V: The Second Generation

Moonraker 5

This is primarily aimed at those of you old enough to have watched the series V from the early/mid-eighties.

I read in the paper today that 3 made-for-TV movies picking up 20 years after the series ended have been commissioned by NBC and that original cast members Jane Badler (Diana) and Faye Grant (Juliet Parish), Marc Singer (Donovan) and Robert Englund (Willie) have signed on to reprise their roles.

Before anyone asks what V was all about, it was basically seemingly benevolant aliens ("visitors") arriving on earth in need of water for their home planet. The looked like us and talked like us, but, recreating the Nazi persecutions, started rounding up doctors and scientists and imposed martial law to keep the peace. But they weren't like us, laytex hid the fact that they were actually lizard-like beings and they had come to harvest earth for food (humans). Sounds pathetic by todays standards, and the special effects of the day sure do look dodgy these days, but the drama and paranoia that unfolds in the original mini series and the sequel The Final Battle really is quite gripping. The actual series did jump the shark though.

Anyway, point of the thread is, those who watched it and enjoyed it back then, what do we reckon of a new series 20 years later? Should they have left it be or are you intrigued to see what they do with it, especially with todays SFX??

Alex

Quoting Moonraker 5:Anyway, point of the thread is, those who watched it and enjoyed it back then, what do we reckon of a new series 20 years later? Should they have left it be or are you intrigued to see what they do with it, especially with todays SFX??

Have to say I'm definitely interested in where they'll be going with it. As an avid watcher of V and a Marc Singer fan, this sounds like the best thing on television just about now.

And Diana is back!

Sir Miles

I remember watching this series avidly when it first aired. It was a fun series to watch but I did feel a little sorry for the white mice ) Anyone else remember the storyline where one of the aliens and an Earthgirl produced offspring ? Today's SFX sould make the show better - as long as they still spend money on the scripts.

Moonraker 5

With the novel due mid-07, Warners are apparently putting together $19m for a new V mini-series hopefully for the end of next year. In the mean time, someone's come up with a cool (though sadly unofficial) trailer for it...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thPv5sbjdUo

A7ce

I was in high school in the mid 80's when this was on in the UK and was compulsory viewing.

I remember Diana, the white mouse and the baby birth, as well as someone else ordered to lick someones boots !

Moonraker 5

A7ce wrote:

as well as someone else ordered to lick someones boots !

Oo-er! I don't remember that bit (perhaps unfortunately, depending on who it was ) )

But I do remember the lizard baby!! That was even brought up just recently when my best mate's wife was expecting )

Diana always won for me, despite the competition from Julie and Lydia

Moonraker 5

Ooooooooooooooold thread resurrected, but now that the "new" V has aired a few episodes on ABC in the United States, is anyone watching it? And, more importantly, is it any good??? I've seen the preview trailer on YouTube, and that's about it. Motherships are very different, and - perhaps wisely - all new characters, though I'm not sure about the Visitors grey-blue uniforms and the way they seem to be referred to as "the Vs".

Was quite a fan of the original, so if anyone US-side can give an opinion I'd like to hear it!

Loeffelholz

Haven't seen it yet---but I was a big fan of the miniseries and show back in the day, so I'll catch it at some point. The bar has been set fairly high by today's CGI standards...and also the revival of Battlestar Galactica, which IMO was quite good.

Jane Badler used to be quite the hot little reptilian villainess :x :v

Thunderbird 2

Moonraker 5 wrote:

Ooooooooooooooold thread resurrected, but now that the "new" V has aired a few episodes on ABC in the United States, is anyone watching it? And, more importantly, is it any good??? I've seen the preview trailer on YouTube, and that's about it. Motherships are very different, and - perhaps wisely - all new characters, though I'm not sure about the Visitors grey-blue uniforms and the way they seem to be referred to as "the Vs".

Was quite a fan of the original, so if anyone US-side can give an opinion I'd like to hear it!

Hi Moonraker 5,

I have seen the pilot. The new V is its own animal in the same way Battlestar Galactica 2004, is very different from the original even though both tell the same storyline.

This series has picked up the ball of the original but is playing the characters and set ups in a much subtler vein that the original. I was a fan of the original as a kid too, in a Dr Who "hiding behind the sofa from the lizards" aspect. Well I was 8! - The story arcs are more multi layered, and there are definately one or two surprises in the new version. I would advise not to go in with expectations from the past, as this new series takes an up to date approach in the concept from the narrative sense, as well as the timeframe. - Flashforward and Stargate Universe also spring to mind.

If you like your Sci Fi, you will spot one or two faces familiar from 4400, as well as Firefly in the cast. The effects are subtle for the "V's" - (now meaing Visitors rather than Victory.) - Think Gattaca for the set designs and costuming, to a degree. It works a lot better in that respect, and the CGI works well alongside it, instead of feeling "tacked on."

The series has promise in its premise from the pilot, and I think it could do as well as part of the "modern" style Sci Fi, alongside Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Universe. It just needs to ensure the series lives up to the promise of the ongoing intrigue, and multilayering of the characters.

Moonraker 5

Thanks for that! In a way I'm glad it is it's own animal, though I'm glad of the warning not to go in expecting the spectacle of the original. That was one of the more striking differences I had noticed from the trailer - other than the character of Anna (un-uniformed) and Lisa, there were few Visitors portrayed in the segment I saw - unlike John, Diana, Willie, Martin and Steven that I remember offhand from the original, and the hundreds that appeared from the shuttle craft at the water treatment plant. The original also had an allegory to Nazi Germany in uniforms and symbology that seems to have been tempered significantly as well. It does appear that the Visitors are a little more "emotionless", which hopefully gives it a sinister element.

But yes, as a child I too have vivid memories of Diana's live guinea pig swallowing and the shocking reveal of the reptilian face!

Anyway, have to soldier on until at least spring before it debuts in the United Kingdom!

John Drake

Didn't much care for this reworking. The original V scared the hell out of me when I was a kid. This seems very ordinary in comparison. Good to see Scott Wolf again though. Haven't seen him in anything since Go 11 years ago. Didn't bother recording it tonight and unless it starts getting great reviews I'll probably let this one go.