Invasion - AppleTV+

Agent Coulson · 09-06-2021 4:11pm #1

Created by Simon Kinberg

Shamier Anderson, Golshifteh Farahani, Sam Neill, Firas Nassar, and Shioli Kutsuna star in this sci-fi drama that will make you question what you would do under extraterrestrial threat.

Following multiple storylines across different continents, Invasion takes a global look at how one alien invasion would affect us all.

Mr E · 09-06-2021 4:45pm

Cracking trailer. That looks great.

gmisk · 09-06-2021 10:02pm

That is one epic trailer...plus Sam Neill!

expectationlost · 09-06-2021 11:51pm

so War of the Worlds but not calling it that?

Slydice · 10-06-2021 12:08am

That's a damn epic trailer! Wonder can the show deliver.
Can't find an imdb for it. It has a wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_(upcoming_TV_series)

$200m budget.. so then it's down to the writing/directing I'd guess.
Shamier Anderson (Dolls in Wynona Earp) is looking solid for a soldier.

pixelburp · 10-06-2021 1:50am

I dunno, looked incredibly generic to me. Maybe the trailer's just playing it coy but nothing grabbed me TBH. Just came off like the kind of network show that gets cancelled halfway through its run.

That budget is insane though. 200 million for a TV show that isn't an adapted, popular IP? Crazy stuff.

expectationlost · 10-06-2021 1:29pm

pixelburp wrote: »

I dunno, looked incredibly generic to me. Maybe the trailer's just playing it coy but nothing grabbed me TBH. Just came off like the kind of network show that gets cancelled halfway through its run.

That budget is insane though. 200 million for a TV show that isn't an adapted, popular IP? Crazy stuff.

not adpated?

the 3 legged alien at the end

pixelburp · 10-06-2021 2:34pm

expectationlost wrote: »

not adpated?
the 3 legged alien at the end

Obviously a creative inspiration but the trailer never hinted at an adaptation of that particular book TBH. It's not even named after it, which given the book's Public Domain wouldn't have been hard

Hodors Appletart · 10-06-2021 3:35pm

there's a current WOTW on Disney/Canal Plus so ....

it does seem a bit the same, minus the steel spheres

expectationlost · 10-06-2021 7:14pm

pixelburp wrote: »

Obviously a creative inspiration but the trailer never hinted at an adaptation of that particular book TBH. It's not even named after it, which given the book's Public Domain wouldn't have been hard

as pointed out there are too many adaptions of it, maybe its like how Star Trek Into Darkness didn't feature Khan....

Agent Coulson · 22-09-2021 7:51pm

Starts October 22nd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlaHxL3mHAU

pixelburp · 22-09-2021 8:00pm

Weird how Sam Neil doesn't have any lines in that trailer.

Really feels like a SyFy summer show with more money. Which, ya know, may not be a bad thing lol.

Slydice · 22-09-2021 8:03pm

Tone felt a bit glum in that

irishgeo · 22-09-2021 8:20pm

Looks interesting.

Atlantic Dawn · 22-10-2021 12:40pm

Anyone start watching this? First 3 episodes available today.

Agent Coulson · 22-10-2021 7:53pm

The first episode was ok nothing great, However I'm getting put off by how dark they filmed it.

What is it with shows now being filmed so dark that it nearly impossible to see what's going on.

Slydice · 22-10-2021 8:57pm

1: Well.. my first thought went to anyone else who might try to watch this for scifi/aliens.. it's a long episode.. a little stuff happens at the start, a little stuff happens at the end.. not monumental stuff.. but stuff.

Well..

eh.. so maybe.. maybe bodysnatchers. Maybe not, maybe just outright killing people... but like.. two of what feels like the main cast hit already.

Me when I saw the comms lady get to the launch vehicle "oooh.. they riding?" .. 3 mins and one comms test later "yep, they ridin" 😁

Slydice · 22-10-2021 10:17pm

2: It's a bit of a slog getting through these. Stuff does happen.. not much.. and the big parts are toward the end of each episode.

