I have a soft spot for Kenneth Johnson’s original “V” mini-series, aka “V: The Original Miniseries”. In fact, I have a soft spot for Ken himself. Once, a while back, after viewing the “V” DVD, I emailed Ken and, to my astonishment, actually got a response. Now, Ken returns with “V: The Second Generation”, a novel that picks up 20 years after the events of the first “V” mini-series, but not “V: The Final Battle” mini-series, which Ken was not involved in. And oh yeah, forget the crappy TV show; it has nothing to do with “Second Generation”, either.
Ken recently talked with AICN about the novel. Here’s how he describes it:
…what I wanted to do was literally pick up the story 20 yrs later and see what had become of the people that we loved or the villains that we hated…and how the Earth had changed. It continues to be a metaphoric allegory piece that I hope people will get swept up in.
It’s sort of a brave new world piece where The Visitors have acknowledged the fact that they are reptilian, but they continue to wear the skins because they don’t want to come off as being offensive to us.
They have cured Cancer and AIDS and Heart Disease, and have done a lot of wonderful things and really seem to have been the saviors of humanity.
Yes, they admit they are taking our water, but their attitude is: ‘think of it as planetary Dialysis we’re gonna clean that water and then we’re going to bring it back and everything is going to be fine’. Because they control all the media, and censor all communications, the only side of the story we hear in the public is their side of the story.
The novel also introduces a new faction to the fighting — remember at the end of “V: The Original Mini-series” when the resistance sent that message out into outer space asking for help? Well, er, someone got it, and they’re heeeeeeeeeere.
It’s a really long interview, but a great and revealing one, especially if you’re a fan of Ken’s “V” book and the first mini-series. And yes, I am running out and ordering my copy of “V: The Second Generation” post-haste.
