Posts Tagged ‘Paul Gaita’
June 11th, 2009 | 
Author: The Andy Griffith Show The Complete Fourth Season
Goober fans, rejoice–the arrival of George Lindsay’s popular character is just one of the homespun joys of The Andy Griffith Show’s fourth season, which has been compiled on this five-disc set. Lindsay as Goober Pyle, cousin to Jim Nabors’s Gomer, makes his debut in one of the season’s funniest episodes, “Fun Girls,” which is also the only time Gomer and Goober appeared together on screen. By season’s end, Gomer would depart for his own series (season 4’s final episode, “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.,” would serve as the pilot for that program), but before then, he enjoyed some fine episodes, including “Andy Saves Gomer” (from a fire at the filing station) and “Citizen’s Arrest” (a knockout showcase for Nabors and Don Knotts, who is topnotch, as always, as Barney Fife). Other supporting characters get a spotlight or two in season 4, including Howard Morris’s Ernest T. Bass (”Hot Rod Otis, “Otis T. Bass Joins the Army”) and Denver Pyle and Maggie Peterson’s Briscoe and Charlene Darling (”Briscoe Declares for Aunt Bee”), but of course, the crux of the show remains Andy and son Opie (Ron Howard), who do stand-out work in the well-loved “Opie the Birdman,” which addresses serious topics–death and responsibility–in the series’ typically warm and humane manner. No supplemental features accompany the 32 black-and-white episodes, but that won’t detract one bit from spending some quality time with the good people of Mayberry. –Paul Gaita
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Great Season
I like the fourth season of Andy Griffith a lot…It has a lot of my favorite episodes in it…the cave, the darlings, the bird and Opie….I could go on….but I do want to emphasize that this season happens to be one of my favorites…If you like Andy Griffith then this is a season to look into…
5 Stars Good clean family fun
We love Andy but mainly the Barney years and I think this is the last year with Don Knotts as a regular. Seems like there is always some moral value to every story. We don’t care much for Andy’s occasional little lies, but we always talk about them and the importance of always telling the truth.
Watching or letting our kids watch the current TV lineups would be unthinkable. Send a message, buy the old stuff that actually taught values or turn the TV off.
5 Stars Andy: As good as television can get.
This is the era of American life that I will always cherish. This DVD captures it wonderfully. Love it!
5 Stars Best TV Ever
The first 5 years of the AGS is the best 5 years of television ever. You will not be sorry for owning this collection. Humor, thoughtfullness,and caring all rolled into one. Do yourself the favor.
5 Stars One of the best
I purchased this for my parents 82yrs and 85yrs. The sound is great
with a very Clear picture. They totally enjoy this. Best thing
on television as far as they are concerned !
Barney Miller The Complete Second Season
Changes are in store for the men of the 12th Precinct in the second season of Barney Miller, which is presented in its entirety in this three-disc, no-frills collection. Chief among the wrinkles to the show’s proven formula are the departure of Gregory Sierra’s Chano Amenguale, who would leave for his own series after this season; also, Barbara Barrie, who made a strong impression as Barney’s wife Liz in the first season, would be relegated to the sidelines for much of this episode run before leaving the series, though she does earn her own storyline for the first and only time in “Social Worker.” Otherwise, the second season is focused largely on Barney and the rest of the detectives (as most fans preferred) as they wrangle with crazed gunmen (”The Sniper”), a marauding rodent (”You Dirty Rat”), job insecurity (”The Layoff”) and a punishing New York city summer (”Heat Wave”). Hal Linden’s smart performance as Barney remains the glue that holds the series together, though there is excellent work from Abe Vigoda as Fish and Max Gail as Wojciehowicz, especially in “The Kid” (Fish becomes enamored of a pickpocket’s mother) and “Discovery” (Wojo investigates police harassment of a gay couple). Series followers will also note the presence of future cast members Steve Landesburg and Ron Carey among the guest cast; both would join the show (as Detective Arthur Dietrich and Office Carl Levitt) in the third season. Video quality is a little worse for wear in certain episodes; the set also features two superfluous “mini-episodes” of Charlie’s Angels and The Facts of Life as its supplemental features. –Paul Gaita
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars DVD TV
I bought season one long time ago, now bought season two. I now remember it on TV growing up. Still good and funny.
5 Stars Love this show!
I was beginning to think they’d never get around to putting Season 2 on DVD, but here it is, and it’s just as wonderful to watch in this decade as it was in the ’70s and ’80s. So when’s Season 3 going to be available???
