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Fans of the "V" novel(s)... Some info please.

gastrof

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I don't know if there's more than one novel or not, but apparently it/them follow the original mini, but ignore The Final Battle and the weekly series.

Is this right?

If so, what did they do about Robin's pregnancy? Elizardbreath didn't show up until half way thru TFB, and didn't become an adult until the weekly series, so what happened in the novel(s) with regards to the hybrid pregnancy?
 
It was the same situation you had with Star Trek novels. The books were being written while production was ongoing, so a lot of stuff was constantly being contradicted by what happened onscreen. The first V novel (other than the novelizations of the movies) was The Pursuit of Diana, a sequel to TFB that was completely contradicted when the weekly series started.

Edited to add: Most of the V novels didn't focus on the characters from the weekly series. Most of them were self contained stories with original characters, with the occasional guest appearance by someone from the TV series. I don't think Elizabeth ever appeared in the novels, but I could be wrong.
 
I don't know if there's more than one novel or not, but apparently it/them follow the original mini, but ignore The Final Battle and the weekly series.

Is this right?

If so, what did they do about Robin's pregnancy? Elizardbreath didn't show up until half way thru TFB, and didn't become an adult until the weekly series, so what happened in the novel(s) with regards to the hybrid pregnancy?

Two different things. During the show's run you had the typical licensed fiction, that started with a novelization of the two miniseries by AC Crispin IIRC, and went on with other tales that tried not to contradict much.

Years later, when V Kenneth Johnson creator decided to release a novel that ignored the second miniseries and the tv series, The Second Generation (he left during the second miniseries due to creative differences, IIRC), part of the Crispin novelisation was re-released (the first half, covering the first miniseries), including, from what I read, a new ending by Johnson linking to his new book.

So you have only two books in that series, an adaptation of the first miniseries, and a novel set 20 years after.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_%28The_Second_Generation%29
 
...when V Kenneth Johnson creator decided to release a novel that ignored the second miniseries and the tv series, The Second Generation (he left during the second miniseries due to creative differences, IIRC), part of the Crispin novelisation was re-released (the first half, covering the first miniseries), including, from what I read, a new ending by Johnson linking to his new book.

So you have only two books in that series, an adaptation of the first miniseries, and a novel set 20 years after.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_(The_Second_Generation)

*sigh*

And with regards to Johnson's "Next Gen" novel, WHAT ABOUT ROBIN'S PREGNANCY? She was already pregnant at the end of the first mini. Something must have happened, so does the novel address the issue?
 
I think there were about nine novels that came out during the series' run. Here's a site with information about most of them:

http://vicki_98.tripod.com/novels/index.htm

A. C. Crispin's novelization, as stated, adapted both miniseries; it was a very thick book for the time. The only other books to deal with the main cast of the series were Prisoners and Pawns by Howard Weinstein and Death Tide by Crispin and Deborah A. Marshall, though a few of the other books have guest appearances by series characters. Two books, East Coast Crisis by Weinstein & Crispin and Path to Conquest by Weinstein, featured the New York resistance; ECC covered the same timespan as the two miniseries, telling a parallel story, while PtC took place during the series.

Basically the Crispin and Weinstein books are the only "essential" ones. The rest take place in various other parts of the US and elsewhere and feature mostly original characters, though a few have cameos or guest spots by members of the TV cast (Ham Tyler has a prominent role in The Florida Project and Willie does in The New England Resistance). They're mostly pretty mediocre, although the two by Somtow Sucharitkul (an author perhaps better known today as S. M. Somtow), The Alien Swordmaster and Symphony of Terror, are fairly interesting (though if my vague recollection is anything to go by, I don't think the latter was as good as the former). IIRC, both the Sucharitkul books focused on the same protagonists, making them the only ones outside the Crispin & Weinstein books to feature recurring characters. Several other authors did two or more books in the series, but they all featured different characters and locations.
 
I actually liked all of the novels (except Johnson's). Then again, I was also 9 - 13 when I read all of them (except Johnson's). I really liked The Alien Swordmaster and Symphony of Terror. The Texas Run caused me to read more about WWII aircraft, and taught me how to say "shit" like a Texan. And The Florida Project was the first porn I ever had. :bolian:

I may have to reread them all sometime soon. Except Johnson's.
 
One of the early Pinnacle novels, I forget which one, really bugged me because it ended with the Resistance blowing up a Visitor mothership -- and none of the characters seemed to remember or care that there were tens of thousands of human captives in cryogenic storage on board every mothership!
 
I have the list as Christopher posted. The first few- the mini adaptation by Crispin and the follow ups, are not too bad. The last few, however, get really dumb and too detached. There was also a brief comic book series that started with the series and continued after the bad weekly series shows in a better track.

