Ferris Vueller
The show is loosely based alien abduction and UFO sightings. But it's more like a drama with magic and fantasy. There's no sci-fi component to it, the aliens do everything by magic, not science. You rarely get the chance to wonder "how does that work?", because it's all magic. Definitely nothing to do with science.And the aliens can do everything from teleportation to time dilation and faster than light travel, yet they can't figure out emotion? We can genetically engineer animals better today than those stupid aliens ever could. It's comical, NOT SCI FI.
ctomvelu1
I could not warm up to this very long miniseries when it debuted, although I am watching it again on Syfy and hoping for a better feeling toward it. The plot takes place over decades ands has to do with alien visitation -- and I don't mean our unwanted visitors from south of the border. It plays more like a soap opera than anything else. Spielberg simply is not Quinn Martin, and "Taken" is not "The Invaders." It lacks suspense and excitement and fails to hold my interest. A big cast featuring several familiar faces does its best. But its best just isn't good enough. If someone would edit this down to a 2- or even 3-hour movie, I would be more than glad to give it another look-see. Shot in Canada.
sinful-2
If you are going to watch this series let me suggest you watch the recap in the start of the first 4 episodes and nothing more. The episodes fill 4 times 1 and a half hour with a story that easily could have been told in a normal 45 minutes episode.What especially bothered me in these episodes was the narrator that sounds like Minnie Mouse and maybe makes sense later in the series but not here.The characters are also unbelievable thin and have no real soul in the first 4 episodes. The actors cannot be blamed for this as the script is near non existent. Throughout the series you will know what will happen 10 minutes before it happens. At least in the last 6 episodes Dr. Chet Wakeman enters as a brilliant character and well acted. The rest of the characters also becomes a bit more interesting and not as shallow as in the start. The last 6 episodes are alright entertainment but never reaches higher as it is still predictable all the time.What was my feeling was they had seen SG-1 about the Asgard's problems and then had decided to make a non action series about it.I was pretty disappointed about abductions in this series too.All in all first four episodes the crew should be forced to see for eternity and the 6 last was okay entertainment. Not more complex stories than in a general action movie (it has no action though). I would call it an alien soap.
illegal_alien51
This is quite a good series if you have 10h of hoovering to do while watching it. Other than that I'm not sure.The more Spielberg I watch the more do I start to wonder if he's skipped school a lot or if it is his expectations of the viewers low intelligence that have him make such near tripe. As typical in Hollywood nowadays, the series has to rely heavily on both the viewer's and the character's lack of said intelligence, in order to make ends meet. Add that the only type of suspense you'll find is the typical sudden shock scare that at times is repeated over and over.Things that destroy the magic, like ferns growing in a dark cave, or the occasional other mistake, like a clearly visible ambiance spotlight and its beam lighting up the dark woods, make for just another point of annoyance.The characters are textbook stereotypes, including the narrator (trying to avoid any spoilers here) which at the time of acting is the six year old Dakota Fanning. That her lines contain wisdom of life that would even baffle Gandalf seems to have escaped the realism department.OK, this isn't supposed to be 100% realistic, it's Sci-Fi. But at least I think they should have tried to keep the illusion up a little harder rather than working like everybody was expecting to go on holiday in 6 hours.Sadly my place is very small. Hoovering took me only 30 minutes.
AD
