V 2009, Review of the Pilot!

Hello Everyone; This is the FIRST ever review I wrote! This is a total recap of the first episode of the remake of V back in 2009. It’s how I saw it. Hope you enjoy a blast from the past!

Firstly, let me explain one thing: I have been a fan of V since the Kenny Johnston original mini series was aired in 1985 (in the UK). I was six years old and have very vivid memories of watching! The Guinea Pig being devoured by Diana, the ‘Donavan in the air vent’ scene made me jump out of my skin! I loved V SO much! Knowing that; imagine how happy I was when I heard rumours six or so years ago that a new revamped V ‘might’ be in the pipeline.

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Upon viewing the four-aired episodes of the re-imagined V I can say that it was totally worth the agonising wait with an amazing cast, well acted, and amazing/breath taking special effects! The only disappointment thus far it, in my opinion is that the pilot was too short, I was really hoping for a feature length episode! I decided that the best way to approach this review is scene by scene as I had never done this before an friend suggested that I write a review of V. So please bear with me on this one and any feedback would be wonderful. Thank you! The Oirigional V was set in Los Angeles, where as the remake is now set in New York. “Where were you when

JFK was assassinated… Where were you on 9/11… where were you this morning…” Tick tick tick…Tuesday November 3^rd 2009 6.30am… We start the show with a brilliant panning shot into Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell) FBI-Counter Terrorism Division. She is woken by a tremor. She calls for her son Tyler (Logan Huffman). She looks in his bedroom; her son’s bed is un-slept in. We find out via a telephone call that he had snuck out during the night. Tyler and his friend Brandon got into a fight by crashing a party. The boys are being treated in a clinic. Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch) is opening the doors to St Josephine’s Church, he greets a homeless wheelchair bound man called Roy, then seems disturbed by another tremor… Chad Decker (Scott Wolf) a news anchorman seemingly unaware of the tremors whilst taking a shower, at the same time as his ‘Prime focus with Chad Decker’ News Show airs on his television… Ryan Nichols (Morris Chestnut) is buying an engagement ring for his fiancée Valerie Stephens (Lourdes Benedicto) when another tremor hits, this time enough to vibrate the boxed ring around the counter top. Chad arrives at the Network, disgruntled, as he thinks he’s destined for bigger and brighter things. Erica is on the phone with Tyler as the tremors become more violent. In St Josephine’s Church, Father Jack rushes to Roy’s aid, as statue of Christ on the crucifix falls from an upper level and crashes to the ground barely missing them and shatters into a million pieces… Erica looks out her window; she sees a gigantic shadow rushing across New York City… (This was ominous, a foreboding sight, you can see the worry in Erica’s face) Ryan runs for his life as a Fighter Jet crashes obliterating a car and impacting a building. The pilot descends moments later, obviously unconscious. We then see the reflections of a gargantuan ship on the skyscrapers. (The effects in this sequence were fantastic!) The telephone signal scrambles, Erica tries to tell Tyler to stay where he is, but he jumps onto his motorbike and tries to make his way home. (Both Elizabeth and Logan acted this well, showing genuine concern for each other)

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Chad Decker and his assistant Haley take to the roof of the building and stare in awe as the ship comes into view. Father Jack comes out to investigate the hysteria outside the church; he is shocked on viewing the ship. (The reaction that played out on his face looked fearful. Nice touch from Joel)We see the scope of how immense the unearthly craft is, as it glides over the city. The visual effects are outstanding throughout but this sequence is amazing, I would be terrified if I saw this happening in real life. I really like the new design of the Motherships!

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Tyler dismounts his motorbike as the crowds of people become so thick. He looks up at the ship in admiration. Military types quickly move the crowd along including Tyler. 29 colossal spacecraft appeared over every major city around the world! London, New York and Los Angeles to name but a few! Erica tries to get into the now restricted zone; even her FBI badge cannot gain her access. But when a fight breaks out Erica seizes the opportunity and crosses the taped off area, calling out for Tyler. They are reunited; they seem to have a close bond. Mass hysteria erupts when the ship begin to morph before our very eyes! A beautiful-human looking woman who’s kindly face and striking dark eyes cause the population of earth to be in awe, appears across the bottom of the ships, Her elegant voice boomed out the following message… “Don’t be frightened, we mean no harm. Please except our apologies, we are truly anguished by the turmoil our arrival has caused. This is a momentous day, until now we believed we were the only intelligent life in the universe, we are overjoyed to find that we are not alone! My name is Anna and I am the leader of my people. We are delighted to meet you! But we need your help; we’re far from home and require water and a mineral that is common and abundant on earth in order to sustain ourselves. In exchange we are willing to share some of our technological advances with you, technology that will enrich your lives in all areas, after we have replenished ourselves we will leave you hopefully better then we found you. We look forward to getting to know our new friends! There will be more communication with your world leaders in the hours to come. Until then … we are of peace…always!”

