V (2009)

Last week saw the launch of the re-imagining and updating of V, the classic early 80's mini series, on American TV.

The premise of the original series was very simple. Aliens arrive offering peace and hope but with sinister motives. It is a story of resistance, as a rag-tag team of humans fight against the alien "invasion".

The original mini series, whilst very good, was definitely a product of its time and based firmly in the tradition of fear. There is the fear of the things that are not like us, of ways of doing things that are different to our own. Different philosophies, different cultures. Or to put it in the traditional way, fear of Communism.

For me, this is what the original V was about. The hidden menace of Communism. Communists can look like us but believe in things alien to us, and to work toward their own ends which are fundamentally opposed to our own. This is very much a 50's view but it does seem to resonate in the original series.

But that was then. We are now in 2009 and Communism was defeated by Capitalism. The Soviet Union collapsed and the Berlin Wall came crumbling down.

The new V is very stylish in design, but the basis of the original series is still there. We have the Visitors coming in peace and offering technological advancement in return for some natural resources which we have in abundance. The Visitors look like us, albeit very attractive, but we also know as an audience that beneath that attractive exterior lies something truly alien in nature.

The new series also works on the paranoia that was present in the original series, but just updated for a modern generation. In the first episode there are a lot of reveals. One of the chief ones is that The Visitors have not just arrived but they have been here for a while, working in the background and positioning themselves into position within Society.

It is this that leads to the paranoia. If this Visitors can look like us then who can you trust? If you do not know who you trust then all you can do is trust no one.

One of the main players on the human team is Erica, an FBI agent and therefore very much part of the establishment. However, from what she learns in the first episode she goes very much from being part of the establishment to being a loner within the machine, unable to trust anyone in case that person should turn out to be a Visitor in disguise.

Like BSG before it, the new V is not just a redoing of the original series. It takes the toolbox of the original series but it then puts a spin on it so that it fits into the modern world. Just like the original mini series was a product of its time, so the new series is a product of our times.

It will be interesting to see where it goes from here but I do think that we will be in for an enjoyable ride with it.