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V - The Mini Series


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Nowadays, the word "event" is thrown around all too often when describing television programmes, but back in 1983 the debut of V: The Mini Series was a television event in the truest sense. The appearance of gigantic flying saucers over the world's largest cities heralds the arrival of aliens from a distant galaxy who look human and act benevolently. Of course, things aren't exactly what they seem, and when some suspicious humans start to question the visitors' intentions they uncover a vast alien conspiracy, along with some unusual culinary habits. Soon, the visitors have enslaved the Earth under their fascist rule, and small groups of human rebels are forced underground to fight for the freedom of their entire species. But with the future of the planet still in question the epic story comes to an abrupt end, forcing the viewer to wait for the resolution in V: The Final Battle and the on-going series.

That's not to say that the original V isn't worth the price of admission: in over three hours, it manages to capture the spirit of the great classic science fiction of the 1950s and 60s. The feeling of paranoia and insecurity that runs throughout the whole thing makes it feel, at times, like an expanded episode of The Twilight Zone, only shinier (hey, it was the 1980s). The special effects were impressive for their day, inspiring similarly themed films in the 90s (the gigantic flying saucers were seen again in Independence Day, and the storage area of the mothership turns up in The X Files Movie and The Matrix). What does irritate, however, is the utter lack of subtlety in the allegorical storyline. In fact, it could only have been made more obvious by demanding that the entire cast wear "This is how it was in 1930s' Germany" t-shirts. But if V occasionally doesn't live up to its own high standards, it's still a remarkably high-quality slice of epic television drama.

On the DVD: The picture is an impressive widescreen 1.85:1 ratio and the soundtrack is adequate Dolby stereo. The DVD boasts a feature-length commentary by writer and director Kenneth Johnson, as well as a 25-minute "Behind the Scenes" documentary. --Robert Burrow


From profound to mediocre
Review date: 2008-08-10 Rating: 10 out of 10

V the mini series and it's sequel V the final battle are great SF. Tough the special effects are not up to today's standard, this is more than compensated for by the interesting storyline (a parable about the naziregime) and protagonists who are real people with real faults and doubts. Some become collaborators, some become heroes against their will, but there are no black and white characters all good or all bad, except for Diana (a Dr.Mengele-like character only with real power, not a follower like Mengele was).
Together these two form an epic story of real interest.
Unfortunately the formula was milked into a television series (V The complete series) wich has deteriorated to mediocre or less. The stories have become childish, the characters have flattened out to two-dimensional. Shots of entering shuttles and the docking bay are recycled endlessly etc. The ending is very unsatisfying, because it doesn't really end but an opening is left for a sequel of the series which fortunately never came to pass.

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Reviews


Great to see in widescreen
Review date: 2006-05-22 Rating: 10 out of 10

V The mini series { and then V The final Battle and lastly V The complete Series } are presented in Widescreen Ratio: 1.85:1
and the Colours are a lot more vibrant than I remembered them to be when this was first aired over twenty Years ago.

Yes I appreciate at times the plot does have a few holes but really its very engrossing and a must have for any serious
Sc-fi Collector.

The only fly in the ointment is that V The complete Series is not out on PAL so if this is a Problem just Buy V The mini series and V The final Battle both out in crystal clear PAL.

You will not regret it

Real sci-fi
Review date: 2005-10-21 Rating: 10 out of 10

Brillant! This series relies on a strong plot and innovate character development to maintain interest with the special effects in the background. The effects are clearly dated - but the clever adaption of the aliens coming to earth scenario has not. since the effects are not relied on to sell the series, you allow them to be outdated and don't let them distract you from your enjoyment. The constant depiction of the visitors makes them totally convincing and makes such an invasion of earth totally chilling.
Definitely cult and I am so glad I took the time to see this.

80s Nostalgia revisited!
Review date: 2005-03-02 Rating: 10 out of 10

What a trip down memory lane! Ok, so the special effects look dated....well what do you expect, this was first aired in 1983. I and countless others were glued to TV sets for the event of the week. It managed to captivate so many people. As a sci-fi show it captures all the paranoia of 1950s 1960s America as well as harping back to the golden days of television Sci-fi.

V had everything; humanity fighting for it's survival, reptilian aliens (literally), macho heroes, collaborators. When the aliens make first contact, and mention that they come in peace, the UN secretary General bares a striking resemblance to Neville Chamberlain, and so to does the speech he gives sound very similar to Chamberlains "peace in our time" speech. V draws a lot of parallels with Nazi Germany; the Hitler Youth and the SA to name two. The purging and denunciations of scientists smacks of Stalin's Russia.

Anyway, this DVD is a treat, a slice of 80s sci-fi! Which guy didn't want to be the hunky Donovan (Mark Singer), and which girl didn't want to be beautiful doctor, Julie Parish, when they were younger? However, I feel the most memorable roles were those of the peaceful alien Willy, played by Robert Englund (of Freddy Kruger fame), who allies himself with the resistance, and The evil but sexy Diana (Jane Badler), the Aliens chief science officer. The story continues with the "Final Battle" 1 & 2; however there were another 19 episodes after that! If you do watch the others look out for Michael Ironside's first-class performance as a resistance leader!

V The Mini series don't get confused
Review date: 2004-04-28 Rating: 8 out of 10

V The mini series is great. I watched some episodes on TV when I was a kidbut never managed to see it all until now. Imagine Independence day andMatrix all together.
The important thing is to know in which order youshould watch this series if you are really interest.
1. V The mini series which is where the Alien make their first contact.(One two sided DVD about 3 hours)
2. V The final Battle which continues where the mini series finished. (TwoDVDs, One two sided DVD and the other one, one side only in total about 4hours).
3. V The complete Series which are 19 episodes after V thefinal battle. By the way this DVD has not been released yet. I havepre-order it in Amazon.com (July 2004). Hopefully with this commentAmazon.co.uk would have it before so I can pre-order it here instead. (3DVDs about 800 min).
I hope this comment help as it is very annoying to watch it in a differentorder.
Just four stars because the special effects are not brilliant but if wewere in 1984 I would say more than 5 stars.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Marc Singer
Faye Grant
David Packer
Jane Badler

Creators:
Jane Badler (Primary Contributor)
Faye Grant (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 7321900114899
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2002-04-08
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 189 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1983
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: Greek (Subtitled)
Language: Polish (Subtitled)
Language: Portuguese (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: French (Dubbed)
Language: German (Dubbed)

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