Patricia Stoltey

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V is for V

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We’re winding down. Arlee Bird’s A to Z Blogging Challenge is almost over. We’ll be do the summary posts on May 3rd.

Today, however, I’m dealing with the letter “V”, and I couldn’t think of a better topic than V — the science-fiction television series on ABC. V is for Visitors, and they’re not the kind of visitors you want knocking at your door.

My husband and I got a little crazy when we watch V. We saw all these parallels between the characters and story line and real life, real world events. I suspected the show was more political satire than sci fi. Was it just me?

I Googled “Sci fi V as political satire” and found these interesting posts and articles:

Slant Magazine’s TV Review.

“V works best when it forgoes its shaky aspirations for political satire and sticks to the action.”

Asylum for All Mankind.

“Although ABC downplays the connections, in this update [see The Washington Post link below], the alien visitors share a lot in common with the Obama administration. Many town hall protesters might ask what the difference is.”

The Washington Post

“Almost as if Lou Dobbs had taken over the network, ABC plans to debut a series in the fall about aliens who come to Earth promising “hope,” “change” and universal health care, but who actually want to infiltrate our government and our businesses and, to that end, have rallied the country’s youth behind their nefarious campaign.”

Whether it’s political satire or just plain old entertaining sci fi, the show has grabbed our attention and we’re fans.

Not fans of the V, though. Those are the aliens and they’re not nice people…uh, reptiles.

In 1983 there was another V — a miniseries. The story line sounds the same. I just added it to my Netflix Queue and bumped it to the top of the list. Will it sound like the real world and real life in 1983? Or will it sound just like today’s television V?

I’m sure you’ll be lying awake at night until you have the answer, so I’ll let you know as soon as I watch the old mini-series.

Those of you who like sci fi, have you seen the original mini-series? Do you watch the television series? If so, what do you think?

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Comments

  1. V has not come to Malaysia. I would love to see the show and judge if it is really a political satire.

    I don’t really like sci-fi but political satire shows are normally funny.

  2. I watched the original series as well (I don’t know why since I was 8 at the time!). I don’t remember too much from it… but it appears from TV promos that this is the same series remade. I must confess that as a HUGE Lost fan, I’ve not liked V because I’ve seen SO many commercials during LOST!

  3. Some of you will be interested to know that one of the main characters in V is the actress who played Juliet on Lost.

    As for watching a series later on DVD, that’s exactly what I’m going to do with “Castle”. I can’t believe I didn’t start watching that one when it first came on.

  5. I’m not a sci-fi person…usually, but I do like political satire, at times. It sounds like an interesting combination. I might have to try watching one during re-run season.

  6. I watched the original TV series all those years ago. I am not a great fan of human eating reptiles, so I never watched this new series.

  7. My Dad saw the original and kind of wanted to see the new one, but it just hasn’t fit into our schedule.

    I kind of wanted to see it, but then ABC was so overly agressive with their marketing of it (esp. during my favorite show of all time, Lost) that I got really annoyed and kind of don’t want to watch it out of spite now. I know, I’m so petty.

    It’s funny, though. My sister wondered if anybody was going to do a post on “V”. I’ll have to tell her you did 🙂

  8. I watched the television miniseries in the eighties and loved it. Not sure what this new one has to offer except better graphics. I’ll stick to my cop dramas. =)

  9. Oops — Elspeth, we must have been commenting at the same time. Anyway, the original mini-series DVD should get here Wednesday or Thursday. Let’s see, shall I watch old sci fi first, or newer George Clooney movie? This will be tough. 🙂

  10. Karen — I read and watch a lot more science fiction now than I did when I was young. One of my most recent favorites was the movie District 9, which is fictional social commentary filmed as a documentary. My husband’s favorite is Mars Attacks, which is laugh-out-loud funny.

    Elizabeth, let me know what you think when you view future episodes of V — does the question make it more or less fun to watch?

    Kay — The nice thing about TV today is the eventual availability of a series on DVD. If you decide you missed something good, you can plow through a season’s episodes in a couple of weeks (or less if you give up both writing and computer time).

    Now I’m off to do the laundry, read a manuscript, and do a few other chores. I’ll stop back this afternoon.

  11. I watched the old series – and gave it up after a few episodes; as I seem to remember I found it just too heavy-handed. I’ll be curious to know what you think!

  12. I sacrificed “V” for writing time. Still, even in high school, I relished the commentary on our society at the time. It helped me accept the fact that society/politics didn’t make much sense.