Okay, if you’re reading this, chances are you watched the premiere of V. Here’s my B+ review to read, so you know where I stand. Read the full post.
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I enjoyed the last 20 minutes, the first 40 was BORING. LOVE that Alan Tudyk was an alien. Though I would prefer the V “defector” be revealed as a cliff hanger for the 4th episode.
I tuned in because of Elizabeth Mitchell. I thought it was solid, although there was a WTF! moment when they started applauding.
I thought the pilot was great. I know that I’ll be coming back next week for sure. Who can complain about another intelligent hour of television given all the crap out there right now?
“They created unnecessary wars.”
Wait, did this show just insinuate that George W. Bush was a lizard? Funny stuff.
This pilot made Flash Forward look good, but I’ll keep watching. I’ve seen worse pilots turn into good shows.
I thought more of Dick Cheney
Bush always seemed more ape-ish to me, but I could TOTALLY believe Cheney as an evil undercover lizard dude.
I can see all of them as evi lizards….Obama, bush, Cheney, Hillary
ROFLMAO!!! The exact same thought went through my head, but then again, there was a lot of web stuff about that anyway (probably inspired by the original series, IMHO). Elizabeth Mitchell rocked. She can immerse as well as any actor I’ve seen, no sign of Juliet AT ALL. Impressive. Also enjoyed the nods to The 4400. (One of the best first seasons ever, all downhill from there….) Just wondering when the often ubiquitous Billy Campbell will show up in one of those ambiguous supporting roles. (Although I sure wouldn’t mind seeing Summer Glau!) Thumbs up so far, we’ll see how it goes. As for the hiatus – remember the original was a miniseries before it was a series. (Remember minis? Or is that just for us old-timers? So maybe this is another way to offer homage to the original.)
Very true. The original was a two part, four hour miniseries that ended on a cliffhanger. It took them two years to come out with the disapointing “V: The Final Battle.”
Summer Glau would be awesome. Then it really would be a Firefly reunion. Always nice to see Morena Baccarin and Alan Tudyk back on tv. He is getting awfully good at playing bad guys. I agree with a lot of the people here I think they tried to cram too much in but given that they are only airing 4 shows now and then coming back in March they needed to get the ball rolling quickly. I hope this sticks around, good sci-fi shows on major networks are few and far between.
Wait, you got Bush outta that? I got a distinct Obama allegory. The V’s are bringing “hope” and apparently universal health care. They’re socialist reptiles! The whole thing felt like anti-Obama propaganda. But I’ll keep watching because I’m a whore for shiny spaceships.
“universal health care” I think, did allude to Obama – “unnecessary war” was alluding to Bush – so basically, all our leaders are reptiles
Good point. It did seem more sided against Obama… but maybe that’s just because the Dems are in power now, rather than the writers having a specific agenda.
Leela, I thought the same thing immediately, that line specifically pointed straight at his pointed head.
I suppose it was inevitable in this day when we no longer delay gratification, but I preferred the way the original ‘V’ built up to creating the resistance and reveling the visitors plans. I liked the arrest of the scientists being the tip off that something was up. This seemed somewhat rushed and with very weird political references.
Still, interested in what develops but right now the pacing feels a tad off.
It’s interesting you feel this way, because I had the exact opposite reaction — since we already know the general outline of the story from the original, there was no sense delaying the reveal of the visitors as reptiles. I liked the pacing and the subtle humor dropped here and there. Just wish Alan Tudyk could have survived another episode. Between this and Firefly, he keeps getting killed off. At least Alpha is out there somewhere …
i have to agree with you, laura. I felt rushed also. i felt disconnected early on, but sat thru it for my hubbys sake. not sure if we will stick with this one.
I agree. I didn’t actually see the original series, but I felt like we got way too much information in this first show. What, the rest of the series is just gonna be skirmishes between the Vs and the resistance? Where’s the intrigue in that?
I am on the fence. I never saw the original and admit I am intrigued; but I thought the public’s reaction was totally unrealistic. The applause,”healing”, and fun rides on the spaceship. The fact that an alien could come to the planet, open up healing centers, and do tv interviews without any pushback. Where was the government or military in all this? This is no Battlestar Gallactica.
I agree. When told they couldn’t venture on the space ship unless they were 18 or had a note from a parent… Really? Will aliens be so familiar with such niceties?
First a grade: C
Way too rushed. Aliens arrive, begin takeover, and resistance sprouts up within 15 minutes. WHY? Take some time, build some suspense.