I haven't read Johnson's new follow up. I imagine there must be some continuity errors. Wasn't it a screenplay that after he couldn't shop, he just published instead?

I really do love the 10 hour all in one miniseries adaptation. I read it 4 or 5 times, in fact, and had to tape the cover back on and everything! I miss good allegorical sf books!
 
^I had the full run of the DC comic book back in the day too. I didn't much care for it, though. Cary Bates's writing wasn't very strong, and while Carmine Infantino may have been regarded as one of the greats, he wasn't a likeness artist, and his renderings of the characters didn't look anything like the actors. Plus it had the usual problems of a tie-in comic trying to have a comics-style serialized storyline while having to fit between episodes and keep pace with events in the show.
 
Did any of you even read my opening post? :(

This isn't about all the novels. That's not the theme of the thread.

I asked about Robin's pregnancy, and nothing else.

WHY IN THE WORLD IS EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT THE OTHER NOVELS THAT DON'T ADDRESS THE ISSUE?!?!?! :shrug:
 
Did any of you even read my opening post? :(

This isn't about all the novels. That's not the theme of the thread.

I asked about Robin's pregnancy, and nothing else.

WHY IN THE WORLD IS EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT THE OTHER NOVELS THAT DON'T ADDRESS THE ISSUE?!?!?! :shrug:

Chill out. :)

I already mentioned it above, googling some reviews in fansites mentions that the pregnancy was ignored, wasn't refered to at all.

Here, another one:
http://onceuponageek.com/2008/03/10/v-the-second-generation/

For example, there is no mention of whatever happened with Robin’s pregnancy
 
This isn't about all the novels. That's not the theme of the thread.

I asked about Robin's pregnancy, and nothing else.

WHY IN THE WORLD IS EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT THE OTHER NOVELS THAT DON'T ADDRESS THE ISSUE?!?!?! :shrug:

It is the nature of conversations to drift and evolve. This is a public forum where lots of people gather to talk about all sorts of things that interest them. It's not an information service for your own exclusive benefit. Anyway, your question was answered eight posts ago, so what are you complaining about?
 
One of the early Pinnacle novels, I forget which one, really bugged me because it ended with the Resistance blowing up a Visitor mothership -- and none of the characters seemed to remember or care that there were tens of thousands of human captives in cryogenic storage on board every mothership!

That was Tim Sullivan's The Florida Project, I think, and that also bugged me when it came out. The only V book I liked less was the one set in Britain (also, I think, by Sullivan), which is hilariously bad in its use of local colour, at least if you've ever lived in Britain (or even visited for half a hour...)
 
Its funny i bought all of these books back in the day but as time wore on the only ones I still like to this day are the novelization of the original miniseries and the Final Battle and the East Coast Crisis.

I really enjoyed the Nazi allegory and that we fight back resistance style. I never really liked the TV series follow up after we threw them off the planet. (I still wouldve prefered the ending with Martin sacrificing himself by flying the LA mothership out into space to let it detonate than the so called magical star child hybrid just using space magic to turn it off. Such a death wouldve shown not all sirians were evil and freedom comes at a terrible price sometimes.

I think in the Crispin book Elizabeth's intellect allowed her to set the bomb countdown into a repeating infinite loop....not as good as the Martin sacrifice ending but far better than 'spaaaaace magic!" :p

Of all of the TV series based ones I did like the Texas Run, I loved the idea of the obsolete aircraft being used. Creative :)

The novels were a neat read though for me at the time.

Vons
 
By coincidence, io9.com has an article abou the old "V" novels posted today, complete with a gallery of some of the covers.
 
Did any of you even read my opening post? :(

This isn't about all the novels. That's not the theme of the thread.

I asked about Robin's pregnancy, and nothing else.

WHY IN THE WORLD IS EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT THE OTHER NOVELS THAT DON'T ADDRESS THE ISSUE?!?!?! :shrug:

Robin's pregnancy was ignored in V: The Second Generation. However Kenneth Johnson's epilogue to AC Crispin's V: The Original Miniseries does cover the pregnancy.

Essentially Robin gives birth to a baby girl who has both reptilian and human features. Basically a human face and scale where the hair should be. She's not the Starchild by any means. Just a hybrid. Robin doesn't appear in the sequel nor do her sisters or child. Robert Maxwell has a minor role.

In TSG there are three hybrids. Ted who is Willie and Harmy's son. Ruby who is Julie's daughter. And Jon who is an orphan. They are our Elizabeth surrogates. Treated kinda like the Tenctonese from Alien Nation. I quite liked TSG. Hope Johnson's able to secure funding for the movie.
 
I should have said Julie's foster daughter. Her biological mother was a resistance fighter. I think she was raped by a visitor trooper.
 
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