"V": The second generation

[Space_Cadet]

http://www.mindpulse.com/users/lizla...ingupdates.htm

i remember the original used to give me nightmares as a child.

[Owen E Oulton]

V was great fun, right up until the last 15 minutes of the second miniseries, when it suddenly took a sharp turn into the toilet.

A remake/sequel/whatever is completely and utterly unneeded, just like Galactica. Earth to Hollywood! Think up something new!

[strict31]

Earth to Hollywood? Owen, that's a long distance call!!


Strictly Speaking

[Phantom]

Originally posted by strict31
Earth to Hollywood? Owen, that's a long distance call!!


Strictly Speaking

Now that is funny.

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

Originally posted by Owen E Oulton
V was great fun, right up until the last 15 minutes of the second miniseries, when it suddenly took a sharp turn into the toilet.

And that's being generous with the series!

Why is there such a rash of remakes and prequels nowadays? Is there no more original ideas out there?

[AslanC]

while I agree that the last 15 minutes of the second V mini sucked and the TV series wasn't that great, I am glad they are reviving and continuing the story

I read somewhere (I think Starlog) years ago that the producers (Ken and the other guy) were trying tp pitch a story about the Jewish resistence during WW2 in occupied Europe. One of the producers said (and I am paraphrasing here.

"I could tell we were losing them. As my partner talked these execs were tunning out. So suddenly I say 'And the hook is the Nazis are aliens!' Well suddenly they sat right up and were interested again."

Not so sure how true that is, but it makes for great La-La-Land mythology

[Eric R.]

I think alot of the remake thinking is that the creators were really limited by the technology when the originals were made. Consequently they were never happy with the final result, which from what I gather Ken Johnson abosulutlt hated the ending of the second miniseries. In alot of cases the creators feel as if they were never given a chance to really make the show they wanted to. A case in point is Dune the miniseries is from what I gather a huge improvement over the 1984 movie. Besides if Demill can make two ten commandants, two Bucanneers and two Ben Hurs then why shouldn't TV people be allowed to do the same.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

As I understand it, it isn't a remake per see, but a sequel to the original miniseries. The fact that Johnson is actively after at least some of the original cast to return is a positive sign.

And as far as I recall, Johnson hated the ending for the simple reason that it wasn't the ending he envisaged, sicne the 'suits' wanted a big climax good guys vs badguys shoot 'em up, instead of the rise of fascism analogy that Johnson was going for.

At one point, I beleive KJ was saying he wou;ld ignore the events of Final Battle ,and only reference the Original mini. I don;t know if that will happen, but it seems fairly certain the new mini will ignore the execrable sequel series.

I'm looking forward to it anyway. I like Johnson's work.

[Ezri's Toy]

Originally posted by Capt Daniel Hunter
And as far as I recall, Johnson hated the ending for the simple reason that it wasn't the ending he envisaged, sicne the 'suits' wanted a big climax good guys vs badguys shoot 'em up, instead of the rise of fascism analogy that Johnson was going for.

At one point, I beleive KJ was saying he wou;ld ignore the events of Final Battle ,and only reference the Original mini. . . .

Read an inteview with Kenneth Johnson somewhere which corroborates the idea that The Final Battle will be ignored. (Which is fine by me. . .)

Some searching of Scifi.com's Science Fiction Weekly web-zine turned up this:

"The Second Generation will be set 20 years after the original, with the alien Visitors now in control of much of the Earth," according to Johnson.

"The alien force is deeply entrenched, has turned many Earth people into followers and is sweeping them toward a dangerous new conquest," Johnson told the trade. "The Resistance seems to be fighting a losing battle when suddenly Earth gains a powerful and mysterious new ally."

[Phantom]

Actually, I liked the Final Battle better then the original. I liked everything up to the last 15 of the last ep.

So, does that mean the cosmic reset button will be hit in regards to the Red Dust?

[toadmage]

IF my small mind recalls corretly , the "vister" were here becuase they were at war with a third alien race . The need for resouces like water , food and so on . . .

I remenber when I watched the first time , I figure this alien would make themsleves known to Earth . But bieng only 15 years old make thinking was too advance for hollywood .

[Scottomir]

Originally posted by Eric R.
A case in point is Dune the miniseries is from what I gather a huge improvement over the 1984 movie. Besides if Demill can make two ten commandants, two Bucanneers and two Ben Hurs then why shouldn't TV people be allowed to do the same.

Despite being longer, I didn't find the recent Dune miniseries to be an improvement over Lynch's 1984 film. If anything, it gave me a better appreciation for how skillfully Lynch's script squeezed a sizable portion of the book into a shorter film. The miniseries is longer and more sprawling without really being much truer to the book. Granted, Lynch's film did go way out on a few elements (the weirding modules, the rainy conclusion), but other than that it was quite a good adaptation.

Your point about De Mille being the original king of remakes is well-taken, though I'm pretty sure he only gets credit for the original Ben-Hur in the 1920s. The 1959 version I think was put out by MGM with William Wyler at the helm.

[AslanC]

I always found it a let down that at the end of the 1st series they had sent a message to help, hoping to contact the enemies of the visitors, but we never saw a further development of that in the second mini or the series.

Actually always bugged me.

The Red Dust was fine, it was the "Pray for peace, petaenama" or whatever the Starchild said stuff. Even as a 14 year old kid it bothered the crap out of me.

That said I always thought the setting would make an awesome rpg campaign.

Anyone know of anyone doing something with this? Stats? Websites? Etc?

[Ezri's Toy]

Originally posted by AslanC
The Red Dust was fine, it was the "Pray for peace, petaenama" or whatever the Starchild said stuff. Even as a 14 year old kid it bothered the crap out of me.

As a kid, it didn't bug me all that much; As an adult, I bristle at it.

It's not so much the hybrid child; It's not so much seeing the Visitor's ideas regarding religion; I could even see a more realistic mixed Human / Visitor Fifth Column cult-type following surrounding the "Starchild" (much in the same way a religious following grew up around G'Kar in Babylon 5);

What was stupid was the tabloid / Weekly World News "The Savior is an alien lizard half-breed from Krypton" and here's her cool super-powers to prove it.

Originally posted by AslanC
That said I always thought the setting would make an awesome rpg campaign.

Hmm. . . My Spider-sense detects a cool D20 Modern game on the horizon. . . .

[Ezri's Toy]

And from the same web site as mentioned above, here's the text to the V: The Second Generation official press release