Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a real science fiction show!

No. Not aliens who have taken on human form to blah, blah, blah.

No. Not an infection where we never see the original alien but are infected with them somehow.

No. Not conspiracy theories about aliens who don’t officially exist.

No. We don’t have to suffer through shaky cam, screaming and bad acting just to get a quick glimpse of the alien at the end of first season.

No. Not a smoke monster.

How is it that TNT is giving me real science fiction where all other stations are failing? How hard is it to give the fans what we want? According to TNT, not hard at all. What impressed me most about Falling Skies is that we get Noah MF Wyle and Moon MF Bloodgood! Colin Cunningham is in this too. He’s been in sci-fi shows since The Outer Limits! Next, I’m comfortable with Falling Skies being on TNT because they like to experiment with things like The Librarian movies starring Noah MF Wyle. Those were good, they considered the audience and they made THREE of them! Considering the other good shows that I watch on TNT like The Closer, Leverage and Rizzoli & Isles, I feel confident in saying that TNT will most likely handle this sci-fi show with the care needed to grow the audience. I dare say that if Falling Skies gets decent ratings that it won’t be prematurely canceled due to mismanagement. When TNT does a show, they do a frakkin’ show. In fact “[t]he two-hour premiere of Falling Skies, sponsored by Hyundai, delivered 5,905,000 viewers, ranking it as cable’s #1 new series launch for 2011-to-date (via TV By the Numbers).

The best thing about the premiere is that everything happened pretty fast. We actually got to see the aliens, we got to see one killed, we got to see their mechs and we got to see several space ships. This is what you need in a premiere in a new science fiction show to reel the audience in and make us feel like we aren’t getting jerked around. There is a really nice post-apocalyptic feel that we loved so much in The Walking Dead. We are dumped in the middle of the end of the world like Jericho. When have alien oppressors that look similar to the prawns of District 9. The alien were referred to as lizards like V. The aliens have triangle lasers on their guns like Predators. There is even a Road Warrior/Mad Max vibe with the hidden human camps.

Don’t confuse my comparing Falling Skies to other shows with calling it unoriginal. The comparisons are to let you know what Falling Skies has what we loved about our other favorite shows and movies. Not only does Falling Skies remind you of a lot of your favorite sci-fi, there were a lot of sci-fi homages in the pilot. The soldiers used Star Wars battle droid action figures to drawn up their maneuvers (Roger Roger). Their stores are called Shop Smart, a blatant Evil Dead/ Army of Darkness reference (Shop Smart, Shop S-Mart). There was a Harry Potter mention as well.

Once you get over the the excitement that someone took care to put things in the story that let’s us know that they respect us or at the very least have acknowledged their target sci-fi audience, you get into the meat of what Falling Skies is on it’s own. Aliens have come to Earth, destroyed the infrastructure and are either enslaving humans or exterminating the ones who won’t comply. People are enslaved through an organic device that looks like a lobster and is attached to the spine. Removal means death. These aliens are called Skitters or Cooties depending on what faction you are in. There were a lot of tender moments with Tom Mason and his youngest son. While this is good for the general female demographic, for the female demographic that just wants to see stuff blown up (raises hand), it was a little too much saccharin. I can see these tender moments as budget filler because we can’t have an alien in every scene due to budget restraints. The aliens and space ships CGI weren’t top of the line but looked like a lot of work was put into them. I really liked them and they are good enough for a weekly TV show. There is one mention that got my conspiracy juices flowing and it was the question about why if the aliens have six legs do their mechs use two legs. I hope the answer brings about more answers and more questions about the aliens.

The premiere was a good start for me. Seeing as Falling Skies is the only American science fiction TV show with bona fide aliens, I’m excited about the future of this show. I think we have a chance to see something great. Don’t let this one pass you by like Firefly!

What did you think of the premiere?

Falling Skies airs Sundays 10/9 C on TNT.

 

(Note: I am a participant in the campaign for Falling Skies. I have not received any free samples, gifts or promotional items.)