[newman]

So, another sci-fi series makes its way to the screens. The premise is interesting; the show starts about 6 months after aliens arrived and pretty much bombed humanity to the brink of extinction. In this post-apocaliptic world, survivors organize into small enough groups for the aliens not to be able to track them too well, and scavenge around for guns, ammo and food as they constantly retreat from the alien force, which mainly seems to consist of some sort of fliers that can scorch anything on the ground, and mechs.
Having watched the pilot (actually first two episodes stacked together) I'm not yet sure about this one. I'm not dismissing it because I believe there's foundation here for a great show. It's just not the type that wows you from the first minute, like Battlestar Galactica did for me with the mini series it opened up with. One thing's for sure; if I end up liking they're probably going to cancel it

Imdb page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1462059/

[Scotty]

They'll be better when TNT learns to not constantly annoy people with ads about the show they're ALREADY WATCHING.

[Ashrak]

dunno seemes rather low budget to me

[Angelus]

Have seen a trailer for the show, and it doesn't look bad. , it has potential. Looks to me like V, but grittier.
I'm sure gonna give this show a chance, and i hope, the execs will too.

[newman]

Looks to me like V, but grittier.

Actually, V was a complete cheese fest compared to this one. I was mildly annoyed when it got canned because I'm still a sci fi junkie and it was entertaining at times - but if I'm being honest with myself, I don't think the "V" remake was a good show. Haven't seen nearly enough of "Falling Skies" to make the call yet - it could go either way. Some series just take a while to become good - recently axed SG:U was a good example of that.

[achtung]

The show acts like your supposed to care about characters you can't name yet from the first few minutes in. The acting's stiff at times too. Kinda left a bad taste in my mouth . I'm giving it a chance though.

[Ravenholme]

The show acts like your supposed to care about characters you can't name yet from the first few minutes in. The acting's stiff at times too. Kinda left a bad taste in my mouth . I'm giving it a chance though.

That was what my Dad said as well, he also got irked by the gratuitous american patriotism/flag-waving in it. (His example was that they're giving the kids lessons on the run, trying to teach them, yet their soap-box lectern thing has the American flag strapped to the front of them. That and them drawing their name from a regiment during the revolution.) He said despite the Alien mech-robot things in it, something which should have made it eminently watchable to him, he actually got bored and decided to watch something else.

[BloodEagle]

One thing's for sure; if I end up liking they're probably going to cancel it

I thought it was a miniseries....

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dunno seemes rather low budget to me

Wait. What? 

Have we really become so spoiled with special effects (if we can even call them that, anymore) that THAT looks low-budget?

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Anywho, I feel like this could go either way, but there are three critical flaws (in my opinion, that is) that I've found, so far.

#1. The ratio of show to commercial is roughly 1:1 and it has commercial breaks quite frequently, which is unacceptable.  It makes it damned near impossible to transition from one chunk of scenes to the next, because I've already stopped caring about the inconsequential factors that make it stick.  I'm tempted to stop watching over this.

#2. They have too many viewpoints going on.  This might be a fluke with the last episode, where I counted three (after I started counting), or they might continue it.

#3. That kid that does nothing gets way too much screen time.  I get that they're trying to drive home some emotional BS, but it's getting ridiculous.

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He said despite the Alien mech-robot things in it, something which should have made it eminently watchable to him, he actually got bored and decided to watch something else.

That's a good point.  I find myself watching to see more alien/human conflict resolution than anything else. 

[newman]

As for expecting us to care about characters we can't name yet, that's true.. but it's also the result of the way show starts. It just throws you in 6 months after the aliens actually invaded. I think this one might turn out to be an acquired taste, if they do it right.

[Angelus]

Looks to me like V, but grittier.

Actually, V was a complete cheese fest compared to this one. I was mildly annoyed when it got canned because I'm still a sci fi junkie and it was entertaining at times - but if I'm being honest with myself, I don't think the "V" remake was a good show. Haven't seen nearly enough of "Falling Skies" to make the call yet - it could go either way. Some series just take a while to become good - recently axed SG:U was a good example of that.

V is indeed a bit cheesy, even by the standards back then. The mini series was quite entertaining though.
I haven't seen the 2009 version yet.
Caprica is the other example, that got killed before it's time. The last few episodes were thoroughly enjoyable and the show was gaining drive.

[Ashrak]

One thing's for sure; if I end up liking they're probably going to cancel it

I thought it was a miniseries....

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dunno seemes rather low budget to me

Wait. What? 

Have we really become so spoiled with special effects (if we can even call them that, anymore) that THAT looks low-budget?

------------

Anywho, I feel like this could go either way, but there are three critical flaws (in my opinion, that is) that I've found, so far.

#1. The ratio of show to commercial is roughly 1:1 and it has commercial breaks quite frequently, which is unacceptable.  It makes it damned near impossible to transition from one chunk of scenes to the next, because I've already stopped caring about the inconsequential factors that make it stick.  I'm tempted to stop watching over this.

#2. They have too many viewpoints going on.  This might be a fluke with the last episode, where I counted three (after I started counting), or they might continue it.

#3. That kid that does nothing gets way too much screen time.  I get that they're trying to drive home some emotional BS, but it's getting ridiculous.

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He said despite the Alien mech-robot things in it, something which should have made it eminently watchable to him, he actually got bored and decided to watch something else.

