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V (2009 TV series)

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This article is about the 2009 series. For other uses, see V (TV series).
V
V intertitle
GenreScience fiction
Created byKenneth Johnson
Developed byScott Peters
StarringElizabeth Mitchell
Morris Chestnut
Joel Gretsch
Logan Huffman
Lourdes Benedicto
Laura Vandervoort
Morena Baccarin
Scott Wolf
Country of originUnited States
Original languageTransclusion error: {{En}} is only for use in File namespace. Use {{lang-en}} or {{in lang|en}} instead.
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes11 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersScott Rosenbaum
Scott Peters
Jace Hall
Yves Simoneau
Steve Pearlman
Production locationsVancouver, British Columbia
Running time42 minutes
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseNovember 3, 2009 (2009-11-03) –
present
Related
V
V: The Final Battle
V: The Series

V is an American science fiction television series first broadcast on ABC on November 3, 2009.[1][2] A re-imagining of the 1983 miniseries created by Kenneth Johnson, the new series chronicles the arrival on Earth of a technologically advanced alien species which ostensibly comes in peace, but actually has sinister motives.[3] V stars Morena Baccarin, Morris Chestnut, Joel Gretsch, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Scott Wolf, and is executive produced by Scott Rosenbaum, Scott Peters, and Jace Hall.[4] The series is produced by The Scott Peters Company, HDFilms and Warner Bros. Television. On May 13, 2010, ABC renewed V for a second season.[5]

Premise

Giant spaceships appear over 29 major cities throughout the world, and Anna (Morena Baccarin), the beautiful and charismatic leader of the extra-terrestrial "Visitors", claims to come in peace. The Visitors claim to only need a small amount of Earth's resources, in exchange for which they will share their advanced technological and medical knowledge. As a small number of humans begin to doubt the sincerity of the seemingly benevolent Visitors, FBI counter-terrorism agent Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell) discovers that the aliens have spent decades infiltrating human governments, businesses, and religious institutions and are now in the final stages of their plan to take over the Earth. Erica joins the resistance movement, which includes Ryan (Morris Chestnut), a Visitor sleeper agent who over time developed human emotions and now wants to save humanity. The Visitors have won favor among the people of Earth by curing a variety of diseases, and have recruited Earth's youth — including Erica's son Tyler (Logan Huffman) — to serve them unknowingly as spies.[2]

Origins

Inspired by the Sinclair Lewis novel about fascism in the United States, It Can't Happen Here (1935), director–producer Kenneth Johnson wrote an adaptation titled Storm Warnings, in 1982. The script was presented to NBC, for production as a television mini-series, but the NBC executives rejected the initial version, claiming it was too "cerebral" for the average American viewer. To make the script more marketable, the American fascists were re-cast as man-eating extraterrestrials, taking the story into the realm of science fiction. The new, re-cast story was the mini-series V, which aired from May 1–2, 1983.[6]

Cast and characters

Seven cast members of V in a line with a city backdrop.
Characters of V from left to right: Jack Landry, Valerie Stevens, Tyler Evans, Erica Evans, Anna, Chad Decker, and Ryan Nichols

Main cast

  • Elizabeth Mitchell as Erica Evans – an FBI counter-terrorism agent who stumbles upon the Visitors' true reptilian nature and ulterior motives. She becomes a member of the counter-Visitor Resistance.
  • Morris Chestnut as Ryan Nichols – a Visitor posing as human as well as a Fifth Columnist trying to undermine the insidious plans of the Visitors.
  • Morena Baccarin as Anna – the manipulative High Commander and the Queen of the Visitors. She is also the mother of Lisa.
  • Joel Gretsch as Father Jack Landry – a Catholic priest and former U.S. Army chaplain whose unease with the Visitors is soon validated by his alliance with Erica over their discovery of the Visitors' secret. He was injected with R6 while being treated for a life threatening knife wound by the Visitors.
  • Lourdes Benedicto as Valerie Stevens – Ryan's fiancee who was originally unaware of his alien nature. She is pregnant with his child. The pregnancy appears to be maturing extremely quickly and is having unforeseen side effects such as nonstop eating and extremely strange cravings, including wanting to eat a mouse she found caught in a trap in her apartment.
  • Logan Huffman as Tyler Evans – Erica's teenage son who becomes a V "peace ambassador" and love-interest of Lisa.
  • Laura Vandervoort as Lisa – a beautiful Visitor and love-interest of Tyler. She is the daughter of the Visitor High Commander, Anna. Her growing emotions leaves her at a quandary with the Visitor's plans.
  • Scott Wolf as Chad Decker – a news anchor caught between his journalistic ethics and his ambition when his exclusive access to Anna comes with a price.

