V

1983 was perhaps the peak year for the TV mini-series, with The Thorn Birds, The Winds of War and V all premiering to big ratings. V features a worldwide alien invasion, as huge, circular motherships arrive and take up stationary orbit all over the planet, directly over large cities. The media soon dubs them the "Visitors", and they appear human, although sensitive to the light and with strange voices. They seem to be benevolent at first, sharing medical and technological breakthroughs, while not asking for anything in return. But of course they are after something, and they will stop at nothing to get it, and soon they are disposing of enemies and setting up human collaboration units to weed out the "undesirables". A group of people soon set up an underground resistance, but can they hope to stop the seemingly superior alien invaders?

Marc Singer stars as a heroic war correspondent who is the first to learn of the aliens true nature, along with Faye Grant as a biologist, Jane Badler as an alien commander, Richard Herd, Andrew Prine, Leonardo Cimino as a Holocaust survivor who sees the writing on the wall, Evan Kim, Michael Wright, Bonnie Bartlett, Neva Patterson, Robert Englund as a friendly alien, and many more.

This was probably intended as a starting point for a series, but instead it led to another mini-series the following year, before finally a short-lived series (and a remake in 2009). It's derivative of a lot of things, namely the Arthur C. Clarke novel Childhood's End. It's also a very heavy-handed allegory of the Nazi occupations in Europe and the Holocaust; the alien symbol is even a variation on a swastika. The effects are decent, if dated at this point, and the script, by writer-director Kenneth Johnson, never really rises above average. But it's fun in a dopey, Saturday-morning serial way. At slightly over 3 hours, it's also a bit short as far as mini-series go.

Now this is real sci-fi! Kenneth Johnsons story is (in my opinion) one of the best ever written. While I rank The Tripods as my favourite sci-fi adventure, this will come as a good second.

I wasn't very old when I saw V for the first time, but I can honestly say it blew me away! And even now almost 20 years later I can still watch it and be in awe like I was way back then.

And now I am just waiting for the return of V, which finally seems to be becoming reality. Hopefully it will stick to the basics and not go "overboard" like so many re-makes have done over the years. But with Kenny at the helm I doubt that will be a problem, since I happen to know that the legacy of V means a lot to him.

I was reading a comment about this movie made by Lone Solo who states that "V" is a metaphoric SciFi film about nazi and Holocaust. While I agree with him I say that "V" is more than an allegory about this two topics. It is a SciFi miniseries that contains many social comments.

First, of course, Holocaust and nazi.

Second, it shows TV as a powerful tool to reach every single soul on our planet. It also shows how TV can manipulate and brainwash people. Notice that the arrival of the aliens as every single move they do on our planet is covered on TV.

Third, it shows that people can sell their souls even to the devil when they are compensated with expensive gifts. In other words, how materialistic people are.

Fourth, how rich and fortunate we are in having a planet with valuable natural sources as water. At one point, friendly alien tells earthling rebel Donovan "Your planet is rich. I envy you."

Without any doubt, "V" is a powerful SciFi movie that not only entertains (it does it a lot) but also makes us think about our conditions as human beings.

As an interesting note, we can enjoy of a pre-Freddy Krueger Robert Englund as a dumb but nice alien.

"V" is one of those rare TV miniseries that manages to contain action, decent special effects (especially for 1983), and a storyline that actually makes you think. It's not without flaws, but if you overlook its faults, this miniseries can be both entertaining and thought-provoking.

Yes, yes, Kenneth Johnson went over the top with the Visitors' similarities to the Nazis, right down to their "symbol". Yes, there were a few continuity errors and plot points that didn't quite make sense. Yes, you had to suspend your sense of believability in various aspects of the film. However...

The miniseries did a good job portraying a lot of interesting character stories and traits that you don't otherwise find in most action films. Consider the following:

1) Mike Donovan's relationship with his mother was complex and interesting in itself. Donovan's mother, who had apparently been through a tough life, desired power and the ability to live "the good life" so much that she literally closed her eyes to everything that was happening around her. Even the Visitors' kidnapping of her only grandchild didn't faze her. Eventually she completely turned on Mike, and finally turned on her Visitor friend at the end when it appeared the Visitors were losing the war. This sort of character is very real, and I'm sure all of us know people who will switch allegiances at the drop of a hat.

2) The depiction of both earth people who assist the Visitors and the Visitor "5th Column", who are secretly sabotaging their people's own mission, provides us with good examples of people turning on their own kind for reasons of greed or morality.

3) The Daniel Berstein character, obviously looking for direction in life, never quite fitting in with the 1980s earth world, was fascinating. It was totally believable how he fell in with the Visitors and became an officer in their army, just to feel like he belonged. Even the torture of his parents and murder of his grandfather only lightly affected him.

4) The internal squabbling between the Visitor high command was also interesting, especially given that they all generally had the same goal. Diana wanted the mission to proceed as more of a giant scientific experiment, while other Visitor higher-ups wanted it to be strictly a military mission.

Sadly, Kenneth Johnson was not involved with V:The Final Battle, and it showed. The Final Battle was more of a pure action film, while the original V was a lot deeper. Remember the "message" that the humans sent to the Visitor's "enemy", asking for help? Notice that was never referenced again in the Final Battle. Twenty years later, Johnson is picking up where he left off! "V" is going to have a sequel, but it will essentially ignore The Final Battle and pretend it didn't exist. Instead, the humans will be assisted by the Visitors' enemy, who I presume got the message. I hope this miniseries actually gets off the ground and appears on TV. I'd love to see what Johnson can do with it. Supposedly Jane Badler, Marc Singer, and Faye Grant will reprise their roles. I don't understand how they can do such a thing, all being 20 years older. We'll see...

I was 5 years old when the series premiered on television. It was the biggest and to me, the greatest science fiction show ever made! More than 20 years have pasted, and still, to a degree, the show remains strong. Even though the special effects are now considered lame and at times funny, the show in itself was a giant milestone for network history. The Beastmaster, Marc Singer is the poster child for early 80's cool. Richard Hatch must have asked for too much money. You could not of had movies like Independence Day if V wasn't made. Today, video shelves have the original 3 hour mini series with a separate tape, "the final battle." The following year has not yet been made available for the public.