So they aired the new "V" tonight. I thought it was pretty good, but I still prefer the original version from the 80s. Did you guys like it?

man, i thought they'd come up with some kind of V for Vendetta TV series somehow... i was disappointed to find out online that this had nothing to do with it, lol.

What?!

The 80s "V" was arguably the best TV mini-series of all-time!

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that's great, TG, but i'm not interested. sorry, dude, i was just sayin' what went through my head up there when i first saw the commercials for the remake, lol. :3

I saw it, and while the visuals were cool, the writing was rather cheesy.

man, i thought they'd come up with some kind of Thomas Pynchon's V. TV series somehow... i was disappointed to find out online that this had nothing to do with it, lol.

Think of what you're saying: a Pynchon miniseries, on network TV. I'd eat my new Mario hat if even HBO would be so daring.

i love the old mini series such a deep story of humans trying to survive an alien invasion and i watched the new one last night and i was impressed it was a lot different but yet they keeped it close to the old feel i can't wait to see where they go

I have not seen the original series but from what I seen last night I liked it alright.

I know, I know...but I'd kill for an adaptation of any Pynchon work into the medium of television or film by a talented, careful enough director. I find it very difficult to read Vineland without spinning off into remarkable daydreams of how Terry Gilliam would handle that story, for example.

But it seems that Pynchon is a lot like Salinger in many ways, one of which being his steadfast reluctance to allow ANYONE to purchase the rights to his work. I do respect that, and I don't want him to reneg on his position (artistic integrity and all that, which he's unquestionably earned), but the daydreams are still a lot of fun.

Of course, the outlier seems to be Inherent Vice, the movie rights of which--so the rumor goes--are indeed up for sale. It'll be interesting to see how that pans out.

Actually, wait...we already did.

I saw it and found it better than I expected. True, it's hard to form an opinion on one episode but I'm optimistic.

My wife and I were all fired up to watch it, since we both fondly remember the original miniseries. When I turned on the tv at the right time, there was a STUPID LOCAL GREEN BAY PACKER COACH SHOW on instead, with a blurb on the screen saying V will be aired locally on Saturday at 11 pm. Aaaaargh! I hate the Packers. They can't win a game and ruin my sunday, then they ruin my tuesday also.

I found a good portion of the show on YouTube. It was broken into 5 parts and apparently part 5 never got uploaded. The show's web site doesn't have it available for viewing, which SUCKS! Has anyone stumbled onto a legit/legal site where I can watch this?

@Magi The ABC website has it listed as it will be uploaded on the 7th. I know its days away but still legal/legit.

Apparently it got 13.9 million viewers

A few things I didn't like about the new "V" was I didn't see any laser guns and I wish they had those cool alien voices! The whole thing that they are "sleeper cell terrorists" just seem cliche. Somebody hijacked "V" and turned it into "They Live."

I also wish all of the Vs would wear uniforms. And I also thought the pacing was a bit to fast -- character development was non-existent.

Thanks for that info, Devil_Hunter_Dante!

I (and my elementary school friends) was one of the biggest V fans back in the 80s -- wrote fan letters to the actors (i think only Jane "Diana" Badler responded via the usual generic Thanks! letter and photo), started an informal "V Club", frquently donned a homemade Visitor logo cap (made out of an old Yankees cap) and red vest. The Original Miniseries (also sometimes referred to as "V: The Arrival") was the best, but Final Battle was "cooler". And introduced Ham Tyler, so that rules. The Series (all 19 eps of it) could have been strong, but was decimated by budget limitations and NBC directives.

I've been waiting for a new V for so long, preferably with Kenneth Johnson's involvement (he bailed out during the Final Battle when network execs wanted to force the more sci-fi stuff, like the Starchild, which was never in his original drafts) -- there were talks a few years back (leading up to the 20th Anniv.) of a new NBC series including some of the original characters, but it evidently never got past the prelim phase. D'oh! So that brings us to the new series. To my knowledge, Kenneth Johnson is not involved, but that's okay -- he's continued his vision of V in a recent "Second Generation" novel (which ignores all of The Final Battle and The Series).

I actually really enjoyed the pilot episode. Paced a little fast with the character development, but i think that was by design so they can jump right into the meat of the series -- already we have the resistence formed, fifth columnists being involved and all that. There are certianly changes, but it does really retain that feeling of "this is exactly what "V" would have been if it was made today instead of in the early 80s". And for those V nuts, you'll have noticed that some of the dialogue is taken word-for-word from the original mini, which is cool. It does lack a certain magic that the original had, but i think that's generally true of a lot of modern TV shows which tend to throw a coat of gloss on everything. I also don't like that they refer to the Visitors as "Vs" and have Visitor-supporters spraypainting the trademark "V" -- just a personal nitpick though, as the titular "V" was always meant to refer not to "visitors", but "victory", and be a symbol of the resistence. Perhaps that will actually develop story-wise over time (that the resistance adopts the symbol), which would actually be a cool thing.

But of course, no matter how good the series turns out to be, nothing will match the excellent WWII-allegory that was The Original MiniSeries. Fun fact -- it was originally not written as an alien invasion, but a fascist group's takeover of the US. NBC wanted to capitalize on the Star Wars and sci-fi popularity of the time, and asked Johnson to frame it that way.

I realize i could go on and on about so many things, but i'll spare you all. Bottom line is i loved the show, and am looking forward to the next episode. Any fans of the original should definitely check it out; it may not be your cuppa, but it's looking pretty good thus far.

I'm going to watch it tomorrow on Hulu, but from what I've heard, it's supposed to be good for the fans of the series.

Eek, I nearly spoiled myself then, gonna watch it tonight (i keep saying that), I'll be back!

Btw, you do realise there is only four episodes right, then it's a long wait till spring next year. I think that is silly, and may harm the show, unless it is really popular, then I suppose people will be willing to wait.

But that's IMMENSELY better than soiling yourself! (which is how i first read it, lol)