DVD Review: War of the Worlds Season 1
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::Movie review
In the late 1980's, television was in a state of flux. Cable programming had become entrenched enough to actually begin to worry the networks, so they began to look outside of the mainstream. The problem with this idea was that the networks had very limited time grids for airing shows. The stroke of genius they had was to allow some shows to be developed directly into syndication. This allowed individual affiliates much more freedom and gave birth to late night and weekend programming. Most notable, this move saw the rebirth of Star Trek on the small screen. However, Star Trek wasn't the only well from which the studios dipped.
Another trend was to take an existing franchise and spin it into a new direction. Some might recall the 1987 Friday the 13th: The Series. Borrowing from the popularity of the horror films, the series shared only the name. The actual premise of the show had nothing to do with the monster serial killer Jason, and instead was a little closer in spirit to the Twilight Zone or Outer Limits.
The series generated a small, but loyal following, and so it was joined the next year by War of the Worlds.
Unlike Friday the 13th, War of the Worlds stuck a little closer to its source material, in this case serving as something of a sequel to the 1953 film. Taking place currently (that is, current as of 1988), the world has moved past the attempted alien invasion. Unbeknownst to the general population, the aliens were not killed. Instead, they were put into storage by the government and most of the details of the invasion were covered up.
The first episode of the series finds barrels of the hibernating aliens mixed up with barrels of radioactive waste. When a group of terrorists break in to steal the waste material, they inadvertently reactivate the aliens, who discover that the radiation protects them from the bacteria that caused their first defeat. Realizing that they have almost no resources, the aliens choose to hide by taking over the bodies of other humans. The problem is that the human bodies deteriorate rapidly, forcing the aliens to continually seek new hosts.
Obviously, the aliens can't just be allowed to run free, so the series also introduces us to a small group of scientists and soldiers, led by Dr. Harrison Blackwood (Jared Martin). Blackwood's group spends the series both trying to fight the aliens and attempting to convince people that the threat has returned.
War of the Worlds only managed to stick around for 2 seasons. Furthermore, there was a drastic format shift between season 1 and 2, which is often a sure sign of disaster for a series. I can only speculate about the reasons for the show's failure, but my best guess would be matters of budget and timing. Although shaky at times, and suffering from some laughable acting from a few of the performers, the writing during the first season was generally solid and definitely a step in the right direction for television science fiction. Unfortunately, the series required a bit of work from its audience from week to week in order to keep up and this may have worked against its first season. I would bet that the massive upheaval in the second season was an attempt to bring more action into the series, but also may be what ultimately killed it off.
Even so, War of the Worlds helped to break ground and set the stage for other similarly formatted shows that would become successful, such as the X-Files and Highlander. Interestingly, there is even a certain style of filmmaking and cinematography that will be instantly recognizable to fans of those later series. I haven't examined and compared the credits too closely, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that many people behind the production of War of the Worlds moved on to shows like Highlander. Certainly, some of the actors did, notably, Philip Akin and Adrian Paul (from the second season).
My opinion is that War of the Worlds deserves credit helping to lay the foundation for some of the great science fiction series of the 1990's. More than likely, it would have remained virtually forgotten, had it not been for the renewed interest in War of the Worlds generated by Spielberg's new film. The fact that it really wasn't all that bad of a show is a bonus and had it debuted just a few years later, it might have been given more of a chance to gain a foothold, or even found a home on a network like USA or SciFi.
::Video
The video quality in season one is pretty poor. First of all, there was poor source material working against the series. This is further knocked down by what appears to be less-than-perfect compression on the DVD. The result is inaccurate colors, with some bleeding and over saturation, poor contrasts and a number of digital artifacts. My bet is that this set was hastily thrown together to coincide with the new film.
::Audio
There isn't a lot that can be said about television audio prior to the surround sound days. It was all pretty muddled and basic back then, which is a fairly good description of this audio presentation. The dynamic range sounds a bit clipped and voices sometimes seem muffled and at other times are harshly tinny.
::Special Features
There are virtually no special features other than trailers for other Paramount products.
::Bottom Line
War of the Worlds did suffer from some uneven writing in its first season, but that is true of almost any television series (just look at the awful first couple of years of Star Trek The Next Generation). Despite this, there was a lot of potential within this series and it's just too bad it never received the opportunity to live up to it.
Buy War of the Worlds Season One at DVDEmpire.com
| Movie |  |
3 / 5 |
| Video | |
2 / 5 |
| Audio | |
2 / 5 |
| Extras | 0 / 5 | |
| Family Friendly | |
2.5 / 5 |
| The underlying themes of War of the Worlds are a bit intense, but they have been very watered down for television. For the most part, this series is no more explicit than a typical Twilight Zone episode. | ||
| Overall | |
2.5 / 5 |
- Robert Wurth, ©2005
::Technical Specs
Studio:
Paramount Home Entertainment
Year of Theatrical Release:
N/A
Disc Format:
6 single-sided, Dual Layer
Image Format:
Full Frame
Aspect Ratio:
1.33:1
Region Encoding:
1 (North America)
Sound Format:
Dolby Digital 2.0 (pro logic)
Running Time:
Approximately 45 minutes per episode
Director:
Various
Stars:
Jared Martin, Lynda Mason Green, Philip Akin, Richard Chaves
MPAA Rating:
N/A
Disc Supplements:
- Trailers for Paramount Home Video products
