Simply A Masterpiece

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

I know it's not very popular to like the villain of V better than the heroes, but Diana was a strong, attractive alien woman who never let anyone walk all over her and she knew herself and her own mind much better than Julie Parrish (Faye Grant). They tried to remake V with another attractive woman as Anna the leader of the aliens, but the actress never achieved what Jane Badler did! When Diana came on the scene, you knew someone would be in deep, deep trouble. I did think Mike Donovan (Marc Singer) was a good-looking, tall young guy who held his own against Diana quite well! John (Richard Herd) was a weak commander of the aliens and Diana was smart enough to see this. Steven (Andrew Prine) had zero respect for Diana because I guess he was a bit of a sexist who hated being bossed around by a woman. Pamela who was another alien tried to one-up Diana but she could never achieve the one oneupmanship which was why Diana killed her. I know the story ends with the aliens being defeated, but they would have succeeded if John, Steven, and Pamela would have listened to her.

Despite the limited involvement of creator Kenneth Johnson, I found this to be an entertaining sequel to the original. Marc Singer, Faye Grant, and Jane Badler all return, along with Michael Ironside as ruthless mercenary Ham Tyler, who helps the resistance group continue its fight against the aliens.The stakes are higher here, since Diana is now facing challenges among her own ranks, as well as her superiors, but she will stop at nothing to achieve her ambitions of power. The Earth is still threatened by the 50 spaceships hovering above, but now the resistance has developed a biological weapon to use against the invaders, and decide to infiltrate the mother ship hovering over California.This has even more action than before, and is less cerebral than its predecessor, with an ending involving the "star child" that may leave you shaking your head in disbelief! Still, this is well-done otherwise.

The sequel to Kenneth Johnson's 1983 sci-fi classic, 'V', aired over three consecutive nights on NBC, in May 1984. An unintentional comedy, Johnson had disassociated himself early on in production, but had laid the groundwork to continue the alien invasion story.Based on the critical and ratings success of the original, NBC rushed this mini-series, and it clearly shows in every facet; the dialogue is laughable, the special effects terrible, and even the soundtrack is weak.Relying heavily on action, melodrama and pure silliness, 'VFB' is a bloated disappointment if viewed seriously. Otherwise, it's eighties television at it's best,(or worst), highly entertaining and lots of fun.

The GREATEST mini-series of all time was, of course, the original V. I hadn't seen either in years, until they both started making the rounds on MPLEX. And if possible, both got BETTER with age. And I'll tell you what, Faye Grant is STILL quite the hottie. And with an unblemished record of heterosexuality, I can say without hesitation that Marc Singer might the coolest guy of the 80s! He is basically a mix of Luke Skywalker and Kevin Bacon. You certainly can't go wrong there. This is definitely something that every child of the '80s MUST have in his video library. Without question.