V (TV SERIES)

'''V''' is a science fiction TV franchise created by American producer and director Kenneth Johnson concerning aliens known as "The Visitors" trying to take over Earth.
It debuted in 1983 as a two-part television miniseries, written and directed by Johnson; and starring Jane Badler, Marc Singer, Faye Grant, Michael Durrell, Jenny Sullivan, Richard Herd, Peter Nelson, David Packer, Blair Tefkin, Diane Civita and Robert Englund. It was followed in 1984 by a three-part miniseries, '''V: The Final Battle''', introducing Michael Ironside, and a one-hour weekly television series, '''V''' (sometimes referred to as '''V: The Series''') during the 1984–1985 TV season.
Johnson's upcoming novel '''V: The Second Generation''', a sequel to the first miniseries, is scheduled to be published in October 2007; [1] a TV adaption is also planned for 2008.

Contents

Plot summary

Original miniseries

''V: The Final Battle''

''V: The Series''

''V: The Second Generation''

Influences

Spinoffs

Trivia

References

External links

Plot summary

Original miniseries

Aliens who appear human arrive on Earth in a fleet of 50 huge saucer-like motherships, which hover over key major cities. They appear to be friendly, seeking the help of humans to obtain chemicals needed to aid their ailing world. In return, the Visitors promise to share their advanced technology with humanity. The governments of Earth accept, and the Visitors gain considerable influence with authorities.
However, strange things are soon noted. Scientists find themselves facing increasing media hostility, and government restrictions on their activities and movements. Others, particularly those keen on examining the Visitors more closely, begin to disappear or face being discredited. Noted scientists confess to subversive activities; some exhibiting other unusual behavior, such as suddenly demonstrating an opposite hand preference to the one they are known to have.
Journalist and TV cameraman Michael Donovan (Singer) sneaks aboard one of the Visitors' motherships and discovers that beneath their human like facade, the aliens are reptilian in nature, and carnivorous - preferring to eat live food, like rodents and birds.
Donovan gets some of this on tape, but just as this exposé is about to air, the broadcast is interrupted by a Visitor announcement, suddenly making Donovan a fugitive, pursued by both the police and the Visitors.
The scientists are persecuted - both to discredit them (as the part of the human population most likely to discover the Visitors' secrets) and to distract the rest of the population with a scapegoat upon whom they could focus their fears. Key human individuals are subjected to a special mind control process called "conversion", which turns them into the Visitors' pawns, leaving only subtle behavioral clues to this manipulation; others are subjects of biological experiments, including human-alien cross breeding. Some other humans, on the other hand (including Mike Donovan's mother), willingly collaborate with the Visitors, seduced by their power.
A resistance movement is formed, determined to expose and oppose the Visitors as much as possible. The Los Angeles cell leader is Dr. Juliet "Julie" Parrish. Donovan is later assimilated into the group and, sneaking again into a mother ship, he learns from a Visitor named Martin that the story about the needed chemicals is merely a diversion. The true purpose of the Visitor's trip to Earth is to conquer and subdue the planet, steal all of the Earth's water and harvest the human race as food, leaving only a few as slaves and soldiers/cannon fodder for the Visitors' wars with other alien races. Donovan also discovers there are dissidents among the Visitors (later known as the Fifth Column) who oppose their leader's plans. Martin promises to aid the Resistance, and gives Donovan access to an alien ship, which he quickly learns how to pilot.
Soon, the members of the Resistance strike their first blows against the Visitors, while procuring laboratory equipment and weapons to carry on the fight.

''V: The Final Battle''

