Josh Z

Yeah, but look at who wrote that review. You gonna trust his opinion over mine?

crazyrabbits

Yeah, the original V mini-series wasn't too bad, but I personally thought that The Final Battle varied wildly in terms of tone. The TV series at least took chances in making surprise character deaths, but it had a lot of repetitive storylines (someone infiltrates Visitor mothership to do such-and-such), as well as an unsatisfying ending. All in all, though, I wouldn't mind seeing a boxset of this.

Josh Z

Yeah, but then it would later bring back the actor as the original character's twin brother.

As I said in my DVD review back when it was first released:

crazyrabbits

Ah yes. I always felt that Phillip was such an underused character.

CertifiedTHX

And why would his opinion be any less valid than yours?

Multiple reviewers (you among them) do state, though, that the composition is still very good. A little is taken off the top and bottom, but information is gained on the sides. So sounds like this was transferred the same as the original miniseries. Maybe just to have a consistent look between them. Guess that's acceptable. (Shouldn't intended aspect ratio always prevail? Or is that idealistic of me?) Still not going to pick up The Final Battle or the series until Warner announces any plans they might have for upcoming releases.

--THX

Josh Z

Warner isn't particularly big on double dips unless they have a good reason to justify it, and I doubt V is one of their bigger catalog titles. I'd be very surprised if they ever plan to revisit it.

If this were Fox, Sony, or Lionsgate we were talking about, that would be a completely different story.

Matthew Chmiel

Eh, I blame those on budget reasons instead.

[That's the reason Michael Ironside left the show right?]

crazyrabbits

I guess, but he wasn't killed off (at least, I don't think so). If I remember correctly, he went with two other people to go stop some of the aliens that were around the country. Or something like that.

Matthew Chmiel

The only major characters I can remember being killed off were Martin, Robert Maxwell (Elizabeth's grandfather), Elias, Nathan Bates, and Nathan Bates' old Asian male assistant. I'm sure there were others, but the only major character deaths I can think of all go back to The Final Battle.

I'm all for unexpected major character deaths, which this show had every other episode, but I'm not a fan of shitty writing, which this show had actually every episode.

CertifiedTHX

Whatever happened to Robin Maxwell? I remember the teary-eyed farewell between her and her father, but where did she go after that? And how did Elias die? I don't remember that at all. But then, I stopped watching maybe half way into the series.

--THX

mythmaker18

Robin went with Ham and Chris to help out the Resistance on the East coast. Some of their "East Coast" adventures were chronicled in the novels, and in an issue or two of the DC Comics series.

Elias' death was of the unexpected variety. It's the episode where Charles and Diana unveil this sort of "super laser" that's mounted on a tripod. Early in the episode, some of the resistance go out at night, and see the visitors with the weapon. The lizards point it at them and Elias is vapourised.

One of the big mistakes the producers made was editing out a scene between Nathan and Kyle. A scene was shot (but cut out) that showed Nathan slipping his pulseometer onto Kyle's wrist. Remember the pulseometer? For a long while, I thought the producers just forgot about the fact that, when Bates dies, the red dust should've been released into the atmosphere. That's why Bates' death announcement by Howard K. Smith at the beginning of the episode took me by shock. I figured he'd just linger in his sickbed, since "he can't die, or all those canisters of red dust will be released into the atmosphere."

Josh Z

Ah ha. That finally explains this gaping plot hole. Indeed, his pulseometer is actually mentioned early in the episode where he dies, but then it's not brought up at all when he croaks!

The show was a mess. The whole storyline about Donovan's kidnapped son drove the first two miniseries and half of the series, but it's completely forgotten about by the end of the series. And then there are the two back-to-back episodes "Breakout" and "The Deception" that blatantly contradict one another, because the producers decided to rework the show's continuity.

But damn, there's some great camp appeal in it too. Diana's wedding dress is an absolute riot.

Julie Walker

I've never seen the series,but wonder if it's worth checking out for camp value alone. Or is is too terrible and dull to be truly entertainingly awful?

Josh Z

It is both terribly dull and entertainingly awful all at the same time.

Favorite dialogue exchange:

"I've never been defeated at mortal combat."
"Idiot, if you had, you'd be dead!"

Red Dog

Yeah - that was a huge plot hole. Total WTF.

Dynasty obviously had an influence on the Diana/Lydia/Charles love triangle and fashion.

Simply put, the series was a trainwreck. Of course, I own it though.

Josh Z

Oh yeah, that's the good stuff!