V (1984 TV series)
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| V: The Series | |
| Genre | Science Fiction |
|---|---|
| Created by | Kenneth Johnson |
| Starring | Marc Singer Faye Grant Jane Badler Lane Smith Blair Tefkin Jennifer Cooke Frank Ashmore Michael Ironside Michael Wright Robert Englund Jeff Yagher June Chadwick Howard K. Smith Aki Aleong Michael Durrell Jason Bernard |
| Composer(s) | Dennis McCarthy |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 19 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Daniel H. Blatt Robert Singer |
| Producer(s) | Dean O'Brien Skip Ward |
| Running time | 47 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Picture format | Film |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original run | October 26, 1984 – March 22, 1985 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | V (The Final Battle) |
V: The Series was a one-hour weekly television series that aired in the United States on NBC in 1984-85. It was a continuation of the science fiction franchise about an alien invasion of Earth by a carnivorous race of reptilians known as "The Visitors" which was originally conceived by American writer, producer and director Kenneth Johnson. Johnson, however, was not involved in the production of the weekly series.
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[edit] Plot summary
Following directly on from V: The Final Battle mini-series, the alien Diana escapes from her captured mothership in a shuttle but is pursued by Donovan. The two engage in combat in the atmosphere, and Donovan successfully shoots her down and, after a short fight, captures her.
One year after the day when the Red Dust was deployed, now the international holiday called "Liberation Day", the former members of the Resistance and their Fifth Column allies have gone their separate ways and are each looking forward to prosperous careers and bright futures. When Diana is finally put on trial for the atrocities she committed during the First Invasion, Science Frontiers, the company responsible for mass production of the Red Dust, at the behest of its CEO Nathan Bates, arranged for Ham Tyler and his security firm to publicly "assassinate" Diana on her way to the trial by shooting her and take her to a secret cabin in the woods outside L.A. After this is done, Nathan offers Diana better accommodations in exchange for helping to solving problems such as disease and environmental failure on Earth by providing Visitor technological information.
Donovan and Martin, having witnessed her supposed assassination, sense something isn't right and pursue Tyler's agents in a stolen helicopter. After reaching the cabin, Donovan is knocked unconscious by Martin, who wants Diana dead. Before Martin can kill her, Diana is able to overpower him and steal his pistol. She forces him to surrender his last antidote pill so she can temporarily survive on Earth and then shoots him, effecting her escape to the Southwest Tracking Station.
Martin tells Donovan about Diana's plan to make the Visitor Fleet return moments before his death, and Donovan sets off on foot. Donovan meets Tyler and agree to pursue Diana together. Attempts to stop her fail, and Diana escapes to a Visitor Shuttle arrived from a new fleet hidden behind the Moon, and Diana proceeds to launch the Second Invasion of the Earth.
The Resistance assembles once more, now fighting the Visitors nationwide and also contending with the power-hungry Nathan who has used the power vacuum of the collapse of the government and authorities to become Governor of Los Angeles. The Resistance fights however it can, often joined by other rebel groups. Although 50% of the Earth is still protected from The Visitors by the Red Dust, the resistance cannot use any more of it due to the toxic long-term effects it will have on the Earth. However, 50 percent of the planet remains safe from Visitor occupation due to the Red Dust bacterium. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, who has transformed yet again and now looks like a young adult, becomes increasingly important in the cause for Earth's freedom which eventually leads her to control the destiny of both races and decide the outcome of the conflict.
[edit] List Of Episodes
[edit] Main cast
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[edit] Notes
- The cancellation of the TV series in the spring of 1985 appeared to have caught its producers by surprise,[citation needed] as the season ends with a cliffhanger. The TV series' single season was released on Region 1 DVD in 2004, and Region 2 in 2008.
- In a variation on "Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome," the character of Mike Donovan's son Sean inexplicably aged 4–5 years between the mini-series and the weekly series, despite the fact that the weekly series takes place only one year after the mini-series ends. It is presumed that this was not a planned plot change, but rather just an age difference between the original miniseries actor, Eric Johnston, and Nicky Katt, the series actor.
- Due to budget constraints, the weekly series reused a lot of action footage from the mini-series. This was especially evident in the Visitor fighter craft chase scene in the pilot episode, where nearly all external shots were lifted from the climax scene of the original mini-series.
- In the original mini-series and The Final Battle, the Visitors' voices were given, among other post-processing, a pitch shift effect - to give them an otherworldly demeanor even though they looked (outwardly, at least) like normal human beings. This was dropped from the weekly series, evidently due to budgetary constraints. No explanation was ever given for the change and it was simply treated as if the Visitors never had unusual-sounding voices at all. However this did create a plot conflict, as in the mini-series, part of the plot involved simulating alien voices.
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: V (1984 TV series) |
- V: The Series at the Internet Movie Database
- V: The Series at TV.com
- First three acts of J. Michael Straczynski's script for V: The Next Chapter episode "Rebirth"
- V (1984 TV series) at the Open Directory Project
- V at Rotten Tomatoes
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