Kenneth Johnston, director of the original V mini-series (not the red dust Final Battle, but the first episodes, which started with the visitors’ arrival and ended with the resistance sending a signal looking for help from the visitors’ enemies) had been trying for years to rejuvenate the franchise. He wrote a screenplay entitled ‘V the second generation’ and later developed this into a novel of the same name, which was published in 2008.
I read the novel and, despite the crappy name, it was entertaining. The story catches up with the visitors and the resistance twenty years after the original series. It completely ignores the events of ‘V – the Final Battle’ (The one with the red dust) and ‘V the TV series’. (The one with the visitors driving cars instead of spaceships) The resitance finally gets a repsonse to their call for help, but, can they trust their newfound allies or could they be worse than the devil they know? I’ll say no more! You can buy a copy of the novel from Amazon for just over a fiver.
The truth is that the novel was too true to the original series. It was as if Johnston had been cryogenically frozen since the 1984, remaining oblivious to the ensuing events and culture-shifts. Flying motorbikes feature heavily! Most of the old characters were back, including Mike Donovan, who had been hamstrung by the visitors and held, drugged, in a cell for twenty years. Resistance leader, Juliet Parish also makes a comeback along with friendly klutz visitor Willy.
Warner Brothers ultimately decided not to commission Johnston’s script. He wasn’t happy about the decision and is continuing to explore other avenues to get his V film made. I don’t think that’s going to happen!
Despite the rejection, Warner Brothers evidently saw the potential for a re-make, especially in the wake of the very successful Batllestar Galactica revival. Additionally, sales of the original V franchise on DVD had also been excellent. They ‘farmed’ the rights out to the ABC network, who have now produced a pilot which will be aired in the USA during the autumn.
The ABC remake, from Scott Peters, Emmy-nominated creator of The 4400, looks very smart, modern and business-like and the alien leader, previously a grey haired ‘John’ is now a smartly dressed ‘Anna’. Red uniforms have been ditched for casual clothes and a blue uniform for the ‘Visitor ambassadors’.
Initial critical reaction to the screenplay has been positive and the pilot trailer has attracted lots of positive comments on YouTube.
For what it’s worth, I quite liked the trailer and I’m pretty keen to see the pilot.
You can view the full trailer and even register to become a Visitor Ambassador at http://abc.go.com/fallpreview/index?pn=V
You can read a review of the pilot episode script from Futon critic here http://www.thefutoncritic.com/rant.aspx?id=20090309_v
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