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   V: The Second Generation

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Topic: V: The Second Generation (Read 267 times)

Rhune
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V: The Second Generation
« on: Jun 9^th, 2003, 1:16pm »

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LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) -- Twenty years after NBC's hit sci-fi miniseries "V" invaded the small screen, the network is bringing the aliens back with "V: The Second Generation," a three-hour TV movie from the original creator Kenneth Johnson.

Johnson, who wrote, directed and produced the original miniseries, is set to write, direct and executive produce the sequel, which has been given a script commitment.

The 1983 "V" (short for Visitors), which spawned a short-lived weekly series on NBC, was a sci-fi allegory of the Nazi takeover of Germany in the 1930s.

It centered on the Visitors, aliens from a distant planet who came to Earth with the promise to solve the world's problems through their high technology, but after gaining control of the planet through subterfuge and media manipulation, began to methodically kill their hosts.

A small group of humans, who discovered the Visitors' true plan -- to conquer the Earth and eat its population -- form a resistance and lead the fight against the invaders.

The new movie, produced by Warner Bros. TV and Kenneth Johnson Prods., will take place 20 years into the future. As the alien forces are turning more and more Earth citizens into followers, the resistance suddenly gains a powerful and mysterious new ally.

Several cast members of the miniseries and the weekly series, including Marc Singer, Faye Grant, Jane Badler and Robert Englund, could reprise their roles in the telefilm if it goes into production.

"For years I've had a passion to dig even deeper into the characters and circumstances," Johnson said. "Gregg Maday at Warner Bros., my fellow executive producer Rob Lee, NBC and I plan to make this new 'V' into the same kind of major international TV event that my original miniseries was."

The conclusion of the original mini in May 1983 was the top program for the week, averaging a 27 household rating/40 share. Additionally, "V" enjoyed solid success overseas. Twenty years later, the miniseries continues to be a strong draw as its recent DVD release has quickly become a hot seller, with more than 250,000 units shipped.

"The appeal of 'V' continues, and we look forward to getting a new script that could introduce it to a new generation of viewers," said Jeff Gaspin, NBC Entertainment executive VP alternative series, longform and Bravo. "Likewise, we would like to move the story forward with a fresh take on this timeless story of human resilience and resistance."

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Rhune
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Re: V: The Second Generation
« Reply #1 on: Jun 9^th, 2003, 1:18pm »

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I'll never forget the ending of the first show. One of the hot-air ballonists that released the red powder that killed the aliens was my next-door neighbor. Cheesy

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Addams
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Re: V: The Second Generation
« Reply #2 on: Jun 9^th, 2003, 2:14pm »

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cool Rhune. I don't recall this show - I think it was during my no TV days.

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Dameon Alexander
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Re: V: The Second Generation
« Reply #3 on: Jun 9^th, 2003, 2:31pm »

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heh.....it was during my pre-school days. I wasn't into sci-fi that much when I was 4.

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Addams
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Re: V: The Second Generation
« Reply #4 on: Jun 9^th, 2003, 2:51pm »

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I was in grad school at the time and could not afford a TV nor could I afford to watch TV.

Dameon :laff:

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Pau
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Re: V: The Second Generation
« Reply #5 on: Jun 10^th, 2003, 4:26am »

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Wow... I was as well 4 then.... but i somehow liked that show when that was shown here... though it scared my childhood mind at that times... specially when they eat big rats in full... while they slowly swallow them...

hehehe... pretty creepy for a pre-schooler... hehehehe

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Rhune
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Re: V: The Second Generation
« Reply #6 on: Jun 17^th, 2003, 4:58pm »

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A New 'V' Lifts Off, Hopes for Landing
Mon, Jun 16, 2003 07:43 PM PDT

by Kate O'Hare
Zap2it, TV News

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - 'Tis many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip, and even more between the script and the screen, so Kenneth Johnson is hoping for the best with a new version of an old favorite.

The veteran writer/director/producer -- whose TV-series credits include "The Six Million Dollar Man," "The Incredible Hulk," "Shadow Chasers" and "Alien Nation" -- hit ratings pay dirt in 1983 with his NBC science-fiction miniseries "V," and its successful 1984 sequel "V: The Final Battle" (he disavows any connection, however, with the brief TV series).