5 Stars Top five favorite shows
This is a great series. Even with the changes in the cast at various times, the writing is great, and the characters are very well drawn.
3 Stars Losing faith in TV on DVD
I’ll keep it short. Let’s face it. Barney Miller’s first two seasons were the weakest, especially the first. The wife doesn’t even fit into the stories, and it is obvious this dimension was forced. If printing stops after season two, my review will drop from three stars into the negatives. If a series is committed to DVD, do it RIGHT, and do it COMPLETELY.
5 Stars nostalgia
I still think Barney Miller is one of the best comedies.The relationships between the main characters is a delight to watch and some of the “customers” are a real joy.w.u.
One of the most curious animated series to come from the Adult Swim stable, Frisky Dingo might be best described as a cartoon superhero take on Seinfeld’s formula: a show that’s about nothing, but one that’s also funny and fascinating all the same. The brainchild of Sealab 2021 creators Matt Thompson and Adam Reed, the premise of Frisky Dingo concerns millionaire playboy Xander Crews, who moonlights as costumed crime fighter Awesome-X. Having vanquished his last archvillain, Crews is urged by his employees to return to his office to sort out the financial mess created by his alter ego. But the arrival of the monstrous Killface and his Annihilatrix (which will pull the launch the Earth into the sun) lures him back into… well, not so much action as lots and lots of paperwork. The resulting episodes of Season 1 concern Crews and Killface’s attempts to fund their respective projects while dealing with distractions like Simon, Killface’s incorrigible son, and Crews’ exasperated second in command Stan. To say that Frisky Dingo is unlike any other superhero series on television (and very few animated series in general) is a distinct understatement, but there’s a method behind the madness: that the vagaries of life often get in the way of the loftiest of goals. Of course, that doesn’t explain the show’s endless non sequiters and moments of true surrealism, like Awesome-X’s clueless henchmen, the X-tacles, or episodes like “Emergency Room,” in which the entire cast of characters spends the full running time suffering from various horrible injuries. Maybe it’s best to think of this as meta-superhero action. All 13 episodes of Frisky Dingo’s debut season are compiled on this single disc (each episode runs just 11 minutes), but sadly, no supplemental features are included. That’s unfortunate, if for no other reason than they might have provided some sort of explanation for the show’s motives. — Paul Gaita
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars I LOVE it!
This show is freaking hilarious beyond all belief. It’s just completely witty and random. It’s also great for just a couple of quick laughs with some friends as each episode is only 11 minutes long. I had never heard of this show until somebody said a quote from it and I had no idea what they were talking about. Bouche. Anyway, once I saw an episode I totally fell in love with it and had to get season 1. It did not disappoint and now I have season 2 pre-ordered. It’s good fun, but not for young kids. I am not a fan of cartoons at all, but this is flippin’ amazin’.
So why are you reading this and not BUYING it already. BUY! BUY! BUY!!!
5 Stars Awesome
I got hooked on this series on Adult swim but I could never catch it on a regular basis so I decided to buy the season. it was worth it.
5 Stars AMAZING!
This is flat-out the best show ever created! Fascinating originality, hideously random plot twists, and the most twisted humor I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing. I’ve never watched a show so many times and still laughed at it even after I have it all memorized. Still waiting for the second season to be realeased on DVD! C’mon guys, hurry it up. MAKE 10 MORE SEASONS!
4 Stars Solid, but lacking extras
I find that since tastes vary from person to person, and that since this DVD is clearly aimed for Frisky Dingo fans, I’m going to review this for Frisky Dingo fans.
First of all, it is what is is. It’s a DVD compilation of the entire first season. If that’s what you want, that’s what you’re going to get.
This isn’t getting five stars aside from the ‘Welcome to You’re “Doom”‘ postcard, there are no extra paper material nor extra DVD material. That means, no commentary or anything of that sort. Even the DVD playing menu is bland and actually a bit cumbersome to navigate.
Pros:
Frisky Dingo on DVD
Cons:
That’s all you’re getting
4 Stars Boosh!
My favorite of the new series on Adult Swim (2nd Metalocalypse, 3rd The Venture Bros., though they took a while to become as good as the first season of Frisky Dingo). A pretty fast paced animated comedy w/what some call super heroes/villains , but I would call super tools. Everyone is out for themselves and is self-absorbed. Ultimately their actions never serve themselves, but do serve to amuse the viewers. The one liners and character embarrassment come at you quickly. It’s not for everyone, but neither is the mainstream pablum that passes for entertainment. If you’ve ever seen any of the other Adult Swim series you’ll know nothing is sacred, and this is no different. It’s not for the easily offended, but for those aren’t… you’ll watch this more than once & you’ll want to show it to your friends.
