Sci-Fi Classic Review: V: THE ORIGINAL MINISERIES (1983)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ค. 2024
- V was and remains one of the greatest and most important miniseries ever produced. It was also the most expensive series made up to that point.
If you're looking for a "review" in the traditional sense, then let me just say I love this miniseries. This video, however, is a "review" in the literal sense (using the Miriam-Webster definition "a retrospective view or survey"), in that I'm going over the history of the film and its place in sci-fi cinema history.
In other words, please stop commenting on how my videos aren't what you consider "reviews."
#V #VtheOriginalMiniseries #KennethJohnson
00:00 Intro
01:30 Synopsis
02:28 Production Background
03:35 Casting
06:00 Filming, Effects, Music
08:58 Release & Legacy
12:00 Opinion & Analysis
15:19 Outro
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Pigeon photo credit: Laura Perrotta / Audubon Photography Awards - บันเทิง
The best part of the Original V was the Dedication of the Series to Freedom Fighters of all ages.
Truth
We acted scenes out at 4th grade recess! Loved V!
lotsa great moments in V
This Franchise is defininitley Sci/Fi for WWII Buffs! (OR... a WWII story for Sci/Fi Buffs!) And while YES... the look & feel couldn't be more 80s, it's chilling how the themes are even more relevant today than they were some 40 years ago! (If anyone needs me, I'll be in my garage. Rummaging for old cans of spray paint!)
You're right. I too need to find some spray paint!
@@TheUnapologeticGeek Johnny Lubitch: [to his wife] There were never two people in the world that were more meant to be parents than you and me.
Johnny Lubitch: My son is not a freak!
Dr. Ernest Gunther: May we have the air conditioning ducts and heat vents closed, please. And no movement while the air settles down. Anybody down there planning on having an itch, please scratch it now. Not later, please.
Boy in the plastic bubble 1976 good movie 🙃
i agree which is imo a big reason "V" could not be re done (not re booted) but just re done with current actors cgi , and the more fast paced directing style of today ..sadly the narrative of "V" does not seem resonate like it did 30 plus yrs .modern audiences seem to prefer straight up attack/invasion type stories compared to the slow burn manipulation gradual "frog boiling in the pot" type of movie ..the closet we got to "V" was imo the short lived Netflix series "The Colony"
I was 5-6 years old when this was telecast here in Sri Lanka in mid 1980s ('85-'86 or so If I'm not mistaken ...). I still do remember some of these things in "V" even after almost 40 years though I can't recall the whole plot, now at the age of 43 ! (After all, I was only a kid when I watched it, didn't get any chance to see it since then.). Time flies & things change, but at least some of the memories do stay forever .....
It's amazing how a message can change so much from watching as a youngster versus an adult! V is certainly no exception to that. As kids, it's a fun/scary alien invasion story, but as one gets older, it's so obvious what it's REALLY trying to say!
As far as shows that shaped our lives...Power Rangers was undeniably the star of our afternoons, but there is also X-Men TAS, Captain Planet, GI JOE reruns, and of course for Randle, Star Trek everything 😉 So many memories that helped shape the formative years!
Well, obviously Star Trek. I’m pretty sure I started getting exposed to that when I was still in the womb!
Don’t forget Doctor Who 😀
Remember riding my bike as fast as I could to get home and watch, never missed an episode 👍
Thank you, this was enjoyable and informative. I was in high school when the miniseries aired; it was an event. My family tuned in and we were swept up in this epic tale. Of course, you had to be home when it was broadcast. I didn't have a VCR until 1985, I think. But even if I had taped it, it's always better to experience something when it's initially shown. You can talk about it at school Monday, or at the water cooler or in the break room. I have pleasant memories of a handful of big-ticket television programs that were "appointment TV', including Salem's Lot.
I loved V.
Robert Englund playing a good guy [who knew].
My other faves are:
The Tomorrow People
Dr Who
Blake's Seven
Babylon 5
The Belmont Tunnel. I have been watching this location over movies and TV series for all my life. Now, finally, I know where is it and place it. Thanks.
I wasn't a kid when V first aired. I was 24. Consequently, I found it ham-handed. Now I have to wonder if it was ham-handed enough. I've grown cynical about cautionary tales, however. In an era when the likes of Brave New World and 1984 seem to have become how-to books rather than cautionary tales, I'm forced to question their value.