Several months have passed since the events of the mini-series. The Resistance's ranks have expanded and is using more secretive and militaristic methods to fight the Visitors, whose stranglehold on the Earth continues to grow.
Events soon take a turn for the worst for the Resistance, first when the Visitor's new battle armor and laser weaponry derails their military operations in saving captured humans on Visitor Motherships. Furthermore, the Fifth Column becomes hesitant to help when the Visitors become suspicious of treason in their ranks as well as the fact that they can't supply weapons since the Visitor's arms supplies are watched too closely. In the face of this situation, Resistance leaders Donovan and Parrish realise that without a special weapon or technological development, the war will end swiftly. Donovan formulates a plan to expose John, the leader of the Visitors on Earth, as a reptilian-based alien. The plan succeeds, helping the fledgling Resistance movement with providing extra members, support and persuades Resistance expert Ham Tyler to help the movement perform better operations on Visitor targets such as supplying armor piercing ammunition.
Meanwhile, the experiment that Diana began into cross-breeding using Visitor Brian and Resistance member Robin Maxwell has come to fruition and she gives birth to twins. The largely-human girl, named Elizabeth, lives and suddenly begins aging at a rapid rate, exhibits great intelligence and odd abilities, while the largely-Visitor boy dies. After examining its corpse, a mysterious biological organism is found to be toxic to Visitor physiology. Resistance scientists culture the organism into The "Red Dust", which is deadly to Visitors but not harmful to life on Earth.
On a pre-approved day, the Resistance launches an attack on the ships while simultaneously releasing the dust into Earth's atmosphere, making the entire planet deadly to Visitors. Meanwhile, Diana; who has since usurped command of the Visitor fleet, plans to use a mothership's doomsday device to destroy the Earth. Donovan, Parrish and many others journey to the ship and, after flooding it with Red Dust, killing every Visitor on board (excluding the Fifth Column thanks to an antidote in the form of a pill the Resistance made for their alien allies) they successfully disarm the device with help from Elizabeth (now looking around ten years old due to her rapid aging rate) and return to Earth victorious.

''V: The Series''

Shortly after her ship's capture by the Resistance, Diana escapes in a shuttle but is pursued by Donovan. The two engage in combat in the atmosphere, and Donovan successfully shoots her down and, after a short fight, captures her.
One year after the day when the Red Dust was deployed, now the international national holiday called "Liberation Day", the former members of the Resistance and their Fifth Column allies have gone their separate ways and are each looking forward to prosperous careers and bright futures. When Diana is finally put on trial for the atrocities she committed during the First Invasion, Science Frontiers, the company responsible for mass production of the Red Dust, at the behest of its CEO Nathan Bates, arranged for Ham Tyler and his security firm to publicly "assassinate" Diana on her way to the trial and take her to a secret cabin in the woods outside L.A. After this is done, Nathan offers Diana better accommodations in exchange for helping to solving problems such as disease and environmental failure on Earth by providing Visitor technological information.
Donovan and Martin, having witnessed her supposed assassination, sense something isn't right and pursue Tyler's agents in a stolen helicopter. After reaching the cabin, Donovan is knocked unconscious by Martin, who wants Diana killed. As he is poised to succeed, Diana is able to overpower him and steal his pistol, and after forcing him to surrender his last antidote pill so she can temporarily survive on Earth, she kills him and escapes to the Southwest Tracking Station.
Martin tells Donovan about Diana's plan to make the Visitor Fleet return moments before his death, and Donovan sets off on foot. Donovan meets Tyler and agree to pursue Diana together. Attempts to stop her fail, and Diana escapes to a Visitor Shuttle arrived from a new fleet hidden behind the Moon, and Diana proceeds to launch the Second Invasion of the Earth.
The Resistance assembles once more, now fighting the Visitors nationwide and also contending with the power-hungry Nathan who has used the power vacuum of the collapse of the government and authorities to become Governor of Los Angeles. The Resistance fights however it can, often joined by other rebel groups, but cannot use their Red Dust super weapon, due to toxic long-term effects it will have on the Earth. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, who has transformed yet again and is now looking 18-years-old, becomes increasingly important in the cause for Earth's freedom and eventually leads her to control the destiny of either race and decide the outcome of the conflict.

''V: The Second Generation''

In early 2007, Kenneth Johnson announced that he will be publishing the novel ''V, The Second Generation'' featuring original and new characters. The novel will go on sale in October 2007, and a filmed version is planned for an unspecified (and constantly delayed) time in the future.
Interestingly, the novel will dispense with The Final Battle and the TV Series (in which Kenneth Johnson played a minimal role) entirely as non-canon, and pick up twenty years after the events of the first miniseries. The novel will also introduce the long-sought enemies of the Visitors whose own motives for helping the human resistance will serve as a central dilemma for the beleaguered Resistance.
Johnson describes the sequel as a:

