In the early Spring of 1983, all of Earth stood and watched in wonder and awe as mile wide spaceships entered our atmosphere. These "Motherships" as they were called began to appear all over the globe on different continents and in various locations, over the United States alone we had 50 of the crafts. As the world watched in both fear and hope, the "Visitors" stated that they were here in peace and to share technology and science. After a brief time of meeting and greeting Earth's dignitaries and leaders the Visitors begin to reveal a little bit about themselves, but soon a group of scientists stumble across a secret of the Visitors.

Spread out over three nights V was one of the first blockbuster mini-series to ever hit television. NBC broadcast this epic series and did an incredible job with the marketing of it. NBC used bus adds and newspapers along with TV commercials to spread the news of the arrival as an actual event more than a TV show. And the effort paid off with an interest.

I sat and watched with mild interest the first night of the series, but once they showed how the Visitors ate, I was hooked. When the evil Diane (Jane Badler) mouth unhinged to eat the poor white rat, my own jaw nearly hit the floor. That scene is still one of the all time coolest images. What a great form of alien invaders.

V also had a stellar cast, who all did great work. From the heroes of Dr. Juliet Parish (Faye Grant) to the uber cool bad ass Mike Donavan (Marc "Beast Master" Singer) to the pure evil of Diane and Steven (Andrew Prine) to the alien leader John (Richard Herd) all did fantastic jobs. And even though it was made for TV the effects were very well done, from the lasers to the ships, but the alien effects were a true blast, kinda cheesy now, in 83 they were quite good.

The best part of this series is how the alien influence is shown spreading over the world. From there red uniforms to the enlisting of humans into their evil fold, the whole system has a very Third Reich feel to it. The best is when human turncoat Daniel confronts his family after joining the Visitor's youth corp. We also get a few good aliens who tend to aid the humans whenever they get the chance, these insiders are lead by the alien Martin.

V has a very dark story line as we learn what the visitors are truly up to in their sinister scheme and the series ends with the nearly apparent decimation of the resistance force. Did the last of the human resistance get wiped out? Or did we save something back as a last ditch try to save ourselves? To find out the answers rent or buy V today and settle in for around 7 hours of viewing to find out. For normally less than $15 you can pick up V on DVD and it is easily worth the cost.

(1983) Kenneth Johnson

Jane Badler .... Diana
Michael Durrell .... Robert Maxwell
Faye Grant .... Dr. Juliet Parrish
Peter Nelson .... Brian
David Packer .... Daniel Bernstein
Neva Patterson .... Eleanor Dupres
Tommy Petersen .... Josh Brooks
Marc Singer .... Mike Donovan
Blair Tefkin .... Robin Maxwell
Michael Wright .... Elias Taylor
Bonnie Bartlett .... Lynn Bernstein
Leonardo Cimino .... Abraham Bernstein
Richard Herd .... John
Evan C. Kim .... Tony Wah Chong Leonetti
Richard Lawson .... Dr. Ben Taylor

Also known as:
V: The Original Mini Series