War of the Worlds: Season 01 (1988)

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Synopsis of War of the Worlds: Season 01

Season One of the lavishly produced sci-fi series War of the Worlds begins with a two-hour pilot episode, establishing the fact that the Earth had first been visited by aliens from the planet Mortax in 1938, and that the two planets waged a violent war in 1953, with the Earth emerging triumphant and the Mortaxian "casualties" entombed in steel drums and buried in various nuclear testing sites throughout the world. And why wasn't this common knowledge to the public. Well, thanks to mass hypnosis, Mankind had been convinced that the 1938 visitation was merely a radio hoax perpetrated by a young actor named Orson Welles, and the 1953 war--which ended with the aliens being killed off by bacteria--was nothing more than a Hollywood movie produced by George Pal! Unfortunately, the Mortaxians are not dead, only hibernating, and after awakening they escape to an abandoned nuclear site in Nevada, there to receive orders from their leaders, the Advocates (played this season by such actors as Richard Comar, David Calderisi, Isle Von Glatz and Michael Rudder). Those orders are simple and two the point: Proceed with the original mission to conquer the earth! Simplifying this task is the fact that the aliens can absorb the bodies of human beings and assume their identities, thereby moving about without detection--at least until the high radiation level in their systems cause them to literally melt into nothingness. Alone among his colleagues, Dr. Harrison Blackwood (Jared Martin) suspects that the "myth" of the Mortaxians is a reality, and he tries vainly to alert the world that the aliens are alive, well, and dangerously close to taking over. Expressing high skepticism over Blackwood's theories are his astrophysicist colleague Suzanne McCullough (Lynda Mason Green), a divorcee with a young daughter named Debi (Rachel Blanchard). Similarly, martinet Native American military officer Col. Paul Ironhorse (Richard Chaves) finds Blackwood's notions hard to swallow. Only when paraplegic computer whiz Norton Drake (Philip Akin), who manages to get about with the help of his computer-activated wheelchair, "Gertrude", punches up evidence that the aliens are burrowing their way towards their old warships, still held in storage, do Suzanne and Ironhorse begin to come over to Blackwood's side--and then, it still takes several violent "close encounters" to win the hearts and minds of the disbelievers. The rest of the season's 22 episodes finds Blackwood and his team coordinating their counterattack against the Mortaxians from their hidden headquarters, The Cottage. Along the way, Blackwood wins several more converts to his cause, and also crosses paths with other aliens who have either cast their lot with Mortaxians or who side with the humans. And throughout it all, it is very, very difficult to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys--even for the viewers at home! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Theatrical Feature Running Time:

1086 mins

Complete Cast of War of the Worlds: Season 01

Producer(s):

Herbert J. Wright, John Hackett, Jonathan Hackett

Categories:

Television, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

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