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War of the Worlds (1988 TV series)

1988 television series
For other uses, see The War of the Worlds (disambiguation).

War of the Worlds was a short-lived (1988-1990) television series serving as a sequel to the 1953 film, in which, thirty-five years after their attempted invasion, the aliens are accidentally revived and resume their plans to conquer Earth.

Season 1 Season 2
The Resurrection The Second Wave
The Walls of Jericho No Direction Home
Thy Kingdom Come Doomsday
A Multitude of Idols Terminal Rock
Eye for an Eye Breeding Ground
The Second Seal Seft of Emun
Goliath is My Name Loving the Alien
To Heal the Leper Night Moves
The Good Samaritan Synthetic Love
Epiphany The Defector
Among the Philistines Time to Reap
Choirs of Angels The Pied Piper
Dust to Dust The Deadliest Disease
He Feedeth Among the Lilies Path of Lies
The Prodigal Son Candle in the Night
The Meek Shall Inherit Video Messiah
Unto Us a Child Is Born Totally Real
The Last Supper Max
Vengeance Is Mine The True Believer
My Soul to Keep The Obelisk
So Shall Ye Reap
The Raising of Lazarus
The Angel of Death
Cast | External links

Season 1

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Opening sequence

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  • In 1953, Earth experienced a War of the Worlds. Common bacteria stopped the aliens, but it didn't kill them. Instead, the aliens lapsed into a state of deep hibernation. Now the aliens have been resurrected, more terrifying than before. In 1953, the aliens started taking over the world; today, they're taking over our bodies!

