/16/DDBS1JREUR.DTL

 

[Mr. A]

Sundays may be a problem going forward, but "Skies" has enough going for it to appeal even to those who don't think they like sci-fi.

Better than V eh...?Err....that last bold statement isn't very promising FAIL!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/16/DDBS1JREUR.DTL

Indeed. That is a dead give away for trouble - something else disguised as sci-fi...
Fans that think they don't like sci-fi... usually don't like sci-fi.

 

[shavedape]

Sundays may be a problem going forward, but "Skies" has enough going for it to appeal even to those who don't think they like sci-fi.

Like what? Courtroom drama? Hospital/doctor drama? Teenagers in high school drama???

Harbingers -- this is what one looks like.

 

[YoshiKart64]

Falling Skies has always been a survival drama since it was pitched. The show is about how the humans are banding together way after the initial invasion - why are people surprised at what it's turning out to be?

 

[shavedape]

Falling Skies has always been a survival drama since it was pitched. The show is about how the humans are banding together way after the initial invasion - why are people surprised at what it's turning out to be?

Because people aren't privy to all the details up front. Only a small amount of people are "geek" enough to glean every minute detail of a proposed TV show ahead of time. The rest of us are usually too busy making ends meet to do more than a cursory check of what the genre of a new show is. Since it's about an "alien invasion" that pretty much denotes sci-fi, at least enough for the average viewer to expect it to be in that genre.

Now, the concept of "alien invasion" is well established as being action/adventure so it's understandable for people to raise an eyebrow when quotes like the one being discussed today are stated. I, like many people, will tune into "Falling Skies" to see some cool ass sci-fi story telling. And I, like many people, will tune out if it turns out to be a melodramatic crapfest with sci-fi window dressing. The quote implies it might just be the latter.

BTW, is that the new term used to describe overwrought, melodramatic, teen-angst pity parties with sci-fi/supernatural window dressing these days -- "survival dramas"? :roll:

 

[heisenberg]

I was so looking forward to this show. After I heard the dreaded news that there won't another stargate movie/series, I actually thought there is at least falling skies to fall back on.

Now I am reading all this crap on how it's a serialized drama, has made me lose all hope for this show. I'll still give the premiere a go. However, I am not liking what I've read so far...

NOT nerdy = bad idea.

In order to be a science fiction show there needs to be a lot of plausible science. That's one of the essences of a science fiction show. Science fiction is targeted towards nerds and geeks for this very reason because they love hearing the techno babble.



To the writers out there, please don't try to please everyone because you simple cannot. Pick a target audience and stick to it....By broadening your marketshare or trying to please everyone, the story that you are trying to tell will lose it's core focus and therefore dumbing down the product.I want the hardcore science fiction back...That's ALL I care about.I've noticed this with everything I look.

 

[Rac80]

Giving it a chance here!

Ok we have been very curious about Falling Skies here- we love scifi and it is set in Boston....hubby grew up in the burbs there (per usual the show is shot in Toronto...but the names of the towns and there various historical locales will be fun to see how they replicate.)so we decided to watch the promotional materials ON DEMAND with a cable box. I have now seen about 40 minutes of the actual eps and I can tell you that it won't be angsty teenage drama- shakey cam is only used for a few scenes- battle scenes mostly, no music montages that I could see, and no teenage romances- the only romance I saw any indication of was Noah Wylie and the pediatrician and that was merely a goodbye kiss. There is an underlying mystery about why (lunch I am sure) and how (some sort of harness) the aliens want teenagers. Personally they are welcome to moody, hormonal, middle teens!
I saw a few familiar faces besides Wylie's. Will Patton from Remember the Titans (coach yoast) and Armegeddon; Dale Dye - a REAL retired Marine Captain who trains actors to portray soldiers and is often a technical advisor and actor in military films. he plays the military head/advisor to the surving humans. So unlike sgu there will be military advisors on the show! and for us stargate fans there is a nearly unrecognizable Colin Cunningham (Marjor Davis) as an ex-con who is definitely not out to save mankind- he only wants what's best for him. the characters seem to have more depth and less mental illness (Colin cunningham's character aside ) than we saw on either sgu or caprica. I have high hopes for this series and will watch the premiere to see if it gives good value. the name of spielberg as a producer gives me hope as well. I have enjoyed seaquest and amazing stories as well as a number of movies that he produced. So all in all I am giving it a chance and will tell you what I think after I watch the show.

 

[Stonelesscutter]

So the kick-off is tomorrow.
I'll give it a try.

