V: The Original Miniseries

In 1983, at a time when American prime-time broadcast television was focused mainly on series like Dallas and Dynasty, NBC took a gamble on a dramatic science fiction story by Kenneth Johnson. Simply titled V, this made-for-TV miniseries aired over 2 nights for a total of 197 minutes (commercials not included). It was a gamble that paid off. V, or V: The Original Miniseries as it is now known, was successful enough to spawn a sequel and a regular TV series, as well as novels, comic books, and video games.

V's story starts with the appearance of 50 huge spaceships over 50 of Earth's major cities. At first, the alien visitors persuade humanity that they will share advanced technology in exchange for help procuring chemicals and minerals that their ailing world needs. However, a sinister truth begins to emerge. Government control begins to restrict freedom of scientific inquiry, and people who publicly question the Vistors' intentions either disappear or find themselves the victims of smear campaigns. Individuals in positions of power also start to exhibit strange behavior. A tough and tenacious journalist by the name of Michael Donovan (played by Marc Singer) finds a way aboard one of the spaceships and discovers that the Visitors are not as alike to humans as they have pretended - instead, they are reptilian meat-eating predators who prefer live prey and intend to enslave humanity while raping the Earth of its natural resources.

V paid homage to tried and true science fiction themes (the opening scene of 50 spaceships hovering above the earth is credited in part to Isaac Assimov, who wrote a scene very similar in his novel Childhood's End) while not-so-subtly alluding to McCarthyism and Nazi-era genocide. It's the story and these underlying themes that survive upon viewing today - certainly not the clumsy special effects of the time, or cliché-filled script. Marc Singer as the journalist-turned-rebel Donavan is fine, if a bit limited. Faye Grant also turns in a good performance as the sweet-yet-tough Julie Parrish LA resistance leader. And horror genre fans will be delighted to see Robert Englund perform as the nice alien - wonderfully ironic considering he is now best known as Freddy Kruger, star of the Nightmare on Elm Street series. But the stand out performance continues to be Jane Bradler as Diana, the sexy, evil Visitor who steers many of the plot twists. One of the classic moments of the series involves Diana eating a hamster while discussing domination of the human race. This is the revelation point of the plot, and it's done surprisingly well, considering the amateurish effects. The reason it works is because it's all done at once. Donovan, from his hiding place on board the alien ship, witnesses Diana's true "appetite" and immediately after sees another alien taking out its "human" eyeball prosthetics to reveal red, reptilian eyes. In his horror, Donavan bursts from hiding to confront the alien. During the ensuing struggle, the alien flickers a disgustingly long serpentine tongue at him, and Donovan tears the alien's "human" face off to reveal that of a reptile.

Cheesy sci-fi soap opera it may be, but V captured the attention of 80 million viewers for each episode. This fall, ABC is re-envisioning the original series. One hopes that the remake will retain much of V's original freshness while injecting some modern special effects. Look for it in November 2009.