V

[RottingCorpse]

The fact that we don't have a V thread at GS is unforgivable.

The below news item is likely just Robert Englund talking without anything to really back it up,especially in light of teh fact that he's talking about Freddy vs. Jason vs. Michael Myers which any horror fan around knows is all but dead.

Still, it's in the ether.

http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/artman2/publish/television_news/New_V_TV_series_coming_11070907.php

New 'V' TV series coming?

We were at the London Film and Comic Con over the past weekend and we managed to sit in on the last few minutes of a talk that Robert Englund was giving. We not only heard the guy repeat that John Carpenter was 'talking' about having some sort of role in the FREDDY VS. JASON VS. MICHAEL movie (he's been at New Line discussing the project according to Englund), but also that a new re-imagining of his hit 1980's TV series V may be in the works.

Englund did add however, that it was unlikely that he would be involved in the new project, and that a whole new bunch of new, younger actors would be brought on board for the new show. It's an interesting little rumour, and we'll see how it develops, but we love the idea of a new V series. Even if it is without Englund (the man did say that he would love to return to the series, and said that he'd like to have seen the new show based around the original characters, twenty to thirty years on).

[nacho]

How odd...I could have sworn there was a V thread.  Didn't we go on about it when Ken Johnson said he was going to redo the whole thing the way it was meant to be and then he was quietly executed? 

But, yes, the redo is official again.

I was all for it, then.  Johnson's view was a long, drawn-out, dark parallel to the French Resistance during WWII.  Or, to be less romantic and more in keeping with the way he was talking, Red Dawn with aliens. 

You certainly get some of that in the wonderfully eerie original series, and some minor remnant of the idea in The Final Battle.  And then there's the first TV series...oh, yes.  Almost as emotionally damaging as Galactica 1980. 

But he originally wanted to re-imagine it BSG style, not do a sequel.  That's changed.

http://www.kennethjohnson.us/VNovel.html

It's basically picking up where the original left off, which was retarded.  And so is the 20 year jump.  20 years?!  So it takes place in a depopulated wasteland or has he removed the food/water thing?

[RottingCorpse]

How odd...I could have sworn there was a V thread.  Didn't we go on about it when Ken Johnson said he was going to redo the whole thing the way it was meant to be and then he was quietly executed? 

I thought so too. I remember saucy pictures of Diana and Lydia.

[nacho]

I'm a Faye Grant man.

[nacho]

Latest --

Talk of a sequel or remake of the 80's alien invasion mini-series classic "V" has long been in the works, now it seems something might be moving again.

In 2004, original series creator Kenneth Johnson proposed to the networks a sequel. He was later asked to write a script for a remake instead and if successful, the remake could lead to a sequel.

Two years later Johnson announced his completion of a four hour script entitled "V: The Second Generation" set 20 years after the original mini-series. Networks however showed little interest at the time.

Then, last week Johnson released the manuscript in novel form in booksellers and this week revealed on his official site that there will be a major announcement soon to be announced "after the writers strike".

This was followed by a short message to a DH reader saying "I really hope you enjoy the novel. Stay tuned for the film version. All the best".

Ignoring events of the mini-series and the second mini-series "The Final Battle", 'Second Generation' has Earth still under Visitor domination and the Resistance fighting a losing battle as the majority believe that the Visitors have only helped them.

It's then that the message Julie sent into space at the end of the original miniseries is finally heard and an army of aliens, the long-sought enemies of the Visitors, reinforces the Resistance in their time of need. However, all is not as it seems.

[RottingCorpse]

Below is from an AICN interview with Kenneth Johnson.

DC: Now we know you were heavily involved in almost every aspect of the original V mini-series. What will your involvement be for The Second Generation when it comes to TV? And I guess the question on everyone’s mind is, ‘Is it coming to TV?’

KJ: Well the whole TV series mini market thing, as you know, has gone away. All the networks have cancelled their big TV movie nights, and mini series are few and far between…except on cable channels…but the problem is that most cable channels are very, very branded.

I mean V they didn’t feel was right for Lifetime or the Cooking Channel, obviously the choice would be the Sci-Fi Channel, who actually wanted to do it, but Warners actually refuses to make any deal with the Sci-Fi Channel on anything. Not just V…they had a huge Stephen King project go down, and a George Clooney project go down, all because Time Warner Corporately can not figure out a good template with NBC/Universal corporately.

It’s like Ford and Chevy trying to make a car together, it’s very frustrating. But, I do however have the motion picture rights to the original V and Warners is working out for me to have the motion picture rights to The Second Generation as well, so we’re essentially trying to now get it set up as a motion picture - and hopefully that will come to pass.


DC: So, when V: The Second Generation is ready to be made into another TV mini-series…or even a motion picture…the big question is, would we be able to get some of the original actors back to do it?

Oh yeah. Well, when I originally sat down to write it, I called each of them and said, “Here’s what I’m planning to do - and god knows if it will ever get made - but if it ever gets made and it happens, would you guys be interested in coming back?” And everyone of them said ‘absolutely’; Marc and Faye, and Robert Englund and Jane Badler (who now lives in Australia and has an Australian accent, so we’ll have to deal with that now wont we?) But all of them said ‘Yes, PLEASE, please include me’ and I really couldn’t imagine going forward without them.

I think it’s a fascinating thing if I can get it made the way I want to, to be able to have the same actors that I had 20 years ago, to be able to do flashbacks with them, and see it’s the same person. That’s just so cool, and the fans really have reacted very, very positively to that possibility.

[RottingCorpse]

Here's the book on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/V-Second-Generation-Kenneth-Johnson/dp/0765319071/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203002593&sr=8-1

[nacho]

On my wishlist!

Go buy me a valentine's day present.

[Nubbins]

On my wishlist!

Go buy me a valentine's day present.

I'm airmailing my fluffiest winter jackets to your apartment.

[nacho]

Yes!  Sex!

[nacho]

Ken Johnson promises an announcement in the next two weeks making V official for 2009.  It's up on IMDB now.

Meanwhile, here's most of the old "next chapter" script that they started working on in the 90's.

http://www.noreascon.org/users/sflovers/u1/ftp/pub/sf-lovers/fandom/fiction/v-rebirth.txt

Don't know if I can resist not buying the book.  I'm stoked about a new V.  Especially as it throws out Final Battle.  No Starchild, no weird fumbling of the invasion...

[RottingCorpse]

So the first mini-series is canon, but Final Battle and the TV series isn't?

[nacho]

Yep. 

Remember that Ken Johnson was fired after the mini-series.  He wanted to go with the long occupation angle, and the network wanted more sci-fi action.

[RottingCorpse]

See, I have a weird soft spot for Final Battle.

We need to watch the first mini-series the next time I come up for a vodka binge.

[nacho]

Oh, Final Battle's great.   It's a somewhat lame ending that is forgivable because it's also quite showy and fun.  And the Starchild is annoying.  But the whole last days of the Nazi regime thing (thinking especially of the raid on Earth HQ with Andrew Prine's great death scene) was loads of fun.  Not to mention the They Live-level fight between Donovan and Tyler.

But it is a departure from the mini-series.  Dramatically different tone and style.