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V is a science fiction two-part miniseries and television series, written and directed by Kenneth Johnson. It stars Jane Badler, Marc Singer, Faye Grant, Michael Durrell, Jenny Sullivan, Richard Herd, Peter Nelson, David Packer, Blair Tefkin, Diane Civita and Robert Englund. It was followed in 1984 by a three-part miniseries, V: The Final Battle, introducing Michael Ironside, and a television series, V (sometimes referred to as V: The Series) during the 1984–1985 TV season. According to Johnson's website, a new made-for-television film is planned for 2007. [1]
PremiseSpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Image:JaneBadler(Diana).jpg Diana (Jane Badler) The story is set in contemporary times (the 1980s). Aliens who appear human arrive on Earth in a fleet of 50 huge saucer-like motherships, which park over all major cities. They appear to be friendly, seeking the help of humans to obtain chemicals needed to aid their ailing world. In return, the Visitors promise to share their advanced technology with humanity. The governments of Earth accept, and the Visitors gain considerable influence with authorities.
Journalist and TV cameraman Michael Donovan (Singer) sneaks aboard one of the Visitors' motherships and discovers that beneath their humanlike facade, the aliens are reptilian in nature, and carnivorous - preferring to eat live food, like rodents and birds. He learns from a Visitor named Martin that the story about the needed chemicals is merely a diversion. The true purpose of the Visitor's trip to Earth is 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 discovers there are dissidents among the Visitors (known as the Fifth Column) who oppose their leader's plans. Donovan gets some of this on tape, but just as this exposé is about to air, the broadcast is interrupted by a Visitor announcement, suddenly making Donovan a fugitive, pursued by both the police and the Visitors. The scientists are 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 are subjected to a special mind control process called "conversion", which turns them into the Visitors' pawns, leaving only subtle behavioral clues to this manipulation. Some other humans, on the other hand (including Mike Donovan's mother), willingly collaborate with the Visitors, seduced by their power.
InfluencesSeries 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. The opening half-hour of the movie, though not the outcome, is the introductory chapter of Arthur C. Clarke's 1953 novel Childhood's End. 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. NBC was interested in 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 Visitor youth auxiliary 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 Word War with some citizens choosing collaboration and others choosing to join underground resistance movements. Where the Nazis primarily persecuted Jews, the Visitors were likewise depicted to persecute scientists, their families and anyone associating with them and 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, something akin to the rise of the fascists in Germany. Later, throughout the TV series, the Resistance Network's TV news bulletins report stories of erstwhile enemies uniting in common cause against the alien occupiers, such as black and white South Africans (the series was produced when South Africa was still under apartheid). 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, and a television series in 1984—1985 that revived it. Johnson left V during The Final Battle and went on to work on other science fiction shows, like Alien Nation. Perhaps as a result, the sequel and TV series had less of an emphasis on historical allegory and complex characters and their inter-relations, and was more action-oriented. Image:V Mothership.jpg A Visitor mothership The cancellation of the TV series in the spring of 1985 appeared to have caught its producers by surprise, as the season ends with a cliffhanger. The TV series' single season was released on DVD in 2004. That same year, Kenneth Johnson announced plans to produce a sequel to the first V miniseries, but one that would disregard both The Final Battle and the subsequent weekly series. In October 2004, Kenneth Johnson made it known that NBC has decided it wants a remake of the original V miniseries, rather than a sequel. The possibility of a sequel of the original would remain open, but would be contingent on the success of the remake. This may have been reversed, however, as according to Kenneth Johnson's website a filmed version of the upcoming book V: The Second Generation will be released sometime in the future. A notable change is that the new filmed version is planned as a 3-hour TV movie rather than a new miniseries. The concept of lizard-like aliens who appear human, and who plot to control humanity, is similar to some fringe theories — see Reptiloid. Characters
Episode Guide (V: The Series)
Trivia
SpinoffsV spun off a series of original novels, including a novelization of the first two mini-series combined into one story. Unusually, most of the original novels that followed did not feature characters from the TV series, but rather focused on battles against the alien invaders in other parts of the world. While the series was on the air, new novels were published once a month by Pinnacle Paperbacks. In 1987-88, a new series of novels was published by Tor.
The first three books were republished in 1994. The first book novelises both the miniseries, but has subtle differences, including killing off several characters that do not die in the televised version. This includes Chris Farber, leading to confusion about his return in V: The Series. Meanwhile, DC Comics published an 18-issue V comic book series in 1985-86, with stories set to be concurrent with the events of V: The Series. The editor of the comic reported at one point in the letter (fan mail) column that DC was working to acquire permission to continue the storyline of the television series should it not be renewed for a second season. In the end, either such permission was denied or DC decided not to pursue the matter further; the V comic ended without resolving any of the plot threads left dangling by the series' cliffhanger finale, though one of the comic's final storylines did lead directly into the events of the finale. In Japan, Go Nagai wrote a manga adaptation of the series with art by Tatsuya Yasuda. On his website, Kenneth Johnson announced recently that he will be publishing the novel V, The Second Generation featuring original and new characters. The novel will go on sale in early 2007, and a filmed version is planned for an unspecified (and constantly delayed) time in the future. In 1986 Ocean Software released a video game based on the series for Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum.[2] Underground computer programmer David Menuhin has announced that he is producing an online V multi-media trivia game. Unfortunately, production has run into difficulties due to copyright issues, and as of August 2006, Menuhin has still not obtained express permission to use all the sounds and images from the series.
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