V (2009)

I was pleasantly happy with the premier of V on ABC. With the nostalgia and love I had for the original series, I re watched the old episodes on SyFy last week in preparation for the new show. In a way I wished that I had left the 1983 miniseries back in the archives of my memory instead of reliving it. While the story remained solid with the assimilation of the earth, the recruitment of ignorant humans and the parallels to the holocaust; the special effects just weren’t anything to brag about. But who am I to judge the special effects of a Sci-Fi movie? When did special effects make any difference for a well written story, intelligent dialogue (one can argue this) and a freaky “what if”. The original series V had everything that a Sci-Fi enthusiast could want and this was not limited to lizard people running around in orange jumpsuits.

V for ABC stars some well known names from the C and D lists of celebrity-dom and has a look and feel that I absolutely love. The futuristic setting of the visitor’s ships and the look of the earth itself has that shiny new HD gleam to it that most TV shows are adapting. The thought that came to mind was “wow so this is how a Sci-Fi show looks when they have an actual budget”. It is an extremely pretty show and I don’t mean the beautiful Morena Baccarin either, the set and the CGI are very well done.

The pilot revealed that we will be following the lives of three separate and very different people, Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell), my least favorite if the 3, is the strong single mom stereotype that felt similar to Sarah Connor and Nicky from Heroes. She is an FBI agent and mother to 17 yr. old teenager Tyler (Logan Huffman), a boy with daddy issues and a liking of mischief to piss mommy off. Veteran actor Morris Chestnut plays the 2nd interest in Ryan, a mysterious businessman who is in love with Valerie Stevens (Lourdes Benedicto), his lovely human fiance. No I didn’t just mistype, Ryan is a traitor to the visitors (this is a good thing) and shows hope in the fact that there are some good ones in the lot. The last person is Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch) a Catholic priest turned freedom fighter whose belief structure is threatened by the mere fact that there is other life out there (them touching on this is awesome to me). The 3 start out separate but after the visitor’s ships land on earth their lives are thrust together in an effort to offer earth some hope.

For newbies to the V universe, this show quickly catches you up as to who the visitors are and what their intent for earth is. Well not really, you just learn that beyond their pretty exteriors are a slimy race of reptilian manipulators, led by a woman known simply as Anna (Morena Baccarin). When Anna has the ships land all over the world, she reveals her pretty face and soothing voice to tell the world that they come in peace to offer “Universal Healthcare” (yes they went there) and technology.

While the majority of news reporters choose to stab at Anna with probing questions of her intent, her honor is defended by one reporter Chad Decker (Scott Wolf) who she immediately takes a liking to. Taking Chad aboard her ship for an exclusive interview in order to soothe anti-visitor groups protesting all over the world, Chad, probably believing that he could get a career boost and probably some Visitor panties, jumps at the chance at the interview. What he learns however is that Anna does not believe in freedom of the press and that any question he asks must be in a positive light. He is given an offer he cannot refuse and the beautiful, kind lady he defended from his colleagues began to look a little more sinister in his eyes.

The story seemed a bit too fast
My one misgiving with this new show is the same one I had when they took Heroes from good writing to hyper speed X-Men wannabe. It’s in the pacing overall, I know that we are in the speedy age of short attention spans and nationwide ADHD but sometimes I wish things were the way they used to be.When a show can start off slow and fans would give it a season before writing it off. The original V went through many episodes before the first Visitor’s reptilian form was revealed, in this pilot we see one revealed after 45 minutes. This isn’t to say that it is a bad thing, it just dawned on me that the writers had no choice in this matter.Hell it is a remake so most of us know what they are before even watching the series. Still, I hope everything won’t be this speedy and we will get a chance to know Ryan, Erica and Jack a little better.

This show really needs to succeed, I implore you Sci-Fi fans to keep tuned in to it and not let it fall the way of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. If a poorly written mess like NBC’s Heroes can continue to air, there is no reason for a potentially great show like this to fail. It was good to see Morris Chestnut in the cast and his character is possibly the most interesting of the 3. Fans of Firefly will see cameos from a few of the cast members (hell Anna was one of the crew on that show) and it will feel like your home channel SyFy, just on a different network that has the money to keep a show alive.

I won’t say V is the next Battlestar Galactica, not after one episode, but I can say that with my cynicism it takes a lot to impress me. V looks good, was very interesting and has storylines that you will want to see played out. Let’s support Science Fiction, and tune into V on ABC every tuesday at 8:00 pm. Thanks for reading.