What We Learned About the Mysterious New Show “Falling Skies” at SDCC

TNT brought only one show to Comic-Con but whether you realized what it was or not, it had a big presence. Though many attendees might find it’s viral “2nd Mass” more recognizable, Falling Skies invaded the con and we got a first hand look at the viral, the stars, and the first footage from the series. Read on for what went down.

Viral:

Revolving around a group of human resistance fighters, the show named this group “2nd Mass” and has been promoting it in weird ways. In addition to the mangled Flip Cam that was sent to me before the con, signs and handouts for 2nd Mass surrounded the convention center on the Thursday and Friday leading up to the panel. The most interesting part of this marketing was the people dressed as homeless men on the streets around the Gaslamp. They held up 2nd Mass signs, had tattoos on their face with the logo, and truly made the viral feel realistic and interesting. All of these advertisements included QR codes that when scanned with a camera phone would bring you to the 2nd Mass site. This site would give you details on the panel, but more on that later. Overall, the viral helped peak people’s interest in a year when alien invasion themes were everywhere at Comic-Con.

Interviews:

Before the panel, SDCC Blog was able to join other websites to interview the cast and creative team behind Falling Skies. We found out a lot of new info on the series and what we should expect. I included the most interesting points from both interviews below.

Cast-

The audience and characters are both in the dark about how the invasion began. They will both discover new information as the series continues.
Ethical issues such as kids in combat will be raised.
The relationship between Noah Wyle’s character and his son is very important and central to the plot.
The characters are still discovering each others personalities in the first few episodes.
Combat with the aliens will get up-close and personal.

Creative Team-

The series does have dark themes but a main focus is hope.
The family element to the series is very important.
The show is very character focused but still contains action in each episode.
Since the resistance fighters are normal civilians, they will behave more like average people and less like the military.
Each episode will focus on a mission or battle while still developing the mythology of the show.

Panel:

Finally there was a panel for the show where the first trailer was unveiled. Much of the trailer focused on a little girl talking about and drawing descriptions of the alien ships that invaded her home. We also see shots of the resistance team as they avoid and then finally fight the invading forces. Cuts were quick so it didn’t include a clear view of the aliens but they appeared to be large, mobile, and arriving from ships. Combat looked frenetic but also sometimes avoidable as much of the action included people running away. The trailer was brief so it was hard to judge quality but a War of the Worlds influence was easily felt, as was the human element described in the interviews. Finally, the cast and creative team discussed the show and mentioned how Moon Bloodgood’s character is much less of a fighter at the beginning of the show and slowly grows into it. Wyle’s character is in more a leader role and takes this very seriously but both actors hinted that a relationship between to the two is a very likely occurrence.

All three of these things definitely made me more interested in Falling Skies then I had been previously. Unfortunately the show doesn’t premiere until Summer 2011 so fans will have to wait a while before they can see the series on TNT.