SyFy to air the original V this Sunday!

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Chris3123, Oct 27, 2009.

  1. Candlelight

    Candlelight Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2000
    Location:
    New Zealand
    In New Zealand they aired V and V: The Final Battle back to back monday to friday, and it was - from memory, it's the 80s we're talking about here - two hours each with commercials. So we had a five part screening.

    Which rocked.

    The series was good but should've been 13 episodes, not 19. Character attrition was high but they didn't really replace them with anyone else decent.

    I always found it funny that Kyle (Trek actor Jeff Yeager) had two introductory episodes as the network didn't like the first attempt. So he sort of gets introduced twice.
     
  2. gastrof

    gastrof Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    May 11, 2001
    Location:
    New Vulcan
    The weekly series was just that, and in step with American TV of the time, 13 episodes would have been laughable. Even now 22 is the norm. Back then, far more.

    As it is 19 episodes was un-heard of, and it only ended at that point because the show was dying. It'd been shifted in timeslot repeatedly (or put on hiatus repeatedly...memory of the time's foggy), and then there was the matter of the Kyle intro episodes you mention, one of which didn't get shown until VERY late in the game (so no, originally there was no weird continuity glitch).

    Gotta thank you for mentioning that. I'll be recording the SyFy replays, and will have to figure out what to do with that extra episode. :lol:
     
  3. KB24

    KB24 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    May 31, 2002
    Location:
    NJ, USA
    V is in such a peculiar spot in that it gets worse as it goes on. The first mini spectacular, the next, good, the series, a bad guilty pleasure. V is perhaps the best example of what television sf is capable of-but it's also the best example of how studio interference can ruin a show.
     
  4. Dayton Ward

    Dayton Ward Word Pusher Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    May 22, 2000
    The original mini-series was four hours, split in half over two nights. The Final Battle was six hours, and split 2 hours each over three nights.

    I've blocked out the memories of the television series.

    I've not yet read Kenneth Johnson's V: The Second Generation, which is a followup to the original mini-series, and doesn't take into account anything from TFB or the weekly series.

    If you're prepping for the new version and have never seen any of the 80s stuff, I think you could get by just watching the original 4 hours.
     
  5. Kegg

    Kegg Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2009
    Location:
    Ireland.
    So I've recently seen the original miniseries to prepare myself for the new series whenever it shows here, and I guess I've got a couple of thoughts (anyone mind if I hijack the thread rather than create another? Hypothetical 'No?' Hooray!), and since the new series is trying to tone down any connection the story might have to modern American politics, I tried to tease a couple of possibilites one could raise using the original miniseries.

    * There's an offhand comment by the black worker that he's already competing for jobs with whites and Mexicans, never mind these aliens. In that context the aliens would work well as an analogy for illegal immigration, though doubtless an arch-conservative one since they're literally out for world domination and are up to no good!

    * An alien suggests that they got a bad leader because he was very charismatic and persuasive, which is basically a key component for any successful democratic leader (it's not like he was a general who just turned his guns on the Visitor civilian government, though he may have also done so). This tack could easily be expanded into a critique of any democratic government, particularly whichever one is in power.

    * An invading force masks its intents with airs of benevolence as the superior civilized society, but really all they want to do is to take a vital and much needed supply from this land. Water, oil, easy-to-write geopolitics seminar America is Bad 101. Etc.

    That's all I got. The miniseries itself? Well, I liked it. The first half was a lot better than the second half, though - the sheer scope of the initial appearance of the aliens and how that slowly morphed into something far more menacing was nicely played. The second half is dependent on being a story where our rag-tag group of fresh-faced suburbanites pull of a number of implausible stunts to win the day and suffers therefore a little more in the icredibility department (though given the very first scene with a reporter staring down a helicopter I probably shouldn't complain) but it's a very solid part too, ending fairly conclusively but establishing some nice plot points
    such as a very strong hint about a human-alien pregnancy... and while they hold their own against the aliens this is still far less than actually winning a decesive victory, which the ending implies will need the aid of a rival interstellar power. I'm down with that.

    A nice touch were references to real world personalities and science fiction - the idea that Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke (R.I.P., old genius you) would be on TV bloviating about alien life is one of the most realistic things about this miniseries, and the idea a marching band would strike up a rendition of John William's Star Wars music was similarly natural.

    Oddly, I really disliked the idea the aliens were really reptilian, because the more I heard about it the less sense it made. I could understand them wanting to appear human to the humans, but why do they keep up the charade in private, talking to each other? You'd at least think they'd let the proverbial hair down and take off the damn contacts or something. It seems partly out of a desire to make the Visitors more alien (but still cost-effective) and give us a 'Big Reveal', but the idea that people should be more repelled by them because they're less human than implied - as the elderly lady articulated - does strike me as vaguely disgusting (especially since dialogue in the second part establishes their humanity - that collaborator explaining how his people got duped by a charismatic leader is every bit as reptilian and monstrous the icky Diana).

