V: The Mini Series
If you caught the first few episodes of the recent re-imagining/remake/regurgitating of V and assumed that if the modern show was so poorly acted, incoherent and dull the 80s version would be even worse, you *have* to watch the original mini series. The 3 hour mini series is everything the update isn't: fast paced, action packed, well acting, richly characterized, creepy, unsettling and powerfully allegorical.
There no question the original series had Hitler and fascism firmly in its sights, packing in nods to swastikas, news as propaganda, the Hitler youth, the resistance movement, racial persecution, and using charisma and false promises as a weapon to hide the evil inside.
The production design and special fx are top notch, certainly on par with many films of the time, and hold up extremely well. The prosthetics work on the visitors is phenomenal, as their human skin is peeled away to reveal the reptiles underneath in all their sickly glory.
The mystery of the visitors is extremely well maintained, the revelations about their true identity and purpose carefully doled out through the long running time. I was constantly hooked as the visitors (and their allies) unquenchable thirst for power led them to take over of the world with all-too-believable ease.
It's unquestionably a product of the 80s, and sometimes it's a little too on the nose with it's messages, but it still works as a fantastic piece of TV. One word or warning: it doesn't have a definitive ending so you will want to pick up the sequel mini series ("The Final Battle"). No idea yet if it's any good, but I'm looking forward to finding out.
I'll take this any day over the crappy remake and many other pointless and vapid modern series broadcast these days
5/5
