Customer Reviews

War of the Worlds - The Complete First Season

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

The War of the Worlds t.v. series came at an interesting time in television history. In 1988, more and more shows were being directly released in syndication, effectively side-stepping the big networks (and thus big network costs). I've read that some people saw this on Saturday afternoons, but my Fox affiliate carried it on Friday nights (the well-known graveyard for good sci-fi).

As a huge fan of the original 1953 film, I was delighted that the series paid tribute by incorporating footage of that film into its opening credits, as well as a recurring role for that film's female lead, Ann Robinson as Sylvia Van Buren. The last primetime alien invasion series had been the late, lamented "V." And War of the Worlds owes as much to that series as to its source film and novel.

It's universally acknowledged that the first season was far superior to the second, which changed the format and killed off 2 of its stars in its first episode. But the first year was pretty solid, detailing the government-sanctioned battle against alien invaders by a small group of people. Jared Martin as Harrison and Richard Chaves as Ironhorse were standout performers. True, the syndicated format allowed for some occasionally over-the-top effects (similar to Freddy's Nightmares, also syndicated at the same time; and prefigured the X-Files more graphic scares five years later), which I recall being a turn-off to some fans of the original film. But War of the Worlds was an action-packed sci-fi series, and one that deserves another look.

The first season of War of the Worlds (1988-1989) was truly one of the most innovative and intriguing series on television. In many ways, it was a precursor to what the world would see on The X-Files years later. The premise of the first season follows the events of the 1953 George Pal film 35 years later as the aliens are resurrected from their involuntary hibernation (since they did not die at the end of the movie) and continue their mission to have Earth colonized. Since the aliens lack the technological hardware that they possessed in the movie, they are forced to carry out a hidden, guerilla type warfare- and they start by possessing human bodies as a means to go about undetected. Led by the triumvirate Advocacy, the aliens (who are from Mor-Tax not Mars- since by this time it was proven that there was no life on Mars) begin to have Earth colonized for their brethren who will be arriving in about 4 years.

Knowing that the alien threat is real, the government forms a secret team to counter the alien menace. This team includes eccentric astrophyicist, Harrison Blackwood (Jared Martin), microbiologist Suzanne McCullough (Lynda Mason Green), computer expert Norton Drake (Philip Akin) and Lt. Colonel Paul Ironhorse (the idolized Richard Chaves). The team begins to find ways to stop the alien menace and actively pursues them from accomplishing their goals.

The first season boasts many terrific episodes and some of the most memorable ones introduce new characters to the mix including the alien maverick Quinn who is trapped in a human body and who is immune to Earth's bacteria. Contaminated by his exposure to humanity, Quinn has developed a means for survival and intends to rule his kind instead of the Advocacy.

Unfortunately, idiotic suits changed the series in the second season because of in-house politics at Paramount. But fortunately, the show is receiving its proper DVD treatment. Let's hope Paramount doesn't edit lots of material. Buy this DVD- the first season still holds up amazingly.

At least in its first season, this was one of the most intelligent sci-fi series to come along, with good character development and compelling storylines. This series first played on Saturday afternoons in NYC, and I used to make a point of not missing it (this was the ancient days before VCR's became household items). I have never forgotten the episode where one of the heroes lost his beloved, and never knew what happened...excellently done.
Of course, since it succeeded, the suits had to change the plotline in the second season, to make it more "relevant to the 18-49 demographic"; it was soon cancelled.

and we thought we had won it. Well, not lost it. The alien invaders died off, killed by Earth's germs. Let's face it, mankind is germy. Anyway, decades later the aliens are revived when terrorists attack a nuclear waste site. It seems when you spill waste on them the radiation kills the germs and this allows them to awaken. Now they plan to finish off what they started and that means finishing off mankind. Six discs from 1988-1989 of one of the greatest TV series. They used scenes from the movie and even had Ann Robinson as Sylvia Van Buren in three of the episodes which helps to link them to the 50's movie.
Nothing in the way of extras, but the series does bring back memories and has such stars as John Vernon as General Wilson and John Colicos from Battlestar Galactica as the alien Quinn. Also has Philip Akin, who was later in Highlander: The Series, as Norton Drake and Richard Chaves, who was in the first Predator movie, as Lt. Col. Paul Ironhorse.
Great ideas, great lines, great characters.
Only one mistake - when they aired the episode Among The Philistines this episode SHOULD have come AFTER The Prodigal Son and BEFORE The Last Supper.
If you are a fan of War of the Worlds YOU must buy this box set.