 

[EvilSpaceAlien]

Why Falling Skies breaks the mold of alien invasion shows

We've had a lot of unscrupulous aliens coming to our planet on television lately, but Falling Skies isn't just another mystery-alien show along the lines of V or The Event. Instead, Steven Spielberg's new show is a whole different phenomenon.
We interviewed showrunner Mark Verheiden and actors Moon Bloodgood, Drew Roy and Maxim Knight about what to expect from Falling Skies, which debuts this Sunday on TNT. And they told us how Falling Skies is different than your average alien invasion show.
Spoilers ahead!

The situation in Falling Skies is even more hopeless than in other shows.
When Falling Skies begins, it's been six whole months since the aliens attacked, and the human race is all but defeated. "To me, what was interesting was starting six months after the initial shock and awe of the alien invasion," says Verheiden. "We've been hanging by our fingernails. Is that our life now?"

In fact, our main character Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) often seems to be the only person who believes that the humans can win against the aliens, says Verheiden. Other people think that Tom is kidding himself, but Verheiden says:

I don't think he's delusional, so much as a man who, since he has three kids, has to hang on to the idea that somehow we're going to be able to get our planet back. We're going to find a way to get these guys off our planet.
​

And the Resistance, of which Tom is a member, starts out "outgunned," but they start learning about the aliens over the course of the first season, says Verheiden. Speaking of which...

These aliens are frakking creepy
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I asked Verheiden if some of the scenes involving the aliens were intended to be as disturbing and squicky as they came across, and he said it's definitely intentional. There's one scene in a hospital, in particular, that will make your skin crawl. "It's creepy, and that was a part of the design of the show, as created by Spielberg and [Saving Private Ryan writer] Bob Rodat," says Verheiden. The "Skitters" are actually puppets, says actor Maxim Knight, who plays Tom Mason's youngest son Matt. But even when you know they're puppets, when they start moving, "it looks so life-like and you get the feeling they're going to jump out and grab you."
The aliens' disturbing habits are intended to "touch a core of human phobia," particularly around children, says Verheiden. Without giving too much away, the aliens seem to have very special plans for our kids. As Verheiden says: "You see movies where entire armies are wiped out... but when they come for our kids..."

The family dynamics are really complicated and intense

The Mason family goes through a lot in the first season of Falling Skies, and throughout it all, Tom Mason is trying to protect his kids. And he faces a dilemma: Does he let them have a childhood, as much as possible, or does he teach them to fight and defend themselves from early on? "I really want to go out and fight," says Knight of his character Matt. "But my dad wants to keep me protected."
One of the big conflicts early on comes from the fact that Tom's second son, Ben, has been taken prisoner by the aliens. And even as the Masons are trying to get Ben back, we find out that Ben didn't get along with the oldest son, Hal, at all. Drew Roy, who plays Hal, says that was a really great thing to see in the script, and it dovetailed with his own ideas about these characters:

You know how siblings are. They'll bicker all day long and pick on each other... the aliens have come into my life, Hal's life, and taken Ben away from me, and [it's like] I have permission to pick on him and nobody else.
​

So Hal swears an oath that he's going to get his brother back, no matter what.
Part of the conflict between Hal and Ben comes from the fact that Ben takes after their father, Tom — who's more of an intellectual who thinks things through. Hal, meanwhile, leads with his heart and is more impulsive. Meanwhile, the show starts with Hal and his dad not seeing eye to eye, but they grow closer and learn to understand each other more over the course of the show, says Roy. You'll see Hal having to step into Tom's shoes and be the one who has to weigh the options and make the tough decisions.

There's more to these aliens than meets the eye
By the end of season one, we'll have learned a bit more about the aliens and what they want with our children. We'll realize "they're not just the one-note horde of invaders that we originally thought," says Verheiden.
And we may also have more of a sense of why the aliens didn't just nuke us from orbit, says Verheiden. There are good strategic reasons why just nuking the planet didn't make sense for these aliens, and why they wanted to leave some of our infrastructure intact.
But we won't have all the answers about the aliens by the end of season one, and the season does end with a cliffhanger, says Verheiden.

There are women who aren't just your typical action chicks

Moon Bloodgood, who's no stranger to playing tough chicks in movies like Terminator Salvation, is really excited about her character, Dr. Anne Glass. Not that Anne doesn't get to be tough — she does — but she's not just a one-dimensional character. Anne is a compassionate doctor who never becomes "that stereotypical female action role. If they tried to change her into that, I would be really bummed. But they didn't."
Full size

In fact Anne is opposed to violence, but she has to embrace violence to survive, says Bloodgood. When you finally see Anne pick up a gun and learn to shoot it, it means a lot more. "She has been hurt, and now she has to become violent to protect herself," says Bloodgood. "When she picks up the gun, she's never comfortable with it. She's always conflicted." Bloodgood's character also has to take some pretty drastic actions to help in the fight against the aliens, and she struggles with that. And Anne and Tom have a kind of romance, but it's mostly based on them being confidantes and friends, who share a grown-up relationship. Although — spoiler alert — they do kiss in the season finale, says Bloodgood.
There are other female characters in the show who are more resistance fighters than Caretakers — like Sarah, who is a super-tough fighter who deals with the trauma of having been raped and is "damaged." Bloodgood says she loves Sarah's character, but is also glad their characters are different.

