"NCIS" Strange Invaders (TV Episode 2024) Poster

(TV Series)

(2024)

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9/10
Wonderful special day shiw
CealCraig2 April 2024
It was an entertaining episode all the way through. The survey question had me wondering if the network was going to do a sort of reality show vote for our decision kind of thing. And I would be kind of curious to see McGee without the goatee. The only downside to the episode was it actually did start with a murder, sadly. The congresswoman was a bit camoy my. Kind of a classic about science versus questions about is truth stranger than fiction. Perpetuated stereotypes of geeks too. The ending was what got me and then I realized what day it was and that was a hoot. I do wonder if when people view it as a rerun whether they're really catch the subtle humor in this.
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9/10
Fresh take on plot breathes new life
metalrox_20003 April 2024
Warning: Spoilers
As is typical with many NCIS episodes, the show starts with the murder of a member of the Navy. As the team investigates, they learn that the killer. May be perhaps, out of this world. This leads to a sidebar as the members of the team debate if they believe in UFOs (even though they are given a different name) or not.

After watching video of the officer's testimony before a congressional hearing, they seek answers from the congresswoman heading the hearings. This leads the team to a company producing next generation AI.

Soon, they discover the program had been hacked, leading to the navy officer's death. They enlist the man who wrote the program to bring a stop to it.

In an ending that was inspired by the first "hacker" film, Wargames, the team learns that the program is named for the programmers son. The son, much like in the movie Wargames, died as a child, so in grief, the program named the new software in honor of his son. In an emotional scene, the programmer realizes the only way to stop the hackers from selling the program to foreign enemies, is to terminate it. As the programmer presses the button the delete the program, Parker consoles him by reminding him at least this time, he got to say good bye.

This really could end up a classic episode. It had humor, and in the end, tugs at the heartstrings with an emotion impact. This is really a contender for best episode of the Parker era.
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1/10
Another silly, science-ignorant episode
grimm-292 April 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Another of NCIS's sillier episodes. The isotopes of "Element 116", aka. Livermorium, have half-lifes measured in milliseconds -- so, even if you got enough of it together to fire out of a 'gun', it would have decayed into other elements (with a massive burst of radiation) before it even hit the body, let alone got back to the lab.

Hey CBS, here's an idea: find some writers who DIDN'T flunk high school science to write your 'sciencey' episodes.

The 'AI' elements of the episodes were almost as silly -- it seems that these writers get their ideas from cheesy 80s Sci Fi movies, rather than from anything vaguely resembling a realistic portrayal of cutting-edge AI.

Finally, the 'Shortwave backdoor' bit was silly as well -- as it would require the baddies to attach a shortwave radio antenna and tuner to their AI data center, without them having any reason to do so. Shortwave communication requires an antenna and tuner at BOTH ends.
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Strange Invaders
bobcobb30117 April 2024
Warning: Spoilers
I feel like every procedural does this kind of episode where they tease aliens and tease a supernatural element. That is the impact and legacy of the long-running series The X Files I suppose.

NCIS tackled it a little bit differently, and this was actually quite fun at times, but it just never really got off the ground the way it could have been. Way too much McGee in this episode for my liking too.

Enjoyable enough, and oddly enough probably one of the standout episodes of the season thus far for NCIS, but this could have been so much better had they gone to the drawing board and fixed a few things, mainly the whole AI bits.
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5/10
This episode copied Star Trek
atcvector11 April 2024
Warning: Spoilers
In Star Trek's 24th episode called "The Ultimate Computer", Commodore Wesley built a computer called M-5 to run Starships. The computer ends up taking over the Enterprise and kills a crew member. Commodore Wesley ends up "killing" his creation M-5 in order to save the Enterprise and its crew.

This episode of NCIS uses the same premise. Smart guy builds IA to fly "killer" drones that ends up operating by itself and possibly harming humanity. In order to save a bunch of people, he has to "kill" his creation. Maybe the writers have run out of other ideas or the binged watched Star Trek one weekend.
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