They’re heeeeeere. Er, again. Yep, they’re back — those scaly, duplicitous aliens with promises of a better future, hope, and of course, friendship. As the old saying goes, when it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Especially when they just appear in mile-wide spaceships above your major cities, and your military and governments are caught with their pants down. When they’re that technologically more advanced than you, should you really fall to your knees and welcome come them, just because their leader happens to look like an extremely hot human woman? Okay, stupid question. If the people of Earth didn’t fall to their knees in hopeless devotion, we wouldn’t have a show, would we?
The new V pilot (a “re-imagining” of the 1980′s mini-series by Kenneth Johnson) opens with the citizens of Earth literally shaken out of their sleep by the V ships in the skies over major cities of the world. Soon, the image of Anna (Morena Baccarin), the aliens’ high commander, appears in the sky to deliver a soothing greeting to the people of the world. For the longest time, she says, they thought they were the only intelligent beings in the universe. That was, until they found mankind. She would like our two races to be friends, and are willing to offer technology and medicine in return for resources we have in abundance on Earth.
Sounds like fair trade, right? Hold your horses. We all saw the ’80s original, and the new version of V doesn’t divert all that much from Kenneth Johnson’s story in terms of set-up. The V are still the duplicitious lizard aliens that we know them to be under their fake human skin, though they don’t sound like they’re speaking through synthesizers anymore. And although we never see Anna chug down a hamster, she does have that creepy, too-good-to-be-true sheen about her that the show never tries to hide. Then again, it could just be Morena Baccarin. As beautiful as she is, I always did think Baccarin was perfect for roles that required her to act alien and unattainable, but at the same time so lust after, er, able. Hey, I just made up a word! Go with it. The show doesn’t try to hide the fact that the aliens are not friendlies, probably because it’s a given, so what’s the point in trying to be ambiguous about it? It’s a smart move, and allows the show to move on without having to waste time.
The new V pilot was written by producer Scott Peters, who is an old hand with balancing a large cast with an out-of-this-world premise. Peters’ last show was The 4400, and it’s obvious he learned a lot on it, because the pilot script is effortless in how it interweaves the main premise with its large cast of disparate characters. At the core of the show is dedicated FBI agent Erica Evans (Lost’s Elizabeth Mitchell), her rebellious teen son Tyler (Logan Huffman), and Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch). There are two more important characters: human underground resistance leader Georgie (David Richmond-Peck) and his former comrade, Ryan Nichols (Morris Chestnut), who Georgie spends most of the pilot trying to get back into the game with little success.
Wait, did I just write get “back” into the game? Yes, I did. For you see, the Visitors have been here before, according to Georgie, and they have been planning the extermination of mankind for some time now. With the seeds of destruction set, it’s just now that they’ve decided to show themselves. Is it just the ramblings of a crazy man in a tinfoil hat? Possibly. Erica’s investigations into a series of C4 explosive thefts eventually lead her to Georgie, but what she finds there is more than she ever expected.For Father Jack, all roads lead to Georgie when one of his flock comes to him with a gaping stomach wound and some dying gasps about the evils of the Visitors.
Other regular characters include Lisa (Laura Vandervoort), a Visitor who tempts Erica’s son Tyler over to the dark side. Or the shining light side, as Tyler sees it. The teenager is instantly smitten with the Visitors, and of course it doesn’t hurt that their ambassador is Smallville’s Supergirl. Tyler’s involvement with the Visitors will lend plenty of drama to the conflict between mother and son, especially after everything Erica learns by the end of the pilot. If Peters and company are smart, and I believe they are, Lisa won’t be an obvious villain, if one at all. How many soldiers fight in wars they don’t even know the real purpose behind? Maybe some of the Visitors actually do think they have come to Earth in peace. These will be good storylines to explore in future episodes.
Another character that will have a major impact on future episodes is former Party of Five star Scott Wolf, here playing an ethics-challenged reporter named Chad Decker. Chosen personally by Anna to be the Visitors’ human mouthpiece after he sticks up for her in front of some belligerent reporters, Decker will have plenty of time to either develop a conscience or slink even deeper. At this point, I don’t know where he’s going. Fans of Joss Whedon’s Firefly will be glad to know that Alan Tudyk has found another job. Sadly, he won’t be hanging around the show for very long … but perhaps I’ve already said too much.
Father Jack’s involvement in the underground will also be curious to follow. How does a man of faith take part in an armed rebellion against reptilian aliens? And how far will the writers take Father Jack’s relationship with Erica, if anywhere at all? The end of the pilot introduces a member of the Visitor Fifth Column, which you’ll recall were Visitors who didn’t agree with their leaders’ intentions to rape the planet and kill its occupants, and were secretly helping the humans. In this case, the defectors are Visitor sleeper agents that came here years ago, but decided to abandon their mission and live life as humans. How many of them are still around, and can they be trusted?
To be honest with you, I was not onboard when ABC first announced the show. For one, I didn’t think Johnson’s vision needed to be “re-imagined”, and I wasn’t sure how the premise could be expanded into an ongoing show. (After all, we know how well that worked out the first time they tried it.) As such, I went into the new V pilot with questions, and came out excited to see more. The best part is that this is the kind of show where loyalty will be rewarded, because there are complex relationships to be explored. If you like science fiction TV, this new version of V should definitely be on your must-see list when it hits the airwaves later this year.
Yves Simoneau (director) / Scott Peters (writer) / Jeffrey Bell, Jace Hall, Scott Peters (executive producers)
CAST: Morena Baccarin … Anna
Morris Chestnut … Ryan Nichols
Joel Gretsch … Father Jack Landry
Logan Huffman … Tyler Evans
Elizabeth Mitchell … Erica Evans
David Richmond-Peck … Georgie
Christopher Shyer … Marcus
Alan Tudyk … Dale Maddox
Barbara Tyson … Allison Hall
Laura Vandervoort … Lisa
Scott Wolf … Chad Decker
