Viken's Verdict of V

V is not what I call "Good TV" Part 1
...and I don't think it's gonna get any better.



Even though I'm a huge fan of Elizabeth Mitchell,
the re-imaging of the old show reeks of mediocrity: the story lines they are following are predictable and weak, while the characters are straight out of a soap opera, this verdict is similar to what I said about Heroes, it's not badly done ... it's just cheap!

I was a huge fan of the original five part mini-series V which was aired in 1983.
It had the best marketing build-up ever, they started advertising it months ahead - just like this time around. V had everyone deep in anticipation, especially for Sci Fi fans, who are always desperate for good Science Fiction on prime time television. Luckily for everyone, the mini-series was a breath of fresh air, it was very edgy, slick and long enough to carry a full story through over 10 hours...V was a hit!
Who can forget the first words of the half-ling
"Pretenama,...it means peace" -it still gives me chills to this day when I hear it. That was the closing line of the series.

I think fondly of V the original series. It was a good story, with a good build-up that did not disappoint. It also had some great gadgets and it ended on a positive note for humanity.

Unfortunately for humanity, NBC producers quickly pulled together a TV series called "The Final Battle" that was a sad, sad thing. It was not a very successful show, and ran for only a little while...

I don't have much of a prediction to make about the fate of V, just a reminder of historical fact.
V has already burned out all its fuel.

I really wish they would stop trying to revive this old show. I ask the TV gods:

Please Let V Rest In Peace!

Peace Out ;-)

Writing in the movies

Since I got my PDA, I've been writing my thoughts and immediate reactions to movies I've watched on my PDA, at the theater or soon after. The intention was to rework them on to this document and post them; however, my PDA and my computer don't get along too well, so a lot of these reviews I've been carrying around in my pocket for almost a year now.

I should apologize for the selection of titles I'm writing about. One of the reasons these reviews will seem like a mix bag of movies with varying degrees of importance is because of this gig I have where I do exit polling for movies on opening weekend. I don't get to choose the movies we survey, but I've seen some great movies with this work. This is one of the greatest things about the company I work for - sometimes I can't believe I'm getting paid for doing this job but I can't divulge any more information here because of client confidentiality and all...so, enough said!

Transformers Return of the Fallen
In one sentence: lots of moving parts, but no intelligent design is behind this movie. These fancy machines definitely impress with how seamlessly they maneuver, but they lack a real purpose or as we human call it - a soul.

It is even more lame than the first one in terms of story and narrative. Oh and it's SO loud!
I'm not even sure if it's safe to expose people to these kind of decibels.

The CGI is also excessive, which is really sad; because Transformers the movie franchise is all about the graphics baby.

The "transformation" from cars/planes/boom-boxes into bipeds is masterfully executed, but the problem is that once they are transformed into these human figure machines, but the fascination ends there, because once transformed, they're quite hard to watch.

The transformed figures are a mash of mechanical parts that all move and react like a robot - nothing like their cheesy cartoon predecessors of 20 years ago. Today's CGI counterparts are marvels of animation. The latest versions of the transformers are a mass of machine parts in grays and black - like the contents of your "junk" drawer stuffed into a Ziploc bag. Unfortunately, these over-mechanised figures can end up looking the same which makes the scenes very hard to follow..especially when these machines insist on working out their million year old feuds with hand-to-hand combat a la Crouching Tigers.

What Transformer ROTF is really missing is a good use of color and sound. Don't get me wrong this movie is bad in MANY other ways too - it was not a very successful blockbuster, but I'm thinking here of how well color can be integrated into the cinematography in blockbusters a feast for the senses like Luc Bresson did so well in the Fifth Element...sigh