New "V"...how do the Visitors look?

[Christopher]

Considering how mediocre this series is so far, I'm not sure they should be puffing themselves up so much as to harken to real-life people who combatted tyranny. Maybe they're just being realistic about what they're doing - providing some fairly brainless and pleasant entertainment.

I still think it's symbolically tone-deaf of them to subvert a historical symbol of resistance to oppression into the name and symbol of the oppressors. It's symptomatic of the awkwardness of this adaptation. It's trying to have it both ways, maintaining elements of the original while stripping them of their significance, inverting them, or trying to do two conflicting things with them simultaneously (like having the Visitors be advanced and superior technologically but still be analogues for terrorists, which doesn't make any sense since terrorism is a tactic of the weaker side in a conflict).

And they're not presenting themselves as "brainless and pleasant." They're trying to make the show topical, to make a commentary on miscellaneous modern concerns like terrorism, religious conflict, the manipulative media culture, and so forth. But it doesn't seem like there's a lot of substance or focus to it.

 

[gastrof]

...the titular "V" in the original had a deeply rooted historical meaning; it was a tribute to those who fought and died battling tyranny. So for the new series to use it as the name for the alien villains is not only profoundly missing the point, but could be seen as disrespectful.

Since when have the people in Hollywood been known for being respectful to the human race in general, or even to the audiences?

They just want the green, and will do anything to get it.

 

[Candlelight]

Note the line about the Channel islanders painting V signs over German propaganda posters. This was directly homaged in the miniseries, with the Holocaust survivor teaching the protestors to spray-paint "V" over the Visitor propaganda posters.

Despite all the space ships, the 'splosions and the aliens, this one scene was my favourite in all of 'V'.

Hence my original post above.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

And they're not presenting themselves as "brainless and pleasant."

If they're not trying to present the show that way, they certainly aren't succeeding. It's very middlebrow and bland. I haven't noticed any particular topicality about it. The "universal health care" line was cute but didn't actually refer to anything of substance. The V's are so generalized that you could insert them into left or right wing paranoid fantasies as you choose. The sad thing is, the paranoid fantasies of say, Glenn Beck, are far more interesting than V has been so far. Maybe they should get him to write this show.

If it were a sharper, more groundbreaking show then I'd be more likely to fret about one off-kilter element - changing the meaning of "V" - but as it is, there's too much else wrong with it to just focus on that one thing. The teen angst and the fact that the Fifth Columnists just act human even in scenes with each other, rather than as convincing aliens in any way, are far bigger problems.

 

[Morpheus 02]

Scott Wolf really has a dead end character.

That's why I think he'll be revealed as John May (with amnesia I guess). There's no place for his character to go, otherwise.

i think there's plenty...he could be a guy who thinks he can save the world by himself, and then see the consequences of his arrogance..

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Chad has one of two ways to go - even more solidly Anna's lapdog (the Baltar option) or to join our feisty resistance band, which just makes him redundant with the other human resistance characters, Father Jack and Erica. But if he were actually John May, a V, and the former leader of the old resistance, that's a unique role that doesn't overlap with any of the main characters.

Turning him into another Baltar could be interesting too, but I don't think he's been presented as quite oblivious, slimy and/or ambitious enough for that. He'd balk at really getting in bed with the V's (unless it's literal and Anna brings the supersexy lizard mojo). Then he's a brainwashed/addicted Baltar, which I guess is an okay option but I like the John May route better because who the heck would ever think a pantywaist like Chad could be a bad-ass from outer space?

 

[Christopher]

And they're not presenting themselves as "brainless and pleasant."

If they're not trying to present the show that way, they certainly aren't succeeding.

Which is pretty much my point. They're attempting to give it a modern relevance to take the place of the historical allegory of the original, but it's halfhearted and superficial.

The V's are so generalized that you could insert them into left or right wing paranoid fantasies as you choose.

The ironic thing is that, while the original was a condemnation of Nazism and its propaganda techniques, the new series' premise -- that all our society's problems are actually the result of a conspiracy waged by insidious outsiders whom we can conveniently blame and hate -- bears a strong resemblance to the Nazis' main propaganda line. Which is surely unintentional, of course, but it just underlines my belief that the producers didn't really think this update through very carefully.

If it were a sharper, more groundbreaking show then I'd be more likely to fret about one off-kilter element - changing the meaning of "V" - but as it is, there's too much else wrong with it to just focus on that one thing.

See above. That is hardly my only point of criticism toward the show, but it is symptomatic of how completely and painfully the revival misses the point -- and perhaps even betrays the message -- of the original.