WAR OF THE WORLDS - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
The 1953 film adaption of H.G. Wells’
classic alien invasion novel “The War of the Worlds” left a deep impression on
me when I was a child as I watched it numerous times with my father. I also
have vague memories of watching this late 80s sequel television series with him
as striking images of grotesque three fingered creatures grasping for victims implanted
themselves in my memory. After rewatching the classic original film with my
wife I figured it was time to revisit those vague nostalgic memories of the television
show by viewing both seasons which I received as a birthday present. Well my
memories were not distorted by time as the show was every bit as graphic as I
remember and even being a tad better than I was expecting for a late 80s late
night Canadian produced television program.
Instead of retelling the story that was set up in the
original film (like most television series based on movies like Logan’s Run and
La Femme Nikita which remake the theatrical film in their pilot episode), this
series serves as a sequel to the 1953 film and takes place 35 years after those
events where the world is nearly destroyed by an invasive Alien force and their iconic hovering machines. It seems the aliens were not killed by the bacteria
they all thought at the end of the film and are soon reanimated by a group of
terrorists that break into a facility where their bodies are stored in drums.
Soon the aliens start taking over human hosts and it’s up to a small military
group led by the eccentric scientist Harrison Blackwood, his two colleagues and
hard-ass lieutenant named Ironhorse to stop them - but can they?
The striking aspect about this show is how damn graphic and
gory it was. Now this isn’t near the likes of modern shows like “The Walking
Dead” but for the time this was equivalent to an R-rated movie being shown on
television. These aliens just didn’t kill humans, they mutilated them by gorily
gouging out their victims eyes. For a young child this was shocking to me. I
found it odd that the aliens were able to take over human victims, just like “The
Thing” mimicking victims on a cellular level. However I get why the show did so
as you can’t have grotesque creatures running around due to budgetary reasons.
The show was also ballsy as it didn’t always have happy
endings. The humans don’t always win and there is some dark shit going on and
some major downbeat endings. The human character conflicts heighten the tension
of the dark tone as they don’t always see eye to eye, with liberal eccentric
scientist leader clashing with our right winged lieutenant. This character
conflict and dark tone makes for some remarkingly tense and suspenseful
episodes.
The downfall of the show is it’s obvious low budget for
being a late night television program. Filmed in Canada the low budgets rear
their ugly head constantly from some lower level acting, some embarrassing special
effects to the overall aesthetic look of the show. Even the cheap looking
video graphic design of the title card font put me off when I first started
watching the show. Aside from the low production values, the one plot premises that totally annoyed the hell out of me was "selective group amnesia" the world population experienced when concerning the original 1953 invasion. One episode explains that the idea of an alien race invading was so extreme and traumatic most of the population can't remember and/or aren't aware of it. Seriously?!?! That's like a majority of the population not aware of World War II. This flimsy plot element insulted my intelligence and I was embarrassed for the writers by including this. The line from an American military general saying "I was there but for some reason I can't recall it" just makes me want to bang my head against the wall.
Even with the low budget the dark tone, ballsy scripts,
heightened violence, bleak themes and likable characters balance it out to
make for a damn entertaining science fiction/horror mash-up. This with constant
references to events and characters from the original 1953 film will sure to bring a
smile to any fans face and it’s a damn shame they didn’t continue this into the
second season of the show as that season is a near disaster. Fans of 80s
science fiction and horror this first season is a must own, just make sure one
is familiar with the 1953 film as this direct follow-up series can be make it a
little confusing to those who haven’t seen it.
Written By Eric Reifschneider
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