A novel blend of doomsday thriller and meditative science fiction, Danny Boyle’s Sunshine imagines a disturbing future in which mankind must re-ignite the sun or face total extinction. A team of scientists and crew members (played by an eclectic cast that includes Cillian Murphy from Boyle’s 28 Days Later, The Fantastic Four’s Chris Evans, Rose Byrne of TV’s Damages, and martial-arts legend Michelle Yeoh) is dispatched to the dying star, but disaster strikes from almost every conceivable angle; as the crew is whittled down by accidents and psychological breaks, the survivors must discover a way to carry out the mission or seal the fate of the world’s population. Alternately exciting and pensive, Sunshine’s dichotomous tone may throw viewers expecting a special-effects bonanza (though the film’s visuals are frequently stunning), but for those who recall such cerebral ’70s efforts as Silent Running and Phase IV, Boyle’s unusual take will be refreshing and even fascinating. The DVD includes commentaries by Boyle and Dr. Brian Cox, who served as the film’s science advisor; Boyle also lends his voice to a brace of deleted scenes, including an alternate ending (which doesn’t improve on the one used in the film). Thorough production diaries cover every aspect of the film’s execution, from casting to special effects design, while a pair of unrelated short films by Chris Shepherd and Dan Arnold seems to be included only as a gesture of Boyle’s appreciation for these directors. –Paul Gaita
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Excellent
I found this movie to be very good. Many people are giving it a low rating (or bad review) due to the flaws in the science in the movie. Also, some are just staring at the movie and not analyzing it to get the whole truth to it. There is a lot of meaning behind the movie if you pay attention closely to it.
5 Stars Harrowing Study of Man’s Insignificance in the Universe
Sunshine, released in theaters in 2007, was advertised under the premise that “Danny Boyle has re-ignited the science fiction genre”. A bit of a conceit, I thought, but I took the bait. The tagline couldn’t have been more accurate. I saw the film theatrically six times, as Sunshine turned out to be one of the most visually captivating and psychologically devastating films produced in the genre since Alien or Blade Runner. The premise behind Sunshine is simple. Our sun is dying. An attempt was made to “kick start” Sol’s inscrutable fusion processes using a “stellar bomb” of dark matter, but this mission presumably failed. A second mission is launched to reattempt the momentous task. As the ship — Icarus II — and her crew near the sun, things start to fall apart. I will not elaborate further on the way things transpire, as other reviewers have already seen fit to lay out the plot for would-be viewers. What I will tell you is that Sunshine packs a visceral punch lacking in at least 95% of the science fiction films made in the past 15 years.
First of all, there is a great deal of clamor about the “bad science” of the film and the “improbabilities” of the plot. Those perpetuating this hue and cry would do well to watch the DVD or Blu-Ray with the commentary from Dr. Brian Cox activated. He cogently, and in layman’s terms, explains how our sun might (and I say might — because this film is fiction and the scientific theories are yet untested) be disrupted enough to “die out”. Also, Cox points out all of the pecadilloes in Sunshine and notes that the decision to “break the laws of physics” in places was a conscious choice by the writer and director, driven by financial concerns and dramatic license. Thus, scientific accuracy was definitely sacrificed in places. We know this. In Sunshine, there’s “sound” in space. There’s no plausible means of artificial gravity on board the ship. You see people freeze after seconds in a vacuum. I have no problem overlooking these mistakes in light of the mood and tension evoked in Sunshine. Besides, can you name one science fiction movie set in space — 2001 included — that “gets everything right” physics-wise? Let’s move on.
Sunshine is a visual treat for the fan of serious science fiction. The Icarus II, in all of its utilitarian sprawl, is a majestic craft to watch onscreen. The special effects involving the sun, which are numerous in light of the plot, are awe-inspiring. Lighting, sound, and set design tightly coalesce to remind the audience that human life is frail and that space is, literally, an unkind place for mankind. Boyle borrows stylishly from 2001, Alien, and Soderbergh’s Solaris for his Icarus II design and his “extra-vehicular shots”.
