Apple TV+ "Invasion"

[Blackstar]

I gave up watching season 1 after 3 episodes…it was soooo boring…but after reading that season 2 finally brings on the aliens, I watched S2 episode 1…or tried to…I gave up 3/4 of the way through.

The aliens showed up late in season 1, but I think they are some of the worst alien designs I've seen in a long time. Clearly one of the themes for the show was to keep everything mysterious, and that included hiding the aliens for as long as possible, and then making it hard to see/understand them. So they look like black gooey shapes with spikes that come out of their central body. No clear face or even shape. And of course we don't know anything about their speech or motivations. But that's all part of what I think is so wrong with this show--the creators had a premise and themes, but they had no good way to execute them. In fact, it may not be possible to execute them in an interesting way. "They're mysterious!" Yeah, so? That only works for so long until we get bored with not knowing what they are doing.

Did Apple TV+ make the whole series available at once, or are they rolling out one episode a week? I'm really only interested in seeing the ending, because based on season 1, it will be a long slog to get there.

[Jeff Lerner]

I gave up watching season 1 after 3 episodes…it was soooo boring…but after reading that season 2 finally brings on the aliens, I watched S2 episode 1…or tried to…I gave up 3/4 of the way through.

The aliens showed up late in season 1, but I think they are some of the worst alien designs I've seen in a long time. Clearly one of the themes for the show was to keep everything mysterious, and that included hiding the aliens for as long as possible, and then making it hard to see/understand them. So they look like black gooey shapes with spikes that come out of their central body. No clear face or even shape. And of course we don't know anything about their speech or motivations. But that's all part of what I think is so wrong with this show--the creators had a premise and themes, but they had no good way to execute them. In fact, it may not be possible to execute them in an interesting way. "They're mysterious!" Yeah, so? That only works for so long until we get bored with not knowing what they are doing.

Did Apple TV+ make the whole series available at once, or are they rolling out one episode a week? I'm really only interested in seeing the ending, because based on season 1, it will be a long slog to get there.

Episodes seem to be released weekly …I find the actors are terrible, the plot is slow moving and the effects are …uugggg..if you make it to the season end, let us know.

[Blackstar]

Episodes seem to be released weekly …I find the actors are terrible, the plot is slow moving and the effects are …uugggg..

Oh, that was definitely true for the first season. The only person I cared about in the show was the British kid, who is initially bullied but turns out to have more resilience than just about anybody else. And then he dies! (The more I think back to this show, the more annoyed I get with the writers.)

I think I watched the first three episodes and then started skimming through the rest and only watched the last one.

And it was just so disappointing on many levels--like we finally get to see an alien, and it looks like a spiky ball of tar.

We got all the way through that first season, supposedly the aliens were defeated, and then in the very last scene it looks like a different group of aliens show up. This looked like taking a page from the "Lost" guidebook: rather than answer the big mystery you've created, just create another big mystery that eclipses it.

if you make it to the season end, let us know.

I would only watch the last episode and would not spend any time on the rest.

[Mandella]

Episodes seem to be released weekly …I find the actors are terrible, the plot is slow moving and the effects are …uugggg..

Oh, that was definitely true for the first season. The only person I cared about in the show was the British kid, who is initially bullied but turns out to have more resilience than just about anybody else. And then he dies! (The more I think back to this show, the more annoyed I get with the writers.)

I think I watched the first three episodes and then started skimming through the rest and only watched the last one.

And it was just so disappointing on many levels--like we finally get to see an alien, and it looks like a spiky ball of tar.

We got all the way through that first season, supposedly the aliens were defeated, and then in the very last scene it looks like a different group of aliens show up. This looked like taking a page from the "Lost" guidebook: rather than answer the big mystery you've created, just create another big mystery that eclipses it.

if you make it to the season end, let us know.

I would only watch the last episode and would not spend any time on the rest.

Well, I watched the entire first season, did not skim or skip any of it, and gave it my full attention.

You made the right choice. I honestly have trouble imagining who the target audience is for this. I get that plenty of people don't care about accurate science and technology being presented in a work of fiction, but even so there is a lot of alien stuff cluttering up the Lifetime daytime soap opera they are trying to watch.

I wouldn't watch the second season if Sam Neill himself sat down with me and shared my popcorn.

[Blackstar]

You made the right choice. I honestly have trouble imagining who the target audience is for this. I get that plenty of people don't care about accurate science and technology being presented in a work of fiction, but even so there is a lot of alien stuff cluttering up the Lifetime daytime soap opera they are trying to watch.

I am curious as to how they pitched this show. Was their pitch "It's an alien invasion without any aliens"?

I wouldn't watch the second season if Sam Neill himself sat down with me and shared my popcorn.

He was smart enough to appear in one episode, cash his check, and leave. He is a hero.

[Steve G]

I have the entire "The Invaders" series from the 1960s. It was a Quin Martin Production and it's very good, with high production values for the time. Unfortunately, the show was cancelled after two seasons, too few episodes for syndication. Lots of big guest stars in it.

[Steve G]

I've always liked the premise that the aliens have discovered FTL travel but using 1930s technology. So when they do come to Earth, we are actually more technologically advanced.

[Blackstar]

Well give me a parrot and call me a pirate! I had no idea that this was going to a third season:

[Blackstar]

I decided to write something:

https://thespacereview.com/article/5020/1


It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine): The persistence of the alien invasion film
by Dwayne Day
Monday, July 7, 2025

A few days before July 4, a telescope detected a massive object heading from deep space into the inner solar system. That’s the start of the 1996 alien invasion flick Independence Day. It also happened last week, when the University of Hawaii’s NASA-funded ATLAS telescope in Chile detected an object, later classified as 3I/ATLAS, the “I” standing for “interstellar.” This was only the third time an interstellar comet has been detected passing through our solar system, after the much more famous and lyrical ’Oumuamua was discovered in 2017, and then 2I/Borisov in 2019. Better telescopes will certainly detect many more.

Every time this happens, people speculate that the object is a spaceship, possibly part of an invasion fleet. Alien invasions have lurked below the surface of the American psyche for over seven decades now. And by total coincidence, on the same day that 3I/ATLAS received its designation, Apple TV+ released the trailer for the third season of its alien invasion show Invasion, which you have almost certainly never heard of, let alone watched. Invasion has all the characteristics of modern shows of its ilk: some clever ideas, uninspired execution including wobbly CGI, lots of screaming, and no idea where it is going or how the story will end. But it helps shine a light on how space is part of our culture, and our unease about it.

[Apollo22]

How about "A quiet place" franchise ? the pitch is pretty clever. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Quiet_Place_(film_series)

In passing : that's a REM song, and I like REM so thanks for the reference.

[Blackstar]

I completely forgot this show existed. I think everybody else did too. Here are shots from a recent episode.

[Blackstar]

A decent discussion here.

I'm trying to remember if I read it or saw a YouTube video discussion of "Battle: Los Angeles" that gave it props. As Eckhart notes here, it is one of the few (only?) movies that shows an alien invasion from the point of view of the troops fighting against it. Other movies included those scenes ("Independence Day," "War of the Worlds"), but they were not the focus.

I have not rewatched the movie since the first time I saw it. I enjoyed it when I watched it, but the flaws didn't make me want to revisit it.

[Blackstar]

"Apple + series INVASION, Season 3.  Scroggins Aviation supplied the producers with several aviation mockups, including UH-1H Huey helicopters, CH-47D Chinook, and an F/A-18 Hornet for the production. Attached are several images of our aviation assets on set.
We would like to thank the producers and Apple + for having the opportunity to work on the series. Look for the series on Apple+"