I watched the new ABS TV series “V” off my DVR last night. I was surprised that the initial episode was only one hour long. The original miniseries was almost 3-1/2 hours crammed into two nights back in May 1983. I can still remember chatting with friends in school the next day. The original was a cautionary take about fascism. At the end of the first night a holocaust survivor was taking a spray paint can to a Visitor poster as a symbol of rebellion. It was a very powerful and dramatic moment. Ok, I may be over selling it a bit. It also had some really cheesy special effects. The point is that the new series covered in 40 minutes what the original dragged out over four hours. The new series introduced the visitors, told us they were reptiles, told us that there was a resistance all in a matter of minutes. The whole thing seemed really rushed. I’m hoping that the series improves in the three remaining episodes for the year.
We have many of the same characters from the original. John is now Anna and she seems kinda creepy. The TV reporter is not fooled for a minute and is now a willing participant in the coverup. We have a priest who has a moral dilemma about what to say to his flock about the visitors. Perhaps the first episode was necessary to lay down the fabric that we already recognize from the first series and we’ll start to see something new next week. I hope so. Otherwise this show is not going to be taking any more space on my DVR. I’m going to rent the original and its sequel from Netflix.
Episode 2 show that this series is going more towards Invasion of the Body Snatchers where you do not know who is an alien. Every time someone says ‘V’ mentally replace that with “democrat”.