Loading ...V: The Weekly Series
V: The Weakly Television Series
After having watched the Original and Final Battle Miniseries events, and after reading V: The Second Generation, it was time to finally confront V: The Weekly Series – a wretched hive of bad writing, worse acting, and even worse studio support. It all adds up to a trainwreck of series that only the most fervent of V fans can enjoy – and even then, only with many a cringe and groan. It’s so bad, in fact, that it simply isn’t worth going into an episode-by-episode review. I honestly don’t want to waste my time. Or yours. Instead, I’ll offer some commentary a few of the most notable lowlights and provide an episode-by-episode overview.
By the time that The Final Battle had ended, all of the brilliant character work established in the Original miniseries was gone. What was left was purely a vehicle for action drama that was weak in terms of plausible action, and very weak on legitimate drama. It could be forgiven because … well, because it was a resounding conclusion to what was once a top-flight television drama. And even if it didn’t end nearly as well as it began, the journey was a damned fun ride. So in shifting gears to a weekly drama, the franchise had a lot of questions to face: would it try to recapture the character-driven drama of the original series? If so, how could they keep viewers interested when such a vision would emphasize thoughtful interaction rather than action? Or would they go for the feel of The Final Battle? And if so, how could they maintain the same (relatively mediocre) visual quality that sci-fi action demands?
By deciding to head in the action-drama direction, the series immediately jettisoned any semblance of plausible characters. The fact that budgetary constraints limited the appearances of memorable, and very strong, characters only compounded the problem. And, too, many of the new character additions were little more than caricatures. The result is a mess of drama with literally no character foundation, save for what little nostalgia could be carried over from the Original miniseries.
To go a bit further into character, the series creators decided that an adult Elizabeth would be able to do more than a child – so they rapidly aged her into a young adult, who falls in love and pines for another new character, Kyle Bates, who as a twenty-something, is … what, almost twenty years older than she? Nathan himself is the prototypical “bad boy who cannot help but do good” archetype. But his character is so cartoonish in his mid-80s pop-culture mold that it’s impossible to take him seriously.
His father, Nathan Bates, is likewise cartoonish – though, he’s a more fully realized character. His role, as the owner operator of a biomedical company that makes the deadly red dust, is to play kingmaker. He creates a de-militarized zone within the city limits of Los Angeles and plays the Resistance and the Visitors off of one another – for his own means. It’s not a bad concept, and it’s one of the better elements of the series.
On the topic of the red dust and the return of the visitors … considering the way the Final Battle ended, there had to be a contrivance in order to allow the Visitors to return to Earth in an attempt to reclaim it. And as contrivances go, it wasn’t all that bad, actually. The idea is that hot weather limits the effectiveness of the red dust, so the Visitors can attempt to reclaim warmer cities like Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Rio de Janeiro, and so forth.
To document the ongoing struggles around the globe, the series hit upon its most effective, and most compelling element: the Freedom Network News briefs that opened (most of) the episodes. Through these very short newscasts, we’re allowed to see the battle unfolding on a grand scale, as well as the small scale heroism of each week’s “Everyday Hero” award. Unfortunately, as the weekly series progresses, these reports are dropped – presumably due to, once again, budgetary constraints.
Of course, the main draw of the weekly series was always going to be Mike Donovan, Julie Parrish, and Ham Tyler. And Diana. Objectively, their characters are little more than hollow shells of what they used to be. And they are often inconsistent. But from week to week, their exploits are just enough to keep a rabid V fan coming back for more. If that’s all that you are looking for, then you will likely find enough enjoyment in each episode to warrant investing the necessary 45 minutes to watch it.
The rest is just a cacophony of bad episodes and bad characters. The writing often resorts to the “dumb fighter” approach (such as not picking up a laser gun, or using some silly laser whip, instead of a gun) simply to contrive longer action and drama sequences. And then there is the parade of contrived plotlines, including Martin’s brother (portrayed by the same actor who played Martin), Diana’s “wedding” and new Visitor commanders designed to create pointless Visitor intrigue. There is a ridiculous preponderance of recycled footage – resulting in bizarre costume and even daylight changes. And the visual effects are a huge step down.
Overall Grade: D
Suffice to say, unless you’re HUGE fan of V, or a masochist, you will want to avoid this series. It simply isn’t worth your time.
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Topics: TV Reviews
Filed under: V The Series
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where can i purchase all the V shows & movies
Theresa,
You can purchase them at Amazon.com:
V: The Miniseries
V: The Final Battle
V: The Weekly Series