Deja V All Over Again

Last night, ABC began its attempt to rope us in to watching its "new" series V, about aliens that come to earth, ostensibly on a mission of peace and benevolence. Oh, but not so fast there bub, it seems these "Visitors" are not what they appear to be. They're actually a sinister lizard-like race set on conquering our world and enslaving earth's population.

And if this all sounds familiar, it's because this new V is based on the original V miniseries (and the sequel series V:The Final Battle) that appeared on NBC in 1983 and 1984, respectively. Those original series were big hits back then and V was one of the most highly watched miniseries of all-time. But while it was certainly very enjoyable sci-fi close to thirty years ago, I personally have no interest in investing my valuable TV watching time in something I've already seen (even if it has been 25 years.) And though you may hear terms like "re-imagining" used to describe the new V, ABC isn't really going out of its way to convince us that the show will be fresh enough to keep us interested. Quite the opposite in fact. Judging from the clips and promos as well as last night's premiere episode, the new V looks like a pretty faithful and straightforward remake. Last night, for instance, we got the same setup -- alien ships hovering over earth's major cities and the introduction of the Visitors and their sexy female leader. And not only does it look like we're getting the same premise and plotlines, V's cast and crew are on record saying they will "take the most iconic moments [from the original V] and make sure they do service to them."

Clearly, this means we can expect re-do's of the dramatic reveal of the Visitors true reptilian identities, as well as the infamous "guineau pig-eating" and "lizard baby" scenes.



To be fair, the early reviews of the V pilot have been largely outstanding. "The first five minutes will hook you for the entire season," one TV critic claimed. (In reality, this is far from the case.) But how good or intriguing V the series is isn't as important as the decision to remake it in the first place. To my point, isn't there something disappointing about a major network recycling quarter century old material (even enlisting the same writer of that material, Kenneth Johnson) and then heavily promoting and presenting it as a television event we can't miss? This over-dependence on pre-existing material (sequels, movies based on toys and books, etc.) has led to a decline in the quality of Hollywood productions, and now, in many instances, cable channels like USA, AMC, HBO and Showtime have overtaken the big four TV networks in offering original, high quality programming.

Just for the record, V really is can't miss television... which is why I didn't miss it back in 1983 when it was fresh and something we could all be a lot more excited about.

Related Links:
2008 SyFy Radio interview with Jane Badler, star of the original V. In it, she talks about her time on the miniseries and gives her thoughts on a V's revival.