V remake in development

Posted on October 13, 2008
Filed Under Remake, TV show

To be honest, I was kind kind of hoping I wouldn’t have to explain what “V” was all about. No idea? You know, the aliens who invaded earth? The lizards disguised as humans? They ate our hamsters! Very disturbing images to many of my generation… The 1980′s miniseries was huge, worldwide. Sure today, with thousand of TV channels and the Internet, I’m not so sure it would have made such an impact as it did back then but… “V” is TV history. The original “V” scored a tremendous 40 share for its closing episode in 1983. That success spawned a sequel and a weekly series, which aired in the 1984-85 season. 

And now, Variety reports that the miniseries about alien lizards visiting Earth, will invade primetime once again. Warner Bros. TV, which was behind the original longform, is once again producing the project. Jace Hall, the former head of Warner Bros.’ videogame division will help expand “V” into other platforms, including gaming. Maybe a MMO, Humans against Aliens with massive RvR combat in the streets of NY…  Well, I’ll let some gaming blog get deeper into that.

Scott Peters, who earned two Emmy noms for “The 4400,” said he wasn’t looking to do another sci-fi piece. But when Warner Bros. TV approached him about reinventing “V,” the producer said he couldn’t resist. The original “V” served as an allegory for the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. Peters said he won’t duplicate that concept, except that the new “V” will still focus on what happens when the masses have blind faith in their leaders.

“Whenever I mention ‘V’ to anybody, they still have a lot of good memories about the original movie and series,” Peters said. “Everybody has that imagery of their uniforms, or the visitor eating a hamster. It’s a science fiction icon and too good to pass up.”

In this case, the new “V” will center on Erica Evans, a Homeland Security agent with an aimless son who’s got problems. When the aliens arrive, her son gloms on to them — causing tension within the family. As in the original “V,” several storylines will unfold simultaneously.

But even without the same storyline, the original “V’s” bones will remain: As in the ’80s version, the show will open with an enormous army of spaceships hovering over the world’s major cities. The visitors say they’ve come to help Earth, but their motives are diabolic.

Even though I’m not a huge sci-fi junkie I must say this sounds great. The original show has a special place in my heart and it will be interesting to see what they can do with a remake.

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