I admit I had some problems with ‘V’ when I reviewed it over at TV Squad last year (here’s the season one finale recap). But even with the convoluted storylines, sloppy writing, stupidity of Chad, and slowness of season one, I’m still a champion for the show.
I’m worried, though, because the episode order for season two (which premieres Jan 4., 2010) was cut from 13 to 10. Not a good sign.
The characters are interesting, the Fifth Column storyline is believable (for a show about aliens), and those aliens are creepy – especially freakily peaceful Anna, whom we know isn’t peaceful at all. And who knows what Visitors might be among us in real life?
‘V: The Complete First Season’ was released on DVD and Blu-ray Nov. 2, 2010, and is worth checking out if you’re a fan of sci-fi or alien shows. In a nutshell, the story features city-sized alien ships that have appeared over 29 cities worldwide. The aliens’ leader Anna (Morena Baccarin) assures humans that, “We are of peace … always,” and the Visitors offer their advanced technology to better the world in social, religious, and medical ways. Sounds good, right? Not so fast, my friends.
FBI agent Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell) stumbles across an anti-Visitor resistance and discovers there are Visitors among us (human skin wrapped around a reptilian core).
Skeptical priest Father Jack (Joel Gretsch) joins Erica in forming a resistance cell, along with Ryan Nichols (Morris Chestnut), who actually IS a V, but is working against his own race with an alien rebellion unit known as the Fifth Column. Ryan’s human girlfriend is pregnant with a hybrid baby.
Meanwhile, TV news anchor Chad Decker (Scott Wolf) finds himself the media ambassador of the V’s, caught between ambition and his growing doubts. Then we’ve got Erica’s gullible son Tyler (Logan Huffman), who becomes a peace ambassador for the V’s and ends up falling in love with Anna’s daughter Lisa (Laura Vandervoort).
So there’s a lot going on here, and this new version is much different from the original ‘V’ series back in the 1980s. It’s definitely worth a look if you like these types of shows, and the TV-14 rating is fairly spot-on, although I think kids 12 and older will be fine with it.
Special Features:
- The Actor’s Journey from Human to V featurette: Featuring the principal cast of V discussing the techniques, challenges and rewards they faced in terms of bringing V alive for a new generation.
- An Alien in Human Skin: The Makeup FX of V featurette: Contemporary techniques of special effects makeup application and execution are revealed.
- Breaking Story: The World of V featurette: An in-depth look into how the producers were able to create a fresh perspective on the V mythology.
- The Visual FX of V featurette: A primer on the visual effects used to help enhance V, featuring a guided tour through ZOIC studios, the visual FX powerhouse responsible for the amazing CGI.
- Commentary on episode 11 by executive producers Scott Rosenbaum and Steve Pearlman.
- Unaired scenes.
Images: Warner Bros. Television
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