Supporting cast

  • Christopher Shyer as Marcus – Anna's second-in-command in charge of operations.
  • Mark Hildreth as Joshua – Physician in charge of the medical crew on board the New York mothership. He appears loyal to Anna but is in fact a Fifth Columnist undermining the Visitors' operations from within.
  • Charles Mesure as Kyle Hobbes – a former British SAS and current mercenary, on top of the wanted lists of many law enforcement organizations; evidence manipulated by the Visitors frames him for the warehouse explosion in Episode 4; Erica, Ryan, Georgie and Jack use this to recruit him to help train and guide a resistance force.
  • David Richmond-Peck as Georgie Sutton – One of the original members of the human resistance, Georgie wanted revenge against the Visitors for supposedly causing his family's deaths when he discovered the aliens' agenda. He is very loyal to his fellow members, though his obsession for vengeance occasionally leads to reckless decisions. He sacrifices himself to allow Ryan to escape and is caught by the Visitors, is tortured, and chooses for Joshua to take his life rather than continuing to risk revealing the identities of his friends to the Visitors.
  • Roark Critchlow as Paul Kendrick – Erica's superior in the FBI counter-terrorism unit.
  • Rekha Sharma as Agent Sarita Malik – An FBI agent revealed to be a V mole who secretly reports to Anna.

In August 2009, executive producer Peters suggested that stars from the original version may be offered guest roles as new characters in the future.[7]

Episodes

Main article: List of V (2009 TV series) episodes

Production

The series was announced in May 2009, to be executive produced by Scott Peters, Jace Hall, Steve Pearlman, and Jeffrey Bell.[8] Filming of the post-pilot episodes began on August 10, 2009.[7] Cast member Elizabeth Mitchell noted that the show would do service to the most iconic moments from the original franchise.[9]

Peters later confirmed that in addition to potentially using cast members from the 1983 miniseries, the new series would nod to the original in other ways.[7] He said that when asking people what they thought were the most memorable elements of V, the top responses included "the huge ships, the red uniforms, eating the hamster, and [the] alien baby," adding that "we are well aware of those moments and are looking to put our own little spin on them to tip our hat to the old audience."[7][10]

Entertainment Weekly put the original V on its 2008 list "The Sci-Fi 25: The Genre's Best Since 1982" and called Visitor leader Diana's devouring of a guinea pig "one of the best TV reveals ever."[11] Asked about the 1983 reveal of the Visitors' reptilian appearance beneath their human disguise, Peters noted "That was the other one, of course... We tried to put our own [spin on it]. We're... a little bit different than their execution of it. It wasn't so much latex mask as it is real flesh and blood."[7] The Hollywood Reporter called the idea behind V "a powerhouse concept that combines conflict, suspense and imagination with some heavy-duty philosophical issues," noting that the update "preserves the original framework but shifts the atmosphere to accommodate contemporary concerns... the militaristic notes will be more subdued. Instead, there will be more of a post-9/11 emphasis on questions of trust and terror."[3]