The Resurrection

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Chambers: 47 minutes.
Urick: We will be ready.
Chambers: You know, something about the irony of pirating a U.S. communications satellite to broadcast our demands always makes me smile.
Urick: Smile on camera. No one will take us seriously!
Chambers: Well, then we'll just have to blow up this dump and send a big fat radioactive cloud of nuclear waste floating over their nice middle-class homes! Right?
Advocate #3: Without the guidance of the Council, we are nothing. We must make contact.
Advocate #1: Agreed. Once the Council is aware of our plight, it will know how to proceed.
Advocate #2: Their equipment is primitive.
Advocate #1: But adequate if properly refined.
Advocate #2: The transponder signal is very strong.
Advocate #1: Triangulating the location of our ships should not prove difficult.
Advocate #2: All is well.
Advocate #3: Our mission will succeed. We will live life immortal.
Advocate #1: It is time to leave.
Harrison: What would you say if I told you that Earth was being invaded by aliens from another planet?
Harrison: In 1953, we experienced what can only be described as a war of the worlds. If it wasn't for common everyday bacteria attacking the aliens' immune systems, they would've won this war, and you and I would not be having this conversation!
Suzanne: But we are having this conversation, which I don't want! So I fail to see your point!
Harrison: My point is that although the bacteria stopped the aliens, I don't think it killed them!
Suzanne: Excuse me, but I think you have been sitting too close to your television set.
Harrison: Really? How do you explain the radio signals? How do you account for the barrels? The barrels that entombed what were supposed to be dead aliens forced open from the inside?! What the hell happened to the hundreds of other barrels that used to be stored in that location?!
Suzanne: Just because I don't have an answer doesn't mean there isn't a logical explanation for your... paranoia!!
Harrison: I am attempting to offer you a logical explanation. In 1953, bacteria forced the aliens into a state of hibernation, or suspended animation or estivation or anabiosis. I don't know the terms; that's your field, not mine. But now, something has happened to wake the aliens up. That nuclear disposal site was hot with radioactivity, right? Maybe that's it. Maybe the bacteria which infected the aliens is now being wiped out by exposure to radiation.
Suzanne: So now, the aliens, hundreds of them...
Harrison: At least!
Suzanne: ...are loose?
Harrison: Yes!
Suzanne: You're nuttier than I thought.
Harrison: That doesn't make me wrong! At least listen to my proof!
Harrison: The alien attack wasn't three days old before my parents were killed. They were colleagues of Dr. Forrester's. Anyway... Dr. Forrester, who was practically my second father as he was, ended up taking me in. I grew up steeped in this research, listening to his theories... seeing how broken he was when nobody took him seriously. He said that if the aliens invaded once, they could do it again. Nobody wanted to hear that. He said that until we get adequate research, we couldn't even be sure the aliens were really dead. Apparently, their bodies weren't decaying as might be expected. Well, that really drove people crazy. Instead of expanding its research, the U.S. Government collected the alien remains and sealed them in steel drums... out of sight, out of mind. You still think I'm a nutcase?
Suzanne: Have you ever heard of the African lungfish? The lungfish can survive for... at least four years, maybe as many as ten, without water. It goes into such a profound state of anabiosis that the average person would think the fish was long dead. However, pour water over it, and... it's like a resurrection. The fish is alive and swimming again.
Harrison: So you don't think I'm a nutcase?
Suzanne: Definitely a nutcase. However... like you said, that doesn't make you wrong. [tears up her letter of resignation] And I can always write another resignation.
Suzanne: I am not uptight! I am a professional!
Harrison: Who does not know how to follow orders. Now you were supposed to stay out of sight in the woods!
Suzanne: You neglected to tell me that those things, aliens or whatever they are, would be crawling all over! By the time I worked my way down here, you and the Colonel were doing your off-road routine, so I figured this would be the best place to wait things out! Where are they?
Ironhorse: Long gone.
Ironhorse: This is weird stuff we're dealing with here, Blackwood! Bolas! Terrorists that don't... act like terrorists! Terrorists that don't die like terrorists! I actually saw a body dissolve after I shot it!
Harrison: We all saw some fairly extraordinary phenomenon, Colonel!
Ironhorse: Well, when in God's name is somebody gonna start explaining things to me?!
Harrison: I've already explained as much of it as I understand myself!
Ironhorse: You've explained nothing, mister! I don't believe in ghosts, and I sure as hell don't believe in aliens from another planet!
General Wilson: Too many variables. Strength unknown, resources unknown, purposes, goals, locations... unknown, unknown, unknown.
Harrison: I can only tell you what I saw.
Suzanne: What we all saw, Uncle Hank. It was horrible; those things were not people anymore. But I do have a theory about cell-phase matching.
General Wilson: Suzanne, whatever you and Dr. Blackwood saw, no matter how extraordinary, cannot be considered as evidence.
Suzanne: Well, talk to your Colonel. He was there!
