Sealed Laserdiscs V Miniseries + V The Final Battle TV Show Alien Invasion W11
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V (or V: The Original Miniseries) is a two-part American science-fiction television miniseries, written and directed by Kenneth Johnson. Its debut on NBC in 1983 initiated the science-fiction franchise concerning reptilian aliens known as the Visitors trying to gain control of Earth, and of the reaction by the human populace.
Plot
A race of aliens arrives on Earth in a fleet of 50 huge, saucer-shaped motherships, which hover over major cities across the world. They reveal themselves on the roof of the United Nations building in New York City, appearing human, but requiring special glasses to protect their eyes and having a distinctive resonance to their voices. Referred to as the Visitors, they reach out in friendship, ostensibly seeking the help of humans to obtain chemicals and minerals needed to aid their ailing world, which is revealed to be a planet orbiting the star Sirius. In return, the Visitors promise to share their advanced technology with humanity. The governments of Earth accept the arrangement, and the Visitors, commanded by their leader John and his deputy Diana, begin to gain considerable influence with human authorities.
Strange events begin to occur. Scientists in particular become the objects of increasing media and public hostility. They experience government restrictions on their activities and movements. Others, particularly those keen on examining the Visitors more closely, begin to disappear or are discredited. Noted scientists confess to subversive activities; some of them exhibit other unusual behaviors, such as suddenly demonstrating hand preference opposite to the one they were known to have.
Television journalist cameraman Michael Donovan covertly boards one of the motherships of the Visitors. Donovan discovers their human-like façade of a thin, synthetic skin and human-eye contact lenses, and that the aliens are carnivorous reptilian humanoids with horned foreheads and green, scaly skin. He witnesses them eating whole live animals such as rodents and birds. Donovan, who first took footage of one of the alien ships flying overhead while on duty in El Salvador, records some of his findings on videotape and escapes from the mothership with the evidence. However, just as the exposé is about to air on television, the broadcast is interrupted by the Visitors, who have taken control of the media. Their announcement makes Donovan and his close friend and assistant Tony fugitives pursued by both the police and the Visitors.
Scientists around the world continue to be persecuted, both to discredit them (as the part of the human population most likely to discover the Visitors' secrets) and to distract the rest of the population with a scapegoat to whom they can attribute their fears. Key human individuals are subjected to Diana's special mind-control process called "conversion", which turns them into the Visitors' pawns, leaving only subtle behavioral clues to this manipulation. Others become subjects of Diana's horrifying biological experiments.
Some humans (including Mike Donovan's mother, Eleanor Dupres) willingly collaborate with the Visitors, seduced by their power. Daniel Bernstein, a grandson of a Jewish Holocaust survivor, joins the Visitor Youth and reveals the location of a scientist family, his neighbors the Maxwells, to the alien cause. One teenager, Robin Maxwell, the daughter of a well-known scientist who went into hiding, is seduced by a male Visitor named Brian, who impregnates her as one of Diana's "medical experiments".
A resistance movement is formed, determined to expose and oppose the Visitors. The Los Angeles cell leader is Julie Parrish, a biologist. Donovan later joins the group, and again sneaking aboard a mothership in search of Tony, who was captured, he learns from a Visitor named Martin that the story about the Visitors needing waste chemicals is a cover for a darker mission. The true purpose of the Visitors is to conquer and subdue the planet, steal all of the Earth's water, and harvest the human race as food, leaving only a few as slaves and cannon fodder for the Visitors' wars with other alien races. Martin is one of many dissidents among the Visitors (later known as the Fifth Column) who oppose their leader's plans and would rather co-exist peacefully with the humans. Martin then reveals to Donovan that Tony is dead, a victim of Diana's monstrous experiments. Afterwards, he befriends Donovan and promises to aid the Resistance. He gives Donovan access to one of their sky-fighter ships, which he quickly learns how to pilot. He escapes from the mothership along with Robin and another prisoner named Sancho, who had aided Robin's family in their flight out of occupied Los Angeles.