In September 2009, it was announced that four episodes of V would air in November 2009, and that the series would resume its 12-episode season in March 2010 after the 2010 Winter Olympics.[12] ABC entertainment president Steve McPherson said, "We always intended to break the show up into 'pods' to make it more of an event."[12] As production of the fourth episode of V wrapped, it was announced on November 3, 2009 that Scott Rosenbaum had been named executive producer and showrunner of the series, with Peters and Hall remaining as executive producers.[4] Production of the remaining eight episodes resumed in January 2010 with new episodes returning March 30, 2010.[13] On May 13, 2010, ABC renewed V for a second season.[5]

Reception

The series premiere of V garnered generally favorable reviews, scoring 67 out of 100 on Metacritic.[14] E! Online stated "on a scale of 1 to 10, we give it an 11. V is the best pilot we've seen in, well, forever."[15] USA Today's Robert Bianco put V on his list of the top ten new shows, stating that the remake is well-made and "quickly establishes its own identity,"[16] and The Hollywood Reporter called the new series "clever enough for a cult following and accessible enough to reach a broad demo."[3] King Features' entertainment reporter Cindy Elavsky calls V "the best new show on television, by far. The special effects are feature-film quality; the writing is intelligent and time-relevant; and the acting is first-rate. The first five minutes alone will hook you for the entire season."[17] The New York Times wrote that "The ideas in V, about alien encounters and mass delusion and media manipulation, are enticing. It’s too bad that they’re floating around in a show that at this early stage, is so slapdash and formulaic in its storytelling."[18] The Onion's The A.V. Club gave V's premiere a 'C' rating, calling it "rote and by-the-numbers."[19]

Controversy

The re-imagined series has been interpreted as an allegory of the presidency of Barack Obama.[20][21][22] In his review of the show, Troy Patterson of Slate points out that bloggers and journalists had noticed parallels between the show's premise and the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, and writes that "if the show is to have the symbolic import that we expect from a science-fiction story, this is the only possible way to read V as a coherent text. The only problem with this analysis lies in its generous presupposition that the text is, in fact, coherent."[20] Lisa de Moraes of The Washington Post noted in her review that the fact the series was debuting on the first anniversary of Obama's election "was not lost on some ... TV critics" and also remarked that the use of phrases present in the series (such as "hope", "change", and "Universal Health Care" being offered by the Visitors) made it seem as though "Lou Dobbs had taken over the network, as those things only became popular with the current administration."[21] Chicago Tribune reviewer Glenn Garvin called the show "controversial", saying the series was "a barbed commentary on Obamamania that will infuriate the president's supporters and delight his detractors."[22] In Episode 8, Anna is asked why she is giving the V's "blue energy" to the humans, to which she replies, "We will make them dependent on it, then shut it off."[23] Bloggers have interpreted this line as a commentary on the dangers of a perceived growing dependency class under the Obama administration.[24] Protesters at at least one Tea Party event referenced the show on protest signs. [25]

The show's cast and crew deny the charges of bias. Actress Morena Baccarin acknowledges that she had modeled her character, Visitor leader Anna, after politicians but she and series executive producer Peters were surprised by the controversy. At a press conference at Summer TV Press Tour 2009, Peters said that the show was open to interpretation and that "people bring subjective thoughts to it... but there is no particular agenda."[21] Bell agreed, stating that it was simply "a show about spaceships."[20]

International releases

Country / Region Network(s) Premiere
Ireland TV3 5 November 2009*
Portugal RTP 1 30 November 2009
New Zealand TV2 2 December 2009*
Spain TNT 28 December 2009
Australia Nine Network 7 March 2010
Brazil Warner Channel 6 April 2010
Peru Warner Channel 6 April 2010
United Kingdom Syfy UK 13 April 2010
Italy Joi 4 March 2010
Turkey Dizimax 10 March 2010
Latin America Warner Channel 6 April 2010
Norway Canal+ Serie 1 April 2010
Finland Canal+ Serie 1 April 2010
Sweden Canal+ Serie 1 April 2010
Denmark Canal+ Serie 1 April 2010
  • TV3 (Ireland) has stopped showing new episodes after episode 8 without any explanation but has confirmed that the show will return and will be heavily advertised in the future.
  • TV2 (New Zealand) stopped airing the show after episode 4 saying new episodes will start in 2010, currently the show is still off air.

