Hopefully, this time the story of the Visitors from Canis Major won't be such a dog
In 1983, NBC produced a miniseries about reptilian aliens from a planet orbiting the Dog Star arriving on Earth, dressing up as humans, and posing as benefactors in order to conceal their intent to eat us and steal our resources. They told us that they had a desperate need for our garbage, or some such thing, and in exchange for our giving it to them they supplied us with cures for various diseases and various technological breakthroughs. But then, they "exposed" a "plot" by Earth's scientists and political leaders to conceal the fact that we'd had cures for cancer and other horrible diseases all along. Public opinion turned against the very people who could have saved us, and the "Visitors" began their takeover of Cattle Pen Earth.
All in all, a Sirius situation.
A small group of humans, however, learned the truth, and organized a resistance movement, borrowing Winston Churchill's "V" for victory as its symbol- and providing the miniseries with its title in the process.
The miniseries eventually spawned another miniseries, a full blown series (that lasted all of one season), and finally a novelization by sci-fi author A.C. Crispin. All in all, the V story struck me as a first-rate plot undermined by mostly bland, one-dimensional characters; the villainess- the evil Diana- and a friendly alien defector played by Robert Englund of Freddie Kruger fame were really the only interesting characters in the show. True, there were a couple of elderly Holocaust survivors among the Resistance, but the movement was deprived of credibility by the predominance in its leadership of young, blond Southern Californians with perfect teeth and no personality. Despite the interesting plot, I found it hard to care very much about most of the people with whom I was supposed to identify. They always seemed as if they would have been more at home riding a surf board than hurling a Molotov cocktail.
Diana swallowing that live guinea pig was a great gross-out scene, though- especially the way the lump moved ever so slowly down her throat.
ABC has remade the miniseries, and will broadcast it beginning next month. Those who have seen the pilot give it good reviews. Here's hoping the story gets a better telling this time.
All in all, a Sirius situation.
A small group of humans, however, learned the truth, and organized a resistance movement, borrowing Winston Churchill's "V" for victory as its symbol- and providing the miniseries with its title in the process.
The miniseries eventually spawned another miniseries, a full blown series (that lasted all of one season), and finally a novelization by sci-fi author A.C. Crispin. All in all, the V story struck me as a first-rate plot undermined by mostly bland, one-dimensional characters; the villainess- the evil Diana- and a friendly alien defector played by Robert Englund of Freddie Kruger fame were really the only interesting characters in the show. True, there were a couple of elderly Holocaust survivors among the Resistance, but the movement was deprived of credibility by the predominance in its leadership of young, blond Southern Californians with perfect teeth and no personality. Despite the interesting plot, I found it hard to care very much about most of the people with whom I was supposed to identify. They always seemed as if they would have been more at home riding a surf board than hurling a Molotov cocktail.
Diana swallowing that live guinea pig was a great gross-out scene, though- especially the way the lump moved ever so slowly down her throat.
ABC has remade the miniseries, and will broadcast it beginning next month. Those who have seen the pilot give it good reviews. Here's hoping the story gets a better telling this time.
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