"tense, fast-paced, riveting exploration of how ordinary
people react to the perils of life under nightmarish wartime occupation. And how such enormous pressures bring out the worst -- or the most heroic -- in human nature." [2]

Influences

Series creator Kenneth Johnson has said that the story was inspired by the 1935 novel ''It Can't Happen Here'' by Sinclair Lewis. Also, several scenes from the original TV pilot resemble the Bertolt Brecht play ''The Private Life of the Master Race''. A short story entitled ''To Serve Man'' (later adapted into an episode of ''The Twilight Zone'') had a similar theme of deceptively friendly aliens secretly cultivating humans for food.
In a commentary track on the DVD release of the first miniseries, Johnson reveals that ''V'' was originally intended as a straightforward political thriller, charting the rise of a fascist movement in the United States. NBC was interested in a sci-fi hit, to capitalize on the success of films such as the ''Star Wars'' trilogy.
The story remains a Nazi allegory, right down to the Swastika-like emblem used by the Visitors and their SS like uniforms. There is a Visitor youth auxiliary with obvious similarities to the Hitler Youth and Visitor broadcasts mimic Nazi era propaganda. The show's portrayal of human interaction with the Visitors bears a striking resemblance to stories from Occupied Europe during the Second World War with some citizens choosing collaboration and others choosing to join underground resistance movements.
Where the Nazis primarily persecuted Jews, the Visitors were likewise depicted to persecute scientists, their families and anyone associating with them and distribute propaganda in an effort to hide their true identity. Some of the central characters in the initial series were from a Jewish family and the grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, frequently commented on the events of the past again unfolding. The Visitors declared martial law to control the scientists, something akin to the rise of the fascists in Germany. Later, throughout the TV series, the Resistance Network's TV news bulletins report stories of erstwhile enemies uniting in common cause against the alien occupiers, such as black and white South Africans (the series was produced when South Africa was still under apartheid). In addition, direct figure analogies are used, such as the senior Visitor scientist, Diana, who is a direct analogue of Dr. Josef Mengele.
The miniseries ran for 200 minutes and was successful enough to spawn a sequel, ''V: The Final Battle'', which was meant to conclude the story, and a television series in 1984—1985 that revived it. Johnson left ''V'' during ''The Final Battle'' and went on to work on other science fiction shows, like ''Alien Nation''. Perhaps as a result, the sequel and TV series had less of an emphasis on historical allegory and complex characters and their inter-relations, and was more action-oriented.

The cancellation of the TV series in the spring of 1985 appeared to have caught its producers by surprise, as the season ends with a cliffhanger. The TV series' single season was released on DVD in 2004. That same year, Kenneth Johnson announced plans to produce a sequel to the first ''V'' miniseries, but one that would disregard both ''The Final Battle'' and the subsequent weekly series. In October 2004, Kenneth Johnson made it known that NBC has decided it wants a remake of the original ''V'' miniseries, rather than a sequel. The possibility of a sequel of the original would remain open, but would be contingent on the success of the remake. This may have been reversed, however, as according to Kenneth Johnson, a filmed version of the upcoming book ''V: The Second Generation'' will be released sometime in the future. A notable change is that the new filmed version is planned as a 3-hour TV movie rather than a new miniseries.
The concept of lizard-like aliens who appear human, and who plot to control humanity, is similar to some fringe theories — see Reptiloid.

★ In a variation on "Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome," the character of Mike Donovan's son Sean inexplicably aged 4-5 years between the miniseries and the weekly series, despite the fact that the weekly series takes place only one year after the miniseries ended. It is presumed that this was not a planned plot change, but rather just an age difference between the original miniseries actor, Eric Johnston, and Nicky Katt, the series actor.

★ Due to budget constraints, the weekly series reused a lot of action footage from the miniseries. This was especially blatant in the Visitor fighter craft chase scene in the pilot episode, where nearly all external shots were lifted from the climax scene of the original miniseries. This was a surprising choice, given that nearly all of the fans of the miniseries were likely to recognize the recycling of one of its more memorable action scenes.

