It started in November and there are 4 episodes so far. It's already gone on hiatus and won't be back with us until March. A bit of a strange decision by ABC: hopefully the extended delay won't kill it completely as it's quite interesting.
In preparation for the new series, I first watched the 5 episodes that comprises the 2 episode Original Mini Series and the 3 episode Final Battle follow-up. I saw these as a kid when I was about 11 or 12 and at the time was excited and scared by it. Amazing what they could get away with back then! The acting is camp, dialogue cheesy, special effects awful and overall scenario is just silly. Though no-one can wear a pair of tight jeans quite like Marc Singer, and Jane Badler as Diana still gives me a little tingle...
Weirdly, although the update has much more technology available to impress us with, what we've seen so far has been sub par. The interior of the spaceships is all done with very unconvincing green screen work, no physical sets at all, so everyone just looks like they're floating on insubstantial floors. In some ways, this is even worse than the original series cheap "painted warehouse and tunnels" sets! The shuttles that go back and forth all the time are also pretty unconvincing. It's medium budget TV CGI that does the job but won't win any awards.
What I like about the new series is the way they've updated it. The original was an allegory for the rise of fascism in Europe before WW2. The aliens all wear the same orange uniforms and their symbol is a barely disguised swastika. Without wanting to put too many spoilers here for people who haven't seen it yet, the updated scenario is more mature and realistic and uses the current global crises and terrorism paranoia as its backdrop. I also like the way the truth of the visitors is revealed early on and the formation of a tiny resistance is so far much better handled.
The acting is much better all round than the original. Of course, Morena Baccarin (who played Inara Serra in Firefly) smoulders icily here as the leader of the Visitors and also gave me a little tingle... Interesting to see that none of the characters have the same names as in the original, but you can easily map the new characters to the old, even though some have had their gender changed or relationships modified. I think these changed characters will prove much more interesting than the fairly one-dimensional people of the original.
It's not amazing TV by any means, but it's entertaining enough that I'd watch the rest when they come out in the spring. Anyone else seen it? Or even watched the original?