The Resistance strikes its first blows against the Visitors, procuring laboratory equipment and modern military weapons from National Guard armories to carry on the fight. The symbol of the Resistance is a blood-red letter V (for victory), spray-painted over posters promoting Visitor friendship among humans. The symbol was inspired by Stanly Bernstein's father Abraham, a Holocaust survivor.
The miniseries ends with the Visitors now virtually controlling the Earth, and Julie and Elias sending a transmission into space to ask other alien races for help in defeating the occupiers.
Historical references
With the Visitors' swastika-like emblem, their SS-like uniforms, and their German Luger-like laser weapons, the miniseries became an allegory of Nazism.[1]: 28 [2]: 254–255 A youth auxiliary movement called the "Friends of the Visitors" has similarities to the Hitler Youth, and the Visitors' attempts to co-opt television news reporters suggests the Nazi-era propagandization of news through the film industry.[1]: 35 The human interaction with the Visitors resembles occupied Europe during World War II, with some citizens choosing collaboration while others join underground resistance movements.[1]: 77 Where the Nazis persecuted primarily Jews, the Visitors persecute scientists, their families, and anyone associating with them.[2]: 254 As the Visitors start eliminating scientists who could reveal their true nature, a Jewish family hesitates on whether to help their scientist neighbor and his family, until their grandfather suggests that to do otherwise would mean they had not learned anything from the past.[3][4]
Production
V was inspired by Sinclair Lewis's antifascist novel It Can't Happen Here (1935). Director–producer Kenneth Johnson wrote an adaptation titled Storm Warnings in 1982.[5] The script was presented to NBC for production as a television miniseries, but NBC executives rejected it as too "cerebral" for the average American viewer. To make the script more marketable, they were recast as man-eating extraterrestrials to capitalize on the popularity of franchises such as Star Wars. The production cost US$13 million (equivalent to $41 million in 2024).[6] The production schedule was tight, to be ready for broadcast during the May 1983 sweeps. Overtime and the genre-typical larger number of visual and makeup effects led to relatively high costs.[7]
Production was halted for two weeks when Dominique Dunne, the 22-year-old actress originally cast to play the part of Robin Maxwell, was murdered outside her apartment by her ex-boyfriend while rehearsing with actor David Packer.[8] Some scenes with her are still in the original series, but only of the back of her head. Blair Tefkin was hired to play Robin after her death.
Johnson subsequently dedicated the series to her memory.
Marketing
Posters appeared in train stations of a smiling man behind wraparound sunglasses, others grinning along with him, with only a motto "The Visitors are our friends" to explain it. Days later, those posters had a red "V" (for "victory") spray-painted on them. Nothing suggested this was an advertisement for a television show, which made the marketing even more intriguing.[9]
Releases
V premiered on Sunday, May 1, 1983, with part 2 being broadcast the next evening, May 2.[10][11] The two-part miniseries was broadcast at a length of 200 minutes; the first part became the second-most popular program of the week, with 40% of the viewing television audience.[6]
It was re-released as V: The Original Miniseries on VHS during the mid-1990s, in 4:3 fullscreen format as originally broadcast. It was re-released on DVD in 2001 in a matted 16:9 widescreen format. The miniseries was originally filmed in open matte format, with director Kenneth Johnson stating he had also composed the picture to be more or less "widescreen-safe" in the event that it got an overseas theatrical release, which it did not.[citation needed] It was released on Blu-ray on August 27, 2019.
Legacy
This uniform was shown at Stockholm International Fairs in 2011.