And there's at least one seriously dark, messed up character

After watching the first seven hours of Falling Skies, I had to ask Verheiden about the character of Pope, the vicious outlaw leader whom you meet in the second of the two episodes airing Sunday. He's kind of an intense character, and it's not at all clear if we're supposed to like him or not. Verheiden says we'll never see Pope "go to that soft place," and it's clear he's a selfish man with a criminal past. He adds:

There is a core of hardness to him that would be difficult to peel away. He is a man who is forced to confront the fact that we're hanging on by our fingernails. On his own, he hasn't got much of a chance. The question for Pope is probably more, "Does he become a joiner?" Much as that fights against every instinct in his body.
​

But it's not as dark as Battlestar Galactica

Verheiden was also a producer on the Battlestar Galactica reboot, and he says Falling Skies is not bleak in the same way. The situation in BSG is "much more dire," and it's a much more militaristic show. A major theme in Falling Skies is that "the human spirit can triumph over the odds." Our characters, especially Tom and Anne, are struggling to preserve some of the lives they used to have. Verheiden admits that when he started on Falling Skies, he worried the shows would be too similar — but then he realized it wasn't true at all.
Says Roy:

Before I shot the series, I was really forced to read about POWs, and all of these horrible accounts. In all of these horrible conditions they would be put in, they would still find joy, or try to, and they would play games and stuff... During the series, we don't go to this place of whining. Life is going to go on. [So there's a] scene where Tom and Matt throw a lacrosse ball, and I'm out flirting with a girl... Just because things are bad, doesn't mean you have to stew.
​

And Verheiden says:

I love the optimistic tone [of Falling Skies.] I will bow to no one in my love for Battlestar Galactica. But it's nice to do a change-up where the tone is optimistic and hopeful.
​

Falling Skies debuts on Sunday at 9 PM on TNT.

http://io9.com/5812883/why-falling-skies-breaks-the-mold-of-alien-invasion-shows

 

[Overmind One]

Why Falling Skies breaks the mold of alien invasion shows
http://io9.com/5812883/why-falling-skies-breaks-the-mold-of-alien-invasion-shows

This show is gonna suck.

 

[EvilSpaceAlien]

This show is gonna suck.

How so?

 

[shavedape]

Facepalm worthy before it's even aired

This show is gonna suck.

I'm starting to think that might be the case.

Crap like this only confirms my suspicions:

...There are other female characters in the show who are more resistance fighters than Caretakers — like Sarah, who is a super-tough fighter who deals with the trauma of having been raped and is "damaged."...

:roll: There isn't an 'eye roll' emoticon big enough for this one, sigh. "Damaged"? Please, just please. Gosh, do you think "Sarah" will have a run-in or two with resident bad guy "Pope"???

...Pope, the vicious outlaw leader whom you meet in the second of the two episodes airing Sunday. He's kind of an intense character, and it's not at all clear if we're supposed to like him or not. Verheiden says we'll never see Pope "go to that soft place," and it's clear he's a selfish man with a criminal past. He adds: There is a core of hardness to him that would be difficult to peel away. He is a man who is forced to confront the fact that we're hanging on by our fingernails. On his own, he hasn't got much of a chance. The question for Pope is probably more, "Does he become a joiner?" Much as that fights against every instinct in his body...

:roll::roll::roll:

 

[Overmind One]

Its gonna suck...its easy to see that already.

How so?

Easy to see...

These are the characters: A male horndog, a female vixen, the young boy who is looking for a role model, and the older boy who is becoming a man. YAWN.



Here are the aliens, who, because of constraints on the amount of money spent on CGI will not be seen much. We will see them occasionally, and there will be sounds of them in the background chasing them, or doing stuff, but we wont actually SEE them much. Watch and mark my words.

They use lots of redshirts, evidently. These people will get killed by the dozens during the show, and every now and then we will get to know them. But they will come in and out like the Lucien Alliance did in Stargate Universe.

The Mason family goes through a lot in the first season of Falling Skies, and throughout it all, Tom Mason is trying to protect his kids. And he faces a dilemma: Does he let them have a childhood, as much as possible, or does he teach them to fight and defend themselves from early on? "I really want to go out and fight," says Knight of his character Matt. "But my dad wants to keep me protected."

