SUB-SPACECOM

 NEWS & GOSSIPS

V: The Series was a one-hour weekly television series that aired in the United States on NBC in 1984-85. It was a continuation of the science fiction franchise about an alien invasion of Earth by a carnivorous race of reptilians known as The Visitors which was originally conceived by American writer, producer and director Kenneth Johnson (born 26 October 1942) best known as the creator of the television series V and The Incredible Hulk. His creative efforts are almost entirely concentrated in the area of television science fiction.  Johnson, however, was not involved in the production of the weekly series.

The mini-series aired for a year, and later was followed by a sequel, V: The Final Battle, which Johnson briefly worked on before leaving the project due to disagreements with the network.

Plot summary

Following directly on from V: The Final Battle mini-series, the alien Diana escapes from her captured mothership in a shuttle but is pursued by Donovan. The two engage in combat in the atmosphere, and Donovan successfully shoots her down and, after a short fight, captures her.

One year after the day when the Red Dust was deployed, now the international holiday called "Liberation Day", the former members of the Resistance and their Fifth Column allies have gone their separate ways and are each looking forward to prosperous careers and bright futures. When Diana is finally put on trial for the atrocities she committed during the First Invasion, Science Frontiers, the company responsible for mass production of the Red Dust, at the behest of its CEO Nathan Bates, arranged for Ham Tyler and his security firm to publicly "assassinate" Diana on her way to the trial by shooting her and take her to a secret cabin in the woods outside L.A. After this is done, Nathan offers Diana better accommodations in exchange for helping to solving problems such as disease and environmental failure on Earth by providing Visitor technological information.

Donovan and Martin, having witnessed her supposed assassination, sense something isn't right and pursue Tyler's agents in a stolen helicopter. After reaching the cabin, Donovan is knocked unconscious by Martin, who wants Diana dead. Before Martin can kill her, Diana is able to overpower him and steal his pistol. She forces him to surrender his last antidote pill so she can temporarily survive on Earth and then shoots him, effecting her escape to the Southwest Tracking Station.

Martin tells Donovan about Diana's plan to make the Visitor Fleet return moments before his death, and Donovan sets off on foot. Donovan meets Tyler and agree to pursue Diana together. Attempts to stop her fail, and Diana escapes to a Visitor Shuttle arrived from a new fleet hidden behind the Moon, and Diana proceeds to launch the Second Invasion of the Earth.

The Resistance assembles once more, now fighting the Visitors nationwide and also contending with the power-hungry Nathan who has used the power vacuum of the collapse of the government and authorities to become Governor of Los Angeles. The Resistance fights however it can, often joined by other rebel groups. Although 50% of the Earth is still protected from The Visitors by the Red Dust, the resistance cannot use any more of it due to the toxic long-term effects it will have on the Earth. However, 50 percent of the planet remains safe from Visitor occupation due to the Red Dust bacterium. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, who has transformed yet again and now looks like a young adult, becomes increasingly important in the cause for Earth's freedom which eventually leads her to control the destiny of both races and decide the outcome of the conflict.

Synopsis

V: The Final Battle was played out over three episodes, set several months after the events of the original miniseries.

Episode 1

The first episode begins with a Resistance raid on a Visitor processing plant, to rescue humans who have been repackaged into food cocoons. The raid is easily thwarted at the plant perimeter, due to the Visitors' advanced armor and security measures. In the raid's debriefing at the Resistance hideout, the team bickers over how things went wrong. Robin Maxwell's pregnancy is also at an advanced stage.

The rebels later get wind of a major event to be held at the Los Angeles Medical Center, where John is expected to announce a medical breakthrough - a universal cancer cure. Because of the extensive media coverage, the rebels infiltrate the hospital. However, while he can provide uniforms for the infiltration, Martin could not supply weapons because all Visitor armories were heavily guarded. The rebels scout the place and secure medical supplies while Robin seeks an abortion with Julie's help. They cancel the abortion because of potentially fatal complications to her.

Meanwhile, television reporter Kristine Walsh begins to doubt her association with the Visitors, because of Mike Donovan's request to find his son, Sean, aboard the mothership and a well-known doctor's stinging criticism of her at the hospital (and sudden turn-around due to Diana's conversion).

