V: The Series

Information

V (also known as V: The Series) is a one-hour weekly television series that aired in the United States on NBC in 1984-85. It is a continuation of the science fiction franchise about an alien invasion of Earth by a carnivorous race of reptilians known as "The Visitors" which was originally conceived by American writer, producer and director Kenneth Johnson. Johnson, however, was not involved in the production of the weekly series.

Thematic Episodes

• Liberation Day - Aired : October 26, 1984

The first anniversary of the day the aliens were defeated could lead to Earth's last day: alien commander Diana escapes and reunites with her fleet. Diana kills Martin in order to get his supply of the Red Dust antidote. The Starchild undergoes a strange metamorphosis.

• Dreadnought - Aired: November 2, 1984

Diana talks peace while readying the fearsome Triax superweapon that could reduce Los Angeles to rubble. Meanwhile, Resistance fighters activate a new weapon of their own: a captured Mother Ship. Robert Maxwell is killed when he collides the mothership into the Triax in order to destroy it.

Thematic Plot

Following directly on from the events of the mini-series V: The Final Battle, the alien Diana escapes from her captured Mother Ship in a Squadship, but is pursued by Resistance member Mike Donovan. After a short fight, Donovan captures her.

One year after the day the Red Dust was deployed, now the international holiday called "Liberation Day", the former members of the Resistance and their Fifth Column allies have gone their separate ways and are each looking forward to prosperous careers and bright futures. As Diana is about to be put on trial for the atrocities she committed during the First Invasion, the company responsible for mass production of the Red Dust, Science Frontiers, has her abducted and taken to a secret cabin in the woods outside L.A., where the company's CEO, Nathan Bates, offers Diana better accommodations in exchange for providing him with access to alien technology. Donovan and Martin, meanwhile, pursue Nathan's agents in a stolen helicopter. After reaching the cabin, Donovan is knocked unconscious by Martin, who wants Diana dead. Before Martin can kill her, Diana is able to overpower him, stealing his pistol. She forces him to surrender his last antidote pill so she can temporarily survive on Earth and then shoots him, enabling her escape to the Southwest Tracking Station.

Martin tells Donovan about Diana's plan to contact the Visitor Fleet moments before his death, and Donovan sets off after her on foot. Donovan meets Ham Tyler, one of the thugs on Bates' payroll, and the two agree to pursue Diana together. Their attempts to stop her fail, and Diana escapes to a Visitor Shuttle sent by a new fleet hidden behind the Moon. Diana proceeds to launch the Second Invasion of Earth.

The Resistance assembles once more, now fighting the Visitors nationwide and also contending with the power-hungry Nathan Bates, who has used the power vacuum left behind by the collapse of the government to become Governor of Los Angeles. The Resistance fights however it can, often joined by other rebel groups. Although 50% of the Earth is still protected from The Visitors by the Red Dust bacterium, the Resistance cannot use any more of it due to the toxic long-term effects it will have on the environment. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, who has transformed yet again and now looks like a young adult, becomes increasingly important in the cause for Earth's freedom, eventually controlling the destiny of both races and deciding the outcome of the conflict.

Non-Thematic Episodes

• Breakout - Aired: May 24, 1985

Combatants held in a Visitor work camp face the flesh-consuming alien monster that guards the camp. Hunters of the 5-year old Starchild are unaware she has morphed into a fully grown woman.

Note: This episode was rejected by NBC in the series' first run because of its violence. It was however shown during the reruns and was included in VHS and DVD releases. However, because of the switch in original order, this episode has continuity errors when watched in the original intended order. For example, while Ham meets Kyle for the first time in this episode, he then meets him again for the first time in the next episode. Robin meets up with the group during this episode, but is once again alone searching for help at the beginning of the next episode. There are also several other minor plot inconsistencies.
Kadjem's Note: This is where we get the town of Ojai, and the Work camp there.

• The Deception - Aired: November 9, 1984

Mike awakens to an ideal family life in a world where the Earth has triumphed; however, this life is part of an alien holographic ruse aimed at gathering information about the Starchild Elizabeth.

• The Sanction - Aired: November 16, 1984

The top pupil at the visitor Youth Corps is Mike's missing son Sean. Standing in the way of his rescue are a fearsome alien and the boy's conflicted allegiance. Meanwhile Elizabeth, who is now an adult woman after days previously resembling a ten year old, reunites with her mother Robin, who has not seen her since her metamorphosis.

