Reviews

I'll be brief. I watched this show for most of the first season, then lost interest. It is basically what we writers call an "homage", which means anything from borrowing story ideas and plots to outright ripoff.

In this case, the series is a blatant rehash of the classic 1960s Sci Fi series "The Invaders". The shows share identical plot lines and devices, for instance: In "The Invaders", architect David Vincent (Roy Thinnes) stumbled upon an alien plot to take over the earth, and spent the rest of the series trying (usually in vain) to get people to believe him.

In First Wave, Cade Foster (Sebastian Spence) stumbles upon an alien plot to take over the earth, and spends the rest of the series trying (usually in vain) to get people to believe him.

In "The Invaders", the aliens, when killed or wounded, glowed red and disappeared, thus leaving no corpse or no evidence.

In "First Wave", the aliens, when killed or wounded (though not always when wounded) glow and (unlike Invaders) begin to show their true form and then disappear, leaving no corpse or evidence.

Along the way, David Vincent meets unusual people (usually aliens, whom he kills so they can vanish), but sometimes he manages to convince people that he's NOT a nutcase, and he even forms an alliance of sorts with an alien resistance. Cade Foster gets a human partner, conspiracy nut Crazy Eddie (the underrated Rob LaBelle) and gains an alien ally in the form of Joshua (Robert R. Cross) and another human ally as well, Jason Radcliffe, hottie and ex-porn star Traci Lords.

David Vincent discovers the alien plot by taking a wrong turn and seeing a flying saucer.

Cade Foster, in an imaginative twist, stumbles on the conspiracy by discovering a "lost" book of Nostradamus which details the coming alien invasion in a whole lot of the usually cryptic Nostradamus quatrains, although given Nostra's reputation for being undeniably vague, I wonder just why he chose to interpret "went with Marcel to get coffee and croissants" as "big alien invasion coming, earth doomed unless stalwart human hero with mixed-bag of dubiously intelligent sidekicks can save it", is beyond me.

On the whole, First Wave was an Okay Show, which different writers kept screwing up by drastically altering plot and story lines, which didn't save the show. (Idiot writers. When will we ever learn?) However, The Invaders comes out way ahead, for its originality (which actually paid 'hommage' to the Cold War 1950s and the really creepy Invasion of the Body Snatchers), and was very gritty for its time and surprisingly daring (by then-TV standards) story elements, while First Wave wasn't really innovative but was eerily prescient when it's realized that the events of 9/11 had yet to occur.

Anyway, if you pick it up in reruns on SciFi channel, go ahead and watch. It's an Okay time killer.

I saw this episode when I was in 7th or 8th grade. Unfortunately I haven't seen it since. As I recall, though, based on my research and readings long after the viewing (it's memory prompted me in later life to learn more about the event), it is also fairly close to the historical Fetterman Massacre in 1866. Fuller did an outstanding job of bringing the impetuous, fire-breathing and ultimately doomed by his own idiocy character of Capt. William J. Fetterman to life. Also, the supporting cast - particularly Richard Egan and Carrol O'Conner - did an outstanding job with the characters of the weak-back-boned Col. Carrington and Captain Ten Eyck respectively.

It's a real pity that this event at the very beginning of the Plains Indian Wars has not been more thoroughly examined and dramatized to the extent that the Battle of Little Bighorn and General Custer has, especially as Custer and Fetterman shared some of the same traits.

I wonder if anybody out there who might read this would know if this episode is available on DVD?

I have been viewing clips from this on YouTube (not the greatest place to do this, I admit), and I have been enthralled. The entire cast (including a young Patrick Stewart, pre-Jean-Luc Picard, as Clement Atlee) is first rate, but Richard Burton is mesmerizing and unforgettable as Winston Churchill, a standout performance by anyone's standards. Fourteen years earlier, he had provided the voice of Winston in the BBC-ABC documentary "Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years". Now, he gets to portray the great man himself. And it truly is a magnificent portrayal, by one of the world's greatest actors.

My only regret is that "The Gathering Storm", along with "The Valiant Years" is unavailable on DVD for home viewing.

