V: The Complete First Season
Starring: Elizabeth Mitchell, Morena Bacarrin, Morris Chestnut, Joel Gretsch, Scott Wolf, Christopher Shyer, Laura Vandervoort
Studio: Warner Brothers
Year: 2009-2010
Film Length: 560 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish (Castellano), Spanish (Latin), French, Dutch, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Release Date: November 2, 2010
The Show ***½
V is a modern updating of the set of alien invasion miniseries and television series from the early 1980s. It begins with the arrival of several large alien ships over most of the world's great cities. Initially met with the expected fear and anxiety, the aliens, who identify themselves as "Visitors" or "V", eventually reassure the humans that they mean no harm, frequently repeating the expression, "We are of peace, always" and offering medical and technological assistance. All is not as it seems, however, and a resistance movement forms, aided and abetted by a group of fifth columnist Visitors (who conveniently refer to themselves as "The Fifth Column").
The major characters of the show are:
Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell) - an FBI agent who find herself drawn into the resistance after discovering secrets about the Visitors and why they are on Earth. Her role in the resistance is complicated by her son's recruitment as a V ambassador and her frequent need to cover up resistance activities she is investigating for the FBI
Anna (Morena Baccarin) - the leader of the Visitors who presents a benign and attractive front to the human world while ruthlessly advancing the Visitor's agenda and crushing any opposition.
Ryan Nichols (Morris Chestnut) - a fifth columnist Visitor who has been living amongst humans for years. His inside knowledge of Visitor society and tactics is a valuable asset to the resistance, but he has a week spot when it comes to Valerie, the human woman he loves.
Father Jack Landry (Joel Gretsch) - a priest and former military chaplain who is drawn into the resistance after information gleaned from one of his parishioners leads him to cross paths with Erica and some nasty Visitor business.
Tyler Evans (Logan Huffman) - Erica's son who is fascinated by the Visitors, eagerly participates in their ambassador program, falls for an attractive Visitor named Lisa, and is unaware of his mother's participation in the resistance
Lisa (Laura Vandervoort) - Anna's daughter who recruits Tyler into the ambassador program, becomes more personally involved with him at Anna's direction, and seems to be wrestling with some uncomfortably human emotions that she must conceal from her mother.
Chad Decker (Scott Wolf) - an ambitious television news reporter who is manipulated by Anna in order to spin the Visitor's propaganda to the world.
Marcus (Christopher Shyer) - a Visitor who serves as Anna's sounding board and "V Friday".
Valerie Stevens (Lourdes Benedicto) - the human woman that Ryan Nichols loves. She is unaware of Ryan's extraterrestrial origins until an improbable occurrence forces the truth to be revealed.
The series borrows most of the best elements from its 1980s predecessor, updates it with some (not too heavy) post-9/11 thematic elements including FBI investigations of domestic terrorism, and dresses it all up in a lot of TV-level CG effects. While I did not find it to be a significant improvement over the original mini-series, it is not significantly worse, either. Both the original series and this modern version play like throwbacks to alien invasion films of the 1950s. Probably the most interesting thing about this modern version is that it has a distinct female empowerment vibe since the strongest characters on both sides of the conflict are women and mothers. Elizabeth Mitchell's Erica Evans and Morena Baccarin's Anna not only have all of the expected FBI Field Agent and Manipulative Alien with Mysterious Plan to Take Over the Earth responsibilities, but they must also deal with their respective children dating each other, too. I have yet to see the sequel mini-series or the short-lived series that followed the original mini-series, so I cannot comment on how this 21st century version compares to those.
The series is somewhat hampered by its reliance on digitally rendered environments to achieve its ambitious goals of massive alien ship interiors which push the special effects demands beyond the time and budget constraints of the series and occasionally look no better than similar effects rendered for much smaller-budgeted shows on cable networks. The cast also seems to have a propensity for soap opera-style acting that is only transcended on a regular basis by Baccarin and Mitchell. If one accepts these elements as a given, the series offers enough easy pleasures and action to satisfy the undemanding viewer, which is actually in keeping with the B-movie science fiction roots of the series and its 1980s predecessors.
The Episodes
Note: The following synopses with episode titles and original air dates include what some may consider to be mild spoilers, so skip this section and head right down to the The Video comments if you would rather avoid these than read my summaries and comments about the episodes. I promise I will not take it personally - KJM
Episode 1: Pilot (November 3, 2009)
This episode kicks off the series in style by presenting the arrival of the V ships over major cities throughout the world, the introduction of most of the major characters, and the events that lead Anna and Father Jack to realize that the Visitors are not exactly what they present themselves to be. A tremendous amount of storytelling, exposition, and character development occurs in this episode to the point that it creates somewhat unreasonable expectations for subsequent episodes.
