The trailer for the new V remake:



Corporate media face-rapes my childhood. Again.

After watching this a few times, it's hard not to pick up a strong right-wing vibe to it. Of course, this is ABC... the same network that did a 9/11 movie of the week that blamed the attacks on Clinton, so that's hardly surprising.

From what I've read of the plot and can glean from the trailer, the very loose premise is the same. A race of advanced, seemingly human-appearing, aliens shows up in gigantic motherships strategically positioned over Earth's major cities. They seem nice at first, wanting to help us out in exchange for some mysterious "compounds" to aid their planet in its time of environmental despair.

Only, it's not that simple. They turn out to be neither kind, nor in need of mere compounds. Oh, yeah, and they don't look human, either. Original series creator Kenneth Johnson had the brilliant idea of framing the series in a historical context, in this case the rise of the Nazi party in the 1930's which did wonders to create something more than the 'laser guns and rockets ships....who needs a story?' paradigm of TV sci-fi in the mid 80's.

ABC seems to be taking a somewhat different approach, casting the The Visitors (called "The Vs (Veez)" in the new series, as people coming in troubled times, with a message of "hope" and "change". The kids love it, but the old white folks know better. And it's an Agent from the Department of Homeland Security (an homage to the Bush years?), a cable talkshow host (Sean Hannity, maybe?) who first get wise that the liberals, er, aliens are not all they appear.

Oh, yeah, and it appears the Aliens hate God, as the trailer shows a church being attacked. Who knew the War on Christmas would be so... intergalactic!

I don't know, maybe I'm assuming too much from a mere trailer, and some plot summaries I've found online... but while the original V was creepy in all the right ways, this one, well... isn't. And what the hell is up with the alien leader? Anna (surprised they didn't name her Nancy Pelosi) is supposed to be all evil and whatnot, yet in the previews she mostly looks like a deer in the headlights. Maybe someone will get Jane Badler to show her how it's done. /shrug

I guess we'll see, though. But for now, I feel safe in saying I won't be making any plans to stay home and watch this when it airs.