V: 1x01 "Pilot" 11/3/2009 - Grading & Discussion

The Visitors don't, and probably can't, eat cooked or cold meat. They eat their food alive. They just put their future meals in suspended animation for easier transport and wake them up when it is time to eat.

A human, then, is really a family meal. They're far too big for one Visitor to eat alone.

 

No, I'm treating it as a pilot episode. I'm more concerned with how it works as its own entity, and so far, it doesn't work very well. Part of the problem is that it's too similar to the original in some ways for the new ideas to work. Part of the problem is that it's trying to meld ideas from the original with new ideas that are conceptually and philosophically at odds with them, resulting in an incoherent whole. And part of the problem is that the parts they did keep from the original include the silliest parts I would've rather seen abandoned, like the "lizards under the skin" thing.

No, the show has been granted a 13-episode season order. And at the time this pilot was made, the producers assumed it would be a standard season, a full 13 with an additional 9 if the ratings were good. But then the production began having problems, the network was unhappy with the scripts, showrunners were demoted or fired, and all the reworking forced the production to shut down two or three times. Once the delays reached the point that it was impossible to meet the original broadcast schedule, the network decided to show the four episodes that could be completed in time, postpone the rest of the series until after the Olympics, and label the first four episodes a "miniseries" in order to pretend they meant to do that.

 

I was fairly impressed with the opening episode. The visuals were the first grab. With the jet crashing, the tremors and then the arrival of the Visitor's ships. The reflection off the skyscrapers. The opening messages were suspenseful. The ships themselves are impressive in design.

So far I like the main characters. The FBI agent (Erica), the Priest (Jack), Anna and Ryan (the Banker/Visitor who deserted). Erica's son is a little snot and I foresee him causing some problems at first with his infatuation with the Visitors. Chad, well it will be interesting to see how his relationship with the Visitors ultimately play out. Will he continue sacrifice his soul for the story, or will he eventually do what is right...

I think we are going to see some interesting topics/questions posed in regards to man’s relationship with God (those who believe in God) and how aliens will fit into the grand scheme of things. I also like that there is a mix of domestic (the terrorist cell) and alien storylines running at the same time.

I like that the threat to mankind is established up front and not hidden so deeply in intrigue that we can’t keep the story arcs straight. At least it is so far.

Can’t wait to see what technology they use to transform into attractive people.

The attack on the underground group was a surprise. So was Erica’s partner Dale being a Visitor. When Erica pulled the skin back to reveal the alien head/eye. Yuck!

I think we may see a relationship develop between Erica and Jack the Priest. Which is a problem considering Jack is a Priest.

I think that older Priest might be a Visitor. He was awfully supportive of them.

“We can’t be seen in a negative light.”—Anna

Thought that little quip about Independence Day was pretty funny.

The ratings were really good (13.9 million...according to Zap2it). Hopefully, those kinds of numbers will hold.

 

Pretty poor. Visuals were good, but overall it looked, felt and sounded like of all things, The 4000.

I'll give it a couple more episodes but so far, snoozefest.

 

I guess you missed the whole point of using as part of a joke. And thanks for deliberately missing the point that I (at the very least) don't hate the show so much as I want to see it succeed ... but am objective enough to acknowledge its obvious deficiencies. My only comparison between the new show and old is in this respect: Is the new show about something important as much as the old show was? The details themselves matter relatively little, so long as the the re-imagined show is a *good story* ... which, after an hour, it isn't.

As I said, there is some potential here. But considering the gaffes of the pilot episode, I'm not confident that the series will capitalize on its potential strengths. That isn't hate ... it's objective criticism. And trust me, I'm open to being proven wrong.

 

Doesn't change the fact that I gave you a plausible reason for why they used choppy things, and all anyone posted since is their continues complaining about the show.

 

Oh I thought only 6 eps where produced. Even so, Im sure they have more mysterys with the Vistors. Yeah the pilot shoved a bunch of stuff into one hour, but again I dont see a problem with it. I actually like the lizard part from the original. I guess they could have gone a different route but maybe theres more to the vistors in theis version. Im still giving it a chance. Like most shows the pilot probably isnt going to be the strongest ep. I hope it gets a chance to find its bearing.