Cautionary tales are tricky. People might not get the lessons the makers intended. The Twilight Zone episode "The Shelter" can make viewers realize; if you're going to build a fallout shelter don't let anyone know about it and get guns. Not the lesson Rod Sirling was trying to give.
"V" was also a big hit in Korea. The voices were rather amusing. Marc Singer's character had a husky voice. There were 2 types of women's voices, silly and scheming. A protest poster in Spain had a picture of President Reagan in a cowboy had and a piece of his skin torn away revealing he is one of the the Visitors. The followup series lasted a season. At least they had an ending episode rather than just pulling the plug. The series had real life news anchor Howard K. Smith opening the show with a newscast about the resistance activities. Thanks for the backstory.
I have V: The Original Miniseries and V: The Final Battle on Blu-ray!
I may need to watch the series again.
Incredible series. Saw this in the UK in the 80’s when I was 9/10.
Although the final battle had a smaller budget I personally think it surpasses the mini series.
Tyler is one of the main reasons and of course the infamous ‘birth’ gave the series a really creepy almost horror element that people won’t forget.
However Diana is by far the best character, a true Si-Fi icon.
Shortly after V The original miniseries came out - and well before the follow-up The Final battle came out - I had a dream about the characters in V. My clearest memory of that dream involved the Jewish father of the jerk kid who becomes a Hitler youth (and the son of the guy who shows the graffiti kids how it's done) being a fighter pilot doing a kamikaze against one of the motherships and blowing it up. Though this scene of course never happened in the sequel, it was amazingly similar to what Randy Quaid's character winds up doing near the end of the movie Independence Day over twelve years *after* I had my dream! 😁
Great, Great mini-series about facism in America with a sci-fi twist. Brilliant concept during the early 80s. One of my favorites. It’s held up well over the decades. For its time very good practical FX. Solid casting & story. I still watch it to this day when televised. I remember the super media hype in late 1982 early 1983 months before it was originally broadcasted. I tip my cap to ALL involved, they did a lot in a short film time. Yes U.G. you are 💯 about the true enemy not being the “Aliens “ , but ourselves!!! The 1985 TV show was👎🏽 & the remake was dry. Hopefully Kenneth Johnson gets the opportunity to create his modern version of “V”.
I was 7 or 8 when this came out. I found it spooky and scary. I do understand that for "modern audiences", some of the effects can be cheap looking, but for someone that grew up watching the classic Dr Who, I was really sold on it. I remember the two mini-series well (my parents let me stay up past my bed-time), but with the actual TV show, the best thing that came from it was the trading cards (I assume they were in the US too?)
Yes, we in the US had the trading cards. I think I had a few myself!
I am not familiar with who you said Julie’s character is based on, but it’s actually Marie-Madeleine Fourcade per Kenneth Johnson and Faye Grant. Nonetheless I am thrilled to see the V tributes and mini documentaries cropping up on youtube.
I missed this in the original (don't remember why), but have picked it up on DVD, subsequently. Besides the 80s-ness of the original miniseries (and I groaned VERY loudly at the end of the follow-up mini, when the Hybrid child went all Star Wars Magical Mystical... no spoilers; I'm sure you know what I mean), I was amused with the TV series, how Diana seemed to devolve into a High School Mean Girl.
Yes, an absolute classic. In this age of coronavirus tyranny where group think and dobbing on your neighbour who doesn't comply with directives takes place. Think Melbourne or Sydney, Australia 2021.
Oh look. It's 2020, without aliens.
For me it was V and Doctor Who that saved my childhood and gave me strength later years
9 year old me was super excited about V.
This used to be on tv about 1am in the UK so had to record it on vhs 😂😂
I had an interesting relationship with V in that the 'reboomake' premiered just weeks after a unit of studying the original (and some other allegory in sci-fi shows). I guess the young guy in me preferred the new one at the time of its premiere (purely for its ease of watchability and what I'd been conditioned to enjoy) but then the new series kind of deteriorated and I tuned out in season 2. Sometimes you can't beat the wobbly creativity and vision of an original compared to just lifting old themes and applying them to a new era.
