V: The Original Series on VHS

• Cert: 15
• Running time: 194, 87, 89, 82 minutes
• Year: 1983
• Cat.no: SO01489, SO11489, SO11490, SO11491
• Released: 24th March 1997
• Sound: Mono
• Presented in fullscreen
• Price: £9.99 each
• Extras : None
  

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  Directors include :

  Kenneth Johnson, Richard T. Heffron, Stuart Heisler

  Cast:

  Mike Donavan : Marc Singer (Roots, Beastmaster)
  Robert Maxwell : Michael Durrell (Defending Your Life)
  Juliet Parrish : Faye Grant (Omen IV : The Awakening)
  Jane : Jane Badler
  Robin : Blair Tefkin
  Willie : Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Street)
  Ham Tyler : Michael Ironside (Total Recall, Highlander 2)
  Abraham Bernstien : Leonardo Cimino
  Plus Peter Nelson, David Packer, Neva Patterson, Michael Wright, Richard Herd.

Foranyone who grew up in the 80’s, “V” wasn’t just a science fiction series,it was an institution. Forget Independence Day, Mars is attacking in anew kind of style…

At the start of V – The Movie, aliens land on earth in 50 giganticmotherships, appearing in human form, initially being given the title”Visitors”, and claiming to have come in peace as they need our help. They arein search of valuable minerals, and re-tool our processing plants to help boththem and us.

They quickly became integrated into the lives of everyone on Earth, and aVisitors Youth Organisation was formed, encouraging teenagers to sign up andjoin their ranks, and developing many close relationships between them and us.Some humans became friends with the Vistors, unaware of what was about tohappen, but a few sceptics were to be found, but all of these were tomysteriously disappear, and many people began to turn their backs on thescientific community. Some of these scientists were given refuge by AbrahamBernstien, himself a survivor of the German POW camps.

It was only after news cameraman Mike Donovan infiltrated one of theirmotherships after becoming suspicious, discovering not only that it was theVisitors idea to create the conspiracy, so scientists become ostracised, butalso that our new found friends, were in fact green lizards under the skinintent on using humans for food, slaves and soldiers.

When Donovan tried to play a tape across the national TV network, suddenly thewhole network went dead. Shortly after, a resistance unit was formed, headed byMike Donovan and Juliet Parish, to kick alien butt once and for all…

In The Final Battle Part 1, the alien visitors try to convince thepublic that the resistance group is preventing harmony between the two planets,that is until Donovan manages to convince the world that the aliens really areman-eating lizards…

After having suffered the nightmares of the visitors killing his son Sean,The Final Battle Part 2 sees Donovan allowing himself to be takencapture in return for his son’s release. On board the alien space ship he istortured. Meanwhile, one of the girls on earth, Robin, has been made pregnantby one of the visitors (played by Peter Nelson), and at the end of this part,she is due to give birth. Worse still, after the first, almost normal, baby hasbeen born, the second one breaks the rules of childbirth by delivering itself…

By the time that The Final Battle Part 3 comes along, the first babyhas grown alarmingly fast into a young girl, who becomes the key in signallingthe end of the visitors reign over the planet. The Resistance have developed adeadly virus made out of red powder in an attempt to kill off the alies, butthey also learn that the invaders have a deadly device…a nuclear bomb!

What else can be said of “V” ? For those who have grown up with it in theearly 80’s, they’ll need no convincing, but for those who haven’t come acrossit before, I urge you to put away your videos of “Independence Day” and putthis set on your video shelf.

You’ll need to make a fair bit of space though. In case you think this is itfor the visitors, the follow-up 1985 19-part television series will be out onvideo soon too, with the first two tapes being released mid-April. Watch thesepages for further reviews.

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1997.