War of the Worlds/Thy Kingdom Come

Thy Kingdom Come
Season 1, Episode 4
Airdate	October 17, 1988
Written by	Herbert Wright
Directed by	Winrich Kolbe
← 1x03 The Walls of Jericho	1x05 → A Multitude of Idols
War of the Worlds — Season One

Thy Kingdom Come is the fourth episode of the first season of War of the Worlds.

Jared Martin (Harrison Blackwood), Lynda Mason Green (Suzanne McCullough), Philip Akin (Norton Drake)

and Richard Chaves (Colonel Ironhorse)

Special Guest Star: Ann Robinson (Sylvia Van Buren)

Also Starring: Richard Comar (Advocate #1), Ilse Von Glatz (Advocate #2), Michael Rudder (Advocate #3), Alar Aedma (Alien Hunter)

Featuring: Walker Boone (Prison Guard), Michael Fletcher (Beckwith), Joy Thompson (Mom), John Blackwood (Dad), Helen Carscallen (Granny), Stuart Stone (Bobby), Diane Douglass (Nurse), John Dee (Old Man), Paul Bettis (Attendant), Steve Mousseau (Sheriff), Len Doncheff (Police Captain), Paul MacCallum (Hunter #1), David Blacker (Hunter #2), Kenneth W. Roberts (Hunter #3), Michael-Michael Sokovnin (Hockey Player #1), Robbie Rox (Hockey Player #2), Al Therrien (Hockey Player #3), Gary Robins (Goalie), Aaron Ross Fraser (Officer/Guard), Colleen Embree (Jordan), Dolora Harvey (Nun), Valerie Boyle (Nun), Brian Hill (Military Guard #1), Elliot McIver (Military Guard #2)

Plot Overview

The Blackwood Project is trailing the aliens as they trek into Canada on a mission to revive more of their sleeping brethren. The team's best hope rests in the troubled mind of War of the Worlds survivor Sylvia Van Buren.

Notes

Teaser Quote

"You haven't got a prayer."

Locations

• Portland, Oregon
• Wolfjaw, Montana
• Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• The aliens are attempting to gather more troops by finding more entombed aliens.
• An unknown number of freed aliens escaped and helped to multiple the alien army.

Characters

• Ironhorse has become comfortable with Harrison and the others that he feels like they are a team.
• Sylvia was a top assistant to Dr Clayton Forrester in the secret Ezekiel Project, but due to possible long term exposure to disease and irradiated alien tissue made her an electromagnetic barometer with high rate of precognitive abilities with physical and mental side-effects.

Trivia

The Show

• First appearance of Norton's van, the "Green Machine".

• Harrison is revealed to be vegetarian.

Behind the Scenes

• This was the eighth episode filmed.

• The producers wanted to bring Bobby back with the intention that he would appear again in various locations to establish a running gag. This was a set-up for a "Save Little Bobby" fan campaign, an attempt to help draw in more viewers for the show. Paramount rejected both ideas.

• The Sci-Fi Channel Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction states the episode ends with Bobby on a bus crossing the Canada/U.S. border full of alien possessed tourists, now holding up a sign that reads "save me." It's unknown where this information comes from, but it does seem in tune with the producers' intentions of bringing back Bobby for future episodes.

Allusions and References

• The Ezekiel Project is appropriately named for two reasons. In the Bible, Ezekiel was a prophet whose warnings were largely ignored. Additionally, the wheel-shaped angels Ezekiel saw in his vision have been interpreted by some to be UFOs.

• Bobby is seen playing with Star Trek: The Next Generation action figures and at one point can be heard saying "What about the Ferengi?", an alien species featured prominently in the show and subsequent series. The reference is an in-joke as writer Herbert Wright was a producer for the first season of the show before working on War of the Worlds and wrote the first two Ferengi episodes of the series, earning him the title of "Father of the Ferengi".

