V (1983 miniseries)
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This article is about the original 1983 miniseries. For other versions, see V (franchise).
| V | |
|---|---|
2001 DVD cover
| |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Written by | Kenneth Johnson |
| Directed by | Kenneth Johnson |
| Starring | Jane Badler Frank Ashmore Bonnie Bartlett Diane Cary Michael Durrell Robert Englund Faye Grant Richard Herd Richard Lawson Peter Nelson David Packer Neva Patterson Andrew Prine Marc Singer Jenny Sullivan Blair Tefkin Penelope Windust Michael Wright |
| Theme music composer | Joe Harnell |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 2 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Kenneth Johnson |
| Producer(s) | Chuck Bowman |
| Cinematography | John McPherson |
| Editor(s) | Paul Dixon Alan C. Marks Robert K. Richard Jack W. Schoengarth |
| Running time | 189 min |
| Production company(s) | Kenneth Johnson Productions Warner Bros. Television |
| Distributor | NBC |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | May 1 – May 2, 1983 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | V: The Final Battle V: The Second Generation (novel) |
V (or V: The Original Miniseries) is a two-part science fiction television miniseries, written and directed by Kenneth Johnson. First shown in 1983, it initiated the science fiction franchise concerning aliens known as "The Visitors" trying to gain control of Earth, and of the ways the populace reacts to this.
Contents
[hide]Plot summary[edit]
A race of aliens arrive on Earth in a fleet of 50 huge, saucer-shaped motherships, which hover over major cities across the world. They reveal themselves on the roof of the United Nations building in New York City, appearing human but requiring special glasses to protect their eyes and having a distinctive resonance to
their voices. Referred to as the Visitors, they reach out in
friendship, ostensibly seeking the help of humans to obtain chemicals
and minerals needed to aid their ailing world, which is revealed to be a
planet orbiting the star Sirius. In return, the Visitors promise to
share their advanced technology with humanity. The governments of Earth
accept the arrangement, and the Visitors, commanded by their leader John
and his deputy Diana, begin to gain considerable influence with human
authorities.
Strange events begin to occur and scientists become objects of
increasing media hostility. They experience government restrictions on
their activities and movements. Others, particularly those keen on
examining the Visitors more closely, begin to disappear or are
discredited. Noted scientists confess to subversive activities; some of
them exhibit other unusual behaviors, such as suddenly demonstrating hand preference opposite to the one they were known to have.
Television journalist cameraman Michael Donovan covertly boards one of
the Visitors' motherships and discovers that beneath their human-like
facade (they wear a thin, synthetic skin and human-like contact lenses
in public), the aliens are actually carnivorous reptilian humanoids preferring
to eat live food such as rodents and birds. Donovan, who first took
footage of one of the alien ships flying overhead while on duty in El
Salvador, records some of his findings on videotape and escapes from the
mothership with the evidence. However, just as the exposé is
about to air on television, the broadcast is interrupted by the
Visitors who have taken control of the media. Their announcement makes
Donovan a fugitive pursued by both the police and the Visitors.
Scientists around the world continue to be persecuted, both to discredit
them (as the part of the human population most likely to discover the
Visitors' secrets) and to distract the rest of the population with a scapegoat to whom they could attribute their fears. Key human individuals are subjected to Diana's special mind control process
called "conversion", which turned them into the Visitors' pawns,
leaving only subtle behavioral clues to this manipulation. Others become
subjects of Diana's horrifying biological experiments.
Some humans (including Mike Donovan's mother, Eleanor Dupres) willingly collaborate with
the Visitors, seduced by their power. Daniel Bernstein, a grandson of a
Jewish Holocaust survivor, joins the Visitor Youth and reveals the
location of a scientist family to the alien cause. One teenager, Robin
Maxwell, the daughter of a well-known scientist who went into hiding,
has a sexual relationship with a male Visitor named Brian, who
impregnates her as one of Diana's "medical experiments".
A resistance movement is
formed, determined to expose and oppose the Visitors. The Los Angeles
cell leader is Julie Parrish. Donovan later joins the group and, again
sneaking aboard a mothership, he learns from a Visitor named Martin that
the story about the Visitors needing waste chemicals is a cover for a
darker mission. The true purpose of the Visitors' arrival on Earth was
to conquer and subdue the planet, steal all of the Earth's water, and harvest the human race as food, leaving only a few as slaves and cannon fodder for the Visitors' wars with other alien races. Martin is one of many dissidents among the Visitors (later known as the Fifth Column)
who oppose their leader's plans and would rather co-exist peacefully
with the humans. Martin befriends Donovan and promises to aid the
Resistance, and gives Donovan access to one of their sky-fighter ships,
which he quickly learns how to pilot. He escapes from the mothership
along with Robin and another prisoner named Sancho, who'd aided Robin's
family in their flight out of occupied Los Angeles.
The Resistance strike their first blows against the Visitors, procuring laboratory equipment and modern military weapons from National Guard armories
to carry on the fight. The symbol of the resistance is a blood-red
letter V (for victory), spray-painted over posters promoting Visitor
friendship among humans. The symbol was inspired by Daniel Bernstein's
grandfather Abraham, a Holocaust survivor.
The mini-series ends with the Visitors now virtually controlling the Earth, a
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