# Falling Skies: New TNT Series Starts Sunday **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 18, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955 "2011-06-18T18:35:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/22 "2011-06-20T18:46:21Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Basic rule. If you are over an embankment and you can see the mind control humans and their alien captors, the aliens can see you. Of course, the writers didn’t see it that way. Basic rule of movies - the bad guys are _never_ looking your way the first time you stick your head up. And considering that these bad guys apparently wiped out the entire armed forces of the planet within hours, they’re probably not spending a lot of time with the heads on a swivel while walking mind-controlled slaves through the countryside. ---
**Author:** ![xoferew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/e9a140/32.png) [@xoferew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xoferew)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/23 "2011-06-20T21:32:54Z")
I’m no military strategist, and I know the characters are just getting used to the new world order, but why do they have 100 soldiers protecting 200 civilians? Couldn’t at least half the civilians be undergoing training to be turned into fighters? Obviously some are little kids and some are more useful as medical people, mechanics, and whatnot, but you don’t need all those able-bodied people washing clothes. Make the kids wash the clothes, and if they don’t, no oatmeal for them! ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/24 "2011-06-20T22:10:39Z")
> [@xoferew](#): > > I’m no military strategist, and I know the characters are just getting used to the new world order, but why do they have 100 soldiers protecting 200 civilians? Couldn’t at least half the civilians be undergoing training to be turned into fighters? Obviously some are little kids and some are more useful as medical people, mechanics, and whatnot, but you don’t need all those able-bodied people washing clothes. Make the kids wash the clothes, and if they don’t, no oatmeal for them! It seems like a lot of the fighters ARE civilians. You’ve got a history professor, his son, and a whole bunch of other people that we don’t know their background yet but don’t really look like soldiers. And it’s dangerous adding more and more civilians as fighters, as seen by that one kid that fired off his gun too early. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/25 "2011-06-21T01:29:17Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I didn’t see all of it. Tuned in when Noah Wyle’s group had been captured by the “outlaws”. I liked the dialogue – they were saying things that real people might say. > > The outlaw leader reminded me of Sawyer from Lost. > > I was fine with the group being able to hide in a meadow. Presumably the aliens have a whole planet to patrol – they can’t be everywhere. > > Anyone know if it will be repeated? I’d like to catch the whole thing. all times Central: midnight tonight Friday 10 pm Sunday 9 am Sat. July 2 10 pm ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/26 "2011-06-21T01:51:46Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > [ul] > [li]Yet the aliens are so dumb they can’t find an encampment of 200 people **in an open meadow** in the suburbs?[/li][/ul] Didn’t dialogue at the beginning establish that the aliens simply don’t care yet about groups as small as them? Something about how they were finally starting to go after groups as big as the 900 people which is why they had to break down into three groups. And when one of them asked what would happen when the aliens started going after groups of 300 the answer was that they’d break up again and again until they figured out some way to fight back that allowed them to regroup. Can’t say that it necessarily makes sense for the aliens to do it that way, but it does seem to be the case that with a group their size, so long as they stay out of the aliens faces they’re being left alone. And regardless, for this type of story there does need to be some reason that they aren’t just all immediately destroyed. I assume that whatever they want the children for is going to be the explanation for why they don’t use weapons of more massive destruction to wipe us out. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/27 "2011-06-21T02:03:10Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Also, when the resistance commander captured the villainous leader from the other group near the end, he should have immediately put a bullet through his skull. Not doing so is obviously going to cause a whole mess of problems in the future. I don’t think so. I think he will eventually join them and be the “Lovable Rogue” character these shows tend to have. Just like the girl from their group is going to be the “Mysterious Bad Ass Chick.” I kid because I love. I thought it was fun and entertaining! Now that Game of Thrones is done, I have something new to watch on Sunday, yay! ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/28 "2011-06-21T02:11:02Z")
