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(This is a fan trailer. Is that music from the new Star Trek?)
Submitted by Joe I, secret reptile
When does something become nostalgic? When somebody decides to remake it, I suppose. ABC’s turning this 1983 sci-fi mini-series into a brand new series. I suspect disaster, but at least it’s based on fairly classic source material.
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i hated this show! used to make me cry as a kid….lol….i was tenderheated
*hearted*
I was a HUGE fan of this show, though I have to admit, NBC execs really made it horrible when they took over for the second Mini-Series and the TV Show. But the orginal miniseries is a great example of anthropology explored via science fiction.
Kenneth Johnson, the creator (who also did Alien Nation the TV show) explored Sci-Fi genre as a means to discuss and propose real life issues in a shorthand that prevented existing stereotypes from preventing thoughtful reflection.
So V was in fact SUPPOSED to be a thinly veiled WWII reference about political forces and moral choices. Do you believe the propaganda scientists are evil? Do you take action while people are arrested or do you play it safe? What does the media do when controls come from above? Do you turn in your childhood nanny and grandfather for illegal activity? Do you hide persecuted families you know did no wrong? What do you do when your own people are doing things you feel morally wrong? And when you do want to take action, how do you fight back?
Johnson said he based it off of the book “It Can’t Happen Here”, by Sinclair Lewis and wanted people to realize that the moral and political choices of WWII were not outdated and it could, indeed, happen again. And Alien Nation was, of course, thinly veiled exploration of cultural adaptions and immigration issues.
So despite the 80’s cheeze, I think this show IS epic win, because of his goals in creating it and making those of us who watched it THINK.
ANd I hope that in the modern remake, they go back to the main themes of Johnsons’ script and use the production values to enhance the meanings for out times, and not just add in more explosions.
Best scene: Robert Englund eating a mouse out of the dumpster saying, “Mouse-yyyyyyyy”. 2nd best – alien baby birth. This show kicks ass.
You took the words right out of my mouth…My two fave scenes! I just watched this a few months ago!
Oooooh, Morena Baccarin’s gonna be in it. Loved her as Inara in Firefly and Serenity!
Allan Tudyk is in it, too
Then there’s no way it’ll be bad. Baccarin eyecandy and Tudyk snark. Sorry, that’ll win big time.
Absolutely!
Apparently (according to interviews I’ve read), Tudyk is a huge fan of the original series, and he likes the way the remake is being handled. Which makes me look forward to it all the more.
Teenage V Fan
Kenneth Johnson is involved with the new V and has done a new novel called V The Second Generation and has supposedly rewritten the original V novel to be in line with VTSG and that the second miniseries and TV series are no longer canon.
I just cosplayed a classic Visitor at a sci fi con and while I did not get the response I got last year with my SG1 costume(afterall the miniseries had come and gone before most attendees were born) when I did get a photo request it was not the “cool costume, can I get a pic?” it was “OH MY GAWD! V? I GOTTA GET A PIC!”
jm
It wasn’t Willie(Robert Englund)it was just a faceless lower lovel cog in the Visitor machine.
If you remember Elias was dealing drugs to the Visitors and that Visitor had blown a big ol doob and had a serious case of the lizard munchies
The scene I remember the most is the balloon scene, where they attack “at dawn “ “simultaneously “ “across the U.S.” . I could not be leave anyone could make that mistake. Of coarse being Canadian, I grew up with “the world will end at 9:00, 9:30 Newfoundland”
The music is the one used for the last Star Trek trailer, but doesn’t appear in the movie.
It’s Two Steps From Hell – Freedom fighters
This miniseries wasn’t as good as Alien Nation — one of the few series I actually scheduled other things around.
LOVED Robert Englund’s character Willie — “learned Arabic…got screwed”. With all the tough and superpowered aliens around, we had an ordinary guy — no wonder Harmy thought he was wonderful. And that wasn’t Willie with the dumpster mouse — that was another alien who, I believe, was coming off a drug high and had the munchies, which is what made it even more funny. Marc Singer and Michael Ironside were terrific, and I can’t help but think it’s going to be ruined as a remake. But we shall see. And katy, I agree — Alien Nation was better.
Of course, the story that “Alien Nation” was based on was called “Meet George Jetson” – if you thought the punny names that actually made it into the AN Movie and TV series were bad, imagine what it could have been if Hanna-Barbera hadn’t denied them use of the name…
V is definitely a win, and I am very much looking forward to the remake.
weirdly enough i am reading the book that was based on the mini-series….coinsidence?
V was awesome. My partner and I both used to imagine who was going to rip their face off next! (Generally it was some authority figure…)
It wasn’t as good as Alien Nation, but it was another side of Aliens at the time that was good to present. One you could feel good about the aliens. The other ones make you grab your brother’s hair and try to pull his face off because you just KNEW…..
The groundings were totally worth it.
One of the things I found great about V was that orginally, the aliens weren’t nearly as scary as the humans. Elenor and Daniel were totally great examples of people not evil, but venal, and yet doing and helping evil thrive.
But there is a lot to be said for us middle aged geeks in control of the media these days…..the doctor who reboot is terrific, as is the new star trek, and the battlestar galactica. Each tried to develop the themes of the orginal, from drama to humor, and did so in a successful way for each of the franchises.
I have loved V and the stuff around it for years definately an epic win. The Original Mini Series was the best followed by The Final Battle. The Series was awful as was the comic. The books varied some were clunkers other were good.
I saw remember watching this when it was on TV; I must have been 6 or 7. Who can forget Diana scarfing down a rodent, the little “human” baby with the lizard tongue, or Robert Englund pre-Freddy?! I really need to pick this up on TV (all the series, actually).
I remember in my neighborhood, there was a stone pillar at one of the intersections, and someone had painted a big red V on it. I always get a kick out of that memory.
Oh yes. The scariest &@*# ever put on TV. I don’t care if there are better special effects now; nothing beats cheap menace. That hovering spaceship on the commercial made me unable to sleep for days.
Oh, they just want to update it with CGI.
As long as nobody tries to remake “The Love War”….
Love V!!!! So glad it’s here on OUAW!!
I haven’t seen it since I was little. But I just borrowed the DVD box set from my sister and plan to watch it this month!!!!
Hahah wow i havent though of this in years. I’ll never forget how freaked out I was when the aliens would rip their skin and expose the reptile underneath
Man Petting a Squirrel