Episode 2: There Is No Normal Anymore (November 10, 2009)
The plot slows to a crawl as this episode deals with how Erica copes with the information she learned about the Visitors and her FBI partner in the Pilot. We learn a little more about the extent to which the Visitors have infiltrated human society even before their arrival. Incremental advancements also occur to subplots involving Tyler's fascination with the "V", the efforts by the Visitors to establish diplomatic relations with the nations of the world, and news anchor Chad Decker's self-promotional efforts to be the people's voice, positive or otherwise, for all things V-related.
Episode 3: A Bright New Day (November 17, 2009)
The pace picks up a bit in this episode in which the Visitors, having established diplomatic relations with the US and other nations, come down to Earth. The best plot thread illustrates Anna's manipulative nature while dealing with an anti-Visitor activist who lost her husband when the ships first arrived. Action comes courtesy of a thread where Erica is paired with a Visitor to try to track down an assassin. We also learn something unexpected about the fate of Erica's partner after the warehouse attack from the pilot.
Episode 4: It's Only the Beginning (November 24, 2009)
This was the last episode to air before a four month broadcast hiatus in the series. The main plot revolves around Erica, Jack, and Ryan learning that the advanced health care assistance that the Visitors are offering to humanity via Medical Centers they are establishing in major cities is being used as a front to mix a drug called R6 in what appear to be regular flu shots. Unlike the previous two episodes, this yields a story with a beginning middle and end that results in a satisfying hour of episodic television while still advancing the season's "macro-story" via subplots. Being the last episode before an extended hiatus, a twist is thrown in where Valerie shocks Ryan with a bit of unexpected and improbable news.
Episode 5: Welcome to the War (March 30, 2010)
After four months off the air and some tweaking of the creative team, the series returns with an episode suggesting that the irregular pacing of the early episodes will be a thing of the past. It mixes set-up, exposition, and actual episodic plotting much more fluidly than any episode since the pilot. It also somewhat abruptly introduces a new character in the form of a wanted mercenary named Kyle Hobbes. After the Visitors pin a crime on him, Erica is tasked by the FBI with tracking him down. Rather than arresting him, she recruits him into her resistance cell due to both the unanswered question of why the "V" would be targeting him and his generally useful skills as a soldier of fortune. The character somehow feels out of place in the little grass roots resistance cell of Erica, Father, Jack, and Ryan, although maybe I am just reacting to how actor Charles Mesure seems to be channeling Hugh Jackman in action star mode with his proclivity for Wolverine-like gruffness and tight black t-shirts.
Episode 6: Pound of Flesh (April 6, 2010)
Not quite as strongly plotted as the previous episode, this one at least involves a couple of inherently suspenseful situations. The first involves Anya using a screening process to weed out fifth columnists on the V ship. This subplot may seem borrowed from the modern Battlestar Galactica as well as any number of espionage films over the last several decades, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The second involves Ryan needing to acquire some Visitor medicine from the mothership for Valerie.
Episode 7: John May (April 13, 2010)
This episode deals largely with the past, as we learn via flashback about John May (played by Battlestar Galactica alum Michael Trucco), the founder of the Fifth Column and his connection to Ryan. We also learn something about the reasons behind Erica's divorce from her husband, Joe, when Tyler stays with him for a few days. Meanwhile, captured resistance member Georgie (played by actor David Richmond-Peck), a character haunted by the past loss of his family, is forced to relive those events repeatedly while being tortured and interrogated aboard the V ship.
Episode 8: We Can't Win (April 20, 2010)
This episode features a fairly dull thread that reminds viewers of the global reach of the Visitors via a plot involving Anna offering "blue-energy" to humans at a United Nations summit in Switzerland. It repeats some old patterns involving Anna's manipulations of humanity en masse and Chad as an individual. More successful are threads involving Valerie reacting to the truth about Ryan and her medical condition and attempts by Father Jack and Erica to aid a lone survivor of an attack on a Fifth Column cell who is targeted for assassination.