DVD releases

Season 1 of V is set to be released on DVD in the UK on August 2, 2010. So far, there is no release date in America although two different sets of cover art have been released for the UK and America.[26]

References

  1. ^ Rice, Lynette (July 25, 2009). "V: ABC's alien series invades Comic-Con—but does it come in peace?". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 27, 2009.
  2. ^ a b Sullivan, Brian Ford (August 8, 2009). "ABC Books V for November 3rd". The Futon Critic. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  3. ^ a b c Garron, Barry (October 30, 2009). "V -- TV Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 5, 2009.
  4. ^ a b Abrams, Natalie (November 3, 2009). "V Switches Showrunner". TVGuide.com. Retrieved November 5, 2009.
  5. ^ a b Hibberd, James (13 May 2010). "Fan favs 'Chuck' and 'V' to return next season". The Live Feed.
  6. ^ Gross, Edward (Fall 2004), ""Visiting Hours" TV's Most Famous Alien Invasion Saga Comes Home To DVD", CFQ Spotlite, no. 1{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  7. ^ a b c d e Lee, Patrick (August 11, 2009). "V producer on who might return and other homages". SciFiWire.com. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
  8. ^ McPherson, Stephen (May 19, 2009). "ABC Unveils 2009-2010 Primetime Schedule" (PDF). ABC Medianet. Retrieved May 19, 2009.
  9. ^ French, Dan (July 29, 2009). "Elizabeth Mitchell talks Lost, V". DigitalSpy.com. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
  10. ^ Patrick Sauriol (2009-03-09). "Exclusive: The pilot for the new V series reviewed". Corona Coming Attractions. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
  11. ^ Jensen, Jeff (December 11, 2008). "The Sci-Fi 25: The Genre's Best Since 1982". Entertainment Weekly. EW.com. Retrieved October 23, 2009.
  12. ^ a b Abrams, Natalie (September 25, 2009). "ABC's V to Take a Break". TVGuide.com. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  13. ^ "Flashforward and V to Return in March 2010". ABC Medianet.
  14. ^ "V: Series reviews". Metacritic.com. Retrieved November 5, 2009.
  15. ^ Team WWK (July 6, 2009). "Spoiler Chat: Who's taking a break from Grey's Anatomy?". E! Online. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
  16. ^ Bianco, Robert (September 4, 2009). "Robert Bianco's top 10 new fall shows: Laughs, chills, music". USA Today. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
  17. ^ Elavsky, Cindy (October 15, 2009). "The New V Is Must-Watch TV!". Celebrity Extra. Retrieved October 15, 2009.
  18. ^ Hale, Mike (November 2, 2009). "They Came From Beyond, Sexy and Media Savvy". The New York Times. Retrieved November 5, 2009.
  19. ^ Sims, David (November 3, 2009). "V: Pilot". The A.V. Club. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
  20. ^ a b c Troy Patterson (2009-11-03). "Guess Who's Coming To Eat Us for Dinner. The classic '80s series V gets a post-9/11 update". Slate. Retrieved 2009-11-17.
  21. ^ a b c Lisa de Moraes (2009-08-10). "ABC Executives Sound Coy About New TV Series's Political Edge". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-11-17.
  22. ^ a b "V aims at Obamamania". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2009-11-17.
  23. ^ V Episode Recap: "We Can't Win", at TVGuide.com [1]
  24. ^ "V Episode 8 'We Can't Win' Still Much Ado About An Alien Nothing." Blog at Techland.com [2]
  25. ^ Huffington Post (2010-03-16). "The Most Outrageous March 16th Tea Party Protest Signs. "At The Wrong Rally?"". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  26. ^ http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/V-Season-1-preorder/13605


External links

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