A few comments on some of the comments here: Early in the ep, a couple of characters have a conversation basically establishing that the the aliens tend not to make much effort to go after small groups with light arms, apparently because it’s not considered worth the hassle. It also seems, from what’s revealed so far, that while the aliens are indeed overwhelming in technology, they are not overwhelming in numbers, and they don’t seem to want to simply wipe out all humans; destroying enough infrastructure to force us into a nomadic, marginal existence seems to be enough for them and, frankly, seems a fairly realistic action. Furthermore, next to nothing appears to have been said so far about their ultimate intentions, whether the ‘skitters’ are the actual species organizing earth’s occupation (indeed, there are a few hints they are not), nor the reasons for taking over the bodies of (mostly or all teenagers) with those icky symbiotes. At this point it’s not all that easy to do something truly original in the alien invasion genre, and while I was watching, there seemed to be a lot of echoes of _District 9_, Spielberg’s _War of the Worlds_ and _Battle Los Angeles_, to name a just a few possible influences. Nevertheless, the pilot seemed to accomplish what it set out to do: establish the main characters, and some of the ‘rules’ of the world it exists in, without over-explaining things. I like most of the actors, if as usual they are a bit too pretty for their circumstances, and as someone said, the dialogue and interactions mostly ring true. I’ll keep watching. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/29 "2011-06-21T02:53:32Z")
I think they hit a lot of tired stereotypes: Will Patton: the gruff, my-way-or-the-highway military leader. [del]Possibly[/del] probably nefarious. Unshaven (probably unwashed) civilian-hunting-camo wearing sorta-redneck. Dislikes civilians. Noah Wyle: the plucky civilian who knows what’s he doing as a military leader, by quoting history. Moon Bloodgood: lampashaded, even, by the bad guys: “Dr. Quinn,…” Already bumping heads with military leader. The list goes on. And like Battlestar Galactica (which at least had a star-faring society’s ability to techno-magically generate food and ammo by applied Handwavium), they’ll always have enough to eat, and never run out of expendables/perishables (at least not after at least one episode to establish that, yes, the ammo/food/medicine/etc. situation is precarious). I’ll give it a few more eps., but if they keep hitting these tired stereotypes, and plot ruts, I’ll pass on it. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/30 "2011-06-21T03:20:13Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I don’t think so. I think he will eventually join them and be the “Lovable Rogue” character these shows tend to have. I agree. I saw that right away when they paraded him away at gunpoint. They’re gonna argue and fight with him, make him see that it makes sense to fight along with them, or maybe appeal to his better nature :rolleyes: and make him care about someone other than himself. After that, for the next few seasons, it’s going to be,“can we trust him or not?” I hate that, but I REALLY hate that with this guy, who ran a crew who stole\* from other people while the aliens were taking over the Earth, who laid in wait and killed people, and whose brother and another man under his command (in his very small group, where it would be easy to keep track of them all) were rapists. I don’t wanna work with this guy. I want a bullet in his head. Screw them if they try to make me like him. - Yeah, they needed food and weapons, but a much larger group of people with greater needs were managing to find supplies, rather than kill others for them. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/31 "2011-06-21T03:39:15Z")
Good news for fans and the network, [Falling Skies had the highest rated premiere for a new cable show this year.](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2011/06/falling-skies-invades-homes-with-sky-high-ratings-in-tnt-premiere-.html) It even beat out the premiere of Walking Dead by .6 million people. Unless there’s a huge drop-off over the new couple weeks, I would say there’s a pretty good chance of the next season getting picked up pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/32 "2011-06-21T04:08:01Z")
I liked the start of the show. I agree that a lot of the scripting was flimsy and they are obviously working with a very limited number of cameras and sets, but the acting was generally good and I’m willing to swallow a somewhat predictable popcorn alien show so long as there are a few good action sequences and twists to keep me interested. I wish shows spent a little more time defining the spaces they are operating in. Showing some maps would be helpful. Explaining how far apart things are and tracking time would be useful. Having a fight sequence where it feels like all the actors are bunching together to squeeze into a camera angle always bugs me as do apparent “tactics” which are really just walking into the front door of a place. I would have felt a lot more tension for Noah Wyle and his little group when they went to investigate the armory if it didn’t feel like they were right around the corner from the rest of the regiment. Also, I’d have felt a lot more impressed when they beat the skitter and the mech in the grocery store if it would have been the result of something resembling teamwork and tactics as opposed to dumb luck. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/33 "2011-06-21T09:10:42Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Not doing so is obviously going to cause a whole mess of problems in the future. Yep. Wacky wacky problems. But at the end they’ll all have a good laugh! Then the children will all jump on their skateboards as the adults beam approval! And the aliens are pretty much Imperial Stormtroopers. Watch them miss a lot (we already have) and fall down in bunches. And how long does that walker weapon take to draw a bead and fire? Then miss? Anyway, they LOOK real scary. :rolleyes: And if it is the teenagers driving them, we are asked to believe that a species capable of interstellar travel hasn’t mastered robotics? And the bugs don’t exactly look like toolmakers to me. Maybe they are like alien pit bulls. It would redeem a lot if the aliens are something else. Preferably something that can hold a wrench. 😉 But it wasn’t too bad. Will watch next week. