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30 Days of TV - Day 3
( The Days )
Day 03 - Your favorite new show ( aired this t.v season)
I tend to avoid new shows, at least until I hear they've been renewed. I just can't bear falling in love with a show only to have it taken away again.
But I did take a chance on the re-imagined series V. And I really do like it.
The original V is one of my all-time favourites. Aliens with remarkably human appearance come to earth offering advanced technology and miraculous medicines in return for "a chemical" which they claim they desperately need to save their planet. Amazingly quickly, and in a heavy Nazi allegory, they take over. It turns out the chemical is a smokescreen: they don't look human at all, but are reptilian and they've come to earth to steal our natural resources, primarily the water and food (in the form of humans). It was a mini-series followed by another mini-series followed by a single season of regular eps. And it's still well worth a watch. The effects don't really stand up, but the story sure does.
With the 2009 remake, the Nazi allegory has been ditched in favour of the more topical terrorism. The true purpose of the "Visitors" has yet to be revealed, though it's evidently Not Good, and other aspects of the story have been updated and reworked. The characters are all different. But it's recognisably derivative of the original.
In this story, the "Visitors" have been on Earth for a long time, establishing sleeper cells and infiltrating, before the bulk of them showed up in huge spaceships. This makes for a different kind of tension: in the early episodes you don't know who's human and who isn't, who is good or who is bad. The takeover is more about marketing than about paranoia and power (much more suited to the culture of today).
What's to love about this show?
The lead hero and the lead villain are both women. The main hero character is Erica, an FBI agent whose anti-terrorism work leads her to uncover the truth about the Visitors shortly after they arrive. Assigned to a team dedicated to protecting the Visitors, she uses her position to gather intelligence for the resistance: in effect becoming leader of a terrorist cell herself. The irony of her position is not lost on her and we see her struggle with some aspects of what she has to do. This is a strong woman who follows her own convictions. The main villain is the Visitor leader, Anna. She's a less layered character - "evil" pretty well sums her up - but she's very mysterious. We don't really know who she is or what she wants from Earth. She's cruel and manipulative...in some ways a more stereotypical "bitch", but she's also undeniably in control.
The show doesn't pretend 'morally grey' is okay. One of the things I've come to loathe in SPN is the way horrible things are presented as okay if the heroes do it for the greater good. V doesn't do that. When Erica has to kill someone, she damn well feels it. Not over-the-top angst, just the awareness that she's taken a life. When she has to team up with a terrorist, her discomfort is clear, and he doesn't suddenly become a hero: he's still a terrorist. He's just on the heroes' side. Another main character is a priest and a lot of the core morality comes from him. The characters cross lines, but crossing the lines isn't presented as heroic, just as necessary.
Relationships are at the core of it...but not romantic relationships. Erica's complicated relationship with her son, who falls for one of the Visitors. Anna's relationship with her daughter. Rebel visitor Ryan's relationship with his human girlfriend (okay, that one's romantic, but it's also kinda not). Feelings and emotions play are at the heart of this story: according to Anna, the Vistors aren't supposed to have them. Feelings, that is. Yet they clearly do. If the series goes on, it could have some serious commentary on what it really means to be human.
Mystery abounds What do the Visitors really want? That question really isn't answered. Their duplicity implies they don't have humans' best interests at heart, but there's actually little evidence either way. At times, the viewer feels a little paranoid for assuming the worst. At others, that unknown is truly terrifying.
And it looks like the show will get a second season! So there's a plus, too.
Day 03 - Your favorite new show ( aired this t.v season)
I tend to avoid new shows, at least until I hear they've been renewed. I just can't bear falling in love with a show only to have it taken away again.
But I did take a chance on the re-imagined series V. And I really do like it.
The original V is one of my all-time favourites. Aliens with remarkably human appearance come to earth offering advanced technology and miraculous medicines in return for "a chemical" which they claim they desperately need to save their planet. Amazingly quickly, and in a heavy Nazi allegory, they take over. It turns out the chemical is a smokescreen: they don't look human at all, but are reptilian and they've come to earth to steal our natural resources, primarily the water and food (in the form of humans). It was a mini-series followed by another mini-series followed by a single season of regular eps. And it's still well worth a watch. The effects don't really stand up, but the story sure does.
With the 2009 remake, the Nazi allegory has been ditched in favour of the more topical terrorism. The true purpose of the "Visitors" has yet to be revealed, though it's evidently Not Good, and other aspects of the story have been updated and reworked. The characters are all different. But it's recognisably derivative of the original.
In this story, the "Visitors" have been on Earth for a long time, establishing sleeper cells and infiltrating, before the bulk of them showed up in huge spaceships. This makes for a different kind of tension: in the early episodes you don't know who's human and who isn't, who is good or who is bad. The takeover is more about marketing than about paranoia and power (much more suited to the culture of today).
What's to love about this show?
The lead hero and the lead villain are both women. The main hero character is Erica, an FBI agent whose anti-terrorism work leads her to uncover the truth about the Visitors shortly after they arrive. Assigned to a team dedicated to protecting the Visitors, she uses her position to gather intelligence for the resistance: in effect becoming leader of a terrorist cell herself. The irony of her position is not lost on her and we see her struggle with some aspects of what she has to do. This is a strong woman who follows her own convictions. The main villain is the Visitor leader, Anna. She's a less layered character - "evil" pretty well sums her up - but she's very mysterious. We don't really know who she is or what she wants from Earth. She's cruel and manipulative...in some ways a more stereotypical "bitch", but she's also undeniably in control.
The show doesn't pretend 'morally grey' is okay. One of the things I've come to loathe in SPN is the way horrible things are presented as okay if the heroes do it for the greater good. V doesn't do that. When Erica has to kill someone, she damn well feels it. Not over-the-top angst, just the awareness that she's taken a life. When she has to team up with a terrorist, her discomfort is clear, and he doesn't suddenly become a hero: he's still a terrorist. He's just on the heroes' side. Another main character is a priest and a lot of the core morality comes from him. The characters cross lines, but crossing the lines isn't presented as heroic, just as necessary.
Relationships are at the core of it...but not romantic relationships. Erica's complicated relationship with her son, who falls for one of the Visitors. Anna's relationship with her daughter. Rebel visitor Ryan's relationship with his human girlfriend (okay, that one's romantic, but it's also kinda not). Feelings and emotions play are at the heart of this story: according to Anna, the Vistors aren't supposed to have them. Feelings, that is. Yet they clearly do. If the series goes on, it could have some serious commentary on what it really means to be human.
Mystery abounds What do the Visitors really want? That question really isn't answered. Their duplicity implies they don't have humans' best interests at heart, but there's actually little evidence either way. At times, the viewer feels a little paranoid for assuming the worst. At others, that unknown is truly terrifying.
And it looks like the show will get a second season! So there's a plus, too.