"Man, I really hope this is going to be good..."
When I was a little tyke, V was the coolest f'n thing to me on television. Sure the concept was old even back then, with the whole "aliens coming from outer space to invade the Earth and all", but it was executed to be so creepy yet action-packed at the same time. The reptiles in human clothing, aka the Visitors, were scary as hell. They had harmonized voices, reptilian eyes, spit venom in people's eyes, and ate all kinds of animals...their favorite delicacy being humans. The good guys were always the huge underdogs because:
1) They always seemed outnumbered. There were a zillion motherships carrying even more zillions of these bastards and to make things worse, there were plenty of human sympathizers who did not believe all the Visitors wanted from us was our planet's water and our bodies for food. So it seemed to be a poor ratio between the good and bad guys.
2) Their technology was bad ass. Spaceships, lazer guns, bullet proof armor, conversion chambers...you name it.
Two jokes can be used here: "She's gonna make a great wife with that talent" or "She's so hungry, she could eat a guinea pig." Take your pick.
The original mini-series was played straight and had lots of allusions to the Nazi party and their wrongful, sick oppression of the Jews. The Visitors are clearly portrayed as the master race - even their logo resembles the swastika. Time has not been good to the special effects versus today's technology, but it had a great budget for a television movie that was complimented by powerful acting, a daunting score and a "real"-type feeling to it (for a sci-fi movie, that is).
I also love the sequel, V: The Final Battle, even though some of the subplots like the alien baby are goofy as hell today. The feel of this mini-series delivered even more doses of sci-fi and action then it predecessor, maybe because original creator Kenneth Johnson left the project due to creative differences. Oh well, I liked it though.
The success of The Final Battle led to a weekly series that completely sucked! Thankfully it only lasted a season even though it left a huge cliffhanger. No worries because the show was beyond repair at this point. Too many mini-series favorites were getting killed off each week, while the new characters and new storylines made it into a whole other type of show. And that was a very bad thing.
Overall, my love of the V universe is because it was my first introduction to Michael Ironside (Scanners, Prom Night 2, and many more films) who played Ham Tyler and Robert Englund who played good alien Willie and then went on to play Freddy "F'n" Krueger! Marc Singer, who played lead hero Mike Donovan, is the reason I found out about The Beastmaster - a cult film that I loved from my childhood. So, 'Nuff said there.
"Where is Kodo and Podo?"
Over the past 10-11 years, there were several rumors of either continuation to the original mini-series or a remake under development that did nothing but provide several false starts and fake-me-outs. I gave up hope after a while, until I saw the trailer for the remake about a year ago. My heart wanted a continuation that ended at The Final Battle and ignored the events of The Series, but I realize that it has just been too, too long now. The original cast is either extremely old or deceased, so hopes of continuing with the same actors would be rather dull. They would have to do the old "hand off to the younger actors" routine which would mean that a continuation would essentially be a sequel/remake with a "new generation" cast. That being said, a remake is a good choice because enough time has passed since 1984 and the concept could use a fresh twist in a modern-day setting with the current state of affairs in our country.
In the wake of all the hype and viral marketing for this new series, let's talk about impressions of the first episode...
First of all, the opening was fantastic. Great setup with the motherships descending upon the Earth, but things were explained way too quickly. In fact, what the pilot showed us in the 43 minutes of actual air time was explained in the first two hours of the original mini-series. We already know the Visitors, or "V's" as they are called in this version, talk peace but are obviously up to no good.
At first I was disappointed and really wasn't feeling the series right away until the last ten minutes. I promise not to spoil anything but there were some very cool revelations/surprises in that time span that look to set this series apart from its predecessor. Needless to say, I am all aboard for the remake and can't wait to see next week's episode. My hope is that it wont lose my interest like Flash Forward already has this season. The next three episodes before the 4-month layover will tell a lot about where this season is headed and if it is heading into a good place or off my DVR.
There are some rumblings going on in cyberspace right now that mention the show's mirroring of true life political issues (e.g. Universal Health Care), but I am just going along for the ride of watching a fun television program. I just don't feel the need to get uptight and woven into political wars when I am trying to watch a sci-fi show for a chance to get away from real life problems for a little while in my day. So if you have heard about this stuff already, hopefully these political allusions won't turn you off from trying out a show that seems to be pretty entertaining so far.
The show is not scheduled to re-air on ABC but it will be available to watch online this Saturday (11/7/09). Fans of the original and scifi/horror fans in general should definitely check it out.
Wow! I saw her in the trailer and thought that things were looking up.
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