In 1983, there was an original sci fi mini-series that spoke to our fears of that time, V! The mini-series was directed and written by Kenneth Johnson. He has also created The Incredible Hulk (1977-1982) and adapted Alien Nation to television. The follow-up, V: The Final Battle aired the next year, with a new creative team without Johnson and really veered away from the political and psychological overtones in the original mini-series. Still, that one was fun. Then, there was V: The Series with another creative team, really pushing more and more to the sci fi, weekly series. This was all thirteen years before Independence Day (1996). Next, was a new series, V, in 2009. This was taking the mini-series concepts and making them fresh with Elizabeth Mitchell as an FBI agent and Morena Baccarin as the leader of the aliens. It ran for two seasons and ended in 2011.
Kenneth Johnson followed up the V story with his novel, co-written with A.C. Crispin who also wrote the V novelization, V: The Second Generation (2008). The mini-series begins with some shots of the actors and then the notice, “To the heroism of the Resistance Fighters -- past, present, and future -- this work is respectfully dedicated.” Then, we get a bleeding Rebel Camp Leader in El Salvador speaking to us, but we see that it is actually the camera of Mike Donovan (Marc Singer). He was Dar in The Beastmaster (1982) and played Dalton in a 1974 episode of Planet of the Apes. Singer also played Lars Tremont in the latest V episode, “Mother’s Day” (2011). Mike of course is an action journalist who has high connections, a troubled life, and the need to seek the truth. A helicopter gunship fires on the village. Mike takes cover with his assistant and sound man, Tony (Evan C. Kim). The resistance fighters fire machine guns at the helicopter. It is an 80’s action scene, this was in the days of The A-Team show, but sobering.
The Rebel Camp Leader stands over the body of a fellow soldier as the helicopter closes in on him. He takes out his firearm and shoots at the helicopter, defiant, as it flies over him. Mike follows the helicopter as it swings down behind a hill and explodes. Tony takes Mike to a jeep and they drive away as the village is torn by explosions. He drives towards a river with the helicopter firing rockets. Tony is hit by a bullet and the jeep is overturned by a rocket. Mike tries to draw the helicopter’s fire, he takes cover by an abandoned truck, filming them with his camera. The helicopter pulls away and Mike turns to see a stunning sight, a massive mothership, three miles in length! A lab mouse is examined by Julie Parrish (Faye Grant), a med school student. At the time the actress was known as Rhonda Blake, a student in The Greatest American Hero (1981-1983). They are interrupted by Ben Taylor (Richard Lawson). The actor played Ryan in the horror movie, Poltergeist (1982). The news anchor reports the alien craft are appearing all over the world. The live video shows a mothership flying over the Golden Gate Bridge.
Next, we see a close-up of a skull, it is being excavated by Robert Maxwell (Michael Durrell). The actor was in sitcom Soap. The group is startled by the appearance of a mothership and we get an excellent shot of the skull next to the ship. A rock shatters a window with the thief, Elias Taylor (Michael Wright) entering the house. Wright was in the drama film, Streamers (1983), and played Lazarus Prime in Black Lightning. He takes a tape recorder and then turns on the television to hear a report of a UFO in Paris. Young Polly Maxwell (Viveka Davis) is riding her bicycle when she is struck by a car. Her mother, Kathleen (Penelope Windust) and gardener, Sancho Gomez (Rafael Campos), rush to check on her. They are joined by Polly’s sister, Robin (Blair Tefkin) and neighbor boy, Daniel Bernstein (David Packer) who is excited by the appearance of the mothership. Tefkin was in the comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). Packer later appeared in Robocop (1987).