The first season of War of the Worlds was really very good for a low budget sci-fi TV show from the late 1980s. Good stories, likeable characters, and a quirky sense of humor make this a fondly remembered favorite. The second season, however, should be avoided at all costs.

Sadly, the the picture quality of this DVD release is quite poor. There's considerable color bleeding and artifacting noticeable, especially in darker scenes. It's quite distracting. The image is often too soft and it's extremely difficult to make out detail. Audio sometimes appears very slightly out of sync. And why, oh, why did Paramount see fit to cut out the little sequence at the start of each episode where the alien hand encompasses the Earth? Clearly, very little care was given to this release by the studio.

I highly recommend this show to any sci-fi fans, but the DVD release was a bit disappointing.

I'm surprised to see some of the reviews here regarding video quality. While there are problems, which I shall adumbrate upon later, it's not an unmitigated disaster of a release. and HDTV's inherant quality will make any artifact show - and worsened by larger size monitors; and I've seen many LCD sets in stores display a uniform "block-like" pixelated look to DVDs they are playing; DVD titles I do own and can say are not caused by a poor DVD conversion... (even on a computer monitor, which is better than HDTV too.)

But first things first, what makes this series special and which episodes should I recommend?

I first have to say, this show is NOT for young children. It can be violent and bloody at times. The producers wisely chose to show that these aliens do not mean us well. Violence is not something to be toyed with or used aimlessly like many American shows do. But this one generally puts in the violence message very thoughtfully. But it is gruesome. And I say "generally" because a couple of episodes do seem pointlessly gratuitous, however... but nobody's perfect.

A continuation of "The War of the Worlds", it is 35 years later. The entombed aliens are accidentally released and the war continues... What makes this series cool is the gamut of characterizations. Harrison Blackwood is a competent yet off-the-wall sort whose intuition serves him and the group well. He's also a distant relative of Clayton Forrester (from the 1953 movie). Suzanne McCulloch is a no-nonsense scientist. Colonel Ironhorse is the military liason (and he does not want to be around Harrison). He's also a Republican in political ideology, which is quite an interesting take. And then there's computer whiz Norton Drake who's a bit like all the others but has something else all his own in his persona. It's a great mix of characters that works well as a group, even though you know the last thing they want is to have to work together! Not since "Blake's 7" have I seen such a group of such disparate characters having to work together.

Episodes to watch are:

THE RESSURECTION. The 90 minute pilot that sets up the whole kit'n'kaboodle. It's nicely done all around and it's rare I can watch a pilot story and actually re-watch it later on without pulling my hair out from abject boredom.

THE WALLS OF JERICHO. Some time after "The Ressurection", it is revealed the aliens are alive and well. Harrison has to convince Ironhorse of the threat. There's not much of story depth in this episode (the aliens are alive, let's convince everyone to stop them), yet I find the interplay so entertaining that I had to include it in my "must see" list. There are some nice set pieces as well.

THY KINGDOM COME. Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson from the 1953 movie!) reprises her role. Her experience with the aliens from that invasion gives her a unique insight, not to mention psychosis as she has been locked up in a mental asylum for some time. This is a good episode as well for more character conflict, along with tying in the original movie with the 'new' series. And there are some great set pieces too.

EYE FOR AN EYE. I never thought they'd get this right, but this one ties in the 1938 Orson Welles radio play as being "the first invasion". The interplay between our group of heros and the local townspeople, not all of which believe there was an invasion, is fantastic.