I'm still

a bit clueless as to the invaders type/motivation/plan.. feels maybe a little like the Aliens-Are-Different (TM) feel of the Annihilation film

Aside from that, I'm guess this is an altertive universe / timeline / dimension or something

Japanese Space Agency called JASA .. not JAXA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAXA
Americans still in bases in Afghanistan

Token apple getting a dig in against tesla too.. right yeah.. ok.

Slydice · 22-10-2021 11:23pm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_(2021_TV_series)

"Invasion is reported to have a $200 million budget"

and what.. exactly did they spend all that money on? snax?

3: Not much happened. Some stuff happened. Very little.

So like .. this Woji thing is a thing I guess..

What did they spend all that money on.. did they just fly around all the filming locations or something and spend all the money apple gave em... i dunno. Maybe there's something big to come later on.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/invasion_2021/s01

50% Critics 62% audience

Not very surprising.

FortuneChip · 22-10-2021 11:56pm

That was fairly weak. The sort of pilot that came ten a penny a decade ago, and usually fell by the wayside.

i understand they’re going for a local angle, but seems like they’re in such a rush to tell all these little character details, they’re forgetting we’re here because we want to watch a show.

Just seemed like it was spread super thinly and then a rush to land the concept late on.

Slydice · 29-10-2021 7:03pm

4: Well.. hrmm.. I dunno. Still a bit of mix of not moving along and what did they spend the $200m budget on.

Biggest weak points were automatic bullet fire not registering hits on walls/windows/car panelling.

Still though.. that dude

got messed up by the Alien! Protruding spikey alien spiking through his body (after I went back and paused on the frames of the scene.

For the big plot.. maybe it could be leading up to a big spend on special effects.. My current guess is:

they've just wiped out all space stuff we had. clearing away advanced intel and comms we might be able to use for mustering forces

seeing that had me thinking that maybe they'll be going at us something like the US going at Serbia during the Bosnian war

So maybe..

- take out our satellites and space stuff

-move to lower levels and take out our air and missile (especially nukes) capability from space

-take out land based defences from the air

-move in for ground assault

At the moment, the only force seen might just be scouts or an advance party

Could be all wrong with that and they've just wasted $200m somehow 😁

Shred · 30-10-2021 7:19pm

I enjoyed the first episode, the second was decent but I fell asleep during the 3rd. It really is a bit of a slog tbh but Empire's review (Invasion Review | TV Show - Empire (empireonline.com)) makes me think I might watch another 1 or 2 (after finishing the 3rd)...

setanta1000 · 01-11-2021 1:05pm

I finished watching the Disney / Canal+ WotW version last month and in terms of engaging me in the story the Canal+ was much better. That felt much more real, more believable / relatable (if any of this is believable!) Agree with that Empire review and others; the whole thing is being dragged out, which is fine if it is building tension by doing so but this just feels boring.

It's a shame because I think there are great characters and actors here, with some individual nicely played scenes, but overall I don't get the point....and I do wonder where they spent the budget - unless it all went to Sam Neill?!?

Icyseanfitz · 01-11-2021 9:39pm

Just watched the first episode, did they really kill off that character at the end? If so wth, most of the reason I watched this to begin with ffs

Slydice · 01-11-2021 10:24pm

Eh... I wouldn't assume that.. that ending was kind of mysterious and generally as a rule in most alien invasion shows.. I wouldn't even assume people that "were dead" were not bring backable in some alien way 😁

If you want to know more about it from the rest of the episodes:

We haven't the foggiest what happened to him yet 😁

Slydice · 05-11-2021 10:06pm

5: Finnnnnaaallllyy some movement.. and the ending had a bit more pull to it.

Ewwweee gross, what was that thing inside the dude!?! 😲

Looked like they had all been cut up a bit by a creature similar to the one from the last episode which tore asunder the dude who shot at it.

