User Reviews

I was a preteen when the original "V" tv show aired. It was awesome (in that early 80s kinda' way). The 2009 reboot here was equally awesome. Slick, stylish, well written, well acted, and with consistent action, the show sucked in sci-fi viewers. Granted perhaps the cast was a little too good-looking, but hey, that's Hollywood. I was shocked at the abrupt ending however - which was clearly not intended to be an ending. It turned out - unknown to me watching on TUBI - that the show was canceled at the end of 2nd season due to severe budget overruns. Too bad. Now I'll never know if Earth beat the lizards.

Original V-miniseries from 1983 was a social commentary of first contact with an alien species that initially appears benevolent, but quickly establishes a propaganda-ridden fascists regime on Earth where non-conformists get persecuted.

ABC took a bold move by trying to reboot V into the 2010s. The underlying patterns from the original instalments are still there, but new issues (like mass surveillance, extremist movements, etc.) are also present. The series was cancelled after only two seasons and - like "two outta three" V that came before it - managed to end the series with an unsolved cliffhanger.

The plot and execution is way better than in the weekly series, but I still don't rate this as high as the original two-part miniseries. Also, it must be noted that for many inside shots, the creators of this series chose to use a lot of CGI sets and ... unfortunately at the time, the technology to do that convincingly on a TV-budget ... wasn't there just yet.

All in all, a bold move from the studio - and a wasted opportunity due to cancelling it too soon. Money talks :(

The creators of this contemporary cut of V seem to have missed the critical elements of the 1983 original, that being character development, a large cast portraying many interesting interleaved plot threads (think any 1970s disaster flic – Airport, Towering Inferno, Poseidon Adventure et al), likable characters (who could ever forget Jane Badler as Diana? or the highly charismatic Willie played by Robert Englund ?)

Morena Baccarin as Anna seems to be be doing a soap commercial in every scene we see of her. I swear she has the same expression in every scene. Also, why does she walk like a Kaminoan?

The script is the worst part, talk about inconstant writing style that even manages to surpass Star Trek Next Generation in this department.

Though it may look prettier, special effect fans will be disappointed because even though the 1983 original may look a bit dated, it still possesses vastly more special effect shots of shuttle crafts and motherships.

So if a sci-fi show has neither a good story or decent special effects, what good is it?

***** PLOT SPOILER WARNING ***** ***** PLOT SPOILER WARNING ***** ***** PLOT SPOILER WARNING *****

* Father Jack Landry is so terrified in the first two episodes as a priest when he witnesses something dreadful, but then I believe in episode 4 when he just happens to know how to remove a bullet from a wound that we learn that he served twice during the Iraq war. What? So he never saw anything violent during his two tours of duty? come on!

* Tyler Evans the teenager who defies and lies to his mother about staying away from the V's, gets the guilt's and tries ONCE to talk to his mum but because she's busy he in a huff, goes to see a therapist saying "…I can't talk to my mother anymore…". What a hypocrite, and since when would a rebel archetype such as Tyler go all touchy feely and decide to lookup a shrink? I think not.

* The V's have superior technology and fly into and invade the US airspace unhindered but laughing still require a Travel Visa to move around the USA! What arrogance.

* V's superior medical technology can supposedly make people see again, cure cancel, cure scars, can reverse engineer your entire medical history and yet fail to determine that a human is pregnant with a V and is allowed to return to home after the scan. I think not.

I watched both seasons, and while i liked the idea of a remake, the show is a bit of a letdown.

The shows suffers from a great number of flaws.

First, the acting. While Morena Baccarin is very well cast, and very creepy at times, the rest of the cast is mediocre at best. Logan Huffman is awful as Tyler. Unlikable, stupid and equipped with one expression only. The same goes for Morris Chestnut, playing Ryan, the V who developed feelings. His only 2 expressions are: "Bored" and "?".

