Falling Skies: Season 1

In the new tradition of an old story, Aliens come to Earth, blow us all to hell and steal our kids while wiping out adults and remaining vestiges of civilization. The story starts in Boston, which fell easily to the Aliens, as it turns out, just one of hundreds of such cases throughout North America and the world.In continual callbacks to the US Revolutionary tale and spirit, leading man Noah Wylie is the "civilian" leader of the 2d Militia of Massachusetts, originally HQ'd in Cambridge (across the river from Boston) and constantly on the move further and further, being chased by the Aliens, a sort of buglike creature about 300 pounds or so, and their attack 'bots and flyers. He is, predictably, the formerly nebbish college history professor who has become a considered and effective guerrilla and has built real cache in respect and authority in the community of 300.This "2d Mass" force has a few military, including the de facto leader, an Army Captain with tons of emotional baggage (and more), who is another caricature, gruff, growly, order-barking and distrustful. Throw in the usual mix of rag-tag, self-interested and selfless types, a continual dire need for supplies and food AND being chased by the baddies and you have a decent, if not familiar, story to bloom.There are kids, weirdos, crises, including ambushes and people encountered while they are on the run that present short episodic arcs. There is also the required romantic arc that is very slow to develop as the backstories of many characters do get told to varying degrees. A number of the usual devices to do this are used, like flashbacks, a couple of "asides" and some conversations by other parties.There are quite a few well-known and talented actors on board, and, for the most part, they all deliver, within their largely archetype roles, competent to occasionally good performances, even the kids.It ain't easy trying to save America and this series, which I'm into the 3d season at this time, shows that you don't need big special effects in every shot or single use sets (lots of location shooting to look like Boston, Cambridge, Lexington, Fitchburg and more as they leave the Comm. of MA on the run) that doesn't look "right" to a resident (I am a longtime Boston/Cambridge resident), but it's fun to see a story start where I live. A nice aspect of this is that it's a SF story that isn't only about the SF. It's a story about humans, the will to survive and how to achieve that.Yes, there are some telegraphed moments, which is a shame, though nothing like some other series do, leading people by the hand. There are a few genuine surprises and this show leaves nobody free from being at grave peril, including top supporting roles who perish. This IS war, after all.This is "V", but it's not "V". It's "The Day of the Triffids," but it's not. In some ways, it's also like "Battlestar Gallactica," but it's not. There are the usual "OMG" moments and a couple that are more subtle. There are strong female characters, including potent fighters, interpersonal relationships to explore, a few historical lessons, family dynamics (brothers will be brothers), some pretty substantial "that blowed up REAL good!" moments, some gnarly urban (often) battle scenes which are sometimes very bloody, squeamish folks be warned, and not much letup of impending dread even between enemy engagements.I think that Steven Spielberg, as director and a producer, has put together a SF series on a budget that relies less on hokey special effects and more on practical real effects when possible that is entertaining, has evolving story arcs of various lengths and has enough reveal and concealed moments that it can string you along. There are a couple of two-parters I've encountered so far. Season enders are cliff-hangers, too.I'm binge watching this, and it holds up pretty well on that basis. I can't attest to how it would have done as a weekly, but that's not yet a concern as it's still 2015/S4. For a free Amazon Prime series, a pickup from TNT, this is a winner in that it's not crap and is enjoyable, despite how tragic some of it is. S4 will be fun when it get here!I'd suggest this is NOT appropriate for preteens. It is a bit to vivid and mature. Some adult concepts as are part of war and relationships are discussed or shown. There is only very rare coarse language of note.It bears mention that the violence is sometimes extremely gory. While human wounds are not as vivid as what we regularly see on primetime police or medical procedurals on broadcast networks, there is gore-galore when showing the aliens finally getting their butts kicked in limited but increasing battle successes.It's a fun show. It's not the masterpiece that Bab 5 was, but it's worth your time. I'd give it 3-1/2 STARS if the rating system here was that granular, or 7 out of 10. But I think you're better off trying it for at least a couple episodes (the opener is a two-parter) and deciding for yourself rather than passing on it because I rounded down.This review is for the entire series as I've viewed it up to date without giving spoilers. Have fun!

