I started watching V last week when the pilot aired on ABC, and so far I’ve been pretty impressed with it.  There have been two episodes so far. If you missed then they are up on Hulu and embedded below. I never watched the original V series that aired in 1983. Probably because I was five at the time. So, I don’t have any ideas going into the show about what the story line might be or how it turns out.  I think I prefer it this way because it makes things more suspenseful and interesting.

If you’ve just now hearing about V for the first time the idea for the show is that alien space ships show up above all the major cities on Earth and proceed to use the bottom of their ships as a giant tv screen to broadcast a message. Their message, delivered by Anna – played by Morena Baccarin, is that they are excited to find other intelligent life in the universe and they would gladly give us some of their technology in exchange for water and minerals. Anna and the other aliens, who call themselves the visitors, all look like human. I don’t want to get too much more into the story and spoil it for anyone who has not seen it but that is the basics of how the show starts.

There are a couple things I’m really enjoying about the show so far.  First, the main characters are all from different backgrounds and handle things very differently. This makes their interactions with each other is really interesting.  The way Anna and Jack, a news reporter played by Scott Wolf, go back and forth in mental games with each other trying to get the upper hand is really fun.  The interactions between Erica, an FBI agent played by Elizabeth Mitchell, and Jack, a priest played by Joel Gretsch, are  heartfelt and often amusing. The way the characters relate to each other is what really pulled me in so quickly.

The other thing I’m enjoying is that even in the first two episodes they are already twisting the plot in ways I did not expect. I’ve seen a lot of science fiction television over the years and V, so far, is not following the common alien first encounter stories. Like I said before, it might be very similar to how the V was in the early 80’s but since I never saw that version it is all new to me.

I’m looking forward to watching the rest of the series and seeing where the story goes.

Pilot

Episode 2: There is No Normal Anymore (on Hulu 1/14/2009)