V: The Movie -- W/D: Kenneth Johnson
02-11-18, 08:37 AM
#1
DVD Talk God
Thread Starter
V: The Movie -- W/D: Kenneth Johnson
http://deadline.com/2018/02/v-the-mo...lu-1202284944/
For those unfamiliar with V, this is a promo of the original 80's miniseries.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aWa1wVSPWps" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Kenny Johnson was the man who was the producer and head writer of the miniseries and it's sequel.
It was also a short lived NBC TV series, which Johnson was not involved with.
ABC rebooted it 9 years ago and it lasted 2 seasons.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LQoSCEMzJYE" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Johnson was not involved, but received an on screen credit.
I met Johnson once 8-9 years ago at a comic convention when he was signing his V sequel book. He's been trying to make a feature film for years as he's pretty passionate about this show. Glad he finally got his wish. But, he might be a dinosaur in today's film industry.
Interesting that he's planning a trilogy.
Johnson was also behind the Incredible Hulk and Alien Nation TV series.
Sci-fi classic vehicle V is being revived as a film by Desilu Studios, with the new version of the former TV series written and directed by the original ’80s series creator, Kenneth Johnson.
Called V The Movie, the film’s casting and a release date are not yet determined. It will be produced by John Hermansen and Barry Opper.
The original two-part miniseries aired on NBC in 1983, telling the story of an alien invasion by a reptilian race disguising themselves as humans. While some humans rejoiced at their new overlords and willingly cooperated, a human resistance quickly emerged. And good thing it did – it was discovered that (spoiler alert) the reptilians were using the cooperating humans as (wait for it) – food!
The original miniseries was enormously popular, giving birth to a 1984 sequel, V: The Final Battle; a 1985 show called V: The Series that quickly went away; and finally, a 2009 reboot that lasted two seasons and left a lot of loose ends.
Johnson has not been involved in the series since V: The Final Battle, departing then because of alleged creative differences with NBC. He then wrote a novel, V: The Second Generation, and came up with the Alien Nation TV series (and its subsequent TV movies).
“We are delighted to team up with Desilu to bring the timeless — and timely — story of resistance against tyranny into the 21st Century,” Johnson said in a statement. “V will be the first of a cinematic trilogy which will tell the full epic tale in the manner I always envisioned.”
Desilu was founded in 1950 and was co-owned by husband and wife Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. It rose to become the largest independent television production company in the US. Ball bought out Arnaz in 1962, running the company for several years and then selling her shares to Gulf + Western. It then became the television production of arm of Paramount Pictures.
The Desilu TV library is now owned by CBS, but the Desilu brand was acquired by businessman Charles B. Hensley and relaunched last year as a new studio. V The Movie is the first project to be announced by the revived studio. The V The Movie project was brought to Desilu by development executive Sean Stone, who noted that Desilu was the studio home of the original Star Trek.
“V is a multi-billion dollar film franchise and merchandising juggernaut,” claimed Desilu EVP Steven Posen. “We couldn’t be more excited and honored to bring this film to the millions of devoted fans worldwide.”
Called V The Movie, the film’s casting and a release date are not yet determined. It will be produced by John Hermansen and Barry Opper.
The original two-part miniseries aired on NBC in 1983, telling the story of an alien invasion by a reptilian race disguising themselves as humans. While some humans rejoiced at their new overlords and willingly cooperated, a human resistance quickly emerged. And good thing it did – it was discovered that (spoiler alert) the reptilians were using the cooperating humans as (wait for it) – food!
The original miniseries was enormously popular, giving birth to a 1984 sequel, V: The Final Battle; a 1985 show called V: The Series that quickly went away; and finally, a 2009 reboot that lasted two seasons and left a lot of loose ends.
Johnson has not been involved in the series since V: The Final Battle, departing then because of alleged creative differences with NBC. He then wrote a novel, V: The Second Generation, and came up with the Alien Nation TV series (and its subsequent TV movies).
“We are delighted to team up with Desilu to bring the timeless — and timely — story of resistance against tyranny into the 21st Century,” Johnson said in a statement. “V will be the first of a cinematic trilogy which will tell the full epic tale in the manner I always envisioned.”
Desilu was founded in 1950 and was co-owned by husband and wife Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. It rose to become the largest independent television production company in the US. Ball bought out Arnaz in 1962, running the company for several years and then selling her shares to Gulf + Western. It then became the television production of arm of Paramount Pictures.