And how cheesy was the special effect of the jet plane plowing into the street…come on. That gag wasn’t important enough to the plot to use such a cheap and cheesy effect.
Too much more to complain about….
I enjoyed the premiere, but I was irked a bit at the gender roles. It seems to me that the writers tried to break with the 80s by switching genders. Now, instead of John, we have Anna. (Diana was not the front-person in the 80s). The female reporter is now male. Marc Singer’s lead has become Elizabeth Mitchell’s. I thought the resistance chapter was innovative (it took a while to build it up in the 80s mini).
I don’t understand being ‘irked’ by switched gender roles — I think it’s refreshing to have women in the strong leadership roles in dramas.
She’s not a reporter. She’s an FBI agent. Sott Wolf is the reporter.
I was irked because I thought it was lazy casting/writing. But the story itself surprised me.
@Mad Men–I was referring to the 80s reporter/propagandist who was a woman (I can’t remember her name), and Scott Wolf has indeed replaced that role. Marc Singer was a cameraman.
Oh no. They’ve added women. Someone call the waaambulance.
No, it’s not that there are “added” women. It’s that the women in the 80s are now men, and vice versa.
The reactions were the most unrealistic aspect to the show to me. No way would we just stand there and applause – and really, how many people would just run into the streets?
(Also, why did it seem like no one knew what to do in an earthquake – doorways please! and I mean really, trying to hold up your bookcase? unless you have Jefferson’s collection of first editions I would step away)
We live in a very speculative and untrusting society, also thanks to 9/11, and in a way, to swine flu.
Plus, why didn’t we notice these huge space ships until they were roaming above the cities? Is our radar THAT bad?
Yeah, well there were too many people who trusted Bush. Also, look at the fawning over Obama in the inaguration. So, it is believable.
So true, so true.
BTW I’d applaud though.
Ha. That was everything that actually bothered me abou the episdoe. The ground shaking “ahh what is this?” and no one notices giant ships coming in all over the world? But other than that..was very happy they intoduced them within first 10 minutes and the story wasn’t dragged. I like this show a lot. We will see how the next couple episodes play out…but so far, so good.
I liked it. The political undertones were interresting. Yeah the applause was a bit much. I’m not sure how it will do, but I’ll definately watch these first 4 episodes before making any final decisions.
How many New Yorkers know what to do in an Earthquake?
When I visited San Francisco over 10yrs ago I remember a tiny tremble and was freaked out! Everyone around me was so laid back about it.
I’m hooked. My DVR is now set for the series.
Anyone else love the Alan Tudyk flash character change in this? I’m hoping he’s not totally dead, because of his awesomeness factor, but if he is, he can bring said awesomeness back to “Dollhouse”.
Here’s my two cents. Granted there were some subtle hints of political jabs at the Republican Party but they were not so subtle political jabs at the Democratic Party. 1) The Visitors wear the color blue, the current color of the Democratic Party, 2) In one of Anna’s TV speeches she mentions “Change” and finally 3) the TV reporter in the Interview points out the Visitors want to give Universal Health Care. Now everyone remember what the Visitors is an allegory of in the V Franchise… Nazism. And what do Republicans keep claiming the President Obama and Democrats are… Nazism. While Science Fiction has always served as allegory and commentary of current events and parable warnings, but this did not fit such a criteria in Sci Fi writing. It reeked of Republican Propaganda that the MSM like CNN and Fox employs and I found that the potential direction of where the writers are taking V: the Remake without thought of being balanced in political commentary undermines the essence and purpose of Science Fiction as a whole. The Writers of V need to balance out the Politcal Commentary and allegory and not look Partisan.
Agree 100%!
This is exactly what I got from it. And Anna also mentions “hope” at one point.
wow, you put way too much thought into this. Unless someone follows US politics (I do not live in the US) nobody is even going to pick up on all this so called propaganda. Dude, sometimes an alien is JUST an alien.
Oh good grief! You don’t have to “follow U.S. politics” to understood basic allegory. Not to mention the show is set in the U.S. It was all VERY transparent.
See, I didn’t read that much into it… I just saw the show for being a sci-fi show. I taped it and watched it after the wife and kiddies were in bed. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
In the original series it also had the aliens with Nazi type philosphy and Obama or Fax News, etc. weren’t around. Please stop looking for political propaganda that isn’t there. But if the comparison fits…
It’s very clearly allegory. Anyone with a higher than 10th grade English Lit education can see that. It remains to be seen if it’s propaganda.
