Morena Baccarin

More than 25 years after the first V mini-series hit the airwaves, V will be returning to television screens with a well-cast revival that - unlike many other recent remakes - actually delivers and in some ways surpasses the original model.

Many fans will be lucky enough to preview the series premiere at the Comic-Con International later this week - both during a Warner Bros. "Preview Night" on Wednesday and during the V panel on Saturday. If you are attending the Con and have the time, take a look; otherwise you’ll have to wait for ABC’s midseason launch.

V starts off with the earth shaking - literally. Very early on we meet Erica Evans, the series’ protagonist who is played by Elizabeth Mitchell of LOST fame. Evans is a FBI agent who is raising a son named Tyler (newcomer Logan Huffman), and as a lead character she is the glue that keeps a lot of this together.

The 4400’s Joel Grestch plays Father Jack Landry, a man who is part of a church that hosts very few members in its congregation. However, with the coming of the Visitors, things start to change. There is some debate on whether or not the Visitors are included among "God’s creatures" and if this change is a good thing.

Other characters in the series pilot include Brandon, Tyler’s best friend who provides several one-liners for the situation (Jesse Wheeler); Ryan Nichols (Morris Chestnut), a man on the edge of proposing to Valerie Holt (Lourdes Benedicto) until a major decision changes everything; Chad Decker (Scott Wolf), a reporter who has obtained interviews through unethical means before and is now chosen as the Visitors’ mouthpiece; Georgie (David Richmond-Peck), one of the organizers and leaders of the anti-Visitor resistance; and Dale Maddox (Alan Tudyk), the FBI partner of Erica Evans. Among the Visitors is their leader, "Anna" (Firefly’s Morena Baccarin), who can be described in two words - "extremely creepy." is one of the best ways to describe Morena Baccarin as the leader and head representative of the Visitors, "Anna." Even the way she blinks comes off as lizardlike and slimy. However, when she speaks, it’s so smooth, you can see why the people of Earth are easily under her thrall. Also very alluring to the humans is Lisa (Smallville’s Laura Vandervoort), a character whose charms quickly snag Tyler Evans to the side of the Visitors.

While the show deals with serious subject matter and handles it well, it really does take the time to have a sense of humor about itself. There are some pop cultural references in the show - at one point a joke is made comparing the proceedings to Independence Day, in which another character points out that that movie itself was inspired by many other science-fiction predecessors. Scott Peters also manages to slip in a reference to his previous television series, The 4400. Inside jokes don’t provide the show’s only humor - at one point, Scott Wolf’s reporter character ask the Visitors’ Anna if there is such thing as an ugly Visitor. Looking at the actors cast, I’m wondering the exact same thing.

As the original V had parallels to World War II and the Holocaust, the new V also has parallels - this time to modern times’ current obsession with celebrity and search for idols. When these "idols" embrace the adoration, the devotion could become something very dangerous, and V plays with those themes very successfully.

If there is any issue I have at all with the V pilot, it is with the pacing. Maybe I am used to the way the original miniseries played out, but it seems like the story of how the Visitors came into power and won everyone over could have been spread over a longer period of time. As things were, it seemed like they arrived, then it’s "Two Weeks Later," and then people are going on tours of the mothership.

Click on the link :

http://www.visitorsite.net/vpilotreview.htm