Tuesday, March 30, 2010

V

Tonight marked the return of V, or rather the newer, much better version of that iconic 80s sci-fi series. I won't go into all of the reasons why this version is better, but suffice it to say that this one is better written, edited and performed than the old one.
This version doesn't waste so much as a second on extraneous or cosmetic pandering to the viewer. It's dense, but so much so as to be cumbersome or overly complicated. I even like its extensive use of closeups, which normally annoy me, because the actors really use the frames well to communicate (rather than to stand there and be pretty).
One scene from tonight's episode really brought home that point to me. Morris Chestnut's character, a Visitor sleeper agent who turned on the reptiles, knocked up his girlfriend with a Visitor/Human hybrid by mistake. She finds a loaded mousetrap and suddenly gets major cravings for the dead varmint. It suggest the old series without merely repeating the classic scene from the 80s series when Jane Badler wolfs down a guinea pig.
Genius. Pure, understated genius.
It's on ABC Tuesday nights for the next couple of months. If you don't catch it there, go to Hulu.com or buy the episodes on iTunes.

1 comment:

HP said...

So nice to see that someone is still using words and complete sentences to communicate those things we called thoughts! I'd almost given up hope! Looking forward to reading more..... p.s. speaking of reading where the hell is that book you promised to send by the mail?!