Memorable Moments

• The hockey game.
• Harrison hypnotises the jail guard.

Goofs

• When the team catches the news story on the hockey game, a shot shows Ironhorse and Harrison reacting. But when it goes out to show all four members, Ironhorse and Harrison are reacting as if it just caught their attention.

• When the team catches the news story, Harrison and Suzanne's right and left arm, respectively, change between cuts.

• The ending leaves an unanswered question. There are several bodies floating in the lake, with plenty of time passing for the aliens to have dissolved, as it's commonly seen to occur in about a minute. This leaves either an unexplained reason on what effect the water has on the aliens' decay process or why the team seems unconcerned that they might have killed innocent people.

• In the closing credits, the "Also Starring" header simply reads "Starring".

Quotes

• Ironhorse: I mean, any covert operation requires the utmost secrecy to succeed. I mean, if you were to suddenly die.

Harrison: As opposed to slowly dying?

• Ironhorse: Only fools fight without knowing who their enemies are. Without intelligence, this war would be fought blind and no doubt lost.

Harrison: Dead and blind. Boy, you are a cheerful one tonight.

• Old Man: Anybody know you're here?

Harrison: Yes, thank you.

Old Man: I'd leave right now if I were you. It's not safe here.

Harrison: Trust me, it's not safe out there, either.

Old Man: Oh, hell. I forgot that.

• Ironhorse: Wolfjaw, Montana. That's Indian territory.

Harrison: Looks like we got aliens moving into the neighborhood. Let's go.

Ironhorse: Great. First the white man, now aliens.

• Sylvia Van Buren: Thank you again for the TV, Harry. It's the only friend I have.

Harrison: I know, Sylvia. Now what do you think this all means?

Sylvia: Oh, it means more than beans and queens.

• Sylvia: Harry, do you remember Clayton's study of the alien eye?

Harrison: Vaguely. Why?

Sylvia: 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: 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 till 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: This is someplace on Earth. As seen from... outer space.

• Suzanne: "Exploded"?

Harrison: That sounds suspiciously like our people.

Norton: Or one hell of a hockey game!

• Bobby: Do I have to eat this stuff?

Mom: It's good for you. Make you grow big and strong like your father.

Granny: When you get older and bigger, Bobby, you'll understand.

Dad: And then you'll become one of us.

• Police Captain: So it takes someone blowing up to get you Yanks to believe us about pollution, eh?

Harrison: Yeah, that's always an attention grabber, Captain.

• Suzanne: Why do I get the feeling this is completely out of control?

Norton: Could it be the iron bars?

• Harrison: Excuse me, sir. How long have you been a smoker?

(the guard walks up to Harrison and blows smoke in his face)

Officer/Guard: Blow it out, slimeball.

Norton: People are just drawn to him, aren't they?

Suzanne: It's a gift.

• Harrison: Look, I know it's a sensitive issue, but do you realise the insides of your lungs must look like cooked marshmallows? All charcoal-black. Seriously, as a chain-smoker, you must smoke, what - three, four packs a day?

Officer/Guard: You just don't know when to quit, do you?

Harrison: That sounds like it's your problem, not mine.

• Harrison: You sleep. And when you wake up, you'll remember nothing except that you gave up smoking.

Officer/Guard: I quit.

Harrison: Good. You'll thank me for this.

(Harrison leaves; beat)

Officer/Guard: Thank you.

• Ironhorse: (offering a gun to Harrison) You?

Harrison: Think of me as your spiritual adviser.

Ironhorse: You're just weird, Blackwood.

Harrison: Maybe, but I when I grow up, I want to be just like you.

• Suzanne: How did a nice girl like me get into this mess?

Norton: I'm just a dude with a love of computers. You figure.

• Suzanne: I can hardly believe we won.

Harrison: We tried, Suzanne. Too many got away tonight. There's got to be thousands more buried out there, all over the world… and we've got to find them before they do. And we've only just started.