★ In the original miniseries and ''The Final Battle'', the Visitors' voices were given, among other post-processing, a pitch shift effect - to give them an otherworldly demeanor even though they looked (outwardly, at least) like normal human beings. This was dropped from the weekly series, evidently due to budgetary constraints. No explanation was ever given for the change; it was simply treated as if the Visitors never had unusual-sounding voices at all. However this did create a plot conflict, as in the miniseries, part of the plot involved simulating alien voices, but in the TV series aliens are easily mistaken for humans. In certain dubbed versions, like the French, the Visitors had a deep bass voice, while in German, the pitch shift was maintained throughout the entire series.

★ Frank Ashmore's popular character "Martin" was killed off in the weekly series' pilot episode, angering many fans. When the series struggled in the ratings, Ashmore was brought back as Martin's twin brother, Philip. This move was not enough to save the series from cancellation.

★ In the UK the miniseries and its sequel were shown concurrently, across five nights on ITV opposite the BBC's coverage of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, leading one critic to comment that the schedule presented a choice between "seeing a lot of people running and jumping in LA… or watching the Olympics".

★ An interesting aspect of the 1984-85 series which is never explained is the complete absence of any military or political authorities following the return of the Visitors. Although police are seen, as are Science Frontiers' own forces, at no point is any reference made to the military forces of any nation, or of the federal, state and civic governments of the United States and other nations (thus allowing businessmen like Nathan Bates to assume absolute power over parts of the country). This is explained in the novelizations; that the military were first stripped of their leadership (who either went missing or were 'converted') and then disarmed as the Visitors took over 'protecting' the earth's leaders.

★ NBC initially refused to air the third episode of the TV series, "Breakout", as the network felt it was too violent for the intended family audience, even though the episode introduced the regular character, Kyle Bates. The next episode, "The Deception", was rewritten so that Kyle is introduced again. "Breakout" was finally aired in 1985 when NBC reran the series following its cancellation. As a result, viewers saw Kyle Bates introduced to the same Resistance fighters twice.

★ In 1989, Warner Bros. commissioned J. Michael Straczynski (who would later go on to create ''Babylon 5'') to write a pilot screenplay for a proposed new series, tentatively titled ''V: The Next Chapter'', that would have continued the ''V'' storyline. Picking up five years after the end of the NBC series, it would have followed the efforts of a new Resistance movement on a conquered Earth to make contact with the "Outsiders", the faction of the Visitors' own people who oppose their Leader, who had finally responded to a summons put out at the end of the original miniseries. The only character from the older ''V'' to appear in this script was Ham Tyler. After numerous drafts, the script, entitled "The Rebirth", was finally abandoned when the studio decided it would be too cost-prohibitive to produce.

★ Dominique Dunne was originally cast to play the role of Robin Maxwell, but was strangled and killed by her abusive ex-boyfriend John Thomas Sweeney after she refused to reconcile with him. One shot of her, from the rear, remains in the original mini-series.

★ Shots of mother ships over various foreign cities were paintings made before the model of the ship was finalized and built; as a result, the foreign mother ships appear different from one another, with different edge-on profiles.

★ The show usually started with retired newscaster Howard K. Smith reading reports of resistance around the globe. He read one of how resistant fighters were holding up in the Alamo. However, it is quite obvious that the series writers have never been to San Antonio, Texas because he mention the countryside, etc, leading viewers to believe that the Alamo was located out in the country and not in downtown. It was reported that the local San Antonio city council pass a protest measure about the series lack of information of their city's famous icon and demanded an apology.