The spray painting scene is the one I remember most.
very good report!
Love V
Great show i can remember it first time round when it came to Britain as i remember it was quite an event and the build up to it was amazing.
I thoroughly enjoyed it back in the day and i even bought it on DVD some years ago but i never got around to watching it , i will dig it out and give it an air.
I thought what you said at the end of the video is frighteningly relevant today "How easy it is for humanity to become radicalised" So true given the events in the last 20 years and most recently in the United States and to a lesser extent my country Britain with Brexit!
But on a lighter note, Oh Diana Ahhhhhhhhh! (:
Nice review but one must always keep in mind, the significant impact it made for a primetime show which saw high ratings as millions upon millions of people tuned in for the original two-part series and then eagerly were anticipating the sequel. It was the talk of the town, classroom and office gossip of the day as everyone was captivated by the thought of an epic alien invasion. It achieved pop culture status and even went on to gain a cult following and diehard fans. Today, it is still being discovered by a whole new generation. On a final note; NBC destroyed it after the 'Miniseries'. The Miniseries managed to get by but without Johnson it was destined to not achieve the ratings it got in its initial debut, and the only saving grace was the opening dream scene, Jane Badler, the "V" theme, and the various actors like Englund and Ironside who kept it afloat.
Great review 😊
This was all we talked about I'm the school yard......and yep, we "played V" either acting the scenes or making up our own....I always got to be Ham....my friend was Mike.....everybody else picked out other characters and of course someone had to be the lizards......Good times
This wowed me when l first watched it as a 7 year old kid. Became obsessed with V since.
It’s still a great watch even today.
I loved V as a kid and still do today. It didn't hurt that I had a huge crush on Jane Badler, lol. I would love to see a proper reboot done and a film trilogy would be very cool. The ABC reboot was good, much better than V:TFB or the follow up series, and I was mad about how they just canceled it on a huge cliff hanger. I still am hoping we can see it again as Ken Johnson meant it to be.
This movie s storyline is what is happening today
A small group would have to form to save humanity
A legendary SciFi tv series 👾👾👽👾👾👾👽👽👾👽👾👽
Whilst a very minor character, Abraham Bernstein was the link between the alien invasion and the Holocaust; recognising, from his own experience, what the aliens were actually doing.
People of Earth! be mindful of what is going on today...
Yes. Vote blue
@@mhackett9999 Vote Blue? Tell me your listened to everything Fauci said, without telling me.
Be sure to keep up with your Fauci Boosters! 💉☠️👍 You learned nothing from the Warning of V
I think the story still holds up really well despite the special effects. I've made my kids watch it because of the important message it gives.
I remember walking through the video store and walking by the black cover with the red "V" painted on the front, having no clue what it was (though it might have been V: The Final Battle). Someone like me should investigate this, because I never did see it; Red Dawn and The Day After were as close as I got to anything like this. Perhaps it will leave me with the same feeling I got after my first viewing of Chernobyl -- and hopefully reviewers in 40 years time will be talking about it in much the same way.
You would totally love this, methinks.
Chernobyl was an amazing film with incredible acting.
I really enjoy the background music used for this episode...I believe you used the same for your “Rollerball” episode. Could you tell me name of the song & artist thanks.
The one piece I used in both vids is “Trips” by Topher Mohr and Alex Elana.
@@TheUnapologeticGeek thank you
I saw this first broadcast. I was in middle school. When Bernstein approaches the gang of hoodlums wanting to tag things he helps them...paints the '"V" on the poster/wall. Remember that so vividly.
The rebooted V was terrible. It bore no relationship to the original. The resistance member characters were as thin as cardboard, and the actors playing them more wooden than Pinocchio
The original 2 part mini series is imo a classic of the big three network mini series era .though maybe not as epic in length as some others like Shogun , Winds Of War and North And South ,,it hit hard for just two parts. THe follow up was basically just a prequel for the short lived tv series which mixed elements of the two big tv genres of the time ..night late soaps (Dallas and Dynasty ) and action shows like The A Team and Knight Rider....and just a tiny bit of Star Wars .(especially in the tv series with hybird girl having force like powers) the re boot in the 2000's was based on the original idea but very much its own thing and a direct reflection of the post 9/11 world as most tv shows and movies would be that first 2000's decade .