One of the big conflicts early on comes from the fact that Tom's second son, Ben, has been taken prisoner by the aliens. And even as the Masons are trying to get Ben back, we find out that Ben didn't get along with the oldest son, Hal, at all.

Yaaaawn. I dont want to know about the Mason Family. I want to know about the aliens which attacked earth, and where they came from and what they want. This show is going to explore the struggles of the Mason family in a time of uncertainty. Its the same formula as SGU except that the characters are stranded on an earth over which they have no control. Didnt they do the son kidnapped by aliens thing on the original V? And why does the premise of this show remind me of a rehashed take on Swiss Family Robinson?

Moon Bloodgood, who's no stranger to playing tough chicks in movies like Terminator Salvation, is really excited about her character, Dr. Anne Glass. Not that Anne doesn't get to be tough — she does — but she's not just a one-dimensional character. Anne is a compassionate doctor who never becomes "that stereotypical female action role. If they tried to change her into that, I would be really bummed. But they didn't."

Yaaaawn. Its the Falling Skies version of TJ with some uselessness of Chloe thrown in. For previews of where that will go, seek no further than the photo below, which obviously shows that there will be a romantic entanglement between the main male star and this hot chick. Great for soap-fi, bad for sci-fi. This is the same formula they have been using on the failed SGU/Caprica/NuBSG. Therefore it will fail.

There are other female characters in the show who are more resistance fighters than Caretakers — like Sarah, who is a super-tough fighter who deals with the trauma of having been raped and is "damaged." Bloodgood says she loves Sarah's character, but is also glad their characters are different.

Damaged, flawed, what's the difference? The result is some neurotic character who has issues. YAAAAWN. Where are the aliens?

And this photo is VERY telling. What is it with these people? They "need" a greasy, "longhair psycho who is unpredictable but brilliant" in EVERY one of these sorry-assed shows? Hiya Rush! Wait...that isnt Rush is it? Might as well be....



And last, this crazy babe with the gun...YAAAWN. She looks like a blonde Chloe.



This show is gonna suck from the very first episode and it will be panned by critics as being derivative and slow. Watch and see.

 

[Mr. A]

The Mason family goes through a lot in the first season of Falling Skies, and throughout it all, Tom Mason is trying to protect his kids. And he faces a dilemma: Does he let them have a childhood, as much as possible, or does he teach them to fight and defend themselves from early on? "I really want to go out and fight," says Knight of his character Matt. "But my dad wants to keep me protected."

One of the big conflicts early on comes from the fact that Tom's second son, Ben, has been taken prisoner by the aliens. And even as the Masons are trying to get Ben back, we find out that Ben didn't get along with the oldest son, Hal, at all.

Yaaaawn. I dont want to know about the Mason Family. I want to know about the aliens which attacked earth, and where they came from and what they want. This show is going to explore the struggles of the Mason family in a time of uncertainty. Its the same formula as SGU except that the characters are stranded on an earth over which they have no control.

I think this is by far your strongest point, OM1! :beckettu:

The rest, I'll give the benefit of the doubt. I still won't watch it so soon, though (see my reasons in that recent thread about serialized sci-fi).

 

[shavedape]

And this photo is VERY telling. What is it with these people? They "need" a greasy, "longhair psycho who is unpredictable but brilliant" in EVERY one of these sorry-assed shows? Hiya Rush! Wait...that isnt Rush is it? Might as well be....

Yes, but the greasy-long-haired bad guy will surprise us in one episode when he miraculously saves the day! Does he do it because he's really good at heart or did he have some other, more selfish and sinister motive??? :roll: YAAAAAWWWWWWWWWNNNNNN is right.

I'd be glad to be proven wrong here, really I would, but I think it's a safe bet that we're on the right track.

 

[Overmind One]

Yes, but the greasy-long-haired bad guy will surprise us in one episode when he miraculously saves the day! Does he do it because he's really good at heart or did he have some other, more selfish and sinister motive??? :roll: YAAAAAWWWWWWWWWNNNNNN is right.

I'd be glad to be proven wrong here, really I would, but I think it's a safe bet that we're on the right track.

This show looks like it was conceived when SGU was just starting out, and came to market late...when there was no market. There is nothing new or fresh about this show or its premise, and I would feel very surprised if we were wrong on this. I bet somebody was looking over at SGU thinking it was going to be a success, then copied concepts from it. Sorta like Brad Wright glanced over at the BSG camp and wanted to be like them despite the fact that BSG never really got great ratings. Maybe the writers swallowed all that shilled-up praise that the SGU shills were posting last year? I give this dreck a single season and then POOF.