For anyone who has ever seen a UFO, for the person who thinks his next door neighbor is from a place light-years away, ABC has the perfect show for you. Watching V will not get your phone calls to the FBI answered or have people looking at you as if you were any more sane, but you definitely will be able to live vicariously through the show.
Don't expect the classic, green aliens that have popped up on the movie screen before though: These specimens have a more attractive, Hollywood star aesthetic. A combination of redemptive, attractive intruders and Independence Day-like technology - with a futuristic human appearance - is the showcase of V.
V is actually a remake of an ABC mini-series from 1983. The show begins in almost the exact same way that Independence Day starts, with large alien ships parking themselves in the skies of the world's major cities. Things take a sharp turn from that 1996 mega-hit, however, when the alien ships communicate to the world's inhabitants that they simply need to stop by to replenish their natural resources and will exchange their technological advances in return for assistance. In response, these visitors, with their human exteriors, are either welcomed with arms wide open as a seemingly utopian society or are fervently protested by humanity.
All is not as glossy as the visitors would like it to seem as FBI agent Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell) soon finds out. Investigating a terrorist sleeper cell, she accidentally stumbles upon an anti-visitor group and discovers that the visitors infiltrated Earth many years ago and have been causing unrest and disharmony with the ultimate goal of conquering the planet. V unfolds as the few people of the resistance try to stem the tide of popular support for the visitors.
ABC has definitely found a great premise about which to make a show, although all the network had to do to find it was to look in its archive. The combination of a priest, FBI agent and rogue alien should make for an interesting team as they try to fight the seemingly infallible visitors. These perfect intruders are really what create the intrigue of the show. Morena Baccarin plays Anna, the leader of the visitors, who provides a lovely combination of care, hope, humor and beauty.
But the show itself may not be all that it seems, parallel to the ulterior motives of the visitors themselves. Critics and viewers have been quick to point out the similarities that these visitors have with President Obama and his administration. The change and hope that the idealistic visitors initially promise seem to resemble Obama's presidential campaign promises and current administration. And, so far, V seems to suggest that the outcome of this visit - and also Obama's presidency - may be very much the opposite of the way it appears on the surface. Democrats are understandably insulted and irritated by the new series because its 1983 predecessor was based on a 1935 book It Can't Happen Here about a new president who instituted a fascist regime in the United States.\nJust two episodes into the season, V looks incredibly promising and hopefully will be able to match the excitement and intrigue that it has produced off-screen. Whether you want to make the connections to Obama-fever or not, V should at least be able to keep you entertained.
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