Lets get a v movie trilogy
Did they ever remaster V?
The problem was how the Visitors wore their camouflage all the time. This was never quite pressed as a visual metaphor for the story.
Not just a badass good movie but also a major influence on Computer Games. Just take the classical RESISTANCE CAMP DEFENCE both in the movie and in the XCOM GAME War of the Chosen.
Fun Fact Due To Brutality many scenes of the German TV verson had been cut. Thank God for DVDs
THE LANDING SCENE ON THE UN NATION´S BUILDING was taken from the novel CHILDHOOD´S END by ARTHUR C. CLARKE
BECAUSE YOUASKED
A major influence on me had been the Sixties TV series TIME TUNNEL It made me become Historian
Back in those days the show was new many Teachers had used this show to inspire their students interest in this field also. Wonder if the same was done with the more modern TIMELESS
For comparison Irving´s Zoo did a good commentary on each episode on TH-cam
v mini series was great. Space:1999 was favourite show as kid how about review of it
NO STAR WARS BAND GREETING
I'd like to get in Jane badlers V
V was great
0:44 - I wonder if Tartikoff would still think that Americans couldn't understand fascism in such a straightforward way today.
Another one of the classics most people know from Simpson jokes hahaha.
Also, who the hell is giving this thumbs down? Must be because you mentioned politics for like 30 seconds lol.
Yep, that’s what happens. I put up a shot of Trump, and some people reflexively have to hit dislike out of sheer classical conditioning. 😂
@@TheUnapologeticGeek look my fingers twitched but I resisted, lol. 😂 I am sure its people mad that you put his shot up when the word fascism was being said.
@@muchadoaboutnerdthings4895 It’s almost like I was trying to say something there…
"A little too direct for modern audiences." What does that even mean? So modern audiences don't like things that are direct? They prefer vagueness, abstractness, and ambiguity? As if I didn't have enough reasons to hate millennials already.
13 minutes you went off the rails. That darn evil Ted Cruz! Lol
Zimmerman flew and Tyler knew .
Zimmerman flew and Tyler knew .
Zimmerman flew and Tyler knew .
Zimmerman flew and Tyler knew .
Turk 182
The Incredible Hulk
But more because of Bill Bixby
Than the Hulk
Due to the earnestness of Bill's performance and always helping someone
At the cost of himself
Cheesy in parts oh Yes 😂
But...
QUATREMASS 2 Hammer 1957, is a much better effort !
V: The Second Generation was rubbish. The Final Battle was a decent conclusion, although the series after that was awful: that is what needs replacing
Were these spaceships all over the world? Were the aliens in Beijing Chinese looking and were those resistance fighters modeled after anti-Maoist nationalists? The WWII allegories here are a little too on-the-nose but really I never understood why spaceships coming to earth would be overly concerned with a very narrow chapter of European history on which to model its aesthetics. Cheese doesn't begin to describe this.
Your critique is frankly silly: the aliens have not modelled themselves after Nazi's - the writers did that to get across their point about how easy the slide to Fascism can be. If you watch the show (which you obviously have not), then you would know the ships are all over the world. It is logical to suppose that some of the aliens (the ones who land in China) might be Chinese looking, so they could be reassuring to the people of China. We don't ever see them, because this is an American show, made with American money, for a primarily American audience.
@@agl1138 Ah, so what you're saying is we shouldn't wonder about the culturally myopic silliness of aliens looking like a brief sliver of European history 50 years earlier on the planet they invade because it was the writers that created the aliens. In other words, nothing matters because writers created it. Make sense! Opinion revised -- great show!
Okay, you're obviously too woke to be honest. The two most popular actors on the show were Singer and Badler. Neither of them were OVERSHADOWED lol by whatever her name was. She was on the early edge of PUSHING people like her character and position down our throats. She was a fine actress and good character. But in reality she was the third nut in that wheel. It was a fun and interesting show.
They should remake it but the persecuted will be climate change deniers.
This fits in with the fascism angle.
Just more propaganda by the usual suspects
America is fascist.
Also.
V the mini series does not really depict fascism.
A bit of david icke bashing . Pure class.. NOT