The original miniseries had the strongest plot.
The Final Battle has the best action scenes, one-liners, and set pieces, but it's so sloppily written that it doesn't withstand even a passing glance. In the first part alone:
1. for making a big deal on how machine guns are effectively useless, that didn't stop them from taking over the hospital to unravel John's face with standard machine guns (Tyler's new weaponry doesn't get mentioned until part two).
2. Counterfeiting a pass with 1985 Earth technology is laughable, though a pure identical copy with the same materials the Visitors had might have worked... except the legitimate card holders got in first and each pass would likely (should) have unique numbers of authenticity - for a race of beings that out-thunk humans in the previous miniseries, they've become very stupid to make one card with one passcode that's duplicated for all. Fore multiple reasons, that pass should have been rejected. And Steven seemed sure he recognized Julie (Diana should have, since Julie shot at her with a gun at near point blank range in the first miniseries...)
3. The cliche of "bad guys can't shoot straight" is too prominent.
4. Every security door installed had no override or back door? Only the main door, the ONLY door that had a resistance person shooting the (electronic) lock and there are no other doors available? Was Steven sleepwalking? He came up with every feature...
5. Donovan was on the Visitor's "kill" list long enough and from the first miniseries no less, why did they continue to insist on catching him, complete with hack dialogue from Eleanor's husband spelling the lame fact out to us?
6. The journalist that recognized Christine knew enough to call her out as a fake and very bluntly, so what made Diana believe that converting him and have him sugarcoat Christine with compliments wouldn't make her suspicious?
7. Robin's subplot starts out well, but gets increasingly but unintentionally silly as if somehow mating a lizard species with an ape species leads to green rings around the neck, fetus controlling mom's brain, and things that just get more and more silly over the 3-story arc...
8. Bryan and Diana's sex scene -- in their human skin suits, posing like humans that just made love while belittling how humans do it based on the homemade p0rno Diana had filmed?!
9. As the miniseries progressed, the claustrophobic feel continues to become more of a soppy soap opera
10...
I could be here for hours. And I've not started with parts 2 or 3 yet.
But while the 3-part arc is poorly written overall, it's hard to deny some spectacular scenes:
1. Donovan vs his mother
2. The resistance takeover of John's speech and not-so-great escape
3. The opening, showing the resistance losing badly
4. Robin's family drama and abortion debate are very well acted and the latter is where the dialogue really shines
5. Daniel becoming more and more creepy - his subplot was one of the best and creepiest things of TFB
6. The idea they had to do something BIG
7. How they increased their ranks (e.g. "We're all you got between the life that you have and the one you won't")
8. The general fascist feel imposed by the Visitors
9. Both Julie and Donovan take turns risking self vs the team - another subplot that is successfully explored throughout TFB's run
10...
Again, there are numerous scenes in part one, and the remaining parts, that are utterly fantastic. Pity the overall story isn't as good, but there are more memorable set-pieces than in the original 1983 miniseries.
But the whole of the original miniseries, despite being more slowly paced, is far more tightly written and bulletproof because everything (given 1982 society at the time it was written) was considered.
I love them both, but for different reasons.
Dishonorable mention: the 2009 remake may have had better special effects and make-up, but even 1984's TFB had a tighter and more coherent and intelligently written plot than the remake (never mind the full series that sprung from it).
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