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Okay, as I am a fan of old and new V I found myself saying ‘yeah right!’ But I really like how they did this! Anna offering what the world needs right now is compelling/sinister but her kindly face and demeanour draws people in! Morena Baccarin was the perfect choice for Anna, and as we Gaters already know Morena can play a fantastic baddie we saw that in Stargate SG-1 in her role of the Orici Adria! Father Jack Landry, a Catholic Priest, finds his faith shaken, he finds himself at a loss to explain how God and Aliens can exist together. At Erica Evans’ house, her, her son Tyler and his friend Brandon are waiting to see live coverage of ‘Anna’ on the television, while waiting she takes a telephone call with her FBI partner Dale Maddox (Alan Tudyk) “They are referring to themselves as the Visitors” she stated “Visitors are old friends that drop by for a drink”. They go on to discus that one terrorist ‘cell’ they have been investigating; their ‘chatter’ went up when the Visitors arrived. (his is important later) the ‘cell’ is looking to acquire vast amounts of the explosive c4. Tyler calls her over to watch the live broadcast of Anna’s speech. Anna approaches the podium and says “This is an inspiring day for us all. Mankind and Visitors coming together- we are honoured by your friendship. We will cherish it, nurture it and never abandon it. We are of peace. Always!” There is a mass flurry within the reporting ranks as they all rush to question Anna; they are unkind, even aggressive. “…The similarities between Humans and Visitors-our scientist say it’s impossible…” “Our scientists can explain it” Anna replied, another reporter asks with a nasty tone in his voice ‘why don’t you explain it’ Chad Decker then cuts over everyone “Why don’t you show some respect” Anna asks him if he has a question, “Yeah” he smirks “I have a question, is there such a thing as an ugly visitor?” there is a rumble of laughter. Anna states that she doesn’t understand, so Chad briefly explains: “Well you seem to all be what we consider attractive” So Anna with a wry smile replies, “You’re not so bad yourself!” Anna walks away, but looks over her shoulder with a wry smile.

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Decker reports on his news show: “Something unexpected from our new friends. ‘a sense of humour!’ Should the press be so tough on the V’s? They did just get here after all.” Anna had been watching on V-tech, on the Mothership; Marcus approaches and with a sinister smile Anna says: “I want him”. This is where we see the first obvious signs that Anna is NOT human. Morena Baccarin’s subtle-almost-reptilian head movements, and Rapid blinking is fantastically executed. Even my seven year-old picked up on the rapid blinking!Three weeks later, Decker reports that people are still flocking to see the Motherships in person, and buying V merchandise in host cities, causing a “Mini economic boom”. The newly opened ‘Healing centres’ are bringing in big crowds; there is talk of opening Visitor embassies; people are not happy and violent protests ensue. Erica Evans and Dale Maddox receive a lead on ‘their terrorist cell’ NYPD impounded a truck; they find traces of the explosive c4. Erica traces the truck to Long Island they leave to investigate. Previously they have had around Twenty leads on this cell; all falling through. They discover an underground bunker, the place is abandoned, but they find a Human Man bound to a chair, dead. Then they discover a massive shipment of the explosive C4. Ryan Nichols starts to get calls from an anonymous number, we shortly become aware that he is Georgie played by David Richmond-Peck-who my daughter ~aka Munchy~ adores by the way! “They are here, it’s started” Georgie warns! Tyler and Brandon, behind their parent’s backs, take a trip to the New York Mothership. They embark onto a ‘shuttle craft’ *Ok not sure if that’s what they are calling them on the new V, but that is what they were called in the 1983’s V!* and take a brief but memorable flight up to the Mothership.