THE SECOND SEAL. It barely makes it into this list and the plot simple: The aliens have found a bunker containing more of their brethern, along with their technology and weaponary. There are enough good moments for me to include this one.

AMONG THE PHILISTINES. Harrison and co. consult with a noted linguist to decipher alien communications. Unfortunately, the linguist had already been taken over by the aliens...

DUST TO DUST. An alien War ship has been hidden in an Indian reservation for thousands of years. and the aliens have come to collect it.

THE PRODIGAL SON. *** BEST EPISODE EVER *** John Colicos plays a man who had been taken over by an alien. But the man's body is immune to the processes that are slowly killing off all the other aliens. He knows he hates humans with a passion, but he also knows that if his brethern find him that he will be dissected and analyzed. He's not keen on that either. But it doesn't stop him from trying his own plan to conquer thye world by attempting to blackmail the United Nations. This episode is rich in detail, rich i nexecution... and then to sweeten the pot they got John Colicos who delivers one heck of a performance! It's not to be missed! Superlative, sublime, and any S-word you can apply to it except for the derogatory ones, this one can't be rated high enough! This one is a classic OF classics, and there's been precious little in sci-fi that compares to this episode ever since.

THE MEEK SHALL INHEIT. The aliens attempt to disrupt all Earth communications systems to render human society helpless in the event of an attack.

UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN. A gruesome yet interesting entry; an alien takes over a pregnant girl. The baby born features strengths that would be of great help to the aliens. This one is disturbing at times, but has enough originality in it.

VENGEANCE IS MINE. Ironhorse accidentally kills a human instead of an alien. The woman's husband wants revenge... I've always loved revenge-themed stories, but this one adds in the alien aspect and it is very well done. A great Ironhorse-themed story.

THE ANGEL OF DEATH. It seems the galaxy isn't so small a place as a new alien species enters the party and starts killing off aliens. But is the old adage "The enemy of an enemy is our friend" even remotely true? Almost corny in some scenes, this one still has plenty going for it to make it a worthy contender in the list.

It's a highly underrated series, even if it's a tad gruesome in spots (and pointlessly gratuitous in some episodes, making me wonder about the authors' understanding of the series - or lack OF understanding? But those eps are few and far between).

And now onto rating the DVD set itself:

First off, the audio quality is lovely. beautifully cleaned, it is crisp and rich in bass. Nothing to complain about here, only praise. Audio Quality = A.

Case design and covers. No frills stuff but it's passable. The layout is easy to read, nice use of graphics in the background. And each disc has the story title and a brief synopsis of the episode. If anything, they could have done a bit better at aligning the paper insert in the back of the plastic case. But they are good cases too, not flimsy. Packaging quality = A-

The menu system is very nice. Simple and effective, no animations to waste our time and disc space with, yet has some thought put into it. What gives it an up mark is that it gives you an option to go to the menu or watch previews for unrelated shows I won't ever give a lab rat's about when you put in the disc. This is very thoughtful on Paramount's part. quality = A

Video quality: Most of the problems are because of the source material aging for 17 years. The saturation level is perfect. Hardly drab or lifeless at all. The image IS a bit on the soft side, however - they forgot to use a sharpening filter and probably didn't bother with a noise removal filter either. The WOTW episodes, as with Trek TNG, were all shot on video then telecined to 35mm film to give it a uniform feel. The video quality could be better, but I've seen far worse that gets passed as "stellar quality" by others. Video quality = B, maybe B-. Naah, B. The price for the set is right enough and worse quality in other costly shows affects my judgment here. Definitely a B.

DVD compression quality: Some scenes do show mpeg artifacting; which is a 'randomized' blocky effect. But you really have to look to find it and, quite frankly, I've seen (and commented on!) far worse quality in other DVD releases. Even releases I've praised in the past, when looking back, have more artifacting issues than this set does - and I still rate them highly enough. Xfer quality: B.

It looks like they chopped out the opening alien hand animation at the start of the episode (it's a 'trademark' thing some fans will understandable hate) plus they took out the audio voiceover that accompanies the episode title. (for some, or so I've read. I've seen only disc 1 so far, but not the others - which I'm assuming are the same.)

