V: Die Besucher

Before Alien Nation, before Independence Day, there was V. A race of human looking extraterrestrials arrive on earth. These 'vistors' led by alien Anna come in peace, however, behind her smile is a sinister plan to take over the world.

The latest 'reimagining' of V is a competent rework of the original 80's TV show. Despite some ropey CGI effects, the story, characters and script carry some weight, there are shades of grey, not everything is black and white... Unorthodox alliances, double crossings, morale choices and sacrifice are just some of the themes amongst a cloak and dagger alien invasion. There is action, drama and of course it's played possibly as realistic as you can get considering it a show about lizard aliens. There are hard hitting surprises but the majority of the series falls in to predicable melodrama.

Jane Badler the original female protagonist appears in season 2 as 'Diana' which is a nice nod for fans of the predecessor albeit as a different character with the same name. And also Marc Singer gives a cameo. Notable are actors Scott Wolf and Laura Vandervoort. Worth mentioning is Anna's right hand man played by Morena Baccarin and tough guy Kyle Hobbes played by Charles Mesure.

Evil executives at ABC have cancelled the series after season/series 2 which is a crying shame as there were plenty of places V could have been taken with the right story writers and good characters already established such as FBI agent Erica Evans, played by Elizabeth Mitchell and Joel Gretsch as Father Jack Landry.

It's said that it ends on a cliff hanger but that depends on who's side your on, there is one winner, if no more are made... Worth seeing, I'll now finish this sentence as abruptly as ABC's cancellation.

I'm old enough to remember the original series and had hopes a remake would bring new ideas and fresh approaches to the concept. So far I've found the plot not particularly believable within it's context and I didn't really connect too much with most of the characters.

It seems they have gone for special effects and pretty people rather than characters, concepts like loyalty and statements about totalitarian government which the original series did rather well despite it's flaws.

I still have hopes the series will improve...generally it's getting more watchable compared to the Independence Day style pilot which didn't answer any important questions or build up the pace very well.

Let's see how it progresses - some great TV shows started out poor - this is just average and improving very very slightly.

What a shame this was cancelled before series 3 as its clear by the end of series 2 that this wasn't finished.

The good - Anna. Wonderful actress. Played the part beautifully and a joy on screen. Her expressions. Her emotion and at times lack of it. Every scene with her is worthwhile.

The story and writing throughout was great even though it was very much American action formulated each episode. Acting throughout was pretty much spot on too.

Cameo from Donavan at the end of the series was great to see. Diana a welcome addition to season two.

The bad - that son, Tyler. Typical annoying American boy teen who makes all the wrong immature choices. Way too cliche. Annoyed me on screen. Maybe that made him a good actor? Was surprised he lasted the entire two series.

The ugly - the special effects at times were bad. What a shame.

Overall worthwhile series but let down by the fact it wasn't finished.

I was worried that this, as a remake of a cult series, would be either bad or silly, but I really liked the pilot episode, and I'm looking forward to seeing the next one.

It's faster paced than the original "V", but as I found the original sometimes frustratingly slow, I wasn't bothered by this. The aliens are made to seem a lot more human - all except for their leader Anna (played by Morena Baccarin), who made my skin crawl. She has some facial expressions that would make me back up and start looking for something to use as a weapon. She really builds up a certain feeling of paranoia, and a definite feeling of not knowing what she's planning. Both fit this story well, I think.

Thankfully, there's a lot less characters in this version than the old one. I always found them hard to keep track of, and here it seems they've chosen to concentrate on a fewer number of people.

It wouldn't surprise me if I come to like this new version of "V" better than the old one. The old one was very much about people; how they reacted, felt and interacted. The new one seems to be a bit more about the action and thriller elements.

Before I even read the comments on IMDb my opinion on the first episode was also that the 45 minute pilot episode seemed rushed and compressed with too much happening. It should have definitely been at least a 90 minute intro episode. However, I stuck with it and the story is now starting to take shape. I really do hope they continue for at least a couple of seasons (like the original) otherwise it will be a severe anti climax to the build up currently developing in the story.

The pilot episode was no match to the original but as the plot has begun to develop (in the more modern era) It has become much more entertaining. It seems to be the opposite to the original (which had a great opening mini series which then faded) This new series had, for me, a dire opening episode but is gaining my interest with each new episode.