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V is a science fiction two-part television miniseries, written and directed by Kenneth Johnson, that launched his science fiction franchise concerning aliens known as "The Visitors" trying to take over Earth. It starred Jane Badler, Marc Singer, Faye Grant, Michael Durrell, Jenny Sullivan, Richard Herd, Peter Nelson, David Packer, Blair Tefkin, Diane Civita, Richard Lawson, and Robert Englund.

Plot summary

Aliens arrived on Earth in a fleet of 50 huge, saucer-shaped motherships, which hovered over major key cities. They revealed themselves on the roof of the United Nations building in New York City, and were human in appearance, but required special glasses to protect their eyes; they also had a distinctive low resonance to their voices. Simply referred to as the Visitors, they reached out in friendship, ostensibly seeking the help of humans to obtain chemicals needed to aid their ailing world. In return, the Visitors promised to share their advanced technology with humanity. The governments of Earth accepted the arrangement, and the Visitors, led by their leader John and his deputy Diana, began to gain considerable influence with human authorities.

However, strange things were soon noted. Scientists found themselves facing increasing media hostility, and government restrictions on their activities and movements. Others, particularly those keen on examining the Visitors more closely, began to disappear or were discredited. Noted scientists confessed to subversive activities; some exhibited other unusual behavior, such as suddenly demonstrating an opposite hand preference to the one they were known to have.

Journalist and TV cameraman Michael Donovan (Singer) covertly boarded one of the Visitors' motherships and discovered that beneath their human like facade, the aliens were reptilian in nature, and carnivorous - preferring to eat live food, like rodents and birds. Donovan recorded some of what transpired on tape, but just as the exposé was about to air, the broadcast was interrupted by a Visitor announcement suddenly making Donovan a fugitive, pursued by both the police and the Visitors.

Scientists around the world continued to be persecuted - both to discredit them (as the part of the human population most likely to discover the Visitors' secrets) and to distract the rest of the population with a scapegoat upon whom they could focus their fears. Key human individuals were subjected to Diana's special mind control process called "conversion", which turned them into the Visitors' pawns, leaving only subtle behavioral clues to this manipulation; others were subjects of biological experiments. Some other humans, on the other hand (including Mike Donovan's mother, Eleanor Dupres), willingly collaborated with the Visitors, seduced by their power. Daniel Bernstein, a grandson of a Holocaust survivor, joined the Visitor Youth and began to reveal the locations of traitors to the alien cause. One teenager, Robin Maxwell, the daughter of a prominent scientist who went into hiding, was seduced by a male Visitor named Brian, who impregnates her as one of Diana's "medical experiments."

A resistance movement was formed, determined to expose and oppose the Visitors as much as possible. The Los Angeles cell leader was Dr. Juliet "Julie" Parrish. Donovan was later assimilated into the group and, sneaking again into a mothership, he learned from a Visitor named Martin that the story about the needed chemicals was merely a diversion. The true purpose of the Visitors' trip to Earth was to conquer and subdue the planet, steal all of the Earth's water and harvest the human race as food, leaving only a few as slaves and soldiers/cannon fodder for the Visitors' wars with other alien races. Donovan also discovered there were dissidents among the Visitors (later known as the Fifth Column) who opposed their leader's plans. Martin promised to aid the Resistance, and gave Donovan access to an alien ship, which he quickly learned how to pilot.

Soon, the members of the Resistance struck their first blows against the Visitors, while procuring laboratory equipment and modern military weapons from National Guard armories to carry on the fight. The symbol of the resistance was blood-red letter V's spray-painted over posters promoting Visitor friendship among humans.

[edit] Influences

Series creator Kenneth Johnson has said that the story was inspired by the 1935 novel It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis. Also, several scenes from the original TV pilot resemble the Bertolt Brecht play The Private Life of the Master Race. A short story entitled To Serve Man (later adapted into an episode of The Twilight Zone) had a similar theme of deceptively friendly aliens secretly cultivating humans for food.

In a commentary track on the DVD release of the first miniseries, Johnson reveals that V was originally intended as a straightforward political thriller, charting the rise of a fascist movement in the United States. However, NBC wanted a sci-fi hit, to capitalize on the success of films such as the Star Wars trilogy.

The story remains a Nazi allegory, right down to the Swastika-like emblem used by the Visitors and their SS like uniforms. There is a youth auxiliary called the "Friends of the Visitors" with obvious similarities to the Hitler Youth and Visitor broadcasts mimic Nazi era propaganda. The show's portrayal of human interaction with the Visitors bears a striking resemblance to stories from Occupied Europe during the Second World War with some citizens choosing collaboration and others choosing to join underground resistance movements.