The ratings success of V spawned a sequel, V: The Final Battle, which was meant to conclude the story. However, this was followed by a weekly television series, V: The Series, from 1984 to 1985, set one year after The Final Battle. Johnson left V during production of The Final Battle due to disagreements with NBC over how the story should progress.[12]
In November 2005, Entertainment Weekly named V one of the 10 best miniseries on DVD.[13] The article noted, "As a parable about it-can-happen-here fascism, V was far from subtle, but it carved a place for lavish and intelligent sci-fi on TV. Its impact can still be felt in projects like Taken and The 4400."[13] (The 4400's executive producer Scott Peters later helmed ABC's 2009 reboot.[13]) In December 2008, Entertainment Weekly put V on its list "The Sci-Fi 25: The Genre's Best Since 1982", and called Visitor leader Diana's devouring a guinea pig "one of the best TV reveals ever".[14]
For many years, Johnson campaigned to revive V, and even wrote a sequel novel, V: The Second Generation, which picks up the story 20 years after the original miniseries but omits the events of The Final Battle and V: The Series. Warner Bros. Television (which owns the television rights to the V franchise) declined to make a continuation as Johnson had planned, and opted for a remake instead. A reimagining of V premiered on ABC on November 3, 2009, and ran for two seasons.[15][16] Though Johnson was not involved in the remake, which features all new characters, executive producer Scott Peters said that it would acknowledge the most iconic moments from the original franchise and may potentially include actors from the original in new roles. Jane Badler and Marc Singer appear in the second season. In 2009, Johnson said he still planned a big-screen remake of his original V miniseries[17][18] though no progress has been made.
On February 6, 2018, Desilu Studios announced that it would be producing a feature film of V. The film was to be written and directed by Kenneth Johnson and produced by John Hermansen, Barry Opper, and Johnson. Johnson added, "We are delighted to team up with Desilu to bring the timeless – and timely – story of resistance against tyranny into the 21st century ... V will be the first of a cinematic trilogy, which will tell the full epic tale in the manner I always envisioned."[19] However, in late 2018, CBS (owners of the Desilu name) reportedly had initiated legal action against Charles B. Hensley, who had previously been convicted of a misdemeanor for selling an avian flu drug without FDA approval, whom they claim used the Desilu Studio name to influence investment into a shell company.[20]
Novelization
A. C. Crispin wrote a 402-page V novelization in 1984 for Pinnacle Books that combines both the original miniseries and The Final Battle. Following the release of V: The Second Generation in 2008, Tor Books re-released the original miniseries' section of Crispin's book, with a new epilogue by Johnson that tied the events of the first miniseries with Second Generation.
Cast
Humans
Character Actor
Mike Donovan Marc Singer
Juliet Parrish Faye Grant
Ben Taylor Richard Lawson
Caleb Taylor Jason Bernard
Elias Taylor Michael Wright
Kathleen Maxwell Penelope Windust
Robert Maxwell Michael Durrell
Robin Maxwell Blair Tefkin
Polly Maxwell Viveka Davis
Abraham Bernstein Leonardo Cimino
Stanley Bernstein George Morfogen
Lynn Bernstein Bonnie Bartlett
Daniel Bernstein David Packer
Ruby Engels Camila Ashland
Kristine Walsh Jenny Sullivan
Arthur Dupres Hansford Rowe
Harmony Moore Diane Cary
Eleanor Dupres Neva Patterson
Tony Wah Chong Leonetti Evan C. Kim
Sancho Gomez Rafael Campos
Brad William Russ
Sean Donovan Eric Johnston
Visitors
Character Actor
Diana Jane Badler
John Richard Herd
Steven Andrew Prine
Martin Frank Ashmore
Willie Robert Englund
Brian Peter Nelson
Barbara Jenny Neumann
Lorraine Greta Blackburn
Visitor Captain Stack Pierce
V: The Final Battle (abbreviated as V:TFB) is a 1984 American science fiction TV miniseries. It is a sequel to the 1983 miniseries V written by Kenneth Johnson about aliens known as "The Visitors" trying to take over Earth.
Johnson parted ways with NBC over creative differences regarding the content of the miniseries; his writing contribution is credited under the pseudonym "Lillian Weezer". With a budget of $14 million (one million more than the original four hours), production was delayed until script finalised in December 1983 and filming commenced in mid-January 1984, concluding in late March just six weeks before air date.
V: The Final Battle is included in the V novelization written by A. C. Crispin.
Synopsis
V: The Final Battle was played out over three episodes, starting four months after the events of the original miniseries concluded.
