When I first saw this series growing up in South Africa I was blown away and to be honest when I watched the series last year here I was still impressed even though in general I don't like sci-fi. Marc Singer and Michael Ironside as well as Jane Badler and Faye Grant all gave consistently good performances and I don't think they ever slipped up even though the script writers did go OTT sometimes. I felt and still feel the special effects to be good, though obviously not up to todays standards. For example the alien motherships, their fighter aircraft, the alien weaponry. One thing I wondered whilst watching it was where are the alien tanks? Surely they would need these so as to help human resistance in the cities and country. They just drove around in jeeps with a laser cannon on the back.
Another very interesting aspect was the World War 2 theme which ran strongly through it and the aliens were cast as sort of Nazi invaders. Look at the alien flag (it's like a swastika), look at the helmets and uniforms of the alien soldiers (a lot like German uniforms of WW2). There was also the issue of the 'V' symbol which was used in occupied Europe as an anti-Nazi symbol in the 40s. There were also human collaborators who helped the aliens and were reviled as in occupied Europe. The resistance of course were the central anti-alien force just as in France for example in 1940-44. It was all cleverly done, with a good atmosphere of an occupying army portrayed (there always seemed to be menacing alien patrols walking around in the background, etc., just like German troops in occupied Europe). There were also 'good' aliens like there were, dare I say it, 'good' Nazis (like Schindler) who tried to undermine a brutal regime. The fact that Badler played the sort of Himmler role (not the head honcho by any means) was strange also.....you'd have thought the writers would have made her an all powerful 'Hitler' figure.
The theme of survival was very important too in the series, the struggle was in a sense one of survival.....the human race would be eliminated if the aliens succeeded and so the resistance had to fight back. Similar to the Nazi era whereby the German people felt themselves to be threatened almost as a race and thus fight back, leading to destruction and tragedy. The aliens are also like this, they have come from a dying world and feel themselves to be in danger of being destroyed as a race and so attempt to eliminate the human enemy for their own ends. Very existentialist ideas indeed, reflecting on man's own nature of self-destruction and brutality.
The first part of the series I felt was also the best part, when the humans welcomed these seemingly human visitors from another planet....it was an intriguing period as the two 'races' intermingled and happiness and mutual cooperation gave rise to the inevitable mistrust and hatred. The later episodes did though I felt go awry. For example the creation of a cross-breed, Elizabeth, who had special magical powers, that just annoyed me quite quickly. What perhaps really would have happened if the two species 'mingled' would have been no cross-breed at all or perhaps one like the first 'ugly' alien that quickly died after Robin Maxwell gave birth. All in all though I thoroughly enjoyed the series and wish they would make a movie perhaps out of it or another series.....excellent stuff.
Another very interesting aspect was the World War 2 theme which ran strongly through it and the aliens were cast as sort of Nazi invaders. Look at the alien flag (it's like a swastika), look at the helmets and uniforms of the alien soldiers (a lot like German uniforms of WW2). There was also the issue of the 'V' symbol which was used in occupied Europe as an anti-Nazi symbol in the 40s. There were also human collaborators who helped the aliens and were reviled as in occupied Europe. The resistance of course were the central anti-alien force just as in France for example in 1940-44. It was all cleverly done, with a good atmosphere of an occupying army portrayed (there always seemed to be menacing alien patrols walking around in the background, etc., just like German troops in occupied Europe). There were also 'good' aliens like there were, dare I say it, 'good' Nazis (like Schindler) who tried to undermine a brutal regime. The fact that Badler played the sort of Himmler role (not the head honcho by any means) was strange also.....you'd have thought the writers would have made her an all powerful 'Hitler' figure.
The theme of survival was very important too in the series, the struggle was in a sense one of survival.....the human race would be eliminated if the aliens succeeded and so the resistance had to fight back. Similar to the Nazi era whereby the German people felt themselves to be threatened almost as a race and thus fight back, leading to destruction and tragedy. The aliens are also like this, they have come from a dying world and feel themselves to be in danger of being destroyed as a race and so attempt to eliminate the human enemy for their own ends. Very existentialist ideas indeed, reflecting on man's own nature of self-destruction and brutality.
The first part of the series I felt was also the best part, when the humans welcomed these seemingly human visitors from another planet....it was an intriguing period as the two 'races' intermingled and happiness and mutual cooperation gave rise to the inevitable mistrust and hatred. The later episodes did though I felt go awry. For example the creation of a cross-breed, Elizabeth, who had special magical powers, that just annoyed me quite quickly. What perhaps really would have happened if the two species 'mingled' would have been no cross-breed at all or perhaps one like the first 'ugly' alien that quickly died after Robin Maxwell gave birth. All in all though I thoroughly enjoyed the series and wish they would make a movie perhaps out of it or another series.....excellent stuff.