Pajiba

Well dammit, SLW, now I have to see it.

Oh please, the NYT article wasn't that harsh.

But if the first scene of the show is actually true (people burst into applause when the alien leader appears saying they're on a peace mission) I'm going to have to agree with the review. On what fucking planet does this take place on? And most especially in what fucking country? You've got to be kidding me if you think Americans of all people would react that way.

The person who wrote the NYT article loves parentheses. (No, really.)

I haven't seen it yet but I might give it a go if it's shown here. I won't be seeking it out though. But I have to say, with all the evil alien films, tv shows etc, there are, we're going to be a mighty suspicious bunch should aliens ever rock up on our planet. The applause thing sounds bizarre.

That sucks for Juliet.

Yeah the applause thing was ridiculous (especially after a freaking fighter plane crashed in the middle of New York), but unfortunately genre-blindness is a necessary component.

It is like how the victims in most horror movies act like they have never seen a goddamn horror movie. If they acted like real-life people, the show would only be long enough for the humans to shoot the Visitors in the head.

Repeatedly. And then cremate them, take their ship, and plow up their homeworld.

For good measure.

The original mini-series was better than people give it credit for. Subtle, no, not at all, but I appreciated the writing. In some cases the lack of subtlety actually helped it, as you had characters engaging in dialogue that was badass for the '80s. And of course, being a horror junkie, I just love the skin-ripping and the tongue-flicking and all the nasty lizard stuff.

I'm rather disappointed that this show chose Obama as its bogeyman. The "you mean... universal health care?" line, the theme of people putting blind faith in the Visitors, all of that was handled poorly. That said, I do like the concept of the aliens having been here prior to first contact and manipulating the socio-political and ecological landscape as phase one of the invasion (we all knew Ann Coulter was cold-blooded). I also like the "resistance as terrorists" riff. Both of those concepts are why I'll keep an eye on this show.

Sadly, I think anyone expecting a BSG-style revamp will be disappointed. The writing just isn't there.

"Then they'd nuke it from space. It's the only way to be sure."

Whoa... hold on, hold on one second. This installation has a substantial dollar value attached to it.

TK that kind of thinking leads to you getting a french kiss from an alien.

The problem with most sci-fi shows is that the networks want to dumb them down and simplify them, while good writers want to add layers and nuance. What you end up with is rewrites, reshoots, and shitty storylines and acts that make no sense.
The perfect idiotic moment happened about halfway through "V" as the newscaster said something to the effect of, "The visitors have been here for 3 weeks and things are going great." Right, you skipped ahead 3 weeks. Got it. Then the dumb-as-whale-shit showrunners had to show "3 weeks later" at the bottom of the screen 5 FUCKING SECONDS AFTER THEY HAD A NEWSCASTER TELL US IT WAS 3 WEEKS LATER!!!!! Seriously, how fucking stupid do these people think we are?!?! Use one or the other, not both! And don't tell me that was for deaf people watching because they have closed captioning to show them what's said, and that would cover up the onscreen writing anyway!!! Don't treat me like I'm eight years old you fucking stupid shitty fuckersIllfindyouandpunchyouinthedick---
GODDAMNIT!!!!

For the genteel sensibilities of the NYT, I thought that review was fairly scathing....

The whole thing played like it was written by Tim Lahaye. Ugh.

"TK that kind of thinking leads to you getting a french kiss from an alien."

SWEET!

"And er...not a hot Morena Baccarin kind of alien either."

Aw, balls.

I’m not buying this updated version of “V.” Oh sure those alien broads were all hot and shit, but it just didn't grab my attention. I was trying to watch but my mind was on those fucking elections. How the fuck does Corzine lose to a goddamn Republican in New Jersey?

I think many of you need to stick with reality shows. Has it occurred to anyone that it sometimes takes more than 15 minutes for a show to get going? Very few shows jump out of the gate with a brilliant pilot. Were there problems with "V"? You, bet. But there were some good ideas too, and now that the rushed pilot is out of the way I'm hoping they get explored. Jesus Christ people, you'd think it was raping your pets in front of you for some of the vitriol.

Sorry if this offends some of you, but the attitude of viewers lately toward anything that is not a fucking dating/dancing/singing contest or infotainment offends ME. So I guess we're even.

Hopefully some people will give the show a chance and we'll at least get a coherent story arc before it shuffles off to make way for More Singing and Dancing From Narcisstic Attention Starved Fame Whores.

Meh...if a network pulls this kind of shit with a show, why the hell should I even bother trying to get into it? Even if I do, it'll be 4 months until I see another episode, and by that time whatever interest I had would be completely lost. That worked with, say, Glee, but only because the pilot episode was fantastic.

With something like this, you either hook them good and early or you don't at all. Maybe the writers of the show weren't expecting it, but there you go. They should know sci-fi shows are tough to sell and should've made a brilliant, perfect first few episodes. If you say 'meh' at the first one, chances are you're not gonna stick around for the other three.