    Also I've had a look at the trailer for the new series, and in that version the reptilians actually lived among us prior to arriving on the planet (which, in fairness, the original V may have pulled in subsequent incarnations - did it?), and this turns my half-hearted view of the reptilian thing as an analogy to lizardmen conspiracy theories to... well, basically a TV version of the lizardmen conspiracy theories. This makes me honestly quite uncomfortable, but well, we'll see.

    Well, it'll be interesting to see how much of this if any makes its way to the new show. I hear the new show is calling the Visitors 'V', which is completely missing the point of the use of the letter in this miniseries and rather unfortunate, to be honest.
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2009
  6. Chris3123

    Chris3123 Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2001
    Location:
    Pensacola, FL
    I just finished watching the miniseries. It was pretty good. I really liked it. I'm going to wait a bit before watching The Final Battle. I don't want to get V burn out.
     
  7. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 1999
    Location:
    Tatoinne
    Skiffy is studiously avoiding showing anything remotely good. Why should they change strategies now?
     
  8. Tom

    Tom Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2003
    Location:
    In your Mind!
    Boy, its been along time since the saw both Mini-series. Never realized how this story is really just Nazis in America, People (food) processing plants are jewish concentration camps, the visiters have there own 5th colulm rebels, etc..

    Of course if you wanted to go that route I'm surprised there has not been a series about Germany getting nukes first and America being then forced to surrender to them (or face ammagedden) and having the Nazis take over America and we follow resitance groups through the 40's etc.. Could be interesting!
     
  9. Star Wolf

    Star Wolf Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2003
    Location:
    ciudad de Los Angeles
    If I remember the commentaries of the time there was mention that the "good guys" were basically stand ins for the Sandinista's and the Salvadorian rebels. From the opening scene to the doctors reply in the mountain camp battle in the original.

    What the Final Battle does have going for it was Michael Ironside getting locked into his typecast.
     
  10. Meredith

    Meredith Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2001
    Location:
    Abh Space
    Hey I got an idea let's steal the water of earth, not that we didn't pass a certain moon of Jupiter that had three times as much water and wasn't at the bottom of a really frickin huge gravity well like the earth is, oh well let's steal the water from earth like a bunch of chumps because we are dump stupid reptilian overlords.....
     
  11. Gary Mitchell

    Gary Mitchell Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 16, 2001
    Location:
    ¯\_(°·O)_/¯ Florida
    Why not get all of your groceries at the same place?
     
  12. Level 2 Diagnostic

    Level 2 Diagnostic Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Nov 23, 2005
    Location:
    A Man Called Hawk
    All of the original V is scientifically implausible. I mean, why would the Visitors use human disguises that were so easily ripped away? All it would take is one Visitor falling down and skinning his knees, and whoops, there goes the whole invasion.

    The whole concept of the series was to show what would happen if a fascist regime occupied America in this day and age... and it was dressed up as sci-fi to get the NBC execs interested. If you're watching it looking for scientific accuracy you're completely missing the point.
     
  13. Chris3123

    Chris3123 Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2001
    Location:
    Pensacola, FL
    Just finished watching The Final Battle. I thought it was pretty good. Going to start watching the series tomorrow.
     
  14. FreezeC77

    FreezeC77 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2002
    Damned Aliens and their superior technology showing off those monochrome computer monitors on their mothership
     
  15. Aragorn

    Aragorn Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 30, 2002
    Wolverines!!!! I mean.... V!!!!
     
  16. TowerPower

    TowerPower Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2006
    For those of you who are watching the regular series episodes on syfy Monday and Tuesday, I was wondering a couple things. Are the episodes uncut or do they have cuts made for more commercials. And are they aired in letterbox? I don't have the DVD set but remember seeing the box once. Are the episodes on the DVD in letterbox or just 4:3?
     
  17. cylkoth

    cylkoth Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2003
    Tell that to Moonbase Alpha's IT head. ;)
     
  18. jefferiestubes8

    jefferiestubes8 Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2009
    Location:
    New York City
    DVD video framing

    The DVD released on 7/3/2001 is in 1.85:1 aspect ratio & enhanced for anamorphic screens.
    The details are on this DVD review:
    http://www.dvdreview.com/fullreviews/v__the_original_miniseries.shtml
     
  19. Brent

    Brent Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2003
    Location:
    TARDIS
    Maybe they just liked to dominate and control a species, perhaps they get satisfaction from what they do to alien races... it wasn't all just about the water
     
  20. Chris3123

    Chris3123 Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2001
    Location:
    Pensacola, FL
    Nope, 4:3.