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Exploring V, The Visitors, and the Human Race
by Reg Seeton
 Back
in 2008 when TheDeadbolt spoke to original V creator,
Kenneth Johnson, and broke the exclusive about
the new
V remake, we knew that V had finally gained
the necessary traction after years of failed attempts
to revive the series on various networks. So when
we learned that V was picked up by ABC and that
fans would finally see a modern reincarnation
of V, we couldn't wait to see how V would play
to fans in a completely new and modern era 26
years after the original V mini-series.
The arrival of The Visitors on TV in 1983 was a landmark event. Although the original V left the airwaves long ago, fans were left with a feeling that V never realized its full potential and was gone from TV much too early. But given the advances in special effects technology and larger budgets for TV, there was no better time to bring back V than today. So, now that we've seen the contemporary return of The Visitors, how does V fit into today's modern TV culture? In one word: Brilliantly! However, when thinking of the recent social and political changes within modern culture, perhaps too brilliantly.
But unlike 1983, V looks to be more relevant than ever at a time of rapidly transforming social change. Judging by the premiere, V is boldly tackling sociopolitical issues that some fans may not want to confront, or may not even realize, as creator Scott Peters and Kenneth Johnson are forcing people to look in the mirror at what's taking place in society today through the arrival of The Visitors. The no holds barred V approach to exploring today's increasingly changing sociopolitical landscape and the transformation of human behavior in such a short amount of time will be much needed doses of reality, clarity, and perspective for many.
The plot of V is largely intact from the original as the series centers on an advanced alien race living among humans who finally reveal themselves to the world. Are the aliens here for good or evil? Are The Visitors here to help humans as they claim, or are they out to annihilate the human race? Those are the central questions at play at the outset of the series. If you tuned into the November 3 premiere of V, it should be obvious by now that V isn't so much about The Visitors as it is the human race. In fact, V doesn't waste any time in addressing a number of key issues and questions surrounding our current social, political and religious climate and human behavior. Although Battlestar Galactica forced people to think about the real world via storylines that tapped into such tumultuous issues as Guantanamo Bay, V is symbolically and metaphorically playing on a much larger, more immediate field.
 Although
we've stepped into a new era of "change" within
a social revolution and new political climate,
there's a very real undercurrent within society
that change is coming too quick, people aren't
thinking for themselves, and people as a social
collective aren't paying close enough attention
to various issues pertaining to rights and freedoms.
Also, if you look online at public sentiment,
some feel that people are freely entrusting
their well being to others without being informed
or doing the necessary due diligence to become
knowledgeable. An hour spent online at various
top political websites will prove that these
are all real hot button issues simmering underneath
our current social surface that haven't been
confronted in any cohesive or rational manner.
Surprisingly, and most significant, V kicks
the door open and throws many of today’s hot
button sociopolitical issues on the TV table
for fans to explore.
Specifically within the V premiere, a number of real world issues are now open for exploration. When Scott Wolf's TV anchor Chad Decker lands an exclusive interview with Anna (Morena Baccarin), the leader of The Visitors, we learn the balance of power has shifted and Decker no longer has the freedom to ask unbiased questions as a journalist. When The Visitors arrive, a recruitment campaign is started by the aliens to enlist humans as "followers" to spread the positive word about the new race despite little known information about The Visitors and their true intentions, which the masses respond to in droves. Uninformed beliefs and opinions about The Visitors lead to blind devotion, as a majority of the human population trusts the words of an alien race without proof or evidence to substantiate their intentions. Interestingly, we see a major cultural, political and religious divide in V as a result of human perceptions of The Visitors and how freely and quickly characters embraced something they know little about.
 If
you haven't noticed by now, those are heavy,
metaphorical and symbolic issues currently at
play and being debated in the real world. How
does V fit into today's modern TV culture? Like
I mentioned above, brilliantly. But are humans
ready to confront certain real world issues
through the world of V? Perhaps, at this early
stage, that very question is the most intriguing
aspect of V. In an age when some say we've given
up freethinking in favor of celebrity, games,
and toys, entrusting the government to solve
all of our problems while we’re preoccupied,
and now following each other off a cliff to
nowhere, there may be more to gain from the
network return of V and The Visitors than meets
the eye. Obviously V is as much about our current
society as it is about aliens. Can the humans
save themselves before it's too late? Is it to
late? At this early stage, the groundwork has
been laid for V to become an even bigger, more
relevant landmark series than its '80s predecessor.
V airs Tuesday nights on ABC and stars Elizabeth Mitchell, Morris Chestnut, Joel Gretsch, Lourdes Benedicto, Logan Huffman, Morena Baccarin, Laura Vandervoort, and Scott Wolf.
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