V: The Second Generation

Mr. Vapor writes, Well, actually its V: The Second Generation, but the 1983 miniseries from NBC is coming back. I used to love this miniseries when I was younger, but I have yet sit through the DVD I recently purchased.

Sounds like fun to me!

11 replies on “V: The Second Generation”

  1. The original miniseries

    The original miniseries is one of the items on my list of
    potential and upcoming reviews
    . If you want to see that (or
    anything else on that list) come up sooner, just let me know. I give priority to
    new material (or background to new material, like the Harry
    Potter
    books) and things that have been requested by
    others.

    • Re: The original miniseries

      The original miniseries is one of the items on my list of
      potential and upcoming reviews
      .

      Make sure you’ve read “Childhood’s End” by Arthur C. Clark before giving
      the originality score for V : )

      Lets just say there are “similarities” in their premises…

      • Re: The original miniseries
        I dunno. I think the similarities are very, very small. I mean, “Space ships come to Earth”, that’s hardly a big point. And frankly, everything AFTER that point is quite different between V and Childhood’s End.

        That said, everyone should read Childhood’s End. Very good book.

        • Re: The original miniseries

          I dunno. I think the similarities are very, very small. I mean, “Space ships
          come to Earth”, that’s hardly a big point. And frankly, everything AFTER
          that point is quite different between V and Childhood’s End.

          Well, its more than “spaceships come to earth”, its “a fleet of city-sized
          silvery saucer-shaped spaceship screech trough the atmosphere and
          proceed to silently hover over every major city on earth”, wich is the
          exact same premise. And they then turn out to not be very eager to let
          humanity see their actual selves while pretending to be here to help
          humanity out of the goodness of their alien hearts.

          Then it gets different enough to avoid a lawsuit, but those intros are
          perfectly identical. the main difference between the aliens themselves is
          that in V they have an irrational hatred of fence posts (whenever they are
          chasing a rebel that runs past a fence, they will shoot the hell out of that
          fence…everytime). Oh, and their eating habits : )

          P.S. Same goes for Independance Day, except the spaceships were black
          and they didn’t pretend to be nice.

          • Re: The original miniseries

            P.S. Same goes for Independance Day, except the spaceships were
            black
            and they didn’t pretend to be nice.

            Don’t worry, I wouldn’t need to read Childhood’s End or
            watch V to give Independance Day a low
            score for originality. I think removing the original
            references to Stargate was a mistake; the ID4 aliens were
            intended to be the rest of Ra’s race. The attack-and-colonize plan was
            what they did instead of running away and possessing other species.

          • The Real Inspiration for V
            Before going too far in relating V to other science fiction, you may want to read up on the origins of V at this site. To briefly summarize, the author points out that originally Kenneth Johnson (V’s creator) approached NBC about doing a miniseries about the French Resistance during World War II. Because he was met with a lukewarm response, he suggested that instead of German invaders, they would be alien invaders. And so V was born, keeping virtually intact the basic themes (a burgeoning resistance against an evil invader) while making it interplanetary instead of international conflict.

            • Re: The Real Inspiration for V
              To clarify, Kenneth Johnson was actually pitching a mini series about a Nazi-style government taking over America from within, not World War II but similar. Due to politcal tension at the time(i.e. Cold War) NBC decided to go with the sci-fi angle instead. I just bought the first mini series on DVD and spent all Sunday watching it.

              I hope they bring back Michael Ironside for “V: the Second Generation.” He was the best character from the TV series.

            • Re: The Real Inspiration for V
              The origins of V at this site is filled with errors. I’m not sure where the Australian writer got his information, but I don’t think he checked all his sources. I’ve already mentioned the original pitch idea for the mini series being Nazis take over America NOT the french resistance of WWII, but also the Nazi symbolism continued throughout the entire saga, even to the point on the TV series where Visitors and LA resistance stand on opposite sides of a nightclub singing their respective national anthems a la “Casablanca”.
              Also the red dust was never harmful to humans, but did harm plant an animal life after prolonged exposure. And the crap about a “talking car” so V could compete against Knight Rider? They were both on the same network for crying out loud, on different nights. V was competing against shows like The Dukes of Hazzard and Matt Houston, at least here in the United States.

  2. I hope…
    …they clear up what the hell happened at the end of the series where the ‘imperious leader’ or whatever his name was got his shuttle bazooka’d only to have him land again. That was the most frustrating thing that summer of my young life :P

    • Re: I hope…

      …they clear up what the hell happened at the end of the series where the ‘imperious leader’ or whatever his name was got his shuttle bazooka’d only to have him land again. That was the most frustrating thing that summer of my young life :P

      Hell, I wish I could be frustrated by not knowing what the last few episodes were like. Where I lived, the local NBC station DIDN’T CARRY the last few episodes and ran some shit syndicated show instead. I never saw the last 4 or so episodes. And no one has ever brought it back. Not Sci-Fi, TVLand or anyone else.

      • Re: I hope…

        I never saw the last 4 or so episodes. And no one has ever brought it back. Not Sci-Fi, TVLand or anyone else.

        That’s not true. WAM was running it constantly a couple of months ago. They were running both the original miniseries and the spinoffed regular series (with Robert Englund no less).

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