The hospital raid is a success, with Julie unmasking John's true nature. Martin and Barbara prevent the mothership from cutting off the live feed. Diana also kills Kristine after she disobeys her orders to dispel the incident as a terrorist hoax and makes an apparent call for rebellion. After a firefight inside the hospital corridors, the rebels escape with help from the Fifth Column, who have assigned a transport crew to "capture" them. However, it is a Pyrrhic victory, as Julie (who got separated during the escape) is captured during her own escape from the hospital. The episode ends with Julie undergoing Diana's conversion process.

Episode 2

Two people - Ham Tyler and associate Chris Farber - join the Resistance. Ham reveals the existence of an international resistance force that can supply armor-piercing ammunition and the Visitors' apparent plan to attack the hideout.

The fiasco of the previous evening forces Diana to have the scene re-enacted under heavy security managing the audience at gunpoint, to be passed off as the actual broadcast. The Visitors storm the rebel hideout, but the rebels escape with the help of Tyler and Farber and further advance warning from Ruby, who's now working at their security headquarters as a cleaner. They relocate to an old western movie studio.

Julie undergoes Diana's conversion process, but proves to be tough to crack even under the advanced stages. After she successfully pleads to Diana to stop the procedures, Mike Donovan bursts in and attempts to shoot Diana, but Jake kills him in time. It is later revealed that the man appearing to be Mike is a Fifth Column agent in disguise.

Because of the danger of Fifth Column infiltration (especially now with the arrival of Diana's superior, Squadron Commander Pamela), Martin suggests that all major prisoners be transferred from the mothership to the security headquarters on the ground for further protection. Mark's girlfriend, Maggie Blodgett, who has seduced collaborator and Visitor Youth member Daniel Bernstein, brings this information to the rebels, who see the opportunity and rescue Julie. Daniel, however, kills Ruby after she cuts the power for the laser fencing, a critical part of the operation.

Once again in the ranks of the Resistance, Julie tells the others of a 30-day plan to steal all the water from southern California by means of a water pipeline to a Visitor mothership. With the aid of devices that shift their voices and make them similar to the Visitors, the rebels scout the facility and prepare to destroy it. Tyler questions Julie's loyalty after her conversion, but she responds firmly and retains command in front of the others; when alone, however, she feels weak and unsure about herself, and finally seeks comfort in Mike's arms. At the same time, Maggie confronts Mark over their relationship in light of her undercover liaison with Daniel. They make peace, and he proposes to her.

The attack on the water facility goes as planned, and after placing experimental explosive charges of Ham's devise, a firefight ensues between the rebels and the aliens. Mark is wounded and stays back to cover the escape, sacrificing his life - something that Maggie would grieve over.

Later on, Diana and Stephen appear in a news bulletin along with Sean, whom Stephen had Brian take out of stasis per a favor from Eleanor Dupres. It is a clear invitation for Mike to surrender to them in exchange for his son. Mike does so and is taken on a mothership, while Ham and Julie bring Sean to safety. The rebels relocate to an old city jail afterwards.

A Fifth Column agent named Oliver visits Mike at his cell and offers a suicide pill to prevent him from divulging information about both the Resistance and the Fifth Column, in light of Diana's ultra-potent truth serum. In the nick of time, however, Jake kills Oliver and Diana injects Mike with the drug. The effects take place immediately, with Mike forced to compromise Martin who is present; Martin then tries to shoot Diana, but she escapes with the knowledge that Martin is a Fifth Columnist. Donovan and Martin then escape themselves into the mothership's airshafts.

The episode ends when Robin goes into labor and via a caesarian section gives birth to fraternal twins - a human looking girl with a forked tongue, and a reptilian boy.

Episode 3

The first few days after Robin's delivery prove to be challenging for her and the others. The male child dies while the baby girl, Elizabeth, begins to grow at a rapid rate. Julie and Robert's analysis of the male child's corpse reveals certain bacteria that only affected the boy despite his proximity to Elizabeth in the uterus. Encouraged by the sudden development, the duo decide to culture the germs as a potential weapon.

Mike Donovan and Martin escape by skydiving out of the mothership and Martin goes into hiding with other ground-based Fifth Columnists. After Mike reaches the jail, the team discuss testing the bacterium, now called the "Red Dust," but reject Ham's suggestion of using Willie as a guinea pig. Instead, the rebels capture Brian at the Bernstein house and frame Daniel. Stephen retaliates by sending Daniel off to be processed as food.