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Once on the ship they are met with a breathtaking sight. They walk out onto a large platform and gasp at the view. The ‘view; is reminiscent of a Mythical lost city, exudes an almost ancient Rome feel mixed with futuristic architecture, lots of open spaces, greenery, even waterfalls! Calmness seems to befall them the views are serine and they are all in awe. ”Welcome to the New York mother ship”.
A beautiful Visitor young women approaches Tyler and Brandon.
“My name is Lisa” Tyler is instantly besotted Lisa seems to have her eye on Tyler too. Tyler is somewhat of a tearaway-delinquent, always seeming to get into fights. As soon as I saw this scene, I automatically think to the original V, when Robin has the Hybrid ‘star child’. It is smart of Anna to have her Daughter to be the one who has the child, and then the resistance wouldn’t be able to meddle with her plans. Lisa is played by Laura Vandervoort. Back at the underground bunker, the Coroner said the Man murdered, was dead for less then a day, but he was tortured. The ‘cell; has been printing fake documents, and passports. “Best fakes I’ve ever seen” Erica proclaims. ‘It’s a major operation but no one was here, they cleared out like they knew we were coming. It’s at this point that Erica is sure there is a mole within the FBI giving the Cell they are tracking tip offs. Tyler and Brandon, with other humans on the tour are given a small demonstration of the visitor’s ability to control gravity, Lisa approaches again; and introduces the boy’s to the idea of becoming Peace Ambassadors. This is primarily to get the youth on board, very much like the friend’s of the visitors on the original V. Once joined up they get a uniform, they get to spend time with Visitors, learn about their culture, get access to the Mothership, and they are to be Visitor Peace Ambassadors in there communities ‘spreading the piece’ (Spies for the Visitors) Father Jack is very sceptical of the Visitors. He doesn’t like how people are rendering themselves to blind-faith and devotion for the Visitors. A homeless man that was confined to a wheelchair, arrived at Church, he stood, and proclaimed: “They healed me and I’ve got no pain!” Jack is obviously impressed but is still very unconvinced of the Visitors Erica and her son Tyler have a falling out as his head-teacher sent a link to a website, we see an Internet video of Tyler spray-painting a red V onto private property. Apparently the Visitors called it spreading hope. (I really thought that Erica and Tyler had a close bond, but as time goes on we see this is not true, I am wondering if Tyler would become like ‘Daniel’ in the original). Marcus, Anna’s creepy Peace Ambassador shadow, approaches Decker at the network to tell him that Anna has chosen him for an “Intimate one on one interview on the Mothership; to ease the protests against us”… to be broadcast live worldwide. (So now we know that Chad Decker is like Christine Walsh *female news woman that goes on to be the Visitors Exclusive Press reporter* from the original V, but will he be as easily won over?)

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Meanwhile Erica Evans identifies the ‘victim’ as ‘Owen Chapman’ her team acquire a search warrant for Owen’s home. On arrival the FBI quickly realise that ‘they’ (Meaning the ‘cell’) have already got there. (Again with the mole…) Erica call’s ‘victim Owen’s’ cell/mobile phone, on retrieving it she discovers a text message, she hands to Dale to read out: “To all attending tonight Location: 4400 Peer Avenue-Brooklyn 10pm If you are new be prepared for the test. Any info on this cell is important” (When hearing this I immediately thought it was from Georgie and this was the beginning of the rise of the resistance. I also liked the nod to Scott Peters other show the 4400 which I also love!!) Georgie corners Ryan; he tries to get him ‘back’ to help. Ryan tells Georgie that he has a fiancé and cannot get involved and will not put her in danger. Georgie puts a piece of paper in Ryan’s pocket with the time/location of the meeting, he tells him to come if he grows a conscience. (In this scene there is talk of Ryan’s past and he doesn’t want Val to know, so it leaves the viewer in two minds to believe weather Ryan is trust worthy or not. Even My daughter picked up of this!) A man is waiting for Father Jack in the Church. He had been brutally attacked. He explained that the V’s attacked him. “I know the real reason they’re here Father and I’m not the only one” Father Jack is really concerned about the poor man but is intrigued enough to ask what the ‘real reason’ is. “The V’s are gonna obliterate us….” He hands Jack an envelope and makes him promise to take the contents to the address on the envelope (4400-peer avenue) Jack agrees to as the man slumps and dies. As he does it is revealed that he dies from an extreme trauma through the abdomen. This made me realise what a different show we are looking at here, I think the resistance wont just blow-up and have so many members as did in the old incarnation. I think it will be much harder this time around to defeat the Visitors. It will make for extremely interesting viewing!Chad is now sitting in the Mothership, retting ready for his hopefully career changing interview with Anna. With only minutes until ‘live to air’, Chad asks Anna if she has any questions for him about the interview. She replies with “No. Just be sure not to ask anything that would paint us in a negative light” Chad is shocked by this; this isn’t the way we do it right? “Excuse me?” he politely asks. “Don’t ask any questions that would portray us negatively, ask ones like when we first met”. Chad tries to explain that this is just not how things are done on earth. When it appears not to be going ‘her way’ Anna threatens to cancel the interview.

