Falling Skies

[red snow]

As heavily critical of this show that I have been I will say that the last one 3.8 was easily the best episode of the entire serise. Granted they stole many of the ideas from Inception but the basic idea of the show was light years beyond the usual offering. Pope as the Philosophy Professor sealed it for me.

See, I felt it was just the standard "it's all been a weird dream" episode that pretty much every sci-fi/fantasy show has to do at some stage in their run. Buffy and Farscape still have some of my favourite takes on that and "lost" went to the extreme of doing an entire season on it.

In this show's defense they made it clear pretty quickly it was a VR to get information out of Tom and I thought the final scene was quite touching.

The finale was an odd one for me. I like that the Voln are antagonists despite having a sensible plan and not wanting to harm the humans. I suspect their way of winning a battle may end up in half the world being scorched - bad news if that's the northern hemisphere where most of the land is.

My main problem is that the other aliens toppled far too easily, I can remember when the skitters were nigh on indestructible and while they established under their neck was a weak point it doesn't explain how easily they can be shot down. The mechwarriors they at least explained. Also what happened to the "fish-heads"? We never saw them at all this season.

I still think it would be nice to have some acknowledgement of the rest of the world outside america. Brazil is safe? How come? Are the Brazilians still there? What about China, Russia and Europe? I know they show needs to have focus but I think with the Voln now present in force they'd have to deal with the rest of the world? Sometimes it feels like humanity is the 20 soldiers we see every week. I know a lot of civilians died in the earthquake/attack but surely some of them survived. And what about the President? Maybe I missed episode 9 without realising it...

[~ZombieWife~]

I would be so happy if they didn't take every down moment (or walk through a field) to talk about someone's love life, family issues, or whatnot.

The more I see Maggie and Hal have long, meaningful discussions about romance and crap, the more I want to bang my head against the wall.

As for the storylines and such, I think the Voln are going to turn out to be asswipes who will do anything to remove the Espheni at any cost, even if it means leaving Earth a desolate crap world. Kind of like cutting the illness out and taking healthy skin along with it. I just have that feeling.

I do think that Cochise and his father might end up helping the humans in the end, going against their own and such, but we know how cool rebel aliens turn out: dead. Just like one-eye red skitter who was awesome.

What I find interesting is the politics going on between the Voln and the Espheni. We honestly don't know anything except for what Cochise has told the professor and if their war has been going on for hundreds of years, who knows how/why it all began in the first place?

I mean, we can see that the Espheni are total jerks. They harness kids and turn those kids into skitters for slave labor. Really not cool. If the Voln end up being worse than that? Eeeesh.

[red snow]

it will be interesting to get more info on the alien races. From what Cochise and his dad have said they seem to be very regimented and don't question orders. They may not know the true agenda or like most enduring conflicts both sides have equal reasons to hate,

I do wonder if the Espheni were the underdogs? What if the other races banded together with the parasite connecting them all in an attempt to beat the Voln? It could still be that the Voln started it all.

[~ZombieWife~]

it will be interesting to get more info on the alien races. From what Cochise and his dad have said they seem to be very regimented and don't question orders. They may not know the true agenda or like most enduring conflicts both sides have equal reasons to hate,

I do wonder if the Espheni were the underdogs? What if the other races banded together with the parasite connecting them all in an attempt to beat the Voln? It could still be that the Voln started it all.

I wonder these things as well. Cochise and his father are both "startled" and "disoriented" by the feelings they have toward humans. I think this will come into play, unless the new writers they are bringing in for season 4 will completely dump some of these seeds that were planted.

I think we might learn that the Voln started it all. I think that is a very good theory.

[Black Wolf Smith]

Getting into both alien races would be a great thing, They could do a lot of things to make this show good, but this just keep doing the same thing. I mean how many times can Tom and Pope but heads? How many times do they need a spy/betrayer in their mists? How many times can the oldest son fall in love/ get betrayed by a women( hell its only 2 women)? How many times middle son going to regret what they did to him?

[red snow]

Getting into both alien races would be a great thing, They could do a lot of things to make this show good, but this just keep doing the same thing. I mean how many times can Tom and Pope but heads? How many times do they need a spy/betrayer in their mists? How many times can the oldest son fall in love/ get betrayed by a women( hell its only 2 women)? How many times middle son going to regret what they did to him?

The human stuff was a bit repetitive this time. You can add "how many times will Tom be abducted by aliens and miraculously escape" to the list too.

The Tom and Pope thing needs to be buried - that or they should always be at each other's throats.

I was kind of hoping the oldest son was going to die after painting a target on him with his "when this war is over speech". I don't think the middle son regrets what happened to him anymore. The episode where he decided to keep his abilities finally let him move on from that.