@Kristen, first off you said you are not from the US, therefore you do not understand what we Americans are going through with our political leaders, just like we Americans do not know what your people in your country are dealing with among the political leaders in your country so don’t chime in about our Politics as if you walked amongst us in our daily lives. @tigerlil, you aren’t paying attention to news on TV, Repubicans, Fox News, and Tea Partiers have brandished Obama as a Nazi, and given that the Visitors in the V Franchise represent Nazism, this episode gave the appearance of the Writers being partisan with their allegory rather than Bipartisan. I know that they are using the Vs as Allegory of our own Government in this incarnation but they did a bad job presenting it to us this episode by only featuring 1 little quip on Bush’s Presidency while giving us viewers in your face commentary of Universal Health Care, “Hope”, “Change” and the color blue for the Democrat Party. Now after seeing the preview for next weeks episode, I saw Anna holding up a Red Passport. Now that could mean anything, that fact is true, but if the writers intent is to be critical of our current government, then I can see the Red Passport as probably all travel in the next episode to represent the what many airline riders have to face at security checkpoints, with taking off the shoes and having their personal belongings searched, that gets a little too invasive, all a product of the BUsh ADministration. I for one will see the next episode to see if the writers direction does criticize the right wing. Then we the viewers will be treated to a well writen and well thought out social commentary that we should be attentive about given the nature of our nations situation in politics, economics, etc.
Also to make this very clear to some of you who say ‘I’m reading to much into this’. Kenneth Johnson is the creator of V and he had written this series as an allegory for politics, Nazism and Freedom Fighters. He has always asserted that fact. The writers of this series chose to use Allegory relevent to today’s social topics but the V Franchise always had an allegorical commentary to it. So there is no “your reading too much into this” with regards to this show, because Kenneth Johnson wanted V to have allegory and social commentary. That’s how Science Fiction Stories operate. V can still serve its purpose to entertain for the sake of entertainment, but one cannot deny the underlying message of the series as a whole that the writers and Kenneth Johnson are trying to convey.
I wouldn’t get too worked up over people saying you’re “reading too much into this.” Metaphor, allegory, satire are all typically understood by the smarter people in the room.
You’re right crispy. It’s just irks me that when a story’s purpose is to create adult conversations between people and some come out saying “your reading too much” is like telling me my thoughts a irrelevent. I enjoy the occational badly written action story, I saw Transformers Revenge of teh Fallen, for a guilty pleasure of entertainment, but I understand what V is about and expect the writers of V to give me a good social commentary that I can debate and converse to people about at academic level.
I-Man
I totally agree with you on all this. Most of the shows on the tele now are mindless, pointless shows with sex, drugs etc. This show does have potential and meaning. The public has totally become corrupted by bad TV. If you have not watched some good quality TV, you wouldnt know a good show. People don’t want to think. Thats why teenagers in America and around the world are reading less because it requires less brain.
Althu my sis did say that they may make this a little raunchy than the original to capture the audience. So far Im in for the four episodes.
I think there was definitely a nod to the situation that’s going on now with the president and society and the notion of approval and hope vs xenophobia and skepticism, trust earned vs blind devotion, etc. I think the universal health care mention was just more of a controversial buzz phrase that they knew would generate discussions. I guess the idea of EVERYONE being able to have access to acceptable health care could only be hatched by evil reptilians bent on human destruction. However, living in l.a. and working in entertainment I think it’s less partisan and more writers trying to attach the series to something current and relevant to give viewers a connection to their lives right now and a set of current events for easy reference at the water cooler for the discussion of the episodes. The majority of the writers on the show are most likely liberal dems.
We’ll see. The V’s “universal health care” is going to be a major plotline throughout the next 3 episodes… so I can’t agree that it was just casually thrown in there to generate discussion.
I agree with you crispy, it’ll be a crux of the show to start. I meant along the lines of the use of the phrase itself and it being an anti-obama jab.
Sci Fi writers can be very savvy. I do believe that there is more than what was presented in 1 Episode. So I’ll be tuning next week. Wow I can’t believe I channeled my inner geekness for this TV series.
I liked it a lot but I thought I would just LOVE it and I didn’t. I was wanting to give it a A+ because of what I thought it would be about but the realism wasn’t there and I don’t buy that people would just applaud at what a alien woman says and I don’t think the show could last if the series is anything like the show because it was a little too nice and I wanted something more. I guess I just love a former show about aliens, INVASION but this can’t replace it.