Part 1
Teleplay by Brian Taggert and Peggy Goldman
Story by Lillian Weezer & Peggy Goldman & Faustus Buck (pseudonym for Craig Faustus Buck) & Diane Frolov and Harry & Renee Longstreet
The first episode begins with a nightmare showing Mike Donovan and his son, Sean, trying to escape from a Visitor mother-ship with Visitor troopers in pursuit. Mike is knocked down by laser fire, Sean is shot in the back and apparently killed. Julie rouses Mike from his sleep as the Resistance prepares for a raid on a Visitor processing plant to rescue humans who have been repackaged into food cocoons. The raid is easily thwarted at the plant perimeter, due to the Visitors' advanced armor and security measures. In the raid's debriefing at the Resistance hideout, the team bickers over how things went wrong. Robin Maxwell's pregnancy is also at an advanced stage but she has told nobody that the father is a Visitor.
The rebels later get wind of a major event to be held at the Los Angeles Medical Center, where John is expected to announce a medical breakthrough—a universal cancer cure. Due to the extensive media coverage, the rebels infiltrate the hospital. While he can provide uniforms for the infiltration, Martin however cannot supply weapons, as all Visitor armories are heavily guarded. The rebels scout the facility and secure medical supplies. Meanwhile, after discovering that the Visitors are indeed reptilian, Robin insists on an abortion with Julie's help. However, the abortion is canceled because of potentially fatal complications to Robin and she is therefore forced to continue with the pregnancy to full term.
Meanwhile, television reporter Kristine Walsh begins to doubt her association with the Visitors, after Mike's claim that Sean is a captive aboard the mother-ship. Her suspicions are aroused even more after a well-known doctor makes a stinging criticism about her being the Visitors' puppet spokesperson, but then days later gives her a tremendously warm reception (due to Diana's subjecting him to her conversion process). During a scouting mission, the rebels succeed in capturing Willie, a friendly Visitor technician, whom they bring to their hideout for study. Willie's human girlfriend, Harmony, then makes a case among the rebels for humane treatment of the prisoner.
The hospital raid is a success, with Julie unmasking John's true, reptilian nature. Martin and Lorraine, another member of the Fifth Column, prevent the mother-ship from cutting off the live feed. Diana also kills Kristine after she disobeys her orders to report the incident as a terrorist hoax and instead makes a desperate call for rebellion. After a firefight inside the hospital corridors, the rebels escape with help from the Fifth Column, who have assigned a transport crew to "capture" them; however, it is a Pyrrhic victory, as Julie, now separated from the group, is captured during her attempt to escape from the hospital.
After the fiasco of the previous evening Diana has the scene re-enacted under heavy security to be passed off as the actual broadcast, with the audience held at gunpoint and Eleanor DuPres eagerly taking Kristine's place reporting the event. As it concludes, Stephen tells John and Diana they have the location of the resistance base and that troops are on their way.
On the mothership, Julie is undergoing the conversion process. As she endures the torture, Diana watches, claiming Julie will be her masterpiece.
Part 2
Teleplay by Brian Taggert and Diane Frolov
Story by Lillian Weezer & Diane Frolov & Peggy Goldman & Faustus Buck
Two mercenaries, Ham Tyler and associate Chris Farber, join the Resistance. Ham reveals the existence of an international resistance force that can supply armor-piercing ammunition plus other effective weapons for the war.
The Visitors storm the hideout, but the rebels escape with the help of Tyler and Farber and further advance-warning from Ruby, who now works at the Visitors' security headquarters as a cleaner. They relocate to an old western movie studio.
Julie's brainwashing continues in the conversion chamber. The process inflicts horrifying hallucinations on Julie's mind, designed to brainwash her into a Visitor ally. However, she proves quite strong, forcing Diana to continually increase the intensity of the process. This eventually causes Julie to go into cardiac arrest and nearly die. Despite Julie's failing health, she is forced to undergo another conversion session. Frustrated with Julie's resistance, Diana takes the power of the chamber to maximum. Now in intense agony, Julie struggles to resist. Just as her heart is beginning to give out, Julie breaks and Diana stops the session. Julie collapses to the ground, seemingly converted. After the session, Mike Donovan bursts in and attempts to shoot Diana, but Jake kills him in time. Seeing this, however, appears to snap Julie out of her brainwashing. It is later revealed that the man appearing to be Mike is a Fifth Column agent in disguise.
