Revelation Films, out now

It’s the day after tomorrow, and the Earth is suffering under the alien invasion…

It’s received wisdom that a lot of what was good about the first season of the TV version of War of the Worlds was lost in this second year – including a good proportion of the cast. There are new invaders, and somehow in a short space of time the world has gone down the plughole. But is it really as dire as its reputation would suggest?

Of course, the biggest pull for many genre fans will be the appearance of future Highlander star Adrian Paul as John Kincaid, although whether his work makes up for the loss of Philip Akin and Richard Chaves will be a matter of personal taste.

The stories certainly lack the vision of original executive producer Greg Strangis in terms of its links to the past, but we do get a detour back to 1953 (with a neat visual trick that I won’t spoil) and various other oddities. This does at least mean that you’re not quite sure from week to week what you’re going to get. We see street gangs taken over by aliens (“got to kill the music!” is one of the great lines from this); Jared Martin falling in love with an alien; hybrid babies; shortages of food and water…

It’s certainly rarely boring, but there are inconsistencies that show up more when watched as a box set; however, if you enjoyed the first season, chances are that once you’re accustomed to the changes, you’ll buy into this too.

Verdict: A chance to look back at an interesting take on H.G. Wells.  6/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order War Of the Worlds: The Final Season from Amazon.co.uk

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