General Wilson: The Colonel and I talked at length. Admittedly, something incredible did take place. However, Colonel Ironhorse is not yet ready to attribute those events to aliens from another world.
Harrison: He's more comfortable believing the Russians have some secret weapon that makes us all see things that aren't really there.
General Wilson: Colonel Ironhorse is a highly effective warrior, Doctor. He's been trained to deal in absolutes.
Harrison: In this case, General, he is absolutely wrong!
General Wilson: I agree. And so do a few of my superiors. However, they want this entire matter kept hush-hush.
Harrison: Hold it, General. Nobody's gonna silence me the same way they silenced Dr. Forrester 35 years ago.
General Wilson: What happened to your adopted father, Doctor, was unfortunate for all of us. However, the President and my superiors would rather not let this become a political issue. They don't want to ignore this. They want it kept quiet. And I'm here to offer you a job. Find the aliens, Doctor, and stop them before they do more harm.
Harrison: And I can do things my way?
General Wilson: Completely. Your own people, your own methods, anything you want. Naturally, we'll have to establish certain...security procedures.
Harrison: What kind of procedures?
General Wilson: To protect you and your colleagues. To protect the secrecy of the project. Nothing I assure you, Doctor, you wouldn't do yourself. Aside from that, you have a blank check. But you'll need a co-signer. [Colonel Ironhorse enters the room and stands in front of General Wilson and Harrison] I believe you all know one another.
Advocate #2: All is well.
Advocate #1: We're strong again, and ready to resume our invasion.
Advocate #2: Not too hastily, comrade.
Advocate #3: Our ships' onboard computers must finish their pre-flight checks first.
Advocate #2: We've been patient for so many years. We can afford to wait a bit longer.
Harrison: Norton, does the number three mean anything special to you? [Norton shakes his head] It sure meant something special to the aliens. Think about it. Their ships flew in groups of three; their optics were divided into three units. They attack their targets in three different directions. Even their weapons, the bolas, had three weighted ends. Three, Norton. Think three. I know the answer is there.
Norton: Number three. I'll think on it. What have we got to lose, huh?
Harrison: You find something interesting?
Suzanne: Hmm. Have a look.
Harrison: What is it?
Suzanne: You tell me.
Harrison: This is the tissue sample you took from the dissolved body?
Suzanne: Mm-hm. But it's not exactly human anymore.
Harrison: Then what is it?
Suzanne: Half-human, half-alien. It's as if the cells from both species have merged to create something new, unique.
Harrison: And this sustains your cell-phase matching theory?
Suzanne: Oh, no, Doctor Blackwood, you're not gonna peg me to a conclusion that I haven't had time to prove yet.
Harrison: Fair enough, Dr. McCullough. Suzanne?
Suzanne: Yeah?
Harrison: Good work.
Suzanne: Thanks, Harrison. Thanks a lot.
Ironhorse: You expect me to climb into the heads of these, these creatures; you've got to give me more to go on.
Harrison: Okay, they're soldiers... the same as you. Now you tell me. How do soldiers think?
Ironhorse: I spent four years at the point, fifteen more active duty. Hell, Doctor, I'm not sure I do think anymore. I... I react.
Harrison: Okay, start there. You're their leader. React to their situation.
Ironhorse: Okay, I... need good intelligence. Know your enemy. Communications. They already seem to have that. Supplies. They gotta keep the troops fed. Weapons.
Harrison: Definitely weapons.
Ironhorse: They don't have it. Or at least none that amount to anything. That's their primary weakness.
Harrison: Which makes it our strength. Have you ever heard of Hangar 15?
Ironhorse: No.
Harrison: The place where the Air Force stores all its UFO evidence.
Ironhorse: You mean Hangar 18. The... building 18 at Wright-Patterson? Forget it, Doctor. That's all a myth.
Harrison: No. Hangar 18 is the myth, Colonel. That's disinformation created by the military. Hangar 15... that's the real mccoy.
Ironhorse: I don't believe it.
Harrison: Dr. Forrester did; it's in his papers. I think now might be the time to call General Wilson. Ask him if it's a myth.
Ironhorse: According to General Wilson, the U.S. Government has had three of the alien ships mothballed in Hangar 15 since 1953. You want to guess as to the location of Hangar 15?
Harrison: Kellogue Air Force Base.
Ironhorse: Right smack dab in the middle.
Harrison: You've read the material, Colonel. You know what happens if the aliens get their hands on those ships!
Suzanne: [hearing a noise outside the hangar] What is it?
Ironhorse: Helicopter.
Harrison: Bad guys or good guys?
Ironhorse: Considering what we're doing, Doctor, even the good guys are bad guys.
[the helicopter blows open the entrance with a missile]
Harrison: Bad, bad guys!
Ironhorse: General Wilson is taking care of the joint military forces board of inquiry. I'm told that, unofficially, of course, the board is predisposed to lay the blame on an unnamed terrorist organization.
Norton: A whole lot closer to the truth than they'll ever realize.
Suzanne: I'm just glad all of this is behind us.
Harrison: Is it? Is it really?
Advocate #2: Our Council allows us no margin for failure.
Advocate #1: The primitives have proven to be unexpectedly clever.
Advocate #3: Their cleverness will not save them. We will improvise.
Advocate #1: As long as we meet the deadline.

