Kenneth Johnson's New Book to Rewrite V's History?

In 1985 I was a fifth grader filled with the wonder and excitement as a leader of a V fan club in my middle school. My best friend at that time, Patrick, and I would make up quizzes to see who knew the most about this awesome science fiction television show that aired Friday nights on NBC. If you passed the test, you could be in the club.

There were less than a dozen of us kids. Our favorite pastime was to act out scenes from the show during recess. I was always the smart scientist, Dr. Juliet Parrish... and for some reason Patrick always wanted to be Diana.

In the early March 1985 I was fortunate enough to go to a V/ Star Trek Convention in Houston, where I met the actor Jeff Yagher, who played Kyle Bates, in person. Jeff had some sad news to share with the audience... V had been cancelled by NBC. Even worse, the soon to air last episode was going to be a cliffhanger. V would end with an unresolved storyline.

I don't know why the writers and producers did that. Maybe they were hoping enough fans would cry foul and convince the network to put their favorite show back on the air. Instead, we were left to wonder if the bomb that Diana had planted aboard the leader's shuttle exploded, killing the Starchild, Elizabeth Maxwell, the Visitor Leader and Elizabeth's boyfriend, Kyle, who had stowed away on the shuttlecraft.

For the next few years I continued to be interested in V, awaiting each month's arrival of a DC comic book in the mail, or when the next V paperback book would come out. Neither of those sources answered the questions, or resolved the plotline so I started writing my own fan fiction. As my family made many moves, and I lost contact with old friends, I did not know very many people who were familiar with V like I was.

It was not until the year 2000 when I discovered all the fan sites on the internet, and that V's creator, Kenneth Johnson, was interested in doing another V miniseries. Dissatisfied with the direction V had gone in after The Original Miniseries, he wanted to rewrite V's history. What would soon be called "The Second Generation" would replace the storylines given in V's second miniseries, V: The Final Battle, and the 1984-1985 TV series as well.

For someone who enjoyed all three television installments of V, I have mixed feelings about that. V The Second Generation, a novel authored by Kenneth Johnson, will soon be released by TOR/Forge publishing company.

To fully appreciate this book, it would require an open mindedness on the part of the V fan. In other words, forget what you learned in V The Final Battle, and V The Series. Forget about the characters that were introduced.

I know there are lots of V fans out there who say their favorite character is Ham Tyler. He was introduced in the second miniseries, as Mike Donovan's arch enemy. It made for great conflict throughout the remainder of the V saga.

There is also the character of Elizabeth Maxwell. She was the offspring of human Robin Maxwell, and a visitor named Brian. Many people, including Mr. Johnson, did not agree with the way Elizabeth's character was written in that second miniseries.

V The Original miniseries left off with Robin Maxwell expecting Brian's child. So, can we forget that Elizabeth or her more reptilian twin brother existed and ask ourselves again, what kind of child did Robin Maxwell have? Remember, it is twenty years later.

There were a couple other major plotlines given in V The Final Battle that were so intertwined into the story. Resistance leader Juliet Parrish exposed the visitors supreme commander on tv, showing all the watching world his true reptilian nature. After this, Julie was captured and taken aboard the Los Angeles mothership, to be converted by the evil Diana.

There are lots of parts to the V storyline. It is hard to just pretend they did not happen.

Yet, at the same time I am eager to learn about the secret enemy of the visitors that the resistance is trying to reach for aid. I am also interested in learning more about visitor culture. Whether it was V The Original Miniseries, V The Final Battle, or V The TV Series... fans never got a glimpse of what the Visitor's home planet was like. We had small insights to their culture, but not much.

I am anxious to read Kenneth Johnson's new novel, to see V through his perspective. Will it be as exciting of adventure as he promises?

Let's hope so.

Until then, pretenama!