V – The Series

1 9 8 3 – 1 9 8 5 (USA)
5 x 90 minute episodes
21 x 60 minute episodes

V originally aired as an NBC miniseries shown in two 90-minute episodes in 1983. The network hyped the production by blanketing bust stops and billboards with World War II-style propaganda posters featuring red-jumpsuited humans (or so we thought) and happy slogans like “We’re here to be your friends”.

The tease worked well. When V aired in May 1983, more than 40 million people tuned in to find out just who the “Visitors” (hence V) were.

Over the course of two nights, viewers watched – first out of curiosity and then with horrified fascination – as the tale of alien invaders and heroic human rebels unfolded.

Another miniseries of three episodes screened in 1984 (The Final Battle), followed by a 21-part series.

The V story chronicled the “Visitors'” arrival on Earth in a fleet of five-mile-wide alien flying saucers that appeared over some of Earth’s key cities.

Initially seen as benevolent humanoids, the Visitors’ evil plan – along with their lizard-like appearance – was eventually revealed.

This $50 million space soap opera about an alien invasion of Earth contained some of the most disgusting moments of television.

In one scene, the alluring leader of the humanoid aliens, Diana, ate a live rat (actually a clever effect with a mechanical head designed by make-up artist Leo Lotito),

In another, an alien female called Robin gave birth to children – but since the aliens were actually lizards underneath their assumed human exteriors, one baby was born a reptile, the other a human with a forked tongue.

No sooner had they landed than they launched a totalitarian takeover, disseminating propaganda (“The visitors are our friends”) and herding scientists into concentration camps.

Even worse, as intrepid TV newsman Mike Donovan (Marc Singer) discovered when he sneaked aboard the mother ship, their real mission was to transport humans back to Sirius for food.

With scientist Julie Parrish (Faye Grant), mercenary Ham Tyler (Michael Ironside) and alien fifth columnists Willie (Robert Englund, Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare on Elm Street series of films) and Martin (Frank Ashmore), Donovan formed a resistance movement with an HQ at the Creole Club in Los Angeles.

In a climactic showdown, the aliens were defeated by using “red dust” poison, manufactured from the cells of Elizabeth, the human/reptile baby.

V was, of course, a thinly veiled liberal parable about the rise of Nazism in Germany in the 1930s. The producers, however, took no chances on audience intelligence and scripted a Jewish member of the Resistance to make explicit how similar the experiences were.

The series might not have been sophisticated, but it was fast-moving, resplendent with glossy special effects and had, on stages 25 and 26 of the Burbank Studios in California, one of the most elaborate sets ever constructed for TV.

Inevitably, the success of V (in Britain alone, it was watched by 10 million viewers per night) spawned a full series with most of the cast reprising their roles. The Nazi parallel was dropped and V – The Series turned into a routine space action drama.

A “re-imagining” of the original series was aired in 2009 by ABC. The confusing new series lasted for 22 episodes before being cancelled in May 2011.

Brian 
Peter Nelson
Charles 
Duncan Regehr
Diana 
Jane Badler
John 
Richard Herd
Lt James 
Judson Scott
Lydia 
June Chadwick
Willie
Robert Englund
Martin 
Frank Ashmore
Abraham Bernstein 
Leonardo Cimino
Caleb Taylor 
Jason Bernard
Chris 
Mickey Jones
Daniel Bernstein 
David Packer
Elias Taylor 
Michael Wright
Elizabeth 
Jennifer Cooke
Ham Tyler 
Michael Ironside
Josh Brooks 
Tommy Peterson
Dr Julie Parrish 
Faye Grant
Kristine Walsh 
Jenny Sullivan
Kyle Bates 
Jeff Yagher
Mike Donovan 
Marc Singer
Mr Chaing 
Aki Aleong
Nathan Bates 
Lane Smith
Robert Maxwell 
Michael Durrell
Robin 
Blair Tefkin
Ruby 
Camila Ashlend

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