It was stated that the aliens were supposed to be of the "same race" between the first and second season but in another post it was stated that there was evidence that they were not so what was the many differences between the mortax and mothari ? if this is a rehashed question i apolgize i just need a little closure on the subject.
shareKey differences:
*Well, first, there is the planet. The name is obviously different; no need to make a case for that and it's never explained why the same supposed race call it an entire different name (and Harrison doesn't seem confused when he learns the aliens' homeworld later in the second season). Then there's other information regarding the Mor-Tax and their relation to Earth versus the Morthren's. In the first season, their first dated visitation was 1938. But in the final episode (season 2), the Morthren didn't know about Earth until the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945. They then pack up some crap and head out to this marble and make it by 1953. The fact that they make it in an eight-year trek is odd since Mor-Tax had been stated to be 40 light-years away. This further pisses on the second season timeline as this would have rounded out an approximate depature date of the Mor-Tax invasion force as being 1898. Then add the ancienct war machine from the first season's "Dust to Dust", which suggests that the Mor-Tax were aware of this floating rock since before even the Americas were colonised.
*Then there's the aliens' goal. Through the entire first season, there was no doubt that the Mor-Tax were warriors with the goal of eliminating humanity to colonise the planet. This was always their goal, and the 1953 film perfectly fits into this, as does it source material: the H.G. Wells novel. The second season backs this up (though their goals are kind of vague) until the final episode when we're told that events of 1953 was a simple misunderstanding between dumb earthlings and simple scientists who were killing everyone in their path for the sake of their so-called research mission.
*There's also the caste system. The Mor-Tax clearly had a three-sect class: at the bottom were the scientists, soldiers served as the middlemen, and a superior ruling class (represented by on Earth by the Advocacy who hold an unexplained relationship to Council). The Morthren, however, seemed to be split only two ways: workers and soldiers. Scientists were superior only to human scum within the Mor-Tax society, but the Morthren held their scientists as equals, with the aristocratic Advocates (noticed only by the now inexplicable donning of their contamination suits) relegated to the same soldier class as those they looked down upon before. The only Morthren higher-up was the god, the Eternal. The Mor-Tax never made any reference to such a deity. Yes, "To Life Immortal," as the Mor-Tax always said, but it was never "to life eternal." And even if we pick up that phrase as a thread, why would an entire race drop it once the audience finally sees it? And the Council was mentioned at least once as the Advocacy's leaders, so I doubt their god was the Mor-Tax leader (and keep in mind that they never acknowledged a higher power). The class system gets further bollixed as the second season goes on. Also note that "Council" and "Advocacy/Advocate" are words the Morthren never utter. This is made even more problematic by the fact that underlings were pretty much led to believe that they were literally useless without guidance from Council, constantly frustrating the Advocacy because of this. But such a mentality never seems visible within the Morthren. Additionally, in the first season, ther was mentione of 3 million colonists arriving within five years (estimated date: 1993), but their recent arrival in "The Second Wave" shows what cannot be more than - making an uneducated guess here - a thousand or so. Of course, other could have integrated into society, but the same episode suggests they just arrived, so there's a plothole somewhere.
*Distinctive communication is also a distinguished characteristic of an alien race in fiction. The Mor-Tax spoke an African-esque language, when not using the English of their hosts. The Morthren spoke English. Thier transmutation into human form is never explained, so I'm not sure how their adaptation was enabled, but I doubt it would hamper their native tonuge. This is made evident in the one time they talk in alienspeak, when Malzor makes an odd whale noise, similar to how the Eternal communicates. Not to mention that over the entire first season, the Mor-Tax also communicated through transmissions, making odd repetative humming noises, not too dissimilar to the sounds made when they stood back-to-back (it's never explained what they're doing, but it's obviously some kind of mental communication).
*There's also a clear clash between their technology. It's hard to describe, but the Morthren had, to be blunt, a snot-like look to theirs. The Mor-Tax technology looked more sophisticated and elegant, the exception being when they cop human junk together for their own purposes.