The Walls of Jericho

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Advocate #3: I have a difficult time accepting that the instrument of our salvation has also become our damnation.
Advocate #1: The concept is foreign, but we cannot ignore the inevitable conclusion, comrades. The radiation which gave us a second life... is slowly killing us.
Advocate #2: We seem to be faced with a most challenging dilemma.
Scientist: Our analysis indicates – the high level of radiation needed to protect us from the indigenous bacteria of this planet causes our metabolisms to heat to dangerous levels.
Advocate #1: Our scientists seem to have a firm grasp on the obvious. Tell us something we don't already know!
Advocate #2: Isn't there anything you can do to disperse the heat?
Scientist: We are doing our best, Advocate. As you have seen, the treatments are slowing the degeneration process.
Advocate #3: But not reversing it.
Scientist: Unfortunately not. This planet's natural resources contain different elements than those on our planet.
Advocate #2: The lower classes are all alike. Excuses for every shortcoming!
Scientist: But Advocate, it takes time for a species to adapt to a new environment.
Advocate #2: We don't have time! In our weakened state, our invasion will fail.
Advocate #3: As it is, we are already too weak to separate from this decaying flesh.
Scientist: Perhaps if you sought the guidance of the Council...
Advocate #1: No! Our leaders must be protected from such negative news. They must hear only of victory!
Advocate #3: Since your medicines have proven inadequate, you will find a more effective method of dealing with this killing heat.
Advocate #2: Solutions, not excuses!
Scientist: As you wish, Advocate.
Advocacy: As we order, scientist!
Suzanne: Without tissue samples, most of this is just educated guessing, but I think I understand how an alien blends with whoever happens to be unfortunate enough to get in its way. It's a combination of osmosis and cell-phase matching. Watch. Through osmosis, alien cells invade the human body. These cells then spread out, seeking human cells that they can bond to. This bonding allows all the genetic information from the individual human cells to communicate to the alien cells.
Harrison: Killing the human cells in the process?
Suzanne: Yes, but apparently not before it absorbs all of the intelligence of the human victim.
Norton: We're talking Night of the Living Dead here, folks. Not only do these guys get to pick our brains; they also get to use our bodies as a perfect disguise.
Ironhorse: I don't call open sores and radiation sickness a perfect disguise. I mean, it's not exactly difficult to spot these things in a crowd.
Harrison: For now, maybe. But it's only a matter of time until they figure out a better way to protect themselves, and conceal themselves.
Ironhorse: If any more of them are still around.
Advocate #3: Such progress is a positive sign.
Advocate #1: We still... [weakens, struggles to stay alive and strong] We still have so much to do...so little time.
Advocate #2: You have to stay strong! The Advocacy will be severely weak and without the three of us...!
General Wilson: Mrs. Pennyworth sets a wonderful table, don't you think?
Suzanne: Yes. She and Mr. Kensington have made us all very comfortable.
General Wilson: You never know it, but Mrs. Pennyworth was a very valuable asset in the American section of Berlin during the last war. Her husband did the same thing with the Brits! [chuckles] Rumor has it they met one night when they were both trying to infiltrate the Russian sector. Oh, that woman has seen a lot of history. Even helped brighten some of the two. And this house has had its own share of history as well. A few nuclear physicists lived here in the early days of the Manhattan Project. And just before you, we kept a KGB defector here. I wonder who the next occupants will be.
Norton: [laughs] Harrison, does that sound suspiciously like an eviction notice to you?
General Wilson: I wouldn't look at it that way, Mr. Drake. All missions eventually come to an end, and that's why I'm here...to thank you all, personally, for a job well done.
Harrison: I'm sorry, General, but the job isn't done!
General Wilson: Well, I'm completely satisfied with everything you've accomplished.
Harrison: We've hardly accomplished a thing.
Suzanne: Uncle Hank, I can't believe you're cutting us off!
General Wilson: Suzanne, your own research suggests the aliens were susceptible to radiation poisoning.
Suzanne: How do you know that? I haven't released that data yet!
Ironhorse: I don't think it takes a scientist to realize that any of those creatures that weren't blown up with their ships have died from radiation poisoning.
Harrison: General, if you shut us down now, you're going to be repeating the same mistake that was made 35 years ago!
General Wilson: On the contrary, the aliens are finished! And now, I suggest you all get on with the rest of your lives.
Harrison: How much of this is your doing, Colonel?
Ironhorse: The General asks me to make reports; I make reports. I'm just doing my job, Doctor.
Harrison: I wish to God you would let me do mine!
Scientist: We still lack an adequate coolant. Liquid nitrogen would be the ideal substance.
Advocate #2: Why are you not producing the substance?
Scientist: We have tried, Advocate. This planet's atmosphere contains ample amounts of the nitrogen element. But converting the nitrogen into a useful form is beyond the scope of the materials we have on hand.
Advocate #2: If you're incapable of manufacturing what we need, then you will acquire it in another way.
Advocate #3: And quickly! Before permanent harm comes to those who are still alive!
Advocate #2: I will not allow submersion into this pool to become our destiny as well!
Advocate #2: After all this time, the suits are finally completed!
Advocate #3: Completed, yes. But completely useless without some form of coolant.
Advocate #2: Our attempt to steal the liquid nitrogen from the rocket facility was at best poorly conceived!
Advocate #3: Desperate times call for desperate measures! My own body temperature has risen to untold levels!
Advocate #2: So has mine! If we cannot survive, who will assume the mantle of the Advocacy? I fear there are not three worthy candidates from among our ranks.
Advocate #3: Then pray that our current attempt at the refrigeration plant meets with success.
Advocates #2 and #3: To Life Immortal.
Advocate #1: For once, our scientists have accomplished what is expected of them.
Advocate #3: It will be interesting to see if they will rise to the challenge of maintaining their success.
Scientist: Our production of the liquid nitrogen is exceeding your quotas, Advocate.
Advocate #2: Then we will increase the quotas, Commander. Now isn't the time to grow lazy or complacent!
Advocate #1: Have your engineers double their output.
Advocate #3: We have been away from battle for far too long.
Advocate #1: It will be good to resume.
Advocate #3: The failure of our comrades to maintain control of the refrigeration plant is something of a setback.
Advocate #2: Agreed. But it's hardly cause for serious concern.
Advocate #1: We have more than enough coolant to see our invasion through to its victorious conclusion.
Advocacy: To Life Immortal!

