Visitors

 

Back in 1984, a blockbuster US sci-fi show ran over 5 nights and gripped the nation, It was a short-lived phenomenon, 

We didn't really know it at the time, but the original V mini-series was a 2 parter which aired in the US in 1983. It was a big success so the network commissioned a follow-uo but differences of opinion with the shows creator saw him depart and a three parter "V: The Final Battle" which saw the show veer away from being a parable about World War 2 towards standard television soap-opera, with lasers. 

The 5 episodes were shown across a Monday-Friday in July 1984 on ITV and they were a huge success. Over in the US a weekly series had been commissioned, but it wasn't and although it dribbled into the ITV regions, it was never networked. The time for V had passed. 

But - there were spin-offs. DC Comics started releasing a monthly comic to tie in with the weekly show. When that ground to a halt, the comic continued, their characters in stasis waiting for the TV show to return. It never did, and the title was cancelled after. a year and a half. 

In the meantime, Pinnacle Books in the US started bringing out a range of novels which were then released in the UK by New English Library. They came upon the crafty plan of telling stories elsewhere in the world so as not to upset the canon.Truth be told - the majority of them weren't great but for fans of the show starved of anything else, they kept us going for a while. 

I've discovered the stash of V books that I bought at the time, and I'm going through the process of re-reading them - in many cases for the first time since the mid eighties. In the absence of any more tangible content, I figured that I would put my thoughts about the books up on here, starting tomorrow, with the adaptation of those two mini-series by Ann Crispin. 

Tune in tomorrow to read more, and remember, the Visitors are not your friends. 



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