*The Mor-Tax were also vegetarians, stood back-to-back in a kind of meditation (as mentioned above), and were considerably centred on the number 3. None of these traits were ever carried with the Morthren.
It's been a while since I skimmed through the second episodes, and I'm kind of burning out right now, so I might be missing some things, but the above is still plenty of evidence to compare and contrast the two alien races.
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Formless, faithless, and free.
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"The first season was great. It came out when I was 13. I recently bought it on DVD at Fry's Electronics."
Wow...exactly what happened with me. But I never saw the Second Season, the last episode I saw was the Angel of Death (last First Season episode). After seeing it to the end (indeed, the very last line uttered) I concluded that the humans had no chance whatsoever of survival. It was a lost cause...
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Yikes...think I'll just stick with the first season, even though there's no closure...
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Yeah, they kind of tanked it with the seasonal direction shift. However the final episode offered hope for both species. Wikipedia has a good synopsis of the disparity between the seasons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Worlds_(TV_series)
<<<SPOILER ALERT>>>
Malzor in an atempt to get away from the Eternal consults a Morthren device called the "Obelisk" and plans the final destruction of humanity with the aid of a deadly spore weapon. Ceeto who wishes to save Debi from this plight steals the Obelisk and runs away to the humans. There he tells the group of Malzors plans and with the Obelisk he shows them the reason for Malzor's ambitions to kill humanity. They see a vision of a Morthren expeditionary group that were sent to Earth to establish peaceful research of the planet. The expedition team is killed, a member of which is Malzor's mate. It is this reason why Malzor feels hatred from humanity. He kills their leader and begins the crusade to Earth. While the spore delivery system begins killing humans in the city the group journey back to the lair of the Morthren with Ceeto in an attempt to overthrow them and force the cessation of the spore dispersal. Mana is found by the Blackwood group and exposed to the Obelisk, discovering Malzor's subterfuge and reason for the costly journey to Earth (Their planet eventually died in the absence of so many Morthren). She takes sides with the humans realizing that she had been misled by Malzor and confronts him. Malzor in a fit of rage destroys Ceeto, and in turn Malzor is fired upon by Debi and killed. Mana was not only forced to reconcile with the humans but was now in mourning for Ceeto, she sorofully confesses to the humans that he was her son. Suzanne shows compassion as Debi cries in her arms. Mana and the other Morthren disable the spore weapons and the series essentially ended with the two sides coming to a bitter and painful truce and the Blackwood group walking out into a interestinly sunny dawn. And though Forrester and his band of humans probably went there separate ways I cannot remember if Mana who is now the leader of the surviving Morthren decided to stay on Earth or to see if they could find another planet someday. The War of the Worlds was over.
I think Richard Chaves just wanted off the show, and you know just how great his career has been since then.
Wikipedia has a good synopsis of the disparity between the seasons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Worlds_(TV_series)
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In my opinion...The direction of Season one is in no way compatible to to season's two direction. Season one, The Martians are actually Mor-Taxians, who came scouting years(thousands of years)before 1938 (Dust to Dust). Then there was a small recon invasion in 1938 (Eye for an Eye). 15 years later the first wave arrives, but was defeated by bacteria, skips 50 years later and their back due to radiation. they clearly have plans to invade Earth, destroy mankind, and colonize Earth. Their thelogy is towards Immortality "To Life Immortal"
The second season introduces the the Mothrens as the Mor-Taxians Leaders, rulers, etc and they quickly kill off the first aliens. The Mothrens are here on Earth to colonized it (their planet destroyed by now). They have human bodies and an organized military like strcuture and uniforms. They worship an Entity call the Eternal which is never really explained. They have technology (organically based)that is superior to the first alien's. Lastly the entire Earth seems to be in chaos both in goverment and life, the weather is in a perpetual gloomy state.
There are just too many variables and question left unanswered and a new set of questions posed. I think the first season was good and the second season could have been better. So in the end what you have is a big mess for both shows.
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