US Timeline : V - 2009 : Season 1

[maddyp]

Originally Posted by Ravenheart

from what I've read, it wont show here till 2010, but as they're showing the first 4 episodes in the states then leaving it until next year, I suppose it's the better option, as we don't like to split shows in the same way.

according to Sci Fi it is showing here early in the new year and they already have previews on their site -some unseen footage..

http://www.scifi.co.uk/videos/1172131

thats not unseen footage if you watched the pilot this week lol

[Hom3r]

Originally Posted by Matt D

I've just bought the "Complete Collection" of the original "V" from Amazon for £17.98

Original Mini-series + The Final Battle mini-series + the TV series

Play.com do it for the same price and FREE delivery

you do realise you have spent £18 on total cheese don't you lol

[moroboshi]

Well I watched the pilot tonight and thought it was total rubbish. The plot moved far, far too quickly, making it feel horribly rushed and poorly written. There was no build up, no suspense, and events which happened in the original several episodes in happened within the first 20 minutes... It was a mess.

Add to that the relentless pro christianity propaganda and this isn't something I'll be watching again. The current crop of American TV, excluding the superb Mad Men Season 3, has been disappointing, but this new V remake has been by far the worst so far.

[dust]

Originally Posted by moroboshi

Well I watched the pilot tonight and thought it was total rubbish. The plot moved far, far too quickly, making it feel horribly rushed and poorly written. There was no build up, no suspense, and events which happened in the original several episodes in happened within the first 20 minutes... It was a mess.

Well I thought it was excellent and felt the pace was perfectly fine (and I reckon the original mini-series is one of the finest things ever filmed, slow-paced though it is these days).

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by dust

Well I thought it was excellent and felt the pace was perfectly fine (and I reckon the original mini-series is one of the finest things ever filmed, slow-paced though it is these days).

I think the original was so good because the creator was actually writing a story about facism, and specifically about the Nazi treatment of the Jewish peoples (replace the jews with the humans and the nazis with the visitors). As such, the original story, although science fiction, felt like it could be real.

The new one doesn't have that, but it has introduced several new concepts, and while the first episode was a bit patchy, it did introduce several potentially intresting plotlines.

Spoiler: 

I found it interesting that in one section of the program, the mentioned that the visitors had been engineering wars, terrorist incidents and various distasters. It then mentioned that they were planning Universal Healthcare and it seemed as though the script writer was putting this on the same platform as the terrorist. Never thought of the NHS as a terrorist organisation..

[dust]

Yep, I was amazed at how different the new version is, which is why I like it so much. In fact, the only similarity between the two is that there are spaceships all over the major cities and they're reptiles under their human skin. Thassaboutit!! Oh, I also like the fact the new version has much thicker, more realistic "fake" skin...

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by Chris

What's the quality like? I watched repeats on Sci Fi a couple of years ago and the print they were working from was very, very ropey.

Don't know yet - it was dispatched today.

The last time I watched the entire lot though was probably about 10 years ago when I had the VHS box set, so I'd hope the quality is at least better than that.

Originally Posted by Hom3r

Play.com do it for the same price and FREE delivery

LOL, I forgot to even check Play.com.

http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/60297...t/Product.html

Still, I had a code for Amazon which wiped out the postage cost. Plus, if I had ordered it from Play.com I would have had to wait longer due to it being shipped from Jersey.

Originally Posted by zing

you do realise you have spent £18 on total cheese don't you lol

It's *classic* cheese

Besides, you should see my DVD collection!

Originally Posted by moroboshi

Well I watched the pilot tonight and thought it was total rubbish. The plot moved far, far too quickly, making it feel horribly rushed and poorly written. There was no build up, no suspense, and events which happened in the original several episodes in happened within the first 20 minutes... It was a mess.

Add to that the relentless pro christianity propaganda and this isn't something I'll be watching again. The current crop of American TV, excluding the superb Mad Men Season 3, has been disappointing, but this new V remake has been by far the worst so far.

I agree that the pace was rushed. I think it would have been better spread over a feature length pilot.

I did still enjoy it though.

Relentless pro-Christianity propaganda?

---------- Post added at 19:18 ---------- Previous post was at 19:15 ----------

Originally Posted by Stuart C

I think the original was so good because the creator was actually writing a story about facism, and specifically about the Nazi treatment of the Jewish peoples (replace the jews with the humans and the nazis with the visitors). As such, the original story, although science fiction, felt like it could be real.