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“We can’t be seen in a negative light. This interview would elevate your career wouldn’t it Mr Decker; don’t you want to elevate your career??” She asks with a smile, Decker seems to be fighting with his conscience but agrees to go ahead with the interview. (This shows that Anna ‘will’ get what she wants, she will manipulate people to her bidding). We then cut to Jack (In civilian cloths-as apposed to his priest clothing) he takes the envelope in his jacket, and leaves for the meeting… Erica and Dale pull up close to the warehouse; she gets ready to go into the meeting incognito on her own. Dale wanted to go with her, but she explains that because of the mole, it’s better for her to go in, him to wait and if she’s not back in thirty minutes he’s to call for back up. Dale looks very angry… Once Erica enters the ‘meeting’ Georgie starts to explain… “This is a word of mouth group, you’re here because someone personally referred you. This is how we do things; this woman is a Doctor. She’ll be injecting a small amount of aesthetic into each of you….” Panicked looks between new arrivals; Erica chirps up “For what?”

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So my opinion is that Georgie is the new equivalent of Julie from the original, but what I like more about Georgie, is that he is normal. Not a Doctor or specialist in any field, that I am aware of, just a normal man that wants to fight against the Visitor’s evil plans! Chad intros the live interview, and thanks Anna. Her opening statement is “Feel free to ask anything and everything, I am here to discuss all topics without reserve…” It is at this point that Chad realises how badly he has been played. *Back to the warehouse* This before-mentioned test is to prove that ‘you’ are not a visitor. What does it entail? ‘You’ have a small ‘V’ cut just behind your ear-to expose scull bone. This proves that you are indeed human; if this were done to a visitor you would see scales! On the Mothership Chad asks: “What is life like where you come from?” “We come from a place of great beauty, vast cities, massive oceans, much like Earth. But unlike you we don’t divide ourselves into countries. We’re one united people” At the the Warehouse “You’ve all passed the test,” Georgie states. He then goes on to explain: “In order to walk among us they disguised their appearance by cloning human flesh over their own reptilian skin… Look the Visitors didn’t just get here; they’ve been here for years…” (I was really happy/excited that they went with ‘the cloned’ skin approach, as this was an issue in the old V!) On the Mothership Chad reminds Anna that ‘we’ as in humans are the only intelligent form of life that they have encountered. She agrees: “Humanity is a rare gift, one we hold in the heist regard” *Back to Georgie in the warehouse* “For decades they have been implementing a plan that will result in the extermination of every living man woman and child in the face of this earth…” Anna continues on the Mothership…*I am writing this scene by scene as I perceived it* “We are honoured and privileged to assist mankind with our knowledge and technology. Truth be told it stirs great emotion in us.” So Chad asks if they are in fact emotional beings. “We are! But we have evolved to quickly process and expel all negative feelings, happiness; we have learned comes from tranquillity and peace: *Back to Georgie in the warehouse* He explains that Visitors have established themselves everywhere. Business, government, and military…everywhere it took them years to achieve this. Then once well established they cause “world wide instability” The wars, the extreme religious/terrorism, the monitory meltdown…The Visitors were responsible for it all… *Back to Mothership* Chad asks Anna what she would say to the protesters? “That embracing change is never easy but the reward for doing so can be far greater then you can imagine…” She goes on to announce that they intend to open an expanded healing centre in every major city around the world. Chad refers to this as “universal Health care” (Again everyone in the world would want to be ‘healed’ by the visitors. I can understand how appealing this would be to everyone) *Back to warehouse* Georgie has everyone’s attention. So he continues to expose the Visitors true plans to all. He explains that the last part of their plans started with their arrival. They plan to gain trust with the promise of healthcare, friendship and technology, but what they are doing is positioning themselves to be the saviours of Humanity. As Georgie explains we see Erica’s Son Tyler forge his Mothers signature on the peace ambassador application form. Georgie says that by the time people realise what is going on it will be far too late. They will take over unless ‘we’ can stop them. “It’s the first time hearing this for some of you, you think we’re crazy right?” He directs the last comment to Erica. She asks if he has any proof, she doesn’t believe him, so starts to leave. When Jack steps forward with the envelope, it contains photographs of known Visitors on Earth. Upon viewing the photographs, Erica immediately recognises one of the ‘men’ as a member of the Cell she has been tracking. She points out to Georgie “This is Guy is a terrorist” Georgie says that this is what he had been trying to tell them, “A sleeper cell of Visitors”… As the meeting pans out Erica approaches