Thy Kingdom Come

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Sylvia Van Buren: Harry, do you remember Clayton's study of the alien eye?
Harrison: Vaguely. Why?
Sylvia Van Buren: Because the way these things see us is more like...this doohickey little Saint Nicky.
Suzanne: Harrison, we're wasting our time.
Harrison: Hang in there, Suzanne.
Suzanne: But she's mad.
Sylvia Van Buren: Oh, yes, dear. Quite mad! And so would you be if you lived in a world all topsy turvy. I told them the aliens would be back and they didn't believe me. They said I was insane. So they hooked electrodes up to my brain 'til I couldn't even remember my name. Bzz, bzz, bzz! Rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain. This is not Spain, Harry.
Harrison: What are you trying to tell me, Sylvia?
Sylvia Van Buren: This is someplace on Earth. As seen from...outer space.

A Multitude of Idols

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Elise Conway: These workers are loading cargoes of death onto these trucks. Sound like sensationalism? You'll wish it was. These steel drums are filled with what they call in the business hot stuff. Radiation waste – radiation waste that will remain lethal for over a thousand centuries. Their destination: a Government toxic waste storage facility high in the mountains at James Pass, over 800 miles away. And if there's an accident along the way, the thought is positively chilling. These and other shipments are rolling time bombs on our nation's highways.
Advocate #1: The logistics of this operation are complex.
Advocate #2: Complex or not, our war can be won if we are able to move among the Earthlings undetected.
Advocate #3: Be thankful that they're childishly casual with their nuclear materials. Stealing what we need should pose no problem.
Advocate #1: True, but we still haven't found a secure location to revive more of our sleeping brethren.
Advocate #2: Nor do we have an adequate supply of suitable humans whose bodies we might use.
Advocate #3: One problem at a time, comrades! It's a puzzle with many pieces. We deal with the nuclear materials first.
Harrison: Can you enhance this image digitally?
Norton: Does a computer download in the woods?
Advocate #1: The town they call Beeton seems tailor-made for our purposes.
Advocate #2: Away from their cities, off their main highways...
Advocate #3: And best of all, it's completely abandoned.
Advocate #1: The place called Beeton won't be abandoned for long, comrades. We must begin transporting the burial drums containing our sleeping brethren to this location immediately.
Advocate #2: The puzzle is almost complete.
Advocate #3: Yes, except for the last most important piece: we still need human bodies...many human bodies.
Advocate #3: For once, everything is proceeding according to plan.
Advocate #2: Yes, with new human hosts arriving every hour.
Advocate #1: These pathetic Earthlings have even less intelligence than our own planet's vegetation!
Advocate #2: Our own planet. If only we could see it one last time...
Advocate #3: Erase those thoughts from your mind, comrade. Our planet is already well into its final death rattle.
Advocate #1: You must remember that this planet is our home now.
Advocate #3: As it will be home to those on the way. Our colonists are relying upon us to be strong.
Advocate #1: The three of us.
Advocate #2: Of course. I must remember to deal with what is, not with what might have been. I appreciate your patience, comrades. My lapse will not be repeated.
Advocate #1: We have much to be grateful for. Within 24 hours, we will have increased our numbers by two-fold.
Advocate #2: Perhaps we should inform those on the way of our progress.
Advocate #3: Yes, they will be pleased...very pleased.
Ironhorse: This is really sick, Blackwood!
Suzanne: They're reviving new aliens! This whole town's been set up to recruit host bodies for aliens!
Harrison: It's like an alien Bates Motel.
Harrison: [referring to the aliens] Gone. They're all gone.
Suzanne: We did everything we could!
Harrison: It's not good enough, Suzanne.
Ironhorse: He's right. If we keep losing like this, we're dead meat on this planet.
Harrison: They must've revived a thousand of them. And now, they're out there. They're out there among us!
Elise Conway: And now, on the lighter side of the news, apparently, it's that time of year again. Our station has received numerous local reports of, quote, "An invasion by aliens from another planet." We checked with nearby Goodwin Army base and public relations officers there have confirmed that military personnel were involved in routine training exercises at the time of the alleged incident. So far, no aliens have come forward to dispute these reports. But our door is open. Is yours?

Eye for an Eye

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Biker: Back off, man. You're gettin' too close. You be cool, and we'll be cool.
Officer: No one gets off their bikes in Grover's Mill.
Biker: Look, we're gonna go to the cemetery, bury our man in his home ground, and then we're out of here.
Advocate #3: The recovery of the machine will go a long way toward guaranteeing our victory.
Advocate #2: True...assuming the machine is still operational.
Advocate #1: Is it just me, comrades, or do the complexities of our invasion grow more and more tangled at every step?
Advocate #3: No one ever said war was easy.
Advocate #1: Our warship is in surprisingly good condition.
Advocate #2: I've ordered them to check out all the weapons and flight systems, and report back to us before they start their return flight.
Advocate #3: I wish we decided to go with them. I'm worried they will not do all that is necessary.
Advocate #2: They'll do exactly what we ask of them. They know nothing else.
Advocate #1: In a matter of hours, the most powerful weapon this planet has ever seen will be again in our hands, and functional.
Advocate #3: Those who come will be pleased.
Advocate #2: We have a communique from the field. They've experienced problems and await further guidance.
Advocate #3: Why is it the lower classes cannot think for themselves?
Advocate #1: Our job is to think; their job is to do. We must never confuse the two.
Advocate #3: What is the nature of their problem?
Advocate #2: There's been extensive damage. So far, they haven't been able to make the warship functional.
Advocate #1: A situation we anticipated with dread, but without clear solutions.
Advocate #3: They must continue trying to fix the warship.
Advocate #1: As well as test all the weapon systems. We must make sure they understand the importance of this.
Advocate #2: They understand, but I fear understanding alone will not be enough.
Advocate #3: Should we remind them of the punishment that comes with failure?
Advocate #1: The machine still won't fly, but the beam works.
Advocate #2: We must get the beam back here as quickly as possible. Nothing is more important than for us to retrieve the weapon.
Advocate #1: They understand this, but they're unsure how to accomplish getting it here.
Advocate #2: Must we tell them everything? If the ship won't fly, we have no choice but to transport the weapon over land.
Advocate #1: And if our comrades meet resistance?
Advocate #3: Then we will remind the puny Earthlings how our death ray works.
Advocate #2: Nothing can be allowed to delay their return. Our very future rests in their hands.
Advocate #1: A concept, I remind you, that we should only accept with great trepidation.
Harv: [possessed] It's useless for you to resist.
Norton: Oh, is it?
Harv: You can never win.
Flannery: You were beaten at Grover's Mill once. It'll happen again.

The Second Seal

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Goliath is My Name

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Advocate #2: We can rely on the self-destructive nature of the primitives.
Advocate #3: It is our greatest ally.
Advocate #1: And our greatest enemy. This is truly a filthy place.
Debi: Have you heard from my mother?
Norton: Have I heard from your mother? Has Harrison called in from the field like he was supposed to? Have they forgotten my important contributions to this team? Has your mother completely discounted my value to this unit? Have they undermined my investigation? As a matter of fact, no. No, I have not heard from your mother.
Debi: No big deal.
Norton: My opinion exactly.

To Heal the Leper

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Advocate #2: Originally, we'd intended to put your brain matter to good use. Now you vile creatures can serve a higher purpose.
Advocate #1: Now we will use your bodies. [to alien jailer] Bring us the three strongest.
Alien Jailer: As you wish.
Scott: [possessed] You're finished now.
Teen Queen: I am? I thought a perm took a whole hour.
Scott: Not anymore. We don't have time.
Teen Queen: I hate it. What are you gonna do with this?
Scott: [holds up a small saw] How about a little off the top?