Invasion was aimed at moronic 13 year olds. Looks like V is too tough for you to follow.
I still miss Invasion too! I’ll always be upset about not getting to see the aftermath of that cliffhanger at the end.
agree
I was definitely pleased with the V pilot. Great cast, solid action, and all-around creepy atmosphere that has been created.
However, I did have a few complaints. As many others have pointed out, the applause was lame. The instant acceptance of the Visitors was unrealistic. Just as the priest said in his sermon, the Visitors may, in fact, be good, but shouldn’t they *earn* people’s trust first?
Also, even though I liked this episode, I kind of wish everything wasn’t revealed so quickly. I like when TV shows aren’t too hasty to throw everything at the viewer in the first episode to get people interested. But I guess I’m just going to have to accept that most TV shows will begin in this way. Audiences today are quick to judge and pass on a show if gratification is not instant. I guess I just like shows that have a nice, slow build, brimming with tension, until an explosive finale. Oh well, it was still good, and I’ll be tuning in.
And glad there’s finally something to watch on Tuesdays (curse you Fox for moving Fringe!).
I pretty much said exactly what you said below, but I read your post after I had written mine. I’m glad I’m not alone in thinking shows are rushed!!
Right? Thanks for agreeing Amanda, it seems there are some other who share our sentiments as well. I feel like it would have been so much more thrilling if Erica didn’t find out so soon that the Visitors are actually reptiles. And the reveal that Morris Chestnut’s character is actually one of them was way too soon as well. I feel like that could have been revealed in the season finale.
Well dave, hopefully since they revealed something pretty interesting in the first episode, that would lead to a whopper of a season finale… but one can only hope.
I think the first episode had so much information crammed into it is because the writers figured the viewers have either seen the original, or have an idea of what the basic storyline is: invasion by alien race that are reptiles. So thus, that particular plot won’t have the same WTF reactions as the first time around, so they didn’t see the need to drag that part out. While I agree some of reveals (Morris Chestnut’s character for example) could have waited a bit, I’m still glad they revealed it early, since I was wondering why I should care about his character. Now that they’ve gotten the basic premise out of the way, they can concentrate on other things.
As many said before we are impatient now. ADD society. The show wants to capture those from the bygone days (people like me althu I was only 6 when I forst saw V) and the younger generation who like to watch mindless shows on MTV like MY Super Sweet 16. So they had to reveal too much too fast. I have a 17 yr old brother who has not watched the original, and he was totally bored by it, but I was riveted cuz of my childhood. So thats what the writers n directors of teh show have to compete against.
I agree to a point, but I think it’s also hasty on our part to assume the show has already thrown everything at us. How do we know what is going to happen, there could be massive WTF moments coming up that don’t even compare to the pilot episode.
I agree with you too Kristin. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly am not assuming that they have thrown everything at us. I’m sure they have some great reveals in store for later in the season. But I still think they threw a lot at us, more than they needed to. There just wasn’t quite as much of a build-up of suspense as I thought there would be. Because I barely knew anything Morris Chestnut’s character, the reveal that he is a V was not really shocking or dramatic. If they put some time into the character first, then revealed his true self later, it would have been much more shocking and gratifying (to me at least).
I remember I loved Lost for 2 whole seasons then I gave up on it because I was like GOD get it figured out already… Then Fringe now into its 2nd season I am getting so anxious waiting to find out WTF works out… but yeah V could of used something else to fill the first 5 mins. Too much reveal. The whole show felt rushed… I felt like I was watching a 40min Movie trailer at times. Personally I didn’t care for the influx of Current Popular Politics that was stirred around in the show.
I thought it was a great way to start off the series. Everyone knows about the lizard factor from the original so they didn’t waste time in revealing that. I’m a little surprised they revealed the sleeper V’s so soon, but it made me want to know more. I love elizabeth mitchell in this role already and I am hoping Alan Tudyk gets to stick around for a long time in this series b/c he is fabulous! I am excited to see more, I love a good sci-fi show
I tuned in only for Elizabeth Mitchell. It was passable. I doubt it will last more than 12 episodes.
I only give the first episode a C. I’m interested enough to watch for awhile but I am so fed up with storytelling for an entire generation afflicted by ADD. No build-up, they managed to condense the entire original V miniseries storyline into 45 minutes. Take the time to tell a story rather than the cliffnotes version.