War of the Worlds/The Second Wave

The Second Wave
Season 2, Episode 1
Airdate	October 2, 1989
Teleplay by	Michael Michaelian and Jonathan Glassner
Story by	Michael Michaelian
Directed by	Francis Delia
← 1x24 The Angel of Death	2x02 → No Direction Home
War of the Worlds — Season Two

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The Second Wave is the first episode of the second season of War of the Worlds, and the twenty-fifth episode overall.

Starring: Jared Martin (Harrison Blackwood), Lynda Mason Green (Suzanne McCullough)

and Adrian Paul (John Kincaid)

Guest Stars: Denis Forest (Malzor), Catherine Disher (Mana), Philip Akin (Norton Drake), Rachel Blanchard (Debi McCullough)

Special Guest Star: Richard Chaves (Lt. Colonel Paul Ironhorse)

with: Julian Richings (Alien Scientist), Sonya Delwaide (Female Newcomer), James Kirchner (Alien Guard), Aaron Ross Fraser (Plato), Greg Kramer (Addict 1), Michael Woods (Guard), Mairon Bennett (Young Hooker), Richard Zeppieri (Tough Kid), Paul Eves (Marine 1)

Plot Overview

The time is that of "almost tomorrow." The planet is in dire straits and the government is falling apart. With no alien activity for months, the Blackwood Project is lost to explain the situation.

To make matters worse, a new set of aliens, the Morthren, have arrived on Earth and have set out to accomplish where those before have failed.

Trivia

The Show

• Adrian Paul and Philip Akin would reunite four years later on Highlander.

Goofs

• At one point the Morthren newcomer that Malzor is talking to in the opening of the first act, is looking up at him, but immediately in the next shot, she is looking around. It's not entirely consistent when it cuts back to the other angle.

• There seems to be confusion in regards to the timing of the Morthren's arrival. Some lines of dialogue give a rough establishment of a few weeks. However, some bits of data, especially early in the episode, point towards them having just recently arrived about the time or just before the episode settles down on Earth in the teaser.

• The Morthren appear adamant to destroy the Blackwood Project, but there is no mention of similar organisations or parties in other countries. First season episodes established that there is a degree of awareness of the invaders outside of the United States.

• The Ironhorse clone is instructed to destroy all the information on the aliens. Objectively speaking, especially as we learn more about the Morthren as the season goes on, it's clear that the vast differences would make the data on the previous aliens irrelevant in regards to the Morthren.
• The gate guarding the Cottage is incredibly different than depicted in Season 1. Then it was a large, remote-controlled. Here it is a relatively small standard gate moved manually by guards.

• Norton's discovery of the aliens' location is off. In the first season, he pinpoints locations due to their transmissions, but there is no such activity seen employed in the entire episode. The only correlation is the Morthren's use of the execution device, but there still lacks an explanation of how Norton picks this up given that it is clearly based on technology the project has not encountered before.

• Norton and Harrison seem to be taken aback by the aliens' lack of radiation sores. However, the team has had encounters with aliens whose sores had not yet become visible. The best example is that of the one who infiltrated the Cottage and was engaged in close contact with all members at some point for a good portion of time.

• When the gernade explodes and sends two Mothren in the air, the squib on the one on the left is clearly late going off as it detonates while the stuntman is in mid-air.
• The destruction of the Cottage is obviously a miniature given how it shakes when it explodes.

Quotes

• Malzor: The Eternal has spoken. We now know the task... and the punishment for failure. We must purify this planet.

• Malzor: Morthrai is not a place; it's an idea.

• Ironhorse clone: You won't leave, will you? You'll stay and die because you won't leave one child behind. That's why we'll win.

Harrison: That's why you'll lose.

• Suzanne: Please. There must be some part of you that is still Ironhorse.

Ironhorse clone: I am Ironhorse. There is no other.

Ironhorse: You're wrong.

Ironhorse clone: Good, brother. Now we'll both die together.