I remember when I first saw this movie, when I was nine years old, at the theater. It was in "Cinerama', and I thought it rocked! Then, I saw it's TV network premier in 1972-73, I think it was. And I remember thinking "God, this movie sucks. How could I have liked it? I must be remembering a different movie". Well, it was the same movie, it was just that I'd learned a lot more about WW2 and the real Battle of the Bulge. Naturally, I criticized all the so-called 'German King Tiger' tanks, the arty, and just about everything else. But I must admit my attitude has changed again in the intervening years. I now have a very soft spot in my heart for this bogus epic, despite its many inaccuracies. So what if Belgium bears an uncanny resemblance to Spain (when I was in the military myself, and got to visit Belgium, and site of the actual battle, for a troubling moment I actually wondered where that vast, rolling semi-arid desert was). So what? Who cares? And did the Germans REALLY control the battle from a massive basement game room with a timer clock? It's not a bad movie, after all, and does manage to convey some of the desperate conflict of the real thing. It's even better than that awful Sensaround epic "Midway" (which truly does suck, except for Chuck Heston, Henry Fonda, Erik Estrada and all those other characters). It's much better than Michael Bay's huge blowjob of a 'historical' movie "Pearl Harbor". Okay, it can't beat Timbo Hine's masterpiece "War Of The Worlds", but what can? I think my two favorite memories of "Battle Of The Bulge" are the German Panzer officers singing "Panzerlied" (it inspired me to invade France, which promptly surrendered when they discovered I was merely THINKING about it), and of course, the so-called 'aerial' photos of Robert Shaw taken from the seat next to him. Oh, yeah, and the end, with the tag (and I'm paraphrasing here) "They're leaving their tanks, and walking back to Germany, and you can see it all on your GAF Talking Viewmaster". Okay, so they didn't say that last bit, but that was our homage to Henry Fonda.

Shoot the father.

One of these days I'll write some good comments about a decent movie. But not this time, and not this travesty of Scottish History. It was awful. Not from an acting or technical standpoint, I had no objections to the performances or the production values. My criticisms lie with the historical veracity of this overblown, ridiculously distorted epic. Just a few for now. Sir William Wallace was always a 'Sir', he was a baronet, and he was born with that title. He was not a commoner. He was a Scottish Border Lord, and as such made his living by fighting for either the English or the Scots, but only if there was something in it for him. My grandfather, who was born in the Highlands of Scotland, always called him 'Scotland's Pancho Villa', implying that he was a bandit, and my subsequent research has borne this out. Also, he was NOT a Highlander. He probably never wore a kilt or a belted plaid in his life, and definitely not while riding a horse. Try it sometime, riding a horse while wearing a kilt. See how your balls stand up. And the bulk of his army were not Highlanders, unlike the movie, which shows everybody with a claymore to grind against the Poms rushing hither and yon all wearing kilts of Macabre tartan. The evidence - and the Major, me grandfather - are adamant in insisting that Wallace was betrayed on purpose by Robert Bruce, something I have no problem agreeing with, as Bruce founded the Stuart Dynasty, and had more than a suspicion that Wallace wanted the Scottish Crown for himself. The conclusion of the movie shows a grim-looking Robert Bruce and his Army supposedly waiting to pledge their fealty to the English Crown, then spontaneously, just for the hell of it, deciding to attack and start the Battle of Bannockburn. Well, sorry, Mister Randy Wallace. He'd planned that battle for months. It's a pity they didn't show it. On its credit side, Patrick McGoohan's portrayal of Edward I, the Hammer of the Scots, was outstanding, and quite accurate, and the saving grace for this Goebbel's-like celluloid propaganda.

Peace for now. We're aye comin back tae see ye. Cruachen!

I'll be very succinct, for now, and go right to the point: This movie SUCKED! It is a PIECE OF CRAP! It is so bad, I can't adequately describe just how awful it is. Are you beginning to get my point? I couldn't care less what happened to the male leads. I was fervently hoping they would all get greased, smoked, wasted, blasted, shot down, killed, blown away, nuked. You know. Dead. I was rooting for the Japs in this movie. I was cheering on the Imperial Navy. I stood up and saluted and bowed whenever Admiral Yamamoto or Admiral Nagumo appeared on screen. I think I would've probably even GIVEN them US Atomic Secrets just so they could make a thorough job of their attack without they're having to expend maximum resources in aircraft. That's how much I hate this cinematic piece of garbage. TITANIC was much better. So was the overlooked film Genius, Timothy "Orson Wood" Hines and his celluloid masterpiece, "War Of The Worlds". Okay, the Chicks were Hot, but so the f*** what? Jon Voigt was good as FDR, even believable, and Cuba Gooding was wasted in what was merely a supporting role as a Token Negro Doing His Bit, although he did it well. Just as Messers Stone and Parker say in "Team America", he should have had a bigger, better part. Okay, moving on to the ridiculous Alec Baldwin and the Doohicky Raid, why did the idiot director try and bastardize and rape Jimmy Doolittle's morale-building strike against Japan after Pearl Harbor? Lt. Colonel Doolittle used a medium BOMBER group with its own personnel to mount that attack, he didn't call for volunteer FIGHTER pilots of DUBIOUS quality to fly his planes. Despite Ben Afleck's continual pissing and moaning to get him to a goddam airplane during the Pearl Harbor attack, his track record in the air prior to that hadn't been too good, had it? The Germans shot his butt outta the sky during the historically dubious Battle of Britain segment (the Eagle Squadron didn't see service until well AFTER the BOB, and it's America volunteer pilots DIDN'T arrive in Blighty wearing their US uniforms, they were required to first resign their American commissions), and I WON'T forgive the Luftwaffe for letting Big Ben survive in the first place. That's something that should have been brought against Herman Goring at Nuremberg after the war. And I wouldn't have let Film Actor's Guild member Alec Baldwin lead an attack, or command anything. He played Jimmy Doolittle as if he were severely constipated, and still looking for the head on the RED October. And it doesn't surprise me that Randall Wallace had a hand in this sneak attack piece of garbage: Look what a terrible mess of Scottish history he made with "Braveheart". I'm going to stop for now, before my pacemaker shorts out and I die, becoming another casualty of this truly worthless waste of money. Besides, I'd bet good money that Timbo Hines LIKED this movie. It may have inspired him to make "Bore Of The Worlds". Actually, come to think of it, maybe HE should have directed this godawful piece of you know what. At least it would have been ENTERTAINING.