The Good Samaritan

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Epiphany

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Norton: Now, Colonel, what is it that has you so hot and bothered?
Ironhorse: Washington just replied to an inquiry I made, Mr. Drake! It seems that since 1980, the good doctor has had a girlfriend no one knew about. I don't know how the hell we missed that in the security check!
Suzanne: Aren't you blowing this just a little out of proportions, Paul? I mean, if he's got a girlfriend, isn't that his business?
Ironhorse: I'm not talking cheap thrills and Valentine's Day cards, Suzanne! This girlfriend is an important scientist! An important Russian scientist!

Among the Philistines

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Choirs of Angels

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Dust to Dust

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Advocate #2: Watching television has paid off again.
Advocate #3: But it takes its toll... softens the brain.
Advocate #2: There. The starter for our warships. We must get that starter. It must mean there's a ship nearby.
Advocate #3: If we had a warship, our battle on this garbage heap of a planet would be different. We would be unstoppable.
Advocate #2: We must get the starter, then the warship, then victory!
Advocate #1: What are your standing orders, Commander?
Commander: That you not be interrupted, Advocate.
Advocate #1: Yet there you stand, in defiance of these orders?!
Commander: I assumed that you'd be interested in the latest communique from our action squad, Advocate.
Advocate #1: Mm-hmm.
Commander: They report that all is going smoothly, as hoped.
Advocate #1: It's safe to say, then, the crystal is in their possession?!
Commander: It is. Presently, the squad is moving cautiously, yet expeditiously toward the objective.
Advocate #1: Excellent. See that we're informed the moment they reach the landing site.
Commander: As you order, Advocate.
Advocate #1: It will be refreshing to finally report positive progress to the Council.

He Feedeth Among the Lilies

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Pat Thistle: I just want you both to know... we are God-fearing Christians who have never been in trouble a day in our lives.
Harrison: I'd appreciate it if you just tell me what happened.
Pat: We were out at our cabin, while we have a cabin on Saturday pond in Maine. We were watching the sun go down, like we do, when, for some reason, we started to walk through... to the woods.
Arnold Thistle: That's where we saw them.
Pat: There were six of them. We were about to walk over to them when we heard them speak. We've never heard anything like it. It sounded like... I could hear it, but I don't think I could ever describe it. They had this strange thing. It looked almost like one of those old vacuum cleaners from the 30s. And they were... looking around for something.
Ironhorse: How do you know that?
Arnold: You could tell... by the way they were moving it across the ground.
Harrison: What did they look like?
Pat: I know this sounds crazy. We've had a lot of time to think about it. It looked like a cross between a giant green frog... and a huge slimy walnut.
Arnold: With three fingers on each hand.
Pat: Other people have seen them, haven't they?

