V - The Original TV Miniseries | 
 enlarge | Director: Kenneth Johnson
Actors: Marc Singer, Faye Grant, Michael Ironside, Jane Badler, Michael Durrell
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $6.96
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Rating:  190 reviews
Sales Rank: 1348
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 196
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 4.9 x 0.6
MPN: WARD11489D
ISBN: 0790760304
UPC: 085391148920
EAN: 9780790760308
ASIN: B00005B8UD
Theatrical Release Date: May 1, 1983
Release Date: July 3, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New! Factory Sealed 100%Satisfaction Guaranteed!
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Amazon.com
In its day, V was a monumental event that for one generation remains a pop-culture touchstone. Close Encounters of the Third Kind may have reassured us that perhaps we have nothing to fear from alien visitors and E.T. introduced us to a benign extraterrestrial who only wanted to go home, but Kenneth Johnson's 1983 television miniseries knew better. Visitors who claim to come in peace are revealed to be nothing but human-looking reptilians on human conversion and conquest. As in the dark days of fascism, some collaborate with the enemy; others form the resistance. At the time, the epic scale of this production was unprecedented. Those 50 motherships that hover over Earth's major cities anticipate Independence Day by more than a decade. The special effects and makeup are still awesome. Less so is the often-hackneyed dialogue. But thanks to their signature roles, the mostly no-star cast, most of whom would be reunited for a sequel and subsequent television series, have ensured themselves standing invitations to sci-fi conventions. Marc Singer is cameraman-turned-freedom-fighter Mike Donovan. Julie Parrish is a medical student-turned-rebel. Richard Herd is the aliens' supreme commander. Jane Bradler is Diana, the ravishing but ruthlessly ambitious alien science officer. Leonardo Cimino lends dignity to his heavy-handed allegorical role as a Holocaust survivor. Look for a pre-Freddy Krueger Robert Englund as one of the aliens. The DVD is presented for the first time in widescreen format. Supplemental features include an amiable and enlightening director's commentary and a brief "making of" segment. --Donald Liebenson
Product Description
They come in peace to enslave humankind. Aliens place our world in a hammerlock of fascist rule and valiant freedom fighters battle to save our species. Special features: director commentary: gag reel: international trailer: subitles in english french and spanish. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 10/04/2005 Starring: Marc Singer Robert Englund Run time: 197 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Richard Heffron/daniel Blatt
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| Customer Reviews: Read 185 more reviews...
 My Parents Love It! December 30, 2008
So I bought this series for my parents for Christmas since they do not have satellite or cable. They pretty much just watch videos. They loved it! They are huge fans of anything sci-fi and this was perfect for them. The quality is excellent and even though some of the special effects are cheezy, you can't stop watching. I reccomend this to anyone who doest want to spend a ton of money on a miniseries but wants to be entertained for a few days.
 good fun video December 24, 2008
Good fun mini-series as the earth resistance fights for freedom with the secret help of some of the invaders. Story idea based on Nazi Germany's take over of Europe. Will not win any acting awards but good fun video for the family to watch together at a good price.
 More trash from Ken Johnson September 8, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you like really bad dialoge, lousy action scenes, and weak casting then anything by Ken Johnson would do. This mini-series is a joke, The Johnson commentery and short featurtte is a joke, and as useual it is packaged with Warner Brothers second rate DVD standards.
Remember the one where the lady swallowed the Guinea pig? August 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Unfortunately, that's one of several reminders I throw out there whenever I'm trying to find out if someone has ever watched V before.
Eating live rodents, harvesting humans for food, and stealing the earth's water supply are not usually the big plot items that turn people onto a TV show or movie. And yet in 1983, everyone was glued to their television sets to watch V. (And even those who weren't were joining the throng of fans a year later for V: THE FINAL BATTLE.) Perhaps, it's because, although most people are not science fiction fans, they will watch a science fiction show (or movie) that has a non-sci-fi element as its primary vehicle. For instance, there are the mythological and mystical aspects of the STAR WARS saga. Many feel that there's a theological theme to the MATRIX trilogy.
In the same vein, V is undoubtedly a World War II/Holocaust allegory. The Visitors' emblem looks very similar to a swastika. They post propaganda posters all over the place. They establish the Visitor Friends Group in every major city (equivalent to the Hitler Youth). The Visitors require all scientists and their families to be registered; these same scientists (with their families) are often the target of outrageous persecutions and false accusations of conspiring against the Visitors.
V is the quintessential cheesy 80s melodrama. There are no fabulous performances in V, and none of the principle actors went on to bigger and better careers. The special effects, though unremarkable by today's standards, were way ahead of the game 25 years ago. (And many of the special effects sequences are recycled not only throughout this series but also throughout V: THE FINAL BATTLE and V: THE SERIES).
The unique thing V does offer is fun, exciting, intriguing, and action-packed family entertainment. And this kind of entertainment was delivered at a time when family entertainment was, unfortunately, going rapidly out of style.
From profound to medicre August 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
V the mini series and it's sequel V the final battle are great SF. Tough the special effects are not up to today's standard, this is more than compensated for by the interesting storyline (a parable about the naziregime) and protagonists who are real people with real faults and doubts. Some become collaborators, some become heroes against their will, but there are no black and white characters all good or all bad, except for Diana (a Dr.Mengele-like character only with real power, not a follower like Mengele was).
Together these two form an epic story of real interest.
Unfortunately the formula was milked into a television series (V The complete series) wich has deteriorated to mediocre or less. The stories have become childish, the characters have flattened out to two-dimensional. Shots of entering shuttles and the docking bay are recycled endlessly etc. The ending is very unsatisfying, because it doesn't really end but an opening is left for a sequel of the series which fortunately never came to pass.
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