Falling Skies? More Like Falling Crap

Like a lot of Sci-Fi fans, I had been eagerly awaiting TNT's new 'epic' series Falling Skies, which had its two hour debut last night.

Good God, what a disappointment.

From Executive Producer Steven Spielberg comes this lame effort that is nothing more than a cut and paste of plot pievces from at least a half dozen different 'alien invasion' moves/series. There wasn't a new element anywhere in the two hours - every situation, every line, every character had already been seen in something else.


Hell, the "50 GTO" (supposedly a GTO convertible with a .50 caliber machine gun mounted in the back), wasn't even real. It was a plain old Tempest convertible - and yes, THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.

Lame, weak, predictable waste of electrons ...

Top 5 Sci-Fi Movies of All Time

OK, for no particular reason, I'm going to pay homage to my top 5 Sci-Fi movies of all time. In reverse order:

Honorable Mention: Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan



This film was without a doubt the best of the Star Trek movies. After the disaster that was the first Star Trek movie, this film saved the Trek movie franchise. The only down side of the movie was Shatner's horrible rug.

#6: Blade Runner

So, the list is actually the top six - sue me ....



Sci-Fi was the background to an exercise in this thinking man's movie. Lots of action, an intriguing plot line, stunning cinematography and score. I saw different things in this movie each of the 4 or 5 first times I saw it. The only downside, for me, were the endless re-releases with slightly different edits.

#5: The Day The Earth Stood Still



Klaatu scared the piss out of America in a social statement of a movie. This was an artistic expression of the fear that gripped the nation during the expansion of the Cold War, with the spectre of nuclear war hanging over everyone's head. State of the art special effects (for 1951) - even if the saucer was made out of paper mache'. Long live Gort! The only drawback to this movie was the absolutely horrible Keanu Reeves remake.

#4: Alien



More of a outer space horror film than a true Sci-Fi exercise, this 1979 movie scared the crap out of viewers. I made the mistake of reading the book prior to seeing the movie, so my wife said she knew when something was going to happen because I tensed up. That was one scary-ass critter! Downside - the Aliens followup was good, but the final two in the series really went down hill.

#3: The War of the Worlds



The original 1953 release of this movie was an outstanding achievement in Sci-Fi, and special effects. I don't remember the first time I saw this, but I remember being terrified when the critter grabbed her shoulder. Besides, it has cool footage of the XB-49 Flying Wing. I still enjoy watching this movie. The Tom Cruise remake wasn't too bad, but just not the caliber of the original.

#2: Star Wars



This movie was a game changer in the movie industry. I remember the first time I saw it, just after it came out in 1977, at the Campus theater in Denton. My buddy and I went to see it on a Friday evening. The THX intro wow'd us - never heard anything like it before. When the first ship flew past over the planet curve, it was wow - this is great. When the Star Destroyer came over and filled the screen, it was 'holy sh*t'. It looks kind of corny now, but my goodness, when it came out ....

#1: Forbidden Planet



And the winner is ... This 1956 classic still stuns me when I see it on a large screen. Big name stars doing Sci-Fi was unheard of. The heroine's wardrobe pushed the boundaries. The special effects were mind-boggling. The plot was a thrill to experience. I remember seeing this on a b&w TV set with my mom in the mid-60s, and when the Id came through the force field, it was very scary. I had nightmares for quite a while. I am glad they have not redone this movie - there is no way it can be improved on.

Well, sorry if I wasted too many electrons on this, but I do think these are cool movies.