• Visitor's Choice - Aired: November 23, 1984

Bates imposes a curfew in the open city of Los Angeles in an attempt to curb resistance activity; Donovan and Ham make plans to hit a Visitors' conference.

• The Overlord - Aired: November 30, 1984

A citizen who rallies the Resistance to aid a downtrodden mining community has a dangerous secret agenda. Julie faces allegations of treason.

• The Dissident - Aired: December 7, 1984

When the Visitors place a force field around Los Angeles, the Resistance captures its creator as part of a plan to shut it down.

• Reflections in Terror - Aired: December 21, 1984

Bates's trickery signals destruction for the Resistance headquarters. Diana uses a blood sample to generate a deadly clone of Elizabeth, which escapes.

• The Conversion - Aired: January 4, 1985

After Ham and Kyle are captured, the Leader's envoy Charles programs Ham with a new conversion technique to kill Donovan during a prisoner exchange.

• The Hero - Aired: January 11, 1985

Bates's police arrest Resistance sympathizers, including Robin, and threaten to execute a prisoner a day until Rebel leaders surrender. Elias is killed by a death ray trying to rescue Robin.

• The Betrayal - Aired: January 18, 1985

Rebels abduct an alien medical student to treat a gravely wounded Willie; Charles plots to overthrow the comatose Nathan Bates.

• The Rescue - Aired: February 1, 1985

Charles forces Diana to marry him, knowing that alien law requires her to return home to bear his offspring.

• The Champion - Aired: February 8, 1985

In the aftermath of a wedding night that left the alien commander dead, Diana and Lydia put on body armor and pick up laser weapons in preparation for a ritual battle to the death.

Note: New opening credits were introduced in this episode.

• The Wildcats - Aired: February 15, 1985

Rivals become scheming allies when Diana and Lydia learn that if the commander's murderer isn't found, Visitor law requires that all suspects be buried with him. A street gang assists the Resistance.

• The Littlest Dragon - Aired: February 22, 1985

Mike and Kyle come to the rescue of two Fifth Column fugitives, Robert, and his pregnant wife, Glenda (Wendy Fulton), who have survived Diana's purge of the Fifth Column's agents, and escaped from the mothership after Robert sabotaged the proposed mission to kill several Resistance operatives with a hidden explosive device and stole the borellium crystals that powered the LA Mothership's laser cannons. Diana sends out a cadet, Angela, to capture Mike and kill the renegade couple, while Philip follows her. Meanwhile, when the fugitive couple take shelter at a warehouse, Glenda gives birth to an egg hatched into her new baby son, whom Mike and Kyle manage to safely deliver for her. Donovan and Bates succeed in repelling Visitor attackers and Philip, who is revealed to be a leader within the Fifth Column. Angela attempts to kill him but is finally shot down by Glenda.

• War of Illusions - Aired: March 8, 1985

A teenaged computer whiz hacks into and disrupts the Visitors' sophisticated new Battlesphere system, but he insists that the Resistance first rescue his father from alien captivity.

• The Secret Underground - Aired: March 15, 1985

A computerized list of Fifth Columnists has been taken by James, prompting one of them to steal the disk and escape. He is shot and stumbles his way into a hall where the Visitors are preparing for their celebration of Ramalon. This prompts Donovan and Julie to pose as collaborators, go aboard the Mothership, and retrieve it.

• The Return - Aired: March 22, 1985

Just as James and his shock troops corner the Resistance, Phillip orders the Visitors to cease to all hostilities and return to the Mothership. The Resistance discovers that the Visitors have made a worldwide ceasefire and that a majority are retreating from Earth. Via Elizabeth, it is discovered the Leader is coming to Earth to negotiate peace, and he has asked Elizabeth and the Resistance to come to the Mothership.

Diana and James decide to extend the war by arming the energy swords of Phillip and Donovan during a supposedly non-lethal duel. When this attempt fails, Diana blackmails James into attempting to assassinate the Leader by having his troops blowing up the Leader's shuttle. When the destroyed shuttle is revealed as a decoy, Diana stages a coup and attempts to self-destruct the fusion reactors of the Mothership in order to kill everyone aboard and destroying Earth. It is only the Leader, working through Elizabeth telepathically, who is able to stop the self-destruct.

The Leader arrives, Diana and James are captured, and Elizabeth boards the Leader's shuttle to return to the Visitor home world to guarantee peace. The episode and the series ends on a cliffhanger with Kyle stowing away on the shuttle Elizabeth is traveling in, which also has a 'going-away present' from Diana aboard.