V - Classic 80s Sci-fi Gets the Go Ahead for a Remake
It looks like our favorite early 80’s TV Sci-Fi aliens have gotten the green light to reinvade Earth in a remake of the 1983 miniseries V. Any geeks in their mid 30s or older are more than likely all too familiar with this TV gem. However, I do admit mixed emotions about the return of this property to our screens. There’s a whole sordid soap opera that’s been brewing over this for the past couple of years, and this is the outcome that makes me the least excited about seeing these aliens again.
What’s been given the go ahead for development is a “reimagining” of the original mini-series according to the Hollywood Reporter. Apart from wanting to vomit a lung any time I hear a remake being described as a “reimagining” I think those of us that went through puberty wanting to feel up some hot lizard chicks would prefer to see a continuation or closure on the original story.
For those unfamiliar with the 1980s history of V, here’s the brief recap. The first mini-series, simply called V, consisted of 2, 2-hour TV movies that chronicled a race of aliens that made a sudden and dramatic appearance in the skies of Earth. If you didn’t see it, if you watch the first 30 minutes of Independence Day with Will Smith, it’s pretty much the same down to the design of the massive alien ships.
The original V was quite brilliant. The aliens made “formal” contact with Earth appealing for help to manufacture a chemical that was badly needed for some unspecified reason. The story unfolded as an allegory for the Nazi takeover of Germany as the “Visitors” extended a hand of friendship and slowly took over the governments of the world turning the Earth into a fascist state. Through diligent investigative reporting, a journalist uncovers the secret of the “Visitors,” that they have disguised themselves to look like humans, but were in fact lizard-like baddies that had come to Earth to steal our water supply and transport humans home as food.
The original mini-series was tense and full of iconic moments, brilliantly written and featured some pretty nifty special effects for TV of it’s time period. It ended in an ambiguous manner, basically with the Earth losing the war and sending out a long shot call to an unknown race of other aliens that they had found out the “Visitors” had considered enemies. In the case of these parallels, instead of persecuting Jews, the Visitors vilified scientists in an attempt to discredit scientific work that would lead to the discovery of their true nature.
Following up the first mini-series was a 3 part mini-series entitled V: The Final Battle. While certainly an enjoyable romp, The Final Battle continued the story in much more of a “Pulp” Sci-fi manner. Less thoughtful, not quite as complex in structure and a bit cheesier, but still fun.
The whole thing was followed up by a supremely mediocre single season of a weekly sci-fi drama featuring the original cast and basically killing all the characters played by actors that didn’t want to sign on for the weekly. The only high point of the series was the kick-ass portrayal of Nathan Bates, an industrialist who played both sides of the war by both manufacturing the chemical agent that was deadly to the aliens, as well as the antidote to sell to the “Visitors” that had joined with the humans in their fight. Lane Smith was brilliant in this role in an otherwise lackluster and repetitive weekly drama.
The soap opera really began between the original miniseries and the second one. The entire concept and story was written and conceived by Kenneth Johnson, who ultimately had almost no involvement with the second mini-series, The Final Battle. Since then, Johnson had maintained an intense dislike of The Final Battle. A few years ago, he wrote a novel that was a sequel to the original mini-series, completely ignoring the second one.
Thus began a journey to bring this mess back to either TV or the big screen. Initially, they had gotten commitments from all the key cast members of the original two miniseries (Marc Singer, Faye Grant, Robert Englund, Jane Badler) to star in a followup/sequel that apparently was going to continue from the end of the second mini-series ignoring the weekly. THIS is what originally got me excited
The problem began when NBC reengaged Kenneth Johnson, who absolutely refused to acknowledge the second mini-series and said he wanted to ignore it and pick it up from the end of the first. Admittedly, the second mini was not as good as the first, but those of us who stayed loyal to it would be a bit betrayed if over half of the TV canon of the property were to be tossed away only to start over. Not only this, but casual fans of the original would most likely be thoroughly confused by this.
This is where the whole thing broke down. Realizing V is still property that may have some value, the only thing that can really be done now is to “re-imagine” it and start over. This is a bummer for me, because my geek mind needs closure on the original story.
We’ll see, there’s still probably a pretty strong likelihood that this will linger in development hell and never get made.
Do yourself a favor and seek out the original mini-series V. The entire history of the program is available on DVD, and the first series still holds up as damned fine Sci-Fi today. You can probably pick it up for 10-20 dollars at Best Buy or on Amazon. If you dig the first series follow it up and pick up the second.
I will admit that this one of the few 80s series I’ve bought on disc and actually watched multiple times. It is a classic and I will stand by it to the end. If you’re truly a Sci-Fi geek worth your metal, there is no excuse for not experiencing this classic.
Technorati 
Del.icio.us 
StumbleUpon 
Digg 
Facebook 
Mixx 
Reddit
Tags: Classic TV
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
8 Responses to “V - Classic 80s Sci-fi Gets the Go Ahead for a Remake”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
January 27th, 2009 at 8:58 am
I remember seeing some of the series as a kid. I think I was around 5 or 6 at the time. It really freaked me out then seeing aliens disguised as humans. The aliens looked like they skinned some humans to use their skins as their disguise. For all I remember, that’s exactly what they did in the series to look human. It also grossed me out seeing some chick give birth to a green alien reptile.
The thing about the series I remember the most was the hype behind it. Anyone who was around that time will remember it.
January 27th, 2009 at 10:27 am
It was extremely hyped at the time. It was one of those things that every kid in school was talking about. I would definitely consider the initial “reveal” scene when you find out that the Visitors weren’t what they appeared to be was an iconic moment in TV history. When Diana’s jaw unhinges and she swallows the Guinea Pig whole that was one of the greatest WHAT THE FUCK moments I had ever seen, and totally unexpected. I’m sure that’s available on You Tube. In fact, I think the entire damn mini-series is there broken up into 60 something parts.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
I remember some part of a weird ass movie when I was younger that there were these pink lizard like things and some under ground factory. I’m guessing this wasn’t it was it? Anyone have a clue as to what I’m talking about.
January 28th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
That’s not a lot to go on. Maybe an outside chance you are remembering ENEMY MINE from 1985 starring Dennis Quaid and Lou Gossett junior. Kind of a Galactica type storyline about this human pilot that gets stranded on this planet with one of the enemy combatants (lizardish type thing). Part of the plot involved humans that were using the Lizard people as slave labor in this underground mine/factory setting. it would be a stretch, but the lizard people kinda pinkish in it.
January 29th, 2009 at 7:26 am
Scuzz, you are so freaking awesome, that is EXACTLY what it was. I remember seeing it or part of it on TV when I was a kid and being super freaked out but couldn’t turn away though I had never seen the whole movie.
That is defintely it though holy shit I always wanted to know haha
January 29th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
To give you an idea of my true age, I reviewed ENEMY MINE my Freshman Year in High School when I was the movie critic for the high school newspaper. Yes, I’ve been picking on movies in print in one way or another for 25 years now. I reviewed that movie when you were still in training pants.
January 29th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
You’ve only got like 10 years on me, suckah. I mean, I was at least walking by then haha
January 30th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Enemy Mine was on yesterday on FX. I watched that movie a few times as a kid.