The ensemble cast, as the crew of Icarus II, is superb. Boyle and Alex Garland created characters for the actors to play — not caricatures — each with believable faults and strengths. Some, like Rose Byrne’s Cassie, are nurturing and sensitive; others are manic and obsessive (Trey); selfish (Harvey); goal-driven and unshakable (Mace); and enigmatic (Cillian Murphy’s Capa). Cillian turns in one of the best performances of his career — having intently studied young physicists at work to portray his role on screen. The psychological transformation each character undergoes as the film progresses begs the viewer to ask: “how would I react under these circumstances?” This is the mark of top-notch acting, writing, and directing.
John Murphy’s soundtrack is, undoubtedly, one of the best I have heard and perhaps the brightest star in this cinematic firmnament. In collaboration with the band Underworld, Murphy creates an aural backdrop of pain, triumph, wonder, and atmosphere. A certain composition repeats twice in the film — first at the end of the “heat shield” repair and again before and during Capa’s final spacewalk — that is so emotionally overwhelming in its melodic purity it becomes unforgettable. It is reminiscent, both in tone and in effectiveness, of Hans Zimmer’s “Journey to the Line” (as heard in the WWII film “The Thin Red Line”). Sunshine would be a four-star affair were it not for the overarching presence of Murphy’s impeccable score.
The message of the film — and, yes, it has one — is that humanity’s existence is not guaranteed, and that the universe and our solar system is at once mysterious, uncaring, breathtaking, unconscionably pernicious — and perhaps as finite and fragile as we are. Do not expect a rollercoaster ride of mindless action or thrills. Expect atmosphere, choking tension, philosophical conundrums, and a thorough exploration of the perils of manned spaceflight. You don’t have to leave your grey matter at the door before pressing the play button here.
In the end, it will be up to you, as the viewer, to decide whether Sunshine is a classic science fiction outing or not. However, I can tell you that the film will move you in some way, shape, or form — and is worth a watch, whether you are a die-hard or casual science fiction fan.
5 Stars The Sun is shining on this movie
This was an amazing movie: from the effects to the plot to the acting to the directing. Just a great movie from start to finish. Also a must on blu-ray, the color’s and sound are perfect. This is not a huge hollywood blockbuster, but they made it seem like one.
As with all blu-ray disc’s, if you can find it cheaper than your BB store, which should be easy, then get it.
1 Star Pigs in space
The plot is a giant spaceship is supposed to deliver a bomb which is needed to restart the sun’s pilot light. The first thing which will occur to you when watching this thing is why a future humanity capable of building a machine which can go to the sun and blow it up can only recruit a couple of hipster rejects from Apple Computer ads. I mean, the crew of this space ship is completely despicable. They’re incompetent, horrible, flabby dimwits. One of the characters is vaguely astronaut like, in a sort of working class incompetent way, but of course he fights like a girl and has the self control of … a 20-something skinny hipster from Brooklyn who fights like a woman. Most of the time, the characters strut and pout exactly like weaseley Brooklyn hipsters. I couldn’t help but think, if this is the best humanity of the future can come up with, humanity deserved to die much more horribly than by “global cooling.” Roger Ebert, the old windbag, insists they’re acting like real astronauts in the whole movie. Evidently, he’s never socialized with an astronaut, and has a very poor mental picture of what such people are like. I’ll give you a hint Rog: they tend to be competent, very methodical, team oriented and calm people. They don’t tend to be weepy nincompoops with the self control of an adolescent chimpanzee. If astronauts were like that, every time something happened in space, they’d die. Everyone in the movie is completely self centered and amoral, and they all seem about as interested in doing their jobs as any hipster poseur working in a record store. Except they are all inexplicably willing to commit suicide for their record store.
Pinbacker, the bad guy, is presumably a reference to Pinback in Dark Star, though he was played with a Russian accent for some reason (I don’t think Pinbacker is a Russian name). Pinbacker’s motivation is that he’s a religious nut, and of course, Russian religious nuts are very common villains in real life. It’s funny how much the movie resembles Dark Star: more than it probably wanted to. Despite taking itself very seriously, this movie ended up a kind of low comedy in the vein of Dark Star. This movie was really a scene for scene copy of many other science fiction and horror movies. The horror bits in the second half of it were all lifted from Alien and Hellraiser (the villain, duh: the Hellraiser villain). The dramatic space scenes were scene for scene copies from Star Trek the Motion Picture and 2001. It was like the director went out to Blockbuster and rented a half dozen special effects movies, stuck them in a blender, and published his findings.
