In 1983, I was a Junior in High School when the sci-fi mini-series V aired for the first time.  The sequel came out when I was a Senior.  Both shows were among my favorites, though they creeped my Mother out.  Maybe the creep factor was one of the things that I liked.

So, when I heard that V was being remade, I wasn’t thrilled with the idea.  the original was “perfect”.  I thought, “Aren’t there any original ideas out there?”

Despite myself, I gave in and watched most of the V marathon on the Sy-Fy channel on Sunday and remembered how much I liked the original.  Though it did feel dated, the clothes, the special effects, made me feel like it was a part of my youth.  No, not necessarily a bad thing.

As I thought about it, I think a remake could work, if they don’t make it a remake.  Tell a new story with a new take on the Visitors.

After watching the Pilot episode, I think they are taking the approach I wanted. It’s not a remake, but a re-imagining.

It’s too soon to say that the show will have the impact that the original had.  But that’s mini-series set a a hard standard to meet. When the original came out, it was unique.  It took science fiction and put in the modern world on TV.  At that time, that was unique.  The shows that lead up to it included Star Trek, Star Wars, Space 1999 and Battlestar Galactica were all science fiction shows set in space.

Today, science fiction in the modern world such as 4400, X-Files, and others, is a little more common  though maybe not at this scale.  So it will have a hard time making a similar impression.

Cast-wise, I’m liking who they picked to star in the show, except for Scott Wolf.  To me, he comes across as too young to be a major TV Anchor.

Character-wise, they actually seem more interesting than the characters from the original season.  No, don’t misunderstand, they’re not better, just different.  I guess, the best way to say it, is the original series characters belonged to that era of TV.  Modern day characters tend to have a few more layers.   For example, Anna is far more in control, and perhaps more sinister than Diana ever was.

In fact, I would say that all of the V’s seem more devious; they’ve been on Earth much longer than their out-in-the-open arrival would indicate.  Hidden from public view, they’ve been manipulating world events for years, but as in the original show, there are some Visitors who will side with humanity.  I find this “fifth column” also to have more depth than the original.  Marvin was basically nothing more than a soldier and that is all we saw of him.  The only other V fighting along with the humans we got to know well was Willie, and he served more the role of  jester.  He was a timid man, alien or not.   This show introduces the first of the traitors, Ryan, who sided with mankind and his motive is a product of living among mankind for years and falling in love.  He is a much more developed character than Marvin.

Another thing I liked about this show, was the updating of certain elements.  They’ve incorporated the idea of terrorists into an invading army.   The aliens are being a little smarter; they arrived in secret, before arriving in the open.  They even borrowed on the idea of relationships between the V and a human teen, but rather than the “poor” human girl who gets pregnant by the aliens, this time the alien is female and where this leads is any one’s guess.  (She is played by Laura Vanderboort, Kara from Smallville.)

I also like that while they did keep the idea of the lead resistance character as a blond female, they made this lead, Erica, a more mature character.  She is an FBI agent with a son who has totally fallen for all things V.  Her work is focused on stopping terrorists, the human kind, but that is quickly changing.  She is also teamed with a Father Jack which avoids the usual cliche of lead characters falling in love.  (At least, I hope it does.)

The effects are naturally better, and it is potentially just as intense as the original.  Only time will tell if this show is a worthy successor to the V name; but so far, it’s a good start.  (I wonder if they still want to eat humans?)