For decades moviegoers have gravitated to tales of alien invasion, writes “Streaming” columnist NICK OVERALL.

FROM 1951’s “The Day The Earth Stood Still” to 2016’s “Arrival”, the cinematic intrigue of a total extra-terrestrial takeover has made for a sure-fire ticket seller.

Now in the age of streaming it’s the small screen that aliens are invading.

In recent years shows such as “Falling Skies”, “Childhood’s End” and even a new adaptation of HG Wells’ classic novel “War of the Worlds” have flown on to screens.

There’s no exception on Apple TV Plus, with season two of its blockbuster series “Invasion” just landing.

One of the platform’s biggest and most ambitious series, “Invasion” attempts to paint a gritty, realistic picture of how the world would react to absolute alien occupation.

The series’ enigmatic intro titles span some of the globe’s most iconic landmarks, giving a hint into the insane travel costs it must have racked up in production (thanks to a whopping $US200 million dollar budget).

It kicks off how many stories about Martians do, with a strange object falling from the sky and nearby inhabitants going to investigate.

Here it’s a desert in Arabia where the scene is set and it’s not long before an unfortunately curious explorer is vaporised.

After this the show splits off into the perspectives of five different characters and their struggle for survival in a transforming world.

One of them is our own Sam Neill, who plays a small-town sheriff in Oklahoma fighting to keep his community safe when crop circles begin to appear.

Also among the roster is a Japanese aerospace engineer investigating the mysterious explosion of a space shuttle flown by her partner, an American soldier in a desperate search for his vanished squadron and a British schoolboy forced to team up with his bully. 

Neill’s character is easily the most interesting of the bunch, despite often falling into cliche (he’s of course just one day off his retirement when the aliens decide to show up)

And what of these aliens? Are the little green men in flying saucers? Robots? E.T.? 

Well enigmatically (and eventually irritatingly) “Invasion” keeps its cards close to its chest on this one.

In the first season viewers see more of the by-product of their arrival rather than that arrival itself. There are blackouts and nosebleeds across the world, earthquakes and economic collapse but catching a glimpse of what’s actually causing these eerie events is hard to come by. The explosive special-effect pieces take a back seat to the character work here. Those characters are interesting and “Invasion” does indeed have a great setup, but in season two the show needs to start dishing out more answers as to what’s actually going on if it’s going to keep audiences interested. The truth is out there. I just wish it would hurry up.

RACING to the top of Netflix’s most watched shows this month is the new action thriller series “Who Is Erin Carter?”

Nailing down a premise of this one isn’t easy, as doing so would spoil the conceit teased in its title but bear with me.

The titular Erin (Evin Ahmad) is a British teacher living an idyllic and picturesque life in Barcelona. While shopping with her daughter on what seems to be a normal afternoon, things take a turn when two masked crooks attempt to hold up the supermarket.

Within moments Erin has taken both down in a precisely executed flurry of combat. “It’s you” says one of the thieves with his dying breath, leaving Erin’s daughter to question her mother’s identity, past and even her name.

It might sound heavy, but “Erin Carter” certainly doesn’t take itself seriously. In many ways the show feels like it’s trying to emulate old-school action TV, complete with over-the-top choreographed fight scenes and corny banter that bounces between its protagonists.

For those in search of some casual TV fun, “Who Is Erin Carter?” provides just enough intrigue to make searching for an answer to its central question worth it.