Despite humanity being able to build interplanetary atom bombs the size of Manhatten, somehow they are forced to build computers that can be destroyed in a few minutes by removing it from a cooling liquid. While I’m complaining about the poor computer engineering: the computer evidently requires gravity to keep the damn liquid in place. Even if the computer was on a dinghy or railcar, where there is actual gravity, it would seem this would be a bad idea. I mean, why not just stick the whole thing in one of those pieces of miracle technology: the plastic jar? Instead, they make the whole space ship rely on a piece of technology which explodes when some liquid sloshes around a little bit. The science in this movie makes less sense than most science fiction. I’m not talking about ordinary dumbness, like hearing dramatic sounds in the vacuum of space; this is magnificent dumbness. No, the sun is not so bright near the orbit of Mercury that it would light astronauts on fire. If it were, it would light Mercury on fire: duh. There is no “radio dead zone” near Mercury, and wouldn’t be even if something weird happened to the solar wind. Also, why does it take 24 hours for packet radio to reach earth, when light only takes 8 minutes? When people go into space, the danger isn’t that they’ll freeze into meat popsicles, the danger is that their blood will boil out of their lungs. Also, when a square object tumbles around, all the occupants inside that square object will get turned into jelly which gets smeared around the edges, even if there is some kind of artificial gravity inside it. Finally, they made a huge deal out of having to send a bunch of people along with their big bomb to light it off, but at the end of the day, the only thing the people really needed to do was press a big red button to do the deed. Humanity has had reliable ICBM’s since the late 1950s; it doesn’t make much sense to me that they’d need to build giant space yachts with oxygen gardens to do the job of an ICBM, which only required vacuum tube level computing in the 1950s. The ’scientist commentary’ with the DVD is beyond absurd; I’m a real scientist, and I’m not getting paid to tell you lies: this is real science commentary. The science in this movie is insanely, preposterously and gratuitously dumb. Liberal arts majors who care nothing for science should not make “hard science fiction” movies.
The look and soundtrack of the thing is good. They did a very clever thing in keeping most of the interior of the space ship sort of blue greyish colored, so when you look at the shots of the sun, they look much more awe inspiring. The giant space ship is so big, you’re unable to really keep it in your mind as one object. it also seems to resemble underwater drilling platforms in many ways. This is kind of absurd, in that it’s all misty and dark and stuff; in space nothing can be misty: you’ll either see it or you won’t, because there is no gas in space to diffuse the light. But it’s still evocative and pleasant to look at. I’d say it’s fun to turn your brain off for 2 hours, but really, the first hour is insanely boring, so you’ll probably fall asleep before you get to the exciting parts where the cast is mercifully and gloriously dispatched, putting them out of your misery.
5 Stars Today’s “2001″
With it’s captivating cinematography, gripping storyline, and fantastic character interaction, I daresay that “Sunshine” may well be the “2001: A Space Odyssey” of today.
“Sunshine” positively blew me away upon first look. This masterful film manages to blend detailed science with engaging fiction perfectly. To those of you who argue about the timeline of the Sun’s waning…take it as an alternate scenario to the status quo–IF this were the situation, then “Sunshine” is how it might play out.
The cinematography is beautiful and captivating. As always, Danny Boyle manages to pull his audience in to his film and keep them locked in. Never before have I seen such an amazing and awe-inspiring look at our System’s center, short of NASA footage.
Cillian Murphy plays a great role, both stoic and complex simultaneously. Chris Evans manages to pull away from his earlier “pop” roles (”Fantastic Four,” “Not Another Teen Movie”) long enough to play a very strong character in the film, playing of Cillian (and vice-versa) perfectly.
This is a must-see for the science-fiction fanatic. This is a must-own for anyone who considers themselves to be a connoisseur of cinema. Get this film.
Though followers of current science fiction television series may dismiss V: The Final Battle as a quaint relic from the pre-computer animation days, the six-hour miniseries about an alien invasion of Earth was a ratings juggernaut for NBC in 1984 and should still provide some entertainment for hard-bitten devotees and fans of ’50s-style sci-fi. The Final Battle picks up four months after the shock conclusion of the 1983 prequel miniseries, with a small group of humans known as the Resistance struggling to convince their fellow humans that a fleet of seemingly friendly visitors from space are in fact bent on world domination.
Executive producer Kenneth Johnson (who oversaw most aspects of the first series) only supervised the sequel’s script (which underwent several changes before its airing), and the writing occasionally suffers due to the lack of his attention. But the series still delivers its share of action and intrigue, as well as one showstopping gruesome moment involving the birth of interspecies twins. Acting is again a stumbling block, with leads Marc Singer and Faye Grant as bland as any performers from the American International Pictures stable; character actor Michael Ironside makes the strongest impression as a tough Resistance member, and a pre-Freddy Krueger Robert Englund is amusing as a kind-hearted alien. The miniseries was followed by an inevitable weekly series featuring most of the same cast, which was demolished in the ratings by Dallas, but a faithful Resistance-like following remains to this day. –Paul Gaita
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Cheesy 80s Sci-Fi romp but NARY A DVD EXTRA IN SIGHT!