Because of the danger of Fifth Column infiltration (especially now with the arrival of Diana's superior, Squadron Commander Pamela), Martin suggests that all major prisoners be transferred from the mother-ship to the security headquarters on the ground for further protection. Mark's girlfriend, Maggie Blodgett, who has seduced collaborator and Visitor Youth member Daniel Bernstein, brings this information to the rebels, who see the opportunity and rescue Julie. Daniel, however, kills Ruby after she cuts the power for the laser fencing, a critical part of the operation.
Once again in the ranks of the Resistance, Julie tells the others of a 30-day plan to steal all the water from southern California by means of a water pipeline to a Visitor mothership. With the aid of devices that make their voices similar to those of the Visitors, the rebels scout the facility and prepare to destroy it. Tyler questions Julie's loyalty, convinced she had been converted. She responds firmly and retains command in front of the others. In private, however, she is mentally scarred from her torture aboard the mothership. She shows signs that the conversion was successful, making her unsure of herself. She finally seeks comfort in Mike's arms. At the same time, Maggie confronts Mark over their relationship in light of her undercover liaison with Daniel. They make peace, and he proposes to her.
The attack on the water facility goes as planned, and after explosives are placed a fire-fight ensues between the rebels and the aliens. Mark is wounded and sacrifices his life to cover the escape. Maggie grieves over the loss of her fiancé.
Later on, Diana and Stephen appear in a news bulletin along with Sean, whom Stephen had ordered Brian to take out of stasis as a favor to Eleanor. It is a clear invitation for Mike to surrender to them in exchange for his son. Mike gives himself up and is taken on a mothership, while Ham and Julie bring Sean to safety. The rebels relocate to an old city jail afterwards, where their prisoner Willie gradually wins their trust when he helps Robin through her pre-labor stage.
A Fifth Column agent named Oliver visits Mike at his cell and offers a suicide pill to prevent him from divulging information about the Resistance and the Fifth Column, in light of Diana's ultra-potent truth serum. Jake kills Oliver and Diana injects Mike with the drug. The effects take place immediately, with Mike forced to compromise Martin, who is present. Martin tries to shoot Diana, but she escapes with the knowledge that he is a Fifth Columnist. Donovan and Martin hide in the mother-ship's air shafts.
The episode ends when Robin goes into labor and via a caesarian section gives birth to dizygotic twins—a human looking girl with a forked tongue, and a reptilian boy with blue human-like eyes.
Part 3
Teleplay by Brian Taggert and Faustus Buck
Story by Lillian Weezer & Faustus Buck & Diane Frolov & Peggy Goldman
The first few days after Robin's delivery prove to be challenging for her and the others. The male child dies while the baby girl, Elizabeth, begins to grow at a rapid rate. Julie and Robert's analysis of the male child's corpse reveals certain bacteria that affected only the boy, despite his proximity to Elizabeth in the uterus. Encouraged by the sudden development, the duo decide to culture the germs as a potential weapon.
Mike Donovan and Martin skydive out of the mothership and Martin hides with other ground-based Fifth Columnists. After Mike reaches the jail, the team discuss testing the bacterium, now called the "Red Dust," but firmly reject Ham's suggestion of using Willie as a guinea pig. Instead, the rebels capture Brian at the Bernstein house and frame Daniel. Stephen retaliates by sending Daniel off to be processed as food.
The team locks up Brian, and Robin (with Elizabeth in tow) visits him in the middle of the night. However, the family reunion is short, as Robin seeks revenge by throwing a vial of the Red Dust into Brian's holding chamber. The results are fatal. Father Andrew Doyle, the team's resident priest, carries Elizabeth off to safety as the others look at the outcome. While Ham and Mike mull over capturing a Visitor Youth member to be used as a test subject, Julie enters the chamber and proves the dust is non-lethal to humans.