Maybe it's a spore from the creature or just some bacteria.. or maybe like how they grow new versions of themselves like in the Alien films

More opening up about an attack from the radio broadcasts and the Presidents address seemed to go along with it.

(I did raise an eyebrow at the martial law bit)

Not sure about the message in the army base about something corrosive.

So.. I guess I wanna know more. Think I checked wiki though and saw it mention some critic who'd seen all the episodes saying they were just left confused.. so maybe not much more happens.

Agent Coulson · 12-11-2021 7:15am

This weeks episode was a really good tense 30 minute episode and we finally got to see one.

Slydice · 12-11-2021 9:26pm

6: Definitely needs to come with a: Dim the lights before watching notice! 🙂

Felt like a mini-horror-dark-monster-film episode.. still not seeing a $200 million budget though.. and 4 episodes left..

Alright, for a second there I was like.. why is it staying in the house with the rain! Maybe it's weakness is rain!! 😲 but then it attacked outside in the rain so .. maybe not 🙂

It looked a bit flappy/scaley/hollow after it died.. and when it was moving around in the house it looked a bit like what was in inside the guys chest in the last episode.. so feels a bit more like something that can grow.. so could the husband be infected maybe.

Well.. looks like thing the kid found is something that can hurt em.. maybe really sharp or radioactive or something

Maybe they've end-loaded the season with special effects using the money.. I dunno

Seems like this Andrew Baldwin guy got in on the writing for this episode and the next few:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4636960/

Maybe this was a switch up to his style

No word on who wrote/directed the season finale:

Careful.. might be spoilers in the episode names

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_(2021_TV_series)

Slydice · 19-11-2021 9:02pm

7: Still ain't seen $200million popping off the screen... 3 episodes left.

Anyway, so

Hive mind eh.. gets me reminded of the Star Trek Borg idea.. also thinking insect like.

The london kid seems like maybe he's somehow atuned to the aliens somehow.

That the aliens could be using a communications network makes sense.

Looks like the audience for this show is being kept away from the big action. Seems like bullets don't do much.. explosives and alien shared do. I imagine then that the first fights ended pretty quickly if not just from the blow away effect that happened to the Afghanistan squad.

Slydice · 26-11-2021 9:57pm

8: Emmm.. so

Soldier.. eh I mean Operator is in London now... and has teamed up with kids...

US folks still got the piece of.. dangerous/interactive material..

Maybe.. maybe there'll be comms coming up..

Seems to be leaning to the kid being able to do mind-stuff against the Aliens.. that might be cool.

2 episodes left a a shedload of budget from the looks of things.

Slydice · 03-12-2021 11:58pm

9: Maybe rights to a David Bowie song cost $200m 😁 . Alright, what did I get from that episode...

Kid saw two stars above a planet in his vision so possibly they come from a binary star system. Planet looked very dusty rocky.. maybe it had been stripped clean.

The growth in the american forest along with the Japanese scientist saying about poisoning the environment says to me that there's some large scale teraforming going on.

The spikey things stopped.. so maybe they are like remote control things that are on auto most of the time.

They nuked something.. something that just doesn't seem big enough to be a source of a planet invasion. So maybe they just poked the hive.. and next will be an angry hive

ejmaztec · 04-12-2021 12:52pm

It seemed totally out of the blue, unless I missed something, but why did those guys attack the soldiers who were taking the Malik family to the Pentagon, and who were they?

Slydice · 04-12-2021 9:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118268013#Comment_118268013

It did, it seemed a bit wierd. Best I guessed was the link to

- the two kids and how their son saw the other son through the fence.

-maybe word got out that they had something that could hurt the aliens.

-in the face of the unknown and so many deaths, it didn't seem surprising that someone or some group might be trying to ambush them to get the weapon they'd heard about.

