Revisiting: V the Original Miniseries

I remember watching V: the Original Miniseries and V: the Final Battle when I was a kid. This was years after the original aired so it was in the early 90s. My parents rented the VHS tapes and went through them in one weekend. Overall, it was very fuzzy in my mind and aside from the big V and the reptilian skin, I didn't remember much. When I started to watch the new TV series I wanted to revisit the original but didn't get the chance until recently.

Take me to your dragon lady

What struck me most about V is that despite a few scenes of dated special fx, it looked remarkably good. The pace and energy of the story pulls you so far in that the lame 80s parts of it almost disappear. The scene where Diana eats the guinea pig and the birth of the hand puppet alien baby are really the worst of it. Maybe the hair too. Oh man did I cringe at most of the hair.

The series covered some pretty heavy themes about human history and society. They weren't trying to be subtle in making a direct comparison between Nazi Germany and the Visitors (the aliens). Yet, the characters I found myself hating the most were the humans. Those stupid, stupid, humans. I almost couldn't blame the Visitors for thinking Earth would be an easy target. First, you have Daniel. Hands down one of the most irritating and power hungry jerks to ever grace television. Daniel is a wayward young man with nothing going for him and when the Visitors establish a youth ambassador program to spread their propaganda and might, Daniel signs up. His family is Jewish and his grandfather was a survivor of the holocaust so Daniel is a total disgrace. He aligns himself with the aliens and betrays his own species all for the power. I guess the bigger message is that even with all the atrocities of something like the holocaust, we as humans, never seem to learn from history. We repeat the same mistakes. And if someone like Daniel, whose family was so deeply affected by the holocaust, can fall into line with fascism and injustice, then perhaps our selfish drive is stronger than our memories and sympathy. I really wanted Daniel dead so when he gets his in the end, it's not completely satisfying. I wanted him to pay. I wanted to see him really suffer but we just see him get carted away to become lunch.

I'll have the Daniel burger with fries, please!

The miniseries sets up a great plot and alternate world that is very fascinating and entertaining. It gives you a lot to think about. There are also a lot of great shots of 80s LA, which was nice for me to see. The miniseries left me wanting more. I wanted to know how everything would get resolved. How were they going to get rid of the aliens? This is when a good thing can become an awful thing. I wish I had stopped at the miniseries and not go on to The Final Battle. I was just so damn curious and The Final Battle is just awful.

There was a weird pro-life message that we see unfold in The Final Battle and this is when I thought the series blew it. The other human I really despised, Robin, is kidnapped in one of the original episodes and taken to the mothership. She somehow thinks that despite her capture and the fact that her father and the people are down on Earth fighting for their lives, this is the perfect time to get laid by an alien dude she's been crushing on. And yes, you can indeed get pregnant the first time and you can get pregnant by another species. So by the Final Battle, Robin seeks an abortion when it is confirmed to her that the aliens really are reptiles. A pro-life/pro-choice debate is had by everyone in the resistance, nevermind what Robin wants. In the end, they tried to abort the fetus but they couldn't because it would kill Robin as well. She goes through the rest of her pregnancy and she gives birth to twins. There is a baby girl with a forked tongue and a little monster that looks like an extra from Ghoulies.

A face only a mother could love

Was I bothered by the pro-life message? Not so much. It's the fact that they applied it to obvious monsters, not a human life, that bothered me. Kill the damn things! Without missing a beat, the pregnancy is found to be important because the humans are able to find a strain of bacteria that can kill the Visitors and the baby with the forked tongue sparkles and saves Earth at the end. Yes, sparkles to stop a nuke from going off. So you know, everything is resolved through some lazy writing in the form of magic. Oooh, sparkly alien kid. I guess the star child crap plays a bigger role in the TV series that I will not bother watching.

Deus ex machina, for when you need to resolve an ending fast

I was pretty disappointed with the Final Battle but I loved the Original Miniseries. I recommend it to anyone that hasn't seen it.