Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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47 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing series - even for an avid V fan, 12 Aug 2008
I was a big fan of 'V' back in the mid-80s and watched all the episodes fervently. This prompted me to go down memory lane with this 19 episode box-set, which continues the storyline after 'V - the miniseries' (where the alien Visitors arrive and begin taking over the planet) and 'V - The Final Battle' (where the humans defeat the Visitors using the 'red dust' toxin and capture the L.A. mothership).
Episode 1 of this box-set follows the escape of Diana, the scheming alien leader played by sultry Jane Badler, who recalls the alien fleet. She also discovers that the red dust toxin is unstable in hot places (like L.A.), which drives a second attempt at conquest and renewed hostilities with resistance movements across the globe.
I only gave this item 2 stars because it lacked the drama and tension that was so strong in the earlier miniseries and final battle. Many of the episodes had such weak plots that I actually got bored and began fast forwarding to the climax or the next episode. Even the cast looked bored - the episode with Ham Tyler leaving honestly felt like the actor (Michael Ironside) had enough of the role! There was also repeated usage of exactly the same footage (especially the alien shuttle chase scenes) throughout the series, which gave it a really cheap feel.
At the end (Episode 19), the alien leader arrives but we never see him. I remembered this from the '80s when the series was on TV but I assumed that the story would continue in another season. Season 2 was never made (unsurprisingly), which makes me wonder why Amazon called this box-set series 1. Most bizarre!
I usually refrain from giving negative reviews but, in this case, I advise all interested 'V' and/or SciFi fans to get 'V the miniseries' and 'V the Final Battle', and to avoid this 'complete series' - and yes the titles are very confusing!
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32 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
what happened!!, 5 Aug 2008
V-The series was the follow up to the successful v and v-the final battle mini series. These 2 mini series were very good,especially the kenneth johnson produced first part(WHO UNFORTUNATELY BAILED OUT AFTER WARNER BROS DECIDED TO CUT THE BUDGET OF THE FINAL BATTLE)..basically the story was an allogory to fascism and the nazi occupation of WW2 dressed up in a sci-fi tale..impressive in it's day..the story and special fx were top notch and led by a chrasmatic cast.
Warner bros decided to make a series out of V and it debuted in 1984 and ran for 19 episodes. Unfortunately the series is largely terrible..It actually starts out fairly well for the first 2-3 eps then disintergartes into high camp and 80's soap drama for the rest of the run. Diana and lydia battle it out with 80's big hair and shoulder pads and this plays out like it's an ep of dynasty or dallas..terrible stuff. Also when once the reptilian reveal was scary and shocking in the mini-series,you see virtually every other alien on the mothership without their human disguise getting sauna's and lounging about with cocktails in their hand..(i kid you not!) with awful rubber prosthetic heads that look like they were cast out from a 60's star trek ep! The return of frank ashmore as phillip (brother of martin who dies in the first ep) is a welcome return but by then it's all too late and even a revamp for the last few ep's with characters getting killed or leaving and a change of music in the title credits couldnt save the show either.
NBC cancelled the show after 19 episodes due to declining ratings. Ironically a 20th episode was scripted(but not shot) and can be found on various V websites. This would have been quite a big scale ep if it had been produced but alas we'll never know now.
ken johson has recently published his official follow up to the original mini series called v - the 2nd generation(which totally discards any of the series!!!) and this can be bought in paerback. Johnson is hoping to get this produced in either a theatrical movie or mini-series again. Lets hope so.
Get both the mini series but unless your a die die hard fan..give this a miss.
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13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
V gradually runs out of sirius steam , 2 Sep 2008
The original miniseries V and its sequel The Final Battle were huge hits in The USA, Britain, as well as France and other European countries. The sequel series broadcast was 1984 and 1985 was less successful. Moving away from the bleakness of the first series, the programme became more of an action orientated science fiction romp, with most episodes featuring chases and shoot outs. The series continues straight on from the last scene of The Final Battle, with Earth seemingly saved from the visitors after the resistance has developed bacteria called Red Dust, which kills the aliens and has resulted in them fleeing the Earth in their gigantic mother ships. In the minutes separating the two series, the visitors have lost their distinctive voices, the control room console has changed colour from dark to light grey, and Visitor fifth columnist Lorraine has vanished never to be seen or mentioned again. Several of the key resistance members are also not seen at all or mentioned again. Robert's two youngest daughters disappear.
Although the budget cuts were the reasons why the visitors lost their voices, perhaps money could have been found for continuity purposes to have visitor Martin continue to speak in the distinctive tone for the follow on scene. When the series them moves on to a year later it could have been explained that the visitors voices had adapted to sounding more Earth like over that period of time. This change also allows visitors to now infiltrate the resistance, which they could not previously do.
Clearly not all the characters could be kept on. Although it is good to see favourites like Ham, Willy and Diana back, it is a shame that new weaker actors such as Jennifer Cooke as Elizabeth replace the superior performers behind Robert and Martin. Killing off of the latter was a big mistake, and indeed the actor does later return in an implausible storyline as his twin brother Martin. Thankfully Jane Badler as Diana keeps things together.
The constant use of stock footage is irritating. A scene in which a star fighter is chasing another seems to appear in every episode during the first half of the series. In addition a large shuttlecraft will be seen entering the mother ship and but then is a smaller size when we cut to the scene when it has landed.
The first half of the series is superior to the second. The best episodes being the first four. Halfway through many key characters depart, the red dust is forgotten about, and the theme tune is replaced by possibly the blandest theme of all time. Worst the credits seem to last for 10 minutes. Mickey Smith makes a too brief reappearance as Michael Ironside's friend Chris Faber. For two episodes Bruce Davison gives an excellent performance as the journalist John Langley who is not quiet the heroic man he pretends to be.
A high level of campiness creeps in, with daft storylines featuring the visitors. The marriage of Charles to Diana is particularly bad as is the aftermath. The series which a sudden end with many lose threads not tied up. This was due to the series suddenly being cancelled. Overall it was a missed opportunity.
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