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Home » Movies/Radio and Television » A show called "V" (Haven't we seen this before?) Messages in this topic - RSS
10/10/2009 4:11:06 AM
AVorlon
Posts 82
Did anyone watch this show when it was originally on in 1983-84? ABC is doing a remake of this show, and they are promoting it relentlessly during “Flashforward”, since that would seem to be the same target audience.

I never watched it back then, having better things to do like partying and chasing after women, but now that I’m older and more settled in my ways, I might watch it for a few episodes just to see what it’s about. (starts Nov. 3).

Honestly, I think that ABC has been trying to find the next “Lost” for several years now, and they may have already found it in “Flashforward”, and maybe this was their plan B.
10/10/2009 8:14:51 AM
bluetyson
bluetyson
Posts 982
Yeah. It was pretty good for then, the first miniseries.

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10/10/2009 8:15:49 AM
gdozois
Posts 3111
It's about mice-eating lizardmen who conquer the Earth.

ASIMOV'S author Tim Sullivan wrote several V novelizations, back in the day.
10/10/2009 8:21:41 AM
Bill Moonroe
Bill Moonroe
Posts 3308
I only caught some of the later episodes. They're going to have to really work for their grossouts in the post-Bizarre Food and Man vs Wild world.

You may want to go back to partying and chasing women.

--
10/10/2009 10:42:40 AM
Alex
Alex
Posts 942
Bill Moonroe wrote:

You may want to go back to partying and chasing women.


Huh? You make it sound like anyone ever stopped partying and chasing women

--
Because, anything worth doing is worth overdoing
10/10/2009 11:35:15 AM
Bill Moonroe
Bill Moonroe
Posts 3308
AVorlon said he (?) was older but more settled in his ways. Which means that a night of TV watching might be a welcome respite, but I took it to mean he's not a spry young'un anymore. You, know, the old joke about it used to be wine, women and song, and now it's beer, the old lady and TV.

--
10/14/2009 9:02:04 AM
hal maclean
Posts 102
Ever since the new BSG showed what you can do with cheese I've been hoping for a few other reimagined shows. V was near the top of the list so I'm looking forward to the new version.
10/14/2009 9:05:04 AM
gdozois
Posts 3111
With the success of DISTRICT NINE, look for someone to trot out a remake of the series ALIEN NATION.
10/14/2009 9:35:05 AM
Dario
Posts 97
Yes, I saw the original -- some of it -- back in England. I'd successfully forgotten it until now.
10/14/2009 6:46:40 PM
Thomas R
Posts 2725
I think I learned how to play cards because of V. Dad wanted to watch it, but Mom was worried it would be too scary for us. So we played cards.

--
To God be humble, to thy friend be kind, and with thy neighbors gladly lend and borrow His chance is tonight it might be thine tomorrow - William Dunbar

I don't lend money to eight-year-olds, at least not anymore. And if you see Billy tell him I'm looking for him - Coach McGuirk
10/14/2009 8:27:42 PM
karlb
karlb
Posts 381
You came out ahead on that deal, Thomas. V should have been called C - for crap.
10/14/2009 9:32:38 PM
Lee S
Posts 316
I was in college when the original V miniseries (and wasn't there an actual series later ?) played in network primetime. I remember all manner of folks of my age-group being hooked on the hokem. I just never could understand the fascination. It seemed rather little more than a collection of every by-then hackneyed movie and TV space opera cliche. That was the opening episode, which I suffered through, as I recall. I found it so dreadful I didn't bother with the rest of the miniseries.

More or less off-topic:
I'm hoping The Prisoner revival won't turn out to be a dreadful mess, but somehow I can't see how they'll ever be able to recapture the wonky charm of the original show. And it was the wonkiness that kept me coming back. Plus, o'course, Mr. McGoohan.
10/14/2009 10:02:59 PM
pc
pc
Posts 1455
I watched much of the original V miniseries, and then an episode or two of the short-lived 'regular' series that followed a while later.

The whole thing seemed rather muddled, like no one person had a clear guiding vision. 'Who was who' exactly, and what had happened and was happening and would happen.
I do recall they got a prominent newsman, Dan Rather or somebody, to voice-over a newscast some characters were watching, which also served as a recap of the whole situation. Humans battling and collaberating, in various regions -- in what seemed a muddle equal that of the 'story arc' itself.

There was, for a while, a spec-fic fan's shop in a few miles from here. (Much like Comic Book Guy's shop on The Simpsons, but way smaller.) One of his proudest possessions was a display of V memorabilia, including a large poster with the image of the chief lizard-lady.

--
The ends do not justify the means. Rather, the means build the ends.
10/14/2009 10:22:20 PM
karlb
karlb
Posts 381
For me, pc, there was exactly one memorable moment in the whole series (at least the parts I watched, which weren't many): when the chief lizard lady you refer to swallows a hamster. Pleasant, no; memorable, yes.
10/15/2009 6:57:48 AM
Viaduct
Viaduct
Posts 91
The V series wasn't that bad. There was a lot in it about how easy it can be for a country to slip into being a police-state
out of fear. The series jumped the shark when they introduced the human alien hybrid (I think she was called the star-child).
It went downhill rapidly after that. But it was quite popular for a while and got a lot of "normal" folks into discussing science fiction
type topics around the water cooler.
10/15/2009 1:44:46 PM
bluetyson
bluetyson
Posts 982
gdozois wrote:
It's about mice-eating lizardmen who conquer the Earth.

ASIMOV'S author Tim Sullivan wrote several V novelizations, back in the day.


And more importantly, human eating lizardpeople!

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10/16/2009 10:47:54 AM
Bill Moonroe
Bill Moonroe
Posts 3308
As I remember it, that show had a built in shark made for jumping. The denouement, as it were, involved the cunning removal of realistic human skin to reveal the lizard beneath. Seems like on one hand, that'd be an essential part of the show, but would lose any sort of surprise or shock value, and it got pretty lame pretty quickly.

Wasn't it the wimpy vegetarian lizard guy who later became the Greatest American Hero?

--
10/16/2009 10:55:01 AM
Byron Bailey
Byron Bailey
Posts 2413
Wasn't it the wimpy vegetarian lizard guy who later became the Greatest American Hero?

Wasn't that Robert Englund who's probably best known for his portrayal of Freddy Krueger in The Nightmare on Elm Street movies?

--
Yes, I do weigh 800 pounds, but I'm not a gorilla. I'm just a grossly obese bonobo. Really.
10/16/2009 2:30:08 PM
karlb
karlb
Posts 381
Wasn't that Robert Englund who's probably best known for his portrayal of Freddy Krueger in The Nightmare on Elm Street movies?

Yup, that's the guy.
10/19/2009 10:51:19 PM
Lukas Jackson
Lukas Jackson
Posts 525
I was a kid when V came out, and was quite freaked out by it.

This time round, my big question is why they had Inara chop off all her hair. She'd do a better job of conquering the male portion of humanity if she kept her locks and dressed up like Barbarella.

--
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