TylerDFC, all of your points are valid but unfortunately this show had no redeeming value. If the producers felt rushed to get this on the air well then they should have taken their time and gotten in right. ABC spent millions in advertising to build up "V" and this is best they could come up with? Some of the acting was so horrible I felt embarrassed for the actors. Poor Morris Chestnut, the only brother and he’s a goddamn alien.

I think the foundation is plenty solid. Aliens arrive and ingratiate themselves to humanity and start slowly taking over without force by giving the people what they want. A small resistance forms to expose the Visitors as lizard people and reveal their nefarious purposes.

With writers from The Shield and Chuck I'm hopeful this will rise above the pilot and start to dig up some interesting plots. A FBI agent as a member of a terrorist organization is a pretty good start.

It wasn't a brilliant pilot, but the show has potential and I hope it sticks around to live up to that potential.

I kind of got the feeling that ABC was counting on those of us who watched the previous incarnation to just fill in the gaps for what was lacking. But, what they neglected to consider was that most people who are into sci-fi are also very attentive to details; we like the little quirky extra shit that goes on. If you dumb a sceince fiction show down for the masses, it essentailly is no longer for the demographic of people who actually would rally behind it.

Am I the only one who liked it? I thought that Baccarin was perfect as Anna. I love how the Visitors chose a generically ethnic and non-threatening beautiful female to bring the message of “Peace” to the entire world. And then they offer people the things they want that their governments/religions/institutions are not offering them: peace, healthcare, etc. They also may be responsible for modern-day terrorism. Interesting themes at least…and Morris Chestnut is nice to look at.

Was it great writing? Oh, hell no. This is no BSG, but it wasn’t terrible. Well except for the clapping scene – that was beyond stupid. I'll watch next week and hope it improves a bit.

Osmate, my thoughts exactly. Also, dumb question time: in the original wasn't the V sign being spraypainted as a sign of resistance, not a pro-visitor sign? I remember that from the book ... which I er... just re-read. Ahem. Anyway.

It was a decent pilot. I will watch it again. 90% of tv sucks right now, especially on the networks. This is a remake, granted, but I never saw the one in the 80s and I was entertained. 'Nuf said.

Truth of the matter is this site is populated by a bunch of people that aren't really into scifi prefer to sneer at it rather than enjoy it for what it is. Firefly aside, of course, but that has more to do with Joss than spaceships.

The original V series worked as an allegory regarding the ease with which societies accept and condone fascism. However poorly done some of it was, especially the ridiculous sparkling hybrid child as world savior ending, in it's particular 80's fashion it worked as well as the original BSG. I was anticipating something similar to the vastly superior updated BSG for V. A grittier, deeper, more edgy and character driven V with layers of meaning. What a disappointment. I wouldn't be surprised to learn it was financed by Rupert Murdoch.

I'm willing to give it room to improve, as there were elements of it that I liked, but the pilot was severely lacking in terms of the narrative. How many shortcuts did they need to take to reach the reptilian revelation and place Elizabeth Mitchell's FBI agent character in the resistance at the end? Was that truly necessary? That scene was completely implausible from start to finish.

"Gee, I'm going to recruit all these people to join this underground movement, but I'll only reveal what's going on after I cut holes in their necks, and then I won't even have any proof of what I'm saying, but maybe some priest will randomly show up holding a photograph of a terrorist who happens to be a lizard - even though we have no way of telling that from the photograph - and perhaps an FBI agent who wasn't officially invited to this shindig will show up and ID the lizard as a terrorist, even though - again - I have not demonstrated that this person in the photograph that I didn't bring is actually a lizard. Fortunately, a bunch of lizards have crashed our secret meeting and are trying to kill us now - again - thanks to the person who was not even invited. Oh, and after the skirmish, don't keep an eye on that lizard corpse that could prove to the world what's going on. Oops, apparently it's not a corpse. And Miss FBI Agent, could you please not inform the authorities and the world of what's going on, or of this multiple-homicide crime scene, for that matter? I'm sure the resources of this ragtag group will be far superior to anything you could muster through official governmental channels and the media using tangible proof."

Maybe some of that will be explained in the coming episodes, but how about taking some time to breathe and develop the characters? Yes, the effects were cheesy, but in terms of pure storytelling and characterization the original has this one beat by light-years in the setup.

Incidentally, I actually bought the clapping. Yeah, it was a bumpy arrival, but she apologized and said they come in peace. Peace and finding out we aren't alone in the universe are worth spontaneous applause. Hell, it's one of the few things I could credibly believe a bunch of random people would applaud, especially in a world where people have seen Independence Day.

I am kind of intrigued. Yeah, the whole thing was a bit rushed. Maybe the producer got to the action so quick because everyone knows the twist behind the aliens identity. No need for suspense, eh?