Another big letdown is the story. Why would an alien race need humans to procreate? I know, it's "explained" later, but it still doesn't make any sense. Why would a reptilian species be able to fall in love with a mammalian species? How is it possible, that a reptile can father a child with a human? Why are they building a resistance 30minutes into the story, while the aliens are bearing gifts to humanity? The get their hands on a V and could record what they look like under the human disguise, but the doesn't do that, for 2 whole seasons! They are fighting a loosing battle without any outside support for no reason! Upload that to "youtube" for gods sake, or inform the 50 largest news-stations! They carry around tons of evidence and leads, and they don't show it to anyone! And: Why are the visitors greeted by the press, not by military leaders, diplomats or other officials? This is insulting at its best, and bullshit at its worst.

The protagonists motivations and story lines are stupid too. First Ryan has a family and feelings. These feelings seem to dry out as soon as his wife has gone into hiding. Then his daughter is born, as a rep/human hybrid. So the writers "invented" stupid things to give Anna(the leader of the Vs) leverage over Ryan, so that he betrays his comrades in the resistance. Later he tries to redeem himself, and then he just dies by the hand of his hybrid 8 year old daughter.

V (2009) is a prime example what happens when a series is made with a 5-episode story-arc. As more and more episodes are ordered, more and more plot holes, stupid story-arcs and unbelievable character developments are introduced into the series to fill episodes, they have no planned content for. The first season is interesting, but you really notice at the beginning of the second season, that they are just filling the space around the predictable story with unnecessary dialog and "developments" who don't add anything important or interesting to the story.

Another big problem is the pacing. There are a lot of very slow episodes where nothing is accomplished or developed. A lot of episodes are 5min development, 95% stuffing.

At the middle of the second season i had enough. The pacing was so slow and critical people and developments became meaningless so quickly because they had to invent more unbelievable twists to fill more episodes. A good example is the story about the importance of Tyler to the future of the V-species. They build up this importance over the whole first season, and in season 2 it becomes meaningless within 2 minutes.

The second season finale shows what a mess this series is. A lot of people die, a lot happens, enough no fill 4 episodes with decent developments, but they pressed all of it into one episode to increase the interest for a third season.

The only things keeping this series from being a total crash are the decent effects, some interesting episodes and Morenas acting portraying a creepy and arrogant alien queen. The rest is slow, full of plot holes, unbelievable twists, insulting explanations and stupid character-reactions.

Warning - Spoiler alert.

Is it just me or does the whole 'V' thing feel like a Scientology takeover? The idea of beautiful spokespeople for the aliens demand complete devotion and who will simply not tolerate negative commentary of any kind smacks of scientology.

The distinction is clearly drawn between the minister who's God does not demand devotion but seeks faith that salvation will one day come, and between the V's who promise immediately healing and grace via knowledge and technology, the price of which is that complete devotion is demanded where body and soul is immediately turned over to the visitors.

There is something palpably paranoia inducing about the V's - in particular Anna. I think she does a superb job, particularly in the interview, one poster here aptly commenting, and I'll paraphrase, "Her smile never touches her eyes." Well put. Her body language is outstanding throughout, particularly when she is standing. (When seated for the interview her legs crossed remind one a bit of the Sharon Stone scene from 'Basic Instinct'. Moreover, the sexuality of Anna, as well as Lisa, only heighten the seductive paranoia.

The show is visually stunning, in particular the backing landscape inside the mother-ship. Beautifully rendered. The V's wardrobe works very nicely as well. The lighting is superb.

But aside from the seductive paranoia inducing lead V's, the theological dilemma and the visual supremacy the rest of the characters just feel thinly directed, or as thinly directed as time will allow - because everything just feel very rushed. The lead female FBI agent has great acting skills, but her supporting cast just phones it in. They can't hold a scene together around her. But it's also about the script. The dialog feels phoned in from Middle School as well.

And who couldn't see that the lead agent's partner wasn't a rat? I think my 12 year old would have thought that way too obvious.

