V is a science fiction franchise created by American writer, producer and director Kenneth Johnson about a genocidal invading alien race known as the "Visitors"—reptilian humanoids disguised as human beings—trying to take over Earth, and the human reaction to this, including the Resistance group attempting to stop them, while others collaborate with the aliens for power and personal wealth.
Overview
The two-part television miniseries V aired in 1983, written and directed by Johnson. It had cost US$13 million to produce. It was followed in 1984 by a three-part miniseries, V: The Final Battle, and a nineteen-episode weekly television series, V during the 1984–85 television season. ABC ran a remake known as V: The 2009 TV series which ran for two seasons for 22 episodes from 2009 to 2011. In the original series the title refers to the "V for Victory" sign. In the 1983 V miniseries, a group of children are shown spray painting generic graffiti over the Visitors' propaganda posters, but are then shown how to spray the V over the posters by Abraham Bernstein, a Holocaust survivor, who explains the meaning of the sign to them as he defaces the first poster. In the 2009 reboot of the series, however, V is used within the show as an abbreviation for the Visitors. A number of novels, comic books, video games and other media have been spun off from the franchise. Johnson's novel V: The Second Generation, an alternative sequel to the first miniseries which disregards V: The Final Battle and V: The Series, was released on February 5, 2008. Johnson stated he was in negotiations for a TV adaptation of his sequel novel, but in October 2008, Warner Bros. Television announced they were producing a complete remake of V instead. This new V series ran for two truncated seasons on ABC, from November 3, 2009, to March 15, 2011.
Television
V miniseries
V: The Final Battle sequel miniseries
V ongoing series
V reboot series
The original miniseries debuted in the United States on NBC on May 1, 1983. Series creator Kenneth Johnson has said that the story was inspired by the 1935 novel It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis. In a commentary track on the DVD release of the first miniseries, Johnson reveals that V was originally intended as a straightforward political thriller, charting the rise of a fascist movement in the United States. NBC was interested in a sci-fi hit, to capitalize on the success of films such as the Star Wars trilogy. The miniseries was successful enough to spawn a sequel, V: The Final Battle, which was meant to conclude the story, and also a television series in 1984–1985 that continued it. Johnson left the franchise during production of The Final Battle. The cancellation of the TV series in the spring of 1985 meant that the season ends with a cliffhanger. The TV series' single season was released on Region 1 DVD in 2004. The series was remade in 2009.
Film
On February 6, 2018, the reincarnated Desilu Studios announced that it would be producing a feature film of V. The film would be written and directed by Kenneth Johnson, and produced by John Hermansen, Barry Opper, and Johnson. Johnson added "We are delighted to team up with Desilu to bring the timeless—and timely—story of resistance against tyranny into the 21st Century ... V will be the first of a cinematic trilogy which will tell the full epic tale in the manner I always envisioned." Johnson later updated his site to say that Desilu's option has expired, and referred to allegations that the individual helming the new Desilu was defrauding investors.
Novels
Original series
V spun off a series of original novels. Five were originally planned but the range soon extended beyond these. The first was a novelization of the first two miniseries combined into one story, originally planned as 2 books, Pinnacle later changed their minds during its writing, and decreed that it should be one book Because the Writers guide was not ready in time for the authors to consult, most of the original novels that followed did not feature characters or continuing storylines from the TV series, but rather focused on battles against the alien invaders in other parts of the world, some were also set during the "unrecorded year" between the end of "The Final Battle" and "Liberation day" to get around this problem. While the series was on the air, new novels were published once a month by Pinnacle Paperbacks, and in the U.K. every 2 months by New English Library. In 1987–88, the remaining 5 books, left unpublished with the demise of Pinnacle books, were published by Tor. No U.K. publisher was found for these.
—V's original creator—had been trying to bring the series back to television as a sequel to the original miniseries that would ignore the second miniseries and all the other subsequent fiction. When Warner Bros. decided to go with a complete reboot instead, Johnson wrote his story as a new novel.
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Author
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ISBN
Factual books
A number of factual books, covering all aspects of the saga including interviews, articles and episode guides, have been published, most notably the 6 volumes of The V Files, written By James Van Hise and Ed Gross, published by New Media Books/Psi Fi movie Press in the mid 1980s, and the two French books, V: l'autre guerre des mondes by Francis Valery, first published in paperback in 1993 by DLM editions, covering the entire original saga up to and including, the unfilmed episode #20 "The Attack", and V: les miroirs du passe, by Didier Liardet, published by Yris Editions in 2011, this paperback features a full episode guide to both the 1980s original and the modern reboot, details the history of the show, and also includes photos of merchandise from the series over the years. In 2017, a book by Dan Copp entitled Fascist Lizards from Outer Space: The Politics, Literary Influences and Cultural Impact of Kenneth Johnson's V was published by McFarland & Company. Also of note is John L. Flynn's Future Threads: Costume Design for the Science Fiction World, published in 1985 by New Media books, which has instructions and patterns for creating several different Visitor costumes, among others.
Comics
published an 18-issue Vcomic book series from February 1985 – July 1986, with stories set to be concurrent with the events of V: The Series. The editor of the comic reported at one point in the letter column that DC was working to acquire permission to continue the storyline of the television series should it not be renewed for a second season. In the end, either such permission was denied or DC decided not to pursue the matter further. The cover of the 18th issue did state "Final Issue", but actually featured a flashback story featuring Elias Taylor. In Japan, Go Nagai wrote a manga adaptation of the series with art by Tatsuya Yasuda.