The Desilu TV library is now owned by CBS, but the Desilu brand was acquired by businessman Charles B. Hensley and relaunched last year as a new studio. V The Movie is the first project to be announced by the revived studio. The V The Movie project was brought to Desilu by development executive Sean Stone, who noted that Desilu was the studio home of the original Star Trek.
“V is a multi-billion dollar film franchise and merchandising juggernaut,” claimed Desilu EVP Steven Posen. “We couldn’t be more excited and honored to bring this film to the millions of devoted fans worldwide.”
For those unfamiliar with V, this is a promo of the original 80's miniseries.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aWa1wVSPWps" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Kenny Johnson was the man who was the producer and head writer of the miniseries and it's sequel.
It was also a short lived NBC TV series, which Johnson was not involved with.
ABC rebooted it 9 years ago and it lasted 2 seasons.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LQoSCEMzJYE" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Johnson was not involved, but received an on screen credit.
I met Johnson once 8-9 years ago at a comic convention when he was signing his V sequel book. He's been trying to make a feature film for years as he's pretty passionate about this show. Glad he finally got his wish. But, he might be a dinosaur in today's film industry.
Interesting that he's planning a trilogy.
Johnson was also behind the Incredible Hulk and Alien Nation TV series.
02-11-18, 09:41 AM
#2
DVD Talk Legend
Re: V: The Movie -- W/D: Kenneth Johnson
I believe the book sequel was intended as a true sequel to the original TV mini-series and ignored the Final Battle and TV series. I don't know if Johnson should be trying to direct at his age.
02-11-18, 10:13 AM
#3
DVD Talk God
Thread Starter
Re: V: The Movie -- W/D: Kenneth Johnson
From Kenny's official site:
http://www.kennethjohnson.us/V-News.html
Sounds like they still need help financing the movie. This is probably still a long way from seeing a camera lens.
http://www.kennethjohnson.us/V-News.html
From Kenny to the fans and devoted friends of V...
The announcement above is a very important and extremely positive
development toward achieving our goal of making V The Movie and the
two sequels based upon my novel V The Second Generation.
Desilu has entered into a contract with our company, Victory Pictures,
which grants them an Exclusive Option on the motion picture rights to V
The Movie and the opportunity to present it to their investors. Desilu
hopes to have the full funding in place within the next few months.
Once that financing is complete we will be able to announce when actual
production of the movie will commence. In the meantime we are indeed
delighted to be involved with the great team at Desilu -- who are as
enthusiastic and eager as we are to make a movie that we can all be proud
of.
Keep checking back here to learn about our progress and...
"Go tell your friends!"
The announcement above is a very important and extremely positive
development toward achieving our goal of making V The Movie and the
two sequels based upon my novel V The Second Generation.
Desilu has entered into a contract with our company, Victory Pictures,
which grants them an Exclusive Option on the motion picture rights to V
The Movie and the opportunity to present it to their investors. Desilu
hopes to have the full funding in place within the next few months.
Once that financing is complete we will be able to announce when actual
production of the movie will commence. In the meantime we are indeed
delighted to be involved with the great team at Desilu -- who are as
enthusiastic and eager as we are to make a movie that we can all be proud
of.
Keep checking back here to learn about our progress and...
"Go tell your friends!"
Sounds like they still need help financing the movie. This is probably still a long way from seeing a camera lens.
02-11-18, 11:30 AM
#4
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Re: V: The Movie -- W/D: Kenneth Johnson
i still remember fondly the original and Final Battle mini-series. just awed. i have them digitally in SD, but would love a bluray with extras. that would be a dream come true. i don't know who can top Marc Singer as Donovan...
02-11-18, 11:43 AM
#5
DVD Talk Hero
Re: V: The Movie -- W/D: Kenneth Johnson
I loved the series as a kid (I remember playing "V" with my friends on the elementary school playground). But considering the big reveal was "gah, they are lizard people!", I'm not sure how this works today. It's such a pop culture moment already that I have no idea what would be surprising or interesting about an update.
02-11-18, 04:12 PM
#8
DVD Talk Legend
Re: V: The Movie -- W/D: Kenneth Johnson
So did we! What made it really enjoyable was a young girl in my class who loved playing Diana. If you "tagged" her she would scream and flick her tongue at you. Amazing how kids used to be able to use their imaginations to make stuff that was better than what was on TV sometimes. This, A-Team, and Miami Vice were all favorites (probably because even though not everyone had cable at the time, NBC was the one channel everyone got.) No way kids could do these kind of games today as almost all of them involved fake gun miming.
02-12-18, 11:50 AM
#9
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: V: The Movie -- W/D: Kenneth Johnson
Nah...for me it is still Jane Badler as Diana who was oh so gorgeous yet so evil. I also would say that I had a thing for Faye Grant as Juliet Parrish.