The Prodigal Son

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Quinn: To Life Immortal... sucker.
Harrison: Quinn, if you have any information about aliens, tell me.
Quinn: Oh, I'll tell you, Harry, but just about one. I'll tell you about one who did not fall to the bacteria in the great invasion, one who was stranded alone 35 long, lonely years on a hostile alien planet... called Earth.
Harrison: You're an alien.
Quinn: Oh, no, Harry. You're the alien.
Harrison: Why do you hate humans so much, Quinn?
Quinn: I have nothing really against humans; some of my best friends are humans. But as a group, they stink and you know it. I say kill them all.
Harrison: Is this the only way to end the war, Quinn? Why can't we start here and now, between you and me, some interspecies dialogue which, for all we know, might bring peace?
Quinn: Dialogue, no. Demand, yes. You will tell the U.N. Security Council leaders tomorrow night that 10% of the human race will be allowed to live, only if they follow my orders. The rest will be poisoned. Otherwise, total annihilation is inevitable. It's an offer you can't refuse.
Harrison: That's not a peace offer, Quinn; that's the slaughter of billions of innocent people!
Quinn: This is a fact.
Harrison: Why? Why our planet?!
Quinn: We come from an ancient world, Harry. A garden planet called Mor-Tax. But our sun is dying. And without light, there is no life. Earth is the closest planet by far to continue our eternity under a new sun in a new world. A world you don't deserve. A paradise your kind treats like a toilet! You're all vermin! A plague this planet can well do without.
Harrison: We belong here, Quinn. You don't!
Quinn: We are the future, Harry! In less than five years, three million colonists will arrive here from Mor-Tax, and an army of thousands up there right now works to slaughter all of you. But I offer mankind a compromise!
Harrison: What happens to the ones that you spare, Quinn?
Quinn: I will have them put on reservations far from my kind. The world will be a better place for it, and we will live life immortal.
Harrison: Even if I was to convey this grisly offer to the U.N., how do I know that your kind would accept this idea, especially coming from a renegade like you?!
Quinn: Because I am Muura-esuk, one who knows. Supreme Commander of the army. I sacrificed everything. I left my mate, my children, my home, to come here to make a refuge for my dying race. But our ruling class thought only of its own glory, ignoring the warnings of our scientists.
Harrison: Yes, I know that problem well.
Quinn: The army will accept me to quickly win this war. Earth is a new world with new rules. We are thousands ruled by only three, the Advocacy. But now, Harry, I will rule alone.
Harrison: And me?
Quinn: You... You will make the final selection: Who among you lives...and who dies.
Harrison: Do you realize that you're unique?
Quinn: What's your point, Harry?
Harrison: My point is that you've lived here for so long that you're more human than you are alien.
Quinn: Don't try my patience; I've very little left.
Harrison: That's what I mean. The truth is that you've lived here for 35 years in torment, in suffering, in a terrible kind of loneliness. Now you're revolting against your condition. Despite the pain, you want to live, Quinn. That's a human feeling!
Quinn: What I've done, I've done to survive, no matter what you read into it!
Harrison: From what I know of your people, they are short on humor and they are long on murder. Do you think that millions of alien society are going to, going to accept that body? That mind and its human feelings, let alone allow a half-breed like you to lead them?! No, Quinn; your kind is intolerant in their superiority!
Quinn: Your kind murders anything different from its own. Yours is the killer race, Harry, not mine!
Harrison: But we have learned the value of tolerance, Quinn. And your species hasn't! Tolerance is, and always will be, the saving grace of humanity.
Quinn: Tolerance, Harry. What good is tolerance to me?
Harrison: Because if you want to live, Quinn, humans will tolerate you. They might even celebrate your half-alien identity, but your kind, your kind will squash you! They will kill you out of fear!
Quinn: I will rule this planet, and anybody who stands in the way will die.
Harrison: That's been tried before, Quinn. Maybe not by one man operating all by himself!
Quinn: Oh, but I'm more than one, Harry. I have you. And if you're good, really good tonight, Harry, the United Nations will end this war.
Harrison: And put you on the throne?!
Quinn: You'd better pray that they do. Because if this fails, you'll be extinct... along with all the rest of your God-forsaken species.
Harrison: 35 years ago, a great invasion force of aliens nearly obliterated mankind in an all-out attack from the stars. They came here in these spaceships, and they fell from the sky dead... or so we all thought. Earth was saved from interstellar conquest by the presence of common bacteria found on this planet, but they were not dead, as my adopted father, Dr. Forrester, tried to warn everyone. They were only asleep. Dr. McCullough?
Suzanne: They are capable of inhabiting human bodies, a perfect cover which allows them to roam our cities undetected, unnoticed.
Ironhorse: We are at war, gentlemen, and we had better win.
Harrison: There won't be any second chance.

The Meek Shall Inherit

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Unto Us a Child Is Born

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Harrison: [talking to Norton Drake on the phone] Norton, crank it up, will you? We've got some work to do.
Norton: So what else is new?
Harrison: Well, I need you to access any of Suzanne's research pertaining to the alien growth rate.
Suzanne: Which, I can tell you right now, amounts next to nothing.
Harrison: I want you to calculate its effect on the human rate of physical development.
Norton: OK. You got it.
Suzanne: Good luck.
Norton: Listen, while I've got you both, I've been doing some checking of the police reports in the area and I scored. I came across a report, and I quote, of a strange doughnut-shaped corpse of the remains of a human being.
Harrison: Is that the residue of an alien body transfer?
Norton: Yeah.
Harrison: Where did they find that?
Norton: Well, that's the interesting thing. Less than a mile from the hospital. In fact, in the same shopping mall where the paramedics picked up Nancy Salvo.
Harrison: So we've got an alien saboteur who, in order to avoid capture, takes over the nearest available body which, unfortunately for her, happens to be Nancy Salvo.
Norton: The very pregnant Nancy Salvo.
Harrison: And this takeover creates so much physiological havoc that it triggers premature labor, and the result is the birth of–
Norton: A monster. Half-human, half-alien.

