Sci Fi TV Flashback: Looking back at notable sci fi and fantasy television entries from years past.
What Is It? In this follow-up to George Pal’s classic 1953 movie adaptation of War of the Worlds, the aliens have been dormant for decades after their initial invasion, but they are revived and begin again their attempts to claim the world for their race. An elite team is put together by the government to stop this silent invasion before it becomes widespread. During the second season, a second wave of invaders arrives and changes strategy, prompting the humans to destroy themselves as their society begins to fall apart.
Aired: Syndication, 1988-20, 2 Seasons Totaling 44 Episodes
Starring: Jared Martin, Lynda Mason Green, Philip Akin, Richard Chaves, Adrian Paul
Created By: Greg Strangis
Is It Must-Watch Sci Fi? Not necessarily. It might be worth watching the pilot and the episodes where John Colicos guest stars from the first season. The second season is worth a look, though, because it changed up the story and tone and delivered some pretty moody sci fi TV.
The Skinny: This series hit the small screen in the late ’80s at a time when sci fi was experiencing a resurgence in the syndication market and off the three main broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC), bolstered by the success of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987. It starts out as a sequel to the original George Pal film, taking place over thirty years later. As it turns out, the aliens were not killed by the virus (err . . . spoiler alert?), most of them just went dormant and they are being kept in secret facilities. But a few are revived and they begin to assemble more of their latent comrades to begin a second invasion attempt. This is all kept out of the public eye, and an elite team headed up by Astrophysicist Dr. Harrison Blackwood is assembled to combat the invasion with Lt. Col. Paul Ironhorse brought on as their link to the military. Also on the team is Microbiologist Dr. Suzanne McCullough and computer expert Norton Drake. This group works together with the government to thwart attempts by the aliens to advance their invasion.
The pilot showed some promise, but the first season of the show was very uneven and never seemed to hit its stride. The scripts were mostly hackneyed and the show seemed more interested in pushing the boundaries of gore acceptable on commercial television. Part of the reason for the subpar first season was due to the fact that the show was rushed into production and scripts had to be thrown together in very short order. Had the show ended after its first season or continued in the same vein for a second year, it would hardly count as a notable genre entry. But changes came in its second season that elevated the War of the Worlds to somewhat of a hidden gem.
Frank Mancuso, Jr. was brought on to revamp the show (he was also running the horror anthology Friday the 13th: The Series at the same time), and he set it in a whole new direction. The show moved forward several years to a nebulous time referred to as “almost tomorrow” when societal structure is starting to collapse (it’s not made clear if the first invasion had anything to do with that). Half of the Blackwood team is killed off in the Season 2 premiere and the rest have to go underground, joined by alien-hunter John Kincaid (played by a pre-Highlander Adrian Paul). The tone of the series changed dramatically as it adopted the gritty look and feel (as evidenced by the Season 2 intro included above) and moody background music that had previously been used to great effect on the short-lived Max Headroom series (The X-Files would later use the format with more success). The stories were also much better as the aliens used the humans’ own failings against them in order to further their invasion. Had it continued another season or two in this format, it might have redeemed itself and turned into a genre gem. But War of the Worlds ended with its second year, leaving behind a rather schizophrenic show that has since been mostly forgotten.
>Buy War of the Worlds: The Complete Series on DVD from Amazon.com
Cancelled Too Soon? Yes. Apparently, the ratings were not strong enough in the first season, leading to the reboot attempt in the show’s second year. But the changes turned off first-season fans and did not succeed in drawing many new viewers. The show was cancelled at the end of the second season, though the creative team was given advance notice and resolved the story in the final episode. Interestingly, the finale retconned part of the show’s back-story and practically ignored the first season meaning that the second season could essentially be watched as a stand-alone series.
Should It Be Rebooted? No. The War of the Worlds story has been rebooted several times since the series aired, on the big screen with the 2005 Tom Cruise film and most recently with the 2019 French/British series (which is airing in the States on EPIX). But the ’80s series never made much of a name for itself, and it wrapped up its story, so there is no real reason to bring it back.
Interesting Fact: George Pal himself tried to do a television reboot of War of the World in the ’70s. It would have taken place in the future when an alien invasion occurs which eventually leads to the invaders retreating back to outer space. The humans would then follow them into space with their own starships in order to counterattack and assure that the aliens would not return. The series would have been expensive to produce, though, especially on TV budgets at that time, and never went forward. You can see the presentation film for the show at this link.
Where Can you Watch It? The entire series has been released on DVD and it is still available for purchase. It is not streaming on any of the major services, but you can find episodes on YouTube from time to time.
Read More About the Show: Wikipedia | IMDb.com
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