The team locks up Brian, and Robin (with Elizabeth in tow) visits him in the middle of the night. However, the family reunion is short, as Robin seeks revenge by throwing a vial of the Red Dust into Brian's holding chamber, with fatal results. Father Andrew Doyle, the team's resident priest, carries Elizabeth off to safety while the others look at the outcome. While Ham and Mike mull over capturing a Visitor Youth member to be used as a human subject, Julie enters the chamber and proves the dust is non-lethal to humans.

Father Andrew brings Elizabeth to Diana, who makes them feel welcome, but later murders the priest after reading the Bible; the Bible makes Diana realize she is 'vulnerable.' The danger of compromise forces the rebels to evacuate and regroup at a coastal lighthouse complex, where more Red Dust stocks are produced. Ham and Mike also get into a small but physical argument over delivering the stocks to other resistance groups when a vaccine was not yet complete, one that would protect the Fifth Columnists.

Martin later asks Mike to stop producing the toxin, revealing the Visitors contingency plan: using their ships as doomsday devices if the situation was lost. Despite the team's debate over whether to attack or not, Elias successfully appeals to take a chance and possibly save the world.

The planning sessions take place, but Julie notices Sean overhearing the details. She then tells Mike of the possibility that Sean was converted before the exchange, which Ham later confirms. Sean escapes the hideout to warn the Visitors, but since the original plan of using USAF planes to spray the toxins was compromised, the rebels would use hot-air balloons instead. Martin and a number of Fifth Column members arrive at the complex aboard a Visitor tanker vehicle, which will carry a stock of Red Dust for dispersal aboard the mothership. They are later administered with a vaccine for the Red Dust.

The raid begins in earnest and Sean's outdated information leads a bulk of the Visitor forces to secure all airbases for an attack that never arrives. The tanker strike team manages to steal aboard the mothership, where Mike closes all security feeds as the rest of the team pump the toxin into the ventilation system. Robert, Ham, and Chris lead the assault on the Visitor security headquarters. Red Dust mortar blasts eliminate the defenders with no human casualties. Desperate to escape, Stephen kills Eleanor, but Ham takes him down long enough to douse his face with a bag of Red Dust. The balloons' mass dispersal of Red Dust around the world will allow the deadly bacteria to multiply in the Earth's ecosystem. The Visitor forces evacuate Earth.

Diana activates the doomsday device aboard the Los Angeles ship (after shooting John, who did not want any part of it) while Mike, Julie, Elias, and Barbara are pinned down by Visitor troops in a ventilation tunnel. The Red Dust begins to circulate, killing more soldiers. Martin joins up with them as they face Diana at the bridge, where Barbara starts to disarm the auto-destruct machine. The rebels and Visitors evacuate the ship while Martin brings it out of orbit. Elizabeth steps up and finally stops the countdown using unknown powers. Diana escapes after telepathically reminding Julie of her conversion session. Martin brings the mothership back to Earth.

Notes

• The cancellation of the TV series in the spring of 1985 appeared to have caught its producers by surprise as the season ends with a cliffhanger. The TV series' single season was released on Region 1 DVD in 2004, and Region 2 in 2008.
• In a variation on "Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome," the character of Mike Donovan's son Sean inexplicably aged 4–5 years between the mini-series and the weekly series, despite the fact that the weekly series takes place only one year after the mini-series ends. It is presumed that this was not a planned plot change, but rather just an age difference between the original miniseries actor, Eric Johnston, and Nicky Katt, the series actor.
• Due to budget constraints, the weekly series reused a lot of action footage from the mini-series. This was especially evident in the Visitor fighter craft chase scene in the pilot episode, where nearly all external shots were lifted from the climax scene of the original mini-series.
• In the original mini-series and The Final Battle, the Visitors' voices were given, among other post-processing, a pitch shift effect - to give them an otherworldly demeanor even though they looked (outwardly, at least) like normal human beings. This was dropped from the weekly series, evidently due to budgetary constraints. No explanation was ever given for the change and it was simply treated as if the Visitors never had unusual-sounding voices at all. However this did create a plot conflict, as in the mini-series, part of the plot involved simulating alien voices.

External links

• V: The Series at the Internet Movie Database
• V: The Series at TV.com
• First three acts of J. Michael Straczynski's script for V: The Next Chapter episode "Rebirth"
• V (1984 TV series) at the Open Directory Project
• V at Rotten Tomatoes
• V-LosVisitantes.ya.st or V-Spain.ya.st (in Spanish)
• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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