Not quite as well thought-out as the original V, but still a enjoyable, albeit a bit cheesy 1980’s sci-fi romp! The final conclusion of “the battle” is, well, just kind of goofy. One of those “we’ve only got 15 minutes of air time left, so let’s wrap this all up pronto” endings. To call the last 15 minutes “sci-fi” is a stretch, “just plain dumb” would be a more apt description.
OTHERWISE, the other 5 1/2 hours are fast-paced and entertaining, although the plot is rather like swiss-cheese, with LOTS of holes and continuity gaps!
Still, given the era and the made-for-TV format, it’s still a nice trip back in time to the good old days before the now oft misused and abused CGI of today. I can’t count the number of newer movies that suffer from what I like to call “video-game syndrome”. “Laws of physics??? Never heard of ‘em!,” said the director. At least with V, the effects may be cheesy, but they at least stick to “real world” physics!
DVD wise, TWO, DOUBLE-SIDED discs, with the fourth side being a BLANK!
Not an extra to be found except close-captioning! At least the original V contains a director’s commentary. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ON THIS SET, THOUGH! Just the show!
All in all, I’d give it FOUR stars. The story of the growth of a resistance movement is ALWAYS relevant to the story of LIBERTY and FREEDOM from tyranny!
4 Stars The best TV mini series conclusions
You cant watch V the original mini series without watching V - The Final Battle its the conclusion to the TV mini series, and it really gets down to the nitty gritty of the V mini series, showing the trials and tribulations of the characters, and of course the eventual defeat of the visitors allowing the resistance and the series to live up to the series title symbol for victory against the visitors, so if your a fan of this series as I am you cant buy the original without buying V final battle. when I purchased and watched the first and original installment of the series, I found myself getting in to the storyline again, and when the first part of the series ended I just had to get the final battle also, because I had become eager to see the final installment of the series, so I immediately purchased V the final battle, to complete the whole TV series and make it set, and this TV series will remain apart of my collection for a long time to come, and as with my previous experience with amazon.com purchasing this series was satisfactory as well, it arrived in perfect condition like the other DVDs Iv purchased from amazon.com so I think that I will definitely be shopping here again whats not to like about amazon.com its great.
4 Stars Good times…until the last 5 minutes
This was a trip down memory lane. This would be just as good as the first V mini-series if it were not for the effort to jump the shark in the last five minutes. Granted, this led to the short lived T.V. series, but the truly important part is that it answered some important questions from the first mini-series. All-in-all it is a fun ride.
4 Stars Gotta get used to seeing this.
Last time I watched this was back in the day when TV were of poor quality and it’s kinda weird watching this as an Adult. I love ‘V’ and it was a great miniseries.
5 Stars Conversion chambers, lizard babies, and red dust galore!
V: THE FINAL BATTLE was the much anticipated follow-up to NBC’s 1983 mega hit V THE MINISERIES, a science fiction alien invasion piece which doubled as a World War II/Holocaust allegory.
Jane Badler returns as the evil Diana along with Marc Singer as the heroic cameraman turned resistance fighter, Mike Donavan, and Faye Grant as the medical student turned leader of the resistance Juliet Parrish. In Part One, we see the climactic takeover of the Visitors’ historical televised address to the world by the resistance in which Juliet Parrish personally exposes John the supreme commander on international television. Part Two shows the tortuous conversion of Julie as well as the highly anticipated birth of Robin’s…twins. Part Three shows the deliverance of the miraculous “Red Dust” into the hands of the resistance and the climactic final confrontation aboard Diana’s mother ship.
When one recalls the greatest television miniseries, ROOTS comes immediately to mind. So does THE WINDS OF WAR, WAR AND REMEMBRANCE, and SHOGUN. V stands apart from all of these. It was never intended to be serious drama, serious romance, or even serious science fiction for that matter. It was intended to be serious fun! And on that level it succeeded more than your average run-of-the-mill summer blockbuster.
None of the actors in this show went on to bigger and better things, and yet V: THE FINAL BATTLE (or V in general) has earned its place not only among the science fiction greats of television history but also among the great miniseries events of television history as well.