I thought it was interesting that no-one questioned Tom on his butchering of a foe under a white flag? Chloe even kept her word by giving Tom his family back (although i guess this will be more spy material for next season). It's totally reasonable to kill her after everything she has done but it's setting a pretty bad precedent especially if they ever do need help from that faction again.

[Black Wolf Smith]

The human stuff was a bit repetitive this time. You can add "how many times will Tom be abducted by aliens and miraculously escape"¹ to the list too.

The Tom and Pope thing needs to be buried - that or they should always be at each other's throats².

1. HTH did I forget to say #1 on the list? I guess I need a drink, clearly not thinking very well. 2. Too many times Pope and Tom have gotten to a point where they all but said, we aren't ever going to be friends, but we need each other, lets stay out of each others hair, only to do it all again 2 weeks later.

[red snow]

1. HTH did I forget to say #1 on the list? I guess I need a drink, clearly not thinking very well. 2. Too many times Pope and Tom have gotten to a point where they all but said, we aren't ever going to be friends, but we need each other, lets stay out of each others hair, only to do it all again 2 weeks later.

You'd think after the buddy aircrash/lost in the forest episode it would be over. At least have them do things that justify them falling out with one another. It reminds me of a line from "Revolution" I (I know I'm not supposed to admit I watch it) where a character

on the ridiculous number of times the central antagonists have chosen not to end their conflict. They need someone like him to point this out to Tom and Pope.

[~ZombieWife~]

Tom killing the white-flag group was very unsettling for me. That will come back. Hardcore. How? I have no idea.

[Corvinus85]

Tom killing the white-flag group was very unsettling for me. That will come back. Hardcore. How? I have no idea.

I expected it. I am also glad that Karen is finally gone. Time for some new overlords to show up with a vengeance.

[~ZombieWife~]

Yeah, I never got the whole, "Karen is a human and shows new depths of potential" deal. Still not sure I get why they let a human have that much power.

[Black Wolf Smith]

I expected it. I am also glad that Karen is finally gone. Time for some new overlords to show up with a vengeance.

I never understood why she would have been put in charge anyway. The overlords are not the same as the skitters, and she hasn't even turned into a skitter yet. ( yes I get it cost a whole lot less to have her do it, then CGI a leader, but they still CGI all the skitters that hang around her)

[red snow]

I expected it. I am also glad that Karen is finally gone. Time for some new overlords to show up with a vengeance.

I expected it but I still think it was a dubious thing for the character to do and was more surprised that no-one at all - especially Weaver as a military leader.

I never understood why she would have been put in charge anyway. The overlords are not the same as the skitters, and she hasn't even turned into a skitter yet. ( yes I get it cost a whole lot less to have her do it, then CGI a leader, but they still CGI all the skitters that hang around her)

Definitely cost. The skitters that hang around her and the fish-heads would require Jim Henson puppets or really good CGI to get the emotion across. Probably some BS about the human spirit being all powerful too. They could have at least said she had a parasite that was politically connected and it was "her" pulling the strings.

I wonder if Cochise will be humanified as a way to save money understand the humans better?

[paddington]

So can't quite place Cochises accent.

Only 4 or 5 eps in and I am finding it a little slow. It just seems to sort of plod along. Also starting to remind of a short story I read years ago ( iirc Ray Bradbury).

[red snow]

The pacing is a bit slower in this episode. it felt like a lot more happened last season. maybe because they were just in one place all season?

What happened to bens ex parasite girlfriend? She seemed to just vanish as well

[SpaceChampion]

So can't quite place Cochises accent.

It's Doug Jones under the make-up, same guy who plays Abe Sapien from the Hellboy movies, and was one of The Gentlemen in that Buffy episode "Hush".

[red snow]

It's Doug Jones under the make-up, same guy who plays Abe Sapien from the Hellboy movies, and was one of The Gentlemen in that Buffy episode "Hush".

He was as himself in the Tom imagines he's back at college episode as well. He seems to be a go to actor for CGI/make-up work for some reason. A lot of times it isn't his voice eg Pan's labyrinth and Silver Surfer.

[paddington]

Watched the last season 3.

So the aliens ignore a big boat sailing along the river, heading to their stronghold. Until it gets into range to fire a super weapon at their stronghold, which is mostly built from junk metal.

[Kobayashi Maru]

So I've watched all three seasons in like 4 days...the usual and I come here to comment only to see many familiar faces :)

I like it much better than I thought I would. I also thought I would fall head over heals for Noah,but who knew....I like Pope more. Hell I actually agree on 90% of the stuff he says.

.

[Martini Sigil]

I bailed on this pretty early.... the kid-centric plotlines were annoying