I remember being introduced to V in high school, shortly after it was finally released onto VHS after years in wherever sci-fi miniseries go to rot.

Alien spaceships appear over all of the major cities of the world. They are populated by human looking aliens who wear sunglasses and speak with a metallic voice — but they come in peace, looking only to harvest some water for their drought-stricken home world. They send representatives down to Earth, to mingle and co-habitate, they send crews to help improve infrastructure and develop new technologies.

And they begin killing scientists, and brain washing political leaders.

Also, they’re reptiles in human-like “skins”, and they’re not really here for the water — their planet’s actually kind of short on food, and humans are delicious.

So are guinea pigs.

The original NBC miniseries (and its follow up) was an ensemble affair, detailing how a disparate group of people — scientists, reporters, police officers, landscapers — become aware of the Vistors’ real agenda, and organize an armed resistance in the Los Angeles underground. The show was populated by a virtual who’s-who of B sci-fi and horror films, including Robert Englund, Michael Ironside, and Marc Singer. There was also a note of Hollywood tragedy in the show’s background — David Packer was rehearsing a scene for V with his co-star Dominique Dunne the night she was murdered (her role was recast and filled by Robin Maxwell).

Although the show started out fantastic, if memory serves, it eventually finished with some sort of half human/half reptile hybrid using some sort of magical power to defeat the Visitors. Laaaame. But I suspect this was primarily because the show’s original producer was fired.

So flash forward twenty-six years after the original, and guess what? It’s remake is the proverbial Big White Hope for sci-fi fans, after the conclusion of Battlestar Galactica. Or at least, it is for me.

I’m trying to not be too excited. Actually, that’s pretty easy — sure, the special effects and the production values are considerably higher than they were in the early 1980s, but isn’t it really the characters that make TV and movies so endearing and memorable? Oh, Marc Singer, whatever happened to you?