The Visitor laser pistol was modeled after the German Lugar pistol of World War II. The muzzle was connected to the stock with a clear acrylic tube at the top that lit up with a bright white flash when the laser was fired. The grip was attached by a bar that connected from the bottom of the grip to the stock. It is a highly sought after collectible by fans and prop collectors alike.

Where the Nazis primarily persecuted Jews, the Visitors were likewise depicted to persecute scientists, their families, and anyone associating with them. They also distribute propaganda in an effort to hide their true identity. Some of the central characters in the initial series were from a Jewish family and the grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, frequently commented on the events of the past again unfolding. The Visitors declared martial law to control the scientists as well. In addition, direct figure analogies are used, such as the senior Visitor scientist, Diana, who is a direct analogue of Dr. Josef Mengele.

The miniseries ran for 200 minutes and was successful enough to spawn a sequel, V: The Final Battle, which was meant to conclude the story. The Final Battle removed the Nazi linkage and collaboration themes, becoming a more pure science fiction story. In spite of the apparent conclusion, this itself was then followed by a weekly television series in 1984-85 that continued the story a year after The Final Battle. Johnson left V during The Final Battle.

The miniseries has since been included as No. 25 in Entertainment Weekly's "Top 25 Sci-Fi Movies and TV of the Past 25 Years" list. [1].

[edit] Cast
Humans
Character Actor
Mike Donovan Marc Singer
Juliet Parrish Faye Grant
Robert Maxwell Michael Durrell
Daniel Bernstein David Packer
Eleanor Dupres Neva Patterson
Robin Maxwell Blair Tefkin
Elias Taylor Michael Wright
Lynn Bernstein Bonnie Bartlett
Abraham Bernstein Leonardo Cimino
Dr. Ben Taylor Richard Lawson
Caleb Taylor Jason Bernard
Kristine Walsh Jenny Sullivan
Harmony Moore Diane Civita
Josh Brooks Tommy Petersen
Sean Donovan Eric Johnston

Visitors
Character Actor
Diana Jane Badler
John Richard Herd
Steven Andrew Prine
Martin Frank Ashmore
Willie Robert Englund
Brian Peter Nelson
Barbara Jenny Neumann
Visitor Captain Stack Pierce

[edit] Notes

* The concept of lizard-like aliens who appear human, and who plot to control humanity, has inspired some fringe theories — see Reptiloid.
* In the original miniseries and The Final Battle, the Visitors' voices were given, among other post-processing, a pitch shift effect - to give them an otherworldly demeanor even though they looked (outwardly, at least) like normal human beings. This was dropped from the weekly series (with no plot explanation), evidently due to budgetary constraints.



ABC to Remake V for TV
o October 13, 2008 Written by Nix
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Those pesky green scaled aliens with the funky glasses will finally get another shot at a major audience 20 years after their first appearance, except it won’t be in the “Second Generation” project that the story’s original writer, Kenneth Johnson, had envisioned. Instead, ABC will be remaking the TV series (spawned from the two original mini-series, “V: The Original Mini-Series” and “V: The Final Battle” that lasted only a year before being canceled. The new V will be written and produced by The 4400 veteran Scott Peters, who has no plans to stick to what Johnson did in the original, but will instead be diverting the reasons for the aliens’ arrival, as well as introducing new characters in his version.

Variety has more:

The original “V” served as an allegory for the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. Peters said he won’t duplicate that concept, except that the new “V” will still focus on what happens when the masses have blind faith in their leaders.

In this case, the new “V” will center on Erica Evans, a Homeland Security agent with an aimless son who’s got problems. When the aliens arrive, her son gloms on to them — causing tension within the family. As in the original “V,” several storylines will unfold simultaneously.

But even without the same storyline, the original “V’s” bones will remain: As in the ’80s version, the show will open with an enormous army of spaceships hovering over the world’s major cities. The visitors say they’ve come to help Earth, but their motives are nefarious (in the original, they wanted to steal the world’s water supply).

I’m not a fan of The 4400, so I don’t know how good of a writer Peters is, but the very notion that he’ll just willy-nilly dump Kenneth Johnson’s Holocaust and World War II allegory for something else makes me kind of nervous. The original “V” mini-series were simply fantastic stuff, and were really one of the main reasons why I love science fiction stories so much.

The Variety article also makes it clear that this ABC revival of the V show will NOT have anything to do with Kenneth Johnson’s attempts to revive the story via “The Second Generation” movie, his continuation of the original mini-series (but not “The Final Battle”, which Johnson had no involvement in). You can read more about what Johnson has planned for a “V: The Second Generation” movie here. Ironically, if this new V show becomes a hit, that might very well clear the path for a “Second Generation” movie…

Below: They just want to be your friends … and eat you.