V: The Alien Visitors Are Our Friends

[Sabertooth]

The BSG appreciation thread got me thinking about one of my favorite franchises from Sci-fi past: V!

 

Aliens approach our planet to peaceably trade their advanced technology for needed resources that they lack. They are apparently just like us and most of them are exceedingly attractive and/or charismatic - except for Willie. Only the resource that they need is HUMANS for FOOD! AND they are LIZARD PEOPLE!

 

Love the acting, props and that early 80s style of the original miniseries and The Final Battle. Plus the iconic red "V" logo, Marc Singer and Jane Badler. The reboot that ABC tried a few years back got really good in the second season. I really hoped that they would green light a short third season or movie of the week to tie up the loose ends. And because Morena Baccarin. C'est le vie.

 

One day I will cosplay as a Visitor. And I don't cosplay.

 

What did you guys think of V?

 

Edited November 4, 2016 by atarilbc

[nosweargamer]

Great series! Especially the two mini series and the reboot series.

My wife and I were disappointed when ABC canceled it at the end of season 2.

It seems like a lot of shows we like get canceled after one or two seasons.

Thankfully it seems shows have a better chance these days getting renewed on new networks or Netflix if they are any good.

[RickR]

I loved the old mini-series, but had no idea there was a newer version.  I need to check that out. 

That alien baby crawling out of the womb was really quite creepy back then!

[RickR]

Spoiler alert!

 

 

[Sabertooth]

@RickR: The baby scene was epic when I was a kid. Even the forked tongue on the more human child is great.

 

@NSG RE: The reboot.

 

It was one of few shows that my daughter - then in middle school - watched together. I told her about the old series and she decided to sit in on the pilot and got hooked. ABC really messed up in its handling of the series. It was on for like five weeks in the fall of 2009 and then they brought it back in March 2010 and wonder why ratings fell. The second season started, not in fall of 2010, but in early 2011. I've never seen a high budget, relatively well reviewed show be handled so poorly.

 

My daughter and I were shocked by the cancellation because the show ended very strongly and on a terrible cliffhanger. There was an online petition/email campaign to get a third season that we participated in. Later that year, my daughter got me the complete original series DVD set for my birthday. It was a total shock and probably one of only two or three times that she's ever gotten me anything geeky.

Edited November 4, 2016 by atarilbc

[Rowsdower70]

My whole family (well, probably not Mom) was into V when it first aired.   

Funny story, back then we had one of the big satellite dishes, V aired right before everything got scrambled and those big satellites became useless.  

We found the feed where they were piping it in to the local affiliates and got to watch V before everyone we knew.  

I dunno, back then it was a big deal.

[Sabertooth]

@LostDragon - Had no idea about the game. Thanks for the video! It looks like they didn't do alot with the license, aside from the intro screen and some art (a shuttle). What a shame.

[Atari Adventure Square]

When it was announced, V seemed an exciting prospect as yet-another TV event (which were a cool thing back in the pre-VCR. fixed time-slot viewing days).

After part one aired, it more than lived up to its hype, it fully delivered a serious sci-fi concept, seemingly un-filtered for network broadcast, with cool characters, dark storylines, sex-appeal, nerd-appeal, nifty effects and a catchy theme tune.

 

Part two had to be open-ended, but while this was not entirely satisfying, it also delivered the goods by staying on-point.

Everytime I rewatch the original series, my appreciation for it increases.

 

The Final Battle was a no-brainer, production-wise. It had to happen.

And if I remember correctly, the hype was even higher for this return.

Again, it lived up to expectations.

Ironside kills it as a hero/scoundrel you root for (always wanted to see him be a good guy after his killer turn as an antagonist in Scanners).

 

As a retro experience, the production values belie their network origin and live up to any sci-fi cinematic outing of the era.

It's so cool you watched this series with your daughter, ataribc!

 

I'd be proud to show the entire run to any younger folks wondering what the older days of television had to offer to the masses (outside poignant real-life drama in movies-of-the-week).

(Well, I'd also point to the fine 70s TV horror that I'm pleased to say scarred me for life).

 

The follow-up V TV series was pretty cool, but serialized up to a point.

The requirement to stretch stories to a full season goes against the nature of a disaster-based invasion story like this one.

If I remember correctly, it actually had some sort of ending, but the whole thing was a bit exhausted at that point.

Still enjoyed the rewatch of it, a few years ago, when the DVD set came out.

 

The remake...eh...watched the first two eps, it didn't grab me, felt a bit sacri-religious, in some odd way.

Alien invasion is a cool, oft-told story.

Mebbe the V experience is why I enjoy ID4 as much, well beyond criticism I hear of it.

 

But any serialized show nowadays has less than half-a-chance of telling a full story before it's cancelled.

And I've been burned too often to care about anything before it's out on disc and an end is planned or has happened.

 

The actors in the remake are good and, given less of an investment on my part over any story resolution, I'd give in to watching whatever is out there.

(although the cancellation on a cliff-hanger mentioned above is a deal-breaker on this one)

 

Yeah, all-in-all...V: The Original series and The Final Battle are some of the best hours of television I ever had the pleasure to watch when it aired!

Edited November 6, 2016 by Atari Adventure Square