V: The Complete Series (DVD)

For the uninitiated, "V" followed on the heels of "V: The Mini-Series" and "V: The Final Battle", two NBC movies-of-the-week that dramatized a pre-"Independence Day" battle between humans and aliens for ownership of the Earth. The aliens, initially presenting themselves as friends, soon revealed that they were lizard people wearing human masks, and that they were fond of eating things like mice, hamsters, and.... well, people.The rag-tag band of human freedom fighters eventually banish the "Visitors" through the deployment of "Red Dust", a bacterial agent that makes the aliens die horrible deaths but luckily not the humans."V" the tv show begins a year after the "red dust" business, when the humans discover that not only have the aliens been biding their time, hanging our behind the moon, but also that the red dust is ineffective in any locale that doesn't have regular freezes. Like Brazil, Florida and Southern California. Los Angeles is somehow set up as an "open city" where the humans and aliens can peacefully co-exist, while the aliens presumably go about their business of eating everyone else on the planet.The special effects, which were state-of-the-art in the movies, have devolved to television standards. Which means they rely on lots of car chases, motorcycle chases, horse chases and anything else they can do to avoid having to use footage of space-ships, which they only have two shots of which they use over and over. Once in a while they'll show an alien eating a mouse, which involves having the alien pick up a mouse, walk toward the camera so his hands can't be seen, whereupon the live mouse is replaced with white chocolate or marzipan or something that the actor can pop into their mouth.The show stars Faye Grant as Dr. Julie McCoy. Her name's not really "McCoy", but I can't remember what it really is so I said "McCoy". She's secretly working on creating new red dust with Nathan Bates, CEO of Science Frontiers, who is buddying up with Diana, the leader of the aliens. In real life, Grant is married to the dreamy Stephen Collins. She would have been better off staying home to tend to her husband, rather than be involved in this mess.Jane Badler as Diana, and June Chadwick as Lydia, do their best impressions of Alexis and Krystal Carrington, only with more hair and not as much talent. (And saying someone has less talent than Linda Evans is REALLY saying something.) Why Diana doesn't kill and eat Lydia I'll never understand, since Lydia is apparently an underling and is always catty and quarrelsome.A pre-"Beastmaster" Marc Singer is Mike Donavan, who proudly announces in the first episode that he's a "newsman". His face always looks like he's suffering extreme lower back pain, and if you've seen a recent picture of him you'll know that all that grimacing didn't do his face any favors. Sometimes Donavan is looking for his teenage son who's been brainwashed by the aliens, but the mention of the son dries up after a while, much like older brother Chuck on "Happy Days".Michael Ironside is Ham Tyler, some sort of professional freedom fighter. Let me repeat that his name is Ham. For some reason he calls Donavan "Gooder"...I'm really not sure why, but I imagine it must have gone something like this:Ham: "I'm good."Donavan: "Yeah, well I'm gooder."Ham: "Hmm, I think I'll call you Gooder."In fact, I'm really not sure of ANY of Ham's thoughts or motivations, because he mumbles all of his dialogue so low in his voice that I have to turn up the volume whenever he appears just to be sure he's speaking. Apparently, he and Gooder are involved in some sort of competition to see who can wear the tightest jeans. Gooder's are tighter, but Ham has more to show for his efforts (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you're not gay or female), which may be why he was scuttled off the show mid-way through the season.Jennifer Cooke is Elizabeth the "Star Child", the product of a human-alien tryst. In the first episode she was the little girl from "Poltergeist", then she went into a cocoon that was protected by rattlesnakes, then she emerged as a lovely young woman with a closet full of Laura Ashley. And she can move things with her mind. And play piano. And Diana's always looking for her. And she likes to flirt with Kyle, the "rebellious but loveable" male ingénue whose only other purpose in the show is to wear tight jeans, take his shirt off and ride motorcycles. Oh, and flirt with Robin, who is ELIZABETH'S MOTHER.A pre-"Freddy Krueger" Robert Englund is Willie, and alien who's decided to help the humans out not by providing detailed intelligence, but by TENDING BAR. His most endearing quality is that he mixes up English words, for example, he may say "Glad to feet you", when he means "Glad to meet you". Isn't that cute? Except that he does it, like, every third word, even though EVERY OTHER ALIEN ON THE PLANET CAN SPEAK PERFECT ENGLISH.In a word, this series is so deliciously bad that EVERYONE MUST OWN IT.

