Aiwaz69 The 1953 "War of the Worlds" is one of my all time favorite movies, and the TV series that's inspired from it is one of my favorite shows of all times, too bad it was cut short for it had great potential. In my comment I will cover Season 1 & 2 separately and the DVD set.Season 1: The series begins about 35 years after the movie where the aliens are resurrected by nuclear waste and set out to conquer the world. Only the Blackwood team, consisting of the free-thinking genius Harrison, the mother/scientist Susan, the tough soldier Ironhorse, and the sometimes funny wheelchair-bound Norton, must stop this from happening. While some of the acting is less than stellar(some of the acting from Harrison is over-dramatized, Drake's could have been better too along with several secondary persons, but Susan and Ironhorse acting was good) and some cheesy 80's culture make an unwanted appearance (some of the bad clothing and irritating music), the series was solid and exciting. By adding the viewpoint of the aliens it made for a more unique and interesting storytelling (some episodes are influenced by other movies like "Alien" "The Thing", and "It's Alive!") that were also well-written, though at times it did lag. All the characters are likable, even, ironically, the aliens themselves. I must note that the some violence is gory, almost R-rated, including melting bodies, eye-gorging, and limb-ripping, though I am hardly complaining on that issue. Like many fans I wished the 2nd Season continued on this pace, however...Season 2: ***Spoiler begins*** Killing off Drake and Ironhorse was a huge mistake ***Spoiler ends*** Season 1 is practically discarded, with character's personalities altered, a new apocalyptic-"Blade Runner" setting, and even a drastically different alien invaders. The mythology and character set-up from Season 1 no longer exist in Season 2, leading to major conflicting storyline. This was a major complaint from fans, however, if you view it as a separate series, it's still very good. The aliens are giving more familiarity, the new dark world setting is interesting, and the story lines deal with some touchy issues like religion, ecological & urban decay, and the influence of music and movies on the brain. While Season 2 had some fresh ideas, it did bring the whole series on a radical altered path that turn many fans away.On the DVD set: Season 1 has been released on DVD, which is great, though it could have been a better set. There are no extras and the picture quality is below DVD standards, though it is still very watchable and not as bad quality as some may have you believe. The missing arm animation, which irked many people, is easily forgotten. It's just great to see it out on DVD."War of the Worlds" the series was a fantastic short-lived show that may have helped paved way for others like "X-files". It's entertaining delight, so buy Season 1 on DVD as soon as you can!

Jeffrey Young Very little is known of the alien invaders from Mortax and the series did not intend to explain much of them. In the original, "War of the Worlds", the aliens originate from Mars. Since Mars is a dead planet and presumably any presence of an indigenous civilization would be noticed from earth, it made sense to change the origin of the aliens to a faraway solar system.It was a shame that the series did not capitalize on the episode, "Angel of Death". The unexpected, ironic, and somewhat twisted humorous ending would have made for a much more interesting second season had the original plot line been followed. As it was, some viewers, including myself, disliked the second season's post-apocalyptic setting and stopped watching the series.I present here my own speculative analysis of the aliens from Mortax, for anyone curious enough to read on.Most likely the inhabitants of Mortax originated from a tightly controlled, rigid, caste-driven society. The upper caste was smug in its superiority over the lower caste classes, even those presumably of a high class, such as scientists. The ruling caste or upper classes which ruled Mortax probably were probably a hereditary class which may or may not have included a military class as a subsidiary upper caste.At some point in its history, the lower caste classes of Mortax gained political power enough not to overthrow the current ruling caste but enough to gain comparable political parity and most importantly, respect.As a result of this paradigm shift in Mortax civilization, the upper ruling class now had to address the lower classes with respect. They now called the lower classes, 'comrades'. The lower classes could now address their heretofore upper caste rulers as, 'advocates', not, sir, ma'am, majesty, excellency, highness, lord, mistress, or any other such title conferring superiority over the claimant and inferiority over the one saying it. But it is very clear from the comments of the often frustrated Advocate triumvirate that the bigotry of the upper castes over the lower castes is still very much alive. But now it is politically incorrect to say so in front of them.Mortax civilization was now unified and moreover, unified in its new, overriding goal, the salvation of its race, civilization, and culture. Unfortunately, the smug racial superiority and bigotry of the upper caste were now subsumed by all of Mortax society. The new inferior class fit only for extinction were the humans of earth. The invasion of earth is an invasion to humans. For Mortaxians, it is a 'colonisation' of a habitable planet regrettably infested with inferior biological sentients called humans whose existence is expendable. The invasion is a fight to the death for all of humanity.

Theo Robertson I vaguely remembered hearing about American TV doing a series based on the events after the Martians tried to invade Earth in the 1950s classic movie WAR OF THE WORLDS and thinking to myself this might be a bad idea . This was in 1988 and I didn`t get to see the WOTW pilot THE RESURRECTION until 1991 which proved my reservations that this show was a bad idea and when I saw the full series in the mid 1990s my instincts were confirmed 100%There seems to be severe continuity problems with this show . Remember how human civilisation was destroyed in the 1953 movie version ? Well the events directly follow on 35 years after that movie where strangely mankind seems to have quickly rebuilt the world , but most seriously of all from a logic stand point , no one seems to believe that Martians have ever existed ! It`s not actually a continuity error - it`s bad planning on the part of the producers because nearly every episode of the first season uses the film version legacy around the plots including a cameo by Ann Robinson playing the same character she did in the movie . All this becomes ridiculous in a show whose format closely follows that of THE INVADERS Another problem with the first season is the political allegory . With the film HG Wells subtext of the aliens being European colonists has been replaced by the bad guys being communist aggressors but in 1988 the cold war was more or less over ( The cold war was long gone when the series was broadcast in Britain ) with the last Soviets pulling out of Afghanistan and the fall of the Berlin wall just months away , so to hear the aliens calling each other " Comrade " seems old hat and even silly . There`s also a severe lack of on screen chemistry by the lead roles ( especially Jared Martin - I`ve seen forests that are less wooden ) but I guess I shouldn`t be too hard on Richard Chaves as Col Ironhorse , after all it must be very difficult for any actor to play a narrow minded military officer battling against aliens week in week out The second season of WOTW is actually a completely different show format wise . It`s much darker , there`s little if any political allegory used and it`s set in " The day after tomorrow " . We also see Ironhorse written out and have Adrian Paul as Kincaid , the show`s pretty boy action hero . I did think season two was an improvement but like the first season there`s a total lack of continuity . For example an episode revolves around the plot that drugs have been legalized with the aliens being behind it , but in previous and subsequent episodes drugs are never referred to . This is actually a common fault with American shows where things are ignored or not referred to in continuing serials because when selling the shows to overseas buyers the episodes are usually shown out of order . It`s also the reason why British shows ( despite being acclaimed ) rarely become syndicated , it`s because there`s large amounts of internal continuity as seen in BLAKE`S 7 , DOCTOR WHO etc which makes selling them unattractive to buyers . I digress So sorry to hurt the feelings of everyone who enjoyed WAR OF THE WORLDS but this show was a bad idea badly done

jboehme238 I was in my thirties when this came out. I really enjoyed it. It had a good cast. Richard Chavez, as most of you will recognize, was in "Predator". There was a lot of action and good special effects for the time. I hope it will be put out on dvd so all can enjoy.