Episode 9: Heretic's Fork (April 27, 2010)
This episode focuses largely on setting up the macro-story for events to occur in the final two episodes, but it at least features some interesting character moments as the members of the resistance cell debate what to do with the human assassin employed by the Visitors they have captured. A bit of action excitement is added when Anna unleashes a V "soldier" on Earth to track down Valerie and kill anyone in its way. Also notable: the series takes its first steps towards involving Chad in a plot thread that is actually interesting as he encounters Father Jack and suspects that he has information about the resistance.
Episode 10: Hearts and Minds (May 4, 2010)
This begins a run of three solid episodes that end the first season on a relatively high note. The episode is driven completely by Anna's machinations as we learn how she manipulated events surrounding the destruction a V shuttle by Ryan, Hobbes, and Father Jack to undermine the Fifth Column as a terrorist organization, flush out information about their plans, and even cause resistance members such as Father Jack to question their actions when they believe they have killed innocent humans. This also allows Erica to demonstrate her investigative skills as she pieces together what actually happened and how the information about resistance activities was leaked. Anna takes it to an entirely new level near the end of the episode when she brutally and cold-bloodedly involves Lisa in a plan to further discredit the resistance and sway public opinion towards the Visitors.
Episode 11: Fruition (May 11, 2010)
The penultimate episode of the season and the best episode since the pilot finally brings Anna and Erica face to face. In the wake of the apparent Fifth Column attack on Lisa, Anna announces that the Visitors will be leaving Earth resulting in the global outpouring of support and pleas to stay she was seeking all along. When the Visitors again finger Kyle Hobbes and another man for the attack, Hobbes decides to get pro-active in order to learn more about why he is being targeted, leading to some double-agent intrigue. The best parts of this episode involve Erica moving towards near Anna-like levels of manipulation and ruthlessness as she realizes how far the Visitors are willing to go and what must be done to counter them.
Episode 12: Red Sky (May 18, 2010)
The series ends on a strong note as Erica and the resistance decide to make a bold move to try and destroy Anna's soldier eggs when she and Tyler are invited aboard the V ship for a meal with Anna and Lisa. Almost every plot thread comes to a satisfactory head with the possible exception of one involving Father Jack deciding to openly sermonize against the Visitors, which tends to drag down the otherwise fast-moving and suspenseful proceedings. Things go very badly for a couple of the main characters, but the blow struck by the resistance is still enough to make Anna uncharacteristically emotional and bent on vengeance.
The Video ***½
The shows are all presented in their original 16:9 aspect ratio via a VC-1 encoded 1080p encoding. Detail is generally good, which unfortunately reveals the limitations of the special effects more obviously than the original broadcasts, but also showcases some of the more elaborate and impressive aspects of the digitally rendered environments, too. Every episode features establishing shots of V ships over major cities that involve pans across cityscapes with hard architectural vertical and horizontal lines in the image ripe for exposing any potential aliasing/shimmer. I noticed two or three such artifacts over the course of the series.
The Audio ***
The original audio is presented via a 640kbps English Dolby Digital 5.1 track. The lack of a lossless track is more than a bit puzzling at this point in the evolution of the Blu-ray format, but fidelity is still decent for a lossy track. Despite the action sci-fi nature of the show, the mix rarely takes advantage of the 5.1 surround field and anchors most audio activity in the front three channels. All in all I was even more disappointed in the conservative nature of the mix than the lack of lossless audio.
The Extras ***
Extras appear on both discs. Video-based extras are presented in 1080p VC-1 encoded video with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio and are organized as follows:
Disc One
The Actor's Journey From Human to "V" (16:55) is a featurette consisting mostly of show clips and talking head interview segments centering on the series' actors' and producer's recollections of the original series, what they like about the new series, casting stories, notes on characters, and the tight knit nature of the cast. Interview participants include Morena Bacarrin ("Anna"), Christopher Shyer ("Marcus"), Laura Vandervoort ("Lisa"), Logan Huffman ("Tyler Evans"), Morris Chestnut ("Ryan Nichols"), Joel Gretsch ("Father Jack Landry"), Executive Producer Scott Rosenbaum, Elizabeth Mitchell ("Erica Evans"), Scott Wolf ("Chad Decker"), and Executive Producer Scott Peters.
Detached Memories (Deleted Scenes) (5:40 w/play all) appear for the following episodes (warning: minor spoilers):
There is No Normal Anymore (incorrectly identified as "Pilot" in the disc menu): Tyler and his friend Brandon discuss his violent outburst, Special Agent Malik passes information about a cover-up to Chad.
