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Invasion Earth
The aliens are coming...to Scotland!
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Invasion Earth
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Starring Vincent Regan, Maggie O'Neill, Fred Ward
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Directed by Patrick Lau, Richard Laxton
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Written by Jed Mercurio
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The Sci-Fi Channel
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9 p.m. ET, Dec. 8, 9 and 10
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Review by John Platt
 otshot R.A.F. Flight Lieutenant Chris Drake (Regan) shoots down a UFO over the Scottish North Sea, losing his aircraft and his navigator in the process. At the same time, in a satellite monitoring station in southeast England, the beautiful and brilliant scientist Dr. Amanda Tucker (O'Neill) and her assistant receive an alien transmission. They pinpoint its origin as being somewhere high above Scotland, so Amanda heads north to investigate.
Meanwhile, hard-nosed Major-General David Reece (Ward), an American Air Force officer working with NATO, is also investigating the incident. His men find and fire upon the "unidentified pilot" of the UFO's escape pod, but the strangely clad "man" evades capture by turning invisible!
Later, Tucker and Drake meet in a Scottish pub and realize their common goal. Having both been shut out of the official investigation, they decide to join forces in order to uncover the truth. They find the downed alien pilot at a local hospital, and, while he appears to be completely human, he refuses to talk.
When Reece's team arrives, they find an electronic device lodged in one of the alien's teeth. They accidentally activate it, and a mysterious force appears from another dimension and abducts several people, including Tucker.
It turns out that there are two races of aliens: the peaceful echoes and the monstrous, dimension traveling nD's. Not only are they at war with each other, but it seems the nD's are mounting an invasion of Earth. And unless Amanda, Chris, Reece and Reece's team can quickly learn the nD's plans and weaknesses, the entire planet will surely be lost.
Watch out Dr. Who, here comes Dr. Tucker!
Filmed in Scotland by the BBC and featuring a mostly British cast, Invasion Earth is a six-hour mini-series that is unlike most American SF fare. It is offbeat, often overacted, obviously low budget, and it has the type of ambiguous ending U.S. productions can't get away with anymore.
And while the characters are quite well developed and modern, Invasion Earth still feels more like Dr. Who or Gerry Anderson's U.F.O. than ID4 or The X-Files. It's probably because Scotland hasn't been invaded by aliens very often. And that's a big part of Invasion Earth's charm.
The aliens are very alien, the humans don't have a clue what to do about them, and though they continually make brilliant deductions and put brave plans into action, Drake, Tucker and Reece are constantly thwarted by the nD's, usually suffering great losses in the process.
It's much more like a real war than the "we'll just give 'em a computer virus and have a cigar" macho mentality of Independence Day. The characters in Invasion Earth don't know what's going to happen to them, and neither do viewers. Each episode ends with a cliffhanger, and each subsequent installment leads to more heinous revelations about the nD's.
The ambiguous ending may be unsatisfying for the many American viewers who have come to expect neatly wrapped, happy endings, but SF fans who like the genre to spark debate should be happily surprised. It's not The Prisoner, but it's trying.
The special effects are merely okay by today's standards, but they are at least put to good use. And though the writing can be hokey and melodramatic at times, the actors are usually able to make the story believable.
While watching the first hour of Invasion Earth, I began to have serious second thoughts about agreeing to review a six-hour mini-series during my Thanksgiving holiday. But after the second hour, I was hooked, and each subsequent cliffhanger made me anxious for more. I had no idea where this show was going, and that made it fun to watch, despite its otherwise B-movie feel.
-- John
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A Bug's Life
More animated bugs infest Hollywood...
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A Bug's Life
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Rated G
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Voiced by Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Directed by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton
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Written by Stanton, Donald McEnery, Bob Shaw
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94 Minutes
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Review by Kathie Huddleston
 very year the ants of an island colony toil like slaves to
gather enough food for a nasty band of grasshoppers, led by the evil Hopper (Spacey). And every year they manage to hoard just enough food to feed both the grasshoppers and themselves.
One ant, named Flik (Foley), can't help coming up with ideas and inventions that he thinks might help. Unfortunately, he is as clumsy as he is bright. Just as the grasshoppers are about to come for their food, Flik accidentally scatters the offering. Hopper is not pleased when he discovers the ants haven't kept up their part of his bargain. After all, in his mind ants exist to gather food and grasshoppers exist to eat it. He threatens the queen (Phyllis Diller) and her colony, giving them the summer to double the amount of food they must collect.
Flik feels terrible because he's let down the colony. Just as Princess Atta (Louis-Dreyfus) and her advisors are deciding what punishment to give Flik, he has another brilliant idea. He will travel off the island and find warrior bugs who can fight the grasshoppers and save the colony. The Princess and her advisors agree with the plan, mainly because the last thing they need is more of Flik's help.
During his travels, Flik encounters a troupe of bugs that seems to fit the bill. When he sees them win a bar fight, he offers them the job immediately, and they grab it without asking too many questions. It turns out they are actually performers from a flea circus who've just been fired. When Flik discovers the truth, he has only two choices: give up and admit he's a loser or turn those circus bugs and his ant colony into warriors.
Another good ant picture?
In a time-honored Hollywood tradition, A Bug's Life hits the big screen just weeks after the opening of Antz, another animated film featuring--what else?--ants. In fact, the stories of A Bug's Life and Antz are remarkably similar, making it difficult to imagine how both can be so thoroughly entertaining. Yet for all that they have in common, these are quite different films. Antz is the more adult offering, while A Bug's Life is a charming, funny and fresh film that will engage both children and grownups.
A Bug's Life, a Disney film from the creators of Toy Story, is topnotch all the way. The animation continues in the Toy Story tradition by offering a rich, vivid and almost three-dimensional world for its animated characters to live in. Beyond that, the script is well written and funny, and Randy Newman's score hits just the right note.
There are many terrific scenes throughout the movie. However, the troupe from the flea circus is particularly entertaining. When they come onto the stage, A Bug's Life really takes off. The circus bugs also create opportunities for future toys, no doubt. After all, what kid wouldn't want to have Francis (voiced by Denis Leary), the macho lady bug, or Slim (voiced by David Hyde Pierce), the talking stick with eyes, to play with?
A Bug's Life is also populated with the voices of some of the brightest and best comedians and actors today, with a couple of voices from the past to add character. Most notably, Roddy MacDowall offers his final performance as Mr. Soil, a wise ant.
While it's fair to ask why Hollywood is ignoring the rest of the insect world, A Bug's Life proves there is room for two good animated ant movies. However, it would be nice if DreamWorks (which produced Antz) and Disney can come up with different ideas from now on.
Tip: The credits are worth watching for some special "outtakes."
-- Kathie
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