{"id":176,"date":"2008-10-15T07:00:20","date_gmt":"2008-10-15T11:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/?p=176"},"modified":"2008-10-12T15:56:14","modified_gmt":"2008-10-12T19:56:14","slug":"v-theyre-here-to-take-our-sequels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/15\/v-theyre-here-to-take-our-sequels\/","title":{"rendered":"“V”… They’re Here to Take Our Sequels"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"VisitorIt was only a matter of time until a new “V” series was announced. Last Thursday, Variety reported that ABC is developing a new “V” series written by Scott Peters (4400, Jericho, Burn Notice, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)<\/a>. The new story will feature some of the original concepts, but it sounds like many will change.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 nefarious (in the original, they wanted to steal the world’s water supply).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another person who has been tapped for involvement with the new story is Jace Hall, former head of Warner Bros.’ videogame division.\u00a0 Apparently he is planning to expand “V” into other platforms, including gaming.\u00a0 Very interesting.<\/p>\n

One thing of note is that Kenneth Johnson, the writer-producer-director of the first “V” mini-series, is not involved in this project.\u00a0 You may recall he wrote a novel fairly recently called “V: The Second Generation” and was trying to relaunch the franchise.\u00a0 You can read my review of the book by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now this isn’t the first time a relaunch of “V” has been attempted. Back in 1989 Warner Brothers commissioned J. Michael Straczynski (who would later go on to create Babylon 5, and write a particularly long run of the Amazing Spider-Man comic) to write a pilot screenplay for a proposed new series, tentatively titled “V: The Next Chapter”, that would have continued the V storyline. Picking up five years after the end of the NBC series, it would have followed the efforts of a new Resistance movement on a conquered Earth to make contact with the “Outsiders”, the faction of the Visitors’ own people who oppose their Leader, who had finally responded to a summons put out at the end of the original miniseries. The only character from the older V to appear in this script was Ham Tyler. After numerous drafts, the script, entitled “The Rebirth”, was finally abandoned when the studio decided it would be too cost-prohibitive to produce. You can find the first three acts of that script here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see if this new “V” story ever is actually produced.\u00a0 And if it does get made, will it be any good.<\/p>\n

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