| Two Seasons then canned |
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| Written by Doug Lambert & James Ryder |
| Monday, 23 November 2009 15:11 |
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War of the Worlds
The television series reveals that the aliens were not from Mars – as by now it was proven that there was no life on Mars. Instead the aliens were from a planet called Mor-Tox and they were not killed at the end of the movie but instead in suspended animation until radiation wakes them up. They are now able to possess the bodies of humans giving them limited immunity to the germs in our atmosphere. The series revolves around a small team of scientists and military personnel who try to combat the awakened aliens. Actress Ann Robinson who played Sylvia Van Buren in the 1952 film reprised her role for several episodes linking film and the television series.
The Tripods
The television series was jointly produced by the BBC and Australia’s Seven Network and was a costly affair. Several huge Tripods were constructed for the series which lasted two seasons, a third was planned. The trouble with the series, according to critics, was the Tripods were rarely seen – just a handful of times in the first season – and the rest of the time the story were more “Survivors” like, tales of farming. Things improved in the second season when the aliens of the piece featured a lot more and the action was ramped up a bit. The series was cancelled after two seasons by Michael Grade who had also swung his axe on Doctor Who in 1985, though forced to relent on that after a huge media campaign. A third season was planned and pre-production underway when Grade dropped the axe. In the end the sheer cost of the series was its downfall and Grade felt it wasn’t a good return on the money it cost – he also isn’t really a Sci Fi fan. The BBC has now released both seasons of The Tripods on DVD.Twin Peaks
So during the show’s second series producers were forced to reveal the murderers identity – it was a move that killed the show off. Once this mystery was solved ratings dropped as viewers had little reason to tune in and the show became increasingly bizarre. ABC cancelled the series but David Lynch, creator of Twin Peaks saw to it that a prequel film, Fire Walk With Me, was produced. Lynch hoped the movie would be the first in a trilogy but the commercial failure of Fire Walk With Me dashed any hopes of that.
Space 1999 Drama from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson revolving around the inhabitants of Moon Base Alpha who are flung across the galaxy after a powerful nuclear explosion knocks the moon out of Earth’s orbit. The drama follows the Alphans as the travel through the galaxy hoping one day to return home. The origins of Space 1999 can be found in the proposed second season of the Anderson’s other Sci Fi series, UFO. Due to the popularity of the Moonbase episodes during the first series of UFO it was planned to feature the Moon more heavily in UFO’s second series but then it was cancelled so the Anderson’s decided to create a new show with some of the ideas they had already developed.
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Television sequel series to the popular 1952 film by George Pal which shifted the action away from Victorian London to Cold War America. The idea of a television sequel to the film was first proposed by Pal himself in the 1970s but it wasn’t until the late 1980s that the series became a reality. The series is set some twenty years after the failed invasion but for the majority of people the invasion attempt is a forgotten event – this is somewhat unbelievable considering the film showed wide spread destruction across the world. However, it’s possible that over the course of time an explanation would have been revealed.
The second series underwent a radical revamp with much of the established plot and mythology abandoned as a new producer took charge. The setting of the series moved from contemporary to near-future with a cyber-punk, dystopia feel. Several characters from the first series were killed off and a new race of aliens introduced as a new threat. The continuity established between season one and the 1952 film was mostly forgotten and the viewers were not impressed. They turned off and the show was dropped. 
Television adaptation of the novels by John Christopher, real name Samuel Youd, set in a post-apocalyptic story where the Earth has been conquered, and humans made slaves, by a race of aliens that use huge Tripods to control the human population. Society has reverted to Middle Ages form of industry with a very much reduced human population, kept in check by the Tripods. 
Creepy and utterly bonkers drama that revolved around the murder of teenage Laura Piper at the investigation into it brutal killing. Through the investigation we are introduced to the residents of the small town of Twin Peaks and their dark secrets. Amongst those we meet are such bizarreness as the ‘log lady’. Although the series was a ratings and critical success to begin with ABC were concerned that interest would decline if the central mystery – who killed Laura – was not resolved quickly.