Jane Badler, Marc Singer, Faye Grant, Robert Englund...and tons of other memorable cast members. I actually think casting the reboot with relatively unknown up and comers could work.
Jane Badler, Marc Singer, Faye Grant, Robert Englund...and tons of other memorable cast members. I actually think casting the reboot with relatively unknown up and comers could work.
02-12-18, 12:17 PM
#12
DVD Talk Legend
Re: V: The Movie -- W/D: Kenneth Johnson
Loved it all. The mini series, the Final Battle, the series...not at much but still. I even enjoyed the new series that came out several years back, although I think I checked out somewhere near the end of the first season. I'm always down for more V, it's just such an interesting concept.
02-12-18, 10:51 PM
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Re: V: The Movie -- W/D: Kenneth Johnson
Huge fan of the original ... I still remember when it first aired and it was all we could talk about. We were especially heartbroken when they showed toys, but none were actually available. Despite being a bit dated, I still believe it was an almost flawless example of how to introduce an epic story like that.
I never did have a chance to watch the remake. I saw the start of the first episode and tuned out when they pretty much just jumped into everything cold. I thought it had an opportunity at the time — where the original was an analogy for Nazi Germany, the new one had a chance to be a thoughtul analogy for foreign and/or domestic terrorism and sleeper cells.
Not sure how I feel about a movie series other than it would have to be a series. The story is too big for a 2-hour flick. I’d almost rather see it as a mini-series/limited series on a streaming channel. I will say I am definitely glad that KJ is involved though.
I never did have a chance to watch the remake. I saw the start of the first episode and tuned out when they pretty much just jumped into everything cold. I thought it had an opportunity at the time — where the original was an analogy for Nazi Germany, the new one had a chance to be a thoughtul analogy for foreign and/or domestic terrorism and sleeper cells.
Not sure how I feel about a movie series other than it would have to be a series. The story is too big for a 2-hour flick. I’d almost rather see it as a mini-series/limited series on a streaming channel. I will say I am definitely glad that KJ is involved though.
02-12-18, 11:19 PM
#14
DVD Talk Hero
Re: V: The Movie -- W/D: Kenneth Johnson
I think I read a pretty good “V” book back in the day. I might have to dig that up.
02-13-18, 10:09 AM
#15
DVD Talk Legend
Re: V: The Movie -- W/D: Kenneth Johnson
Another huge fan of the original here. I gave up on the remake series pretty early, though. I just don't know if it is possible to recapture the magic of the original. Something about the time period was just perfect and worked so well.
02-13-18, 10:48 AM
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Re: V: The Movie -- W/D: Kenneth Johnson
I think that was my disappointment with the remake (what little I watched). In the 80s Johnson tapped into the current socio-political climate and bridged the themes to Nazi Germany and a modern alien invasion. At the time of the remake, foreign and domestic terrorism and sleeper cells were very much at the forefront of the socio-political atmosphere and would have made a great bridge. They missed the boat.
Now ... I guess the rise and fall of totalitarian regimes would be a timely backdrop. Some other timely topics could joe be socio-economic disparity, the binary nature of modern thinking (us vs. them), immigration, or maybe just one big space wall. Most of those were pretty well done by Alien Nation though.
Now ... I guess the rise and fall of totalitarian regimes would be a timely backdrop. Some other timely topics could joe be socio-economic disparity, the binary nature of modern thinking (us vs. them), immigration, or maybe just one big space wall. Most of those were pretty well done by Alien Nation though.
02-13-18, 04:05 PM
#17
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: V: The Movie -- W/D: Kenneth Johnson
I think that was my disappointment with the remake (what little I watched). In the 80s Johnson tapped into the current socio-political climate and bridged the themes to Nazi Germany and a modern alien invasion. At the time of the remake, foreign and domestic terrorism and sleeper cells were very much at the forefront of the socio-political atmosphere and would have made a great bridge. They missed the boat.
Now ... I guess the rise and fall of totalitarian regimes would be a timely backdrop. Some other timely topics could joe be socio-economic disparity, the binary nature of modern thinking (us vs. them), immigration, or maybe just one big space wall. Most of those were pretty well done by Alien Nation though.
Now ... I guess the rise and fall of totalitarian regimes would be a timely backdrop. Some other timely topics could joe be socio-economic disparity, the binary nature of modern thinking (us vs. them), immigration, or maybe just one big space wall. Most of those were pretty well done by Alien Nation though.