The original mini got boffo ratings, along with critical acclaim, for its allegory of the Nazi takeover of Europe in the 1930s and '40s, and the Holocaust. In Johnson's tale, powerful and seemingly benign humanoid aliens, called "Visitors," arrive on Earth, promising peace, prosperity and an end to disease. But they are hiding a deadly agenda, and begin persecuting scientists, who are the only people that could reveal their true, reptilian faces.

A small band of humans, led by a TV reporter (Marc Singer) and a scientist (Faye Grant), forms a Resistance movement to throw off the alien oppressors.

Now it appears that the Resistance will rise again.

In an NBC press release, Johnson describes his concept for a new, three-hour production, called "V: The Second Generation," saying it will "give me the opportunity to pick up the story 20 years later. The alien force is deeply entrenched, has turned many earth people into followers, and is sweeping them toward a dangerous new conquest. The Resistance seems to be fighting a losing battle when suddenly Earth gains a powerful and mysterious new ally."

Asked when the thought of a reviving "V" first came to him, Johnson tells Zap2it.com, "I think it was when I was doing the DVD. We were on the dubbing stage, and we got to the last scene, where Faye's character sends that message off into deep space. My dubbing mixer turned around to me and said, 'So, what happened?' I thought, 'Hmmm, maybe it's worth reexamining what may have happened 20 years later."

This was in 2001, and it wasn't until a year later that Johnson honed in on the specific story he wanted to tell and how he could tell it. He put the tale into a classic three-act structure and went with co-executive producer Rob Lee and Gregg Mayday of Warner Bros. to pitch it to NBC.

"It was a good pitch," Johnson recalls. "At least, we all felt it made sense, and we walked out of the room thinking, 'That's a pass.'"

Happily for him, Johnson was wrong, and NBC gave him the go-ahead for a script commitment. The challenge now becomes, as Johnson colorfully puts it, to figure out "how to get 10 pounds of s*** in a two-pound bag."

"It's appropriate that we would get it flying again at NBC," he continues, "because that's where it started. They've ordered a three-hour piece, which, after you subtract the commercials, is only 129 minutes. This is a very big piece to try to compress into 129 minutes, and still serve all the purposes one needs, and still be able to produce it, because it's big and expensive."

"I've got to see how far NBC will let me to with bringing back [original cast members]. NBC's prime focus seems to be new faces."

Johnson hopes to work with such original stars as Singer and Grant, and "A Nightmare on Elm Street" star Robert Englund, who played sympathetic Visitor Willy.

"Bobby and I have talked a lot in the last couple of months about it," Johnson says. "He always tells me about how people come up to him, the first thing they talk to him about is not Freddy Krueger, but it's about Willy."

Also complicating the process is the current political climate, which is very different than it was in the early '80s. "There's a lot of contemporary resonance," Johnson says. "When the Visitors arrived, of course, they were the hyper-power. And gee, who's the hyper-power now? It's very tricky, because one wants to make social commentary, and at the same time, it's got to be feathered in in a subtle way."

"The network is anxious to move it away from the notion of Europe under occupation to something that has a little more modern feel -- and that's tricky too. I don't want my heroes, obviously, to be considered terrorists, but that's the parallel. If the Visitors are the hyper-power, what does that make the Resistance?"

"So that's a line I've had to walk very, very carefully in my formulation of this thing."

Also of concern is whether "V" appeals to a younger demographic, who were children or not yet born when it premiered. To this, Johnson offers an anecdote: "I was at a video store on Friday, renting a video, and the girl saw my I.D. and she said, 'Are you the Kenneth Johnson that did " V"?' I said, 'Yeah, thank you for noticing.' She said, 'Oh, that is absolutely my favorite miniseries of all time. She was 19 years old. She wasn't even born when I made it."

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duckie
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Re: V: The Second Generation
« Reply #7 on: Jun 18^th, 2003, 6:46am »

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I loved the V shows.......I hope this one will be as good, but no one can beat Jane Badler as Diana Cool

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