Then, an elderly couple watch, Ruby Engels (Camila Ashland) and Abraham Bernstein (Leonardo Cimino). Ruby becomes critical working for the human Resistance. Later, Abraham, a Holocaust survivor, sees kids spray painting a Visitor poster and then takes the spray paint can to mark "V", for victory, best moment in the entire series. At a plant, the mothership is seen by worker Ben Taylor (Richard Lawson) and owner, Arthur Dupres (Hansford Rowe). The Bernstein family, including mother Lynn (Bonnie Bartlett) and father, Stanley (George Mortogen) watches the appearance of the alien ships. Robert enters his house to join his family. At a seaside home, there is Denny (Ron Hajak), the boyfriend of Julie Parrish. Julie says that Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury don’t know what to think about the alien craft. She is heading to the hospital because there are heart attack victims and suicide attempts. This sci fi movie really gets into real world implications of an alien arrival. The mothership is in the sky while Daniel says to Robin sitting on a lawn that it is a “new beginning.” Polly runs to tell them there is an event on television. There is a pulse from the motherships.
Julie is watching at the hospital, on the emergency channel is a countdown, not the Independence Day countdown. There is a message broadcast in the language of the country that they come in peace. It calls for a meeting at the top of the United Nations building in New York. Night, Mike is scrambling with Tony to get his camera to the meeting. There he sees an old flame and reporter, Kristine Walsh (Jenny Sullivan). The next day, all of the families watching on television see the descent of a shuttle including young Sean Donavan (Eric Johnston), the son of Mike Donavan, and Mike’s ex-wife, Majorie Donovan (Joanna Kerns). Kerns is known as the mother from the sitcom Growing Pains. Kristine details the events of the shuttle landing. The shuttle doors unfold, soldiers are lined up with rifles in front of it, and a Swedish voice calls for the secretary general to come into the shuttle. The secretary general introduces their supreme commander. The Supreme Commander (Richard Herd) walks out seemingly human in a red uniform. Herd is known for the drama film All the President’s Men (1976).
The Visitors have taken human names and he is John. His voice has a re-vibration that of course sets the Visitors apart from humanity. Also, they have visor sunglasses because of the camera flashes and the harsh Earth sunlight. John says that their Great Leader has sent them to work on a chemical on Earth. He invites the secretary general and some journalists to go to the mothership. We find out that John is really the public relations figurehead of the Visitors. At her apartment, Kristine is excited about getting the Story of the Century, she has the champagne to celebrate with Mike. They watch his video tape of the shuttle bay and the introduction of Diana (Jane Badler). She was in the soap opera, The Doctors, and was in a 1979 episode of Fantasy Island. Badler returned to play Diana in the 2011 V series.
John says she is in charge of science operations, but really Diana is the leader of the Visitors. She is reserved, but we find calculating and beautiful, the villain that we love to hate. A school band plays the theme to Star Wars as there is the arrival of the Visitor shuttle. Arthur and Kathleen are excited that their plant is being used by the Visitors. Kristine reports as Mike and Tony cover the event. Watching is the plant's food truck worker, Harmony Moore (Diane Civita), and Robin playing the flute, eyes the blond Visitor whom we later find out is named Brian (Peter Nelson). An interstellar crush? She eventually starts a relationship with him. Diana walks up with her second-in-command, Steven (Andrew Prine). The actor was Father Tom in the horror movie, Amityville II: The Possession (1982).
Stanley and Abraham are watching the news when they find that Daniel was fired from his job. Daniel later joins the Visitor Friends group, betrays his family, and becomes enamored of his power. We also find that there is a shy Visitor, Willie (Robert Englund). Of course, we may know Englund as Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), but here he is a simple worker who learned Arabic, but there is a mix-up and now he is awkward with English, the ultimate foreigner. There is also Martin (Frank Ashmore), a Visitor who becomes ally to Mike Donovan and member of the Fifth Column. It slowly becomes apparent that the Visitors are not who they seem, under statement, and that their plans for Earth are sinister! There is some incredible make-up effects by Leo Lotito Jr. and the visual effects for lasers, ship miniatures, and mattes are good, some hold up today. V:The Original Miniseries is really an allegory not only for Nazi occupation in sci-fi terms, but also shows how to organize and resist against a manipulative and oppressive regime.
Five Motherships out of Five!
#VTheOriginalMiniseries, #KennethJohnson, #MarcSinger, #FayeGrant, #JaneBadler
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