I watched seasons 1 & 2 in the span of one week. I hadn't researched the show in the slightest, I simply decided to take a chance after noticing I had missed out on some sci-fi that looked promising. I'm glad I didn't read the negative reviews before watching; it is now clear that many of these folks didn't watch the full season... or perhaps they expected a serial of the caliber of Battlestar Galactica (2004). Falling Skies has carved out its own niche, and has not copied any show in recent memory. The comparison to ABC's "V" (2009) is valid in theory because both are about alien invasions--but really they are nothing alike. "V" ran on the premise of an accident waiting to happen, whereas the worst has already happened in Falling Skies.In the post-apocalyptic world of Falling Skies, you are left with an insurgency that is about equal to what you might expect from a ragtag group of civilians who are lucky enough to have a military Captain, a physician, and a hodgepodge of skill sets in the mix; after the apocalypse, even criminals have a shot at becoming valued members of the gang. And a gang is what the survivors become, just as Captain Lee 'Apollo' Adama suggests in BSG during the trial of Gaius Baltar: "...we're not a civilization anymore. We are a gang, and we are on the run, and we have to fight to survive." Yet the group of known survivors in Falling Skies is vastly smaller than in BSG; it is closer to (although a fair bit larger than) that of our heroes in The Walking Dead, a post-apocalyptic show with many similarities. By the end of Falling Skies Season 2, our heroes are beyond being just a gang... the sentiment is closer to what Glenn expresses in The Walking Dead as he is digging graves for the casualties his group suffers in the episode Say the Word: "they were family."They make mistakes, yes, but given that they live in a new world that is only an echo of the civilization that they lost very recently, I wouldn't expect smooth sailing. Unfortunately for them, they need to learn the hard way what works and what doesn't. We are there to experience this along with them, including down to the level of father with sons. I agree with another reviewer that it is refreshing to see the pragmatic and non-confrontational relationship between the leading father and his eldest son. Although the characters can sometimes be annoying, this can be said to add to the realism of the show rather than detracting from the viewing experience.Overall, this doesn't quite make 5 stars. The script often isn't tight, and sometimes I get the feeling that I've seen the same thing somewhere else (much of sci-fi seems familiar if you watch enough of it). It doesn't really grab you from the start... it is more of an evolution of good television as the seasons progress. To all the haters: Season 2 has some nice twists (you are missing out if you quit prematurely).

If you like soap, you'll enjoy all the melodrama.If you wanted action. It's few and far between.Sci-fi? I suppose so because it's about aliens invading earth.75% soap 15% action 10% scifi.Overall.It has good ideas, but it takes so long to get there because of all the unecessary padding.Cheesy music is really annoying in the background. Almost as if it's a silent movie and the organ player is there to add the suspense/love/thrill into the film.The premise is flawed. The US army with all it's might is defeated, but a few people in old trucks and with small arms fire and explosives, think they can do the job that the army couldn't.It felt like being back in drama classes, when I was forced to improvise scenes in a class I didn't want to do.However, I have season 2 and I will see how that goes.

Falling Skies reminds me of so many other recent TV serials - Revolution, Jericho, Heroes, etc. An idea is stretched out as long as they can possibly take it and then some. You Know you are watching a series rather than a film as it is heavy on the characterisation, light on action. This series borrows from just about everywhere - War of the Worlds, V, The Puppet Masters, Tripods, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, etc, etc. There is not so far a fresh new take on any of these ideas either, so it is just an ok series to pass the time with.The effects are somewhat patchy - the Skitters look ok but the Mechs look almost as poorly animated as those walker things from the original Star Wars films.Is it worth pressing on with to watch series two? I'm currently undecided on this but usually if these things make it past the first series they do start to get better with hopefully bigger budgets and new directions.

The series did run for a further four seasons before it was run down with a solid ending from all accounts.My initial thoughts were that this opening season is a bit soapish, drab and with nothing special in the cgi department.But I did stick with it, it did get better and the plot line remains very intriguing and I'm interested enough to see how the story develops ----- there are at the moment so many plot holes and I'd like to see some of them resolved .Three stars as I'm not sure which way to go on this. It went to a fifth season which shows some promise.

I'm a big fan of Noah Wyle and I enjoy a good Scifi series, so when I saw this being advertised, I was immediately interested. We're thrown in the deep end, following the alien invasion, so it does take a bit of time to work out what's going on - not for the faint-hearted! - but with perseverance, it does begin to make sense and then the characters come into their own. The world building with the aliens is well done and the scripts are strong and well paced. The ending of the series had me wanting to go on to the next one to find out what happens next.

I binge watch a lot of tv series and have watched a whole season in one night, I had trouble watching the first couple of episodes but by the third I ordered series 2+3 It has an excellent story line and a talented cast the special effects team have worked very hard and the interaction between characters works which is sometimes lost in some programs all in all it turned into a very entertaining program and I look forward to season two tonight