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/34 "2011-06-21T10:01:51Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I like Noah Wyle. I like aliens. I like sci-fi. I love The Walking Dead, I loved Jericho when it was on, I loved War of the Worlds, and The Terminator. Put all of this in a blender and Falling Skies should have been the best. show. ever. Yet I couldn’t seem to get into it, because all I could think was, “haven’t I already seen this before?” I watched about 20 minutes and it lost my attention. Yes. As **ExTank** said as well, the whole thing seemed built with the standard ‘SciFi Movie 101’ toolkit – let’s take alien invasion scenario 3B (you know that one – no need to go through the whole thing explicitly, we can jump right in), add civilian/military tension type Q, sprinkle it with a bit of father looking for his son, serve with a side of telegraphed mystery (i.e. the harnessed kids who probably will turn out to be the reason for bipedal mechs, which knowledge will, combined with a way to get rid of the harnesses, eventually allow the rebels to fight back by disabling the mech infantry). The aliens, in particular, I thought were quite disappointing – standard vaguely insectoid lizard-things with a few limbs too many. And what, they don’t carry any sorts of weapons in combat, but rely entirely on their – uh – limb surplus to overcome opposition? That said, I’ll probably stick with it for a few episodes at least – perhaps there’s something interesting yet to come, and they just didn’t bring it up in the pilot in order to really catch the viewers by surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/35 "2011-06-21T14:04:50Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > I think they hit a lot of tired stereotypes: > > Will Patton: the gruff, my-way-or-the-highway military leader. [del]Possibly[/del] probably nefarious. Unshaven (probably unwashed) civilian-hunting-camo wearing sorta-redneck. Dislikes civilians. Which would seem pretty hackneyed, except we’ve already got someone in the thread complaining about the civilians… It was good enough. The big question is if it’ll make sense. Why do the aliens only go after groups under X size? Why are they shifting those numbers downward? What makes a half-dozen guys think they can raid an enemy mothership to grab their missing relative and get away alive? The bad guys are operating within certain rules. As long as the rules make sense when they’re inevitably explained I’ll be happy. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/36 "2011-06-21T14:18:37Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > What makes a half-dozen guys think they can raid an enemy mothership to grab their missing relative and get away alive? Testosterone poisoning, I should imagine. The same mindset that makes young people think they can (1) Get way with knocking over a 7-11, and (2) Make money doing it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/37 "2011-06-21T15:21:10Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Which would seem pretty hackneyed, except we’ve already got someone in the thread complaining about the civilians… Count me in as another. I certainly hope they drop that whole civilians bitching side of the plot or that asshole leader puts them in their place. Specially when the only difference between the fighters and the civilians seems to be willingness to fight. If a history teacher, a little kid and a cheerleader type can be fighters so can every other scrub they are carrying. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/38 "2011-06-21T15:50:08Z")
> [@Stan\_Shmenge](#): > > And if it is the teenagers driving them, we are asked to believe that a species capable of interstellar travel hasn’t mastered robotics? For what it’s worth, this seems legitimate to me. I’m re-reading Vernor Vinge’s “A Deepness in the Sky” at the moment, and a major plot point is that the villainous Emergent civilization uses brainwashed humans for a lot of the things one might use AIs for. The reason is that genuine AI is believed to be impossible, but a suitably brainwashed human can be trusted to stay on-task and follow instructions like a robot whilst still bringing a measure of judgment and intelligence to the task at hand. In other words, it’s a better approach than pure automation. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/39 "2011-06-21T16:14:15Z")
I looked forward to Falling Skies with much anticipation. I pulled the plug 30 minutes into it. What a disappointment. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/40 "2011-06-21T16:45:12Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > What makes a half-dozen guys think they can raid an enemy mothership to grab their missing relative and get away alive? The kid isn’t at the mothership. (Or I’m don’t think it’s a mothership. One of the guys said something about the motherships coming back one day. So it’s more of a base.) The base is in the middle of the city (Boston, I’m assuming). THey’re pretty far away from it. The kids were just marching around the suburbs. I’m curious as to how they think they can FIND the kid. Maybe a couple hours after they saw them there’s only a small area where they could be. But it’s been like two days now. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955/41 "2011-06-21T16:57:06Z")
I saw the first episode last night–it was just okay. I have to agree with the nitpicks already listed. It was fun to see Dale Dye\* laying down the law to his “troops” on how the resistance would be run. Also, does anyone think the “harnesses” look like The Tingler on steroids? \*once described by the NYT as _“The hard-bitten Vietnam vet who teaches actors to play war.”_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-skies-new-tnt-series-starts-sunday/585955.md?page=3)