Fresh and Exciting

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The Uk Horror Channel is showing the 1967 Quinn Martin SF serial THE INVADERS and with a timing that probably isn't coincidental also broadcast another Quinn Martin production with a very similar premise that was intended as a pilot for a series that never went in to production . Watching it you'll be struck that it was no surprise we never got a full run of THE ALIENS ARE COMING but surprised it got beyond script stage THE INVADERS might have been produced by Martin but the whole ethos of the show belonged to Larry Cohen hence we got a rather serious ,downbeat feel to the show as you'd expect from a show directly inspired by INVASION OF THE BODYSNATCHERS and INVADERS FROM MARS . It also owed a nod to film noir as an outsider from society tried to warn humanity that the human race is getting infiltrated by an alien species . The premise isn't original and is very self limiting but the dark tone and sense of gravitas made up for it . Here we have a science fiction thriller that has a tone more in keeping with American network inoffensive family shows like THE LOVE BOAT An alien spaceship lands in a remote American desert and eye up the Boulder Dam and right away the script starts tripping itself up .. The aliens have no idea what it is but decide it will make a good power source for them . They have no idea about hydro electric power but realise a hydro electric dam would make a good power source ? The aliens themselves when revealed just look very silly , a sort of robotic , organic hybrid resembling a Dalek and a man dressed up It just doesn't make sense because there's no chance evolution throwing up this type of creature . The human characters are broadly drawn such as geeky UFO freak , ballsy female investigative journalist etc with a hint of a blossoming romance between the two lead characters . Sick bags ahoy and let's be thankful this didn't go to a full series even though there's a cynical open ended last act that screams " We know it's rubbish but give us a full series " , Stick to THE INVADERS instead . In fact stick to THE LOVE BOAT as well

The only thing missing is the typical voice at the beginning announcing the fact that this is a QM production. They even have William Conrad (Cannon) in a voice over near the end saying, "The nightmare is just beginning!" which was probably lifted from some other production, but at least they got that great voice of his for a bit. This is obviously a failed pilot episode where our brave scientist tracks down the invading aliens week after week. Sound familiar? It was done better as THE INVADERS in the 60s. But still a fun TV film to watch if only for the enjoyment of seeing the late 70s period paraphernalia, and to muse about the formulaic production of these types of TV pilots/movies. It's always a great thrill to get to the point of the TV commercial cutaway, and not have a commercial come in! Full of lots of cheesy but nifty TV production special effect leftovers and plastico robotic creatures from Galactica and Buck Rogers, unfortunately without the beautiful Erin Grey, though. If you can find it, it's worth a look.

I was thirteen when this aired, and even at that young age, I felt insulted. I don't think this counts as a spoiler, but just in case, I'm throwing out there a SPOILER WARNING: Aliens want to invade the earth, for inadequately defined reasons. They possess the bodies of people who may be helpful in this endevour, in no adequately defined process. They are opposed by a Doctor, who functions as a detective, and is "The Only One Who Knows What's Really Going On." There's an extended sequence on the proper way to construct a hamburger - I kid you not - and then, after about an hour and a half, for no adequately defined reason, the movie ends. This was actually intended as a "Back Door Pilot" - that is, a 'made for TV movie' that, if successful, would launch it's own series. Clearly the premise for this series would have been a sort of cross between "Barnaby Jones" and "The Invaders." Mercifully, it appears I was the only one watching in twenty-one years ago, and the show never materialized.

First of all: all visual effects were really bad. You could even see it was fake, even while trying not to think hard about it. The plot was bad. The point is, we rented this movie in the time Aliens was just on video and we were really disappointed with this one. Well, at least we could a lot. So maybe it's a comedy???