Overall quality = B-. But I'd say "B" because the cost is realistic, unlike that of Paramount's most famous cash cow. The only real problem here is the lack of sharpness from the source analogue material (film), but these did come from the master reels and not a 2nd gen VHS copy. (I happen to have 2nd gen copies of the original broadcasts and they are infinitely worse in video quality!) So they did do some restoration, just not enough to give this the "A" it ought to have.

I waited almost 15 years hoping this would make it to VHS or DVD only to find the conversion process disappointing. The sound quality is awesome though, crisp and clear. However, the picture is weak in clarity. This is a show that deserved more effort on Paramount's part. The coloration is saturated in reds (don't try to adjust your TV color) and could have used a bit more effort to enhance. True, the orignal WOTW was filmed in Technicolor which retained its full color and could be easily enhanced; still you'd think Paramount would put the same effort here. It just seemed as if they simply said 'get it out there' and rushed.

Those faults aside, this show was darkly good. The first season is by far the best, with the team discovering the aliens and their intent. The violence set the show back a bit on when it aired (I think it moved from late Saturday to a very early Sunday in my area) but each episode was well-written in portraying the alien menance. A nice touch in the first season was the episode 'Thy Kingdom Come' with Ann Robinson reprisng her role of Sylvia Van Buren from the original film (note that horrified look that hadn't aged). That was a great touch from the writers.

As with many good sci-fi shows, the 'powers that be' decided to change the format in the second season, toned down the alien menace, killed off two stars and even had a young alien falling for a human girl. The lost of the original team coupled with the weaker writing doomed the show. It was no surpise when I found it harder to find an episode on air that it was soon canceled.

The DVD packaging could have used some extra features, even cast interviews or a brief 'making of' would have been nice. Still for the fans it's good that it's even available. So enjoy. To life immortal!

YEAH!!! I've been waiting for this to come out for a LONG, LONG time. These characters were the most appealing of any sci-fi series since the original Star Trek. I saw it at 12 and literally chose my career because of Norton Drake. "Eye for an Eye" is an absolute classic. (I quit watching near the start of the second series; the very color of the show went morbid, it was like some post-apocalyptic quasi-religious BS. But considering what's on TV these days, I might just give it another chance if it comes out!)

One of the very worst video transfers to DVD I've ever seen. Murky and muddy at best. This series deserved far better. Shame on you, Paramount. I'll be leary of any future releases from your studio.

The DVD set is poorly done. The packaging is nice, though they don't represent the full cast on the box images. The picture quality is a bit like VHS. But still, this is better than buying it on eBay as a bootleg from actual VHS. The audio is well preserved (thank you! because the scoring is great). The alien hand that overlaps the earth at the begining of each story is omitted, poorly (part of it is seen here and there in bad editing).

Overall, Paramount, or whoever they outsourced this to, should be ASHAMED. This is CLASSIC Science Fiction Television that deserves proper treatment.

Oh, about the show...

It is classic television science fiction that was ahead of its time in both writing, characterization, violence and gore (for TV, my goodness it was gorey), good guys vs the bad guys win to lose ratio (the bad guys won a lot), suspense, paranoia and creepiness. Also, the alien design is the BEST i've seen since Giger's classic Alien. Basically, this series just barely missed being what the X-files became.

Season 2, which i would like also on DVD, was a careless and "heartless" retool of the series (the original creator, Greg Strangis, must have been hideously pissed and felt betrayed), done by someone who knew NOTHING of the first season (there are good and bad elements, but it feels like an alternate universe).

Paramount!!! Try again and do it RIGHT. I'd buy it again if you do it right!!! Fix the image quality, get some interviews and commentaries, deleted scenes, fix the hand, etc. Then go ahead and release Season 2 (we diehards will still get it, even though Frank Mancuso Jr. screwed up a fantastic show in his good intentions), and while you're at it, come up with some answers to make the two seasons work together. (can you tell i'm being hyperbolic now?)