Father Andrew brings Elizabeth to Diana, who initially welcomes them. Later she shoots the priest after reading the Bible, realizing through its words that she is 'vulnerable.' The danger of compromise forces the rebels to evacuate and regroup at a coastal lighthouse complex, where more Red Dust stocks are produced. Ham and Mike get into a physical argument over delivering the stocks to other resistance groups before a vaccine is ready, one that would protect the Fifth Columnists.
Martin later asks Mike to stop producing the toxin and reveals the Visitors' contingency plan: using their mothership as a doomsday device if the situation was lost. In light of the new complication the team debate whether to attack. Elias makes the case that attack remains the best chance for saving the world, and the majority of the resistance agree.
The planning sessions take place, but Julie notices Sean overhearing the details. She then tells Mike of the possibility that Sean was converted before the exchange, which Ham later confirms. Sean escapes the hideout to warn the Visitors, but the original plan of using United States Air Force planes to spread the toxin into Earth's atmosphere turns out to be a ruse; the rebels will use hot air balloons instead. Martin and a number of Fifth Column members arrive at the complex aboard a Visitor tanker vehicle, which will carry a stock of Red Dust for dispersal aboard the mothership. They are later given a vaccine for the Red Dust.
The raid begins in earnest and Sean's false information leads the bulk of the Visitor forces to secure all airbases for an attack that never arrives. The tanker strike team manages to steal aboard the mother-ship, where Mike closes all security feeds as the rest of the team pump the toxin into the ventilation system. Robert, Ham, and Chris lead the assault on the Visitor security headquarters. Red Dust mortar blasts eliminate the defenders with no human casualties. Desperate to escape, Stephen kills Eleanor, but Ham takes him down long enough to douse his face with a bag of Red Dust. The balloons' mass dispersal of Red Dust around the world will allow the deadly bacteria to multiply in Earth's ecosystem. The Visitor forces evacuate Earth.
Diana activates the doomsday device aboard the Los Angeles ship before shooting John for his refusal to take part in her plan. Mike, Julie, Elias, and Lorraine get pinned down by Visitor troops in a ventilation tunnel. The Red Dust begins to circulate, killing more soldiers. Martin joins up with them as they face Diana on the bridge. Mike wounds Diana in the shoulder, disarming her. Lorraine and Mike attempt to disarm the auto-destruct sequence. The other rebels and Visitors evacuate the ship while Martin attempts to move it out of the atmosphere beyond Earth orbit. Diana uses her conversion of Julie to distract her long enough to escape. Elizabeth steps up and stops the countdown with her latent superhuman powers. Martin then brings the mothership back to Earth.
Cast
Humans
Marc Singer as Mike Donovan
Faye Grant as Juliet Parrish
Michael Ironside as Ham Tyler
Mickey Jones as Chris Farber
Thomas Hill as Father Andrew Doyle
Michael Durrell as Robert Maxwell
Viveka Davis as Polly Maxwell
David Packer as Daniel Bernstein
Neva Patterson as Eleanor Donovan Dupres
Blair Tefkin as Robin Maxwell
Michael Wright as Elias Taylor
Jason Bernard as Caleb Taylor
Hansford Rowe as Arthur Dupres
Jenny Sullivan as Kristine Walsh
Diane Civita as Harmony Moore
Denise Galik as Maggie Blodgett
Sandy Simpson as Mark
Eric Johnston as Sean Donovan
Jenny Beck as Elizabeth Maxwell
Visitors
Jane Badler as Diana
Sarah Douglas as Pamela
Richard Herd as John
Andrew Prine as Stephen
Frank Ashmore as Martin
Robert Englund as Willie
Peter Nelson as Brian
Greta Blackburn as Lorraine
Stack Pierce as Jake
The product is a box set of Laserdiscs featuring the Miniseries and The Final Battle TV Show of the Alien Invasion series. The sub-genre of the content is boxing, falling under the genre of sports. This collection likely includes a selection of films and episodes that center around the topic of an alien invasion, offering viewers a thrilling and potentially action-packed viewing experience. Perfect for fans of the Alien franchise or those interested in the concept of a boxing match in a futuristic setting.