Anyone who has seen “V” will want to see this sequel, as well. “V” was one of most original made-for-television movie of its time. It spawned this sequel and its very own television series. It was able to do this with a cast of virtual unknowns because of the strength of its story line. “V” is simply great sci-fi, and “V - The Final Battle” is a must have DVD for all those fans who enjoyed the original mini-series.
As those of you familiar with “V” already know, human looking alien visitors landed on Earth, led by an alien innocuously called John (Richard Herd), who gave Earth a benevolent message that fooled many into thinking that the visitors came in peace. Some humans even ended up working collaboratively with them. There were some, however, that were skeptical of the visitors’ motives, and mistrust turned to fear when scientists and doctors began to be rounded up and mysteriously disappeared.
Mike Donovan (Marc Singer), a hunky cameraman, had his own misgivings about the aliens, but once he observed the visitors literally shedding their skins, revealing that that they were not human at all, but rather, nothing more than reptilian looking aliens, his misgivings were reinforced. Mike also discovered that they meant mankind harm and were hell-bent of the conquest of Earth and divestiture of one of Earth’s most important natural resources without which humans cannot live.
Mike joined the resistance, headed by beautiful medical doctor, Julie Parish (Faye Grant). As the underground resistance battled the visitors, many humans were still convinced that the visitors were benevolent and being misjudged by these so-called freedom fighters. As fascist rule supplanted democratic government throughout the world, under the pretext of law and order and at the direction of the visitors and at the behest of their human puppets, the viewer cannot help but be aware of the allegorical implications.
This two disc DVD provides three episodic treats. The resistance continues its struggle against the visitors with the assistance of an alien fifth column, working secretly together, side by side. Mike Donovan and Julie Parish are now joined by irascible and laconic Ham Tyler (Michael Ironside), a former special forces agent with a chip on his shoulder and the military strategy necessary to coalesce the resistance movement into a lean, mean, fighting machine.
This sequel mini-series is action packed, as the visitors and the resistance fighters duke it out for control over the Earth. The exquisitely beautiful, evil alien, Diana (Jane Badler), stops at nothing to secure her ambitions. Not content with being the science officer for the invading forces, she seeks military glory at all cost. She is the one from whom both humans and aliens have much to fear.
The allegorical thread also continues, as humans begin to be rounded up routinely and trucked off to a processing plant. After all, it is the visitors fervent desire to serve man…literally. It seems that in addition to the Earth’s water, the visitors are secretly looking to humans as a food source.
There are some interesting special effects for its time, as well as some cheesy ones. There are also some key performances. Most notable are those of Jane Badler, in the role of the diabolical Diana, and Michael Ironside, as Ham Tyler, the alien hating resistance fighter. Look also for Robert Englund, who would go on to Freddy Kreuger fame the same year as the release of this mini-series sequel. He continues in the role of Willie, a peaceful loving visitor who allies himself with the resistance.
This film has everything, suspense, action, thrills, a gripping story line, a moral message, and an inter-species birth. How can anyone resist? This is sci-fi as it should be. Bravo!
The DVD provides a crystal clear, widescreen picture and perfect audio, but little else. It provides none of the interesting extras found on the “V” DVD. Instead, the buyer will have to be satisfied with the usual interactive menus, as well as scene access, and subtitles available in English, French. Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Bahasa, Thai, and Korean. All in all, notwithstanding its shortcomings, this is a DVD well worth having in one’s collection, if one is a sci-fi diehard.
It is unfortunate that the television series based upon this highly successful mini-series did not fare well. The knuckleheads in charge of programming sentenced it to death right from the beginning by scheduling it opposite the then number one television show, “Dallas”. The series never even had a chance coming out of the gate. I only hope that a DVD collection of the series will be forthcoming.
Sure, a bold and sweeping statement. Also, utterly true. Television viewers of 1984 had never seen anything like V, and anyone who has seen it would agree that there’s been nothing made since to even remotely touch it in terms of sheer entertainment.
V: The Final Battle consisted of the last three 2-hour installments of the series, preceded by the first two installments of V aired the previous year. Aliens have finally arrived on Earth, looking like us and posing as friends to all mankind while their motherships hover menacingly over every major city of the world. But cameraman Mike Donovan infiltrates the Los Angeles mothership and makes an astounding discovery: the benevolent “Visitors” are actually reptiles in disguise, intent on harvesting all of the natural resources of the planet, which includes tapping us humans as a food source! Donovan joins up with a rag-tag resistance movement led by Julie Parish, and together they lead their fugitive band in the overthrow of alien tyranny.
Like any great work of SF, V hits a lot of hot-button social issues, including abortion, inter-racial relationships and tolerance, and cultish brainwashing. And the allegory of the Visitor infiltration of our world to the rise of Naziism in 30’s Europe is hard to miss. Right down to the Visitor insignia, a sort of high-tech update of the Swaztika, as well as scenes with truckloads of confused humans being transported in the middle of the night to Visitor “processing” plants. Joining with the social commentary is a fine and able cast, led by “Beastmaster” Marc Singer as the independant Donovan and Faye Grant as the tough yet fragile resistance leader Parish. Heading the Visitor invasion is Jane Badler as the catty Diana, along with thier supreme leader John, played by Richard Herd. These main players are surrounded by a wonderful supporting cast, all of whom are given time to be fleshed out into full-fledged characters you care about. In particular, Michael Ironside gives a knock-out performance as hardass “Ham” Tyler, an ex-CIA spook with little social grace but a lot of firepower. V is wonderfully well crafted, with its rousing action sequences, amazing-for-TV SFX, and surprisingly touching moments. And they really creep things up with two show-stopping sequences: Grant’s powerful interrogation scenes, and the unforgettable “birth” sequence, a true SF classic. Even the dodgy puppeteering can’t keep me from the edge of my seat everytime I watch it.
But, this IS SF, and this IS TV, so we have some obligatory lapses in logic. Why do the visitors stay in thier human disguises even when out of human view on their ships? Speaking of which, how does a thin layer of fake skin create such a convincing human appearance for these lizard-like menaces? And how, with thousands upon thousands of soldiers and 50 ships three miles across hovering over every major city, do the Visitors manage to keep losing to the rabble resisters? And is it just me, or is the V:TFB music theme suspiciousy similar to that of “The Terminator”, also released this year? The answer, of course, is who cares?! Just enjoy the ride and don’t ask so many questions, okay? Also, while the mini-series remarkably doesn’t feel too dated even 15-16 years after it was made, its pedigree occasionally pokes through. In particular, in V:TFB, the scene where Mike and Julie finally hook-up really stands out as a glaring piece of early 80’s cheese.
In what has become a market of extremely lame disease/disaster-of-the-week TV movies, V was something really special: an epic SF event, lovingly crafted and with no expense spared. I hasten to add that it was a defining moment for the generation that saw the rise of Pac-Man and Mario into popular culture. The TV movies were followed that fall by V: The Series, which struggled for a year and was finally cancelled. Original broadcaster NBC has attempted to recapture the magic of V with a number of fantasy TV “events” in recent years, including “Gulliver’s Travels”, “The Odyssey”, “Merlin” and “The 10th Kingdom”. None of which possessed the same elusive magic as V, however. It was simply a stunning achievement, one I’m afraid to say may never be repeated again.
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