-even the armed forces people around them already had recognised the importance and sending them to the pentagon sounded like a maximum protection effort

fritzelly · 10-12-2021 6:56pm

Well that was a bit of a meh final episode - must be the slowest moving series ever

Agent Coulson · 10-12-2021 7:26pm

Very disappointing series.

I wonder how much Sam Neill got paid to be the face of the trailer and then never really be in the series.

fritzelly · 10-12-2021 7:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118302473#Comment_118302473

Very much bait and switch

Slydice · 10-12-2021 10:09pm

Well.. I'm calling that Season 0. A total proglogue feeling to it.

Feels like someone could probably jump into the next season and not feel like they've missed anything.

Also haven't a clue where the $200 million went. Get the feeling someone made easy bank from Applie with this.

10: Well. I guess that's that then.

I was a bit 'awe nooo.. they killed the kid off' but I'm guessing he's gonna be back.

The husband also a maybe as they just showed where he was shot.. not his body. I wonder could they be going with an angle that he got infected by alien.. will be restored by alien.. and maybe come back.. like as a double agent/drone/spy/something... I dunno.

The one thing about the ship at the end was.. just before the scene.. it looked to me that the water was receding so I was guessing a tsunami.. maybe a tsunami caused by this ship touching the ocean.. maybe other ships doing the same.. would make for a big event opener next season for sure.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118266552#Comment_118266552

Conclusion there about the

nuked something.. something that just doesn't seem big enough to be a source of a planet invasion

seems right

Future: Well now it's starting to look a bit more like the premise that I'd have thought should have been there at the start. So I'm likely going to watch the season 2 that has already been greenlit.

youcancallmeal · 11-12-2021 10:42am

I've avoided this after the initial negative feedback and seems it never really lived up to the hype/budget. So is the consensus to just not bother with it?

Slydice · 11-12-2021 3:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118304435#Comment_118304435

Not if you are expecting a bunch of blockbuster action and aliens and such.

Certainly not if you expect to see walls registering the fact that they had been hit by bullets 😁 (awee.. it's gonna take me a while to get over that one)

Very much a people in inter-personal situations and how they get on with each other.

It's not terribly made. Just hard to see how $200 million could've been sank into it.

fritzelly · 11-12-2021 4:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118304435#Comment_118304435

See what season 2 brings...

youcancallmeal · 11-12-2021 4:22pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118305638#Comment_118305638

Yeah I think that's the best plan. If there is an uptick in quality I can always catch up

Decuc500 · 13-12-2021 5:28pm

Very frustrating series. Had some good moments and had a cinematic look to the whole thing but the pacing was just so bad.

If you're going to make an alien invasion series and focus on small stories within the whole invasion narrative, fine, could be good, but don't have your characters moping around dealing with relationships in boring scenes that go on and on.

The best story was the Middle Eastern family trying to escape US suburbia, but even then we had the husbands infidelities taking a huge chunk of time.

That said I would watch season 2 (as long as Golshifteh Farahani returns!)

Atlantic Dawn · 15-12-2021 3:28am

Complete load of rubbish, whole series could have been condenced in to 2 episodes, I hope Apple have the receipts for the €200 million it apparently cost, ffs I don't know where in the jaysus was that money spent because I couldn't see it anywhere onscreen. If you haven't watched it, don't waste your time.

fritzelly · 15-12-2021 3:53am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323495#Comment_118323495

Apple have been spending a bucket load of cash on new series to be the new kid on the block but yeah 20 million a episode no way - there were no set designs or anything where you might say where the money went

The aliens were decent enough but nothing special and the rest of the CGI was pretty ropey, hazy spaceships etc. A character driven show shouldn't be costing more than 1 million per episode which is what most of the first season was

Hopefully season 2 is better

Saint_Mel · 17-12-2021 4:05pm

Just about survived the first episode ... the most drawn out opening to a series I've ever seen.

