"V": A Refresher Course

"The Vis-i-who?" some of you may be asking, but for the uninitiated, "V" was a sci-fi miniseries that aired in 1983 and was viewed by an estimated 65 million people.

The four-hour spectacular postulated that alien space vessels come to earth and begin hovering over all of the planet's major cities. Its inhabitants identify themselves as the Visitors, who claim to be humanity's friend. According to their leaders, they've come to earth seeking our help: it seems they need a chemical that is natural here that will save their people. In exchange, we're promised cures to all of our ills.

It all sounds good, until the truth is discovered by a handful of people: the Visitors are a race of reptilian beings disguised as humans who have actually come to steal the water, harvest the humans as food and lay this planet to waste. A resistance movement rises to fight back and expose the Visitors for what they are, thus laying the groundwork for a six-hour miniseries follow-up ("V": The Final Battle, airing in May of 1984) and the subsequent "V": The Series, which ran for a single season beginning in the fall of that year.

That should have been it, but it wasn't. "'V' never really died," offers actor Marc Singer, who played cameraman/resistance member Mike Donovan in the original. "I think the fan support over the years has been the lifeblood of the series, but it has been on life support. It's been comatose, and it's awaiting revival."

That time has come. To begin with, ABC has announced the new television series version that will begin airing in mid-season, the plan being for a four-season storyline that will vary between 13 and 22 episodes per season. At the same time, writer/director Kenneth Johnson, who created the concept in the first place, is in the midst of developing a big-screen version, which means that "V" could be returning on two fronts.

As far as the ABC version is concerned, it has an impressive cast, among them Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet from Lost) as FBI agent Erica Evans, who is assigned to Homeland Security, but is the one who makes the discovery about the Visitors; Morena Baccarin (Firefly, Stargate) as Anna, the leader of the Visitors who has secretly mapped out plans for conquest while manipulating the masses; Scott Wolf (Party of Five) as television reporter Chad Decker, who is so determined to get ahead in his business that he unwittingly becomes the Visitors' spokesperson, putting out their official line about everything; Laura Vandervoort (Smallville, Into the Blue 2) as Lisa, a Visitor who has a particular knack for appealing to disenfranchised teenagers and ultimately convincing them to work against their own people; Joel Gretsch (The 4400) as Father Jack Landry, who has seen his congregation shrink to practically nothing, but then finds the church filled at every mass as parishioners begin to view the Visitors as deities; and Morris Chestnut as Ryan Nicols, one of the Visitors who has been living secretly among humans since before the arrival of the spaceships, and who ultimately decides to work with humans against his own people.

The new "V" was developed by Scott Peters (creator of The 4400) and executive produced by Jace Hall from HDFilms, the latter largely an online (The Jace Hall Show, Creepshow Raw) and video game (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Justice League Heroes, Condemned: Criminal Origins) entity that has found "V" to be a gateway to a network deal.

"For me," explains Hall, who serves as the head of HDFilms, "it's always about being involved in things that I find creatively interesting. When I was growing up, I saw 'V' in 1983, and now to be the executive producer of the new 'V' for ABC... well, it just feels like I was made to be involved with these sorts of things. I'm always asking myself, 'Where are those stories that make us want to aspire to be more? That question the human condition in some way and that make you recognize your potential as a person?' I've always been very interested in those kinds of stories and find myself involved with them."

Back in the early 1980s, Kenneth Johnson, creator of The Bionic Woman and the man who developed The Incredible Hulk into a live action TV series starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, had gone to NBC and Warner Bros. to pitch a series concept concerning the French Maquis, the World War II underground resistance movement that took on the Nazis. Unfortunately, the lack of interest during that meeting quickly became apparent, but Johnson, savvy enough to know what he would need to sell such a concept, added, "The difference is that the Nazis are from outer space."

His day ended with a commitment for a four-hour miniseries. For his part, Johnson saw the possibility of exploring key sociological issues that television by and large had not been addressing. Most importantly, he had taken note of the fact that in recent years America had become a home base for growing fascist and vigilante movements, all of which dovetailed with his fascination with Sinclair Lewsis' 1935 novel, It Can't Happen Here.

"That novel concerned a fascist regime taking power in the U.S. and how people reacted to it," says Johnson. "I tried to find a contemporary framework n which to tell the story and 'V' seemed like the perfect one."

The success of "V" spread beyond the U.S., going so far as to have an impact in South Africa at the height of apartheid. "When 'V' aired in South Africa," Johnson smiles with pride, "it was approved by the government because they thought it would be seen as white people and black people working together, but the blacks immediately saw it for what it was and started spray-painting 'V' all over the place. It's terrific to have that kind of impact and influence on people."

Unfortunately, Johnson dropped out of the follow-up miniseries "V": The Final Battle due to genuine creative differences. That miniseries (extremely successful from a ratings point of view) led to 19 episodes of a weekly version in the fall of 1984, but that show suffered from rapidly declining ratings and limped through to an end.

Flash forward a quarter of a century and, amazingly, the revival is here.

At this point it's difficult to determine how effective the new "V" is going to be, but the promos that ABC has released for the show so far are very impressive, definitely indicating that the concept has been updated for today and should connect with the audience in the way the original did.

"Without giving away too much," offers Morris Chestnut, who plays Visitor among us Ryan Nichols and whose drama, Not Easily Broken, is available on DVD, "this show is not a straight down the middle show' it's not a procedural show, it's not a cop drama or a lawyer drama. There are a lot of things that we're going to be able to do with this show. I keep using words like exciting and intriguing and challenging, but it really is."

Chestnut believes that "V" can resonate with today's audience. Agreeing with him is Johnson, who recently wrote a novel sequel to the original mini-series, "V": The Second Generation.

"I think what makes the miniseries so resonant is the fact that it's a timeless story," he offers. "It's a story that has taken place over the centuries a number of times, where power has been abused by those in power, and it has been sucked up by those who desired to be a part of it. It's also caused people to try to duck their heads in the sand, thinking, 'If I keep my head down and don't get into any trouble, then people in power won't bother me.' And lastly, of course, there are the people who say this abuse of power is wrong and we must fight against it. This is a story that goes back to the slave revolt that was led by Spartacus, as well as virtually every other circumstance where a powerful, often brutal fascist regime has taken tyrannical power over a people, and ultimately the people have decided to fight back."

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