Created by Kenneth Johnson (CBS's The Incredible Hulk) "V: The Series" was the resulting spinoff of the highly successful TV miniseries V and V: The Final Battle. Personally, I thought (at the time) the franchise was tampering with success by advancing the story with a weekly TV series, given the possibility of decline in level of quality and the inevitable cost issues that came with producing a weekly sci-fi series. But then V was never really about the effects but more about the human struggle, the right to survive against a seemingly unstoppable foe - the mysterious Visitors. And the series, for the most part, continued the struggle fairly well.The series starts off strong by picking up exactly where V: The Final Battle left off with "Liberation Day" (where Visitors leader Diana escapes from capture and Starchild Elizabeth undergoes a transformation), then suffers slightly in tone after "The Betrayal" (where several strong characters exit the show) and sadly ends on a solid yet lackluster note with "The Return". Regardless, V: The Series remains just as entertaining today as it did back in the '80s thanks mostly to the great cast, old and new. Props to Warner Home Video for restoring "Breakout" back to its intended 3rd episode position between "Dreadnought" and "The Deception". Originally, the episode was pulled because it was considered too violent for its predominantly younger audience.V - The Complete Series is a 3-disc (897 min.) set featuring all 19 episodes; Full Frame (1.33:1) video; 1.0 English mono audio; English, French, Spanish subtitles; Closed Captioning. The discs are housed in a digi-pak case similar to V: The Final Battle. The menus are static "red dust" screens (cool and inspired) featuring one cast member per screen and a list of options which include a "play all" feature. Aside from a few grainy matte/effects shots that pop up here and there, the picture and sound are fairly clean. Night-time scenes look especially good. Episodes include: Liberation Day (10/26/84), Dreadnought (11/2/84), Breakout (5/24/85), The Deception (11/9/84), The Sanction (11/16/84), Visitors' Choice (11/23/84), The Overlord (11/30/84), The Dissident (12/14/84), Reflections in Terror (12/21/84), The Conversion (1/4/85), The Hero (1/11/85), The Betrayal (1/18/85), The Rescue (2/2/85), The Champion ((2/8/85), The Wildcats (2/15/85), The Littlest Dragon (2/22/85), War of Illusions (3/8/85), Secret Underground (3/15/85), The Return (3/22/85).

I was 12 when this series first aired on NBC back in the 1984-1985 TV season. I saw many of the episodes first-run way back then, but it had been so long that I really didn't remember much about them. Seeing them again now was a nice trip down memory lane, and the series kept me highly entertained for several days as I watched each episode.It's true that the series was no award winner, and was not without some flaws due to budget constraints. However, it was very good for it's time and deserving of more credit than it's typically given by the critics.This DVD set presents all 19 episodes in their network broadcast entirety, with the exception of the teasers that originally preceeded each episode. I was disappointed to see they were cut, and I don't really know why Warner Bros. did that. The teasers on other shows such as "The Dukes of Hazzard" were left alone, but not on "V". That's a minor complaint though, and I only mention it for the purists who would not want to buy the series knowing the teasers are omitted.Visually, the episodes appear to be of pretty good picture quality, but do not appear to have had any special re-mastering done to them. This should not be a problem for viewers who simply want to re-live this series or who wish to experience it for the first time.If you enjoy classic 1980's sci-fi, you will enjoy this DVD set.

As a teenager in the mid-80s, I was enthralled with all things sci-fi. When V came along, first the two mini-series, then the 19-episiode hourly series, i gobbled it up. Absolutely loved it. I was always disappointed that it never made it beyond its first season, always lagging badly in the ratings. Now, looking back at it with today's eyes, sure it's a bit dated; but hey, the mid-80s was 30 years ago. I've owned the two mini-series on DVD for several years now, and when I recently came upon this compilation of the 19-episode hourly series, it was a no-brainer to snap it up. Definitely a nostalgia kick.While dated, I still think the 80s V is a much better series than the re-boot from a few years back. In the re-boot, V was short for visitors, and the aliens are referred in the series as "the Vs." This drove me nuts. In the original V series, V was a reference to resistance, standing for "Victory", and the whole series was an allegory referencing resistance to early-to-mid 20th-century fascism. The reboot failed to capture this spirit of the original...one of the reasons I never even made it through the first season. I was truly disappointed in what could have been an absolutely incredible reboot had it honoured the essence of the original.In any case, any sci-fi fans who recall this series would do well to add this to their movie collection. It's a welcome addition to mine.

The original V was so much better than the remake. Its so bad you'll love it. Check out the 80's hair and shoulder pads. If you loved V the mini original Mini Series you'll enjoy this TV series which followed.

Excellent quality 100% satisfied

For those whom are not quite sure of how the V story works...here is a breakdownV- the miniseries / was the original movie that was broadcast that stretched over a few nights back in the early 8osfollowed byV-The Final Battle / which was a follow up made for tv movie (obviuosly not the final battle)Due to popularity in the mid 1980s with most of the original cast a television series was made called V- the series ...this was a continuing tv series based off the mini series and final battle movie collections....the tv series had 19 episodes.V- the complete series is quite simply the complete tv series from the mid 1980's (19 episodes)The NEW V Series is from the past few years...I believe it lasted 2 seasons...this is the only one i did not have an interest in watching...however...because they were all seperate productions V-the mini series / V the final battle/ V the TV Series/ and V the Newer Tv Series/ are sold seperately.

I good serie I am please to have in my collection