V

We've been watching V lately, thanks to NetFlix. If you're old enough, you may remember this miniseries/TV show from the mid-80s.

The story itself is particularly engaging, enthralling, and enjoyable. It was originally set to be an historical fiction piece based on freedom fighters in World War II, but the network wanted something more sci-fi. So, they changed the Nazis to reptilian aliens invading earth to take our water (since their planet ran out) and people (for food).

The aliens initially came under the guise of friendship, their leader playing the role of an enthusiastic, charismatic man of the people, winning the hearts and minds of the humans, eventually setting up camps for scientists, and sharing their technology with all of us. Eventually, the sinister truth is uncovered, people take up arms to form a Resistance, and there's a world-wide alien occupation.

Each episode starts off with a broadcast from the Freedom Network with updates on the war effort all over the world. Most of the action takes place in and around Los Angeles (I think) which is a decidedly neutral city (i.e. neither controlled by Resistance nor Visitors), and there's plenty of shootouts, espionage, and melodromatic romance. Plus, there's the Star Child, a human/lizard hybrid. She's on the Resistance's side, and she, of course, has telekinetic powers.

Granted there are some pretty hokey plot points and the occasional plot hole, but the story itself is pretty solid.

Unfortunately, the show completely fails at literally everything else.

Niel, Geddy, & Lifeson