'V' the series to begin on ABC

[Argonaut]

Okay, now write about it as if you had no idea about anything you've learned in the past three years or so. Write about it as if you are the general TV viewing public and seeing it through their eyes - no knowledge about anything you've learned from these pages - the 'normal' American who gets their news from FOX, CNN, MSNBC or their local channel. What do you see in it from their point of view? Might be hard to do - but if you can see that, you'll get closer to seeing the message they're trying to send - I think.

Hm... The message may be that the problem is wholly physical, and the solution is armed rebellion. Which is the same message pushed by Alex Jones and his ilk. Most viewers probably just see it as pure sci-fi entertainment and nothing more, but the message could still get through on a subconscious level.

 

[pentagram13]

maybe the "Lizzie's" made this show? Maybe they made it in the 80's too? I just watched it and found it to be kinda crazy! I remember seeing it in the 80's but i was just a kid and didn't remember much, then came across it on sci fy the other day... its a little differant but the premise is the same, but maybe this is how there coming forth through Media seeing how a large portion of society is "addicted" to TV and living vicariously! Just my two cents FWIW!!!

 

[Cyre2067]

Okay, now write about it as if you had no idea about anything you've learned in the past three years or so. Write about it as if you are the general TV viewing public and seeing it through their eyes - no knowledge about anything you've learned from these pages - the 'normal' American who gets their news from FOX, CNN, MSNBC or their local channel. What do you see in it from their point of view? Might be hard to do - but if you can see that, you'll get closer to seeing the message they're trying to send - I think.

I don't watch much TV, so I didn't see it, just fyi.

Hmm that is difficult. Normal TV viewing public...

Wow that show was awesome! The special effects were pretty nifty and all the aliens were hot! Esp the girls! They did seem a little creepy though, especially the way they talked and their emotions came through as faked or plastic. They said something about being evolved to exclude all negativity, maybe if I cut out all the negativity from my life I'll be happy like they say! They also offered universal healthcare, wow wouldn't that be cool!?

It sucks that they're basically bad guys - although a few of them were good! The journalist who let Anna walk all over him certainly got a boost in his career, and exclusives from here on out... what was is that the male alien said to him... something about "sacrificing your morals for the greater good" being noble.

...yeah I see what you mean. Depending on your level of BEing and awareness you can get completely different messages from the show. Funny how I didn't really remember the other bits until I pondered your question, nor did I think about how the average viewer would take it. I mean, to me it just sounded like pathological logic, but to anyone who doesn't know about it they could easily imbibe those memes.

 

[Erna]

[quote author=Alderpax]
Hm... The message may be that the problem is wholly physical, and the solution is armed rebellion.
[/quote]

Yes, lies wrapped in truth. The same as the UFO phenomena, completely side-stepping the hyperdimensional reality.

We also watched it as kids, my parents were very laid back about what we watched. I'll never forget that pulsating intro or maybe ending where the titles came up. Somewhere they played this pulsating heartbeat.

 

[Elly Kay]

Thanks SnoDog for the heads up about the pilot. I recorded it last night and watched it today. I have not watched the original 80's of the series so I'm not familiar at all with the series. I'm interested to see what directions the show is taken in. I agree that there is definately a focus on violent or armed resistence to the Visitors and that just seems to be the natural 'first choice' to react to this type of situation :/

 

[Al Today]

If TV-land follows a pattern I think I have seen, they're gonna make and drag on the drama, like a soap opera. Not that there is anything wrong with soaps, but Sci-Fi needs flying machines, space travel, neat machines, see other galaxies/worlds and other cool stuff. Expand people's horizons so to say... Betcha there's gonna be a big ole love story embedded in there too...

... Yes, lies wrapped in truth. The same as the UFO phenomena, completely side-stepping the hyperdimensional reality. ...

The butterflies began flapping their wings just a short time ago. The winds are a-changing. Deceptions and delusions ultimately fade away before truth, whatever it is...