That's a good point.  I find myself watching to see more alien/human conflict resolution than anything else. 

i didnt mean special effects, i meant the god awful bad acting, and well a silly storyline tbh, if theyr willing to nuke a regiment then why not get about there whereabouts of camps and nuke those aswell, kind of silly

[newman]

i didnt mean special effects, i meant the god awful bad acting, and well a silly storyline tbh, if theyr willing to nuke a regiment then why not get about there whereabouts of camps and nuke those aswell, kind of silly

How does this relate to low budget? Low budget shows tend to have low end CGI/effects, but it doesn't necessarily mean they lack in the story or acting departments (though that is also sometimes the case). When you say a sci-fi show feels low budget everyone will assume you didn't like the CGI, unless you expand on it.

What I'm inclined to agree with and found rather silly was these people walking in broad daylight with the huge alien structure some distance in the background but still very large and visible with the unaided eye. Yet nobody's too worried they'll be spotted - heck from the distance and height the alien structure is at you could spot 300 people on an otherwise empty road with a cheap set of binoculars. Not to mention thermal imaging and god knows what tech the aliens have. What might have been a better choice was if they were only capable of moving smaller groups of people/squads at night.. But so far we know very little about the alien's motives, technology and physical abilities other than the fact they're technologically superior and turned most of the human civilization to rubble.

V is indeed a bit cheesy, even by the standards back then. The mini series was quite entertaining though.
I haven't seen the 2009 version yet.

Actually, I was talking about the 2009 version. The original V was in the "so cheesy it's cool" category. 2009 "V" was just cheesy in a bad way.

[Kosh]

But so far we know very little about the alien's motives, technology and physical abilities other than the fact they're technologically superior and turned most of the human civilization to rubble.

Which isn't that hard to do, if done via orbital bombardment. It's not like we have Starfleet, Earth Force or anything like that to keep us safe.

[newman]

We have shuttles! And these shuttles are formidable craft.. yea.. you bet

[achtung]

After a little more thought I've decided this show is trying to be The Walking Dead with aliens, and it's not doing such a good job.

[StarSlayer]

After a little more thought I've decided this show is trying to be The Walking Dead with aliens, and it's not doing such a good job.

Actually one of the review articles I read made the point that while this was a likely opinion, Falling Skies has been in the works far longer the Walking Dead.  Personally I watched the initial pilot, and while it had some interesting ideas and potential for growth  my interest and available time for watching television is at such a low point right now it didn't have enough omph to hold my attention.

[Nuke]

so far ive only seen the pilot and a few minutes of the second episode. so far im less than impressed.

Looks to me like V, but grittier.

Actually, V was a complete cheese fest compared to this one. I was mildly annoyed when it got canned because I'm still a sci fi junkie and it was entertaining at times - but if I'm being honest with myself, I don't think the "V" remake was a good show. Haven't seen nearly enough of "Falling Skies" to make the call yet - it could go either way. Some series just take a while to become good - recently axed SG:U was a good example of that.

what ruined scifi was, belive it or not, battlestar galactica. just on the grounds that ever since the show ended, everyone has been trying to copy it and failed in the process. sgu, v (to a lesser degree or perhaps in a different way), and now this. im still trying to decide if i want to continue watching this show, knowing the fate of all the other bsg lookalikes. v will likely get bought up by syfy and played in random timeslots much like all the other reruns it buys the rights too (scc for example). falling skies has potential if only that its being run on a channel other than syfy who have proven time and time again that they dont give a **** about science fiction.

[Angelus]

Hm, i don't think it's a bad thing to take some elements of a successful show and apply it to another, as long it's well done.
Way better is, to create a own universe with unique elements, to distinguish the show from others.
Basically what BSG did, to avoid being "just another Star Trek ( ST was the dominant franchise back then)" show. And hell, they did it right.

I also don't think that BSG ruined Sci-fi, it is a masterpiece that gave Sci-fi a boost and lured in audiences that previously didn't care about Sci-fi.
What had a negaitive effect on Sci-fi, was the greed of execs to melk the cows of known franchises by trying to copy BSG and the inability of producers and writers to rip off BSG properly and to implement it in their universe.

[BrotherBryon]

After a little more thought I've decided this show is trying to be The Walking Dead with aliens, and it's not doing such a good job.

While I have so far enjoyed both shows there is one thing that bugs me about both of them especially The Walking Dead. The fact that both shows elude to the entire military being whipped out from the very start just seems like a major cop out and a very unlikely scenario. The active US military alone is spread out all over the country with reserve and National Guard units to supplement them. Therefore it should be nearly impossible to completely eradicate them in the first few weeks or even months. Hell NORAD is built to survive a nuclear holocaust and yet our armed forces can't hold back a tide of mindless zombies or hold out a few weeks against an alien invasion just seems implausible to me. Both shows seem to pull heavily from the old 80's movie Red Dawn in that regard except replace the Soviets with Aliens and Zombies. I mean come on kids, civilians, and a handful of ex-military survivors are going to some how defeat a menace that whipped out one the most professional armed forces in history. If any thing the core of the resistance groups should be formed by surviving active military units and reserves supplemented by civilian volunteers. 

[achtung]

BrotherBryon, that's where suspension of disbelief is supposed to come in I believe.