Last night, ABC launched it’s reboot of the V television series. As a kid, I remember watching the mini-series in complete awe. How would the rag-tag group of misfits defeat the all-powerful lizard aliens. To make the aliens that much more evil, they stole a page of Hannibal Lectre’s book and gave them a craving for all things human. Kind of gives new meaning to the word “Veal”, doesn’t it?
For months all we had to go by was a commercial that ended with a chilling line. Imagine the scene: a young reporter Chad finally got his big break. He gets to conduct the first world-wide interview with the alien leader Anna (who looks really hot for being a lizard lady). Just seconds before the interview begins, this exchange takes place:
Chad: OK, do you have any questions before we go to air?
Anna: Yes, just be sure not to ask any anything that would paint us in a negative light.
Chad now has to decide: don’t ask tough questions and advance my career OR do my job and destroy my career.
Instantly, I’m taken back to the series of interviews with Charlie Gibson between Senator Obama and Governor Sarah Palin. More recently, the White House’s complete shunning of Fox News.
But wait, there’s more. In the series, the aliens promise us “universal health care”. All our problems will be solved; universal health care will be free.
Is this series a parallel to the current administration?
Of course it is. This is what science fiction does: it challenges us by drawing parallels between their fiction and our reality. Star Trek did it and did it well. Battlestar Gallatica was right out of 9/11 attacks and subsequent political changes.
V is doing the same thing with uncanny parallel using quotes from the show:
- Gratitude can morph into worship.
- They are arming themselves with the most powerful weapon out there: devotion.
Science Fiction, once again, is standing up and questioning the world around us. V is a direct result of that. Hopefully this continues. At least until the administration decides to boycott ABC for allowing V.
Other posts by Clifford