Peace.

Okay. For years, I wanted Steven Spielberg to take in hand H.G. Wells' classic novella 'War Of The Worlds'. When I heard he was finally doing it, I was quite excited, given the director's keen eye for historical detail (which I know some will argue with), eg "Saving Private Ryan", "1941", and the absolutely magnificent "Band of Brothers", I was looking forward to the ultimate movie version of this classic (the 1953 version is fun on its own level), set in late-Victorian England, right were it belonged, with those wonderfully menacing Martian tripod fighting machines. What did I get instead? Two hours or so of Tom Cruise's Scientologistic Method acting and Tim Robbins chewing the scenery, and Dakota Fanning screaming non-stop to the point of inciting me to contemplation of Dakotacide! My buddy Nate and I even played a stupid game while watching the movie on DVD (yeah, I bought it). Every time Dakota screamed, we'd take a huge swig of beer. We were both pretty soused by the end of the movie. It acted as an anesthetic, fortunately. And I happen to like her acting, so she must have been doing a great job of it to convince me that her character (along with her brother) should have been powder-puff fried by the Heat Ray! My God, Bob, her screaming drove me nuts, about as much as those screaming brat extras in Timothy Hines' OTHER cinematic masterpiece version of this . . . same . . . MOVIE! It sucked! The movie absolutely sucked! Except for the tripod war machines, it sucked! Did I mention that the movie sucked? And could Mr. Spielberg have picked a worse actor than Tom (Novacaine Cheeks) Cruise? he can't act! Every movie he's done since the mid-80s has been some variation of "Top Gun" (another piece of garbage, no duh) , you know, "Days Of Thunder" (Top Gun in cars)? Now, Top Gun with Martians/Aliens? I actually found myself rooting for the damn aliens, much in the same way I was cheering on the Japanese in Jerry Bruckheimer's recent Day of Infamy, "Pearl Harbor". I'm willing to concede that the FX were good, and I really DID like the brief cameo appearance by Gene Barry and Ann Robinson at the end, but what about a story, Mr. S? Did you think Tom Cruise was going to be inspired by L. Ron Hubbard? But I'm more than willing to forgive you if you just promise never to do it again. Everyone makes mistakes, right? Please.

This, along with "Twelve O'clock High", has got to be one of the absolute best movies ever made dealing with the 8th Air Force in World War Two. Taken from William Wister Haines novel and Broadway Play, the movie is actually better than both, given the constraints of the time regarding profanity, as the stage play and novel are loaded with then-taboo words. Clark Gable's portrayal of Brig. General K.C. Dennis is outstanding in a cast of excellent actors. Van Johnson, as his aide, T/Sgt. Evens, comes to stealing the show with some of his expressions. Haines, who was on the staff of the United States Strategic Air Forces in London during the war, draws from his own experience of the AAF command and the strategic and political thinking that went into some of the air strikes against strategic targets in Germany, from the value of the targets to the implications and consequences of letting political agendas at home take precedence over military considerations in the selection of targets, as Walter Pidgeon's portrayal of Maj. General Kane, Dennis' superior, shows all too well. He has sold out his ideals for air power to keep his job, and demands picking easy targets with low losses that will both keep a visiting Congressional Committee happy, and satisfy the US Navy. And Charles Bickford, as cynical, hard-bitten reporter War Correspondent Elmer Brockhurst, shrewdly and sarcastically asks during a Kane diatribe about getting funds and resources from Congress and the Navy "Where did I get the idea this war was against the Axis?" To me, another added plus in this film is that most of the principal cast were veterans of WW2, and Gable was a Captain with the 8th AF in England, who actually flew on some of these combat mission. Overall, and this really is a tough call to make, I'd have to say that I rate this movie just a tad higher then "Twelve O'Clock High", but whenever I watch them, I always make it a double bill.

