V (TV series)

Infobox Television Film
name = V: The Series
caption =
format = Science Fiction
runtime = 893 min (19 episodes x 47 min) ("V: The Series")
rating =
creator = Kenneth Johnson
starring = Marc Singer
Faye Grant
Jane Badler
Lane Smith
Blair Tefkin
Jennifer Cooke
Frank Ashmore
Michael Ironside
Michael Wright
Robert Englund
Jeff Yagher
June Chadwick
Howard K. Smith Aki Aleong
Michael Durrell
Jason Bernard
country = USA
network = NBC
first_aired = October 26 1984
last_aired = March 22 1985
num_episodes = 19 ("V: The Series")
imdb_id = 0086822
tv_com_id = 398
amg_id = 132908

"V: The Series" was a one-hour weekly television series based on American producer and director Kenneth Johnson's science fiction franchise concerning aliens known as "The Visitors" trying to take over Earth. It aired in the United States on NBC during the 1984–85 TV season.

Plot summary

Shortly after her ship's capture by the Resistance, Diana escapes in a shuttle but is pursued by Donovan. The two engage in combat in the atmosphere, and Donovan successfully shoots her down and, after a short fight, captures her.

One year after the day when the Red Dust was deployed, now the international holiday called "Liberation Day", the former members of the Resistance and their Fifth Column allies have gone their separate ways and are each looking forward to prosperous careers and bright futures. When Diana is finally put on trial for the atrocities she committed during the First Invasion, Science Frontiers, the company responsible for mass production of the Red Dust, at the behest of its CEO Nathan Bates, arranged for Ham Tyler and his security firm to publicly "assassinate" Diana on her way to the trial by shooting her and take her to a secret cabin in the woods outside L.A. After this is done, Nathan offers Diana better accommodations in exchange for helping to solving problems such as disease and environmental failure on Earth by providing Visitor technological information.

Donovan and Martin, having witnessed her supposed assassination, sense something isn't right and pursue Tyler's agents in a stolen helicopter. After reaching the cabin, Donovan is knocked unconscious by Martin, who wants Diana dead. Before Martin can kill her, Diana is able to overpower him and steal his pistol. She forces him to surrender his last antidote pill so she can temporarily survive on Earth and then shoots him, effecting her escape to the Southwest Tracking Station.

Martin tells Donovan about Diana's plan to make the Visitor Fleet return moments before his death, and Donovan sets off on foot. Donovan meets Tyler and agree to pursue Diana together. Attempts to stop her fail, and Diana escapes to a Visitor Shuttle arrived from a new fleet hidden behind the Moon, and Diana proceeds to launch the Second Invasion of the Earth.

The Resistance assembles once more, now fighting the Visitors nationwide and also contending with the power-hungry Nathan who has used the power vacuum of the collapse of the government and authorities to become Governor of Los Angeles. The Resistance fights however it can, often joined by other rebel groups, but cannot use their Red Dust super weapon, due to toxic long-term effects it will have on the Earth. However, 50 percent of the planet remains safe from Visitor occupation due to the Red Dust bacterium. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, who has transformed yet again and is now looking 18-years-old, becomes increasingly important in the cause for Earth's freedom and eventually leads her to control the destiny of either race and decide the outcome of the conflict.

List Of Episodes

Notes

* The cancellation of the TV series in the spring of 1985 appeared to have caught its producers by surprise,Fact|date=December 2007 as the season ends with a cliffhanger. The TV series' single season was released on DVD in 2004.
* In a variation on "Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome," the character of Mike Donovan's son Sean inexplicably aged 4-5 years between the miniseries and the weekly series, despite the fact that the weekly series takes place only one year after the miniseries ended. It is presumed that this was not a planned plot change, but rather just an age difference between the original miniseries actor, Eric Johnston, and Nicky Katt, the series actor.
* Due to budget constraints, the weekly series reused a lot of action footage from the miniseries. This was especially evident in the Visitor fighter craft chase scene in the pilot episode, where nearly all external shots were lifted from the climax scene of the original miniseries.
* In the original miniseries and "The Final Battle", the Visitors' voices were given, among other post-processing, a pitch shift effect - to give them an otherworldly demeanor even though they looked (outwardly, at least) like normal human beings. This was dropped from the weekly series, evidently due to budgetary constraints. No explanation was ever given for the change; it was simply treated as if the Visitors never had unusual-sounding voices at all. However this did create a plot conflict, as in the miniseries, part of the plot involved simulating alien voices.

External links

*imdb title|id=0086822|title=V: The Series (1984-85)
* [http://www.noreascon.org/users/sflovers/u1/ftp/pub/sf-lovers/fandom/fiction/v-rebirth.txt First three acts] of J. Michael Straczynski's script for "V: The Next Chapter" episode "Rebirth"
*dmoz|Arts/Television/Programs/Science_Fiction_and_Fantasy/V/V/
* [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/v/ "V"] at RottenTomatoes