The Last Supper

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Norton: According to archaeological dating, we know the aliens have visited this planet for the last 2,000 years. They have periodically visited many places on Earth using several different kinds of spaceships. Now the oldest ship that we've encountered was at the Westeskiwin Indian Reservation. This was a walking spaceship, over 600 years old. In this century, we know the aliens arrived on the East Coast of the United States in late October 1938 on a reconnaissance mission. The main invasion force arrived in 1953, as it apparently did around the world. The aliens would have conquered the planet if they had not succumbed to our bacteria. Now the United States and Canadian governments placed what they thought were the remains of dead aliens into steel drums, and these drums were placed in different dump sites throughout the continental United States and Canada. One of the dump sites, a secret facility called Fort Jericho in Northern Nevada, was the first confirmed location of an alien resurrection. There was a large number of steel drums in storage. About half a year ago, a few of these drums accidentally came into contact with radiation. The radiation neutralized the bacteria we thought had killed the aliens, and they came back to life. The aliens searched out their war machines from the invasion of 1953 stored in Hangar 15 at Kellogue Air Force Base and mounted a lethal attack. Fortunately, we were able to sabotage the ships with explosives, and they were destroyed.
Suzanne: At this point we can only estimate how many aliens are in the United States and Canada, somewhere between 1,000 and 5,000.
Harrison: This number keeps growing. Now we first discovered aliens at the site of what appeared to be a terrorist operation. We were investigating the scene, and we think it started here at Fort Jericho. Six empty barrels dated 1953 were found, and 320 barrels were missing: all those dated 1953 as well as barrels of raw radioactive waste, presumably as a radiation source to revive more aliens. Aliens walked the Earth again, and we let them get away. Now we've had contact with a renegade mutant alien named Quinn. He has confirmed our worst suspicions: the aliens' goal is world domination. In four short years, a force of millions of aliens are scheduled to arrive here. So let's see what we're dealing with.
Suzanne: Structurally, they're more like jellyfish than mammals. By examining DNA molecules, it appears that the aliens possess humans using a cell-phase matching technique. The alien cells literally overtake the human cells through osmosis. As a result, they have access to the host body's intelligence, and can control them physically and yet there is no outward way for anyone to know. Physiologically, the aliens have a liquid core which carries neurological information as well as arterial matter. Their stable, upright carriage is supported by a web-like musculature structure.
Harrison: The alien stands between 5½ and 7 feet tall. It has a cyclops eye in the center of its forehead and it is a biped. It's got three fingers, three toes, and three arms. Apparently, it has no skeletal structure per se.
Suzanne: One of the aliens' most remarkable characteristics is their ability to osmose into the human body–actually meld their body into ours. We have footage that was taken by a local news photographer.
Harrison: Aliens have never possessed animals or children. Because of this, we theorize they need a certain minimal mass to occupy. They can be anywhere and they can be anyone: soldiers, waitresses, bikers, the homeless, paramedics–they can take over just about anyone. Once they took over Beeton, California, an abandoned irradiated town, and they stocked it with aliens. They took over an abandoned warehouse where they brought humans for the aliens to possess. The most frightening thing of all: they have absolutely no regard for human life. Not since Nazi Germany has the world witnessed such callous and brutal treatment of human beings. They mutilate and maim. To them, we're an inferior species and they treat us like one. Now we know the alien threat is real...and the future of our planet is depended upon what we accomplish here. Unless we transcend partisanship and we begin to cooperate, we may just as well hand the Earth over to them right now.
Norton: Okay. Here are some examples based on eyewitness reports of the aliens utilizing everyday items to make high-tech tools and devices. There's a report from Canada where kitchen appliances were jury-rigged to make radio receivers and locators. And a story from New Jersey where the aliens were seen using a vacuum cleaner-like device to locate an alien warship buried underground. They've even used their technology to create artwork unlike anything we've ever seen before. We also believe that they can communicate over light-years in a matter of seconds using their make-shift devices. So, as we've seen, the alien technology runs from the lethal to the sublime.
Harrison: The closest that we've ever come to actually examining an alien artifact was in an automated power plant North of San Francisco. The aliens had taken over the facility, brutally killed every single member of the crew, and then had gone on to set up this bizarre device. When I finally found the aliens we'd been looking for, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was a device using a logic system far unto ours in every way. It was fascinating. After they'd gone, Dr. McCullough and I went up to examine this strange alien handiwork. It worked like a distillery, reducing human brains to their very essence, and then one very potent drop of that extract would drip into the sick alien's mouth, curing it. But apparently they'd anticipated us, and the device was booby-trapped, and disintegrated immediately upon touch. Clearly, they do not want anyone to get ahold of their technology.
Harrison: We've been painting a pretty negative picture about our battle with the aliens, but there is a bright side: they can be killed and we're getting pretty efficient at it. One particular incident comes to mind. The aliens had broken into a secure army facility in search of war machines and weapons left over from their earlier invasion. Our intelligence discovered this plan and we wiped them out. What they turn into after they die is the only real indication we have that these were once human beings who are now possessed by aliens. But we can be fooled. As a result of an exothermic reaction, their cells become a horrible broiling mass of decomposing alien and human tissue. They are vulnerable, and so are we. We have already lost a member of our team. We have lost many soldiers in combat, and, of course, all the innocent people. The aliens are deadly and they promise–as their numbers increase and they become more sophisticated–they promise to become even deadlier.

Vengeance Is Mine

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My Soul to Keep

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Advocate #2: These humans are traitorous.
Advocate #3: We'll be doing a great service for the entire universe to kill each and every one of these revolting human beings.
Advocate #1: Death to all humans!

So Shall Ye Reap

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The Raising of Lazarus

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The Angel of Death

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Season 2

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Opening sequence

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  • There's rioting breaking out through the city. Fire is continuing to burn everywhere. Troops are shooting people. My God, I...I don't know why! There's a woman dying in front of me, and no one's helping her! There are conflicting reports about who or what started the chaos. Will someone tell me what's happening? This is madness! What is this world coming to?

The Second Wave

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No Direction Home

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Doomsday

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Terminal Rock

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Breeding Ground

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Seft of Emun

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Loving the Alien

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Night Moves

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Synthetic Love

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The Defector

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Time to Reap

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The Pied Piper

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The Deadliest Disease

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Path of Lies

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Candle in the Night

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Video Messiah

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Totally Real

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Max

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The True Believer

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The Obelisk

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Cast

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Wikipedia
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