Falling Skies: Chicken Little Ain't Got Nothin' on the Overlords!

I'm sure I'm dating myself here a bit. But, one of the things I love about Falling Skies are the special effects. Y'see, I grew up in the days when black and white television went color. I grew up suspending my disbelief at poorly depicted aliens and their turfs in The Outer Limits, Star Trek: The Original Series, The Twilight Zone (original) and Lost in Space. The stories in those series had me compelled to watch and I forgave the somewhat ludicrous and fake-looking monsters and aliens akin to the way I forgave them in early Japanese Godzilla movies. At least I wasn't dealing with subtitles!

Fast forward to today's summer TV fare from TNT -- Falling Skies. It's Steven Spielbrg, for goodness' sakes. It's Robert Rodan, the writer of Saving Private Ryan. It's computer effects so realistic that one might think skitters, mechs and overlords really could exist somewhere in our nightmares of an apocalyptic world.

Tonight, the third season of the show kicks off with the high action, the superb effects and a decent, albeit perhaps a bit derivative, tale to tell. A few new characters are introduced; we bid adieu to a few other folks we've gotten to know over the past season or two. After all, unless your name is Mason on the show, you're probably expendable. Heck, I'd say even a Mason might not protect them from the latest onslaught.

My own personal favorite character on the show is Ben Mason. If this were real life (what? it's not?), he'd be the guy I want in my corner -- harnessed by the aliens, saved by the humans kind of sort of only to become a liaison between rebel skitters and the humans while, in actuality, he has traits of both species. Not only that, but he's easy on the eyes to watch, especially if I were decades younger!

Thanks to the kind folks at TNT, some weeks back I received the first five episodes of the new season. They don't tell me I have to like them. They don't even tell me I have to post about the show. If I do post, I can be as critical as I want with no repercussions from the network. They pay me nothing to promote the series.

But, this is one summer series I don't want to miss.

I'm posting this before tonight's series premiere airs, so I won't give you any real spoilers, per se. I will go as far as to say there's a new overlord on the scene and it's a bit of a shocker. And, then there's a Chuckie kind of thing going on. That's all.

Will you be watching? Or, if you're reading this after the show ... what did you think? Favorite characters? Comments on the special effects? Talk to me, 2nd Mass followers!