I was eleven years old in 1983. Like most people my age, parents everywhere tuned into the original. Sure, I watched it at 11 years old. I wonder looking back now, years later, how much did I miss as a child? Being a closet Sci-Fi geek I decided to give this a try. I enjoyed the graphics, the acting, the music, and the writing to the 2009 remake. The downside for me was two fold. I do not think 46 minutes is enough for true character development. I felt no real loss when Elizabeth's character ended up an alien. I was starting to like him, and episode two or three could have spilled the beans for me. Because of the time restraint, the feeling of being rushed is an understatement. Series now a days leave more for the imagination. Fans don't mind watching and waiting another week for another clue. And based on the reviews I have seen, many didn't see the 1983 series, so it's not like they are knowing what to expect!

Just watched the pilot. Watchable, just, but a big disappointment. Certainly no match for the original which was (for its time) a riveting piece of sci-fi. The plot itself is OK, it is just so clunking and obvious. Big alien spacecraft hovering over our cities is a good trope, but an old one, and it would be nice to see a new take on it by now (District 9 managed it nicely). Ominous rattling crockery? Check. Big reflections in skyscrapers? Check. Troubled priest? Check. So many unbelievable things - why does no one- NO ONE! - ask the aliens where they are from or what, exactly, they want? Surely the TV guy, on being told not to ask any awkward questions in his interview with Anna, would realise he had the scoop of the century (hey everyone, the aliens are evil! Run for the hills!)? How come that just a few days after these things turn up life seems to be continuing as normal? And why is 'Universal Healthcare' a concept so strange to American ears that it could only come from another planet?

I grew up watching the original "V" show and remember it being scary and cool - I was like 8 years old though. For last night's premiere, I raced home to watch it and was disappointed at how slow the pacing was. The acting was cardboard and there weren't any twist deviations from the original that I noted. The special effects were borderline at best. The whole luster of the show wears off when the audience already knows A) the aliens are bad guys and B) the "aliens" are reptilians under human-like skin. What's the point of re-making a show like this??? Even the "cut to commercial" sounds are too much like LOST. Maybe this show will be cool to 8-year olds out there but everyone else can move along.

Why can't Network Executives producers directors writers etc ever just show ONE LAST EPISODE of a cancelled show with a cliffhanger...

Other than that the show was intriguing! I enjoyed seeing resistance V's hidden amongst the other Vs plotting with the fifth column and waiting to strike against Anna! Some of my favorite characters include.....

Lisa: im glad she developed emotion and that she was the inside woman and ally to the fifth column, I didnt care for her up until that point. But when she didn't kill her mom it was disappointing, I expected hesitation, but not complete forgiveness towards her mother. THATS what drew the line, when loss actually believed her mother had developed emotion.

Josh: the resistance head medical guy, the V that wanted Anna gone from the beginning!. Although he could have had better facial expressions instead of a serious face 97% of the time im unnecessary moments. Im also glad lida didn't buy it when he tried to fool her(badly i might add) into thinking he got his memory back.

Ryan: one of the original resistance Vs, I instantly liked him when I learned that. And although it was disappointing he betrayed fifth column, I understood why.

Erica: she was a bad ass at the start, but that fight with maliek was horrible, I thought Erica would knock the lights out of maliek.

Now for the unanswered questions: is Ryan, Tyler, and Diana dead? Where's hobbes? Will he pay for killing joe(Erica's ex husband)?, where did lars and this project ares come from suddenly?

Let me start by saying I was a huge fan of the original V and as such was greatly looking forward to the re-imagining of the new series. But I think I got caught up in the hype and my expectations might have been a little too high.

The choices for the characters where dead on, all the main actors played their roles with exceptional quality for a TV series and the production values where superb. The concept held up very well in our modern setting and the opening sequence (with one exception) with the appearance of the giant ships over the cities of the world was just as breath taking and awe inspiring as the original (if not more so!). The 'reveal' was very well done but the introduction of the inside element came out a bit too soon. I very much liked the conversation between the 2 teenagers on the news report comparing this moment to a well known movie… it was identical to a conversation me and my wife had moments before the show began!