 

[Masamune]

I saw the show and I agree with Puck I thought it was well done and exposed some ideas about how we could all be taken advantage of and manipulated by a potential savior. With what I have learned from sott I can see this could be a good metaphor for psychopaths, lizzies, etc. but I have been hearing that many people see it as a metaphor for the situation with Obama and how everyone adores him (or used to). Here is an article from the Chicago Tribune:

'V' aims at Obamamania

By Glenn Garvin McClatchy/Tribune News

November 3, 2009

Imagine this. At a time of political turmoil, a charismatic, telegenic new leader arrives virtually out of nowhere. He offers a message of hope and reconciliation based on compromise and promises to marshal technology for a better future that will include universal health care.

The news media swoons in admiration -- one simpering anchorman even shouts at a reporter who asks a tough question: "Why don't you show some respect?!" The public is likewise smitten, except for a few nut cases who circulate batty rumors on the Internet about the leader's origins and intentions. The leader, undismayed, offers assurances that are soothing, if also just a tiny bit condescending: "Embracing change is never easy."

So, does that sound like anyone you know? Oh, wait -- did I mention the leader is secretly a totalitarian space lizard who's come here to eat us?

Welcome to ABC's "V," the most fascinating and bound to be the most controversial new show of the fall television season. Nominally a rousing sci-fi space opera about alien invaders bent on the conquest (and digestion) of all humanity, it's also a barbed commentary on Obamamania that will infuriate the president's supporters and delight his detractors.

"We're all so quick to jump on the bandwagon," observes one character. "A ride on the bandwagon, it sounds like fun. But before we get on, let us at least make sure it is sturdy."

The bandwagon in this case is conspicuously saucer-shaped. "V" starts with the arrival of a couple of dozen ships from outer space, piloted by creatures who look like humans except a lot prettier. "Don't be frightened," says their luminously beautiful leader Anna (Morena Baccarin, "Serenity"). "We mean no harm."

The aliens -- who become known as V's, for visitors -- quickly enthrall their wide-eyed human hosts.

A handful of dissidents hold out against the rapturous reception given the V's. Some are simply uneasy, such as the youthful priest Father Jack (Joel Gretsch, "The 4400"), who sharply criticizes the Vatican's embrace of the V's as divine creations: "Rattlesnakes are God's creatures too."

With or without the political sheen, "V" is sweeping television storytelling at its best. Whether you choose to view it as a blood-and-guts war story, a spy thriller (unlike the original show, these V's are perfect replicas of humans, so you never really know who might be sitting beside you at the bar), a high-stakes family drama (as households divide over the intentions of the V's), a religious allegory (the V's make a crippled man walk, filling up churches again) or just a sci-fi throwback to the days of "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" and "The Thing," "V" is irresistible. This bandwagon is definitely worth jumping on.

 

[Beau]

Here's another review of the pilot titled Is V Anti-Obama Propaganda? - http://io9.com/5397077/is-v-anti+obama-propaganda

 

[shijing]

maybe the "Lizzie's" made this show?

Or maybe Thor's Pantheum? ;)

 

[DJM]

NWO

Did anyone catch the Illuminati / New World Order quote "The Dawn of a New Day"? You can find this at the end of the show when the V's are making a toast to the suckered-in young cadets.

Have you ever heard any of the PTB say this in their speeches?

 

[Justin]

I didn’t see the whole episode, just the 10 minute preview, so please correct me if I get this wrong. Aren’t the aliens revealed to be not-so-nice lizards in the first episode? At least to some characters or maybe just to the audience? If this is the case, then I think this sends a subtle message. The message is that even though aliens are sneaky and may try to trick and deceive humans, the humans will quickly reveal the deception and trickery. The deception is simplistic and similar to the ways humans deceive each other, and the alien deception takes place in the physical world only. There is no triple quadruple reverse psychology or lies within lies within lies within lies. The alien deception is simple and easy for Joe-sixpack to understand.

As others have mentioned, I think there are subtle messages being delivered by this show via the exclusion of certain ideas entirely: hyperdimentional realities, time travel, manipulation of matter and energy, etc.