A Bright New Day (incorrectly identified as "There is No Normal Anymore" in the disc menu): Chad discusses the "Pilot Widow" with his producer/assistant, Erica gets an anti-human vibe from her V security partner, Lisa asks Brandon about Tyler's whereabouts, two scenes involving a V weapon that incapacitates humans without killing them, a lengthy discussion between Tyler and Lisa followed by a kiss.
Disc Two
Detached Memories (Deleted Scenes) (11:45 w/ play all) appear for the following episodes (warning: minor spoilers):
John May: Val argues with her Obstetrician. Father visits the father to tell him bad news
We Can't Win: The gang argues about their captive, subplots with Erica investigating a sniper at the FBI, Val talks about Ryan with a V resistance woman, Val's doctor gives her an exam and discusses her condition before Ryan comes to say it is time to go
Hearts and Minds: Erica and Tyler discuss his break-up in their kitchen. Tyler and Erica have a phone conversation about Lisa's assault. Ryan mopes in his room and tries to contact Val by phone. Father Jack and Erica discuss Ryan, Jack's past. And his plans for a sermon
Fruition: Father Jack tries to discourage Erica from her dangerous plan and she encourages him to preach against the visitors. Anna proposes an elaborate toast at a dinner aboard the V ship.
Commentary by Executive Producers Steve Pearlman and Scott Rosenbaum runs the length of the season's penultimate episode, Fruition. While there is a good deal of overlap with the featurettes when they are talking about the arc of the season, Pearlman and Rosenbaum are allowed to go into a bit more depth in the commentary track, which proves informative and worth a listen for fans of the show.
Breaking Story: The World of V (16:38) discusses the logistics of running the show from scripts to production and post- production as well as the writers' and producers' take on the genre and how they have adapted the concept of the original show into a modern context. Also discussed are the overall structure of the series and first season, the characters and how they fit into the series and serve as foils for each other, the central female characters, and the themes of familial protection. Interview participants include Rosenbaum, Writer Gregg Hurwitz, Pearlman, executive Producer Scott Peters, Production Designer Stephen Geaghan, Chestnutt, Huffman, Baccarin, Wolf, and Mitchell.
An Alien in Human Skin: The Makeup of V (11:52) is a behind the scenes look at the elaborate make-up effects used to realize the Visitors. Topics discussed include the Producers' recollections of the impact of the make-up effects of the original series, descriptions of how specific effects were realized, and the thinking behind them. It includes on-camera interviews, clips from the series and 80s miniseries, behind the scenes clips of makeup FX technicians in their studio, and descriptions of how makeup effects were combined with digital and practical visual effects. Interview participants include Rosenbaum, Makeup FX Supervisor Toby Lindala, Peters, Makeup FX Technician Benson Musaev, Makeup FX Technician Glenn Martin, and Visual FX Supervisor Andrew Orloff.
The Visual Effects of V (15:08) focuses on the technical challenge of rendering large scale digital effects for every episode of a weekly television series. It mixes interview footage, episode clips, and behind the scenes footage of artists at work at a digital effects studio. Topics covered include the environments of the enormous V ships created in almost entirely green screen sets, acting challenges in green screen environments, shading textures and virtual lighting to create atmospheric effects, digital prosthetics used to enhance alien make-up effects, and the "blue energy" effects. Comments are provided by Geaghan, Peters, Rosenbaum, Pearlman, Orloff, Wolf. Vandervoort, Mitchell, Zoic Studios Visual Effects Producer, Stephen Chiu, Zoic Studios Compositing Lead Nate Overstrom, and Zoic Studios Lead CG Artist Sallyanne Massimini.
BD Live: A link to Warner's BD-Live portal is provided, but I was unable to access it with my Panasonic player which repeatedly tried to load it and wound up stopping the disc instead.
Packaging
The episodes are spread over two discs enclosed in a standard sized Blu-ray case with two hubs allowing it to accommodate both discs with no overlapping. There is a nice tri-fold paper insert in the disc with information about the individual episodes and extras on each disc. The hard case is in turn surrounded by a cardboard slipcover which reproduced the cover art with foil enhancements.
Summary ***½
This modern updating of the 80s alien invasion sc-fi television series adds a few 21st century twists and an increase in estrogen to the entertaining Alien Invasion/conspiracy storyline. It is presented on Blu-ray with video that is perhaps a bit too revealing of the limitations of the series' special effects and a fairly conservative audio mix encoded as lossy Dolby Digital 5.1. Extras mix typical electronic press kit-style "people saying nice things" featurettes with some more interesting behind the scenes looks at the logistics of producing the series, the make-up, and the digital special effects.
Regards,