Now with that being said… what I didn't like about it was the pacing. The editing was so jumpy for me that I was having a hard time keeping pace. It felt like the original concept was being created with a 2 hour time slot in mind and then suddenly had to be cut down to less then an hour so everything they wanted to say was crammed into a spot too small to fit. The greatest acting, best special affects, and most intense action lose a lot of affect if your audience has to run to keep up with you. I am not saying it wasn't good, but the pacing took a lot away from it for me. I wonder what was left on the cutting room floor.

What I hated… the 9-11 reference in the beginning. I know why it was put in, but I felt like it wasn't needed. I know it was supposed to compare that moment to the moment the visitors came to earth as historic in human history, but it didn't work. Also, V's? Call them visitors, call them aliens, call them Sally, but V's doesn't work. Every time I heard it being used, especially by the visitors themselves I let out a chuckle… it took away from the feel of the show.

But even with the frantic editing and or pacing, I would still recommend it, and I can't wait for the next episode.

I loved the mini-series "V" back in the wayback - though I thought the series itself fell apart by the end of the first season - so I wasn't sure how they were going to pull this one together.

so, far, the pilot shows great promise, if they stay on this path, and don't pull a "Heroes"-style implosion, it'll be worth a weekly investment.

Morena Baccarin (who I just love in general) does another notable characterization. How can someone so pretty come across as so serpent-like??? I sincerely kept expecting her to strike, like a rattler; her body language, and that smile that never touched her eyes were absolutely unnerving. The interview was especially disturbing because she was SOOOOOOOOO nice... after having shown us a different attitude only moments before.

I was especially impressed by the sub-text and the "current events" themes in the writing; equating the V's to terrorists was a brilliant touch. I did however have a problem with the idea that so many of them somehow managed to infiltrate society without much challenge:with the high level of technology that we have today, interstellar scout ships bringing a number of aliens that are completely undetected by the military seems unlikely, as does the "upkeep" for these creatures to be living on earth. For example, they didn't go into any detail regarding how they maintained their human-like appearance, and that was a gaping hole for me. Perhaps it will be addressed in future episodes.

I was greatly appreciative that the singular "religious" element (Father Jack) wasn't a blithering, bumbling idiot - thank you!!! Usually, Christians of any denomination are passed off in such environments as doofuses, so it was nice to see that one of the good guys (I assume) wasn't played as a stereotypical jerk.

I agree with the comments of others that this has a high "paranoia" factor - the idea that the V's had been infiltrating our societies for so long prior to their "arrival", and that ANY one could be one... yeah, you'd be seriously wanting special glasses to see them (anyone get that reference to another evil-alien movie?*) I thought the costuming deserved special note: the V's clothing (I thought) utilized very subtly the subconscious impressions made by clothing. Erica Evans and Dale Maddox, the FBI agents, wore shlupy,"working" clothes, whereas Anna was super-polished, as were many of the other high ranking V's. The lesser ranks had pseudo-uniforms - not militaristic enough to create concern, but they had a degree of "authority," that made them seem so much "better" than boring humans, and implied a degree of trustworthiness and orderliness that people seem to think means "good".

Overall, well done, looking forward to more, good acting, good scenery, good storytelling, and once it had created the foundation, good pacing and character development.

*movie reference, in case you're DYING to know: "They Live". IMDb it: you're already here anyway!!

Could not believe how rushed this first episode was as well as the stupidity of it all. The original series was phenomenal...it took time to reveal secrets, build suspense, the music was awesome (eerie them to V the Final Battle). It was believable. This new "V" is CRAP! The storyline redundant and impractical (visitors greeted by press and no UN government or dignitaries??) Impractical or realistic (All the visitors look like Models??) too fake and shallow and unbelievable..I could not relate or find attachments to any characters... This whole production lacks depth, emotional pull, and the overall feel of banding together that the original had.....this feels forced, redundant, and seems to be made to appeal to an unsophisticated young audience of young teens....SUCKS!!