 

[Beau]

I didn’t see the whole episode, just the 10 minute preview, so please correct me if I get this wrong. Aren’t the aliens revealed to be not-so-nice lizards in the first episode? At least to some characters or maybe just to the audience?

Yes, they are revealed to the audience and a few major protagonists but remember that this is a remake and a large portion of the audience is already going to know a lot of what might be considered revelations about the plot. They advanced the story really quickly in the pilot, in the original series it was not revealed that the visitors were evil lizards right away but I would say that the quick reveal in the pilot is because the studio wants to move the plot along quickly.

Their is still a large number of the human population that is drinking the kool aid that the visitors are saviors. Most of the Joe Sixpacks are loving the visitors because they have all those healing centers and are allowing people to come up to their ship and see everything first hand (which is obviously not a clear view of what's happening, but people are definitely buying it).

 

[MichaelM]

**** MAJOR SPOILERS ****

I watched the pilot and, I have to say I was _very_ underwhelmed. It is obvious they had an ample budget for the show given the special effects and getting that actress from Lost. But, imho, the story (so far), the editing, the acting even (especially for the unknowns; I especially dislike the monologue part of the person organizing the resistance, and the lame acting of the rebellious son) was p*ss poor.

I think it may have been my very high expectations of the show.

Some topics that I think they revealed too early: the V's are reptilian aliens, the not-so-subtle dark intentions of the V's (from the first "conditional" interview), that there are good V's, etc.
But then the writer's intentions were to just to quickly move the plot along (as Heimdallr mentioned) the revelation still wasn't very well executed. The V's revealing their hand too early to the human interviewer doesn't display a high degree of intelligence. There are real life psychopaths who would be better at garnering affection and support without revealing an iota of their psychopathy.

I also didn't like the not-so-subtle use of "charged words/topics":
- "universal health care" (notice the not-so-subtle emphasis from the actor)
- terrorist sleeper cells

I did like some things from the pilot:
- they showed that the sheeple easily turn to religion when faced with something they're not prepared for
(it would be nice if they work into the story that the Vs leverage this mechanical reaction to their nefarious purposes)
- that what you see on t.v. is different off-camera
(duh! I know, it's been done numerous times before in numerous movies and tv series but "your milage may vary" and some people might need more examples than others before the point is driven home)
- the best way to lower your guard if you're a teenage male is a hot teenage female
(Are you listening to me Neo or are you looking at the lady in the red dress?)

Over-all, I think the story so far wasn't well-thought out or executed well. But my opinion could change depending on what the next episodes have to offer.


**** V for Vendetta SPOILER ****


There was also one thing that I remembered after watching "V for Vendetta" last night... In the part where there's a voice over from the inspector and he's telling his partner what he thinks will happen in the following days (after the V costumes get delivered en masse). Then the scene shows a little girl spray-painting a red V and then is gunned down by the one of the "pro-party police" (I forgot what they called them in the movie) and then subsequently gets lynched by a mob.
There is also another spray painting scene before where Evey catches a girl (looked like the same girl) but the girl doesn't finish her "V".

In the "V" t.v. series, the rebellious youth is caught red-handed by his FBI agent mom (Juliette from Lost) as she shows her son that she a found a video of him spray painting "V" on a wall.

I can't tell if it was intentional to draw a parallel/comparison with the "V" spray painting from "V for Vendetta".

 

[Ca.]

I guess timing is everything...............UFO Casebook continues to have the best example's of aerial activity that i have found with pictures and video for the general public........... maybe the floods gates are full for holding back this activity and this must represent there conditioning the general population for the landing of the century ..................but didn't that happen around 1947 when the U.S. shook hands with devil.. . or was that Adam and Eve and much earlier...............?

 

[Nicholas]

Just finished watching the last episode (will continue in March 2010). The "rebels" find a warehouse where the V's are introducing a chemical to the normal flu vaccine (the "rebels" originally thought it was being introduced into the vitamins). I thought that was very interesting "revelation" considering what is happening in the real world. The "rebels" blew up the warehouse so the V's will have to find another method to obtain their goal (I didn't see in the show what the chemical was suppose to do).