The lazy days of summer are upon us but don’t be lazy about turning on the tv and tuning into Falling Skies, a new scifi show on TNT (yes, on TNT, not on Syfy). It is a very welcome addition to our summer TV lineup, so enjoy your weekends outdoors and wind down (if at all possible) on Sunday with Earth’s remaining survivors on Falling Skies.
Falling Skies (premiere: Sunday, June 19th 9/8c on TNT / rest of season: Sundays 10/9c on TNT) Starring Noah Wyle (TV’s ER and The Librarian [also on TNT]), Moon Bloodgood (Terminator Salvation), and Colin Cunningham (TV’s Stargate SG-1). Produced by Steven Spielberg, Greg Beeman (TV’s Heroes) and Mark Verheiden (TV’s Battlestar Galactica [2005-2009]). Pilot Written by Robert Rodat (The Patriot). Pilot Directed by Carl Franklin (TV’s The Pacific).
From DreamWorks Television, comes the 2-hour premiere episode of Falling Skies. Producer Spielberg and writer Rodat, who collaborated on Saving Private Ryan, developed the story together and turned it into a a ten episode season show for TNT. The cast and crew of Falling Skies have been working the convention circuit to promote both the show, and multimedia in the form of a 12-page prequel comic (released at New York Comic Con 2010) and a now-completed 16 chapter bi-weekly Falling Skies: The Web Comic (written by Paul Tobin, drawn by Juan Ferreyra, coloring by Andrew Dalhouse, lettering by Nate Piekos and published by Dark Horse Comics). A trade paperback of Falling Skies is also available.
Show Synopsis: Falling Skies opens in the chaotic aftermath of an alien attack that has left most of the world completely incapacitated. In the six months since the initial invasion, the few survivors have banded together outside major cities to begin the difficult task of fighting back. Each day is a test of survival as citizen soldiers work to protect the people in their care while also engaging in an insurgency campaign against the occupying alien force. At the center of the series is Tom Mason (Wyle), a Boston history professor whose family has been torn apart. His wife was killed in the initial attack, and one of his three sons has been captured. Determined to get his son back and to ensure the safety of his other two sons, Tom must put his extensive knowledge of military history to the test as one of the leaders of the resistance movement known as the 2nd Mass, because of their location in Boston, Mass. They are constantly trying to gain intelligence about the aliens in order to one day outsmart and overtake them and hopefully rebuild their lives.
Anne Glass (Bloodgood), a pediatrician who works with the surviving children to help them cope with the traumatic upheaval in their lives. Weaver (Armageddon‘s Will Patton) is a fierce leader of the resistance; Hal (Secretariat‘s Drew Roy), Tom’s oldest son, is a growing fighter in the resistance movement; Matt (Slaughter‘s Maxim Knight) is Tom’s youngest son; Ben (TV’s The Saddle Club‘s Connor Jessup) is Tom’s son who was captured by aliens; Lourdes (The Last Airbender‘s Seychelle Gabriel) is an orphaned teenager who helps Anne in the group’s makeshift medical clinic, John Pope (Cunningham) is the leader of an outlaw motorcycle gang; and Margaret (TV’s Shark‘s Sarah Carter) is a wary survivor of Pope’s gang.
Falling Skies focuses on the resilience of the survivors and their determination to maintain their humanity when all else has been destroyed. It is a tale of endurance, commitment and courage in which everyday people are called upon to become heroes. They may be outmatched, outnumbered and outgunned, but nothing can beat the human spirit. Most of all, the series is about the ties that bind people together in the most difficult of circumstances. The aliens in the series are mighty, mysterious and merciless. They are highly intelligent and use military-like tactics, which makes them an overwhelming force against the 2nd Mass. There are two types of aliens that the human survivors have named Skitters and Mechs. Combining live action and special visual effects, the Skitters have spider-like bodies and incredible strength and agility. The deadly, robotic Mechs stand upright and can shoot bullets from their arms. The aliens control captured children, like Ben, through bio-mechanical harnesses but have yet to reveal their ultimate plan for them. courtesy of TNT
*That’s me talking to Moon Bloodgood at the Falling Skies signing at the Dark Horse Comics booth at the NYCC 2010. Also, at the event were Paul Tobin (yellow t-shirt), Andrew Dalhouse (only the back of his vertical stripe shirt), Mark Verheiden (brown blazer) and Noah Wyle (grey blazer – sorry for the ‘just after drinking water’ shot).
Feed me at sharon@horrorhaven.com
