V (original series) - Finally understood

[Major Eazy]

I am sure many of you would say something like "so what?" or "big deal" and wonder what the fuzz is all about as the series was back in the mid 1980's, and could have had re-runs since then.

But I want to make it clear: At that time it was first aired here in the UK, even thought teletext technology was new, and subtitles was gaining, it was still limited due to budget. When the original mini-series V was first aired, it had no subtitles, and I could only figure out the plot based on action.

I've only just downloaded the original mini-series and The Final Battle series from iTunes, and got to watch them with subtitles for the hearing impaired, I finally got to understand the plot much more clearer than before.

I was not aware that the Visitors were at a war with someone else, not with Earth. When the Visitor Martin was explaining to Mike about the human bodies being stored on the mothership, he mention that some of them would be turned into soldiers and the rest would be used as food.

That is just one little part that I'm not fully clear about, are the Visitors at war with each other or are they at war with another aliens? (Or will it be explained away in the original complete series which I'm downloading at the moment?)

 

[Jo Zebedee]

They are a war-like species. I've just checked the book of the original series, which I am sad enough to own (and which would only be admitted to on the Chrons) and Martin makes it clear to Donovan that some of the humans will be used as cannon-fodder in their leader's war. What I can't -quite -remember is whether it was a war with their own kind (some disagree with his politcal aims) or another species. And unless someone comes up with the answer here I'm going to end up re-reading it to find out.

No pressure, guys.... /

 

[Major Eazy]

Yes, as a teenager, when I first watched it, I could only understand the plot based on action, I assume the Visitors were taking the humans for food.

Now that I recently downloaded the mini-series, I was able to understand more from what they were saying, and was surprised to find that Martin did mention using some of the humans as cannon-fodder while the rest would be used as food.

And that is what I'm wondering. Are the Visitors planning on using some of the humans in a war against other Visitors in some kind of a political war, some kind of a civil war (which would explain why we have Martin and Willie), or are they planning on using the humans in a war against other races of aliens, as I just understand that Julie talked about sending out radio messages into space, in the hope of finding other races.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Okay, flicking on Martin tells Donovan that before their leader the Visitors were a peaceful race but that there is now an alliance standing against his plans for Earth at home as well as the Fifth column. There is no mention of another alien species or war, so I think the troops are for the leader's fight with the opposition on the Visitors' home planet.

 

[Major Eazy]

Makes senses, considering that if any one race of aliens visited Earth, we would accept that we are not alone, and believe that if there is one race, then there must be more out there. So maybe Julie's radio message into space to see if there are other aliens willing to help Earth in fight against the Visitors was an assumption based on the idea that if there is Visitors, then there must be other races out there.

And that the only other war the Visitors are having is some kind of a civil war against each other. Yeah, you're right.

 

[paranoid marvin]

As far as I can remember, the humans are to be used to fight and for food. The fifth columnists are the only ones in opposition to the leader, and (as far as I can remember) there is no mention of any other opposing factions.

The mini-series was great , but the later tv episodes got a bit silly and were nowhere near the quality of the original.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Reading the book (which was closely based on the original series) the Alliance opposing the Leader are already established, but on the Visitors home planet, and never seen in the series.

 

[BAYLOR]

The original miniseries was great the second miniseries was decent , the tv series was very mediocre.

 

[Rodders]

The books were quite entertaining thought.

 

[Dave]

My problem was that, in the UK, at least one of the miniseries/series was shown back-to-back every night within a single week. In an age before everyone owned a video recorder, and without catch-up TV players, it was impossible to watch it all, and I still don't think I have seen every episode. Weren't they also going to remove Earth's oceans (or was that a different series with evil Earth-conquering aliens?)

 

[chopper]

yes, that was also part of the plot. the aliens took over infrastructure that gave them control of pumping stations etc (there were a couple of action sequences revolving around that).

dated now, but still brilliant.

 

[BAYLOR]

yes, that was also part of the plot. the aliens took over infrastructure that gave them control of pumping stations etc (there were a couple of action sequences revolving around that).

dated now, but still brilliant.

If they had just done tv movies instead of a series , it would have had a longer life on tv then it did.

 

[Major Eazy]

My problem was that, in the UK, at least one of the miniseries/series was shown back-to-back every night within a single week. In an age before everyone owned a video recorder, and without catch-up TV players, it was impossible to watch it all, and I still don't think I have seen every episode. Weren't they also going to remove Earth's oceans (or was that a different series with evil Earth-conquering aliens?)

That was one of their plans but the resistance tend to delay their plans, put a dent in their plans, caused them to cancel their plans, stopped their plans, and so on. Consider that the idea for the series was supposed to be about the French resistance against the Nazis during the Second World War but the studio decided to ask for a sci-fi theme becuase of the success of Star Wars so the idea becomes the series as we know it. In WWII, the French did sometimes slow down or stopped some of the Nazi's plans, ie: their plans to bring reinforcements to stop D-Day most of which were held up, therefore in the series, the Visitors' plans to strip Earth's oceans tend to get held up thanks to Mike, Juile, Ham, and co. The Visitors never got their chance.

 

[Rodders]

How does the new series compare with Morena Baccarin? I still haven't seen it, but i hear it dragged a little.