 

The "choppy things" wouldn't be relevant if the rest of the episode was truly meaningful. But considering the fact that at least 2/3 of the Pilot was purely procedural, most of the emphasis will be on the procedure -- including the methods the Visitors used for disposing of humans. For me, that detail wouldn't matter if the story developed the hows and whys for the events we saw. But the episode was much more concerned about *what* happened, rather than delving into *why* -- the two points I mentioned notwithstanding.

Seriously, though ... why be so defensive about an average pilot? Was there something you saw to its story that was truly transcendent, that the rest of us missed?

 

Nah, I just thought I had a brilliant explanation for why the "V"s used blades instead of ray guns to attack the resistance cell, and it just got panned in a wash of wise guy and dislike of the show.

 

Why did the Klingons take Bat'leths to phasher fights? i mean shit, one guy shooting wide beam could take out a few platoons of those mangy buggers with a couple thumb toggles.

The V however, probably had fire arms or energy weapons or some sort, for after their first strike since a klingon proverb comes to mind...

One running man can slit a thousand throats in a single night.

Of course, I would have sent in 12 of those exploding kinos.

They better have been shooting ice otherwise its a forensic lightning rod to the Vistor's conspiracy.

 

It's a good explanation, but ultimately futile. The more likely reason is that they simply couldn't come up with a way for the female FBI agent to both survive a serious attack and beat down Wash for the reveal in the time allotted with the budget allotted, so they had the Visitors to half-ass it.

 

Anything except plain old fashion bullets whould have raised a forensic lighting rod. To paraphrase Eli just said on SGU aliens show up all of the sudden you have this freaky mass murder.

 

I liked it. They had huge obsticles to overcome since everybody knows the plot an secrets already. I don't fault them for rushing this. I only dislike the completely bland and forgettable v uniforms so far, and the awful teenage piece of shit. Oh, and that midget chach news anchor.

 

Humanity's only hope.

Hey waitaminute...the aliens invade and the only people capable of fighting them are criminals, lowlifes and lunatics. "The Dirty Dozen vs the ETs." Who wouldn't watch that?!? Damn, I'm a genius! (Pretending that this was actually my idea - I'd fit right into Hollywood. )

We don't really know what the V's are up to. Hopefully something more interesting than just stealing our water. That's enough to hold my interest for a while.

What networks shows have you been watching? Other than Lost and maybe Chuck, they're all pretty dumb. All the good stuff is on cable (but not skiffy, which is sub-network in intelligence).

It's already better than The 4400, which I bailed on after the premiere simply because the characters were dull overall. This show has a more promising roster.

 

I hope that wasn't me I surely wasn't trying to be wise by bringing up the blades, only try to understand it. Sorry if I was the one Maestro, it was definitely not my intent

Vons

 

Joel Gretch is arguably the male lead of V.

Joel Gretch was the male lead in the 4400.

And then of course Scott Peters is a producer for both the 4400 and the new V. There were connections between the original V and the 4400 too, but I forget who, but it's pretty obvious since both shows have messiah children who grow up 18 years overnight and develop god like powers to save the day.

 

At least the rubber masks from the original were replaced with "cloned human tissue" now. (So, the Visitors basically evolve like the Terminator models supposedly did.)

 

Okay?

Does clone meat taste like shit?

I gather it would have to otherwise they'd eat their way out of thier "masks" in their sleep.

Maybe it's too expensive to feed lizard people with?

If clone covering is maybe half an inch thick, then these buggers are all really really skinny.

If people started eating the V, I wonder what that would do to their long term plans?

"We captured some of your people and we're farming them. Their children are going to be in sandwhiches if you don't pack up your shit and leave.."

 

And therein is the "genius" of the Visitor strategy. They decided to infiltrate McDonalds by disguising themselves as big macs.

 

Who says that the nuVisitors want to use humans as food?