Spinoffs

''V'' spun off a series of original novels, including a novelization of the first two mini-series combined into one story. Unusually, most of the original novels that followed did not feature characters from the TV series, but rather focused on battles against the alien invaders in other parts of the world. While the series was on the air, new novels were published once a month by Pinnacle Paperbacks. In 1987-88, a new series of novels was published by Tor.
'V'
''V'' is the first book of the series and was written by Ann C. Crispin. They arrived- tens of thousands of extraterrestrial beings- in huge motherships. They came from a dying planet, all they wanted was a share of the Earth's resources in exchange for advanced knowledge. Humanity believed, until they turned into a army of invaders. Entire cities vanished from the Earth. A reign of terror descends upon the Earth never seen before.
'East Coast Crisis'
''East Coast Crisis'' is the second book of the series and was written by Howard Weinstein. New York- the communication center of the world, is in alien hands. As their grip tightens, the resistance, White Christmas, attempts to fight back, until humanity is freed.
'The Pursuit of Diana'
''The Pursuit of Diana'' is the third book of the series and was written by Allen L. Wold. The LA resistance tries to revive those stored on the mothership after capturing it in the events of the first book. However they are faced with the converted government, and several of the "sixth colummn", survivors on board the mothership still loyal to Diana, who has escaped capture on board.
'The Chicago Conversion'
''The Chicago Conversion'' is the fourth book of the series and was written by George W. Proctor. In Chicago, two people who are living as one of the last people there. However, they get caught in a plan to convert the Chicago resistance after they recover some anti-toxin pills for the Red Dust.
'The Florida Project'
''The Florida Project'' is the fifth book of the series and was written by Tim Sullivan. The Visitors undertake a plan to create a human-reptilian hybrid in the Everglades to wipe out the resistance.
'Prisoners and Pawns'
''Prisoners and Pawns'' is the sixth book of the series and was written by Howard Weinstein. Lydia and Diana try to wrestle power from each other while trying to get the resistance out of the way. The resistance find that their might be collaborators in their group.
'The Alien Swordmaster'
''The Alien Swordmaster'' is the seventh book of the series and was written by Somtow Sucharitkul. Tomoko Jones is revived to become the consort of the fearsome Fieh Chan, Visitor Commander of Tokyo. Meanwhile, her husband, finds a plot to capture the Earth's martial arts masters for conversion.
# ''The Crivit Experiment'' (Allen L. Wold) - May 1985 ISBN 0-523-42466-3
# ''The New England Resistance'' (Tim Sullivan) - June 1985 ISBN 0-523-42467-1
# ''Death Tide'' (Ann C. Crispin) - July 1985 ISBN 0-523-42469-8
# ''The Texas Run'' (George W. Proctor) - September 1985 ISBN 0-523-42470-1
# ''Path to Conquest'' (Howard Weinstein) - September 1987 ISBN 0-8125-5725-5
# ''To Conquer the Throne'' (Tim Sullivan) - November 1987 ISBN 0-8125-5727-1
# ''The Oregon Invasion'' (Jayne Tannehill) - January 1988 ISBN 0-8125-5729-8
# ''Below the Threshold'' (Allen L. Wold) - March 1988 ISBN 0-8125-5732-8
# ''Symphony of Terror'' (Somtow Sucharitkul) - May 1988 ISBN 0-8125-5482-5
The first three books were republished in 1994.
The first book novelises both the miniseries, but has some differences, including killing off several characters that do not die in the televised version. This includes Chris Farber, leading to confusion about his return in ''V: The Series''.
Meanwhile, DC Comics published an 18-issue ''V'' comic book series in 1985-86, with stories set to be concurrent with the events of ''V: The Series''. The editor of the comic reported at one point in the letter (fan mail) column that DC was working to acquire permission to continue the storyline of the television series should it not be renewed for a second season. In the end, either such permission was denied or DC decided not to pursue the matter further; the ''V'' comic ended without resolving any of the plot threads left dangling by the series' cliffhanger finale, though one of the comic's final storylines did lead directly into the events of the finale.
In Japan, Go Nagai wrote a manga adaptation of the series with art by Tatsuya Yasuda.
In 1986 Ocean Software released a video game based on the series for Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum.[3]
Underground computer programmer David Menuhin has announced that he is producing an online V multi-media trivia game. Unfortunately, production has run into difficulties due to copyright issues, and as of August 2006, Menuhin has still not obtained express permission to use all the sounds and images from the series.
In October 2008, V: The Second Generation is scheduled to be released as a sequel to the first two television series. ^[1]

Trivia

★ In the scene where Mike Donovan is disguised as a Visitor and is leaving the mother ship aboard a scout ship, the same chatty security Visitor asks him which unit he is with. Donovan cannot speak because he does not have an alien voice, instead he gestures with his two fingers making the "V" sign.

★ In one episode of the ''Drew Carey Show'' with sci-fi props displayed, there is a model of a spacecraft from this miniseries that is seen on a kitchen table.

References

1. IMDb listing V:The Second Generation

External links

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★

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★ First three acts of J. Michael Straczynski's script for ''V: The Next Chapter'' episode "Rebirth"

★ Kenneth Johnson's Official Site

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★ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/v/

★ The Resistance Reference Page

★ Visitors Info