Have to admit I found it fairly rubbish, not much to entice watching any further. Hoping to gets better as the episodes go on as I'll probably go back to it as a last resort over Christmas

Spon Farmer · 27-09-2022 10:57pm

I’ve only seen a couple of episode and I like it but the lack of continuity between the four stories is a bit distracting.

News if the attacks (around the world) didn’t reach the kids glued to their phones or the American soldiers and apparently Japan hasn’t been hit nor are they aware of the incidents.

I’m assuming at some point that it will be revealed that the four stories are not happening at the same time but that doesn’t make it feel any less disjointed.

youcancallmeal · 28-10-2022 8:36am

Finally got around to watching this due to a lull in other shows at moment. I can see now why the reception was so poor. They are trying to tell emotionally impactful stories against the backdrop of an apocalyptic event, not dissimilar to Station Eleven except the script and pacing here are just plain awful. I found myself fast forwarding in some places especially with the middle eastern family and the kids. Even towards the end of the series I still couldn't care less about any of them and some of them I would've had no problem with them killing off(Which they did do supposedly). Sam Neill's character had great potential but he was obviously just there to bait and switch the audience.

Spon Farmer · 02-11-2022 3:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119803015#Comment_119803015

By the end of the season I liked the show a lot. It took too long to show the aliens but once it did it improved a lot.

I thought the American family (or whatever) and the school kids were very good.

Mitsuki is likeable and I get wanting to save her girlfriend but she took no notice of an alien invasion? It was the other characters around her that kept that story going. Hopefully her encounter with the monk and the burning of the jacket means she is moving away from that obsession.

And Trevante is the most unlikeable character I’ve ever seen on TV. Just a selfish weak asshole even when he was helping someone else. Threatening a doctor who had been treating his comrade and leaving her to be killed? And what kind of dick leaves a 15 year old kid to fend for herself? It doesn’t matter what she does or says, you don’t leave until you find her mother. The show needed an old fashioned hero soldier, not this guy.

I was expecting Sam Neill to return at the end of the last episode and to be under the influence of the aliens.

Drumpot · 11-07-2023 12:33pm

I binged it and really enjoyed the show. Spoilers here as I assume anybody who wants to watch already has.

The music is actually class when you listen with headphones it is really easy to immerse yourself in the emotion. The episode where the japanese father and Mitsuki realised there was some signal and they played it on his stereo sounded great, reminded me of the movie “contact”

In terms of budget , it had a movie quality feel throughout. I also think the score for the series was strong. Effects were fine, but it was awfully dark at times which made it hard to see what was going on.

I actually would have preferred less aliens , I think , like the alien movie, the less you see the better. Like in the hospital when you see the person in the corridor just go splat against the window as an alien attacks, if we didn’t know what the alien looks like it would of been even more freaky.

That said, there was a savage, effectively full on horror episode, that was gripping.

Maybe Sam Neill will show up again, but I just presumed he got the big case that defined his life as he wanted. Aliens invading the World, doesn’t get much bigger then that.

I didn’t enjoy the kids story until they got out of the crater/hole.

I don’t think we need a hero and have no issue with Trevante leaving Jamila or Casper, he was only with them a few hours. In fact, it would have been very cliche for him to stay. The entire time he was desperately trying to get home. It looked like the aliens were defeated, Casper was effectively dead and the girl hadn’t even properly looked for her mother. It’s nearly the end of the world, not a soldier finding a lost child in a shopping mall.

One could argue that the flaws and even diskikable/annoying traits of characters actually add authenticity to them.

I like the slow pace and while there are fair complaints about the show, I’ve really enjoyed it. Looking forward to season2

Sugarlumps · 11-07-2023 2:57pm

Fantastic show, never found it slow or boring as it followed four separate stories. Roll on season 2.

Agent Coulson · 27-07-2023 12:46am

Season 2 trailer

Starts August 23rd

https://youtu.be/DV-47DZvVZQ

Invasion - AppleTV+

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