The new one doesn't have that, but it has introduced several new concepts, and while the first episode was a bit patchy, it did introduce several potentially intresting plotlines.

Spoiler: 

I found it interesting that in one section of the program, the mentioned that the visitors had been engineering wars, terrorist incidents and various distasters. It then mentioned that they were planning Universal Healthcare and it seemed as though the script writer was putting this on the same platform as the terrorist. Never thought of the NHS as a terrorist organisation..

Yup. I think the original was actually originally meant to be about human fascists coming to power in the US (inspired by an old novel IIRC), but was changed to "alien lizards" after the network rejected the original pitch.


Re. your spoiler, I have read that some US critics have claimed that the pilot as a whole is a "commentary on Obamamania".

---------- Post added at 19:21 ---------- Previous post was at 19:18 ----------

Originally Posted by Matt D

Yup. I think the original was actually originally meant to be about human fascists coming to power in the US (inspired by an old novel IIRC), but was changed to "alien lizards" after the network rejected the original pitch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_%2819...%29#Influences

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Can%27t_Happen_Here

[moroboshi]

Originally Posted by Matt D

Relentless pro-Christianity propaganda? [COLOR="Silver"]

Did you fall asleep during the show? Did you miss the ridiculous repeat visits to the church, bursting with worshippers all devoted to the great magic fantasy fairy in the sky? (and I don't mean the aliens) Or the dull as ditch water christian preaching scenes which served no purpose to the plot and were just an excuse to play to the ultra right conservatives in the US... Seriously, what purpose did those scenes serve? I could see none, all they did was make me want to stop watching.

I don't want to personally see *any* religion on TV, particularly not in a sci-fi series which above all things should be free from the lingering delusions of primative people long since dead.

Originally Posted by moroboshi

Did you fall asleep during the show? Did you miss the ridiculous repeat visits to the church, bursting with worshippers all devoted to the great magic fantasy fairy in the sky? (and I don't mean the aliens) Or the dull as ditch water christian preaching scenes which served no purpose to the plot and were just an excuse to play to the ultra right conservatives in the US... Seriously, what purpose did those scenes serve? I could see none, all they did was make me want to stop watching.

I don't want to personally see *any* religion on TV, particularly not in a sci-fi series which above all things should be free from the lingering delusions of primative people long since dead.

sell your TV then or you will keep getting confronted with religion in shows.

Religion of different types is part of this countries culture deal with it!

[moroboshi]

Originally Posted by zing

sell your TV then or you will keep getting confronted with religion in shows.

Religion of different types is part of this countries culture deal with it!

Fortunately it's on it's way out in this country, and it's rare, very rare even, to see it in mainstream UK TV.

Even in US TV it's rare to see it as blatantly promoted as was the case in V.

all it was doing was introducing a character who actually was going against his faith and questioned Gods existence because of the Aliens. Hardly promotion? I am guessing you are an atheist bigot the opposite of a religious bigot

[moroboshi]

Originally Posted by zing

all it was doing was introducing a character who actually was going against his faith and questioned Gods existence because of the Aliens. Hardly promotion? I am guessing you are an atheist bigot the opposite of a religious bigot

Come off it, the message was loud and clear. When in times of crisis, come to church! Great stuff, so logical.

And thanks for the insult, that was really nice of you. Athiests just prefer not to have religion shoved into their faces, and given how deeply unpleasant it is I don't think that's an unreasonable request.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Guys, can we please not sling insults or turn this into an argument about religion.


As for the actual episode in question:

No, I didn't fall asleep, & yes, I did see people going to church in the episode in greater numbers due to the uncertainty of the situation with the Visitors.

I didn't see it as being "relentlessly pro-Christianity propaganda" though.

As zing said, they were introducing a main character who was going against his faith & questioning things because of the arrival of the Visitors. He was also questioning the wisdom of the Vatican in their blind acceptance of the Visitors, & he was warning against people turning to blind worship or devotion of the Visitors.

I didn't see it as "pro-Christian", & I'm an atheist myself, so also don't want to have religion shoved in my face on TV.

In the US, some people are seeing it as being a criticism of "Obamamania".