Jack, and compliments him on his bravery, when we see some V tech float into the room, with a barely audible electronic hum… (I don’t know what abc’s official name for the V tech is but I have been calling them assassination balls!) This assassination ball looks crystalline in design, an almost organic look about it. It also doubles as a surveillance devise, it picks up with info-red. We see from the Assassination Ball’s POV “GET DOWN!” Georgie yells as he spies the Assassination Ball… The Ball morphs then fires crystalline daggers killing several people impaling others. Initially the people alive are in shock, but quickly come to their senses to run, but visitors dressed in human attire rush the warehouse, slashing people with blades of unusual design, not caring whether they are man or woman. It is perfectly obvious that the Visitors are much more physically stronger then us, faster and more agile. Jack grabs for the photos that had been dropped, and has a brief hand-to-hand fight with a Visitor. (Very well fought for a priest). As Erica goes to get an abandoned Gun, a Visitor apprehends her, she knocks him away, and he flips over and reveals himself as Erica’s FBI partner Dale. He then slams her to the floor and tries to choke her to death. Georgie tries to escape, but is cut of by a Visitor, who is about to lunge at George, when Ryan intervenes and grapples the visitor away. He quickly subdues the V and kills him, but not before being slashed badly down his left arm. Erica, meanwhile, finally manages to kick Dale away. She sees and retrieves what looks like an industrial saw blade. He comes back at her fast ready to kill, but Erica swings hard with the blade (Cringe it really looks like she hit him good, and the sound effects add to the cringe factor). He goes down. Erica checks to see if he is dead, what she sees shocks her momentarily, she sees Dales skin hanging off his face revealing ‘his’ true face… Reptilian skin. She pulls at the clones skin to get a closer look, when Dales ‘real’ eye opens, He lunges for his throat again, she feels for the saw blade, and when she finds it she plunges the blade into where his hart should be. (Upon re-watching and pausing to take in dialogue I did notice that there was indeed green blood mixed in with the red from the cloned human flesh!!!). Jack grabs Erica and they make a run for it together. At the same moment Ryan grapples with Georgie to run, they make it out safely. Ryan and Georgie talk when they get far enough away. Georgie refers to the Visitors as “Monsters” Ryan disagrees, and tells Georgie that not all of them are monsters, and then proceeds to show his cut arm, he pulls back the big slash to reveal that Ryan himself is a Visitor. Georgie’s reaction is genuine shock and a flash of fear… Ryan tells him: “You we’re right to fight, there’s others out there like me, other traitors, deserters. We’ll help” Ryan promises. I think some will be shocked by this revelation talking with other friends in usa that have seen it, some did not see this coming, but I thought there was something about him from the beginning, he just seemed…different…not quite human enough…or maybe that’s just me?Marcus approaches Chad as he is leaving the Mothership after the interview. He tells Chad that Anna ‘loves’ him and ‘trusts’ him; Chad states, “Well I’m no so sure that I trust her” Marcus says in return: “Look-I’m sorry for the misunderstanding tonight, but you did the right thing. Compromising one’s principles for the greater good is not a shameful act, it’s a noble one” Chad is not convinced. Marcus goes on to tell Chad that they intend to call on him again, wherever there is a story of importance they will call in him to report it. “Unless you have an aversion to everyone hanging on your every word” Marcus adds before returning to Anna. Anna looks over to Chad with a sinister smile…

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I do not think that Chad Decker will be as gullible as Christine Walsh from the original V (shown above).

We then see Ryan’s girlfriend Valerie really upset in their apartment, she had found the engagement ring that Ryan had brought her, she apologises, she thought that the calls he was getting from Georgie was him having an affaire. Erica and Jack are sitting together contemplating what has just transpired. Erica states that she does not know whom to trust. Jack reaches over and holds her hand, and asks what they are to do… “We help build a resistance, we recruit, bring more into the fold. We have to be careful…” As Erica says this we see Tyler going through the enrolment into the Peace Ambassadors. Jack agrees that we have to fight, “Oh we’ll fight! They have a big head start. They are arming themselves with the most powerful weapon out there…Devotion” Erica states. Tyler is given a uniform, he is hand in hand with Lisa, and then Marcus announces: “Welcome to the Dawn of a new day. We are of peace always!” We end the pilot episode with a close up of Anna Rapid blinking, looking out a window on the Mothership. The shot rapidly pans out to reveal the immense size of the Mothership.

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I really loved this pilot episode, as said at the beginning of this review, the only negative is that in my opinion it wasn’t long enough! This is by no means a negative at all. I just wanted more! The music well matched the scenes also; the whole thing was fantastic