I found myself with unexpected free time today, so I binge-watched a 30-year-old TV mini-series, and its sequel. When I was about 10, V aired on NBC. Though I didn't know it at the time, the original series was an in-depth look at how fascism works, why people fall for it, why people condone it, and why people fight it. Good sci-fi does more than tell a story; good sci-fi is a morality play, using supernatural or fantastical elements to impart life lessons. As a 10-year-old, of course, I didn't know this, just as I didn't know Star Wars was about the archetypal hero's journey. I just watched a cool series about good guys battling evil aliens.
Which brings me to V: The Final Battle. Released a year later, I recall this being even cooler than the original series. Watching it as an adult, the opposite is true. While not the sort of bad sci-fi one might spoof on MST3k, there wasn't nearly as much story... just lots of laser beams and explosions. There were two lost opportunities to dig deeper, the first being the inclusion of a Catholic priest but very little about how religion might react to alien life. There was one short scene featuring the priest discussing the Bible with one of the "visitors," but it quickly ended with a laser blast. The other lost opportunity considered the plot point that wrapped up the series, specifically the development and use of biological weapons against the aliens. There was zero debate over the ethics of unleashing a chemical weapon that would essentially lead to genocide. Given these politically charged times, the parallels to be drawn from V are too numerous to mention. Though the aliens are obviously meant to represent the Nazis, fascism is fascism, and its methods are hardly new. I actually recommend watching the original mini-series to parents of teens, as I think it could spark some interesting discussions with the kids, even if -- like me as a kid -- they really only take away the laser blasts and spaceship battles. Simply from a nostalgia standpoint, there is a lot of vintage Los Angeles in both mini-series. Of particular interest to me was a big fight sequence at a "hospital"... filmed entirely at a redressed Burbank NBC Studio building (there's even a reverse angle where you can see Chadney's restaurant across the street). While not superb, the effects hold up well... except for the alien baby, which might as well have been a sock puppet. Anyway, both mini-series are on iTunes, as is the ABC remake from a few years ago, but that series left me bored after two episodes. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
