We were lucky enough to see the original miniseries on Sunday. We taped "V: The Final Battle" because we wanted to watch the game. We made Pie put himself to bed last night so we wouldn't miss anything. Priorities, right?
I don't know about "best pilot ever". "FlashForward" had a better time at creating suspense, tension and there was a kangaroo. Despite the seriousness of the events, there was still humor. The original "V" was pretty campy, but really stood out in bits. Some of the characters were pretty one-dimensional, and that was tough to take. But we did enjoy it hugely.
*SPOILERS*
I thought, since the new "V" was to be a series, they would spend a little more time creating the illusion the Vs (Visitors) are Earth's friends. It seemed pretty sped up that a rebellion started up within weeks, Vs peace ambassadors were introduced and the brainwashing has begun, traitors on both sides were revealed. It felt more movie-of-the-week than the establishment of a series here to stay.
The always-lovely Morena Baccarin, leader of the Vs, managed to look menacing and you did want to be devoted to her. The FBI agent, Elizabeth Mitchell, is falling into one-dimensional category. Alan Tudyk, cute on "Firefly", revels as the baddie, much as he did on "Dollhouse". Weakest is Logan Huffman who plays Mitchell's son, eager to believe the V's "peace always" message. David Packer played Huffman's role in the original miniseries. His backstory as Daniel Bernstein, the son who couldn't hold a job and was such a disappointmen to his father, was much more believable than Huffman's. Huffman's Tyler is just a brat who needs a slap.
The original miniseries also had Daniel's grandfather as the grounding element against the Visitors. Abraham lived through WWII and watched his wife being led to the gas chamber as he tried to escape with Daniel's father. So far, there's nothing in the new tv series to connect the audience with the threat the Vs represent.
V in the miniseries also stood for victory. Here, in the pilot, it is just a shortened form of Visitors. I understand the symbolism, but it feels cheapened by the fact that a rebellion is established so quickly. There was also no reason given as to why the rebellion started. Where did the first clues come from? The miniseries established that questions arose after the Visitors arrived and scientists had begun to discover anomalies about the creatures themselves.
It all felt a bit rushed for a pilot. Like we were supposed to read something beforehand that would establish why the reporter feels stymied in his job, why Tyler is giving his mother agita, why are Morris Chestnut's teeth so distractingly white and why does Lourdes Benedicto keep getting roles when she cannot act.
