V Season 1 Review

channel: ABC

show creator: Kenneth Johnson

genre: Sci-Fi

V Season 1 is a mixed bag but not in a bad way. It has everything needed to be hit show. Fan-boy characteristics, great effects, known and capable cast, good producers and a great idea and story that can go on for many seasons. The problems that show faced in  its first season was the split up format the show was shown in, storyline events took too too long to happen and the cast was way too short to be taken seriously as the only known and up and coming rebel group against the V's.

The show is a remake or re-imagining of  the TV miniseries of the same name that ran throughout the 80's. I never had the chance to see the original nor know someone who has seen it themselves. The hype for the  new show was big and many though it would be capable of doing the same with what Battlestar Galactica did. By taking something old and put a new spin on it and maybe as in BSG's case a even better spin. But for V it wasn't that easy, that radical or popular as it proved for Battlestar.

V is about the coming of an alien life form to Earth called (the Visitors). They come to Earth in huge spaceships and preach peace to Earth's population and governments. This is all communicated through their leader Anna (Morena Baccarin). We see the invasion from the V's side through their leader Anna and her subordinates but more closely through the human side. A FBI agent  Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell) and members of a secret underground rebel group called the fifth column. come together to form a resistance to the V's. They have the truth on the real reasons why the Visitors have come to Earth. It's their duty  to take down the V's and start building a rebel group and underground network for the eventual invasion of Earth.

Throughout the 12 episodes the Visitors slowly make their moves for their master plan and the rebel group are closely behind trying to formulate a plan to counter attack a possible V invasion and sabotage them at any chance. The show has quite a few subplots with one of the rebel groups son going close to the V's and falling in love with one of them, another is the relationship of a human reporter and his connection to Visitor queen Anna. All are good and never fall flat. Without these minor sub-plots V could have easily had been a mediocre TV show. As some of the sub-plots do lead to more important events in the overall story of the show.

Generally the show is pretty good. Its one of those shows that doesn't have a lot bad elements to it but is lacking in integral elements that are needed for a long and sustaining show. The only real negative is that  watching the show you want more and believe they can not only do better but up the ante. Meaning that the whole show is primarily small scale. Many of the biggest events of the show come at the end and many of episodes are primarily driven by the V's efforts  to plant invasion seeds within the human population for the future or the rebel group on sabotaging those efforts. Where I'm going at is that the show at times feels stale due to the fact that the rebel group we follow is only compromised of 5 people and feel like as if its the same routine on and on. You would think they would go on a recruiting frenzy but sadly they dont.

Around these elements does the show fail to be a bigger TV phenomenon. The show has real potential to have a steady fan-base and be a great show. But the way to do it really is  possibly to follow the formula that the best have previously done. Battlestar and Lost were so good  do the fact that they followed  story lines that employed large casts with deep character arcs and epic story lines. If V can manage to put more players in mix and up their game with more climatic and action packed episodes they can surely be remembered as a great sci-fi TV show on par wiith others instead of just a good sci-fi TV show that can be surely forgotten..

The show is only 13 episodes so any sci-fi geeks interested should jump on give the show a chance. Its a good and provides satisfactory entertainment but it not great and the how much you like depends solely your expectations from it. It ain't cheap ass sci-fi on a low budget but its also not in Lost or BSG territory least for now. Sci-fi check it out and if your looking for something more sophisticated in TV sci-fi then check Battlestar Galactica.

Personal Rating: