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Alright, so I finally got to watch one of the most highly anticipated new shows this season – the remake of the “V” series from the 1980s.  I must say, I would’ve had major reservations about this show if not for the superb execution done with the remake of Battlestar Galactica on SciFi.  So I’m expecting the creators of this new show to follow that example and try their best to make sure it is different from the original yet keeping the essence of it.

"V" - The Remake

So what did I think of it?  Honestly, it’s still too early to tell, as the first episode pretty much just laid the groundwork for the series and introduced all the major characters.  But it wasn’t bad at all. 

I liked the updated special effects, obviously.  The mother ships no longer appear like those generic “flying saucer” types in the 1980 show, and they look appropriately “alien”.  Same thing goes with the makeup used on the “visitors” themselves – they no longer look like some “peeling” compound but instead they are thicker, more firm, and really more realistic.  I always found that the way the visitors peeled off their human skin to reveal a dry reptilian skin, and head that was much bigger than their original disguise, to be  very hokey.  Then again, the original was made in the 1980s, and during that time, it was still pretty damn effective.  Twenty years of improvements with CGI and prosthetics has gone a long way…

What I wish they kept were the synthesized voices the visitors had when they spoke.  It really added to the distinctive “alienness” of the newcomers.  But I guess they made sure that the audience won’t be able to tell humans from visitors, as a major plot point seemed to require it.

The new “Diana” isn’t bad either.  They used the actress that portrayed the interstellar “courtesan” in Firefly, Morena Baccarin, and I wish they kept her long hair for the show.  The chick is still hot, though, if not a tad less diabolical than Jane Badler’s character in the original.  She doesn’t look like she would be capable of the sauciness or ruthlessness of Miss Badler, but I guess we’ll find out.

They changed some things in this new version, notably the fact that in this one, the visitors have been among us for years, and most are in disguise living normal human lives.  They also switched some genders around for the major characters, but so far it’s working.  They laid the groundwork for the upcoming resistance, handling it with more subtlety than the original.

As I said earlier, it’s still too early to tell if the series is any good… I need to watch at least 2-3 more episodes before I can form a reliable opinion of the show.  One thing I hope they won’t do is make it too grim – the thing I didn’t appreciate in the Battlestar Galactica remake was that the story became too dark, and it was so hard to root for any of the characters because very few of them had qualities you want to root for.  I hope they won’t make the new “V” follow the same route.

Then again, it’s on ABC, so I think we can expect some cheesy storylines later

So yeah, I’ll keep following this series and see where it goes…  it’s on a Tuesday so I always have to DVR it since I’m at the office during those nights… anyway, if the first episode is an indication as to the quality of the show itself, then let’s just say I’m optimistic about it

Technorati: abc, reimagining, remake, series, v, victory, visitors