V: Season 2

Reading over my previous post ("You actually believe that?"), I noticed that I use the word anyway far too often.

Anyway....

We watched the first disc of season 2 last night. Season 1 ended with about half the cast either leaving or dying, the Visitors taking over LA, and the immensely gay alien leader being murdered by one of the two power-hungry Visitor Vixens.

Whereas the miniseries and season 1 were about a ragtag group of rebels struggling to preserve their way of life and to overthrow their incompetent conquerors, season 2 is completely different.

Season 1, you see, had a number of strong things going for it. First and foremost, the basic premise - a group of resistance fighters trying to survive in a Nazi-esque fascist regime set in the not-too-distant future (probably the early 90s) was compelling. There was some great conflict between the blonde scientist and that power hungry dude from My Cousin Vinny. Michael Ironside's character was pretty badass. The former street thug who opened the restaurant/safe haven for resistance fighters was nice, especially with the base of operations around. Well, they're gone now (except the blonde), as is the Star Child's mother, and the remainder just isn't that interesting.

Plus, they got rid of the Freedom Network bit at the beginning of each episode, and they changed the opening theme, which, while it wasn't that great, was at least memorable and fit the show. They replaced that with a darker, more forgettable theme and gave the show an A-Team-esque premise-reminder for an opening monologue.

The most disappointing bit, though, was that they abandoned the cool story arc (the best thing they had going for the show) for a weekly adventure format. Basically, it's a lame version of the A-Team, but with aliens and casualties instead of flipping cars and Mr. T.

In short, a very badly executed good idea has turned into a very badly executed bad idea.

I can't wait for the next disc.

- Nick's Geography Lesson