Well, on it's credit side (if it can be said to have one), Timothy Hines DID manage to capture the original setting of H.G. Wells' outstanding novella. But other than that - well, to call a spade a spade - it sucks bigtime. What the Master Ed Wood could have done with the alleged $20 million dollar budget! Timothy Hines really does make Mr. Wood, who was a flawed genius anyway, look like the best filmmaker of all time. The special effects (I guess you'd call them that) are not even up to computer game standards. The acting is, well, perhaps about dinner theater comparable, and the accents are atrocious. At the risk of sounding offensive, a lot of the acting from the principal male characters is (especially Poor Ogilvy), well, ahem, . . . GAY! Poor Ogilvy minces and flounces about the bogus English countryside, waving his asbestos white handkerchief about as if it were heat resistant armor. Hey, the Stormtroopers in "Star Wars" had neat white body armor too, and it didn't work either, they still got blasted. Even when Ogilvy and Company get fried by the Martians' 'Heat Ray'(?), they flounce and mince in some weird kind of dance, even when they're theoretically DEAD and reduced to skeletons, which persist in unseemly dancing and writhing. Maybe Timothy Hines rented the skeletons from Ray Harryhausen, being left over from "Jason And The Argonauts". Or was it "Josie And The Pussycats"? I dunno. The soldiers, presumably because they're 'military', all seem to just rather unconvincingly explode, like the soldier on crutches and his unfortunate comrades carrying the stretcher just beyond him. Wow! I loved it! But the 'soldiers' all looked like they were either fascist troops from the Spanish Civil War, or Boer Commandos (which would be more or less correct for the period. Perhaps that was some bit of shrewd subtlety on the part of that wicked genius Hines?). Oddly enough, the character of the Curate looks exactly like he's drawn in the original illustrations by Warwick Goble, and he also turns in the most convincing job of acting. Oh, yeah. Musn't forget the THUNDER CHILD. In the book, the warship is described as an ironclad torpedo-ram. It was MEANT to RAM enemy ships. Yet, it's bow was crumpled after ramming the Tinker-Toy constructed Martian War Machines, with a tiny jagged hole in the forepeak, and she sank. An ironclad warship like THUNDERCHILD could've rammed the TITANIC and survived, but I guess the Royal Navy was bound by the same lowest-bidder constraints as our own Military. The costumes are all wrong, especially the British Army and Police uniforms, cobbled together mostly from USMC Alphas. And Timbo, in an obvious homage to Western Films Of Yore, has obviously set his movie in Wild Western England, because all his riders are using western saddles. The accents being used by just about everyone appear to be a mixture of some kind of Scottish regional accent used by Clan Macabre, and magically delicious Irish accents from County Malarky. On the credit side, and contrary to what one reviewer wrote, the only genuine, authentic feature of this Thing is the artillery. The guns are not from the Civil War, but appear to my eye and research as bona-fide British nine or 12 pounder Rifled Breach Loaders, perfectly authentic to the period. So was the ammunition shown being used. But the Artilleryman, who is a driver in the Horse Artillery, was not shown correctly driving his limber. You don't sit on the frigging limber box and drive a gun team, you ride the nearside wheel horses. The Opening, using what I believe is authentic period film footage, is okay, and the score's not bad. However, to the best of my knowledge Weybridge has never had an underground, and it certainly didn't in 1898.

But growing up reading this novel, I am very disappointed. Even more disappointed then I was at Spielberg's zillion dollar, special effects laden version. Maybe his version would have profited by swapping Anthony Piana for Tom Cruise, and vice versa. I have a lot more to say, but I'll let it go at this for now: I wish somebody would make a GOOD version of "War Of The Worlds" that's faithful to the original. Timmy's vision is fine for a high school film class, or maybe I should say pretentiously stupid for a college-level film student, and about as bad, which is about the best I can say for this thing, but that's about it. Oh, yeah. Just where DID the budget go? And what happened to Michael Caine? I'd like to hear HIS comments! I have a sneaking suspicion that Timbo "Orson Wood" Hines' breathtaking, bound-breaking cinema masterpiece just might be the risk-taking director's ticket to cult stardom, because, I must confess a guilty pleasure at watching this movie, which I didn't pay for anyway but was thoughtfully sent to me by a friend who burned a DVD copy for me, with no malicious intent that I've been able to determine. I must add here that I thought Blackmoon's dubbed and abridged version was not only a vast improvement, but an absolute, hysterically funny (in a good way) treat to watch. I find it hard to watch Master Timbo's version after Blackmoon. Keep it up, Tim! Make your own version of "DUNE", now. It just awaits the hand of a master like you! And all you headupyourass snobs who hated Cloverfield? FORGET IT. It CANNOT BEAT TIMBO HINES ARTISTRY FOR SHEER HILARIOUS AWFULNESS! HEY GET A LIFE!TIMBO IS WORSE THAN THE MASTER ED WOOD! I KID YOU NOT!