VISITORS AMONG US: Originally Ken Johnson wanted to do a series of two-hour movies as opposed to a weekly show with a limited budget.
MARC SINGER: In those days with a lot of the permutations that television was about to go through with the expansion of the cable market and the video market and things like that, I don't think many people could predict what would be and what wouldn't be a viable way of producing two-hour movies. Now, however, that same idea of his, I believe there are many formats in which that can work. My hope is that the resurgence of interest in this kind of theme brought about by Independence Day wil breathe new life intot he life support system that "V" has been living on for all these years. "V" never really died. I think the fan support over the years has been the lifeblood of the series, but it has been on lifre support. It's been comatose and it's awating revival. One of the nicest things about television is the fact that sometimes you get to participate in shows that are favorites of yours when you were a kid. For example, I got to be a guest star on The Twilight Zone, which is great because I loved the original series. Sooner or later, if you're fortunate enough, one of the programs you've been involved in might turn out to be something that has a life beyond its original generation.
VISITORS AMONG US: Are you a fan of the genre?
MARC SINGER: One of the interesting things about science fiction, especially with the blossoming of the information age, which many of us take for granted, is the fact that science fiction deals with the large issues of mankind's existence in the past, present and, possibly, future, and asks at the same time not only questions about our material existence and whether or not we will continue or in what form we might continue, but what is the nature of our existence? Today, the fact that we know or don't know more or less does not alter the reality of how or what life is. Those are the questions which are so resonant in science fiction; it's as though the universe is this vast, dark cavern and you're able to shout into any direction in that cavern and receive back an echo that your imagination interprets as best it can.
VISITORS AMONG US: Do you think the original miniseries has aged well?
MARC SINGER: The first miniseries had an intellectual dignity to it. The underpinnings to it were far beyond mere science fiction. I don't by any means instend to denigrate science fiction by saying 'mere,' but I mean instead of just being an action adventure, the original miniseries was a veiled reference to The Diary of Anne Frank in that a whole civilization, a whole society, was being subverted by virtual brownshirts. In this case they came from another planet, but what they offered were easy answers, and a dynamic, forceful movement for people to identify with. As this movement grew and grew and grew, society discovered too late that this movement was its own destruction; that we were caught up already and committed to our own destruction.
TO BE CONTINUED