I can’t even begin to guess how many times I watched the original V miniseries.
A big part of it was that it was science fiction, and I’d been a sci-fi geek for as long as I could remember.
And a smaller, though not insignificant, part was this massive crush I developed on Marc Singer. Oh, how I was jealous of Faye Grant every time Singer rushed to her rescue.
Seeing him shirtless in Beastmaster? Made up for the craptacularness of the movie. I even watched If You Could See What I Hear multiple times just to see him.
But nothing held a candle to V.
The story of an alien race coming to earth, seeming to seek friendship but in reality seeking to strip the Earth of all its natural resources was compelling.
The parallels to the Holocaust – the Visitors’ symbol, the Holocaust survivor (grandfather of a collaborator) – took it up a notch. (As all the best sci-fi touches on importantissues, topics and historical events.)
Even though the follow-up miniseries V: The Final Battle had more bad special effects than the original Star Trek series (but came nearly 20 years later, so it didn’t have the same excuse), I also recorded that on VCR tape and watched it time and again. I did wish every time, however, that the actress playing the hybrid girl could, well, act.
It all made sense a few years ago when I realized the second miniseries (and the craptacular regular series that followed) had no input from the series creator, Kenneth Johnson.
And though he’s not directly working on the new series, set to premiere this fall, he is being credited as a creator and has only positive things to say about it, so that’s good, anyway.
The new show originally was planned as a midseason replacement, but ABC decided not to bury it and to premiere it instead at 8 p.m. Nov. 3, taking over from the venture capital summer hit, Shark Tank.
Add to that Elizabeth Mitchell – Juliet from Lost – as the female lead? Puh-lease. Like you could keep me away.
If I could program my DVR that far ahead, I would.
Image courtesy of Kenneth Johnson.